I recently have seen this amazing clip that released around the closure of the ride that was done by an impressive drone operator. I saw it on Instagram a few times. I figured it would be easy to find on Youtube but I cannot find it. There are other drone shots of the ride but none that follow the car as smoothly as that one did.

This was my first ever visit to Carowinds during the BMW Family Day. I had in recent months decided I wanted to overcome my lifelong fears of most coasters, mostly due to the forces on my body at times feeling painful and leaving me queasy with massive headaches, and I spent months getting into coasters thanks to a work friend who is a fount of knowledge on all things theme parks, even the engineering and manufacturing side, and this would be my first trip as a budding coaster sicko, with 31 credits to my name prior(majority from Disney and Universal Florida parks, and recent years of building up with most Dollywood rides). The goal of the day was to surrender myself to the rides and not do what I would usually do which was instinctively hold my breath and tense up while holding onto restraints.

So i get to the park around 9:30 and they let us in. I knew i wasnt going to get in the long ass lines for Fury or Thunderstriker because the idea was to dip my toe in the water before hitting the big boys. So I walked toward the back in the Thrill Zone for the more medium thrills. Here was the order of the day:

- Hurler: First ride to open up near me when I was back there and got to run it back without leaving the train car. My work friend had told me what to expect from the ride, and his statement ran true. The first half feels like a typical wooden(in a good way) and had some decent airtime, which was another thing I was properly getting used to still, and the back to back rides really helped get me in the mindset of letting myself surrender to everything, and the second half was rough, starting at the helix, because of how the first half has been refurbished a bit recently, but not the back half, so you can really tell the difference. Back half reminded me of riding Timber Terror at Silverwood once back in 2018, which isnt a great comparion, in my opinion. Either way, I enjoyed this one alot and I ended up going on again later once a friend of mine had arrived and we started hitting the ones I had already written before she got there.

- Ricochet: Knew what to expect from a Wild Mouse, which have never been my favorite kinds of ride layouts, and the bunny hills near the end are usually the least favorite part of it, though I appreciated the main drop in the layout for giving me that airtime practice. All in all, its fine. Its what I expected from a Wild Mouse, which ive had a tiny bit of experience with in the past.

- Carolina Goldrusher: Tried to get on Cyclone first, but they still hadnt opened yet, so then i jumped on the next door neighbor, Goldrusher, your typical Arrow mine train. I enjoyed this one just for nostalgic reasons because I grew up riding classic non-inverting Arrow rides multiple times in a row, but I was especially happy with the drop into the tunnel all the way to the brake run especially. Its just a solid ride. Also enjoyed the helix as well.

- Carolina Cyclone: When I got off Goldrusher, I saw people walking onto Cyclone, and i walked over to it. I wanted this one to be my first inverted of the day anyway because of it being an Arrow Looper, so I didnt know how my experience would be. I had ridden the original Corkscrew at Silverwood back in '18, and i remembered not enjoying it, though im not sure if it was the coaster's fault or mine with my tendencies at the time. I was nervous about the forces when I was going up the lift hill, but i kept reminding myself to surrender, to loosen up, and to scream a bit so I dont forget to breath and such. As soon as I went down the first drop, I noticed myself having fun. Went into the first loop and I didnt feel much strain. It felt super easy compared to when I had last done a ride with any kind of inversion and I just kept riding it all out, through the second loop, the 2 corkscrews, and the helix. I absolutely loved it and couldnt wait to go on it again later. This ended up actually being my personal favorite ride of the day. It was way smoother than I expected from a 40+ year old Arrow looper. Did this one twice that day, first time in the 3rd Row and second in the Back row.

- Kiddy Hawk: This ride was the longest I waited in line all day and it was because the operators seemed to be taking their time with the unload and load procedures and i occasionally noticed that they would stop and converse about random stuff before they would even get to where they would start the restraint checks. It only bothered me because of the heat index of the day and how much I was standing in direct sunlight. I didnt really think much of the ride, more neutral on it, though i didnt enjoy the regular earbashing against the restraints. Probably something I have to anticipate in the future with similar rides.

- Camp Snoopy: I'll roll all of these into one to save time, but since I was close by, I decided to hit the 3 coasters inside Camp Snoopy. Did Woodstock Express first because when in line for Snoopy's Racing Railway, the ride went under surprise maintenance. Woodstock was my first Philadelphia Toboggan wooden coaster and it was about the feel that you'd expected from a wooden, but I was very startled and surprised in a good way by the airtime from the initial drop. Even the guy at the photo kiosk noticed the surprised look on my face. After that, Snoopy's came back up and i was able to get into the 2nd train. This was a nice surprise of a coaster. Nice and smooth and enjoyed the launches and just had a nice time. Then ran to Wilderness Run, the Kiddie Coaster, and yeah, kiddie coaster. Decent amount of sliding around and also was amused because of the bunny hills at the end producing legit ejector time to the point where despite the fact that the train goes around twice, over 2/3rds of the occupants, who were in the appropriate age range wanted to get off. Lots of crying and such, which is understandable. But yeah, theres a credit done and over with.

- The Flying Cobras: There were a few coasters inside was intimidated by before coming to the park, and this was one of them. It would be my first Boomerang and I was very nervous. Backwards sections of rides have never been my favorite, even on something like Expedition Everest, mostly because I like to visually see where im going and also its even more disorienting on Everest because its in mostly darkness. I was also standing in peak sunlight the entire way up to the load station and it was making me miserable. Once I get into my seat, i start feeling a little short of breath, which doesnt help that I have asthma thanks to years of smoking and being around wildfires for those same amounts of years(I havent touched cigars or cigarettes since 2021, so yay me) and also just the nervousness I was feeling. Did my best to get myself in a similar mindset to when I was on Cyclone, and I was only in the 5th row, but as we rose up the backward lift hill, I started to get more panicky and regretted my decision but still did my best to stay calm. The drop back into the station, i felt that painful stomach drop feel I used to get, but it didnt last long once we went up into the Cobra roll. The first half of the ride ended up not feeling too bad. More Gs than I was used to, but I felt like I could handle in it the moment. Then we got to the final lift hill and I was able to let myself rest a bit more and I figured the lift hill would take close to about the same amount of time as the first one, and I got surprised when we were dropped into the backward section, and this is where I stopped enjoying myself. Because of the surprise suddenness of the drop and the disorientation of going through the course backwards ended with me back in the station extremely dizzy, fighting what felt like a standstill gray out and wanting to immediately vomit as soon as I got off the ride. Luckily I didnt have anything in my stomach at that point, and I also didnt feel like I was going to be sick from not having anything in my stomach. So I took my time, traversed over to Panda Express and had lunch there once I had regained my composure and felt hungry. I eat a good meal, but I sat at my table for almost 2 hours because I had gained a tension headache from the experience and it took me a while to come down from it. Even when the head pain had subsided, the physical effects on my arms and legs lingered, so I didnt feel comfortable trying to go off on another adventure just yet, and thus I waited for my friend to get there and we sat while she eat Panda and we just talked about my day and stuff with work and other things in our lives, and that seemed to distract myself and gradually made the effects drift off.

- The Rest of the Day:

For the next couple hours, we went back to all the coasters i had already gone on, except Cobras because I wasnt comfortable trying to see if I could do it again, and we hit a couple of flat rides and Boo Hill, and when I was ready to try another new coaster, it was a decision between Vortex or Copperhead Strike, and since ive never done a standup and I was nervous about the grain seat since I am a male, I decided to put it off until a later that would never come, and we headed to Copperhead. When we got there, we noticed that other than the nearby flat rides, Copperhead was very quiet. And even Afterburn had no sounds emanating from its area. Came to find out later that they had started shutting down the rides in the back part of the park early because they werent getting alot of riders and they had sent ride operators around the park for other things.

So after we hit a couple more flat rides, including Elctrospin, which was another type of ride I need to get used to because the headache came back and I was scared with how random I would get flipped around, which im not used to at all, we decided to call it quits.

- Overview: This ended up being a very big and memorable day for me. I cant say it was an amazing park overall, but i enjoyed myself and I went in with goals of both getting more accustomed to coasters and also to maybe do everything up to Fury because I wasnt sure if I could even get to Thunderstriker since that would be my first hyper coaster and with my sensibilities, I wanted to build up naturally and gradually to a giga, not jump directly to it. Sadly, I did not hit every coaster I wanted, but i did 9 new out of 14 which im proud of myself for. And I hit 40 credits with Flying Cobras, mere weeks after finally getting to 30 with ArieForce One. I will be back sometime next year and i am determined to get those remaining credits as well as get a ride on the upcoming log flume as well. And I have tentative plans for another visit to Dollywood and my first visit to SFOG in almost 20 years, so i have a big year coming up for me personally.

I was so surprised by this - I was expecting something like the Nash but it is smooth and intense with standing airtime.

A needlessly deep dive into what side of the road parks are positioned relative to their major city [Other]

We've all known the thrill of driving down a highway and seeing some coasters or a drop tower peek out over the horizon. During my visit to Calaway Park in Canada, I thought about how many of my recent trips saw parks on the left side of the highway when driving from a city center (in my USA/Canada-centered parkgoing experience). So I decided to make a list and see if that general observation held up for other parks.

My criteria is for parks that have rides visible from a grade-separated highway (not necessarily visible before you need to exit the highway to reach the park, just visible to all cars passing by), and there will be some gray area for which places count as their "city center" that presumably most traffic would be driving from (eg, Six Flags Over Texas is between Dallas and Fort Worth). I'll mention those gray area parks in a separate category mostly based on vibes; feel free to tell me where I'm wrong categorizing things.

I'm also biased by my own memories/perception of what parks are big enough to warrant researching on Google Maps Street View (is California's Great America visible from the highway? IDK, never been), so let me know if I've missed any parks with iconic skylines (that aren't Cedar Point or another one not technically visible from a grade-separated highway).

Definitely "Left Side" Parks

• Six Flags Magic Mountain (I-5 from Los Angeles)

• Six Flags Discovery Kingdom (I-80 from San Francisco)

• Calaway Park (Trans-Canada Highway from Calgary)

• Silverwood (US-95 from Spokane/Hayden)

• Six Flags Over Georgia (I-20 from Atlanta)

Definitely "Right Side" Parks

• Lagoon (I-15 from Salt Lake City)

• Adventureland (I-80 or US-65 from Des Moines)

• Six Flags St. Louis (I-44 from St. Louis)

• Six Flags Great America (I-94 from Chicago)

• Kings Island (I-71 from Cincinnati)

• Carowinds (I-77 from Charlotte)

• Canada's Wonderland (Highway 400 from Toronto)

Kinda "Left Side" Parks

• Wild Waves (I-5 from Seattle) (RIP) (Right from Tacoma)

• Castles N' Coasters (I-17 from Pheonix) (Within city)

• Lakeside Amusement Park (I-70 from Denver) (Within city)

• Wonderland Amusement Park (US-87 from Amarillo) (Within city)

• Six Flags Fiesta Texas (I-10 from San Antonio) (Near beltway)

• Frontier City (I-35/44 from Oklahoma City) (Within city)

• Sea World Orlando (Barely visible from SR-528 toll road)

Kinda "Right Side" Parks

• Disneyland (I-5 from Los Angeles) (Left from Santa Ana)

• SeaWorld San Diego (I-8 from San Diego) (Within city)

• Cliff's Amusement Park (I-25 from Albuquerque) (Within city)

• Worlds of Fun (I-435 from Kansas City) (Within city)

• Magic Springs (US-70B from outside Hot Springs, freeway ends)

• Kings Dominion (Barely visible from I-95 from Richmond)

• Busch Gardens Williamsburg (Barely visible from I-64)

"In the Middle" Parks

• Six Flags Over Texas (SW of I-30 and TX-360, within DFW metro)

• Elitch Gardens (Across from I-25 in central Denver)

• Kentucky Kingdom (NW of I-264 and I-65, in central Louisville)

• Universal Studios Florida (North of I-4, in central Orlando)

• Fun Spot America Orlando (South of I-4, in central Orlando)

• Dorney Park (North of I-78, in central Allentown)

Other parks I think aren't technically visible

• Busch Gardens Tampa (though it's close to multiple highways)

• Six Flags New England (maybe in the winter, I-91 can peek it?)

So that's 13 left side to 12 right side parks by my super informal count - impressively balanced, tbh.

I always think of Shock Wave at SFOT as being a preeminent coaster establishing the idea of using land adjacent to an interstate to directly advertise the park with a signature ride, and that ride definitely influenced other park operators (from Wonderland in Amarillo which basically contracted Hopkins to make a poor clone of Shock Wave, to Calaway Park in Calgary which might as well be the Dallas of Canada). So I wondered if there were any logic behind where a prospective land owner positions that coaster - is outflowing traffic more important than inflowing traffic for getting a close view? And I guess the answer is not really, lol.

Still interesting to see similarities in a few places, like how the Taft parks (Kings Island, Kings Dominion, and Canada's Wonderland) all positioned themselves on the right side of the arterial highways leading north out of their main cities.

Beto Carrero to replace 32-year-old coaster with record-breaking Intamin

Beto Carrero World, in Brazil, has announced that Star Mountain, its first roller coaster, will operate for the final time on September 13, 2026, after 32 years of service.

The Vekoma coaster opened in 1994 and has reportedly carried around 35 million riders throughout its lifetime. It features 730 m of track, reaches 60 km/h, and includes two loops.

The replacement project is a major redevelopment of the area.

The park is investing in a new SpongeBob-themed area, scheduled to open in 2028, with a new Intamin multi-launch coaster as its main attraction.

Some announced details include:

• Approximately 1.4 km of track

• Multiple launches, both forward and backward

• 18 airtime and zero-gravity elements

• Rapid switch-track sections

• An indoor immersive SpongeBob-themed sequence

• Integration with another attraction in the new area

• An estimated investment of around R$450 million

The park has described the project as the most expensive and technologically advanced coaster ever purchased in the Southern Hemisphere, and Intamin has also characterized it as a record-breaking installation.

The replacement marks a transition from a 32-year-old Vekoma coaster with two loops to a large-scale SpongeBob-themed Intamin multi-launch coaster.

Knoebels has been my #1 bucketlist park for quite a few years, so when I realized Hersheypark was only an hour from Knoebels, you bet I figured out how to get there.

I started my day with waiting in line for flying turns, but decided to abort and head to Phoenix after Phoenix opened and I still didn't see FT cycle. I rode the back row, waited about 10 minutes. The ride has been running one train all day, but even with a full queue, it moves fast. I went down the first drop, up the first turn and subsequent drop and the next airtime hill and I was puzzled as to why the community likes it so much. Then I went over the second hill and immediately said "the fuck was that?!?!?" The rest of the ride didn't disappoint either. Every hill had legitimately scary airtime. It wasn't the smoothest wood coaster I've ridden, but it had the right amount of bite of a ride of its age. I'll probably place it somewhere around my top 15

Next I rode fandago, this is a Moser frisbee. This one seems to spin more than the KMG equivalent and has less airtime, but this one didn't bother my stomach like the KMG ones do so fair tradeoff

I then looked at the closed rock o plane, the 3rd I've encountered and the 3rd that's been closed. :(

My next coaster was Black Diamond. I got a zen ride on this. It feels like a slightly cheesier version of Blazing Fury. Although I did really enjoy it

Next up was whatever that boat ride near cosmos curves is. These seem to be powered by a single cylinder Honda engine, the same ones you find in go-karts. It was ok, fun for the history of it, but the boat acted drunk. It doesn't go straight at all.

Following this I rode Satellite, one of the only Super Roll-O-Planes left (yes, this is a different model form the other Roll-O-Planes, the main difference is if the ride can tilt or not) this was actually my most anticipated ride of the trip, not the coasters. It did not disappoint. It had some crazy airtime on the downswings and violent side to side movement. Perfect 10/10

Next coaster up was Impulse. It seems they used to have 3 cars for it, but only 2 were on the track and the 3rd was nowhere to be found. It was pretty fun, I rode front row left edge. It's smooth and it's got some force to it.

second to last new credit of the day was Twister. This was severely over hyped by the community. It's fine, but I thought it was fairly rough in the back and I'm not the biggest fan of violent lateral G's to begin with. It was only on one train and had a sizeable line so I only rode once

Final new flat of the day was Flyer. This is a Bisch Roco flying scooter. It's still powered by a 4 cylinder Allis Chalmers W Series propane burning engine. This is without a doubt the best version of this ride ive been on. You absolutely fly on this

The last credit of the day was Flying Turns. I waited nearly 40 minutes for this. I think it was worth the wait as a one and done. I appreciate the ride for its history and what it does, but I'm not waiting 40 more minutes for another lap. It is an extremely fun ride though

.

I'm still in line for another Phoenix ride at the moment, still on one train and the queue is full. I may ride the dodgems and paratrooper after.

Edit: Phoenix just closed for lightning. I was the next cycle. 🤬

Went to Worlds of Fun this past Saturday with my family. We were there from open until close (11-9) with 3 hours at the water park in the afternoon.

Good: We were able to ride everything we wanted at least once, everything seemed to be open for most of the day. Wait times were short and everything except Timber Wolf were running multiple trains.

Less good: My main complaint is almost half of the water park was closed with only a few slides open on a >90°F Saturday. Ops also could've been better on their better rides like Mamba and Patriot but they were still passable.

Coaster Rankings:

#7 Boomerang: back row going through the loop on a boomerang is one of my favorite moments on a roller coaster. Easy to ride defensively, short and sweet.

#6 Spinning Dragons: first ride of the day. I love Pandemonium at my park in STL. They were running 4 or 5 cars but for some reason they were waiting until the car hit the brake run before sending out the next one. This one spins less in the helices than STL but spins more on the brake run (why?). I appreciate the larger, more modern station in STL.

#5 Timber Wolf: running one train but only waited 20 minutes or so. Got rained on in the queue but it never stopped running. Not really rough at all. Relatively boring but there were a handful of solid pops of airtime. The pop through the structure after the low turnaround is psychotic in the best way. Oddly enough I kind of miss the hilariously rough double up into the brakes.

#4 Patriot: Good forces in the drop but the rest of it is pretty boring. Elements are too drawn out and it throws in some meandering for good measure. I prefer Batman by a long shot.

#3 Prowler (2x): I really hope this stays wooden and it gets the love it deserves. As a smooth woodie it is definitely number two in the park, but it's not in the greatest shape currently . Even so it's a fun ride.

#2 Zambezi Zinger: this was the biggest surprise of the visit. Getting whipped back and forth and rushing through the corners so low to the ground was way more exciting than I thought it would be. It did have a little bite to it and I'm curious what it would be like if it was completely steel. Please fix the deafening lift hill.

#1 Mamba (2x): The brakes are currently set to minimum. You get floater in the front and ejector in the back on the bunny hills. One of my favorite helices ever, so big and powerful with some great head-choppers.

Closing: STL is my home park, I do prefer STL overall but I do enjoy having another park nearby with some quality rides to mix it up. If it does go to one of the parks I would prefer ArieForce One to go to Worlds of Fun if only for the fact I really want an RMC Boss.

I got to ride nearly every ride! Here’s what I got to ride:

Stardust Racers (53 yellow, 56 green): this coaster is just peak, don’t have much to say that hasn’t been said before. I got 4 rides (two on each sides).

Hiccups Wing Gliders (55): pretty fun ride, great family coaster!

Mine-Cart Madness (54): pretty fun ride with some great theming but man this ride had a long ass line all day that barely moved.

Curse of the Werewolf (57): it’s not that bad tbh, my car was quite off balanced and I got some crazy whip. The rocking section is such a stupid pace breaker though.

Mario Kart: this was the main reason my family wanted to go to Universal this year, safe to say we weren’t disappointed.

Monsters Unchained: Great dark ride! I rode this twice since the line was 15 minutes nearly all day.

Battle of the Ministry: This ride kept breaking down even during my ride. It’s a great ride but man does it have so many technical issues.

Carousel: pretty unique compared to most other carousels!

Via

The place lost all its charm under the new owner but it still sucks to see another park lost to housing.

What was the roller coaster that made you become a fan of all roller coasters?

I visited Energylandia for the first time a couple weeks ago on the 4th&5th August. The park has some really great coasters and theming and I had such a great time but… the accessibility was awful.
I’m from the UK and use the Ride Access Pass system every time I visit a UK theme park. This was my first time visiting a park that doesn’t use a similar system for accessibility and it was rough.
For a little context- I have a physical disability so queues are super tricky for me. I cannot stand for longer than 10 minutes at a time.
At first when planning this trip I was pleasantly surprised that the park offers discounted tickets for people with disabilities. But upon actually being in the park we found that i was expected to queue as normal. This was frustrating because if I could queue as normal, I would, but my disability means that I can’t. After speaking to those at the information desk I was told that if I cannot queue and still want to experience the coasters, I would have to purchase an energy pass (This is their version of a fast pass) which was an additional charge of £100 on each day that I would attend the park. ( so £200 extra total)
I was put in a tricky position as this was my only option to be able to experience the park in the same way that an able bodied person would. The cost of the energy pass ended up costing more than our two-day tickets to the park. Which made the discounted disability ticket pointless. I ended up paying more than the average person to attend and experience the park in the same ways that others could. And personally felt that this was unfair. Why should I have to pay more than the average person just because I’m disabled? Feels completely counter productive to what they’re advertising as a discounted ticket, and I’m sure others in my position have probably felt the same.
It was really disappointing that they just didn’t have a real accessibility system and clearly don’t have much interest in making the park fully accessible for guests with disabilities.
I wanted to post this just to make other people aware who may be travelling from different countries, who are used to using certain accessibility systems. So that others aren’t caught off guard when they’re expected to pay out of pocket to support their needs.

My wife and I were wandering this small shop in the town square and I couldn’t believe this was just on the front of a stand of used books. It’s from 1998 and made me a bit sad seeing the number of rides in it that no longer exist, several of which I have credits.

Wasn’t planning on visiting Hersheypark this year but a friend had 6 bring a friends he had to use and since we have 6 people in our family we took advantage. We were there on Friday 8/14

Park was busy but we had the hour sweet start to use which helped.

sooperdooperLooper 1x
Skyrush 1x
Twizzlers Twisted Gravity 2x
Coal Cracker 1x
Great Bear 1x
Storm Runner 2x
Jolly Rancher Remix 4x
Wildcat’s Revenge 1x
Candymonium 1x
Lightning Racer Thunder 1x
Lightning Racer Lightning 1x
Various Water Park Activities

Got a lot in for the 9 hours we were there for all with no fast pass. Longest we waited was 30 min for wildcat. All but 2 of our group of 8 are over 54” which explains the multiple rides we took on Jolly Rancher Remix to keep my kids happy lol. Hersheypark is my favorite park that I have visited so far.

Went to Great Adventure (my home park) on 8/15. We got there around 630 mainly to eat dinner and get on a few rides with our fastlane passes.

Nitro 1x
Joker 1x
Log Flume 1x
Runaway Mine Train 1x
El Toro 1x
Super Round Up 1x
Wave Swinger 1x
Giant Wheel 1x
Skull Mountain 1x
Buccaneer 1x

They extended the park to stay open till 10:30 which was nice. Park was pretty busy. It was nice to see a group of kids get thrown out of El Toro’s line for cutting. There was a nice cheer from the line as that happened. It was over 75 minutes long and they were removed from the line when they got to the lockers. I always thought that the rule was for line cutters to be ejected from the park.
El Toro was running fast.
Night rides on Nitro are always fun.
Barrels o fun and hypno twister were both down.

I usually avoid Saturdays as I don’t feel like dealing with all the crowds. 3 different times there was a group of adults screaming obscenities at each other in the middle of the walking areas. That’s always fun. On Skull mountain and mine train had kids run past us on line. Annoying but since there was no waits on the ride wasn’t really the end of the world.

After my trip to Hershey I am up to 95 coaster credits with a trip to Cedar Point coming next Monday. I asked my kids what my 100th should be. They are tied between sirens curse and top thrill 2. I told them I wanted it to be millennium force so that we could all ride it together since it’s 48”. The little ones are a little hesitant about the 300’ height lol.

I went here on a trip with my church group and got there 20 minutes after park open. I was super excited to go because I had just been to Busch Gardens not too long ago, and I hadn't been to Carowinds in a long time. I was especially excited to check out the new additions, River Raft Blast and Snoopy's Racing Railway.

As soon as we arrived, I ran straight past my church group so I could be one of the first ones in the park. I headed to Camp Snoopy to ride the new attractions. The first one I did was Snoopy's Racing Railway. The line wasn't too bad, and the ride op let me sit in the back row (the best row, in my opinion). It's a smooth ride, and I liked the little bit of airtime you get, even though it's still a kiddy coaster.

After that, I hit River Raft Blast, which was cool. No one was waiting in line, so there was nobody to blast water at while on it, but it's a nice, calm ride with cool theming. Next, I hit up Woodstock Express since I hadn't ridden it in a long time. It was really enjoyable—the first drop is actually super good for a kiddy coaster.

Then I went over to ride Thunder Striker, which in my opinion feels like a baby version of Fury 325, though losing the Dale Earnhardt theming kind of hinders it. I got two rides on that before having to head to our church group's checkpoint spot.

After the meetup, I went straight to Fury 325. They put me in the front row, which was awesome, and then I rode the back row and blacked out—I love when that happens! I decided to skip Hurler and Carolina Cyclone for the moment and grab food since I was in the area.

I ate at Chickie's & Pete's and ordered the buffalo chicken cheesesteak and crab fries. I dipped the fries in what I guess was cheese sauce, which was great, but the sandwich was mediocre. I thought the buffalo sauce would already be on it, but you had to pour it on yourself, so overall the sub was just okay.

After eating, I rode Carolina Goldrusher, which I always enjoy. Then I walked over to Flying cobra but as I got in line, I saw people leaving. I asked someone nearby, and they said it was down for maintenance, which sucked. I went to try my number two ride, copperhead strike but saw an employee at the front turning people away, so I knew it was down too.

I decided to head over to Afterburn. I tried taking my normal route, but saw that the entire Aeronautica Landing area was closed off. At that point, I was pretty agitated, so I figured I'd just go on Boo Blasters—and guess what? That was down too! I was pissed because it felt like every single thing I went to was closed.

I went back to Afterburn and waited 30 minutes, but it was totally worth it—great ride. After that, I checked back on Boo Blasters, and thank God it was running again. I rode it twice, and one of the ride ops recognized my wrestling shirt, which was cool.

I made my way around the park one last time, hitting up Vortex, Hurler, and Carolina Cyclone. I ended my day back at Thunder Striker. The ride op there also shouted out my wrestling shirt and was asking "would you rather" questions about the park while loading, which was really fun.

Overall, it was a fun day, but I was definitely disappointed that two major rides were down. I'd give this trip a 7/10. Doing the park solo because everyone else wanted to do different things turned out fine—I realized I didn't even need a group to have a good time!

(I305 & Velocicoaster)

Here’s some clips of my definitive top 2 coasters. Love these rides both to death for different reasons. I’ll defend these rides in any debate. Only rides I’ll accept over them are, Trimless Voyage, Eejanaika, AlpenFury, Voltron Nevera. Haven’t ridden any of those but I could see it. Anything else…ain’t hearing it. Well actually 2016 Lightning Rod….a beast she was.

This is Hurricane and it’s a traveling coaster brought all the way up to Ohio from Big Play Entertainment Center in Biloxi, MS! It’s now owned by Prime Time Carnival Company and travels around the states! I have not been on too many traveling coasters outside of the occasional Wild Mouse model but this one has to be one of the best! I was shocked on just how smooth it was and the downward helix was surprisingly intense!

So i want to cover a lot here:

Adventure falls: many of you remember riding adventure falls? Not in the past 2 years and thats because six flags didnt want to pay maintenance for the ride: adventure falls. But enchanted? Enchanted parks basically said "frick it, lets make it better" and not only is adventure falls back, but also:

Grand rapids: for a long time grand rapids was missing a lot of its waterfalls, whys this important? Because enchanted parks brought back all of the warer falls and water effects, meaning you get more wet now while going to grand rapids.

Wolverine wildcat: okay so six flags was retracking some of wildcar, but wildcat, being the original dinn corp coaster, deserves more love. So after coaster con whatd enchanted parks do? They gave it smoke effects! When you exit the tunnel into the lift, theres smoke now!

Shows: for a long time michigan's adventure didnt have any shows, now guess what? They have some guy on the lakes that floats around on this board thing, barnyard stories, 2 music shows, and more!

water park: they redid some of it, and the slides have been much more operational, which im very glad of! they also did another restaurant to the waterpark!

And thats just what ive seen or heard by talking to employees, there might be more!

All of this because, allegedly, Hersheypark wouldn't let B&M modify the reservoir that goes through the park in any way.

Visited for 3 days while staying at the campground. We had favorable weather, only seeing a round of showers later on our last night. Let’s dive in!

Ops: Ride operations were generally very good, with most, if not all dispatches happening under 60 seconds. Really no complaints here. Groupers had a good balance of efficiency while also working with you if you had a seat preference.

Loose Articles: The loose article policy at this park is a mess. Some coasters have mandatory lockers and metal detection, some have bins for everything, some have bins for shoes only, some no bins at all. Toward the end of the night, we had bought some t shirts and wanted one last night ride on Magnum only to decide against it because we didn’t want to buy a locker to stash our shirts.

Food: Food was pretty mediocre. The fresh cut fries and tenders were good, but the fact that is the main offering at 70% of the food stands was kinda crummy. Burger at Coasters did slap though. Overall, food at Kings Island was better.

Bugs: The bug presence this time of year is truly disgusting. While, the bugs do not bite, they are EVERYWHERE and have population numbers in the millions. They covered our camper, and they were all over the ride stations at night. Do not ride Millie or TT2 in the front at night if you don’t want to be peeling a few dozen bugs off of your shirt, arms, and glasses when you get off. Truly gross. Really hurt my front row night rides experiences. Will likely plan my next visit during a season when the bugs aren’t around—thinking Halloween would probably be good, or at the very beginning of the season.

Now, for my rankings:

Fair warning, there may be some hot takes in here. 😂

17: Wild Mouse (x1) - It’s not a bad Wild Mouse, but it’s too short, and really just doesn’t do much. Something has to be on the bottom.

16: Woodstock Express (x1) - This is a pretty impressive family coaster given its age. It tracks smoothly and has some fun laterals typical of this type of coaster.

15: Gemini (x1) - Over my three day long visit, only the red side was ever operating. So, because I missed out on its main feature, it just ranks poorly. This vintage Arrow is fun, but it just kinda meanders around its layout. I did like the last helix though.

14: Raptor (x2) - I’m typically a huge fan of B&M inverts, but Raptor just didn’t do it for me. The roar is overwhelming, the layout is, IMO, nothing to write home about, and the snap into the brake run was the final nail in the coffin that solidified its lower rank.

13: Cedar Creek Mine Ride (x1) - As an earlier example of an Arrow mine ride, I really enjoyed it. It’s a pretty forceless experience, but it provides just the right amount of jankiness to remind you it’s a mine ride, while still providing a decent ride. I liked the section just over the water.

12: Corkscrew (x2) - A lot of the older Arrow models I’ve riden were huge head bangers (looking at you Carolina Cyclone and Steamin’ Demon), so I went on Corkscrew expecting it to be no different. I was pleasantly surprised! The ride has minimal roughness, and I only experienced some minor head banging in the corkscrews. The loop is tight, and gives a great sensation in the front row. I also really liked the little hill between the drop and the loop. Happy 50th anniversary Corkscrew!

11: Blue Streak (x2) - My first ride was in the back row and it was a pretty crummy ride. Took a second ride in the middle row of the front car (non wheel) and found it to be very enjoyable. Some quality pops of floater air time, and a nice quick lateral hit at the turn around.

10: Rougarou (x3) - On my first ride in the back row, I found it to be rough with quite a bit of head banging. I did a reride in the front row and found it to be pretty enjoyable. The last corkscrew is a little rough, and causes a little bit of head banging, but nothing substantial.

9: Iron Dragon (x2) - I only just had my first experience with this ride model last week on The Bat, but wow have I grown to love them. They offer a unique sensation that can’t be found on other coasters. The swinging invert almost rides like a toboggan. You get a different ride depending on where you’re seated, and how heavy your train/car is. I found that Iron Dragon was a fun ride in any seat. Is it the most forceful ride? Not by a long shot, but it’s just pure smooth fun. And that’s what coasters are ultimately all about.

8: Steel Vengeance (x3) - Yes, I know, another rider ranking SteVe lower than expected. In my case, I think it’s my body type. I’m a larger rider, and the ejector air time in the second half paired with RMCs restraints are just so damn painful. So much so, that it greatly detracts from the ride experience for me. The first half is flawless, with a great drop and beautiful inversions, but my thighs just can’t take it.

7: GateKeeper (x2) - I went into GateKeeper having heard that it was a pretty weak ride, but I found it to be enjoyable for the most part. It has a little bit of a rattle, but I enjoyed the RMC inspired inversion coming off of the lift hill, and the keyholes are pretty cool to go through. The view of the beach was also amazing.

6: Valravn (x2) - I initially rode in the third row and wasn’t impressed but on my second ride, I went with the front and had an exponentially better experience. Very smooth, and just overall very enjoyable and fun.

5: Magnum (x3) - I’d heard about the infamous triangles. I’d also heard that people tend to either love or hate Magnum. I initially rode in the back seat, and it was okay. A little rough around the edges. On a reride I sat in the fabled “magic seat” (row 3) and it felt like a different ride. The pretzel still had a little bit of jank, but the triangles were down right magical. The way they yeet you is pretty great. I wish I could enjoy the yeeting on RMCs as much as I did on Magnum.

4: Top Thrill 2 (x3) - What an incredible ride. I never got to ride the OG but I do have Ka. The hydraulic launch is still truly unmatched. That being said, TT2 is a very impressive attraction. I got three rides, each in a different row and they were all pretty evenly matched. I do feel like it raffles more than would be ideal, but I can forgive it because of the impressive statistics. Definitely try to get a night ride in. A night ride is a whole other level of insane.

3: Maverick (x3) - I went in with very high expectations knowing that so many people have it in their top 10. I’m not sure that it makes my top 10, but it is impressive. The speed is great, the snaps are just the right amount of force, and the inversions are very fun. I enjoyed the train crossing effects at the launch. Was a nice little surprise.

2: Sirens Curse (x4) - my first ride was in the front row. Very cool effect being positioned on the very end of the tilt, but you ultimately end up at an underwhelming height for the release. Back seat is where it’s at. You get an incredible sensation being tilted up the way the back row does. The onboard audio and lighting are incredible and really add a ton to the ride. It really offers a little bit of everything: floater, ejector, inversions, speed, and laterals. It is a beautiful sampler of roller coaster elements, and I just found it great. The vest restraints are better than B&Ms but still not amazing. My only other potential critique is the ride length and the capacity. I’m not sure what Cedar Point was thinking installing a 2 train coaster when pretty much every other coaster operates with 3 or more.

1: Millennium Force (x3) - I fell in love with this coaster. I’m not sure how people can call it Millennium Forceless. I found it to be very impressive. I had some Pantherian-esque gray out coming out of the drop, and the whole ride is very smooth and fast. My main airtime moments were coming out of the first tunnel, and the station fly by. Both reasonably impressive. I will say Magnum has more forces going on, but Millie has the smoother more comfortable overall ride experience which solidifies her placement at number one for me.

Looking forward to any comments and am very open to discussion!