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stljason1

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About stljason1

  • Birthday 01/20/1987

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  1. This was my second trip to Holiday World in my lifetime, the first being in 2005, the year before the Voyage was built. In fact, they actually announced The Voyage while I was in town, I remember it being in the papers. We got our tickets for 33 dollars from our hotel in Jasper. Anyways, we arrived just after opening, and I knew it was going to be crowded, and it was, but waits for the coasters were never more than 30 minutes. The waterpark on the other hand was another story, but we'll get to that later... My plan was to hit all 3 coasters once, then head over to the waterpark. Raven was a 15 minute wait, and better than I remembered. When I first rode this in 2005, I had trouble seeing how this was a number 1 coaster. But after this visit, it has gained more respect. That first hill is awsome from the back, and everything after the lake turnaround is pure bliss, especially that one sudden drop into the woods. I now totally understand the hype...this ride is awsome. Not sure what was different about it this time around, but I felt something was. Legend was also a 15 minute wait, and another great ride. On my last visit I prefered Legend to Raven, but that has gone the opposite way now. Legend seemed rougher than I remember it, not that thats not necessairly a bad thing though...I think I just prefer airtime to laterals, but not by a whole lot. That bunny hop near the waterpark though, awsome... We made our way over to Voyage, and shortly after getting in line a guy and his kids come walking out of the line, the guy was spewing off about a 4 hour line that goes down, winds around, and comes back up, blah blah blah...now I have obviously never rode Voyage, but all I could do was laugh because I knew the line wasnt bad, and it wasnt, maybe a 25 minute wait. What goes through people's minds I have no idea. This ride is just the complete package though, but you gotta ride it in the back. The airtime throughout is just insane...the first 3 hills are amazing. Probably my favorite part of the ride though, is right before the turnaround, I think its the 4th hill, you come up from a tunnel and you get this awsome brief view of the entire turnaround, and its just goregous. This is easily the best wooden coaster I have ever ridden, bar none. Afterwards, we went over to the waterpark. It was crowded. Im not a huge waterpark fan to begin with, but I do remember enjoying Holiday World's on my last visit. Its a great waterpark, dont get me wrong but it just couldnt handle the crowds. We had to wait to get in the Lazy River...I did manage to get on both Lazy Rivers, Zoombabwae, and Jungle Racer, but that was about it, after that I was just about done dealing with the crowds, and my brother agreed. We got changed and went back into the park. As for the flats, we got on Gobbler Getaway, Revolution, and Liberty Launch. Gobbler Getaway was...different. Im just not a huge fan of shoot em up dark rides. As ive said before, I much prefer the old fashoned ones. I also felt like there werent enough targets. I found myself often having time to hit targets twice. It was just mediocre. Im dissapointed I wasnt able to get to Kennywood this year, first year in a long time, because their new shoot em up dark ride Ghostwood Estate looks like an improvement...I mean at least all of the stunts arent lame cardboard cutouts, and at least it looks somewhat scary. Revolution was awsome, you dont see these types of rides much anymore...I love them. Liberty Launch was OK. Thats the thing about Holiday World, their coasters are amazing, but their selection of flat rides is not very good. After getting re-rides on Raven and Legend, we headed to Kringles Cafe, which was good and cheap like all the food in Holiday World. Our plan for the rest of the evening was to marathon ride Voyage. My brother and I got a total of 4 more rides in probably a hour and a half, bringing my total up to 6 for the day. I wouldve enjoyed a few more rides in the dark, bummer Holiday World closes so early. Although for our last ride it was pretty dark back there in the woods...awsome stuff. Overall Holiday World totally lives up to what it provides, it is one of the cleanest and probably the friendliest park ever. An ominous structure... The final section before the break run. Voyage Station and Lift Hill The entrance to Thanksgiving An amazing coaster... The Raven A closer shot The Legend, from the Raven Queue
  2. Hm...must have been weekend crowds. It was very light on the 7th when I was there, Cornball and Hurricane were walk-ons with 1 train operation.
  3. On Thursday I had the oppertunity to get to Indiana Beach for the first time. I couldnt believe how easy it was to get to from Central IL, for a park so close to my its incredible it took me this long to visit! In any event, we arrived at 11:30 and my brother and I purchased the buy one get one free combo pass. 33 bucks for 2 people to ride all day? Not bad I would say. Overall I enjoyed the park very much, and the crowds were light. Longest wait of the day was 25 minutes for Lost Coaster, but that is only due to 1 train operation. This was a unique coaster if nothing else, although I think I wouldve prefered it going forwards. I was really looking forward to Frakienstiens Castle as I love dark rides of all kinds, and I must say it didnt dissapoint. Well worth the 3.50, although I think I still like Kennywood's Noahs Ark more as a walk through attraction. Got on Cornball Express, and this was a surprisingly fun ride. Short, but it packs a nice little punch. Hoosier Hurricane was also very good, nice and scenic, im not sure which I prefer more actually, both are great rides. While in the line for Cornball I think it was, we saw Tig'rr testing, and a maintenence worker was riding and it stalled just after the lift at the top, he tried to rock it back and forth to get it to move, and eventually had to get out. I figured this wasnt a good sign, but it did open up later in the day, and was fun little coaster, reminded me of Whizzer at SFGAM. Steel Hawg at least looked like nothing else out there, but would it be fun? Thankfully it was. 2 train operation, with a 20 minute or so wait. Hopefully they will get more trains operating, im sure this line will get LONG at times with only 2 trains operating. I really enjoyed this ride, the lift hill is amazingly fast, and the ride just has some unique elements. I especially love that part where it corkscrews into a dive, and you hang upside down for a few seconds. I was pleased to see Galaxi was now operating, and this was another decent coaster. I got on all 6 coasters at IB! I wasnt sure if this would be possible after hearing some reports on the park recently, but looks like I got lucky. As for the other rides, Double shot was closed, but we got a ride on Den of Lost Thieves. I liked this, especially the elevation changes. A lot of the effects didnt seem to be working though. I really perfer the old traditional dark rides, which you really dont see anymore. Why did this necessairly have to be a shoot em up? Why not make it darker and scarier instead? All parks seem to be putting in these interactive dark rides and im just not overly impressed by any of them. Also got on their swings, which were probablly the best ive ever been on. Overall we had a great day, I've noticed complaints about 1 train operation and stuff, but on the day I was there, there was really no need for 2 trains on anything except maybe Lost Coaster. Its amazing how much they pack into such a small plot of land. We left the park before 5, as we had to get on the road towards Holiday World, part 2 of our trip, which I will have a report up for soon. Thanks for reading! I had to try the flash trick on IB's shooting gallery. It worked...the only park ive tried it and it hasnt worked is Kennywood... Cornball in the foreground, Hurricane in the background. Tig'rr It was a perfect day. Cornball Express and Tig'rr I loved this element...it hangs you upside down just a little longer than usual... Steel Hawg has some unique elements, such as this 120 degree first drop! Hoosier Hurricane and Cornball Express Park overview
  4. I was at IB on Thursday, and Steel Hawg was running 2 trains quite efficiently I thought. I mean, should be running more, but the wait was only 20 minutes. I'll have a full photo trip report up soon.
  5. Pfft, if you never had the chance to ride the Steel Phantom, youve never really been on a rough Arrow. Trust me, the Steel Phantom was the roughest out there...the headbanging was so bad, they MADE people with earrings take them off. I've never known of another coaster that has made people do that, ever. Dont get me wrong though, I loved the ride, it was truly ground-breaking, and probably the last time a small little park like that will ever have the fastest rollercoaster in the world. But man, that thing was rough in those loops, especially if you werent used to that.
  6. Very nice Trip Report, Kennywood is my favorite park of all time, im so lucky I have relatives in Pittsburgh so I have an excuse to visit every year.
  7. Yea, its just sad what they did to that park. While I havent been back there, Ive heard that if you walk near the back part of the parking lot, behind a fence you can see what's left of some of the Grizzly River Rampage ride, which was the rapids type ride they had there. Truly sad.
  8. I also have fond memories of Opryland...I couldnt tell you the exact year I was there, my guess was probably 1996 or 1997. I wouldve been 11 or 12 years old(I guess I got over my fear of coasters earlier than some), and I rode Hangman. I dont believe at the time it was the biggest coaster id ever been on or anything like that, because I know I rode the Steel Phantom at Kennywood for the first time at a pretty young age, probably in 1994 or 1995. Its funny, after bucking up and getting the balls to go on the Steel Phantom, I was never REALLY afraid of another rollercoaster ever again. I mean I might have been slightly apprehensive the first time I rode Millennium Force, but certiantly nowhere near the point where I wasnt going to ride it out of fear. Anyways, even though I was fairly young, I remember my one and only visit to Opryland quite well. I especially remember CHAOS, I REALLY liked Chaos, it just seemed so cool, a rollercoaster in the dark. Not to mention from what I remember the theming was pretty cool. Oh also, I believe Chaos held the record for the world's highest capacity coaster trains, with 40 2 passenger cars, for a whopping 80 passengers per train. I really miss that ride.
  9. Nice TR, I too was at holiday world my first time a few weeks ago. It really is a very nice little park. I cant help but agree with you on your opinions on Raven/Legend, even after a night ride on Raven(which was much better then the day ride, I'll admit that), I think Legend is a much better ride...especially at night, in the back row...that thing was INTENSE, I got caught totally off guard due to the fact that I couldnt see where it was going.
  10. Ive been meaning to go back to SFGAM this year....Sunday might work......hmmmmmmm.....HHHHMMMMMMMMM.... *ponders*
  11. I wont go into as much detail here as I did on Coasterbuzz. This was my first time ever to Holiday World, and I think I might give it my nod as best value for your money, dethroning the almighty Kennywood. We got discount tickets from our hotel for only 27 bucks. Now yes I'll admit there isnt as much to do at Holiday World as there is at Kennywood, but food and merchandise is cheap and FREE SOFT DRINKS. You cant beat that. I dont know how they do it actually. Employees were suprisingly friendly, and I saw Pat Koch, one of the owners, walking around throughout the day, one time I saw her picking up smashed fries off the midway. Now there's something you dont see every day...an owner picking up trash. As for the rides themselves, the flat rides are pretty lame, although I did enjoy revolution, I havent been on one of those in a LONG time. After riding Raven and Legend, I at first prefered Raven. At first, I felt like they both werent THAT great...it took several re-rides on each for me to see why these two coasters are constantly rated in the top 5. And it wasnt until getting a back seat night ride on Legend that I gave it my nod as the better of the two. That thing is just so much better in the back. It feels more "out of control" than probably any coaster ive ever been on. The laterals are just wicked, and when I rode it at night I still hadnt memorized the layout, and it was DARK, so it caught me off guard several times. Probably one of the best Night rides on a coaster I can remember in a long time. Raven was also awsome at night, as it snakes through the woods, but ive gotta give me nod to Legend because it's just so powerful through those laterals, and it has a few good pops of air, especially from the back seat. The only complaints I have is that they only ran one train on both coasters. Now I'll admit Raven didnt really need the second train, the wait was never out of the Station, but Legend did. The wait got up to probably at least 30 minutes, the line was down the steps. And that station is not a fun one to wait in when its as humid as it was. It was a sweatbox in there. That and both coaster trains were filthy, as in the outsides of them were covered in dust. People apparently had a good time writing in the dust though, because there was a lot of that...even a few naughty things written/drawn. They just need a good hosing down, thats all. Other than those two relativley minor complaints, the park was very well run, and I was impressed by it. Now for the Photos: And the Raven at dusk. Ah, the Revolution...the only flat at Holiday World I really enjoyed. The Raven, after a short shower. The entrence to the Haloween section.
  12. Just got back, had a great trip, I'll post a trip report tomorrow most likely.
  13. Nope. Dragster was running amazingly. Thanks everyone for the comments. Its too bad though, on a lot of the pictures it cut some of my comments off...oh well. I just got back from Holiday World, hopefully I'll post another trip report tomorrow...although I dont think I took enough photos.
  14. Well this marks my 5th trip to Cedar Point in my lifetime, 1st trip was in 1999. This was my first trip there without my parents, a pretty big deal I think. I took along a friend who has never been to Cedar Point. We left early Wednesday morning for the 400 miles trip from Central Illinois. We were inside the park by 3:30. I wont go into extreme detail on everything like I sometimes do on other sites, instead I'll put most of the pertent information in my picture captions. Ive heard some talk of how park operations have gone downhill recently, but I didnt see any of that. Overall we had an awsome trip, it was a little crowded, but the crowds seemed to really die off after 8. Took this baby while waiting for front row. Another shot from the Sky Ride... Funny Magnum story... one time on Thursday while on Magnum, when our train was stopped on the break run just before you enter the station, some guy in the back was having a good time, sort of mocking the auto spiel guy(not in a bad way) He said somethi A nice overview of the park, as seen from skyride. Probably my favorite picture of the bunch. Took it from sky-ride, it turned out really nicely. Ah, a picture of my Freeway. This was only my 2nd time using freeway, it really paid off, and its my favorite of the q-bot/ fastpass systems. So simple, yet it works to perfection. Yes, the Maxair line extended this far back...still wasnt more than maybe 30 minutes or so. Wicked Twister was closed, and apparenty it just today opened. Sad, because I LOVE wicked twister. The weather was PERFECT both days, sunny and High's at 79-80. That's probably one reason it was so crowded on a weekday. This is probably the best part... Still waiting... Waiting for Launch... Got 2 rides on Dragster, including my first in the front row. Our first ride was 1st thing Thursday morning, waited about an hour. Great ride, its amazing how well this thing is running...it can really move a line pretty quickly when its running like th Still my favorite ride... I for whatever reason felt compelled to take a picture of a bush alongside the Mantis queue. And I have included it for your viewing enjoyment. I has skipped Mantis in my previous two trips, so I figured I might as well. I still dont like it. Its not the roughness, I just hate all stand-ups. At dusk... We got on MF a total of 3 times, 2 times were end of the day night rides. I had never left CP after closing like that, it was strange to walk around an almost empty park. MF was amazing, as usual, and while the crew didnt hit interval very often, they s This was a cool shot I thought, I just looked up and snapped while waiting for Magnum, which was running awsome. Gotta give the crew here props, they hit interval almost all the time. The wait was never over 20 minutes, especially if I wanted to sit in I wasnt overly impressed with MaxAir. It wasnt BAD, but I feel the restraints really took you out of the ride...they seemed like horrible horsecollars to me A stunning shot of the Blue Streak...this is probably where the line started, to you BS buffs out there... Ah, the blue streak entrance. The first thing we rode upon entering, the sign said 45 minutes, it ended up being a half hour wait. I could tell it was crowded when I walked in...oh well, thats why we had almost 2 days... I snapped this one upon entering the park. Turned out pretty nicely. Here's a nice view of the right front side of the park. I nearly parked in this area, but luckily as I was walking away from my car I noticed the numbers in the parking spots and the cars with stickers in their windows...I wonder what would have happened
  15. I'll be making my first trip to HW this friday, and I just thought id ask to see if there's anything special I should know about the park that I dont allready. I know about the free soft drinks, and how the park is less crowded mid-day because everyone is in the waterpark. Is there a certain ride besides the obvious two that I should be sure not to miss? And how good is the water park, im still debating wether to go to it or not...I'll have one full day, and it looks like a pretty small park, so I was planning to do both in the same day, but I dont know. Anywho, any other general tips would be appreciated, I wouldnt want to miss anything good.
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