total13

Having just visited GL not even a month ago, I can say that (if everything we're hearing turns out to be true in the end) I'm not surprised. I even posted a prediction in a blog when I returned that the only coasters that would be left at GL were Dipper, Beaver Land Mine & Double Loop. I was surprised that this park existed in what-seemed-to-be-a nicer-than-most suburban area complete with new-looking strip malls right across the street. The park didn’t seem to fit the location and selling off the lakefront property seems feasible, especially with two (three if you count RWB) coasters being removed from the lakefront. I could easily see CF turning GL into a water/water ride park with a couple coasters, going even so far as ganking all of CP’s Soak City's rides to make GL a huge water mecca (a stretch perhaps…). But I can't see why they’d hang on to GL’s old water park slides unless they planned on using them eventually (even though there was that supposed failed sale a little while back) and just recently gated that section off. Why not free up the Soak City land at CP for ride expansion and "force" everyone a little more than an hour away for a kick-a$$ waterpark and bonus coasters? I'm not saying it's the most genius thing to do, but I could see it making sense to CF. I also think that, although CP won't get any of GL's coasters, they'd receive some flats; for instance, they don't have a ride like Texas Tornado (hey, it’s already painted Iron Dragon orange…) or Time Warp. Here’s a little diagram of how I could see the park looking in a couple years. Keep in mind that a) no financial costs were taken into consideration with relocating rides within the park, b) no rides would have to be moved clear across the lake, c) only 1 full-sized coaster and 1 kiddie coaster would be moved within the park, d) it seems to follow the “traditional” theme that we’ve heard about. Plus, the money that they could sell the $ land for could fund, I’d like to think, these plans. The X’s will be taken out completely and the X’s with white centers will be relocated to other parks. This will keep rides with less height to the edge of the park closest to the lakefront property, thus less of an eye-sore to the prospective buyers. It would add the kiddie coaster and carousel to their already-better-than-most kids area. It would also collect their “vintage” rides (Dodgems and Hay Baler {Flying Bobs}) around Big Dipper to join El Dorado (car themed Flying Carpet). Finally, their nice ferris wheel would get an even better location – right next to the water by the crossing bridge, catching the attention of people on the water side a little better. If I had endless funds and the ability to pull off this project, this is how I would do it. Sorry for the super long post but I just wanted to add my two cents/ideas. Geagu Lake - 2010?

7 hours for TTD spread out over two consecutive weekends in 2003. The first weekend we got in line in the early evening, then it started raining (big surprise, eh?) & never stopped. We wasted 4 hours in line that nite without getting on & drove back to Chicago. The following Friday I got off work & told the ms. to pack our bags coz we were heading back - I couldn't get it out of my head. We headed to TTD first & waited for 3 hours before finally getting on. So, yeah, we stood in line for 25,200 seconds to ride TTD for, what?, 20 seconds... Looking back, it was still worth it.

I will admit that they look good... I'm a bit skeptical of the comfortable-ness though; gonad crushing seat hump + steel bar in the gut/ribs = ?!?!?. I have to ask: where in god's name is the padding?!?

4 Correct. 3 right next to each other. But now only 1 of your "C"s is correct... Good job though!

0 correct - you had a coaster name in the right place but the wrong park. Sorry. There's a clue. I keep trying to drop them in...

3 Correct - and they all begin with a "C"

OK, so my math was off by a little I actually don't think it'd be "hopeless", especially since you could compare how many the entries before you got correct. I'll bet that someone could do it within 10 pages of the thread.

So I was thumbing through old park maps and came across this "book" that I bought for $1.95 at a grade school book fair. On the back, it lists the Top 15 Roller Coasters from 1985. I'm curious how long it would take before a TPR member could place them in the correct order? Coaster - Park American Eagle - Six Flags Great America Beast - King's Island Big Bad Wolf - Busch Gardens (Europe) Colossus - Six Flags Magic Mountain Comet - Crystal Beach (Ontario Canada) Comet - Hershey Park Cyclone - Astroland (Coney Island) Giant Dipper - Santa Cruz Boardwalk Mind Bender - Six Flags Over Georgia Mr. Twister - Elitch's Gardens Rebel Yell - King's Dominion (Riverside) Cyclone - Riverside Park (SFNE) Space Mountain - Disneyworld Texas Cyclone - Six Flags Astroworld Thunderbolt - Kennywood Park Rules: I couldn't find any reference to this book anywhere so it may be virtually impossible to cheat, but please don't try. If you somehow happen to also own this list, please don't play. Post your guesses in a list like shown above with #1 at the top and #15 at the bottom. I will try to post a response to each submission individually with a simple number of how many you have correct. If I can't get to you individually, I will do a batch of submission scores all at once. You have to wait to see how many you had correct in your latest guess before submitting another. No multiple guesses at a time - in other words, you can't post 225 different guesses (the number of possible results, I think: 15x15... ) I will post the rear cover of the book (as well as the inside pages) when someone gets all 15 correct. Thanks & good luck! Poster Plus - Roller Coasters!

Billy wrote: “Think its worth a trip from Long Island?” I don’t know how dedicated you are to going to GA from Long Island but it was definitely worth the five hour trip from Nashville. If I were heading to SFoG from Long Island, I’d make sure to hit every other park around it too! bulldogmom wrote: “Goliath looks awesome.” It absolutely IS if you enjoy airtime (and who doesn’t?)! If you’re looking for a more thrilling layout, speed and/or height, it may not be the coaster for you. But I think this coaster can be so universally loved that even the most novice of coaster rider can’t help but hold their hands up the entire time. It never gets “scary”; it’s just an amazing airtime coaster from beginning to end – even with the trim on after the helix. EagleFan344 wrote: “How would you compare Goliath to Raging Bull?” I, unlike you, am a Raging Bull fan (it’s also in my Top 10) but I, like you, also wondered if the two were similar and, quite frankly, the two are in completely separate categories. RB has that anticipated drop into the tunnel, immediately starts over-banking, only has two really good air-filled hills, and finishes with an intense helix. Goliath is laid out more like an L-shaped out-and-back woodie and, aside from the two over-banked transition turns and the helix; it follows a pretty straight pattern. I guess the best way I’d describe it is: RB is a mega-twister and Goliath is a mega-hyper. I’d rate the comfort of ride (i.e.: smoothness and seats) as the same. Airtime and overall appeal advantage: Goliath; more interesting layout and intense elements advantage: Raging Bull. I hope that helps! EagleFan344 wrote: “Also, how were operations at the park? Max capacity on most coasters?” Operations were virtually flawless. The only instance I saw with poor operations was as we were leaving the station on GASM, someone on our train yelled and the ride op slammed on the brakes; turns out their lap-bar wasn’t fully locked. After the problem was fixed and before we could even be fully released out of the station, the ride op left his control station to “address” the situation with the bar-checker. I actually commend him on this – show your guests that negligence will not be tolerated and that the next time they sit down in that seat they will be safe. Two trains were running on all the coasters (except Déjà vu, obviously, and Canyon Blaster) and were filled to the brim on departure (when there were that many people in line) – Mindbender, GA Cyclone, Ninja, GASM and DMT were all walk-ons! MrMorgan wrote: “Oh, and I accept your invitation to the "fill in the blank" game. Here:” Thanks for catching that! I was hoping that it would’ve elicited more responses. I mean, here’s everybody’s chance to say something bad about a coaster that most-likely wasn’t operating when they wanted it to… easytoremember wrote: “By the way, did you ever get on Monster Plantation?” I actually did and thought that I had taken a picture of the outside building; I guess I didn’t. It was cute - a little on the cheesy/weird side but, nevertheless, a nice cool ride in the 90 degree heat. Even though I had seen pictures of the animatronics inside, I thought that somewhere it would get scarier and not weirder. Perhaps it was even weirder for me coz I was seated behind a younger guy with pink/purple toenail polish… Yeah, that probably did it… HHIslandGirl wrote: “Did you have a pass, or did you purchase tickets there?” For the first time in my life, I have a SF Season Pass this year but I’m not aware of the VIP Card at GA Welcome Centers that you mentioned. I too grew up being spoiled (if you will) by CP and it’s hard for other parks to live up to my first impression as a youngin’ (even though it frequently gets slammed here), but I can say that SFoG is possibly another world-class coaster away from that level. I hope you have a great time when you go down! To anyone who wrote compliments and/or congratulations: Thanks! It was a great two days! Next up: Lake Winnie

Part two: Goodbye SFoG and Goliath and cute-yet-pointless fountain. You are easily my new favorite Six Flags park!! Thanks for making it all the way through this TR!! On the way back to the car I was able to get a double-lift hill shot. Could this day be any better? As you walk out, you can't help but see my 100th credit. Hopefully you will have as memorable a milestone credit as me!! This is for all the "I've always wanted to see a non-running train in a shed while the running train passes through it" people. Do you people even exist?!? With that ever-looming 100th credit and a new Top 10 entry firmly under my belt, a celebratory train ride was in order. After all, I saw it go past enough times... Front = extreme floater air. Back = extreme ejector air. Goliath = Perfect!! So glad, in fact, that another ride was inevitable - this time, in the back seat. OK!! I get your point!! You are The Ultimate Air Machine!! And I am SO glad that I saved you for credit #100!!! More air?!? Are you kidding me?!? Who can complain with an over-banked turn as beautiful as this? Then you catch even more air on this hill. ...the helix of death that is so much fun! And a pop of air heading into... And a diving transition like this. With air-filled hills like the first one. Well, Goliath actually does have a lot to be proud of! Are you proud of yourself? I can't turn around without seeing you! Goliath's ever-so-smooth lift through a tree and orange pillar. Goliath's ever-so-comfy train starting up the lift. 100th credit here I come!! Hooray!! I'm finally here!! Like the Tram Station... Like Georgia Cyclone's exit ramp... Like the Sky Buckets... Like the Spanish Area... Hi Bugs! Like Gotham City... Like the parking lot... After, surprisingly, the best ride in the park, it was time to head to my 100th credit... As I said before, you can see it looming from every area of the park... After all, I think you may need a little more than two household fire extinguishers to contain the Georgia Cyclone - that's a lot of wood! As great as it was, this sign worried me a little. What kind of tests did they run to determine we have exactly three minutes to get the hell out of dodge and who's gonna man the extinguisher?!? This is the sleeper hit of the park! The drops, air and forces were so unexpected and viciously good. I felt like I was just in a UFC match and won when I got off. It was THAT good! Intense doesn't even begin to describe how great Georgia Cyclone was! And even looked fun through the trees! It looked all twisty-turny and full of air! I was anxious to get my first Cyclone credit! FYI: The Georgia Cyclone is modeled after the Coney Island Cyclone (happy birthday btw), with one slight modification to my knowledge. On the way to Georgia Cyclone, the train passed again. Where doesn't this train go? By the time I reached here, Mr. Deathly Afraid Of Heights (that's me) just had the most fun on a drop ride EVER and rode it AGAIN!!

My "Best Summer Ever" Tour of 2007 next took me to Six Flags Over Georgia. After my last SF experience (KK), surely SFoG would have to be better, right?!? Well, it is - by light years!! After visiting SFGAm, SFStL and SFKK prior, SFoG is by far my favorite - beautiful scenery (for Atlanta & SF), great coasters, decent flats, and friendly and efficient employees. In fact, it was so good that I extended my stay and hit the park a second day - a first for me! With absolutely nothing to complain about on to the photos. Which I just now noticed I have to post in two batches coz there are so many... Again, thanks for reading! Six Flags Over Georgia - Music Video link: Acrophobia footage links: And this guy was NOT making it any easier!! Seriously!! He's the BEST addition to a ride experience ever!! Check out my videos at the top of the TR to hear this guy in all of his taunting glory!! At about here, I was really wishing I was back on the ground... At about here, I was repeating "there's no place like home"... At about here, I was calling for my mommy... At about here, I was sweating profusely... With all these great coasters under my belt, it was now time to test my acrophobia and nerves with... um... Acrophobia! Although it had three (yes, three) lifts, the surprise ending was a big highlight. I'll give you a clue: it involves the barn and the track that disappears into the ground... I don't think I've ever screamed on a mine until now! Next up: Dahlonega Mine Train - which is not very photogenic. Are ANY Arrow mines photogenic for that matter? And a cool fountain with a certain someone daring Robb to step up. There were some Kid-Tums-friendly rides in this section too. After Canyon Blaster, there was adorable Spanish area with a bull behind that door trying to break out and maul us all! But that's OK coz this not-so-little kiddie coaster was a blast (pardon the pun)! And it doesn't even get the bridge-goers wet! This is the only eye-sore-of-sorts (say THAT fast). And what NOT to spend their money on... They really knew what to spend their money on to give the guests a nice experience. This really is the most beautiful SF park I've been to! ...and ran underneath you. On the stroll, this little river popped out of nowhere... I couldn't believe that they had the old Riverview (Chicago) Carousel. How cool is that?!? If you don't know the history behind Riverview Park, you have homework - but wait til after the TR is done, please. On the way back into the center of the park, the train passed again. S:UF from the smoking section. Admit it: NOW you feel like you were there... And here's SFoG's smoking section from S:UF. Thanks for giving us like a 10 foot area. This'll hold, what, like eight people?!? SFoG's Superman was 10x better than SFGAm's - much better use of land to give a more visually-intense ride. Wow, this is the longest I've EVER gone without a smoke - must be a great park. After being beat up two coasters in a row, Superman: Ultimate Flight never sounded so good. My guess is it's this way. See, I'm getting better with directions... This is right before you SLAM into the brakes. And I mean SLAM!!!! I wish I could've ridden GASM when it was in its prime. It's actually a great coaster that hasn't aged well! Although the lift hill was faster than Ninja's. I guess it has something going for it... Signature shot of an equally painful coaster? The slowest lift hill in history is a precursor to the most painful ride in history - much rougher than the one at SFStL (but that was five years ago...) Ninja's (hopefully-used-to-be-not-as-painful) twisted goodness through the trees. Literally. Ninja is one bad mutha _____! Wheelie from across the pond where they hold picnics and catered outings that were in progress but I wasn't invited to... I will always love Enterprises! Must be coz I rode Witch's Wheel at CP when I was really young... They hold a Comedy Gun Fight Show here. Again, don't forget: you are in the South and everyone here has guns and they're funny. On the way to the painful rides (Ninja and Scream Machine) you pass through the very nicely themed Lickskillet Area. Couldn't they have come up with a better name? Way to give us people in the South a lasting sterotype SF!! Hey! There's me doing my best David Blaine impersonation in the window reflection. Here's a lil game: replace "closer" with a word of your choice. Had I known this pic would come out so cool (and, no, I didn't actually plan this shot), I would've rolled down the darn window. D'oh!?! And my hand-eye coordination is starting to come back to me... And I could see from pretty far away... ...SFoG's actually ran the entire day as far as I could see. While some are subjected to lawn ornament status... Symmetrical Deja Vu pic? Check. Proof that people are actually allowed to ride Deja Vu's every now and then. Aww, hell yeah!! Could I be so lucky as to get my second Deja Vu credit in as many tries? Ain't it purty? Of course, they had water cannons that you could douse the riders with on the platform where this pic was taken. See? Thunder River was one of the more beautifully landcaped rapids rides I've seen despite the boring entrance. The GP encountered through the French Area - not too bad of a crowd for a Thursday/Friday. Heading out of Gotham City, the train passes overhead and Goliath looms in the distance (actually, it looms in the distance from every area of the park). We'll get to that later... Even sitting on the brakes is scenic at SFoG. Proof that a good old coaster can stand the test of time! I enjoyed Mindbender so much that I rode it twice in a row! Great Mindbender scenery that you only see during the walk from the parking lot to the entrance. Lovin' me some Schwarzkopf loopidy goodness!! Next up was Mindbender. Was there a superhero or villian named Mindbender? coz I don't remember one... Great Batman scenery but for a second I thought I was back at SFKK... From the track itself... From the back of the parking lot... From the exit ramp... From the middle of the parking lot... From under it... You can see SFoG's Batman from every angle. Speaking of which... I always wonder why hasn't SFGAm updated theirs yet? It is, after all, next to Batman: The Ride, right?!? They even had the superhero version of the swings - Gotham City Crime Wave. Makes me wonder: wouldn't that be a better name for a water ride? The Hall Of Justice area was for people to meet their favorite superheros every hour or so. Kinda cool, if you're in to the whole superhero thing... See? Gotham City's next. It was probably the best looking version of the area that I've seen yet. Too bad the blacklights didn't work on the flourescent ride drapes when the lights went out. Here's an idea though: an indoor Scrambler with blacklights, strobe lights and 3D glasses... Simple curiosity urged me to ride Shake Rattle and Roll - an indoor dark Scrambler/Sizzler with oldies music. Care for a nice shaded stroll on a 90 degree day? They had a couple of these throughout the park. It was a nice touch to escape the sun every now and then. First up: many people's #1 stand-up. Not mine. Chang still owns Georgia Scorcher. It was like Iron Wolf at SFGAm but tighter and less painfull but still head-banging. The Promenade stage as you walk in that, I assume, they have small performances on. Is this the gateway to nirvana? Finally, after fighting through Atlanta traffic (the worst!), I have arrived. My five hour drive from Nashville consisted of scenes like this almost the entire time.

I'm sure that my observations three weeks ago have absolutely nothing to do with this tragic accident but there was one car that seemed to be out of service for the entire day that I was there - located to left of center as you're looking at the tower from the park entrance - and the entire ride was shut down for a while. Again, most likely in no relation. But it sure is scary for me sitting in front of my computer knowing that I was on it less than a month ago & hate drop towers (and heights in general). Not that this incident will have any affect on me riding towers, I just can't imagine what this (even witnessing it) would do to my psyche as a park enthusiast, let alone a random visitor. I'm sure that this is exponentionally more terrifying for that poor girl & I truly wish the best for her physically & mentally!

I can't believe what an atrocity SoB has turned out to be. I rode it back in its first season & actually liked it. Yes, it was a bit rough but it seemed to be less-rough (if I remember correctly) on the left side. For me, having a decent memory of how it ran, it's such a shame that they can't even get it to complete a full circuit now. I mean, physics is physics & engineering is engineering right?!? Did they NOT figure out that it could stall? I know that there are a lot of scenarios that could be taken into account but were their calculators/computers not working the day they decided a slightly new layout & different cars? In a somewhat-related question: assuming they actually do get SoB open again, since it should be such a different ride, would it be considered a new credit? Not that I'm counting or anything

Jay: thank you very much for posting on TPR! I am fully aware of the strides you and your managerial staff have made this year so far (as witnessed and reported by various TPR forum members) and the biggest expansion in park history (Splashwater Kingdom and Deluge, in particular) should definitely bring added guests and revenue to Kentucky Kingdom – it surely was the best water park I had ever seen. However, with all due respects, I had visited SFKK within the past three weeks and was disappointed, to say the least, being a coaster/park (and not a water park) enthusiast. Having visited two other Six Flags parks prior (SFGAm and SFSL - I know, not a lot) and many other parks, the Kentucky Kingdom’s staff’s courtesy and overall effectiveness appeared to be a grave hindrance to the mission you and your staff are attempting to accomplish. In addition to the issues I brought up in the trip report I submitted upon my return from your park (which I had delayed submitting because I didn’t want negative views to be the only views expressed {http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=36304&highlight=kentucky+kingdom}), I made no mention of a Greezed Lightnin' ride operator on my initial short visit Friday, May 30. I understand that standing over the yellow line in the station and sitting or standing on the rails is potentially a liable situation for Six Flags but to have a ride operator delay operations and scream it over the loud speaker in a virtually empty queue is a bit over the top, in my opinion. It simply gives the guests that are obeying the rules the feeling that Kentucky Kingdom is not a fun & friendly place to visit. Just two days ago, Six Flags Over Georgia ride operators addressed the same situation with a much more friendly (and effective) manner; they simply brought it up matter-of-factly (and sometimes humorously) over the load speaker and the innocent always scanned the crowd (us innocent humans do that naturally) until our eyes become fixated on the guilty parties until they realize that everyone is looking at them and quickly return to the ground. Problem solved without negative experiences being had by innocent guests. Another issue I had experienced during my visit to SFKK was while waiting to be dispatched on Twisted Twins (the pink one – Lola {?!?}); the ride operators missed the synchronization intervals and we sat in the station for three (yes, three) green train circuits. Finally, the ride operators were able to get the timing correct but at that point I just wanted to ride – I couldn’t care less about dueling. To the staff’s credit, though, they allowed us to board the green train (Stella {?!?}) immediately without having to re-enter the line. I’m sure that my observations at Kentucky Kingdom (in both my trip report and here) were isolated incidents. However, in a full day’s visit, one should not encounter this many instances. Although I am about equidistant from both SFKK and SFOG, I would easily choose SFOG for the friendliness, experience and thrills (I, like stated earlier, am {like many members on TPR} a coaster/park fan) and rearranged my trip to go there one extra day. Until the good rides you do have (everything besides T2) can be rehabbed to their former glory and operations can run smoothly or, at least, you can avoid having riders hitting trees during their “best stand-up coaster” (as I have proclaimed and still agree with after riding Georgia Scorcher), unfortunately SFKK will not be my “home” park – I’d rather drive the extra 30 minutes to Atlanta. That’s not to say that people shouldn’t visit your park; there are great aspects to it – just not what I prefer in a park. I understand that a coaster/park enthusiast’s opinion is not the only opinion that matters in your position even though you do have support among us. If Non-German Tom (Shockwave) visited just a little more recently than me and saw significant improvements and an upper hand over SFGAm (my former home park, which is pretty darn good), you and your staff seem to have a handle on things. I am aware that you have to look at the big picture which is the majority, who are not coaster/park enthusiasts. I hope that there is a “bigger picture” and that the park is “heading in the right direction” that satisfies both coaster and water park enthusiasts as well as families looking for a nice getaway. I would love to see what the future holds for Kentucky Kingdom and am looking forward to the continued progress! Your dedication should be commended! I wish you the best of luck in your challenge!

odene497 wrote: "You've got to turn LEFT at Hellevator ( or whatever it is) to get to Greased Lightnin'! Anyways nice pictures. Yes, I finally did realize the flaw of my plan after it was too late - I will remember next time. Thanks for the comment on the pics! spaceace12 wrote: "I went to SFKK the day after HWN, My main draw was yours, and I ended up on the other side of the bridge. I pretty much agree with your coaster thoughts. The main reason I went was to make my Season pass worth what I paid for it." Yeah, next to HW (despite its lack of rides, in general, to SF parks) SFKK pales in comparison. The main reason I finally got a SF season pass is coz I'm hitting up both SFKK & SFOG this year - they're both about the same distance away from me. EagleFan344 wrote: "Ugh Greezed Lightnin was closed when I was there. Oh well I get to go on Montezooma's Revenge in July." It's been 22 years since I did Monte when I was 10 years old (back when it was yellow) and, yeah, it's the same ride - although it was cool to revisit my first looping coaster (Tidal Lightnin') many years later. I wish more Schwarzkopf shuttle loops were around these days but I guess they pretty much invented the one-trick-pony division of coasters. I don't care though coz I could ride them forever. There's hardly ever a wait for them (coz they're so short) and the "perfect" loop feels distinct for me in a "I remember when..." kind of way.