IOA Monday 3/25

When we reached the front gate we were greeted by huge lines everywhere. It took us one hour to get to the ticket booth. The crowds were huge. One thing that kind of annoyed me was that they didn’t even have all the ticket booths open. When you have that big of a crowd, you would think that having all the ticket windows open would be nice, right?

I had been to IOA once before, and it was a lot less crowded, but it was a cold day. Today though, IOA seemed much better than I remembered it!

We cruised on over to Hulk and decided to get a Fast Lane ticket and then wait in line.

My rating system: 1 smile=worst, 5 smiles=best.

Hulk :):):):):) 2 laps
Positive:Fun launch, insane barrel roll (thought I was going to fly onto the midway), great, long first half, second half much better than I remember it, smooth, and I love the trains.
Negative:The loud grunting of the Hulk in the queue.
Bottom Line:Much better than I remember! I loved it!

Then we headed over to Dudley DoRight's since we didn’t get to ride this last time.

Dudley DoRight's Ripsaw Falls :):):):):) 2 splash downs
Positive:I’m still stunned by that drop, great airtime, funny theming.
Negative:Slow loading at times.
Bottom Line:Gives Splash Mountain a run for it’s money.

We kept walking to the back of the park and decided to skip Jurassic Park for now since we had just got of a water ride. Dueling Dragons here we come!

The Dragons had a very short wait, with running three trains per side, the line never stops moving!

Dueling Dragons (Fire and Ice) :):):):):) 4 laps (2 on each)
Fire:
Positive:My favorite of the two, very intense and fast ride, great floater hill, interesting immelman/helix combo, incredible theming.
Negative:Didn’t duel the entire time.
Bottom Line:Only Busch’s and Alton Tower’s Inverteds are better.
Ice:
Positive:Duel with the castle wall, incredible theming.
Negative:Didn’t duel the entire time, and it took the crew 30 minutes to clean up after someone barfed. I know it really isn’t IOA’s fault, but it just kind of took away from the experience. I guess...
Bottom Line:Not as good as Fire, but still good.

After four rides in a row, we passed up Flying Unicorn. Nobody was really in the mood for kiddie coasters. We got on P-Flyers last time we were here, so there was really no need to do that (I gave it 2 smiles). So, we got in line for...

Jurassic Park River Adventure :):):):):)
Positive:Amazing everything.
Negative:The splashdown kind of through me into the lap bar.
Bottom Line:Amazing.

After that, I believe we went back to Dudley, and then to Hulk to use our fastlane. After all that we had time for one more ride: Spiderman (75 minute wait) or Dr. Doom (30 minute wait). Having done both before we just opted for Dr. Doom.

Dr. Doom :):):):):) (Is there anything that I don’t give 5 smiles at this park?) 1 shot
Positive:Great story/theming, outstanding airtime pop that threw me into the OTSR.
Negative:I can’t imagine why IOA didn’t decide to go with at least three towers or even four such as Power Tower. With these crowds, how could you not?
Bottom Line:Stan Checketts is my hero.

Well, a great day at IOA. I didn’t get to do everything I wanted to do, (Flying Unicorn, Spiderman, Poisiden). In fact, in my two visits to IOA, I have never even entered Dr. Seuss Land.
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You are bold, but are you also...daring?

Nice! Too bad you missed out on Spidy!
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So what is better? SFMM or CP? I don't care! They both have 29 coasters between them that they build so we can have a good time!