Photo TR: New Hotness (It's About Time!)

I'm out of school forever (or at least until I forget how hard it is and decide to go back for a masters degree). That means I finally have some time to write a trip report about the awesomeness that was the New Hotness Tour!

Scott's Pizza Tour

Meet Scott. He is one of the best tour guides on the planet and will bend over backwards to make sure everyone has a good time and, in this case, to lift pizza boxes so we could look at fire.

Our first stop was Lombardi's, the first pizzeria in America. They served up a clasic margarita pie and let us tour their kitchen.

Our next stop was Forcella. This oven cooked up pizzas in minutes. The pizza crust tasted like fried dough!

Bonus Forcella slice

Our third, and final, stop was Joe's, which served up huge slices of a more typical pizza with low-moisture mozzarella. They were all good, but Forcella definitely takes the cake, or in this case pie.

Coney Island

After our pizza tour, we hit up Coney Island. The vast difference between Luna Park and Dino's was remarkable, even though their boundaries are just inches from eachother. We were treated to a ride on each of the coasters, an unlimited flat ride pass, and even a go kart ride.

First up was the Cyclone.

I wanted to go for the true Cyclone experience and ride in the back seat.

Despite all of the padding, the extreme airtime gave me a charlie horse and a bruise that hurt for the next few days...

...but it was totally worth it. I loved the ride and it sits just outside of my top ten woodies.

Well, I guess I didn't take any pictures of the rest of the park, so I leave you with Dino's Wonder Wheel.

Six Flags Great Adventure

We started out the official trip with an awesome ERT session. I managed 11 rides on Nitro, one on The Dark Night, and two on Green Lantern.

After ERT, we headed over to Kingda Ka, only to find out it was closed, so El Toro it was. After two rides, I was convinced that this was, hands down, the best coaster I had ever ridden.

A quick spin on Rolling Thunder brought in a huge thunder storm. Good thing we had ponchos; thanks TPR! We dodged rain drops over to Skull Mountain. It was fun, with some good air time on the first drop but not a religous experience as a certain vegan might claim. After one more ride on The Dark Knight, this time with the lights off, it was time for lunch.

The spread was your typical burgers and dogs, which, to my surprise, did not set the standard for the rest of the trip. In fact, Robb and Elissa managed to schedule different food for almost every meal.

Park management treated us like royalty, giving us four exit passes each, in addition to our gold Q-bots, as "an apology" for the rain. I have never seen a corporate park so eager to get rides open after a storm. Kingda Ka reopened later in the day, and they even switched sides on Rolling Thunder so we could get both credits. In fact, despite the rain, I managed to get all of the credits at the park.

In my next post, I will include pictures of the Batman/Nitro backstage tour they were so nice to re-schedule for us.

Houdini's Great Escape blew my mind. The world needs more Mad Houses!

The log flume operators had a really strange policy. They were requiring a minimum, yes minimum, of four people per log. Three of us climbed in, two in the back, one in the front. They tried to force us all to sit in the front with two random people in the back. Luckily, the random people absoutely refused and made a scene until our log cleared the platform. I can't believe the operators wanted to put five full grown men in one log. I understand they were trying to maximize capacity, but come on; plus, there was only a five minute wait for the ride.

Anyway, we capped out the night with El Toro ERT. The schedule said an hour, but we rode for an hour and a half. I managed a total of 25 rides on it by the end of the day.

On to the photos...

I only took a few photos outside of the backstage tour; it rained a lot.

Manditory Shot

El Toro Turn Around

I'm Batman!

Up Close and Personal

People wondering why nerds in orange vests are taking pictures of them

Nitro Rocks!

First Drop

Airtime!

Helix of Death

Artsy

Almost Perfect

Amber doing the splits

I'll leave you with a group shot of our tour, including Joe's epic umbrella

Nice report so far, Adam. Can't wait to see the rest of your pictures. It's always fun reliving such an amazing trip. Congrats on graduating last week!

Also, nice to see two iconic things. The sign for Cyclone and my fat head.

Bringing back some great memories. I just thought of the ROLL BACK we had on Kingda Ka.

^ Those are fun. I'm hoping to go at some point this summer.

Great start to the report, Adam! Excited to see the rest of this!

Very awesome pictures! Definitely making me want to do another trip! Can't wait to see more!

Knoebels

Often times, when I visit amusement parks on my own, I get the feeling that there are not enough hours in the day, and I leave the park wishing I had been able to do more. When traveling with TPR this is almost never the case. Knoebels was an exception to that rule. There is just so much to do at this park. Seriously, I could spend a week at this place and not get bored.

Needless to say, I did not end up taking very many pictures, so this installment will be mostly words.

The day started off with an awesome tour of Flying Turns which I will talk about in the next post.

Next was my first ride on the Phoenix! Never before have I ridden a coaster, declared it my favorite, then had to revoke that claim the very next day. Well, that's what happened to El Toro. I took a spin on the Phoenix in the Schmeck seat, per Larry's suggestion, and loved every second of it. I was expecting some decent airtime, but I got way more than I bargained for. It seriously felt like the only thing holding me in was my feet wedged under the seat in front of me. (A side note: the only things holding KidTums in were Elissa's hands.) On top of the incredible airtime, the ride was smooth, provided some nice laterals around the turns, and was just plain fun. Glowfest during evening ERT just brought the ride to an even higher level.

Twister was just okay, but not a bad ride; Kosmo's Curves provided more airtime than any other kiddie coaster I've ridden.

Food at the park was great. For lunch, I had a large slice of taco pizza and a large slice of chicken and broccoli alfredo pizza. Dinner was a buffet of good home cooking. I don't know where all the old ladies came from, but boy could they cook. On top of the food, Birch Beer was the beverage of choice.

Flat rides are what this park is all about. A lot of the rides are fairly standard but run long cycles in "berserk" mode. The park also has some rare gems like the Roll-o-Plane that tried to kill me. Seriously, this ride's designer was an evil genius. During our takeover of the Flyers, I finally got to accomplish what I had always dreamed of: snapping. To someone who has never snapped a flyer: remember back to when you were a kid and, like any good thrill seeker in training, would pull back on the chains at the top of your back swing to make slack that gravity would soon despise and send you plummeting for a split second, ending in a sudden jolt. Now imagine experiencing the same sensation in a couple hundred pound flyer tub. I finally understand the cult-like following of the Flyers.

Anyway, if you couldn't tell already, I love Knoebles and can't wait to get back.

Onto the pictures...

Flying Turns tour and some pics from the Pioneer Train

This ride will open someday...

Mr. Knoebel, himself

The park was testing out the new cars that day, before the seats were added. I would have volunteered to luge down the ride in a heartbeat, if they would have let me.

We got to walk the track!

The park claims the train will actually hit 90 degree banking on a couple of the turns.

Just chillin'

Pioneer Train

Through the Twister!

More Twister support structure

This ride goes way back into the woods

For good, old-fashioned fun, Knoebels is the place to be!

Well, you know it's taken too long to finish this trip report when Flying Turns has opened.

Hershey Park

This was the only park on the trip I had been to previously, but, having only gotten five of the credits last time, I was itching to get back. Even if operations are terrible (and they are), I really do like this park. For starters, it has one of the best coaster collections out there, including the Intamin trifecta.

We started the day with a half hour of ERT on Skyrush, which was about all my bony thighs could take. This ride was insane! Between the strongest air time I've ever experienced and what is probably my favorite first drop anywhere, it was worth the pain...but could I take more than 6 rides in a row? No way.

ERT continued on Sooperdooperlooper and Comet. Sooperdooperlooper was my first looping Schwarzkopf, back in '04. I really didn't understand what all the buzz was about. I've come to realize this was one of his few flops, in my opinion, though I do appreciate that it operates with lap bars only. That being said, with a 42" height requirement, it's a great first looping coaster for kids. This was KT's first, if I not mistaken. Comet was decent enough but paled in comparison to Phoenix.

Next, we broke off into Fast Track groups. Larry served as our personal tour guide for the day.

Back in '04, I though Wildcat was decent. This time around, it was terrible. Lightning Racer, on the other hand, is just pure fun.

Robb gave us a great tip, to get to the Roller Soaker early. His two reasons were to avoid the ridiculous waits later in the day and to avoid getting too wet, as there would not be many guests in the back of the park that early. Well, he had an ulterior motive, to personally drench us with water cannons; luckily, our cars were equipped with ammo for retaliation.

We tried out the Reese's Extreme Cup Challenge, which I proved to suck at. Luckily, I could blame my poor performance on my lack of understanding of the dense story line.

I may be in the minority here, but Storm Runner is my favorite ride in the park. It's hard to compete with a great launch, good airtime, and that crazy flying snake dive thingy.

Fahrenheit was a pleasant surprise. I had read generally negative reviews about this one, but I actually found it to be quite smooth and very enjoyable. This was the longest wait of the day, not because of the crowd, but because of a light drizzle and the "potential for a thunderstorm" that never occurred.

Oh yeah, there was an awesome backstage tour in there as well.

On to the absurdly small number of pictures (it was a half day park)...

Hershey Park Photos

Skyrush!

_insert cliché here_

The old Sooperdooperlooper train, as seen backstage

$10 to next year's Coasting for Kids page of the first person who can tell me what this was from (please hold me to it)

Storm Runner reaction shot

Central Park Funland

On our way down to our hotel near Kings Dominion, Robb and Elissa had a little surprise for us...the smallest credit I've ever ridden! We made a pit stop at Funland not long before closing. They welcomed us with open arms and even fired up the grills for us. We were very hungry after a long bus ride.

It's little surprises like these that make TPR trips truly great.

Jett Star

Layout

Tiny Lift Hill (we barely made it through the course)

Nice photos! Also, is that a sandblasted rollerCOWster car?

Is this 'roller cowster'? I was looking for this on the 2011 TPR visit, but no dice!

I really must get back to Hershey for Skyrush. Looks so amazing.

What ever happened to you roller cowster?!

Good lord I really wish Stormrunner started out with themed trains. They could have done so much better with them.

You fit some nice shots in for such a short trip report. Looking forward to some more from Dominion.

It was indeed from the roller cowster; scbt will receive a donation to his Coasting for Kids page next year. The park was painting it in the warehouse backstage during our visit. I wonder if it has been repurposed for anything yet.

Jett Star has some serious padding on those lapbars!

Yay! What ever happened to it? I did'nt see it in my last visit there

East Coast Bash 2012 (Part 1: Kings Dominion)

This would be my second bash event with TPR, the first being Behemoth Bash back in 2008. Robb and Elissa really know how to throw a party. Plus, I got to meet up with a couple of friends from Ohio. The day started off with some ERT on Volcano and I305. Following lunch, I got to experience my first TPR Quest, complete with the infamous Bohemian Rapsody Sing Off and a beer chugging contest. After night fall, we got even more ERT I305, along with some time on FoF and Dominator.

The Phoenix suffered a fate similar to that of El Toro, a very short stent as my favorite coaster. For the first time in my life, a steel coaster reigned king. I305 is still to this day my absolute favorite coaster. The raw intensity of this ride is simply unparalleled. Of my 25+ rides, only 3 were not accompanied with complete loss of vision during the first turn. It took the air time on the second hill to bring my vision back, at which point I was an an indescribable state of euphoria. From there, the ride basically turns into Maverick, just more comfortable, a comfort that can be attributed to soft, nonrestrictive vests. (Skyrush would definitely benefit from these trains!) Even the trimmed third hill had more air time than any hill on most B&Ms. I305 is as close to perfection as any coaster as ever come.

Volcano was also a lot of fun, if not a little short. I'm really surprised Intamin only made a handful of these.

Grizzly was a decent wood coaster but nothing to write home about. This ride is seriously hard to find! You have to walk through the gift shop of another attraction (Dinosaurs Alive) to get to it. Needless to say, despite knowing exactly where the ride is, it took us a good 5 minutes, or so, to find the station. Once in the station, we were greeted with an empty queue and one of the most enthusiastic operators I've ever seen. This dude was constantly singing/rapping about the ride, which was quite entertaining.

We did everything we could to maximize our night time ERT on I305 and technically missed the closing time for Flight of Fear. Luckly, the kind line attendant let us in for our 'lights-on' ride.

Dominator was a great way to end the night. Believe it or not, there was still quite a bit of energy left in us at the end of this very long day.

On to the pictures...

I305 Photo Walkback and some Dinosaurs

An intimidating first hill

That is one steep lift!

Airtime!

I can't even imagine this turn at ground level.

The first drop is incredible.

Nerd shot #1

Nerd shot #2

This ride is TWISTY! (and so is that one over there)

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention Aussie Steve broke the ride, so we had to cut our walkback short. Thanks Steve.

Rebel Yell was showing some cleavage today...

while Anaconda was showing...well nevermind

It's ALIVE!

Does anyone else suddenly have a sudden urge to watch Robot Chicken? (I don't think I've seen that show since one of our bus rides on the tour.)

More dinos

More dinos

What's that hiding back there?

It must be Grizzly, through the trees! (Sorry I couldn't resist.)

Nice to see a New Hotness TR come back to life! This update got me thinking that I probably like i305 even more than my already-fond recollections of it. I'm decidedly in Maverick's camp but the two are probably more similar than I think.

^I must also admit that I give Maverick a slight edge over I305--but both are great rides.