Photo TR: Three Weeks of Insanity! From BGE to BGA to DCA.

PLUS: TPR Sponsors My Car?! FULL REPORT IS UP!
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What is this, Joisey?
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Postby Swimace » Wed Nov 14, 2007 10:28 am

65skylark wrote: But, I really like Alpengeist and Silver Bullet, and those are probably the two most bashed inverts out there.


I really like Silver Bullet as well, but I think its lack of intensity is what causes it to get such bad reviews when compaired to other B&M inverts. Silver Bullet is really fun, but rides like Montu and DD are simply amazing, so it really just suffers from getting bad comparisons.

Alpengeist was rough and not fun IMO, but I may have just caught it on a really bad day. That cobra roll had some killer snapping.

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Postby 65skylark » Wed Nov 14, 2007 1:42 pm

Part Three: Kings Dominion

After a few hours in the morning at BGE, I was ready to hit the road, yet again. In just under one hour, I was at my next destination. Kings Dominion.
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Upon my arrival, I see all these neat pieces of track laying in the parking lot. Lucky for me, I already have that credit.
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Haunt - Coming Soon. Chuck also noted this in his TR, but I really think someone might want to let them know that their Halloween Haunt had already begun.
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Cedar Fair customer sevice at its best! Over 50 bucks for a one day pass and you aint gettin back in after 7....SO DON"T EVEN ASK!
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Here's another one of those shots everyone takes. Only this one comes complete with dead people transportation vehicle and evil scarecrow dude.
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Wait.........where am I again?
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Scooby Dooby Doo, where are you, we got some work to do now.....

Sorry, just got stuck in my head for some reason.
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So, yeah, they have a Fairy Coaster here, too. Oddly enough, it was just as good as the one at Carowinds.
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I'm not sure if this counts as "through the trees" but it's as close as we're going to get in this TR, I'm afraid. Sorry, "through the trees" fanboys.
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Volcano. Yet another coaster I have heard many good things about.
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This lived up to hype. I thought it was great! Only bad thing about the ride was the 45 minute wait that should have been about 15 minutes. Opperations were terrible.
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Along with the first launch, this was my favorite part of the ride.
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My first ever bobsled coaster.
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Heeeeeliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiix!!!
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I was expecting nothing from this coaster and ended up really liking it. Had some nice fun sections in it, like this one.
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I personally hate these things, but I had to stop and get a picture for coasterdave.
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I was making a clockwise pattern through the park, so Anaconda was next. Too bad it was down. Oh well, it's just an Arrow. Hey Jahan!
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I had never been on an Italian Job coaster before. Too bad it was closed, too. Well, Drop Zone is just down the way, and I love drop towers.
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I had heard a lot of good things about this monster. Yeah.......it was closed.
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A TRAIN! Quick, RUN!
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I really like launch coasters! The launch was great on this thing. The rest was pretty brutal. Overall, not that great of a coaster.
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I wonder how this Hurler would rate against its twin. Oh, wait.......IT'S FREAKING CLOSED!!

OK, by now I am pissed. I just left one of the best parks ever and now, it appears, I'm in one of the worst. But, I'm already here, and at this rate, will probably never be back, so I took a deep breath and tryed to calm down. After all, there were still plenty of coasters here to ride. Including the one right behind me.
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Ricochet. Although it was running, it had about a 30 minute wait, far exceeding my max time limit for a wild mouse. Next.
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THis is about the only good shot you can get of Grizzly. Not too bad, but really nothing special. I did like the tunnel though.
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Time for Great American Rebel Screamin Thunder Eagle Run Road.
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Another of the MANY similarities between here and Carowinds.

Time to wander back and see if any of the coasters have opened up yet.
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Yay! More parks need coasters like this. I thought it was great! A coaster that the entire family can enjoy.
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Anaconda was up and running again, too. This is much better. Maybe, just maybe, Drop Zone would be open.
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Holy crap on toast!
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I love these things. They are litterally the only rides out there that still to this day scare the crap out of me every time I ride.
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Since I was right here, I decided to try Rebel Thunder Yell Road backwards. Amazingly, I thought it was considerably better than the forward side.
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AND, Ricoche was now a walk on, so I did at least get one of two Ricochet credits on this trip.
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Hurler was still closed. Probably all for the best anyway. It made a nice picture as the sun was going down though.
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Alomst dark, looks like it is just about time for the monsters to come out. Which means it was time for me to rap things up. THe day had gotten considerably better so I was feeling brave.
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Time to ride Non-German Tom.
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Oh my. What the heck am I thinking.

That kid is totally mocking me isn't he?
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Wow! This thing didn't completely suck at all. And none of the cars came loose and killed anyone, so that is always a plus.
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I would have never believed it, but this contraption actually had air-time. Who'd a thunk it?
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The sun is down and it time for me to start my 5 hour drive back to Charlotte.
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Wait just one minute! What is that I see in the distance?
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A Starbucks IN a theme park! I take back everything bad I said. KD is now my favorite park ever.

Ah, who am kidding. Even Starbucks can't make this park great. It was better than Carowinds, but not by a whole lot. I would probably go back if I was visiting BGE again just because of how close it is.

Now I just have to get through another week of classes and it's off to FLORIDA BABY!
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Postby Team Thriller » Wed Nov 14, 2007 2:29 pm

BBBAAAANNNNGGGG!!!!

Hit another great TR. Keep em' up!! :b
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Postby Carnage » Wed Nov 14, 2007 2:48 pm

A Starbucks IN a theme park! I take back everything bad I said. KD is now my favorite park ever.

Ah, who am kidding. Even Starbucks can't make this park great. It was better than Carowinds, but not by a whole lot. I would probably go back if I was visiting BGE again just because of how close it is.


You should come up to Canada sometime.

We have even MORE average crappy coasters, a drop tower, one should be awesome coaster, and a Starbucks. Probably the only place in the country where you can find a Starbucks and not a Tim Hortons. ;)
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Postby Coasterlvr_nc » Wed Nov 14, 2007 2:56 pm

^ hahahha! Its too bad you didnt enjoy Top Gun though, I have always enjoyed riding it.
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Postby PKI JizzMan » Wed Nov 14, 2007 3:02 pm

65skylark wrote: I love these things. They are litterally the only rides out there that still to this day scare the crap out of me every time I ride.


My thoughts exactly! I can NOT wait for Giant Drop. (The Australian one)

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Postby spaceace12 » Wed Nov 14, 2007 3:03 pm

Congrats on getting your own business (see I did read the intro). Nice pics so far.

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Postby 65skylark » Wed Nov 14, 2007 3:18 pm

Part Four: Busch Gardens Africa

Finally, my class was finished, and my presentation went great! Now, with all the pressure of finishing my training and giving my presentation, I can celebrate with a couple of days in Florida.

I got the house at about 1am in the morning to find most everyone still up. I'm sure they were all anxiously awaiting my arrival. Either that, or they were still up because they had been at the Magic Kingdom until after midnight. Either way, we stayed up BSing until 2:30 in the morning. 7am came really fast!

P.S. I am probably the last one to post picures from Florida, so this part of the TR might seem a little fimiliar to most of you. I'll try to keep it somewhat different, but I'm sure you'll see a few pictures you have already seen.
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Matt is wide awake and ready to go!
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"Who's awake? Where we going? Where am I?"
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Not sure if Dave even went to sleep. You never know about those British peeps.
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Heading to BGA in style. Honda Element represent.
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Not too sure about the driver, though.
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It was just a little wet when we got there. This was actually a good thing.
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I was told the rain had made Gwazi not horrible today.
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These are flamingos. Moving on....
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I don't know what this is.
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It seemed to like Catrina, though.
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Hey, there's some people we know.
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First ride of the day was Sheikra.
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Poor Matt. All alone in the back of the station.
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Sheikra was great as expected, but after having just been on Griffon seven days earlier, I would give Griffon the edge. Sheikra was more highly themed, but Griffon was a better overall ride, IMO.
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Sheikra or Griffon, either way, you've got one heck of a good coaster.
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Kumba! Yet another coaster that I have heard only good things about.
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We had to wait all of 22.7 seconds to ride. It was tough, but we stuck it out.

I must warn you in advance of the next picture. It is quite simply amazing. I really have a natural ability to come up with these highly original shots that you never see anyone else take. So here ya go.........
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I know. Incredible. I amaze even myself.
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So Kumba was awesome. Easily in my personal top ten. Maybe even top five.
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Speaking of amazing coasters.
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Paul looks entirely too happy to be riding Cheetah Chase.
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That's so cute!
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Catrina did a lot of sitting out the coasters. I think she may have been traumatized by "stalker bird".
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Finally, I get to ride Scorpion. It was one of only two coasters in the park the last time I was there, but it was closed.
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Not really too intense for a Schwartzkopf, but still a lot of fun.
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Next was the safari ride.
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The view was quite nice.
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The water portion of the ride was closed. But hey, it looks like it would be fun, yes?
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Justin, taking a picture of Paul, taking a picture of...........What? Its been done before? Are you kidding me!?
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I have no idea.
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This is Montu. It is a B&M inverted roller coaster and it is THE S**T! Sitting atop my invert list are now Montu, Raptor, and Top Gun at Great America.
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Ever since becoming the NHRA Division 6 Sportaman champion, my co-workers have been giving me a hard time about having a big head. Boy are they wrong.
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Finished off the day with a couple rides on Gwazi. I actually thought it was OK. It was my first ride though.

So, it had been all of two hours, and we knocked out every credit, and one half A$$ safari ride. I can't say enough about Busch parks. BGA was great, although even with it having a better coaster lineup than BGE, I still would give the edge to the park in Williamsburg. Both are great, though!

Cypress Gardens is next.
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Postby Carnage » Wed Nov 14, 2007 3:26 pm

P.S. I am probably the last one to post picures from Florida, so this part of the TR might seem a little fimiliar to most of you. I'll try to keep it somewhat different, but I'm sure you'll see a few pictures you have already seen.


Not true. I'm on schedule to post my pictures in January. ;)
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Postby hemmy » Wed Nov 14, 2007 3:47 pm

Has the water portion ever been open on the safari ride?

Every time I have been there it was closed, and these are years apart visits.

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