thrillrider Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 (edited) We just got back from our mid America trip. The trip was cut short due to our transmission going out in the middle of nowhere Missouri. I just got the trans rebuilt 4 months ago, so needles to say I was not too happy. And of course it had to happen in the middle of no mans land. Anyway, the car is being shipped back home, and we were still able to hit several parks. The parks we were able to hit were... 1.Cedar point 2.Kings Island 3.Coney Island 4.Strickers grove 5.Six flags St louis 6.Worlds of fun And the St Louis Arch as well. I have already posted a ton of cp and ki pictures in the past, so I will not post too many on this trip report. We were able to ride both windseekers in one day. To be honest, I am not too impressed with windseeker. It was kinda boring, but they both had great views and great light shows. I will post several updates to this trip report, as there are several parks. Windseeker is now open at cedarpoint. The Jhonsonville grill was there for the holiday This was the first time in years that I actually saw the blacksmith working. The latest buzz is that the riverboat ride is going away next year. I really hope it stays, as it's always a nice break from the park and it's something we can all ride together. We gave str another chance. We did not get nearly as wet this time around, but the new policy regading bags is just stupid. They now make you bring your bags with you on the ride now. This years shows. Edited July 31, 2011 by thrillrider Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thrillrider Posted July 13, 2011 Author Share Posted July 13, 2011 Over at Kings Island and coney Island.... It looks like the sponge bob 3-d movie was replaced by this. But it's gonna cost you $2 to see. Due to time, we did not get to check out the dino attractions this trip. We ended the short night at kings island with the july 4th fireworks show from the top of the tower. The best seat in the house for the fireworks show. The next morning, we paid a visit to coney island. Besides the rides, they also have a small water park and a HUGE pool. I spy a new credit... The python is a small coaster that has a big punch. Ride sign. Station shot. The flying bobs is an OLD ride. Yep....old One last look at the bobs The roll o plane is a blast. The park has a lot of these paintings. Bumper cars are always fun. The area is prone to flooding, and there are markers to show you just how high the water gets when it floods. The pirat boat ride. This has got to be the best ride in the park. It's just pure crazy. As you can see, the park was quite slow for a 4th of july weekend. There were a few light showers in the am, but cleared up. My daughter had the park to herself. The games area. Scrambler. Fun house mirrors. I think this was the new ride for this year....at least it looked new. In the arcade, they had some great pictures of the history of coney island. Believe it or not, the park used to be fairly large and had a bunch of coasters. But due to the river flooding, they moved the park to what is now known as kings Island. The parks drop tower. Merry go round. This is one of the last remaining buildings from the old coney island. Tilt a whirl and slide. The landscaping in the park was great. The lay of the land. Random menu. The trabant doing it's thing. This ride was quite good for it's kind. The park also has a show. Ferris wheel. The ride is kinda hidden from the rest of the park. The super round up was the last ride of the day at coney island. Coney island is a nice little park worth checking out. Now it's time to head out to strikers grove. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thrillrider Posted July 13, 2011 Author Share Posted July 13, 2011 Strickers grove.... I have been trying to get the 2 credits at this park for quite awile now. The park is only open to the public a few days each year, and we just happened to be in the neiborhood on one of those days. It's a really nice little park that can be done in an hour or less. The park has 2 wooden coasters, one of them is a kiddie coaster that reminds me of the one at kings island. The tornado wooden coaster was a nice surprise. It had several spots of airtime, and was longer than I expected it was going to be. The park also has a nice flat ride package. They are in the process of adding a huss pirat boat ride for next year. The ride was half put together. The park is not far from kings island(about a half hour), so if your near the park when it's open I recommend checking it out. We used the tom tom gps to get us to the park. This is where the dum dum told us the park was. After a short drive, we have arrived. What you see as soon as you get into the park. This way to the rides. On the way to the rides, they have a few food stands and a arcade. If you go into the arcade and take a picture of the shooting gallery, don't use a flash because it will set off all the targets. The first ride you come to is the merry go round. Here is the entrance to the main midway. First things first....tickets. Next year, the park will have a pirat boat. There are a buch of kiddie rides in here. Ferris wheel. The "tip top". Scrambler. Our first stop of the day was on the teddy bear. It reminds me a lot of the kiddie wood coaster at kings island, or michigans adventure. Station shot. View from the front seat. Turnaround. Lift hill. Right next to the coaster, they have a mini golf course. Typical roundup ride. Only with a differant name. Flying eagles. New for 2012 will be the pirat boat. A closer look. It's a truck mount version. Not quite ready yet. And yes, there are boobs. The main attraction of the park is the tornado. Station shot. Front seat pov shot. Lift hill. View of the train. I love the buzz bars. The brake run. The tornado only runs 1 train. An overview of the coaster. Nothing like a cold fountain on a hot day. The park also has a tilt a whirl. A kiddie whip. And a flying dumbo ride. This is one of the picinic shelters that the park has. They were also building this large barn when we were there. Is it for a ride, or something else?...hmmm That's it from strikers grove...next stop is the ST Louis arch and six flags ST Louis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thrillrider Posted July 13, 2011 Author Share Posted July 13, 2011 What?...No comments? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amy Baby Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 Despite our issues with the van, we made the most out of it and the memories of the trip will stay in my head for quite some time. Kate and I had a blast in the fountain at Worlds Of Fun!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thrillrider Posted July 14, 2011 Author Share Posted July 14, 2011 Todays update takes place at the St Louis arch. On the way to the arch, I had to fuel up and the sky just opend up. Before I could even start pumping gas, there were 3 inches of rain water at my feet. It was raining that hard. We had to pass thrue 2 states to get to the arch. Maybe later this year. Getting close. You have to cross the mississippi river to get there. We finnaly made it. You really have no idea how tall the arch actually is, untill you are right next to it. The entrance is at the base of the arch. History With tickets in hand, we headed to the weird elevator. You pass thrue a small display on your way to the elevator. The elevator is a small pod about the size of a porta john. But somehow we managed to all fit inside. Once at the top, this is what you will see. The views from the top are amazing. Here are just a few..... Looking straight down This way back down. The elevator has widows to look out on your way up and down. on the ground, they have an upcharge Imax film. We skipped it due to time. There is also a a nice museum as well. They have some animatronic displays. They even have a section for ace members to enjoy. A tribute to the people that built the arch. They even have a gift shop. This is an exact replica of the elevator that brings you to the top. They also have several other tours you can take while there. Looking up from under the arch. Is it just me, or would the arch make one hell of a ripcord attraction? That's all from the arch. Next stop is six flags St Louis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amy Baby Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 Nice pics!!! I really want to go back to the Arch and see more of St. Louis in the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thrillrider Posted July 14, 2011 Author Share Posted July 14, 2011 I really want to check out the city museum and the budweiser factory tour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Intimidator305 Posted July 15, 2011 Share Posted July 15, 2011 Nice photos! I really want to go to the top of the arch, but I never knew the elevator was that tiny though! Could you feel the forces pretty well in it going up or does it go up too slowly to feel? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
08stien Posted July 15, 2011 Share Posted July 15, 2011 Am I the only one who absolutely loves TR's with food menu and ticket price sign shots? Is there such thing as a 'TR food menu shot enthusiast'? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thrillrider Posted July 15, 2011 Author Share Posted July 15, 2011 Nice photos! I really want to go to the top of the arch, but I never knew the elevator was that tiny though! Could you feel the forces pretty well in it going up or does it go up too slowly to feel? It moves fairly slow. I would say that it takes about 3 min to reach the top. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amy Baby Posted July 15, 2011 Share Posted July 15, 2011 I actually felt my ears pop while going up to the top of the Arch. When I got down they were fine. Our daughter just loved it. I would highly recommend it for anyone to check out when hitting the St. Louis area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geauga Dog Posted July 16, 2011 Share Posted July 16, 2011 Nice shots. I agree about the Gateway Arch. Pictures do not do it justice. The first time I saw it as I crossed the Mississippi last year I was actually quite amazed by the sheer size of it. For anyone who may be a bit claustrophobic I would not suggest going to the top. Those elevators are tiny. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thrillrider Posted July 16, 2011 Author Share Posted July 16, 2011 Todays update is of six flags middle America(aka six flags St Louis). Welcome to six flags....now pull out your wallet. The park is really nice. This is what you see when you enter the park. My daughter loves the looney toons. The park has a huge ferris wheel, but we skipped it because it was a very hot day. This ride was not open today. I was really bummed out because I really enjoy this ride. I believe this is the only ride of this type around. Ok, this is one thing that really pissed me off. The park opens at 10:30, but the season pass center does not open till 11am?...wtf? So we had to stand in line for 45 min because there were already 200 other people waiting as well. This is the line that greeted us at the season pass center. To there credit, they did have a lot of processing stations. First coaster of the day. Station shot. Each of the coasters has a cup holder for you to use at no cost. I love this, and think more parks should do this. We ended up buying a souvinier cup since we did not have to worry about what we were going to do with it while riding. Merry go round. The tunnels were a great escape from the blazing hot sun. I really do miss the tunnels at kings island. This is the scooby doo dark ride. It's one of the better dark rides out there. The line is has a nice theme to it. How to use your fright light. Some of the bad guys you have to shoot. Loading station. I have never been beaten. Does anybody know why they are not running the tea cup ride? It looks as if it had not run in some time, as there were weeds growing all over it. They have a nice area for kids. Next credit of the day was the mine ride. Someone was telling me that they used to have stand up trains on this ride. As you can see, the park was not that buisy today. Station shot. Bumper cars. Rush street flyer. My daughter loves this ride. I could be wrong, but I think this is the tower ride from kentucky kingdom. This coaster is great. It's very underrated. It's also a very nice looking coaster. Station shot. Unfortunatly, this was our next coaster. The boss has a great layout, but it's a brutal coaster. So that's what people do with all of those rubber band things. Station. One good thing about the boss, is that they have the bottle holders as well. They were only running one train. Control panal. It's such a ruff ride, that they even have a wheel chair at the exit. I think a lot of people can use that wheel chair right about now. Whirl and hurl. Enter your own caption here. I see you twisted sister trains. More pictures from six flags St Louis comming soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godwyn Posted July 16, 2011 Share Posted July 16, 2011 Two quick comments... the "teacups" ride hasn't ran in the last decade since I started go there and Superman Tower of Power is not from SFKK. Ok, three comments, nice pictures! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geauga Dog Posted July 16, 2011 Share Posted July 16, 2011 Superman Tower of Power used to be Dungeon Drop at Astroworld. Yes, back in the 80's when River King had two tracks they added stand-up trains on one side. It didn't last long as someone fell out and was killed. Question is which track was the stand up track - the current one at SFStL or the one currently known as Big Bad John at Magic Springs? I highly agree with your assessments of Screamin' Eagle and The Boss. Eagle is very underrated. The Boss' layout is great. I loved all the big drops but I wonder what it would be like with Timberliners. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godwyn Posted July 16, 2011 Share Posted July 16, 2011 Question is which track was the stand up track - the current one at SFStL or the one currently known as Big Bad John at Magic Springs? Don't quote me on this, but I think the one at SFSTL was the stand up track. I highly agree with your assessments of Screamin' Eagle and The Boss. Eagle is very underrated. I've heard Eagle is running better this year. I'm glad to hear that as it was running horribly last year. It's a very fun ride when its running good. The Boss' layout is great. I loved all the big drops but I wonder what it would be like with Timberliners. I think we have all thought this at some point!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thrillrider Posted July 16, 2011 Author Share Posted July 16, 2011 ^ Yea, the rolling stock on the boss was the biggest problem for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thrillrider Posted July 17, 2011 Author Share Posted July 17, 2011 More six flags St Louis pictures..... The log ride. The log ride has 2 differant courses you can take, and they both have a splashdown at the end. Next up is the best coaster in the park....evil ki...errr....American thunder. This is one crazy coaster. Entrance. The layout is twisted and full of airtime. Station shot. You can see some of the twisted layout here. The old time car ride snakes it way under the coaster. First drop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thrillrider Posted July 17, 2011 Author Share Posted July 17, 2011 More... Not a bad deal. It was such a hot day, we ended up getting around 10 refills all day. I fail to see the deal here. Ninja is the parks arrow corkscrew. I like the layout of this coaster. A lot of people have issues with arrow coasters, but I don't have any. Empty station. One of the trains was wrapped in this god awfull stride gum advertisement. But the other train was spared. For lunch, we ate at panda express. They also had steak sandwich that looked good. The chili....not so much. Lube job anyone? I see...... Noted..... The new star flyer ride was great. Imo, much better than the windseeker rides. The tower is sexy. It's hard to get a good shot of the ride while in line. The base of the tower. Control booth. Touch screen controls. More pictures coming soon. I just need to finish sorting them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jcoasters Posted July 17, 2011 Share Posted July 17, 2011 Nice Pictures I really wish i could make it to SFSL. And, abnormally, I don't have a problem with rough woodies, so I think I would be ok with The Boss Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thrillrider Posted July 18, 2011 Author Share Posted July 18, 2011 I guess it's more about how un-cumfy the trains are, more so then how ruff the coaster is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geauga Dog Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 Ninja is actually a Vekoma. Supposedly from what I've read Arrow started it for the Expo '86 up in Vancouver but couldn't finish it so Vekoma took over. I didn't have a problem with it when I rode it though it has the best headchopper ever when coming out of the sidewinder. Talk about a near buzz cut. Screamin' Eagle was running like a champ last year and was my favorite ride (with Mr. Freeze and Evel, err American Thunder) running very close behind. I love the colors on the Skyscreamer. In what ways was the ride better than the Windseekers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thrillrider Posted July 18, 2011 Author Share Posted July 18, 2011 It was faster, and a lot more thrilling with chains rather than arms holding your seat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CP_RULES Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 Nice TR! SFStL really is a great park. And for those wondering about which side was the stand up side, it isn't the one that's still at the park. It's now Big Bad John at Magic Springs. Someone fell out of the ride when it had the stand up trains and they removed soon after to make room for Ninja. River King Mine Train had a sister that operated in the area adjacent to it (Ninja's current location). The coaster had a similar layout and operated under the River King Mine Train name as well. The coaster was removed in the 80s to make way for Ninja, and Dollywood purchased the ride. It operated as Thunder Express at Dollywood from 1989 to 1998. In 1984, the River King Mine Train was converted to a standup coaster and renamed the Rail Blazer. After a tragic and fatal accident, the coaster was converted back to a standard sit-down ride and the original name was restored. source Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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