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Photo TR: TPR USA Trip 2018


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Hey TPR!

 

I realized that I could use my time on the L for something productive, like putting together a trip report! So it's been a little over a month since the tour ended and there are a lot of great memories to share with everyone here.

 

Thanks to Robb and Elissa for putting together this trip. It was great spending time with you and I appreciate all the time/effort/patience/loss of sleep/communication that went into the 2 week adventure. I hope I helped make your life easier and happier on the tour!

 

So let's see, I think the hype started to build in December. 2018 was due to be a big theme park year for me since I had lost focus roller coasters and without a car it's more difficult to visit certain parks. I think May and June were the toughest months to through because once July it the count down was real!

 

Day 1 - Just get there.

 

Thankfully there was not anything major weather wise going on between Chicago and Atlanta. Once I got to the airport I was quickly made aware of what mother nature was doing in the whole Pennsylvania/NE part of the country with the summer Nor Easter thing going on. Turns out my friend had been stuck there all morning trying to go to NYC and it wasn't looking good for the rest of the day. But everything was on time to ATL so it was time to grab some popcorn and go.

 

I booked my flight months in advanced since it was so cheap and gave myself plenty of time to be able to land and make my way to where the bus pick up was at the ATL airport. Flights didn't cooperate for a good chunk of the rest of the USA since a vast majority of the group were slated to get in unreasonably early with lots of time to kill. Robb and Elissa noticed this and put together a quick Fun Spot stop! They are great at improvising. Talk about saving the day! Check out the other reports to see some photos there.

 

I noticed Russ was in around the same time I was, so I told him we should link up to make our way over to the bus pick up. Shockingly, I think I frightened Russ a little bit because we hadn't met before, but I knew who he was because of the plentiful amounts of photos of him from previous trips If you've ever met Russ you'd probably agree it's a feat to scare him, haha. So already first impressions are going g r e a t.

 

It was cake to take the monorail over and of course, the bus arrived when it was slated to. In this crazy world there are few consistent things. 1 thing without fail is the punctuality of the TPR bus. It will leave when you are told it is going to leave. It will arrive when you are told it is going to arrive. Isn't that great? Yes, yes it is.

 

Sticking to my past TPR experiences, I went towards the back of the bus where I immediately found familiar faces like Laura, Michael, Colin, Andy, and more! We were off to the hotel, a relaxing dinner, and the snack exchange!

 

Thanks a bunch to Ryan for getting the snack exchange together last minute. I think it's fair to say we crushed it and had a little bit of something from all over the USA and some international treats. Tooooons of Universal/Harry Potter/Disney snacks, too. Those were great! I brought a sampling of Chicago popcorn and some multiverse-Rick stickers in case someone couldn't have the snacks I brought.

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Long live the TPR snack exchange. (Credit to Robb)

 

It was a great way to start getting names down, mix up the group, and get QBot teams ready for the first day at Six Flags Over Georgia! My roommate, Andy, and I were on the same page with wake up times so I knew we'd be a great fit. This held true the whole trip and post trip (hey Andy!!)

 

If you don't think Andy can be any cooler you're wrong because he brought Stroopwafels for the snack exchange

 

Day 2 - Six Flags Over Georgia

 

We had a biiiiig day ahead of us starting with early morning filming pre-park opening and post-park ERT on Twisted Cyclone. Today was a pretty mellow day for me since the last time I was at SFOG it was with TPR for the Deep South bash. So needless to say there were a few new rides to check out, but for the most part I was just going with the flow.

 

Filming time starting with the new RMC! I love the filming sessions. It's very simple - listen to Robb's instructions and follow the park's rules. Thanks to Robb's quick set up and improvisation he was able to get lots of different angles of Twisted Cyclone which meant lots of rides for the group!

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Thanks to John for the onrides + Elissa for the offride!)

 

Twisted Cyclone - Such an easy coaster to love. The open seating in the front row gave incredible views, which was so cool with the classic car detail. The progression of elements gets more and more wild throughout the circuit and by the time you hit the brakes everyone is laughing. I ended up enjoying Cyclone more towards the front but I also appreciated how the middle and back provided a slightly different ride.

 

Goliath was second, I think! This is a really solid B&M hyper that bounces around the park and features a helix that you actually feel the g's on.

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Dare Devil Dive was up next! I had already been on this one, but it's impossible to not be intimidated by a vertical coaster with only a lap bar. I wish all the Euro Fighters were able to get this treatment. DDD is a funky coaster that looks more frightening than it actually is. It's really smooth and an easier going than Batman and Blue Hawk if you want a less intense loopy ride at SFOG.

 

...more ERT filming!

 

Mindbender was right around the corner and we were almost able to get all of our group on one train! These sessions provide some really unique opportunities - since the other train was full that gave about 6 or so of us freedom to pick wherever we wanted. Mindbender makes great use of the terrain and takes you through the trees, down into a creek, and a tunnel through a hill while sprinkling in those classic loops and bits of airtime.

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Back row cruuuuuuuu!

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Michael, stop looking at the camera!!! (from Elissa)

 

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Classic TPR moment when 2 different people get pictures of you on the same ride That's Andy for the first and Franklin(!!!) for the other. Franklin photo credit! Put that on the bingo card for future trips.

 

...wait more filming?! This is amazing!

 

Yep, Batman was conveniently close and it seemed like we were doing a pretty good job day 1 that we had time to get some shots on Batman. By that time, it was almost getting to park opening so we went over to group up and grab our QBots.

 

Chris, Ryan, Alex and I decided we make a well rounded group since combined we check off foreigner/big Texas/West Coast/Fresh Coast and headed to the back of the park by Superman.

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Justice League - Everything was working and I think the main thing I recognize about the newer versions of Justice League is the screen resolution. St Louis and Chicago's just seemed a bit blurrier to me, so I was happy I was able to following along better. The fire worked, Joker was on point, and it's a great dark ride/shooter.

 

Superman - It's the original! I like this model best of all because it doesn't seem like you're up that high on the lift since the hill follows you for most of it. Then once you swoop down and pull up for the pretzel loop you realize you're 100ft in the air. Pretty fun!

 

Great American Scream Machine - This ride is not in a great shape at this time. It doesn't look good, the trains are all mismatched, and it's rough. That being said somehow I had a fun bouncy ride on a non wheel seat while I listened to the screaming agony of Alex behind me

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Not a great look, but it was only down for a little bit.

 

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Which lapbar would you like?

 

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We had just leaned of the hot sauce incident.

 

Blue Hawk was a ride I warned people about prior to the trip. It's not a coaster that you should like. It's got all the sketchy boxes crossed off:

*New generic name

*New paint and trains to try and trick if you if the name didn't do it

*Voiceovers in the line and entrance of the line talking about how (づ。◕‿‿◕。)づ~~***~~SMOOTH AND NEW~~***~~ and COMFORTABLE(づ。◕‿‿◕。)づ Blue Hawk is.

 

Pfft, you're not fooling me, Six Flags. This is going to be pitiful. But I'm going to ride it since I'm with the group. And...it did not suck. Six Flags does care about my experience on this Arrow/Vekoma mutation.

 

Whoever worked on this reprofile did a great job. Check out (づ。◕‿‿◕。)づ~~***~~SMOOTH AND NEW~~***~~ and COMFORTABLE(づ。◕‿‿◕。)づ Blue Hawk.

 

At this point we had been explored nearly all of the park and it wasn't even lunch time! We're crushing it, group. We took the scenic route to get around using the Sky Buckets, as you should since this Von Roll installation has been around since 1968.

 

JB's has been a solid option for food at other Six Flags parks, so we decided to eat there. Welp, the easiest way to be reminded that you are in a Six Flags park is to step into a food or beverage establishment. It wasn't even the peak of lunchtime and they were out of "all salad" so that crossed off a third of their menu, leaving burgers and boneless wings. I wasn't trying to eat hot wings at Six Flags Atlanta on a 85*+ day and made the extremely poor, stupid decision of ordering the turkey burger. It's just a frozen patty grilled to perfect mediocrity, I thought. Guys have put up with some crappy food, but this was the absolute worst food item I've been served anywhere. It must have been either boiled or microwaved because there weren't any grill marks or flat top marks. It was leaking some juice or water from the gray puck of probably 30% turkey turkey burger. At least the fries were hot, but the filling was tasteless. Damn even fried food isn't good here. There you have it, your crap Six Flags food story you were expecting. I gladly bought a pretzel later. Moving on!

 

We proceeded to check off a couple things the group hadn't been on yet like Monster Mansion, Mine Ride, Scorcher, and the Flume before they wanted to take advantage of our super close hotel and take a break from the heat. I stuck around and met up with some friends who I'd been on past trip/events with.

 

I hit it off with Jared and Alex and we just roamed the park for a while before taking a break at the bar to have a couple drinks and celebrate Jared's birthday! Time for re-rides on our favorites before ERT.

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Birthday boy picks the next ride.

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We got invited to a party. A monster party! Also: John, before he learned his s i g n a t u r e m o v e

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A quick reminder Atlanta is still the south.

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Six Flags over ...Llamas?!

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No birthday cake, the pretzel is the best we can do.

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This old school flume is so much fun! Let's go again!

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You lied to me, you DO get wet in the front!

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Oh wait it's Atlanta I'll dry off immediately..

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Twisted Cyclone was only a 5 minute wait for most of the day with out flash pass. So let's ride!

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This is when Cyclone really shows off and puts it into a gear you didn't think it had.

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Wave turn!!!! So wavey. Much wavve.

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ERT is starting up! Hey Laura and Paul!

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The Twisted Cyclone crew was amazing!!! Thanks everyone!

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This is what TPR excitement looks like! First park day in the books!

 

The ERT session on Twisted Cyclone which was just heavenly. I rode Cyclone so many times I feel like we're BFFs and I could put down 'Twisted Cyclone' as my emergency contact. Seriously it's an amazing ride. Go out there and ride it as many time as you can. The crew crushed it and were really feeding off our excitement and even joined in for a few rides!

Big shout out to the Six Flags crew that treated us to a memorable time pre/post regular hours. Thanks to R&E for a great start to the trip!

 

Other notes:

*I didn't spend much time take pictures since I had been there before

*Scorcher is still running great despite looking like it could crumble at any second.

*The Flume may be small but it spends the first minute of the course letting you barrel down hill bumping into the sides of the trough. It's a a wild flume.

*The park still has that vintage charm to it that other parks lack

-Zach

Edited by PKI Jizzman
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Nice TR! I remember warning people walking into JB's after we had three people in line in front of us and it had been 20min and we hadn't made it to the counter yet! Maybe someday SF will do what CF did for food at most of their parks and take a real effort to improve both offerings and service.

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Zach's trip report has begun! Rejoice!

 

Agreed with much of your review of the park. Twisted Cyclone was fantastic, JB's was garbage, and I'll take the slightly-less-peeled-apart lap bar, thank you very much.

 

(hey Andy!!)

 

(hey Zach!!)

 

If you don't think Andy can be any cooler you're wrong because he brought Stroopwafels for the snack exchange

 

With thanks to EB (vuurvogel) for starting the idea for me in 2016!

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Dare Devil Dive was up next! I had already been on this one, but it's impossible to not be intimidated by a vertical coaster with only a lap bar. I wish all the Euro Fighters were able to get this treatment. DDD is a funky coaster that looks more frightening than it actually is. It's really smooth and an easier going than Batman and Blue Hawk if you want a less intense loopy ride at SFOG.

 

funny, i don't have any recollection of Dare Devil Dive, the actual ride itself. but will always remember what happened at Dare Devil Dive on the TPR Tour.

 

 

is that a GP next to you? lol, j/k. what up, jeremy?

 

 

 

We got invited to a party. A monster party! Also: John, before he learned his s i g n a t u r e m o v e

 

 

it's still funny to me, but getting pretty long in the tooth. i need to figure out a new one before the next trip/event.

 

The ERT session on Twisted Cyclone which was just heavenly.

 

That was an amazing ERT to start the tour. Just an awesome ride.

 

Great start to your report, Zach!

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Great report! I didn't realize the mismatched trains at GASM since I only dared to ride that once. And that's saying something considering I actually really liked the old Georgia Cyclone even in the very back row.

 

Was that massive pretzel from JB's or somewhere else?

 

Nice TR! I remember warning people walking into JB's after we had three people in line in front of us and it had been 20min and we hadn't made it to the counter yet! Maybe someday SF will do what CF did for food at most of their parks and take a real effort to improve both offerings and service.

 

It amazes me how bad the JB's are at other parks when it's considered the star at Six Flags New England.

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Thanks everyone! More coming soon.

 

 

it's still funny to me, but getting pretty long in the tooth. i need to figure out a new one before the next trip/event.

 

Hahaha, too funny. You just need to visit a couple parks to get inspired! You'll find something. Have fun riding out this current wave.

 

Nice TR! I remember warning people walking into JB's after we had three people in line in front of us and it had been 20min and we hadn't made it to the counter yet! Maybe someday SF will do what CF did for food at most of their parks and take a real effort to improve both offerings and service.

 

Thanks! Yep, our group had just gotten in line. We figured if we only have to wait for 1 thing the whole day it might as well be food. But we didn't anticipate the food to be...that..bad. Woof.

 

Was that massive pretzel from JB's or somewhere else?

 

Yep! There was one lonely pretzel rotating for what seemed like hours, and while we wanted the pretzel, we were not going to pick that one So they made a fresh one. Hooray one positive SFOG food note!

 

If you don't think Andy can be any cooler you're wrong because he brought Stroopwafels for the snack exchange

 

With thanks to EB (vuurvogel) for starting the idea for me in 2016!

 

When you can fall back on Stroolwafels for dinner when Wendy's is closed, that's a beautiful thing.

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Day 3 - Testing SuperPowers

 

With one RMC in the books it was time to head out to our next stop - Carowinds. This isn't just the RMC tour. It's the RMC and more tour. What's a part of more? 3 giga coasters! All vastly different from each other and needless to say we were excited to greet the first of the trip.

 

This was a good down day coming off of a 14 hour SFOG day. The bus is fantastic and makes even a 5 hour drive go by quick - plenty to see out the clean windows, endless AC, and outlets to keep everyone happy.

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No poopin' in here!!!

 

Lots of time on the bus was important today because it was time to collect your thoughts and make a guess for Jared's Merch Madness. For those of you who don't know, Jared loves to collect t shirts from all the parks he visits. Lots of them. But much less than my initial guess I'm a dumbass.

 

We had an hour lunch stop and given our location outside of Spartanburg, I knew there was bound to be some good BBQ in walking distance. I like to think one of my super powers is finding a hidden gem to eat/drink. Chicago has really sharpened my restaurant-detective skills and within a few minutes I had found something promising.

 

Carolina BBQ! http://www.mycarolinabbq.com/

Carolina BBQ to be featured on a German TV channel.

Yep the famous German TV one!

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With the hour time limit, I knew BBQ would be perfect. It's already smoked. You just go get it. Once I got close I knew it was legit because the aroma of delicious smoke was somehow overpowering the exhaust of 100+ cars at the crowded intersection, haha.

 

This place is cute and homey, right down to the stereotypical motherly waitress with the big southern accent that says "Thank-yew vurry much sweet pea" way too many times. The BBQ was some of the best I've ever had and it came with slaw, orka, hush puppies, and a tea. Of course it was all for under $10. There were plenty of sauces to try, too - including Cheerwine sauce. Yeah I'll be stopping here anytime I possibly can. I paid and was able to make it back to the bus with 20 minutes to spare.

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We only had an hour or so to Carowinds and the skies started to darken up, all to familiar to my quick stop in May where the radar looked like a piece of abstract art. Well, looks like this was going to be the case. BUT we aren't just your normal group of coaster enthusiasts, we have someone special.

 

We have Andy:

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Super powers: expert weather predictor, mother nature whisperer, Ghostbuster of storms.

 

First off, when we arrived we some how dodged rain. While we waited for Fast Lane and wristbands, we still didn't get rained on. That would have been brutal trying to get into the park in the middle of a storm. We knew storms were in the area so we all found indoor rides/shopping/the bar.

 

The bartender at Carowinds in Harmony Hall was great, and kept many of us entertained while the rides were down. They had a great selection of mixed drinks and beers. It was about 6:30 or so that rides started to open up, so we hit up some favorites while we could.

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Get your credits in, Carowinds noobies!

 

Afterburn - I'm a huge fan of this invert and for a good 30 minutes there was no one in line, it was like mini ERT. The zero G is my favorite element with that crazy wing over between the trees being a close second.

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This part

 

Storms moved back in for a bit, which was totally fine since it gave everyone time to get another drink and some food. When I pick food at a theme park I try to go for the food that's hard to mess up - fried food, something simply grilled like a burger, or BBQ. People rrrrrrrraaaaaave about Harmony Hall and I was excited to double up on BBQ today and get pulled pork for dinner. Welp, it must have been an off day because the pulled pork was really weak. It was edible, but nothing close to what they have set their expectations to be. Oh well! The beer is great and that makes up for it.

 

It was getting dark and the storms were clearing up once again (thanks Andy!!!) so it looked like we could all get in 90 minutes of riding before Fury ERT. I was talked into riding Hurler and woah, who fixed this ride up?! It was not bad at all. Not quite Racer 75 smooth, but totally fine. I also fell for the new shiny boomerang trains. Curiosity got the best of me, wanting to try out the new Vekoma set up but it was still a crappy boomerang I nearly forgot about that with all of the Fury and Afterburn love.

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Hey Brad and Franklin!

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TPR giving Intimidator some love!

 

Fury for an hour was so much fun. It's one of the easiest coasters to ride over and over again. This made it a favorite for a lot of people on the tour! I really like Fury because I can hang over the side, lean left and right, pretty much just take advantage of the freedom those B&M clamshells give you. Combine that with an hour of riding I'm pretty sure I got every angle I could on the hills, turns, and that special diving wave turn/treble clef.

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Bzzzzzzzzz Fury 3 2 5 E R T

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Fury looks amazing at night.

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MERCH MADNESS HAS BEGUN!!! (Robb photo credit!)

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Big shout out to the crew. Thanks for all the rides!

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Bye Fury, see you next year!

 

After an hour of Fury, some of us weren't ready for bed yet so we took over the late night window at Cook Out once we got to the hotel. What is Cook Out? It's a quick service restaurant that serves up shakes, fries, burgers, chicken, all of your favorite foods. For cheap!!! https://cookout.com/menu/ You can get a combo with 2 sides for like, $5. Or floats. Or just a gallon of Cheerwine. TPR loves Cook Out and this won't be the last you see of it!

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Yes, these prices are real. This is a real place. I don't know how it's so cheap and so good just go find the closest Cook Out!

 

That'll cap day 3.

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Loving the report so far! Carowinds is a huge bucket list park for me, I've been to Charlotte so many times and I've never been to the park once. Go Hornets baby.

 

Also, HOLY SH*T COOKOUT IS AMAZING. I wish we had some down here in the Sunshine State, but what can you do. Big Double Cheddar style, large fries, and a Cheerwine float or GTFO.

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great update, Zach.

 

love seeing all the pics, especially of the stuff like the BBQ place, and Cookout walkup window (which I heard about, but I think I did laundry at this stop, instead of eating again)

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The bus is fantastic and makes even a 5 hour drive go by quick - plenty to see out the clean windows, endless AC, and outlets to keep everyone happy.

 

How great is our bus? And how great is our bus driver?

 

We have Andy:

Super powers: expert weather predictor, mother nature whisperer, Ghostbuster of storms.

 

You forgot to mention "funnel cloud myth debunker" but the rest of that is 100% correct and verifiable.

 

Sure, we may have had a couple "lightning within a 10 mile radius" delays, but hey...

 

Fury for an hour was so much fun. It's one of the easiest coasters to ride over and over again. This made it a favorite for a lot of people on the tour! I really like Fury because I can hang over the side, lean left and right, pretty much just take advantage of the freedom those B&M clamshells give you.

 

You're the pioneer of the "throw yourself off the side of the train, look straight down, and watch the structure of the lift hill disappear beneath you" technique. But that's too long a name so we'll just call it the Zach.

 

Big shout out to the crew.

 

I know someone who had an even bigger shout out to the crew!

 

...some of us weren't ready for bed yet so we took over the late night window at Cook Out once we got to the hotel.

 

Late-night post-coastering euphoria, thy name is Cook Out. Great spot for after-hours hush puppies, shakes, and parking lot makeouts.

 

(that last part wasn't any of us, I promise)

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Fury for an hour was so much fun. It's one of the easiest coasters to ride over and over again. This made it a favorite for a lot of people on the tour! I really like Fury because I can hang over the side, lean left and right, pretty much just take advantage of the freedom those B&M clamshells give you.

 

You're the pioneer of the "throw yourself off the side of the train, look straight down, and watch the structure of the lift hill disappear beneath you" technique. But that's too long a name so we'll just call it the Zach.

 

I like to think of it as simply being in my element, haha ...combined with the realization of being able to re-ride this incredible coaster with a train full of people just as happy as you are on a perfect summer night

 

and a Cheerwine float or GTFO.

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Great report so far! My kind of trip report, with plenty of awesome (and horrible) food to go with the coasters! I'm looking forward to seeing the rest, as much as it's making me regret not being able to make this tour!

 

...I NEED to try that Cheerwine sauce someday.

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Great report so far! My kind of trip report, with plenty of awesome (and horrible) food to go with the coasters! I'm looking forward to seeing the rest, as much as it's making me regret not being able to make this tour!

 

...I NEED to try that Cheerwine sauce someday.

 

Thanks Fox! They sell sauce by the bottle in the store, but they didn't have the Cheerwine available yet otherwise I would have grabbed some for fellow Cheerwine fans. The website does say they have it in bottles now so next time you're in the area you can grab some.

 

 

Day 4 - Evening at Busch Gardens

 

This starts the part of the trip that I'll talk about things a bit more and have more pictures to show off because there's lots of new/firsts for me! We took off from our spot north of Charlotte and headed up towards the East Coast. We had another eventful stop in the middle North Carolina and got into Williamsburg with great timing.

 

0.jpg.78e276ac3ffde7cf9f4b597f5e8a87e1.jpgGood morning. Here's a picture of this weird ass mirror covered boost mobile store in the middle of nowhere North Carolina. Stay boosted NC!

 

1(alb).thumb.jpg.d7e828cf1565137a80ff5e573d28ae5f.jpgGood afternoon. HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO GET THE ARBYS MEATS IF WE CAN'T GET IN?? (Albert photo credit)

 

2.thumb.jpg.eae61747d8508451488fdc77d7134f64.jpgGood afternoon from the faith and family DVD section in Walm LOOK OUT MOSES, PENNYWISE HAS BREACHED THE FAMILY AND FAITH SECTION FROM THE HORROR SECTION

 

3(alb).thumb.jpg.e37136a0e6307757928c9bfb2e9beed3.jpgand now we have sharks attacking us! Let's get the f*********** out of here to BGW! Everyone on the bus let's gooooo! (Albert photo credit)

 

Okay, we arrived! First impressions - Living in a big city has made me appreciate the outdoors more. Chicago might have Millennium Park but that's nothing compared to what other cities like San Francisco or New York have to offer. Williamsburg was heavily wooded with that delicious rich southern pine scent. I immediately loved the setting.

 

It took no time to go from the hotel over to the park. Effortless. We had a super fun 2 days tickets since we were spending the evening and the following morning/afternoon at the park. And whew. It. Was. Hot. Humid. Muggy. Heavy. I'm confident in saying everyone on the trip was prepared for heat but today it was just plain gross out. I hadn't felt that level of heat + humidity in a while.

 

All that excess sweat and sun didn't matter because I was on cloud 9 being in a NEW PARK! BGW had been on my bucket list for some time since it's been 9+ hours away from me my whole life. This is why I'm here! Wooo yeahhhhh TPR USA 2018 trip! We got a good introduction to the park since we had to meet up with BGW relations at Invadr for our ERT wristbands. That put us in the back of the park, so we ventured over to the Oktoberfest area.

IMG_20180727_105147.thumb.jpg.60e1f0d060a0e328ba0317f26aed26ea.jpgOne of the first sights in the park.

 

6.thumb.jpg.7abe64b9b9abffd51d80b85a8d980ef0.jpgGreat first impressions!

 

Verbolten was testing empty trains, so we started things off at Mach Tower since it was a walk on and simply, it was operating. For so many years this ride had such an awful reputation so I wasn't going to miss an opportunity to ride it. First off, what is up with the restraints? I'm a little guy and they still pinched my arms to the plastic side of the car. They are over the shoulder restraints but the way the seat hugs up against your body is just so bizarre. After a beautiful, lengthy trip to the top you're treated to an enormous view of the James river and all the inlets of water surrounding. It's one of the best views on a drop tower and the drop is A+ as well. It's easy to forget that this is one of the larger drop towers out there. I really really liked this ride despite the uncomfortable over the shoulder restraints.

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2002050828_5bgwyt.thumb.JPG.26d6ef4d54c00ece6093f8905e9ddd76.JPGEven the people in the Mach Tower promo video are confused as to why the over the shoulder restraints are so uncomfortable. But damn it's a good tower.(BGW Youtube)

 

A quick stop in the Festhaus to check out the dinner options but the line was absolutely massive, so we checked off our .40 cent beer credits, still too much for Coors light and I grabbed a better beer on the way out. We walked across the bridge to the Italy section of the park where we browsed some dinner options, but there were still some coasters to check out first.

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9.thumb.jpg.8230f8e6fe8c656ccd05860d2d38b5e0.jpgYeah this place is beautiful.

 

Apollo's Chariot! Of all the B&M hypers I've ridden I like them all about the same, but Apollo would be the one that sticks out as too tame. I mean, come on, you know what you're getting with a B&M hyper but even the pre-drop couldn't give the train a boost to lift me out of the seat. That being said, it's still a fun ride with a divine setting. The drop over the river, the helix with deer, and twisty bits towards the end of the ride were all good. Apollo is the first B&M hyper built back in 1999 and it gives you everything you want - little tunnels, a lengthy out and back trip, comfortable trains. It's easy to see why families love this coaster.

12.thumb.jpg.4f8e10de85a72658d213652ef55a24aa.jpgApollo I know you're the god of light and sun and all but give us a break here!

11.thumb.jpg.f7a4f3e8cc4d7de0b29e677db9c8094e.jpgHello from the surface of the sun! We all dumped the water on our heads after this photo.

 

A re-ride was tempting, but the operations weren't 100% and we didn't want to wait in the sun for another Apollo ride. Tempesto was firing off trains pretty quickly, so we went over there for a station wait.

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Tempesto - The coaster that just kind of showed up at BGW I was about to type "aren't comfort collars the worst?" until I remembered that no, the worst is being stuck waiting behind a parent forcing their bawling child to ride a coaster. There are plenty of things I witnessed on the trip that made me shake my head, but this is one thing that really bugs me. Following the "does this affect me in any way?" rule, we just kinda let it happen and thankfully the girl didn't seem too traumatized when they got back into the station.

I love Premier coasters! I didn't love Tempesto! It just didn't do much for me and I felt like I was riding a Vekoma flyer. Fast, slow, fast, twist, slow, fast, slow is pretty much what I got from the ride. That experience combined with the loose article policy prevented me from riding again. I'd love to check out the models with the friendlier trains.

 

Dinner time at Marco Polo grill! We almost didn't get to have the dinner that we wanted - the Mediterranean beef. The station was out of pretty much everything and we were first told that there were only veggies left when it was just Alex Michael and I, but when the rest of the group showed up after browsing the options the guy took back what he said and went in the back and brought out a beautifully seasoned slab of medium cooked beef. It came with potatoes, pita, salad, and was f******* delicious. Really glad the guy double checked with the kitchen because this was the best theme park food I've had!

14.jpg.e59c38b985b76cf0ec859541d592b2eb.jpgSeriously some of the best theme park food I've had. (bgwfans photo credit)

 

After taking a lap around towards the front of the park, we ran into Loch Ness Monster. The did a great job with the effects in the tunnel that they put in for the 40th anny. So, riding it for the first time in 2018. What else can I say about Loch Ness other than it's a coaster that I felt a sense of accomplishment in riding but not much desire to re-ride. It's like a mine train with loops. I'm glad I got to ride it, but I'd rather admire it off ride than on ride

15ryan.thumb.jpg.99657e0347a29ec8458e2a0db460066b.jpgRyan took this brilliant photo. Loch Ness looks great!

 

At this point the day was starting to wind down, so we let Jared shop a bit to figure out our next move and took the sky ride over to Griffon.

00.thumb.jpg.e53c6926cb9eed35f4db3601276a8dcd.jpgLaura and I love the sky ride because we can say hello to our bovine friend below.

 

1145540105_37854364_1974120972622841_3077846664656977920_n(alex).thumb.jpg.60c52a739311319ca76664cd999b8264.jpgI'll call this "Two Guys Touching A Pole With Thumbs Up" Love ya Michael and Chris

 

984101245_37782668_1973901392644799_3100522833554440192_n(alex).thumb.jpg.933b117276d27776c2c0acaf36348c60.jpg***airhorn******airhorn******airhorn*** Merch Madness update Jared is on a roll! ***airhorn******airhorn******airhorn***

 

37812902_1974120799289525_882496439366713344_n(alex).thumb.jpg.5236ce3ead86e82e480b3818445ba26b.jpgAnd now you have to carry your truck load of shirts around in the heat. Smart move

 

Ahhh Griffon, how I had been looking forward to a dive coaster without the vest restraints. Of course I really like this ride! The view overlooking the Budweiser brewery and the James river is fantastic, the drop with just the OTSR is fun, the drop down to the river was great, and the little bump into the splashdown was fun as well. I could re-ride this coaster all day (foreshadowing!).

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Everything about the B&M dive coaster track/trains is so neat to look at in person.

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20180726_204928.thumb.jpg.075200ba03044fdd271472655d248de0.jpgNailed itttt!

 

By now the heat had gone from 100* to probably 90* Yeah we were all hot messes for our ERT session on Invadr. Invadr! It's a GCI. It has a tunneled first drop which is a unique choice and I actually really enjoyed the initial drop for my first couple of rides because you couldn't really see where the drop ended at night. This was a memorable ERT session and I'd like to thank Robb for keeping count of my rides, I would have been lost without you Robb! Our ERT was 30 minutes and that was the perfect amount of time because by the end of it I had never wanted a shower more in my life. It was that hot and humid.

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The Holiday Inn Express we stayed at was great. Highly recommend to anyone who wants to go to BGW (https://www.ihg.com/holidayinnexpress/hotels/us/en/williamsburg/wbgbg/hoteldetail)

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Day 5 - Look out for ze black fhorest yah?

 

The next morning we were treated to filming sessions on Griffon, Alpengeist, and Apollo. Big thanks to Robb and Elissa for their efforts on working with BGW to make this happen. There's nothing like starting the day off with the park to ourselves. Also the early start helped out with heat for real! It seemed like everyone was able to chill out and have a drink/see a show/relax before we left and that's definitely because we were able to get rides on the big 3 before the park even opened.

1.thumb.jpg.71d0ac5de910fc5809c6a729f76b75da.jpgGood morning Griffon! We all filled the train and switched seats every cycle giving plenty opportunities to ride left/right/front/back.

 

1.5.thumb.jpg.7edb4bd18d3c7a7d3d5ae59d69df312e.jpgNew remix: "We are IN the log flume"

 

On over to Alpengeist! My first time on this massive old school B&M invert! With all the RMC's, 300ft+ coasters, and new parks on this trip I had forgotten to ride it on day 1. I've seen pictures of this legendary coaster since a kid so I was pretty pumped up to ride. And yeah, Robb's rider cam caught my reaction perfectly, haha.

0.jpg.78e276ac3ffde7cf9f4b597f5e8a87e1.jpgGuess who's never been on Alpengeist before. (Robb photo credit!)

 

It's a very solid invert! The snappyness doesn't bother me on any B&M I just hug that OTSR nice and tight and ..yeah that's my trick, haha. I honestly did not know what it did post MCBR and zero g, so I was taken by surprise with the low to the ground elements. It's not my favorite, it's not my least favorite. It does feel like you're eye to eye with Griffon on top of that lift and that's such an interesting feeling on an invert.

0000.thumb.jpg.720765f0b315d3d2d60ca78c967782f3.jpgSeriously impressive structure.

 

We took a trip through the Oktoberfest over to Apollo for some filming and we got sooooo many rides on Apollo! Thanks BGW! It's not my favorite hyper, but it's still a really enjoyable ride. There's really nothing to not like or offend anyone. I rode in the front, back, middle, left, right it seriously felt like we had this ride for over an hour.

000.thumb.jpg.1c4574bb8b270e3b548508ffb82fd77d.jpgThe Apollo crew was awesome! They were really sweet to us.

4.thumb.jpg.b8bb3a020b44cfaf7f7d3d9c3f32e482.jpgIt's smooth, it's fast, it's like whatever the Greek version of cappuccino and biscotti (Andy photo)

 

5.thumb.jpg.9570a0fb75027a5d6a809daa6aa7293a.jpgB&M ERT pfftt it's all about big ass fan ERT!!!

 

2(andy.thumb.jpg.b74511e76ae79e3cc25c63409d04aeba.jpgOh no did Alex get Fabio'd??? (Andy photo)

 

3.thumb.jpg.a9002996c538c58e644a0cad3de29e9c.jpgNope he looks perfectly normal.

 

At that point we only had 2 things left to accomplish - Le Scoot and Verbolten. After we picked up our fast pass, we went over to check on Le Scoot because KT wanted to ride and Jared/Chris/Michael/Collin/Alex and I were all about that plan. Le Scoot didn't open 'till noon so we checked on Verbolten. I honestly forget if that was open or not, I don't think it was yet so we just got a pretzel and hung out for a moment before getting to Le Scoot at opening. Also somewhere in that time frame the 8 of us rode Invadr because Elissa was really upset she missed out on the ERT the night before

 

Eventually Verbolten opened. Going into Verbolten the coaster was kind of an after thought to me. I didn't know too much about the ride - I knew what trick it had in the building, but wow I was pleasantly surprised by this ride.

 

**Spoiler, skip if you don't want to know what happens***

 

There was just so much more that went on in the building than anyone could have convinced me. Even on Mach Tower I didn't notice the indoor building. It looks tiny! But there's a solid airtime hill in there along with a good bit of twistyness. The drop track was great, so that was 2 unexpected moments of airtime that I wasn't ready for. Then, the launch out of the building had a nice kick!

***Okay you're good.

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The drop down from the bridge was a great way to pay homage to BBW, and there are some nice twisty bits to end the ride. Overall when it's running, it's an impressive coaster. I can totally see why it has downtime with a number of launch portions, the drop track, lots of block sections, etc. Also there are 5 or 6 trains running? Well done BGW. Verbolten ended up being one of the biggest surprises of the trip for me and is my favorite BGW coaster by far.

9.thumb.jpg.8230f8e6fe8c656ccd05860d2d38b5e0.jpgTrains or cars? I don't know!

 

It was right about beer o'clock since we were leaving in a few hours and BGW has an impressive selection. I got the Chesapeake Pale Ale per Chuck's recco.

Snapchat-1481614249.thumb.jpg.387d8541b8468006aeb2f589c82b5801.jpgThanks Chuck! Great to see you!!

 

37854411_2537808850582_843835690683727872_n.thumb.jpg.ad45e4d1ffbf3f15d78b000475a53011.jpgI can't believe I met larrygator in real life. Larry! Nice meeting you! Hope to see you again soon.

 

We took a lap around the park for more sky rides and to just take in the park.

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Jolly jolly jolly.

 

The walk through the bird exhibit was really well done. You got really close to some exotic birbs.

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20180727_161121.thumb.jpg.6bc13d4d39cd2a7274e7d2c578545f9f.jpgNot in the bird exhibit but beautiful birb!!

 

Can't forget about the train! We made the whole lap around the park.

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Seems like the whole crew ended up at the pub in Ireland which was an oasis from the heat with plenty of different drink options. From there it was time to leave so we headed out for our drive to the Doswell area where I had an unfortunate date with Virginia style sushi

 

This update turned out to be way bigger than I thought! Thanks for reading!

-Zach

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Edited by PKI Jizzman
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great update! with some really good pictures.

 

I thought y'all went by to see the Clydesdales too. . did only my group of folks do that on this visit?

 

Somehow I missed the walk thru Bird exhibit, so thanks for the pictures of that. . LOL. . that exotic Chicken bird is so pretty - and tasty too

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I thought y'all went by to see the Clydesdales too. . did only my group of folks do that on this visit?

 

Thaaaanks bert. We went by multiple times because it's pretty much part of the walkways, so it was cool to see them! The last thing I want with that oppressive heat and humidity is to stand in line next to a stinky stable

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