Skycoastin' Steve's 2011 Season Extravaganza!!

[Skycoastin SteveFive babies drowned in a fire]

Moving right along on my quest for my 300th credit, just a mere 4 days after my rampage down the Jersey Shore, I was on a plane for Orlando. Upon landing in Orlando, paiging_jen and I made a nice little mid-day trip to SeaWorld for some fun in the sun (and as it would turn out, a little more credit whoring later in the day). Overall, I still love SeaWorld, and Manta and Kraken are still both my favorites in their respective categories (yes, I like Manta better than Tatsu).

On a side note, we had a hall of fame moment while enjoying some ice cream during our day. After sitting down at our table, we noticed a couple enthusiasts come out of the ice cream shop behind us (enthusiasts are so easy to spot), and they sat down at the next table over. Almost immediately after sitting down, all we heard was them whining and complaining about Robb and TPR. It was the usual complaints against Robb and the site, but it made us laugh that some dorks were taking time out to complain about internet things while they were at a park as nice as SeaWorld. And they went on for a solid 15 minutes, maybe longer. The grip that this site has on the people that have been banned from it is just hilarious!

Anyway, onto the photos...........

[Skycoastin SteveFive babies drowned in a fire]

And now it's time for Cheetah Hunt's opening day!

This would cap off a pretty whirlwind week for me, one that included SFGAd, 9 Shore parks, SeaWorld Orlando, and now BGT. And unless I'm mistaken, I do believe I was the first person to ride both Green Lantern at its new location and Cheetah Hunt! Not that it matters, but I thought it was a pretty cool feat.

As most of you probably already know, Cheetah Hunt didn't open until about 2 on Friday, so we were forced to kill some time up until then. We checked out the cheetahs in their new habitat, looked at the rest of the usual animals, fed some kangaroos, rode some rides, and took some pictures. As for the ride itself, we waited just a hair under two hours to get on, and we rode in the 2nd row to avoid waiting yet another 30 minutes for the front row. I personally thought the ride was a lot of fun. Much like everyone else, I don't think it had the most thrills in the world, but the launches were actually surprisingly good for not being the fastest, and the airtime was abundant! As for right now, it's sitting at #24 in my rankings, but we'll see if that goes up or down as the season goes on and I ride other coasters and/or ride CH again.

Just a cool little side story, while we were standing over on the bridge under the middle of the ride, we passed by Jim Dean as he was shooing a black snake off the pathway. He chatted us up for a little while about the ride and what we thought of it, about the park's vision for the ride and how well it turned out, how they intentionally made it quieter as to not disturb the animals, and he was excited to hear that I had flown all the way down from Virginia just to ride it! I thought it was very cool that the park president was standing out in the park and talking to people about the ride as they passed by. He was almost like a proud father watching his child go to its first day of kindergarten. Every park needs a president like that!

Anywho, now on to the pictures.

[paiging_jenWhen I grow up, I want to breed donkeys!]

According to my friend's mom, this element looks like "two martini glasses"

My mom's a bit of a lush, what can I say!

[BarryHHe's kind of sad and pathetic]

Ssssssssssssooooooooooooooooooooooooo then...jen is just a friend?

Hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...

[Skycoastin SteveFive babies drowned in a fire]

^

I may have just unleashed the hounds.

[JakizleI had sex with N-Tag before you did.]

Man I can't wait to get back and ride CH....Can it be August already? (yeah I know, I have NTAG).

By the way almost everyone I know prefers Manta to Tatsu...myself included

[BarryHHe's kind of sad and pathetic]

^Well, some hot women might go for you since you and Jen are only friends. I'm just thinking of you, man.

Heehee...

[aimsterthe ghost seems to think there is a "Donkey Fairy"]

Oh man that was YOU I met before the rope drop! I was the chick who commented on your Club TPR shirt and showed off my Club TPR lanyard.

All the cheetahs currently residing in the Cheetah Run are females, seven sisters to be exact.

Actually there are 14 or 15 cheetahs total in the habitat, but they're rotated out and kept in distinct social groups. I guess the ones you saw were the seven sisters. There's at least one male at Cheetah Run. His name is Steelman. He's the largest male there... Cheetah Gifts has a section of artwork for sale done by Steelman (paw prints of course). The info thing by the art display says he loves to interact with guests and his trainers.

[Skycoastin SteveFive babies drowned in a fire]

^^^Yeah, having NTAG, I don't feel pity for you at all! Plus, by August, maybe the line won't be 2-3 hours on a regular basis at CH.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who prefers Manta over Tatsu. Sure, Tatsu has the stats and all, but Manta is a much more complete ride. Other than the preztel loop, everything about Manta is better than Tatsu.


^Ahhhhh, didn't know that about the cheetahs. I only really caught small tidbits during the times when the trainers were talking to the crowds at Cheetah Run.

I'm also surprised to see you waited that entire time for CH to open. There's no way I could have waited in the sun that long, I would have thrown in the towel long before 2:00 rolled around.

[BarryHHe's kind of sad and pathetic]

^I, too, prefer Manta over Tatsu and Superman: Ultimate Flight. Superman has the preztel loop and then meanders over the rest of the course. Tatsu is good, but not as cool as Manta. I like how Manta dives close to the ground. The back row in Manta will kick your A$$. Best part: Manta is not at SFMM!