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Who is this guy? Now he's got a new hat and glasses. I can't even keep up with this thread anymore! Seriously, thanks for the endless entertainment.

 

4 parks in one day along the East coast is impressive, and beyond that you arguably got on the best of each major category in one day (flyer, wooden, hyper, inverted). I would have done the same thing.

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Thanks guys!!!!! As always, I really appreciate the feedback!

 

Even going to be bringing along a couple of rookies.

Excellent! It's always nice to bring new people into the cult.

 

How have you not gotten a job promoting for Knoebels by now? You sell it so well.

I agree, it's totally bullsh*t. I still don't have my commission checks and Kozmo refuses to return my calls.

 

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(and yes I had to look up wtf you were talking about)

 

OMG!

 

That picture is the perfect exclamation point to the Knoebels portion of this report, on to the next one... Busch Gardens Williamsburg!

 

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You don't ever really have to twist my arm to get me to go to Busch Gardens Williamsburg but as soon as InvadR was announced I knew a 2017 visit was inevitable. The coaster itself didn't look like it was anything mind blowing (or mine blowing) but it was a great excuse for us to return to a great park and it was an easy weekend trip for us where we didn't have to take any time off from work. More importantly, we already had passes to both Busch Gardens and Kings Dominion so all year we knew a Busch Gardens trip was pretty much a certainty.

 

Before we knew it though, it was October and it was clear that the season was really slipping away from us. We knew we had better hurry up and pull the trigger on this thing before we totally missed our chance. After checking our calendar and checking with Brit we settled on the second week of October. A few days out when we knew the weather looked decent-ish I went online, booked the hotels and we were set.

 

... sort of.

 

We're now 38 reports and 51 pages into this train wreck of a thread (so much for not being a trip report guy) and as you know our coaster trips pretty much always consist of just me and Brit or the two of us with Boldikus and the gang (but I let him write those reports because I'm a lazy f*ck so they're not in this thread). That was about to change though because a few days before the trip I mentioned our weekend plans to my mom in passing and she seemed interested in tagging along.

 

My mom is pushing 60, but she's a f*cking bad a** when it comes to riding coasters. It's rare that she ever comes with us any more except for the occasional Great Adventure / Holiday in the Park trip (because she's convinced that Nitro is the single greatest coaster to ever grace planet earth) but Busch Gardens was a park I wanted to get her to for a long time since she loves B&M's and I figured after going almost exclusively to Great Adventure for years it would be nice for her to be reminded of what a theme park looked like when it actually had landscaping and a reasonable maintenance budget. Brit and I were both on board, so she decided to tag along. I told her we had already booked our hotels but she could book any hotel she wanted since we didn't mind dropping her off and picking her up in the morning and at night. It seemed like a simple and stress free plan to us, we were set!

 

... sort of.

 

I have fond memories of going to parks with my mom as a kid. In 2000 when Millennium Force was all the rage (actually what am I saying? Millennium Force is still all the rage, f*ck the haters) my parents had recently gotten a divorce but one Christmas she managed to scoop up the money to get me and my brother Cedar Point tickets for the next summer.

 

This isn't going to be a bullsh*t Doctor Phil sob story or anything, don't worry... as divorces go it wasn't too bad, they're very cordial and I have a great relationship with both of them, it's all good. But... the point I'm trying to make is that back then we didn't have much money so that trip was a huge expense for her and one of the coolest Christmas presents I ever got. We stayed out near the Ohio Turnpike at some cheap hotel where we had a packed a cooler full of turkey sandwiches on potato rolls and that's basically all we ate for 2 days aside from the crappy continental breakfast. Every morning I'd go to the ice machine at the hotel and fill the cooler, then we'd bring the cooler to the park and have one for lunch and when we got back we'd have another one for dinner. Again, this isn't a sob story... potato rolls are the sh*t (I'm not complaining, lol) but we were REALLY on a budget.

 

Fast forward to now she got remarried to a great guy, he goes on a ton of business trips to really nice hotels, she tags along, the company pays for everything and apparently someone's become a bit high maintenance. No more of that budget hotel near the highway sh*t.

 

Look, I didn't expect her to actually stay at the sh*tty Econo Lodge. I wouldn't have even done it if it weren't for that insane Choice Fall promo I keep talking about but she immediately started looking at the most expensive hotels in Williamsburg with 2 room suites. I reminded her that we already had rooms booked at non-cancellable rates and that since we paid for them we were definitely staying there since all we needed to do was complete the stays we had already paid for and we'd get massive point bonuses and platinum status but she proceeded to book one of the most expensive 2 bedroom suites in Williamsburg anyway. After trying for days she gave up trying to convince us to stay there (the place was awesome and had like 7 rooms but we already booked a hotel and needed to check in and out). It was so nice I almost checked in, immediately bailed and stayed there anyway and then went back in the morning to check out but the hotels were 20 minutes apart, we were tired and at that point a bed was a bed. The hotel thing was a production that went on for days but as we made our way down on Friday night that was in the rear view mirror and we were in for a stress free evening.

 

... sort of.

 

Mom had never been to Williamsburg and really wanted to try to work in some of the Colonial Williamsburg stuff. I couldn't take Friday off so that was sort of out, but she settled for a nighttime Williamsburg ghost tour on Friday night at 10:00. She knew going in that we might miss it because I warned her about DC traffic but I really wanted to get there since I knew how much she wanted to go (and honestly Brit did too) so it made for a pretty stressful drive down. I got to leave work early so we left my office at 1:00 and after a few detours in south Jersey, minimal stops, a standard DC traffic dumpster fire and paying for every single upcharge EZ express lane in the Baltimore and Washington area (and thank god we did) we made it into town at 9:58 with two f*cking minutes to spare. Two... f*cking minutes. It had been a stressful few days between the trip planning and crazy drive down but finally it was time to relax and enjoy ourselves (and pat myself on the back for actually pulling that off... 2 minutes to spare on a drive that started 5 states away, god damn ).

 

The ghost tour was cool, and certainly different. I wasn't going to take pictures since I knew the combination of rain and nighttime photos on my terrible phone wouldn't end well, but eventually they convinced me to take some so they could "look for orbs" later on. Still, they're terrible pictures so I won't share them here. If you're into that kind of thing, this is their website. The price is quite reasonable and since there's nothing to do in Williamsburg at night (unless you want to awkwardly hang out in the Wawa parking lot for hours which seems to be what the locals do) it's a cool option. One downside is that apparently they have horse drawn carriage rides in Colonial Williamsburg and they sh*t all over the street so you have to be careful when you walk. That was sort of gross. As for the tour. Mom and Brit really liked it and I thought it was cool to try something new (but if I'm being honest I sort of though the whole ghost thing and emf sensor thing was a bunch of bullsh*t). It was fun though.

 

Is anyone still with me? No. Okay fine, let's talk about Busch Gardens.

 

We woke up in the morning, checked out of our hotel (since of course we were hotel hopping to earn more points), went to pick up mom and made our way into the Busch Gardens parking lot right at park open. Per usual we were instructed to turn our hazard lights on, hang the hang tag on the mirror and proceed to the VIP lot (which is unnecessary, but a cool perk of that Platinum Pass). We were directed to the England Lot (that's different, but okay...), parked the car and made our way through the gates.

 

We knew the park would inevitably hit capacity, but at park open it seemed like a pretty typical day at Busch Gardens. Still, we wanted to make sure we hit all of the low capacity rides early and once the park opened we made our way straight to the back for our first ever ride on InvadR.

 

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Good Morning!

Aesthetically, it's hard not to be impressed with InvadR. I was always a fan of New France anyway... there's nothing better than drinking a beer, sitting in the sun, watching Griffon and Alpengeist roar by and listening to the same 2 Gordon Lightfoot songs on loop. I'd (almost) never listen to Gordon Lightfoot at home, but at Busch Gardens it just sort of works. I guess they feel that playing a Canadian artist automatically makes the area 10 times more Canadian. Personally I feel like they should just put in a Tim Horton's and call it a day if they want to up the Canada factor but I'm not here to tell anyone how to do their job.

 

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The theming is spectacular. For example, here we have an accurate representation of what Canadians look like in the morning before they get their Tim's. See Busch Gardens... if you would just listen to me and put one in New France this guy wouldn't look so pissed off all the time.

We entered the queue and were greeted with a short wait. I normally don't do this since it's dorky and since I like to let everyone draw their own conclusions but I did prep everyone by explaining that we only came here first because it was new. Since I've spent the better part of a decade telling mom how great the place was, I really didn't want her to sit in the car for 8+ hours, finally get there and wonder what the hell my problem was when we ran to a small, family friendly wood coaster at park open.

 

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Who wouldn't love this station?

There was a bit of a log jam at the front of the station so we hopped in the back car and were greeted with a short 2 train wait. The ride has shorter trains than you would expect for a GCI at a major corporate park which gave it a bit of a "White Lightning" vibe. The trains themselves are really cool looking, especially the one that has an Adirondack style bear thing on the front of it. They absolutely nailed the theming on this ride.

 

A few minutes later we found ourselves boarding our train and before we knew it we were rolling out of the station rounding the curve and ascending the modestly-sized lift. On the way up you get some great views of Le Scoot which would have been even more awesome had it been operating during Howl O Scream (hint hint... wink wink) but we didn't have too much time to admire the scenery since before we knew it we were dropping off the lift, banking to the left, entering a tunnel and barreling down the covered first drop.

 

Since it's a new ride I'd love to give you the play by play but honestly it's all a bit of a blur after the drop. If you want airtime you're not going to get it here (like at all), this ride is all about laterals. It's a fun ride for sure and I like that it seems to maintain it's speed throughout the entire ride. Like most GCIs it definitely has some great pacing. The highlight (believe it or not) is probably the drop / helix / turn thing at the very end of the ride which uses the terrain, feels very fast and ends the ride on a high note.

 

As GCIs go this may be the weakest I've ridden in terms of the actual layout but it's still a fun little coaster and an absolute laugh fest. It's a smooth ride, it looks great and if it weren't for the queue length we would have ridden it a ton. As it stood though, that would be our only ride of the day. It's a fun coaster but it's totally overshadowed at Busch Gardens. It's a great family coaster though so it absolutely serves it's purpose. It won't blow anyone away but I still give InvadR my seal of approval (which is worth jack sh*t if anyone's wondering).

 

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What an amazing ride!

 

... also pictured: InvadR

After InvadR, I knew we should probably head up to Tempesto due to it's miserable capacity but with Germany still closed we opted to head back the way we came and over to Griffon since it was on the way.

 

I was really excited for mom to try this thing. She had never ridden a Dive Machine and it seemed like the type of thing she would love given it's huge graceful, ultra smooth transitions, impressive speed and awesome holding brake and drop.

 

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Griffon being awesome. I love the Christmas lights. The ride's going to look awesome when it's closed for Christmas for no apparent reason.

As it turned out, our instincts were right and she was totally blown away by Griffon. The ride still didn't have a line after our first ride so we immediately looped back around and walked right back on to the front row... this time getting the end seats and giving her the one on the outside. She loved that even more so I assume we have a wing coaster fan in the making.

 

Of course she loved Griffon, who wouldn't love Griffon?

 

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Whee!!!!!!

It was tough to pry ourselves away from the power and speed of the mythical Griffonâ„¢ but given the hordes of people that were sure to descend on the park at any minute we knew we needed to head up to Tempesto and I had the perfect way to get there!

 

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Oh don't act so surprised....

Aeronaut (the park's sky ride) had just opened so we were treated to a complete walk-on. For those unfamiliar with this ride, it's actually quite a bit different than it's counterparts as it forms a triangle with 3 stations and only allows for one way travel from each station (as it only has one cable). To get where we were going we would actually need to take it two stations but we assumed that this early in the day the only line would be at the station at the front of the park where we were getting off anyway so we hopped on.

 

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We had perfect timing as we traveled over Griffon's splashdown pool which allowed for this awesome visual.

 

When we arrived at the next station we were pleased to find that there was absolutely no line at all. We were ready to walk around but we asked if we could stay on the ride and they just pushed the cabin right to the trip position and saved us the walk since there was no wait. Awesome! Aeronaut was definitely helping to build up the hype for the day as we got awesome views of Alpengeist and Griffon on the first leg but when we started on the next leg of the ride (which I consider to be the best) the hype really grew as we traveled over the river and got awesome views of just about every coaster in the park.

 

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No train, but it's still a great visual.

Mom had been eyeing Apollo's Chariot since the moment we pulled into the parking lot (I mean... it "looked like Nitro", so that was a given ) but Brit and I explained the situation with Tempesto's single train so we went there first. I've always liked this ride in the past but always came away a little underwhelmed for some reason. After our insane rides on Phobia this spring I was really excited to get back on Tempesto to see if they were growing on me as a whole or if Phobia was just infinitely better.

 

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Despite concerns to the contrary during construction, this ride looks great!

Tempesto had a station wait (which was still about 15 minutes) but by the time we boarded the train it had quickly extended well past the station and started curving under the far end of the ride. Damn, good thing we got there when we did.

 

Luckily the lines for the front rows were relatively short so I offered mom and Brit the front and took a seat in row two (sitting behind Brit is like a front row ride anyway, she's so short ). The trains are still impossible to get in and out of and the comfort collars are incredibly stupid but I was pleasantly surprised with the ride itself. I still think Phobia has a little more pep to it but Tempesto delivered a super smooth and totally awesome ride and all three of us absolutely loved it.

 

Up next was Apollo's Chariot which for some reason I never got a decent picture of. It was still a station wait, and as far as I'm concerned this ride may as well only have one row on the entire train so we all headed for the back (the only row worth sitting in). Given her love of Nitro I was absolutely convinced that this would be mom's favorite ride at Busch Gardens and she was thrilled and filled with anticipation when she sat down in the familiar B&M hyper coaster seat and pulled down the clamshell restraint.

 

I've always loved this ride and the day I realized the back row delivered insane ejector airtime all the way down the drop was the day it rocketed to the top portion of my steel coaster list (or it would have if I was nerdy enough to have a top steel coaster list). As always the ride was absolutely tremendous, the first drop was insane and the train returned to an eruption of cheers from the entire train. God I love that thing!

 

When we exited the ride I was surprised to find out that (while she liked it), mom seemed to think Griffon was still the best coaster we rode that day. Brit had actually predicted this since she assumed she would be comparing it to Nitro the entire time which (if you haven't been following along) is evidently man's crowning achievement and a coaster so incredibly perfect and majestic that it single-handedly controls the tides and is the reason the sun shines and birds sing.

 

To each his (or her) own, who am I to argue? We all still had a blast on Apollo's Chariot and that's all that really matters.

 

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Making our way over to Germany. Holy sh*t, that POS is actually running?

Initially we planned to hit Verbolten next but since Mach Tower was actually operating for a change, Brit and I decided we had better hop in line right away before it inevitably sh*t itself and broke down. It was a complete walk-on at that point and a few minutes later we found ourselves strapped in to it's f*cked up seats and on our way up the tower.

 

It had been a long time since I'd actually managed to get on this unreliable POS but I had forgotten how much I liked it. I love that it spins on the way up and it provides breathtaking views of the beautiful park, brewery and surrounding area. The drop itself is also pretty powerful. Overall this thing is an absolute blast when it actually decides to work.

 

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Verbolten was going to be our next stop but by that point it was clear that the park was officially bullsh*t busy. We couldn't complain too much as we basically had the run of the place all morning but before hopping in line we decided to stock up on the essentials...

 

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Bavarian Pretzels!

Don't worry, there was beer too... but along with Brit's pretzel it didn't fit in the shot.

 

As it turned out we ended up waiting about an hour for Verbolten. Brit and I absolutely love this thing and we definitely hyped it up quite a bit. Mom has never seen or heard of a drop track and we sure as sh*t weren't going to tell her about it so we spent most of our time in line talking about things that had nothing to do with coasters or theme parks at all hoping that nobody would spoil the surprise.

 

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God damn, they told these people time and time again not to go into the Black Forest. You had one job and you f*cked it up...

I won't lie, I was pretty bummed when they announced the removal of Big Bad Wolf. I've always had a thing for Arrow suspended coasters and that one was definitely the best one I had ever ridden. The first time I rode Verbolten I was pretty much convinced that I couldn't possibly like this imposter of a coaster but I've got to admit, it's basically impossible not to love this ride.

 

I'd heard a lot of reports of effects not working this year but I'm pleased to say that that wasn't the case at all on our visit. This ride won't blow anyone away with it's stats but it has to be one of the most fun coasters anywhere in America. The indoor section is great, the drop track is awesome and the Big Bad Wolf style finale is a great way to end a great ride.

 

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They really need to have that bridge looked at. It seems pretty unstable and overall it's pretty much a piece of sh*t. Shoddy construction for sure...

As always, we absolutely loved our ride on Verbolten. Mom never saw the drop track coming and thought it was awesome, and overall we gave the ride a huge thumbs up. When talking about the coasters of Busch Gardens Williamsburg this one is frequently overlooked, but all in all it's really a fantastic ride.

 

After Verbolten it had actually started to rain a bit and it turned out that rain would last for the next few hours. It wasn't enough to make anyone run for cover but it was definitely enough to be annoying after awhile. We looked at the show schedule for an excuse to get out of the rain but there was nothing that really appealed to us other than the predator show (now called Howl to Coexist) which was outdoors anyway so we decided to check out some of the shops instead. Mom decided to cave and pick up a poncho, personally I'd rather catch pneumonia and die than be caught wearing a poncho in public so I decided to forego that but I had no issue checking out the selection in the beer stein store while she looked at ponchos.

 

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Rainy afternoon at Busch Gardens

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Fun Fact: Many people think New France is just modern day Canada, but it actually extends a bit further south into the northern United States and all the way down to Flint, Michigan.

 

 

... oh hush

Sadly the rain did nothing to keep the coaster lines at bay. We thought of hitting Alpengeist but it's wait time was exceeding 90 minutes and we wanted to see the Howl to Coexist show so we put that off and decided to wander around a bit more. We made our way up to the front to check out a few more shops and see the clydesdales and then made our way back to Wolf Haven to secure a good spot for the show.

 

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All of this awesome stuff hanging from cables over the midway really made for a great Halloween atmosphere. The pumpkin things were a nice touch too. (Okay, you saw that one coming)

Despite the rain and the exposed theater, the Wolf Haven show was filled to capacity. The show had a new name but it turns out it was the exact same show it's always been featuring owls, hawks, a fox, rats and (of course) wolves. This may sound like a complaint, but it couldn't be further from it. I love the show in it's current form and was totally fine with the fact that they didn't change it.

 

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Who wants a wolf gif? Everybody? Well I have great news then...

(excuse the different size gifs by the way, they're all optimized to find the best balance between file size, frame rate and image size where it plays without much lag. This sh*t is a science )

 

I highly recommend checking this show out next time you visit Busch Gardens. The grey wolves are beautiful, but the whole show leading up to it is great too. The birds are incredibly well trained and will fly within inches of your head, the fox is always great to see and the trainers are always a ton of fun and incredibly informative.

 

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After the show you can get up close and personal with the trainers and some of the animals.

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Damn straight... we love Sea World / Busch Gardens!

By the end of the show the rain had started to let up a little bit and I had been deprived of Williamsburg's star coaster long enough so after checking out some of the animals over near Wolf Haven we began making our way back towards Alpengeist. Along the way we hit the restroom and grabbed some more beer since we had already learned that we should be prepared for an enormous line when we showed up but unfortunately there was really no way to prepare for how ridiculously huge it actually was.

 

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People have been wondering about ride lines during Howl O Scream lately... wonder no more. lol

I've visited this park quite a bit over the years and every time I've been spoiled by incredibly manageable wait times. When Alpengeist's queue spills into the second queue building at all you know the park is busy, and over the years I became convinced that the lower wooden queue area was just for decoration. How wrong I was...

 

I know some people can't stand long lines at theme parks and I get that, but since the only skip-the-line pass worth buying was $100 per person and since we had been spoiled all morning with ridiculously short waits for everything we didn't really mind the line. We talked, drank our beers, laughed at the unimaginably drunk woman who almost fell in the bushes a little further up in the queue and eventually almost forgot we were even standing in line for a coaster. It turned out that about 90 minutes later we were in the station but it didn't really feel like that terrible of a wait since the rain had mostly stopped and the line kept moving at a decent enough pace.

 

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Only one more hour to go! lol

Since mom had never ridden it we decided that despite the line we should bite the bullet and wait for the front (at this point why the hell not?). There were a (excuse the scientific measurement term) "f*ckload" of exit passes, all of which took the front row so it took us another 40 minutes to finally get on the ride but a little over 2 hours after we got in line our patience was about to pay off with a front seat ride on one of the best inverted coasters in America.

 

As we began ascending the lift we realized it was still drizzling a little, but not enough to put a damper on our experience. It was starting to get dark at that point which created a really cool atmosphere and even before we dropped off the lift we knew we were in for an awesome ride.

 

Despite it's height, the first drop really doesn't have much of a kick to it since it trims right at the top, but thankfully the ride starts to pick up in no time. The first three elements of the ride are all awesome, each getting progressively better and more intense, culminating with that awesome cobra roll that rips through the second half of the element with ridiculous ferocity. God I love this thing!

 

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Alpengeist is my sh*t

The second half of the ride gets a lot of hate, but honestly I sort of like it. The barrel roll after the midcourse is an absolute blast, as is the corkscrew and while it does meander around a bit after that the snow theming helps to make the second half of the ride pretty awesome and unique in it's own right. All in all, this ride is outstanding and as we hit the final brakes mom declared that she had a really tough time picking between that and Griffon. Personally, I have an incredibly easy time picking between Alpengeist and Griffon, but whatever floats your boat.

 

Alpengeist is amazing.

 

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Having a blast!

After Alpengeist it was starting to get dark so we decided to shift our focus a bit and check out some mazes. While in line for Alpengeist we saw an ad for single use skip the line passes and after being directed to a store across from Frostbite, we were told that we could purchase single use passes for Frostbite for $20 each.

 

It was a bit steep, but what the hell? It was Howl O Scream and the 3 hour wait didn't seem all that appealing so we went ahead and got them. We thought of using them right away, but instead we decided to hang on to them a little bit and go grab some dinner and drinks at the Festhaus.

 

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It's starting to get spooky...

Normally I stick to Trapper's but since everything was wet the thought of eating indoors at a nice dry table was too much to turn down. For those who haven't been in there, the Festhaus is actually really cool inside and as an added bonus they had some kind of show set up that was supposed to start about 10 minutes after we walked in.

 

We grabbed some food (I think I got some sausage sampler thing along with some German beer I can't pronounce) and started looking for a table. We noticed a VIP section up front that was totally empty and I asked if a Platinum Pass granted us access (since it does at SeaWorld). We were turned down and opted to sit a bit further back, but a few minutes later the person I asked earlier came over and asked us to sit there so they could fill up the seats near the stage. That was very nice of him, but at the same time that should have been a clue.

 

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It's show time...

What even is this sh*t? The star of the show is some dude that looks like Kanye West who's apparently a vampire and runs some kind of dance club for dead people. They dance around awhile to some music that has nothing to do with Halloween like Lady Gaga and 80's pop music (but not Thriller because that would sort of make sense... don't worry).

 

Anyway, I guess Vampire Kanye falls in love or decides to drink this girl's blood which I guess mean's she's in the casket club even though they were already in the casket club and then they break out into a disco tune... and... I don't know.

 

In addition to the fact that I can't stand dance shows, the premise here is a tad f*cked. Unfortunately for us since the guy basically begged us to sit there and he sort of did us a favor we sat there way longer than we should have trying to be nice. Once the disco ball came down though, we bailed. Sorry. We tried. We really did, but we had better things to do than watch the nonsensical disco Kanye vampire sh*tshw extravaganza. Peace.

 

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We escaped the casket club!

After grabbing another drink (because we needed one after that show) we decided to burn our Quick Queue's and made our way over to Frostbite.

 

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Damn straight... if someone comes at you with a chainsaw you make sure you still don't give up your drink. This is where I got it from. Priorities...

Frostbite is brand new this year and takes place in the Curse of DarkKastle building. They utilize the existing pre-show room and actually do a really cool tie in where the maze storyline ties into the Prince Ludwig / Curse of DarkKastle storyline. Very cool!

 

Since the maze utilizes the existing ride track it's actually a really long maze and it's filled with awesome effects. Many of the existing screens and sets are utilized and they come up with some seriously impressive ways to cover up the ride track as you walk on either side of it. I was caught dorking-out over that on multiple occasions and the scare actors took full advantage. This house was absolutely loaded with great scares and cool effects and is easily one of the best theme park houses we've ever done. It's not "Deathwater Bayou" good, but for a regional park it's insane.

 

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I was disappointed that Dark Kastle wouldn't be operating for Howl O Scream this year, but it's hard to complain with a house that good.

We were in full-blown Howl O Scream mode after Frostbite so after grabbing more beer we set off in search of another house, this time ending up at "Cornered", a corn maze type house between the Feshaus and Frostbite.

 

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I'm a sucker for any haunt attraction involving corn. That sh*t is terrifying. lol

It's impossible to see the queue for this thing until you're totally committed, so we asked the guy up front how long the wait was. He said it was about an hour (which seemed reasonable) so we hopped in line.

 

Yeah... no

 

The line began right against the back wall of the DarkKastle building but moved at an absolute snail's pace. Once we reached the back of that building we made a right and went almost the full length of the DarkKastle building, then doubled back and then went back again down to the back of Alpengeist's maintenance building before coming all the way back over an hour later to a point where you encounter an employee...

 

... who directs you to a huge set of switchbacks where you'd spend the next 45 minutes of your life.

 

Thankfully there was another beer guy at that point so we loaded up, and at long last we FINALLY made it to the front of the line 2 hours after we joined the queue. Holy sh*t.

 

To be fair the maze was very good and pretty long. Frostbite was undoubtedly better, but I enjoyed this one quite a bit. It probably wasn't worth the wait but it was a solid house and I really have no complaints. By the time we exited though, we were definitely ready for a change of pace.

 

 

In all my years of visiting this park it's been my experience that if you want a great ride with no line then you head straight for Griffon. Go to Griffon, go directly to Griffon, do not pass go, do not collect $200. Just go experience the power and speed of the mythical Griffonâ„¢.

 

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Oh thank god.

After that long 2 hour line we were thrilled to finally be riding something without standing in a giant line. We made our way to the ride entrance, walked past the greeter, made a right and...

 

... made a right? What? That's not even a thing. Seriously, by a show of hands who here reading this report even knew that there was a door on the right and a massive outdoor queue section for Griffon? I sure as hell didn't. I've never even waited outside of the station.

 

That's the bad news, the good news is it's Griffon and it chewed through that enormous line in 30 minutes. Believe it or not, this was actually my first ever Griffon night ride and OH MY GOD was it ever amazing. The view from the top was nuts with the combination of natural and man-made fog hovering over the park below and the drop and everything that followed was absolutely awesome. Wow! Our train returned to thunderous applause and at that point mom was convinced it was her new favorite coaster not named Nitro (sorry Alpengeist).

 

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This ride is awesome!

By that point it was almost 11:00 and while there were a ton of coasters we hoped to re-ride we opted instead to make our way to the front and ride the one coaster we still hadn't managed to ride, Loch Ness Monster. While it's definitely overshadowed by some of the other coasters, going to Busch Gardens Williamsburg and skipping Loch Ness Monster would be sacrilege. We hoped we'd have the opportunity to end the night on something else, but given the crowds we knew this might be the last ride of the night and we were at peace with that.

 

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On our way to tackle the monster

Despite our experience with Griffon (and everything else for the last 6 hours) we were shocked when we got to the entrance. Where was everyone? We proceeded through the queue, waiting to run into a huge crowd of people at every turn but it never happened. We walked right into the station and walked right up to the gates in the back car. Holy sh*t...

 

We all were riding high for a few minutes due to the nonexistent line, but as soon as the train pulled in and mom saw it she immediately looked at us pissed off. "This looks like that stupid a** Scream Machine thing I hated".

 

I've got to admit, I was sort of surprised that she put two and two together but it wasn't until then that I realized it had been over a decade since she'd seen an Arrow looper and the only ones she's ever ridden were terrible. Brit and I quickly reassured her that this one wasn't a piece of sh*t like every other one she's ever ridden but she didn't believe us at all and I guess who could blame her? I wouldn't believe me either. I'm an a**hole. Brit and I tricked her into riding Great Adventure's mouse in a box because she's terrified of Wild Mouse rides and she didn't realize until it rounded the first hairpin turn and she cursed us for the entire ride. We're truly terrible people.

 

Luckily once we went through the first loop she realized we were completely serious and it turned out she absolutely loved it. Obviously we did too, Loch Ness Monster is always a great time.

 

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Brit was totally fixated on something. I have no idea what but let's just pretend she was staring at the Skyway cars passing right by the ride and thinking about how f*cking awesome they were. We'll go with that. See... soulmates.

I don't know if the f*cking rapture happened or what (probably, that explains why we weren't included) but when we exited Loch Ness Monster it was clear that everyone had pretty much disappeared. Less than 30 minutes prior to that we waited in the longest line I've ever seen for Griffon but at this point every single ride and house was a walk-on. It was insane how fast that happened but we weren't complaining.

 

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Where is everybody?

We had about 45 minutes left and we debated doing houses but opted instead for an Apollo's Chariot night ride. We walked straight on to the back row and had an absolutely amazing ride that I thought was absolutely our best Apollo's Chariot ride ever. The airtime was insane and I was totally unprepared for that dive into the turnaround. We all liked it, but mom still wasn't as blown away as we were. Nitro or GTFO I guess.

 

After Apollo we (amazingly) still had enough time for one more ride or maze and we really could have picked anything we wanted. Everyone was pretty indecisive. I offered up Griffon since I knew it was mom's favorite but she deferred to me. I offered up Verbolten since I know Brit loves it but she deferred to me too. We went back and fourth for awhile as we walked and I warned them that they both knew what was going to happen if they let me pick. I tried to be a good fiance' and son but after awhile I stopped fighting it and started making a B line for the back of the park. The park is full of great rides, but I knew exactly where I was headed.

 

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After waiting for over 2 hours earlier in the day this seemed totally surreal.

We hopped in line for the front row and were on within 5 minutes. Seriously... WHERE DID EVERYONE GO? When we pulled back in there were people waiting for our row (they were actually the only people waiting for the entire train) but we jumped to the back for a second ride and then managed a third consecutive ride on the same train which turned out to be the last public ride of the night. Each and every ride was absolutely fantastic. Alpengeist was completely hauling after running all day and it was the perfect way to end an awesome day.

 

After a stressful week of planning and a crazy drive down we had an absolutely amazing day at the park. Mom thanked us over and over and I was thrilled that we finally managed to get her down to Busch Gardens and that she loved it as much as we knew she would. Brit and I had a blast also and as we made our way back to the hotel we were totally exhausted but really happy at how everything was coming together this trip. What a great day!

 

Up next: Kings Dominion!

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Great report! I plan to make it down to Busch Gardens next year since they've added the two new coasters since I've last been. The park still looks awesome as ever and has so many reridable coasters.

 

Thanks! Yeah, if it weren't so busy we would have totally been going back for InvadR rerides too. It's their weakest coaster but it's still an absolute blast.

 

I'm surprised this thread doesn't make the front page more often. Or even a mention on TPR's twitter.

 

BTW: have you ever done stand-up?

 

Conversely, I'm surprised this thread ever makes the front page.

 

And nah, standup is a totally different animal. I know a ton of standups, that's a tough business and I'm pretty sure I'd bomb in spectacular fashion.

 

Thanks though! I really appreciate it!

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Awesome report Bill. Made me eager for my return to Busch Gardens in the Spring (I've been out of commission for most coasters recently due to the fact that pizza and beer are amazing but I've lost 40 pounds this year so that should be different in the Spring). Busch Gardens is just amazing and I haven't even been to ride Tempesto or InvadR yet. I do wish InvadR was a more typical GCI but I'm sure it serves its purpose pretty well.

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Awesome update! Busy morning so took me forever to read, but absolutely made me want to go back to BGW ASAP! Stoked to have passes next year! Nice that you got those night rides on Alpengeist. Also love that pic of Brit and your mom under Lochness at night.

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Sounds like a lot of walking or you left a bunch of Von Rolls out of your report. I need to use the last leg of the skyway sometime. I booked around the whole park by foot in 2 hours 2 trips ago and my feet were glowing after, the sky ride and to a lesser extent the train is so useful and nice in that park.

 

I'd almost never wait in line here in Virginia except you can't do everything in last hour before closing. I've come close at KD though.

 

I definitely got airtime on InvadR during my mini-marathon last visit. It's not ejector but better than Roar, which I also like due to the curviness but the air is kind of bouncing off your seat slightly. It's "choppy" with a bunch of small hills and curves like a RMC, but nothing that you need to hold on for.

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Great report as always, Bill...always love it when anyone does BGE or BGT reports, but your comedic commentary makes the reports that much more fun to read/view.

 

Your Mom really looks like she had a blast too - that's awesome!

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Awesome report Bill. Made me eager for my return to Busch Gardens in the Spring (I've been out of commission for most coasters recently due to the fact that pizza and beer are amazing but I've lost 40 pounds this year so that should be different in the Spring).

 

Thanks!!!! Congrats on the weight loss! That being said if amazing food and tons of beer is the problem, perhaps making Busch Gardens your first stop is a bad idea.

 

Also love that pic of Brit and your mom under Lochness at night.

 

Thanks! To be honest I was actually sort of waiting for someone to call bullsh*t on this picture. Since we went from Griffon to Loch Ness we obviously didn't take this when I said we did. It was taken on the way out of the park (since Sky Ride was closed for the night, though still cycling), but it was too good not to use. Any time my phone actually takes a night shot that isn't a complete embarrassment to photography everywhere it feels like I hit the lottery. I pretty much had to use it.

 

Sounds like a lot of walking or you left a bunch of Von Rolls out of your report. I need to use the last leg of the skyway sometime. I booked around the whole park by foot in 2 hours 2 trips ago and my feet were glowing after, the sky ride and to a lesser extent the train is so useful and nice in that park.

 

Agreed. Believe it or not those early rides on those 2 legs of the Sky Ride were our only rides on it all day. Later in the day it worked up a ridiculously long line at every station.

 

Great report as always, Bill...always love it when anyone does BGE or BGT reports, but your comedic commentary makes the reports that much more fun to read/view.

 

Your Mom really looks like she had a blast too - that's awesome!

 

Thanks! It was a big production putting the trip together but it ended up being worth it. She loved it (and obviously we did too)!

 

Awesome pics! I haven't been to BGW since Verbolten's opening year, and good God I have to go back.

 

Thanks! And yes... yes you do.

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  • 3 weeks later...
What an amazing ride!

... also pictured: InvadR

 

Hahaha! My sentiments exactly about Le Scoot. Great report, Bill.

 

Thanks!

 

Hey man, it's been long enough since your last post teasing that KD is up next. Get your act together and give the fans what they want!

 

lol! Ask and you shall (eventually) receive!

 

-------------------

 

When we got to our hotel room after our amazing day at Busch Gardens I was dead to the world. We checked in, walked up to the room, Brit went to take her shower first so I sat down on the other bed, kicked my shoes off, closed my eyes "for a second" and in no time the alarm was going off and I found myself waking up 8 hours later, still fully dressed in everything I had worn to Busch Gardens. Damn, I hadn't slept like that in forever.

 

After a quick shower we checked out, went to pick up my mom at her hotel and we were on our way to Kings Dominion! This was another first for mom. As it turned out, she hadn't stepped foot in a Cedar Fair park in well over a decade but after taking a look at Steel Vengeance she expressed interest in going to Cedar Point next year, we steered her in the direction of the Platinum Pass (because Early Entry or GTFO). For awhile she was balking at the price (yes... the person who immediately went looking for the most expensive hotel in all of Williamsburg was having reservations about 21 bucks a month) but eventually she came to her senses. After a quick stop at the pass processing center, we made our way through the gates right around park opening (with mom's shiny new Platinum Pass in hand) and made a b-line for the Blast Coaster.

 

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Good Morning from Kings Dominion!

Since we got there right at open and were following the standard (Volcano > Flight of Fear > Backlot Stunt Coaster) plan of attack that everyone who visits this park needs to follow, we were greeted with basically no line. I offered mom and Brit the front seat, but Brit let me have it (because she's awesome) and 2 trains later we were in the front row with Brit behind us.

 

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Blasty McBlast Face would have been a better name, but okay...

I didn't tell mom anything about this ride, I'm honestly not even sure she knew about the launch. I feel bad even saying this but going into the day I was a tiny bit concerned about Volcano and Intimidator. She doesn't love the intense twists at the end of El Toro (though overall she loves the ride) and since she's pushing 60 (though you wouldn't know it) I was a bit worried about some of the abrupt transitions on those two coasters. In both cases we opted for the front seat first for a couple of reasons. First off, we figured it would be better if she could see what was coming and prepare for it. Secondly because... well, because both rides are awesome in the front row.

 

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Ready to blast!

As we rolled out of the station and reached the straightaway, I was still wondering how this was going to go but as we rocketed down the launch track and whipped into the first turn I heard her screaming her head off and laughing her a** off simultaneously so I quickly realized my concerns were for nothing. As we rocketed out of the volcano I could hear her screaming over and over about how awesome it was and when we hit the brakes she immediately declared it the best coaster she's ever ridden. Holy sh*t, I didn't see that coming. Apparently Nitro has been dethroned.

 

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Having a (sorry in advance for this one) ...BLAST!

I never thought I'd see the day that she thought any coaster was better than Nitro. This is a woman that goes to work every day with a Nitro travel mug, thinks Nitro has magical chiropractic abilities, rode Nitro for over an hour straight in the dead of winter a few years ago and acted as if Apollo's Chariot was some kind of sh*tty poser coaster that she couldn't possibly even entertain the thought of liking. I never thought I'd see the day, especially not because of Volcano. I mean... Volcano's great but really?

 

In any case, we were thrilled that she liked it so much. We thought of riding again but Brit quickly reminded us that we really needed to hit Backlot and Flight of Fear before their inevitable massive queues started to build up so we pried ourselves away and made it over to Backlot Stunt Coaster.

 

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Whee!!!!

Honestly, the next two coasters on our list were totally "me" rides. I've yet to like someone that doesn't enjoy Backlot Stunt Coaster but I get the idea that I enjoy it more than most people. Once again the ride was a station wait and we ended up in the front car and as always the ride was absolutely great. For a family coaster it has a hell of a kick to it. By the end of the helix I always end up with blurry vision, the layout is super fun, the props are cheesy but cool and the indoor section at the end of the ride is awesome.

 

Backlot Stunt Coaster got a thumbs up from our group, but especially from me. Brit likes it but I think sometimes she just goes along with my bullsh*t.

 

Now that we felt totally immersed in the "Safari Village" theme after blasting out of a tropical volcano surrounded with tiki huts over an avalanche and raced through a parking garage in mini coopers we decided to venture deeper into the jungle to the Nascar and alien coasters as those really help tie the whole thing together into one amazing, cohesive themed land. In the parking lot on the way in mom (who still couldn't get over Busch Gardens) asked if this park was themed like Busch Gardens so we of course acted as if Busch Gardens pales into comparison to Kings Dominion. She probably believed us when we walked through the front gate into the awesome main midway area but I'm pretty sure at this point she realized that we were entirely full of sh*t.

 

As we walked deeper into the jungle (Indiana Jones has nothing on us) on the way to the Nascar ride our plan was quickly ruined as we found ourselves being abducted by aliens... f*ck. I hate when that happens.

 

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See... no bullsh*t.

The ride was still a walk-on and since the wait for the front was only one extra train we made our way up to the front car. The ride (as always) was amazing. Flight of Fear is completely overlooked at both Kings Island and Kings Dominion but in both instances I would argue that it's one of the best coasters in the park. I'm hard pressed to think of a non-spinning coaster that's more disorienting than Flight of Fear. It's smooth, fast, has an awesome launch, has a fantastic layout and it's such a crazy mess of track that half the time you really don't even know what way is up. I absolutely love this thing, and if we weren't in such a rush I would have gone right back around for a re-ride.

 

When I say that we were in a rush, I should probably mention that our plan was to leave around 3:00. Normally my philosophy in life is to pay no attention whatsoever to how tired you'll be at work the next day if it means you had an awesome weekend, but Brit was actually starting a brand new job the next day (like... an awesome, "big girl job") so we wanted to get home at a semi reasonable time.

 

Luckily the new job honeymoon period is now over and we're back to having an absurd travel schedule (just wait for our Arizona / Vegas trip report) but that day I was trying to be an adult. Luckily we had already knocked out the 3 coasters that always have huge wait times and now it was time to stop dicking around and have some real fun.

 

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Welcome to the Nascar coaster in an open field portion of the Jungle. I guess it's a ride themed to rampant deforestation?

For the second time that day I was slightly concerned that I was about to kill my mother. She's a trooper, but she's never ridden anything like I305. She's mentioned that rides like Storm Runner and El Toro sometimes throw her neck around if she's not ready for their quick turns (though she rides them and enjoys them a lot) so we decided her first ride should be up front so she can see what's coming. I'm not one to hype coasters up or dork out about them too much to people who clearly don't care, I like to have people ride them and form their own opinions (we said nothing about Verbolten's drop track for example) but in this case we did warn her that she should expect every single turn on the ride to be the most abrupt and ridiculous turn she's ever seen on a coaster. That was the extent of the prep course.

 

I think Brit considered mentioning the fact that if she couldn't see for the first half of the ride that was normal and she wasn't dying but it was too late for that because she was cut off by the sounds of revving engines on the PA system and the unmistakable recording of "Gentleman, start your engines" that meant some crazy sh*t was about to go down.

 

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Ready or not, it's time to ride!

Before we could go down though, we had to go up... way up. As we flew up the cable lift I was still on the fence about whether or not I was the worst son ever, but there wasn't too much time to ponder such trivial sh*t because before we knew it we were rocketing down the giant first drop into the insane, grey-out inducing turn. By the time I could properly see again we were flying out of our seats on another airtime filled turn before entering a twisted mess of insane laterals and ejector airtime that all became a complete blur.

 

We hit the brakes to an eruption of cheers and I was relieved when I looked over to see mom joining in. I really need to stop underestimating her.

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Looks like she liked it!

 

When we got off the ride, I asked her how she liked it and it turns out she absolutely loved it and she couldn't believe how fast it was. After grabbing the photo and browsing the gift shop a little bit, we quickly made our way back around for a re-ride. This time in the back of the train.

 

Once again, the ride was fantastic. Since we were in the back we got an extra dose of that patented "OMFG" ejector airtime all the way down the first drop and once again the second half of the ride was a twisted blur of craziness that's pretty much impossible to even describe to someone who hasn't experienced it. This ride is absolutely bullsh*t nuts. I approve. Mom loved it too, but not as much as Volcano (or Nitro... I mean, let's not get crazy here. You may be the most bad a** giga coaster ever built but are you "Six Flags' most Explosive Coaster®"? Yeah... didn't think so. ).

 

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God I love this thing...

After our second ride we made our way back through the alien Nascar jungle in search of more jungle themed fun. That didn't take long as we quickly came up to a ride themed to the snow where you ride in Bobsleds adorned with the flags of some of the most well known jungle-having countries in the world like Canada, Switzerland and Germany!

 

Personally I'm a pretty big Avalanche fan. The ride's not amazing, but it's pretty unique (especially in the United States) and it's a super fun little ride. I think I enjoyed it more than most of the group, but everyone left with a favorable opinion of it.

 

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Avalanche and Volcano

Even though we needed to leave a bit early we were sitting pretty at that point. Kings Dominion has a lot of fun rides, but the only "must-rides" we still hadn't hit were Drop Tower (which we knew would be a walk on), Dominator (which we figured would have a manageable wait) and... do I really even have to tell you what the third one is?

 

Initially I had hoped to make it back to I305 at some point, but since mom loved Volcano so much and since we get to the park much more often than she does we figured we'd make that our next stop and just brave the huge line. She was just going along with whatever we wanted to do, but she definitely wasn't arguing when we made that suggestion so we entered the queue and were greeted with a 60 minute wait.

 

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Volcano the Nitro Killer. lol

I was still in complete disbelief at how much she loved this ride, but we were really happy that she did. While this ride has undoubtedly miserable capacity, the line did seem to move faster than I expected it to. The posted 60 minute wait time was correct, but we moved at a decent clip and it didn't feel like a super long wait.

 

Once again we hopped into the front 2 rows so mom could have the front and once again the ride was f*cking awesome. I've always loved this thing (who doesn't?) but it was a lot of fun riding it with someone who was that ridiculously hyped up about it.

 

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Mom with her new favorite coaster!

At that point we were down to our last hour or so so we decided to pry ourselves away from the volcanic avalanche Nascar alien jungle and make our way over to Old Virginia.

 

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Brit wanted her picture with the elephant and after going through the photos I came to the realization that not only did she take the same picture last year but apparently she loves to be a dick and wear a Knott's shirt whenever she goes to Kings Dominion. lol

From Boldikus' 2016 report. lol

 

On our way to Old Virginia we made our way through Candy Apple grove which has always been one of my favorite areas of the park. There were a lot of tempting rides in this area like Rebel Yell and Delirium but since we were short on time we decided to resist the urge to stop and keep walking. We did make one exception though, and that was for KD's awesome drop tower.

 

I enjoy pretty much every drop tower but I've always thought the one at Kings Dominion was one of the best. The thing is absolutely massive and it drops with incredible speed and force. I cant pinpoint one particular reason I like this thing so much, but after Demon Drop, Falcons Fury and the Larson / Arm towers this one is probably my favorite. There's just something about it that's completely awesome.

 

As usual the ride was a walk on and we quickly made our way through the ride's useless queue area and were directed to the left. We approached the gate and got there right as the other car started heading up the tower. Watching the massive ride vehicle drop from 300 feet and blast us with wind in the process was a pretty awesome way to get us hyped up for our ride.

 

 

Once the riders in front of us exited the ride, the gates opened and we quickly made our way to our seats. Our seats were on the side facing Twisted Timbers which was pretty cool since it allowed me to quietly dork out to my hearts content while we rose up the tower. The drop (as always) was nuts and the ride turned out to be a major hit with our group (not that there was much doubt going in). This ride is f*cking great.

 

After touching back down to earth we continued on to Old Virginia. Along the way, we passed up a ride on Delirium and the flyers (neither of which was easy to do) but I kept my eye on the prize and was about to be handsomely rewarded.

 

No more bullsh*t. Time to take this trip report to the next level.

 

As everyone knows, log flumes are the way to my heart. Any park that has one immediately gets plenty of bonus points with me, but parks that run their flumes in October... they're the real heroes.

 

It's no surprise that I love every flume ride, but Shehandoah Lumber company is definitely one of the best. It doesn't have intricate theming, it doesn't really have much in the way of terrain that it can use, but it's awesome location back in the Virginia woods really set it apart for me. Once the ride starts, you forget the rest of the park even exists. You're just riding an old school Arrow flume through a forest. What's not to love?

 

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Welcome to Doswell, where people have excellent taste in rides.

Despite the cooler temperatures and the fact that fall was in full swing, people clearly know greatness when they see it and Shenandoah Lumber company turned out to have the second longest wait of the day (after Volcano). We didn't really know what to expect from the ride. Obviously I expected complete brilliance (and I got it), but in terms of how soaked we would get, I really didn't know.

 

Brit and I have been on this thing a ton, and you rarely get more than a few sprinkles with two people in the log. We're so confident in that that we once rode it with temperatures in the 30's while waiting for the coasters to reach their minimum operating temperatures. That said, the last time we crammed 3 people in a log with Boldikus we f*cking drowned. We weren't sure if we just had a leaky log or if adding one more person could really make that big of a difference but we knew we were about to find out.

 

Nobody else wanted to risk sitting up front, but I didn't care at all so Brit and I hopped in the front of the log with mom in the back. We left the station, climbed the first lift, dropped down and...

 

 

Yeah, we were soaked. Putting three people in a log turns this thing from Coal Cracker South to the Poseidon Adventure almost as if someone flicked a "Drown everyone in boat 4" button. Luckily I could barely begin to care, and I enjoyed the trip through the woods immensely. It was my last flume ride of the year, if we got soaked... so be it.

 

Before we knew it we had reached lift two and the other 2/3 of the boat (which seemed strangely less enthusiastic) was bracing for impact. The final drop was just as drenching as the first, but as usual I walked off proud of my stupid self and absolutely loved the ride. Note to self though, never put 3 people in a boat on this ride unless you want to drown. It was almost amazing to stand near the exit and see how dry everyone was in boats with 1 or 2 riders and how soaked they were in every boat with 3+ riders. 3 riders is the tipping point. You've been warned.

 

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And here we have a skeleton vomiting piss water. This is clearly a dig at Budweiser and Busch Gardens. Well played Kings Dominion...

By that point we were almost out of time, but we still had one ride left to ride before joining the traffic apocalypse in DC so we made our way to the big B&M in the front of the park to end our weekend on a high note.

 

As it turned out, mom had actually ridden this thing before. We didn't really think of it until we were walking up to it, but when we made our potato roll trip to Cedar Point as kids we stopped at Six Flags Worlds of Adventure since we had season passes. At the time we didn't even know the park existed, but we saw a sign for "Six Flags", pulled off and ended up at what was arguably the greatest Six Flags park of all time where we rode Batman Knight Flight... the park's star attraction. I assumed mom wouldn't remember the coaster at all so I kept that dork factoid to myself but I thought it was sort of cool.

 

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These people love being dominated...

Dominator had a bit of a line, but nothing too crazy. The front row line for this thing was insane, but we barely cared because it's a complete back seat ride anyway so within 15 minutes or so we were in our seats. The back row - far side is the magic seat so we gave that one to mom and a few minutes later we were on our way up the lift.

 

I'm a big Dominator fan. While it's missing a zero-g roll, the forceful rip down the drop, awesome hang time in the loop and floater air off the midcourse really make it one of my favorite floorless coasters. Obviously this isn't going to be anyone's favorite coaster in the park when Volcano and Intimidator exist, but it's a fantastic and often overlooked ride.

 

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... so much Domination

Predictably, everyone loved Dominator. It's not going to blow anyone away with it's stats but it's a really solid ride. Unfortunately when we rolled back into the station and exited the train that meant our awesome weekend was coming to an end but it was a great way to end a great weekend. Keep being awesome, Dominator!

 

Up next: Halloween Haunt at the Greatest Amusement Park in All of Allentown Pennsylvania!!!!!!

 

==================

 

PS: In an effort to be timely and not have these trip reports of current seasonal events stuck in an endless backlog of trip reports I need to write, I've actually added two trip reports since my last installment here. Both of which have been posted on the first page of this thread and can be found in their respective park threads.

 

Holiday in the Park Opening Weekend 2017 at Six Flags Great Adventure!

and

Holiday in the Park 2017 at Six Flags America!

 

If you haven't had enough of my sh*t by now, give them a read!

 

PS: Yes, Dorney's haunt report could be considered a seasonal report too, but it's Dorney and nobody cares. We all know the houses will all be the same next year.

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Great report as usual!

 

My sister's favorite coaster is Volcano as well. She loves just how unique the ride is. Despite the powerful launch, I don't think the transitions on that one are too wild. Intimidator is a completely different story and you sum it up perfectly. I admit it's one of the most intense coasters out there, but there are several I'd rather ride instead (including most B&M hypers).

 

Also I'm glad I'm not the only one who starts to grey out after the Backlot helix.

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Haha I love this update! Having met your Mom and ridden a bunch with her I can assure everyone of her awesomeness. I love that she loved Volcano, its such a blast! The on-ride shots are really awesome.

 

Brit wanted her picture with the elephant and after going through the photos I came to the realization that not only did she take the same picture last year but apparently she loves to be a dick and wear a Knott's shirt whenever she goes to Kings Dominion. lol

 

And this is so hilarious I spit water all over my desk. Seriously.

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Nice report! I'm hoping to get my dad down to Carowinds next year.

 

My daughter and I did a KD/BGW combo back in August. I hadn't been on a coaster in many, many years and didn't know LIM and LSM existed. So Volcano was quite the surprise! And probably still my favorite coaster at the moment.

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Great report! It's cool your mom rides with you! I don't understand how my parents worked at Kings Island for years and aren't the least bit excited to go ride a ride with me The Bat scared the shit out of my mom and she refuses to go on another coaster, haha.

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She doesn't love the intense twists at the end of El Toro (though overall she loves the ride) and since she's pushing 60 (though you wouldn't know it) I was a bit worried about some of the abrupt transitions on those two coasters.

 

Glad to hear how much your mother loved I-305 and Volcano and that they didn't bother her in terms of transitions - I'm sure that she'll be good to go on coasters for at least another 10-15 years!

 

Michael has been on both of these coasters over the age of 70 and while he really liked Volcano, I-305 was a one and done for him because of its sheer intensity. But he can handle the bigger steel coasters better than something like Grizzly or Hurler which do (or in Hurler's case, did) tend to beat the crap out of you.

 

While I don't think that he may ever be able to do coasters again due to his aggressive surgery to remove bile duct cancer last year, we are still looking at possibly hitting Busch Gardens in Tampa (my 2nd favorite US park) on our way to Ft. Myers in a few weeks. He was excited to see all of the cool looking shows, lights and events listed on their website and said that he would wait and people watch while I satisfy my much-needed coaster fix.

 

And just like Brit - he's awesome like that!

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Hilarious, but of course. I totally agree with Backlot Stunt Coaster and Flight of Fear being underrated, though I've only experienced the Kings Island versions. Both those are super fun rides that maybe don't blow your mind with intensity, but certainly provide a memorable experience. That's what people miss by just going to tick a box and count a credit. If you're in this hobby to actually have fun by experiencing rides, they're great.

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Thanks guys!!!

 

My sister's favorite coaster is Volcano as well. She loves just how unique the ride is. Despite the powerful launch, I don't think the transitions on that one are too wild.

 

It really is a ridiculously unique ride. I'm sort of spoiled since we get to ride it so often, but there's really nothing like it.

 

Awesome report as per usual. Your mom is f*cking awesome.
Haha I love this update! Having met your Mom and ridden a bunch with her I can assure everyone of her awesomeness. I love that she loved Volcano, its such a blast! The on-ride shots are really awesome.
Nice report! I'm hoping to get my dad down to Carowinds next year.
Great report! It's cool your mom rides with you! I don't understand how my parents worked at Kings Island for years and aren't the least bit excited to go ride a ride with me The Bat scared the shit out of my mom and she refuses to go on another coaster, haha.

 

LOL! It's almost impossible to convince her to go to a park with us since she has a million things to do all the time, but whenever she actually does go she has a great time. At one point this year she actually went to Great Adventure without us with her husband (who's afraid of rides but is a great sport) so they could do the safari but before they left she ended up making him hold her sh*t so she could ride Nitro 11 times in a row. I guess that's where I get it from.

 

Brit wanted her picture with the elephant and after going through the photos I came to the realization that not only did she take the same picture last year but apparently she loves to be a dick and wear a Knott's shirt whenever she goes to Kings Dominion. lol

And this is so hilarious I spit water all over my desk. Seriously.

 

That's awesome.

 

Hilarious, but of course. I totally agree with Backlot Stunt Coaster and Flight of Fear being underrated, though I've only experienced the Kings Island versions. Both those are super fun rides that maybe don't blow your mind with intensity, but certainly provide a memorable experience. That's what people miss by just going to tick a box and count a credit. If you're in this hobby to actually have fun by experiencing rides, they're great.

 

Thanks! I'm glad someone else appreciates those rides. Especially Flight of Fear. Flight of Fear is legit.

 

Glad to hear how much your mother loved I-305 and Volcano and that they didn't bother her in terms of transitions - I'm sure that she'll be good to go on coasters for at least another 10-15 years!

 

Yeah, I'm impressed but I think it's awesome. Since we made her buy the Platinum Pass so she could tag along on one of our Cedar Point trips next year I was thrilled that she liked I305 since the transitions are pretty similar to the ones on Maverick. I wasn't sure how she's like that ride, but I'm feeling a little more confident now.

 

And just like Brit - he's awesome like that!

Sounds like it! You've got yourself a keeper. lol

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