Jump to content
  TPR Home | Parks | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | Instagram 

RobertWord

Members
  • Posts

    40
  • Joined

  • Last visited

RobertWord's Achievements

Explorer

Explorer (4/14)

  • First Post
  • Collaborator
  • Conversation Starter
  • Week One Done
  • One Month Later

Recent Badges

0

Reputation

  1. So now that the trip has been officially complete for a couple days I can knock out the rest of the reviews. The next one is of Dollywood, and we still decided to go here even though we knew Lightning Rod would be closed, and I'm glad we went because we were really considering skipping it. I thought it was the nicest park on the trip. Busch Gardens Williamsburg was nice, very nice, but I preferred Dollywood, and I can't quite put my finger on why. I guess it just felt a little more authentic. I was in Tennessee and it felt like I was in Tennessee. With BGW I know I'm not in Europe. So maybe that's why I preferred the overall feel of Dollywood to BGW. I haven't talked about food on this yet because there really wasn't anything worth bringing up, until now. The freaking cinnamon bread definitely lived up to the hype. Absolutely delicious. They have the recipe online, and with my experience working n a bakery I'm pretty sure I can duplicate it. I can't wait to try! Ok on to the rides. Wild Eagle: to be honest I thought it was a little boring. I think the wing over drop is far superior to the basic drop. There are no near miss elements, and the ride was pretty sluggish after the first couple inversions, and it felt like a shorter ride. I've heard people say they prefer this to GateKeeper and I can't imagine why. Grade: C+ Tennessee Tornado: easily the best Arrow I've ever been on. Very smooth, pretty intense, and overall very fun. Unfortunately it's a pretty short ride because unlike all other Arrows this is one you want to last a little longer. Grade: B Thunderhead: My new favorite wooden roller coaster. Intensity mixed with airtime, I love it! Plus the trains are padded to even though it is a tad rough it doesn't feel rough. I love the layout, and I love how you get flung around in every which way in the back seat. The only thing I kind of don't like is the curved drop, I prefer straight drops, but it's not that big of a deal. Easily the best ride in the park for me. Grade: A- Mystery Mine: I was actually pretty lucky to get on this as it was either closed all day or had an incredibly long wait. And with Lightning Rod being closed we opted to not get the fast lane at Dollywood. But late in the day the ride opened up and I just happened to be walking by it when it did, so I got to ride it, and while it had some good elements overall it was a pretty big letdown. First, as I have said before, I am not one for theming, so it seems like that is mostly what the ride is about. I thought the fire before the drop was cool, but I hated that the drops were indoors. The fun thing about drops is seeing where you are going. The restraints were also very uncomfortable. For those who appreciate theming I can see the draw, but not me. Grade: C- Blazing Fury: now knowing what I said above about theming one would probably speculate that I wouldn't have enjoyed this all that much, but I did. The ride is just so creepy it made it worth riding. I just wish the whole thing was full of the little drops at the end. Because just when it started to get a little intense it's over. Grade: C I did not get on FireChaser Express. The wait was 45 minutes all day, and I was not waiting that long for a family coaster. I did 2 other rides, their swing which was great. Can't beat those swing rides. And I also did their drop tower several times, and I think it's my favorite drop tower. I love how they spin you around and you get that great view of the area. For the guy who recommended some of the water rides here. I looked at them and people were getting a little more wet than I wanted. I'm just not into getting that wet. But thanks for the suggestion. Overall I really enjoyed Dollywood and I'll definitely be back to get on Lightning Rod. Maybe even this year. I've heard that Sumday's late in the season are dead, so we'll see. After Dollywood we were supposed to go to Memphis to see Graceland, but we decided not to because we were kind of tired and we didn't realize how far of a drive that was. We did send a day and a half in Nashville, and let me say this as loudly as I can.. If you're single and looking for absolutely stunning looking girls who couldn't be more down to Earth and nice, I suggest going to Nashville. The music scene was pretty cool, even though I'm not really into country music. We did find a blues bar that was more to my taste. So Tennessee, yeah, great state, really had a blast!
  2. I'm really behind on the reviews so here is my review of Carowinds... I absolutely loved this park. First of all it was pretty dead so we didn't purchase fast lane even though we planned on getting it. The longest we had to wait for anything was 5 minutes, and that was really surprising considering some of the coasters this park has. Fury325: just a magnificent ride, totally lived up to the hype! It's intensity mixed with airtime, it was like this coaster was specifically designed for me. My new #2. Grade: A+ Intimidator: this is my new favorite B&M hyper. The airtime on this thing is absolutely incredible, and I didn't feel any trims. Perfect hyper coaster. Grade: A Afterburn: my new favorite invert. This one was super intense and very compact so the elements were one right after another. Grade: A- Hurler: not bad at all. Certainly not rough, just wish it did a little more. No need to RMC this though as it can be a good coaster for those who are just looking for an enjoyable wooden coaster. Grade: C+ Carolina Cyclone: just a basic arrow looper, nothing special at all. But it was somewhat enjoyable, not rough. Grade: C Flying Cobras: I actually wasn't planning on riding this because of the reputation that boomerangs have for sucking, but after others went on and said it was good I rode it and I have to agree, it was fun. Apparently it's the restraints that make these boomerangs suck but the vest restraints on this didn't bother me. Grade: C+ Ricochet: fun wild mouse, very enjoyable. One of the better mice I've ridden. Grade: C+ Those were the only coasters I got on, and 90% of my time was spent on the big 3. I'm there to have fun, not to just pile up credits so I didn't ride nighthawk because everyone says it sucks and it seemed like it was down all day anyway. I also didn't ride the stand up one, well, because it's a stand up one, and I didn't ride the mine train because those just aren't thrilling enough. The only negative about my visit was the fact that they were assigning rows on Fury even though the park was not busy and the line started halfway up the steps at its busiest time. Overall the park has an outstanding top 3 which most of you already know. I'm really interested to see what they add in the future starting with the new coaster for next year.
  3. I'm getting a little behind on my reviews of the parks. Since my last one I have been to Busch Garden Williamsbug, Carowinds, and Dollywood. BGW is definitely the most beautiful park I've ever been to. Again I'm not one for theming, but I could definitely appreciate how nice the park looks. Definitely a step or two up from Cedar Fair and about 75 steps up from six flags. Their coasters were all pretty good but they're missing that standout ride IMO. So here's my thought on the coasters at BGW: Apollo's Chariot: I honestly thought this was fun, but at the same time just OK. First of all it just wasn't that intense at all, and the amount of airtime was much less than the other hypers I've been on. It also seemed to lose momentum after the turnaround. Again, fun, solid ride, but probably dead last on my list of hypers. Grade: B Tempesto: easily the weakest coaster at this park. The launch was not forceful and not intense. The restraints were also a little awkward. When on a trip like this when you're riding all these amazing coasters at once, the not as good ones really tend to stand out, and this is just one of those. Grade: C+ Griffon: I was really looking forward to this one because I've heard a lot of people say it's better than Valravn, and I really enjoy Valravn. But honestly this is not in the same league as Valravn. Valravn's layout is far superior, and it's a lot more forceful. After the 2nd inversion on Griffon it's a very boring ride. Yes it has that splashdown, and it is more visually appealing, but that doesn't enhance the ride experience. Valravn has that 3rd inversion, and then that airtime hill which yes, does give me decent airtime. It was a fun ride, but like I said, not in Valravn's league. Grade: B- Alpengeist: this was my favorite ride here. It's easily the most intense. I really liked how it gets low to the ground and how forceful it is. Now in the back I found it to be a little rough which is why I am putting it below Raptor and Banshee, but it's definitely superior to Batman at Great Adventure. Grade: B+ InvadR: definitely a great family,coaster. It's pretty relentless from start to finish, and provides some decent airtime, especially for a family coaster. Obviously this wasn't built for thrill seekers so it's grade won't be up there, but I was pleasantly surprised with how good the ride was. Grade: C+ Verbolten: definitely a very tame ride until the entire train drops like 10 feet. That part really got me. It's definitely worth riding just for that alone. But the rest of it is pretty boring. Grade: C+ Overall I had a great time, I just wish this park had that signature coaster
  4. Hey everyone, currently I am at a relatives place in Virginia Beach, just relaxing by the pool, and building up the stamina for the rest of the trip. Thursday at Kings Dominion and Friday at Busch Gardens really took a lot out of me. The temperature was miserably hot, but I had an absolute blast at both parks. My first impressions of Kings Dominion were that it is a very nice park, pretty much in line with what I would expect from visiting cedar point and Kings island all the time. Volcano was closed which was too bad because I was really looking forward to riding it. But they do have a very good lineup. Twisted Timbers IMO is the star attraction and it's really too bad this had to come out the same year as steel vengeance. Because if it was not for vengeance I would think that this is the ride everyone would be talking about. This coaster is freaking phenomenal. The barrel roll drop is an incredible feeling, then the turn around the station is very intense and then it goes into 3 great airtime hills. What a start to a ride! Then that inverted turnaround is great. I mean this coaster has it all, intensity, and a ton of airtime. I have a brand new #2 overall. Grade: A+ Intimidator 305: if this one had more airtime I might have ranked it ahead of steel vengeance. But for now it takes my overall #3 spot. The intensity is awesome, although I did not grey out, which was somewhat disappointing. But the Maverick-like turns were really intense as was the turn after the drop. I was the only one who wanted to ride this more than twice. Grade: A Dominator: I was the only one in my group that enjoyed this one. Others found it too rough, I thought it was a little shaky, certainly more than Bizarro, but not too much that it isn't enjoyable. This one kind of reminds me of Rougarou. The first half is really solid, but the back half is just ok. It was a fun ride but kind of left me wanting more. Grade: B- Rebel Yell: yeah I'm not calling it by the new dumb name... This was fantastic. It was a smooth ride with lots of airtime moments. I really enjoy these older woodies. Obviously not as intense as the GCI's, but they still provide a very fun ride. Grade: B Anaconda: call me crazy, but that was not a bad ride at all. Now it wasn't good either, but based on others' opinions I was expecting this to be down right awful. But I've also not hated the other 2 arrow loopers at CP and KI so it really should be no surprise that I didn't hate this one. I actually thought the slow corkscrews over the water were fun. Grade: C+ Avalanche: I only got on this once and I wish I had more rides because I really enjoyed this. But since volcano was closed we didn't spend much time at that end of the park. Not too intense, and no airtime, but a very enjoyable ride. Grade: C+ Grizzly: now I normally don't mind rough rides, but the roughness of this one was too much for me. The jack hammering that I got on this made is too hard to enjoy. Grade: D Apple Zapple: cute little wild mouse, but nothing special. It was enjoyable but not thrilling. Grade: C I didn't do Backlot or Flight of Fear. I've been on both at KI and I'd rather get rides on I305 and TT than do something I've done before. I also didn't do any flat rides as they didn't have anything I hadn't done before at another park. And even though it was ridiculously hot I didn't get wet. So in closing it was a blast and this might be my 2nd overall favorite park behind Cedar Point.
  5. What do you not like about Roar? And I didn't say El Toro was not intense, just not as intense as I was expecting.
  6. It pulls -2 Gs, sometimes over. Much less and it valleys. If being pushed hard against the restraint and then even harder doesn't feel like airtime to you, that is your opinion, but still it is not technically the same as saying it has little air. Myself, it find it surprising how that doesn't always mean I love it (despite decades waiting for the industry to give it to me), but it is very powerful and bull riding like. Floater air is sometimes freakier and minimally restrained air also. It can also be more sustained because they're not burning potential energy as fast. Also if you didn't ride Toro (or Nitro) (or Batman)at night, suffice to say it makes a big difference. Other than that bit of head scratching, good report! Hmm, ok. I'm still a little confused. I didn't say there wasn't any airtime on the coaster. The moments it had were good, I was just expecting more of them.
  7. Thanks, I am really enjoying the trip, and Kings Dominion has been awesome even though volcano is down.
  8. So while I am sitting here in DC traffic I figure it's a decent time to talk about Six Flags America. We only spent 4 hours here yesterday but I don't think we needed more. It wasn't a beautiful park but not ugly either. I got on 6 of their coasters and I thought they all were very enjoyable. My favorite coaster there was Roar. It's only my second GCI, but man this thing hauled @$$. It was pretty nenes and the airtime was pretty good. It wasn't as smooth as El Toro or Mystic Timbers but it wasn't rough either. I really liked this and it made me really excited to ride Thunderhead at Dollywood. Grade: B Superman: probably the weakest hyper I've ever been on, but still a lot of fun. I appreciate the fact that they tried something totally different with the layout but I would prefer more airtime. Grade: B- Wild One: for being as old as it is it is damn near glossy smooth. I just wish that it did more. I like the one near miss when you drop down after the turnaround and the airtime you get on that drop is really good, in fact I think it's pretty comparable to the air you get on the drop after the MCBR on Steel Vengeance. The helix at the end is also very fun and very forceful. This is a very good ride! Grade: B Joker's Jinx: so I guess this is flight of fear but outside and without stopping halfway through the ride. i really enjoyed this mostly because of how it is just relentless from start to finish. There's no first drop and not a whole lot of airtime so I can't rank it up there with the better coasters I have been in, but I loved it! Grade: B- Batwing: again, not a fan of flying coasters. If this isn't a clone of Firehawk it's pretty similar except it's a lot rougher. I didn't really enjoy this because of the roughness and the fact that it's not intense. Grade: C- Ragin Cajun: just a spinning wild mouse, not a lot to say about it except that it was at least smooth and enjoyable, but certainly not thrilling at all. Grade: C Another thing I would like to mention is how great the employees were at this park. Very enthusiastic, and very friendly. Overall I enjoyed the short visit, and I think this park packs a pretty good punch for its size. Now on to Kings Dominion if we ever get there. Damn you DC traffic!!!
  9. I'm sorry, but I don't understand what you are saying isn't physically possible.
  10. Thanks for the tip on the mountain coasters. That looks like something I would enjoy. I don't think I hyped up El Toro too much. I didn't expect it to be better than Steel Vengeance. But I did expect it to be my #1 woodie, and like I have been saying, I haven't been to too many parks, but it's not even my #2 woodie. And I expected it to be a top 5 coaster overall and it's not. I don't think those are high expectations based on what others have said, especially this site naming it the #1 overall coaster. I thought Mystic Timbers had more airtime, and I wasn't blown away by that one. I had 6 rides on El Toro and it just didn't deliver for me, the airtime was minimal and it was not that intense at alI.
  11. So while I have some time just relaxing in the hotel room I thought it would be a good time to reflect on my Great Adventure and Six Flags America experiences. I had an absolute blast at Great Adventure. I've heard some people call the park ugly. I don't necessarily agree with that. Some parts are certainly less desirable than others. I think the area to the left by El Toro and Kingda Ka were nice. The area you walk through to get to Superman and the stand up coaster is just pavement and reminds me of a typical county fair, which there is nothing wrong with that. But the area around Nitro and Batman could use some work. It looks like they built that section of the park with scrap metal. If they would just paint it or something it would look a whole lot better. Something else that I think is worth mentioning before I get into the rides is the behavior of some of the other guests. I've honestly never heard so much cussing in my whole life. Now I'm no saint, but it seems like with some people the F word was used every 6th word. Obviously this is just one visit but it was far beyond anything at any other park. And it wasn't just young kids, it was adults too. Is it a jersey thing? Philly thing? East coast.. So with that said lets get into the rides, and I may as well start with an opinion that I know will be VERY controversial. El Toro just did not live up to the hype. It's a good ride, but with it being TPR's #1 coaster for 2017 and with a bunch of other folks saying that it's one of the top coasters in the world I expected it to be a top 5 coaster for me (only been to Cedar point, KI, and Kennywood before this) and easily my top woodie. But it is neither. There are 2 categories that make me really love a coaster, intensity and airtime and I was informed that El Toro had a crap load of both, and it had a little of both but not to the extent I was expecting. I thought Thunderbolt at Kennywood was more intense. It was definitely a fun ride, but I wish I didn't go in with the kind of expectations that I did. Grade: B Blizzaro: I really liked this one. Obviously there isn't a lot of air time, that's not what this is designed for, but it was fairly intense. The inversions were fun and it was glossy smooth. Grade: B+ Kingda Ka: this one is as intense as Top Thrill Dragster, but not nearly as enjoyable. The biggest reason is the restraints along with the somewhat rough launch. I ended up banging my chin against the hard restraint. I only rode this twice because they don't allow small objects to be placed in zipped pockets and I wasn't going to waste money buying a locker. I've honestly never seen a more ridiculous policy. I could totally understand if people didn't have a secure pocket to put things in, but for people who have zipped pockets it's completely ridiculous. So I rode in the very front and towards the back. The front is way better, and a lot smoother. The back is when I banged my chin. If they had Maverick style restraints it would be a lot better. Grade: B- Nitro: this one has some unbelievable airtime. And the employees didn't even try to push the lap bar down. They would just tap on it and make sure it didn't come up. Easily the best B&M hyper I've ever been on (out of 2 lol). I can't give it an A because I thought it lacked the kind of intensity I would give an A to, but this was a very enjoyable ride. Grade: A- Batman: another very enjoyable ride, you can't go wrong with a B&M invert. I do however think this one is inferior to the other 2 I have ridden, Banshee and Raptor. I just didn't think it was as out of control or as intense as the other 2, but it's still very enjoyable, very fun, very smooth. Grade: B Joker: this one surprised me. Before I rode this I did not think I was going to like it, but I loved it. It was so disorienting and that made it pretty intense. I just wish it were longer. Grade: B Dark Knight: just a wild mouse indoors, fun, but nothing special. I think the fun thing about a wild. Ouse is the feeling of going over the edge, but on this one you can't see the edge. A lot of people like the show in the queue. I've never seen the newer batman's so I didn't really get it. Grade: C Superman: I'm not the biggest fan of flying coasters but I was excited to see if the B&M ones were better than Firehawk, and I think it is, but not by much. The thrill here I guess is just being on your belly looking straight down, but it just doesn't do it for me. I think it would be better of there were some near miss elements. Grade: C+ Skull Mountain: This one really caught me off guard. It was a lot better than I thought it would be. I ended up riding this 3 times. The first time was in like row 4 because I figured it would be lame, but it was pretty forceful the way it whipped you around. So then I had to ride in the back thinking it would be more intense and I was right. I also think that being in the dark adds to this ride unlike the wild mouse because you don't know which way you will be whipped until it's over, even after a couple rides in a row. Grade: B- So that's all the coasters I rode. I don't ride stand up ones for obvious reasons, so I skipped that one. Plus I skipped the mine train and other family one. I did ride the Ferris wheel and sky screamer. Both were what I expected. Overall the park was very fun and enjoyable, but a tad underwhelming because of El Toro.
  12. Didn't do Noah's Ark. I loved Bayurn Kurve, seemed like I was going a lot faster than I was.Kangaroo was very fun. I got some good pops of air on that. Turtle was ok, nothing special.
  13. ^ ok thanks. I'll try to observe how wet people get on the water rides at Dollywood and then decide if I want to ride. Everyone in the group has already made the decision about the fast pass so we will have it of we need it. If we don't, no big deal. Really looking forward to that park, and the smokey mountains as well. But first, today I finally get on the great El Toro!!!!
  14. Ok so time to talk about Kennywood, not sure where to start, so how about with the park appearance overall. I'm not exactly someone who cares too much about theming, but I appreciate a nice looking park and Kennywoood is as nice as anything I've ever been to. No it's not on a beautiful peninsula surrounded by water like cedar point, but it's still A very unique and beautiful park. I especially loved the unique fountains that the park has. Now on to the rides. Phantoms Revenge: What an amazing ride, this absolutely blew me away. Steel Vengeance might have the most airtime of any coaster, but PR has the best airtime. I was almost literally standing up on all those airtime hills in the back row. The restraint, if you can even call it that, didn't even come down far enough to touch my thighs. And that second drop, yeah, best drop on any coaster I have ever been on. Amazing ride. Grade: A+ Thunderbolt: this is another coaster that blew me away. I could not believe how smooth it was for how old it is. I loved how unique the layout is. A drop right out of the station, and then those turns that send you flying into your riding partner at the end were awesome! It's my new favorite woodie. Better than the Beast IMO, and yes better than the brand new Mystic Timbers. I still cannot get over how smooth it was for an old woodie. This was probably the steel vengeance of its time. I don't usually buy t-shirts for rides, it's not really my thing as I usually only wear them as undershirts and a lot of ride shirts are big bold and in your face with the designs. Normally I like to buy cups, mugs, glasses, shot glasses, etc..but I bought the shirt for this ride. It was red with a bolt down the front and the name. Very classy looking shirt. Grade: B+ Racer: this was a fun ride, probably the roughest of all the woodies here, but still as smooth as a good ride on Blue Streak at Cedar Point, so I wouldn't say it was rough. But not as smooth as Thunderbird or Jack Rabbit. The layout isn't anything special IMO, the racing element was definitely the best part. I'd say it's not as good as Gemini but better (because it's smoother) than the Racer at Kings Island. Grade: C+ Jack Rabbit: I could not believe how smooth this coaster is. for as old as this is it should not be that smooth. Kennywood obviously takes great care of their coasters. The ride itself isn't anything special, very tame. The double down after the lift is pretty special though, especially with only seat belts as a restraint. If that was thrilling for me in 2018 it must have been pretty special when it was built. Grade: C+ Exterminator: like I said before, I'm not really into theming, it doesn't increase the ride experience for me, and this one is all about theming. At the end of the day it was nothing more than a spinning wild mouse. It was fun, but I only rode once. Grade: C Sky Rocket: I liked this one, even though the second half didn't have much imagination. The launch was a fun launch, but I don't understand why they stop you going over the top hat. I think it just wastes all the force from the launch. The inversions are fun, and it's a very smooth ride, a lot smoother than Flight of Fear at Kings island. This could have been a really top notch ride if it had a better second half. Grade: C+ The non coasters were for the most part pretty fun. The large swing ride's are my personal favorite flat ride and while Kennywoods was fun, it wasn't as good as Cedar Points. The Garfield boat ride was unique, and the whip ride was a classic. They claim it's their oldest ride and it was pretty fun. I didn't really care for the Aero 360 ride. It was very uncomfortable. Black Widow was fun, but not as fun as the Huss rides at CP and KI. The food was better than average. The Potato Patch fries were overrated IMO. They were kind of soggy. On the other hand the burger I ate and the pizza I had were pretty darn good for amusement park food. We did purchase their vip skip the line passes, and IMO it was a waste of money. First of all for Phantoms Revenge they don't let you pick your row, they have rows 7 and 6 roped off and saved for VIP guests. the lines were not bad at all 10-15 min) so we just waited with everyone else and were able to ride in whatever row we wanted. The only ride it really saved us time on was Exterminator as that line was easily the longest in the park. I have no idea why. The lines for everything else were 5 minutes at the most so the passes were really useless. I'm not sure if we just got lucky and went on a slow day or of its always like that. The only real negative was the operations. They were quite slow, along with only running one train on Phantoms Revenge. But like I said, the lines were very minimal so it wasn't a huge deal. All in all it was a great time at Kennywood and I'll definitely be back! Great start to the trip. Now I'm just relaxing with family in the middle of nowhere in PA, watching a little World Cup action and looking forward to El Toro and Great Adventure!
  15. We basically have all the time in the world so,we're not going to rush at all. Thanks for all this. The Great Smokey Mountain National park is definitely on our to do list. And we're getting skip the line passes everywhere they are offered so I'm not worried about lines. I'm usually not into water rides if you get absolutely soaked like the ones at cedar point. How wet should I expect to get on those at Dollywood? I'm a teacher so I don't get back to work for a while. And thanks to everyone who wished me a good trip!
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use https://themeparkreview.com/forum/topic/116-terms-of-service-please-read/