Month: April 2018

On this week Thursday, I will be heading down to Missouri for a two-park trip.  I will be visiting Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri on Friday, April 27th and Six Flags St. Louis in Eureka, Missouri on Saturday, April 28th.

I am very excited for this trip, especially due to the fact that there’s new things at each park since I’ve been there last year.  New this year at Silver Dollar City is Time Traveler, a new spinning roller coaster.  This was under construction when I was there last, and it looks like a really fun attraction.  As for Six Flags St. Louis, I have gotten word that The Boss roller coaster has received a retrack in the offseason.  I really enjoyed this ride last time I was there, and I hope this retrack makes the ride even better.  Additionally, I’m looking forward to riding the flat ride that was under construction when I visited last season.

As always, I’m looking forward to putting out two more trip reports for these parks.  Stay tuned for the latest on my theme park travels!

Due to the fact that my trip to Kings Island on April 13th was extremely short (less than two hours), I have decided to combine both days into one trip report.

So, on April 13th and 14th, I visited Kings Island in Mason, Ohio for their Passholder Preview Night and Opening Day.  I have been visiting this park every year since 2015, and I love the charm of the park and sheer variety offered.  I attended the park with my friends Matt and Jeremie.

On the 13th, we simply went into the park, grabbed dinner at Chicken Shack (a chicken restaurant near the Action Zone section of the park), and rode two rides.  The rides we rode were Vortex, a looping roller coaster that opened in 1987, and Mystic Timbers, the park’s newest roller coaster that actually opened in 2017.

Fast forwarding to Saturday the 14th, we arrived at the park at about 9:00am.  While the park opens at 10, they allow certain levels of season passholders into the park at 9:30 for early ride time on a few attractions.  To start the year, Kings Island is offering early ride time on The Bat, Banshee, and Mystic Timbers.

We started out on The Bat, a suspended coaster towards the front of the park.  From there, we rode Delirium, a pendulum spinning ride.  At this time, the park had officially opened.

We proceeded to ride Flight of Fear, Backlot Stunt Coaster twice, The Beast, Banshee, and Invertigo.  It was at this time that we met up with some more friends, Paul and Dawson.  We know Paul and Dawson from Six Flags Great America.  Dawson will actually be working at Cedar Point this summer, so it was nice to hang out with him before he heads to Ohio for the summer.

We then rode Adventure Express, a mine train roller coaster, and then Mystic Timbers three times.  We decided to break off from Paul and Dawson for a little while after that, but would meet back up with them at the end of the day.  Matt, Jeremie, and I went to grab lunch at the Festhaus, which is a large dining court towards the front of the park.  After lunch, we headed up Kings Island’s signature attraction, the Eiffel Tower.  This tower is about a third of the size of the actual Eiffel Tower in Paris, France.  To put the height into perspective, the total height of the Kings Island tower is approximately equivalent to the height of the legs on the original.

Following the Eiffel Tower, we headed to what is personally my favorite ride in the park, Diamondback.  This roller coaster stands over 200 feet tall and features one of the most intense layouts in the entire park.

After riding Diamondback twice, we decided to ride the park’s railroad, followed by Vortex, Firehawk, Windseeker, The Racer, Mystic Timbers twice, Backlot Stunt Coaster, Banshee, and Invertigo.

At this point, we met back up with Paul and Dawson for dinner at Red’s Hall of Fame.  This restaurant used to be a full-service sit down restaurant, but has recently converted to a quick-service restaurant.  Although there is a change in the service, the thing that remains constant is the decor.  The entire restaurant is devoted to the Cincinnati Reds and it’s history.  Although I root for a different baseball team, I still enjoy this restaurant.

For the rest of the night, we stayed with Paul and Dawson, and we rode Adventure Express, Boo Blasters on Boo Hill, Woodstock Whirlybirds, Woodstock Express, Vortex, Banshee, Diamondback, Mystic Timbers, and Backlot Stunt Coaster.  Lastly, we ended our night on the last train of the night for The Beast.

For part of the day, the weather was rainy and overcast.  This led to us being able to ride so many rides on Opening Day.  In past years, the park was always jam-packed on Opening Day, but we actually didn’t wait more than 20 minutes for a ride, with most rides being 5-10 minute waits.

All in all, spending the weekend at Kings Island was yet again another fun experience.  The park was beautiful as always, and the rides were fun and thrilling as always.  Be sure to come out to this park when you get a chance, it’s a very nice park.

It’s time for my trip report for my second straight day at Dollywood.  Now, just to be clear, Dollywood is my downright favorite theme park I’ve visited so far.  I love the charm of the park and everything it offers.

We arrived at the park at about 9:45am, about 15 minutes prior to park open.  Our entire intention was to take it easy and enjoy the day, which is exactly what we did.  We never really went out of our way to get the most rides, which was really relaxing.

Our first ride of the day was Lightning Rod, followed by Rockin’ Roadway, the park’s “antique car” ride.  For the ride, you step into a car, which rides around a track for a few minutes.

After these rides, we headed over to the Heartsong Theater to see Heartsong: The Movie.  This was a twenty minute presentation performed by Dolly Parton, highlighting moments of her growing up in Sevierville, Tennessee.  I personally really enjoyed this film, much like I do all the show content Dollywood has to offer.

Following the show, we made a quick loop around the park, riding Dollywood Express, the Villiage Carousel, Blazing Fury and Wild Eagle.  When we made it back to the other end of the park, we stopped by Red’s Drive-In for lunch.

The park was particularly crowded today, which led to many long food lines.  Although we spent about 30 minutes waiting to order, we really didn’t mind.  After this point, however, we really just intended to walk around the park and relax for a while.

Every year, Dollywood hosts something titled Festival of Nations, which features unique cuisine and performances from groups from all over the world.  At 3:30pm, we headed over to the Showstreet Palace Theater.  This theater, perhaps the largest and most popular venue in the park, was home to Ladysmith Black Mambazo.  This group from South Africa has worked with Dolly herself on multiple occasions, and is one of the main draws to the Festival of Nations.  To put things into perspective, their style of music is strikingly similar to a combination of a capella and what a barbershop quartet would do.  I really enjoyed it.

We walked around a little more after the show, then went to end the day at Lightning Rod.  Initially, the wait was only 25 minutes, but right before we about to board, maintenance decided to reduce operations to one train.  This was supposed to only be about a 10 minute delay, but ultimately ended up being about an hour.  We could’ve went elsewhere, but we ended up sticking it out and I had what was probably my best ride on it.

After a quick stop for cinnamon bread, taffy, and a couple souvenirs, closing time of 7:00pm had come.  We took the Dollywood provided trams to our car and were on our way.  Since this was the last park on our trip, leaving was a little bittersweet, but ultimately we were ready to head home.  This was the longest theme park trip I have ever done driving, having traveled a total on 2,040 miles roundtrip.  Ultimately, all the parks were fantastic, and I would definitely like to take a similar trip at some point in the future.

On Monday, March 26th, 2018, I spent the day at Dollywood in Pigeon Forge Tennessee.  This park is a very charming park with excellent theming, wonderful employees, and some of the best roller coasters in the country.  Perhaps the most famous part about Dollywood is that it’s named after country singer-songwriter, Dolly Parton.  Dolly acts as part owner of the theme park, and is the primary spokesperson for everything associated with Dollywood.

We arrived at the park at about 9:40 for the 10:00am opening.  To start our day, we headed to Lightning Rod.  Lightning Rod is the world’s fastest wooden roller coaster, along with the world’s first launched wooden roller coaster.  I have loved this ride ever since my first time riding it, so much to the point that it ranks as my #2 roller coaster overall (I’ll explain rankings in a later post).

From there, we took it easy for a while and leisurely made our way around the park.  We hit rides such as Blazing Fury, Wild Eagle, and FireChaser Express.  I enjoy Dollywood so much that I don’t have a specific ride that disappoints me, so I can honestly say I enjoy everything at the park.

Next, I was able to hit a roller coaster that opened since my last trip, Whistle Punk Chaser.  It is a small kiddie roller coaster, but it was nice to add another coaster to my list.

Perhaps one of the most popular rides in the park is the train, known as the Dollywood Express.  After a quick bite to eat and a visit to Chasing Rainbows, a museum filled with different items from Dolly Parton’s life and career, we headed over to the train.  The total ride lasts about 25 minutes and has several moments where guests can get involved in interacting with others on the train.  We also got a peek of construction for the massive new addition coming to the park in the coming years (I will make a separate post about this as well).

Following the train, we rode Tennessee Tornado and Mystery Mine.  Like I said, I love all the rides at Dollywood, so there’s not much more to say beyond that.

We then hopped on another new ride, Drop Line.  This was a large drop tower that was added in 2017.  Quite honestly, I had a fantastic experience on it, and it may now be one of my favorite drop rides.  Afterwards, we rode the other wooden roller coaster in the park, Thunderhead.

Another ride on Lightning Rod, then we were about to end our day at the park. One thing Dollywood is extremely famous for is it’s culinary options and bakery items.  Perhaps the most popular is it’s cinnamon bread.  So, as per usual, we had to make a stop in the Grist Mill to pick up a loaf.  If you’ve never had it, I would suggest trying some if you visit the park.  I have also seen recipes online, so if you want to try to make it at home, feel free to Google “Dollywood Cinnamon Bread recipe”.

We ended up leaving the park at about 7:30, which was half an hour before closing, but we had some other things in the area was wanted to do before we went back to the hotel for the night.  In the end, Dollywood was fantastic as always.  However, luckily this wasn’t our only day at the park, so stay tuned for a trip report for day two at Dollywood.

 

On Sunday, March 25th, 2018, I visited Carowinds for the first time.  The park was built in 1973 and is unique in the way that the border of North Carolina and South Carolina runs through the middle of the park.  The north end is in Charlotte, North Carolina, while the south end is in Fort Mill, South Carolina.  The park is also owned by Cedar Fair Entertainment Company.

My grandfather and I arrived at the park at about 9:35.  When we got there, we heard the unfortunate news that some rides may be opening late or not at all due to low temperatures, including Fury 325 and Intimidator, the largest rides in the park.

We were planning on going on those coasters right away, but instead changed our plans.

To start the day, we rode Ricochet, the park’s wild mouse type coaster, Carolina Cyclone, the park’s looping roller coaster, and Hurler, the park’s major wooden roller coaster.

We then continued to some more roller coasters to see which were open, and when we got to another we were on the other side of the park.  We hopped on Afterburn, which is the park’s suspended looping roller coaster, which was a lot of fun.  This ride is quite possibly one of my favoring suspended loopers.

We proceeded to ride Woodstock Express, the kiddie wooden roller coaster in the park, before grabbing a quick bite to eat at the Harmony Hall Marketplace. This food court has a vast selection of different culinary options to choose from.  Personally, I had the chicken tenders with sidewinder fries, which was very good.  Some other options included hamburgers, pizza, and bbq.

One thing about Cedar Fair parks is that they offer an all season drink pass that allows you to simply scan your pass and get a cup for soft drinks all season long.  I have used this route, and it’s extremely convenient.  If you visit a Cedar Fair park multiple times in a year, I definitely recommend investing $30 in this pass.

After we ate, we made our way to the Carolina Skytower to get a view of the park and surrounding area.  From there, we headed towards Vortex, the park’s standup coaster, followed by Boo Blasters on Boo Hill, the park’s interactive dark ride, and Flying Cobras, the park’s boomerang style roller coaster.

As the day was progressing, it was becoming more and more clear that some of the rides closed may not be opening.  We were constantly going up to each of the rides closed to see when they were going to open, but most had no answer.

At this point, it was about 2:30pm, and my grandpa and I were getting very impatient.  After a ride on the park’s carousel, we decided we were going to stick around until 3:15, then leave if there was no luck.

3:15 rolled around and we still had no luck.  We were on our way out, but I quickly diverted over to Fury 325 to see if there was a chance it could open.  When we got over to the ride, it began to test for the day.  Fury was one of the main rides we visited the park for, and we were just about to ride it.

We got in line and were on the first public train of the day.  The ride was absolutely FANTASTIC, offering an long, intense ride that never lets up.  If you have the opportunity to visit the park, definitely get on this thing.  We actually wanted to ride again, but the line was already out the entrance and it was only operating one train.  We also had another four hour drive ahead of us, so we decided to call it a day at the park.

All in all, we were able to ride all the coasters we could in the park (8), except for Intimidator, Carolina Goldrusher, Nighthawk, and Kiddy Hawk due to weather.  I definitely plan to visit this park again to ride those coasters, and most importantly, ride Fury 325 some more.

On Saturday, March 24, 2018, I visited my first theme park of the season, Six Flags Over Georgia in Austell, Georgia.  This park was the second park in the Six Flags chain, opening it’s doors in 1967.  The park is home of ten roller coasters (soon to be eleven in May).  I have been to multiple Six Flags parks in my lifetime, and this park is without a doubt one of my favorites.  Here is my first trip report, for Six Flags Over Georgia.

I attended the park with my grandfather, who is an avid roller coaster enthusiast himself.  We stayed at the Econo Lodge in Austell, which is literally a five minute walk from the front gate.

We arrived at the park at approximately 9:30am for the 10:00 opening.  The park was beginning to fill up, but overall crowds were not bad.  It took only five minutes to get into the park once the gates opened.  If you’ve been to a park at opening, you’d know that often times they contain guests into the entry plaza of the park until the scheduled opening time; so we were in the entry plaza for about fifteen minutes before “rope drop” (when security officially opens the entire park up to guests.

To start our day, we headed to Dare Devil Dive, one of the park’s newest roller coaster.  While not the largest ride in the park, the ride actually can get long lines and a small capacity per hour.  Overall, I enjoyed how the ride seemed to never let up.

From there, we headed down to Gotham to ride BATMAN THE RIDE.  Now, there’s not much to say about this ride, as BATMAN clones are seen throughout the world.  We then went to Mindbender, which is actually an American Coaster Enthusiasts Roller Coaster Landmark.  For an older coaster, the ride was definitely enjoyable.  This was also my grandpa’s 100th roller coaster lifetime.

We followed Mindbender by heading back towards the front of the park to ride Georgia Scorcher.  This ride was actually a stand-up roller coaster, meaning you’re standing upright while riding.  I have always been a stand-up coaster fan, but I didn’t really have many opportunities to ride one since Iron Wolf left Six Flags Great America in 2011.  So, it’s always nice to ride a stand-up, and I enjoyed it.

We then decided to hit a couple of the smaller rides, so we headed towards The JOKER Funhouse Coaster and Dahlonega Mine Train.  While these coasters weren’t necessarily thrilling for me, they were quality rides for families to enjoy.

We followed up these rides by grabbing lunch at a restaurant inside the park, then heading towards a charming dark ride by the name of Monster Mansion.  This ride has been at the park for years, and has been praised by so many people I know, even though the park has a newer, more technologically advanced, interactive dark ride.

From there we headed towards the back half of the park.  This park is very hilly, so it was always important to be paying attention and making sure you had good walking shoes.  Towards the back of the park is a looping coaster named Blue Hawk.  This ride was originally named Ninja, but was recently repainted, rethemed, and given new trains with more comfortable restraints.  I can most definitely guarantee that if this ride still has it’s original trains and restraints, I would’ve not liked the ride at all.  But, the new restraints made the ride much more enjoyable.

We continued through the back of the park by heading to another large ride, SUPERMAN: Ultimate Flight.  Now I have one of these cloned coasters at my home park, Six Flags Great America, but I found this ride to be even more unique, having several moments where the coaster came close to terrain or even a tunnel.

The park’s big wooden roller coaster, the Great American Scream Machine, was next on our list.  This roller coaster has quite a history, and the fact that the park was actually operating the coaster backwards was a unique experience.  I enjoyed the ride, but I would like to go back and ride it again facing forwards.

After Scream Machine, we started to head back toward the front of the park.  We stopped by Hanson Cars, an antique car ride, and the historic Riverview Carousel on the way.

As I said earlier, the park is soon to have eleven coasters.  It’s newest coaster, Twisted Cyclone, is scheduled to open sometime in May.  This ride used to be a full wood roller coaster, but has undergone refurbishments and will be opening as a steel roller coaster.  We got some fantastic views of the construction, and this ride looks FANTASTIC.  I would highly recommend looking for some pictures online.

We ended our rides for the day by riding the largest ride in the park, Goliath.  Boy, was this ride fun.  It packs quite a punch and I experienced quite a bit of airtime.  Goliath was able to crack into my top 10 roller coasters lists, and I still cannot wait to ride again.

After another quick meal and stopping in a couple gift shops, we left Six Flags Over Georgia at 7:00pm, one hour prior to the scheduled closing time.

Overall, I really enjoyed the park.  It had quite a charm, was clean, and offered a great variety of rides.  I also found this park relatively easy to navigate.  This is definitely a park I would recommend visited if you’re ever in the Atlanta area.  I will most definitely be planning a return trip to this park, because it truly is one of the favorite Six Flags parks.  Additionally, Twisted Cyclone looks like an insane new ride, and I cannot wait to ride.