2001 in Retrospect

This year, was ok for me.  I did not make it to Cedar Point this year or Six Flags World of Adventure like I wanted to. (Based on what I read about SfWOA maybe that was not bad).  However I had really good trips to BGW, PKD, and Three perfect trips to my homepark, Kennywood.  Phantom's Revenge surpassed my expectations, and with a two train operation next year, I figure to get many more rides on it.  Next year should be a great one for me.  I have tentative plans to visit Paramount's Great America, Disneyland, California Adventure, and Universal Studios Hollwood in April.  I also plan to get to Kennywood and Cedar Point in May.  This is all before the heart of summer begins.  As I must go back to school, and end the year, I feel that I had a decent season, but I really am looking foward to my plans for 2002.

I can't really rank them in order, but here's a look at what I thought was the best summer I've had in a very long time.

-- A trip to Cedar Point after SFWoA in late May where I met someone who would make the rest of my summer something beyond special... and she gave me Snoopy Bubbles!

-- KennyKon; My first ACE event since 1997! Oh man was that a blast. Phantom's Revenge is now my favorite coaster, the airtime is sick! I'll never forget the ride with Neil, Martin and Natalie on Wipeout after the ACE buffet. That was just plain WRONG. Neil got his for that one :o) The solo flight on the Skycoaster was incredible, and the company wasn't bad either.

-- Spending two hours at SFWoA the day after KK and letting Villain remind me why I don't think it's that great. Where's the INCREDIBLE AIRTIME everyone talks about eh?

-- Going to Michigan's Adventure twice, once with a Timbers first-timer. It proved to impress me even more than ever, taking back it's place as my favorite wood coaster (from Legend)

-- The countless Cedar Point trips (actually I think it is something around 8 now with more to come) from May to now. My last trip on Aug. 22nd
lacked in rides but was one of my favorites of the year.

-- And of course there's the girl who gave me bubbles way back in May. I won't ever forget that, or the incredible times we've had since. She's had a profound impact on me in a very very very (I don't think words can even emphasize it!) good way, and I can't wait for all the fun times to come!

Of course this isn't the end of the riding season. I can't wait (I hope!) to get up to New England and finally ride the acclaimed S:RoS! ;o)

-Jeff

Jeff Tobe
tobejeff@pilot.msu.edu
http://mantomatic.virtualave.net/

Best experiences for me in 2001.

1. Finally going to California for the first time to visit their parks.

2. Experiencing the air time on Perilous Plunge's drop at Knott's.

3. Found out Roar (West) was better than Ghostrider. Don't flame me.  Just my opinion.

4. Riddler's Revenge became my favorite stand-up.  Goliath didn't disappoint either, especially in the front seat.

5. Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk - 'nuf said.

6. Indiana Jones' Adventure at Disneyland - blew me away.

7. Finally rode Shivering Timbers - also blew me away.

8. Going back to SFGAm, one of my all time favorite parks.  Raging Bull still delivered a great ride in seat 9. :-)

9. Doing my first upcharge attraction, VertiGO at CP - a great addition to a great park.

10. Most people hate Vekoma but I fell in love with their Invertigo at PGA.  Loved watching the people sitting across from you and their reactions.

11. Finally rode Millennium Force in the front seat during the day. Incredible!

12. Found out how under-rated Montezooma's Revenge is.  Intense launch and  intense G's in the loop.

There's more but I'll keep this short.

X Factor

Alright, I'm game. Since this is only my second season as an "enthusiast," it was easily my best.

- Following Phantom's Revenge construction, from announcement (in 2000) to completion.

- CoasterBash! XII (March), where I got my first real taste of what hanging with other enthusiasts is like. Met GregLeg!

- Various Kennywood trips, including my high school's picnic (May). That whole day and especially night was magical - even without PR and TBolt open - and I can't wait for it to roll around in 2002.

- The X-Flight Commercial shoot (May). Delays caused a long wait in the morning, but my (only) ride on X-Flight was worth the wait.

- The Big Trip 2001 (June) with Cernelli, jumping_jeff_flash and Rollo. Probably the coolest thing I did all summer. Hung out with friends three days straight and went to three of the best parks I've been to (Hershey, Knoebels, Dorney).

- KennyKon (July), where I had many firsts, such as my first ride on Phantom's Revenge and first time meeting a lot of cool Buzzers, including Jeff, his wife, Dave Althoff, kpjb, John Peck, Arrow Guy, Scott Short, and many others.

- Midwestern Wood (August), my PKI/Holiday World trip. Holiday World's woodies are great, but I fell in love with Paramount's Kings Island. The night ride on the Beast truly was a religious experience.

- Getting to experience so many new rides. I more than doubled my track record, going from 30 at the end of 2000 to 74 now. Phoenix absolutely blew me away, and Talon, SFA's Superman, and obviously Phantom's Revenge became some of my favorite rides.

- Getting to experience new parks, too! Knoebels and PKI are simply outstanding, and rank up there with Cedar Point and Kennywood as my favorite parks.

- Reading coaster news and interacting with everyone here on CoasterBuzz!

While it's not really over, my season is drawing to a close. School starts in, oh, 11 hours. Still, I'd like to go to Kennywood once more before Labor Day, and I'm going to try hard to get to Millennium Mania, even though it conflicts with school.

I'm longing to ride Phoenix again, can't wait to get back to Knoebels, and have a craving for some Cheese-On-A-Stick, so I'd definitely like to get to PPP.

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Matt Lynch
Co-Webmaster : Kennywood Boulevard

My memorable moments of 2001 coaster season are:

Going to PKI's ACE Appreciation Day for free courtesy tickets from PKI. Finally getting to ride Son of Beast and enjoying it thoroughly. Riding Flight of Fear with lapbars. That is completely amazing. Riding Rugrats Runaway Reptar and wishing we had it when I was a kid.

Being invited to attend the media day for Vertical Velocity at SFGAm. Only to find out that I was too fat to buckle my own seatbelt. Policy at that point was that the ride ops could not push on the harness. Then later find a guy bigger than I that got on the ride who encouraged me to give it another try. After he successfully got me on I rode a total of 4 times in utter amazement. Eventually through the course of the season I would ride this coaster many more times. I have since lost enough weight that I am on the verge of being able to buckle my own belt. I am still in awe over the front seat experience that I had over this past weekend for the first time.

Going to Timbers Fest at Michigan's Adventure and finding a nice and clean park. Finally riding Shivering Timbers and being completely blown away by it's insane amount of airtime. I even found that the front row had awesome airtime which is unusual for most airtime laden coasters. Being able to walk in the shadow of ride (not normally is the public allowed that privilege) and getting some nice close-up shots of the ride in action. That walk made me realize how large the ride really is. It is not something you think about while riding it.

Going to Indiana Beach on a whim last minute. Finding that Cornball is everything people say it is and then some. Making faces at the camera proved to add to the already exciting ride. This is one ride that almost defies description. It is small, yet peppy and intense. It actually is more intense than it's larger brother, Hoosier Hurricane.

And still looking forward to going to Cedar Point for Millennium Mania on September 14. I am so excited. I wish it was tomorrow.

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Welcome to Deja Vu...home of the world wide wait.

Even though the summer is almost over, now is the time when I really start going to parks. This is the best time! I especially love Halloweekends at CP. Fright fest was not bad last yaer at SFWoA.

TOO good of a thread for me to miss out on...but it'll take me awhile so I better do it from home :-)!
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rollergator - intent on improving the "guest experience" - coming soon to a park near you

Love this topic!! :) Anyway, I am sure the best part of 2001 for me is going to be Coaster Celebration at SFgadv but, not only for the ERT but, to finally meet some of my coaster loving friends that I chat with on this PC,lol.Things that are memorable for me so far are...

1) That first coaster ride on Medusa(I was so excited I was shaking in line,lol) after skipping a season.I was so afraid if I rode Nitro first Medusa would seem mediocre but, Medusa still holds her own :)

2)Riding Nitro for the first time in 40 degree weather.It just intesnified the intensity for me until my 3rd ride where I couldn't feel my limbs,lol.

3)That rainy day I ventured to Gadv by myself and walked on ever coaster!!

4)Despite the bad reports SFA has had this week, this was actually a memorable trip for me.Experiencing a new coaster type(Batwing) was awesome!! It met all of my expectations.The two woodies at SFA spoiled me because, they were so well taken care of.My first Intamin Hyper!! I will never forget what S:ROS at SFA is like :)

I still have three trips before the season is over so, I am sure i'll be bale to add something about SFNE,Lake Compounce and,Knoebels plus, I have a date with the Coney Island Cyclone this weekend!

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~*Rickyswmn*~
from the mouth of my Enthusiast in training.. Mom, I Wuv Grade Abenture!

All in all a good summer (and spring)...

March 2001 visits to IOA, SWFlorida, BGT and Old Town... May visit to Hersheypark... Midsummer visits to Dutch Wonderland and Dorney Park... August visits to Morey's Piers (all 3) and SFA.

The high point of the summer had to be Steel Force and Talon at Dorney. Just glad those two coasters are only two hours to the east of me. The low point of the summer had to be foudn 2 hrs south of me and my recent visit to SFA... I just didn't like that park.

The season STILL is not over yet. IF I can get the time off work I hope to head up to Hersheypark again this Friday (I will get there at least one more time for Hersheypark in the Dark) and hopefully to Knoebels on one of its final weekends of the season. Should time permit, a quick stop at Williamsgrove for their Wildcat before they close (Labor day is their last for the season).

Already looking ahead toward next year with a New York and New England trip. Targets are Lake Compounce, SFNE, Funtown, Canobie Lake, Rye Playland, and Great Escape (aside from the Hershey, Knoebels, and now Dorney standard trips). Might even squeeze return trips into Kennywood (have yet to try out PR) and Lakemont perhaps with a quick stop at Idlewild. Other than that, who knows what will come up.

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"I wasn't always this cynical, but then I started kindergarden..."

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MooreOn said:
We were so surprised we described the experience as "a euphoric coaster bliss." 

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Sounds like someone played too much Disney's coaster way back in the days of the 486 :-)

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-Clarkbar

LOL! "That has more kick than my five alarm chili!" That game is still good, and a heck of alot better Coasterworks for that matter.

*** This post was edited by Joe E. on 8/28/2001. ***

This was an excellent coaster summer for me. I visited SFWOA for the first time since it was bought out and loved every minute of it. X-Flight was an excellent coaster, one of the best I've ever ridden. I also went to Southern California, and let me tell you there are some of the greatest coasters in the world withing 100 miles of eachother. SFMM was a great park though I was a little dissappointed with S:TE, it didn't do much for me, but Goliath surely made up for it. KBF was also a nice little park that contained in my opinion the best coaster in the world, no where else have I experienced airtime like that on Ghostrider. Hopefully 2002 can challenge this excellent summer!

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Cedar Point- The Amazement Park!

This was also my best summer by far:

SFEG My homepark. I went once for the ACE event. It was a grand old time. Twister II is a pretty good woodie and I like the Mind Eraser when it is smooth.

Lakeside Also my homepark, and also I went for the ACE event. Cyclone is fun for such an old coaster. I need to get to this park more.

Funtown USA One coaster that neads more attention, Excalibur! CCI is always so much fun. Riding Dragon's Descent 6 times with my cousin is a memory.

Palace Playland Only a quick stop to ride the Galaxy coaster. Great ocean side park.

Hersheypark Lightning Racer is a wonderful ride. I also like Great Bear and Sooperdooperlooper. Nice, clean park.

PKD Hypersonic and Volcano are insane. Throw in 4 good woodies and two nice loopers, you have a great park!

BGW Nothing compares. Get yourself to this park ASAP. Pure awesomeness. Loved everything about it.

Alton Towers My first non-USA park. Nemesis and Oblivion are great. Black Hole is very unique. In fact, pretty much the whole park and everything in it are unique.

2001-What a fun summer!
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Parks for 2001: SFEG, Lakeside,Funtown USA, Palace Playland, HP,BGW,PKD,Alton Towers.

Yes, this was a great summer for me, but I doubt I will ever be able to top 2000's 133 coasters, 53 parks, 12 states. :)

Let's see, starting with the most recent:

BGW, Dollywood, Ober Gatlinburg, Dorney, Knoebels, SFWoA, Kennywood, SFNE, Funtown, Canobie Lake, PKD, SFGAd, Idlewild, Delgrosso's, SFA, Dorney, Holiday World, SFStL, Visionland, SFoG, Lake Compounce, Jolly Roger Amusement Park, Trimper's Rides, Ocean Pier Rides, Funland, and Hersheypark.

This year, I visited 26 parks so far, and I have yet to tally states or number of coasters ridden this year.

Favorite park remains Kennywood, which has held that spot since July 1998.

Favorite steel coaster remains SFNE S:RoS, which has held that spot since May 2000.

Favorite wood coaster remains Holiday World's Legend, which has held that spot since SRM00.

So, not much has changed for me, rakings-wise and the only rides to rearrange things for me a bit were Nitro and Rampage, coming in as my #3 wood and #5 steel, respectively.

Top 5 steel/wood now looks like this:

1. SFNE RoS 2. SFA RoS 3. SUE 4. SFDL RoS 5. Nitro

1. Legend 2. Raven 3. Rampage 4. Boulder Dash 5. Villan

Surprises? Yes! SFStL Freeze and Screamin' Eagle were great, as was Excalibur at Funtown, now *that's* an underrated woodie! SFNE Cyclone is much improved too.

 

Highlights? Well, Hypersonic actually intimidated me, I rode my first Alpine Slide, I fell in love with Idlewild, had perfect days at SFWoA, Kennywood, Knoebels, Canobie Lake, SFoG, and have had *awesome* rides on Villan, Boulder Dash, Legend, SFNE RoS, SUE, and many more this year. I've also had the opportunity to meet and hang out with some 'Buzzers, with more visits to come!

It's been a great season so far, keep on coasting!

I can't say this year was better than last for me. Last year I got to try MF, SOB, Legend (day and night), and Raven for the first time. How do you top that? This year, I got to ride them all again!!! Woohoo. Sure the shock value was gone, but  riding those can't make the season any worse.

The great stuff this year was that I finally found a seat on SOB that didn't hurt me. And the removal of FoF's over the shoulder dealies made the ride miles better. Probably the biggest plus this year was winning a freakin' HUGE Curious George doll at CP. Also in the same day, I got to meet my first fellow enthusiast, Joe E, which was cool. He has a quiet invisible ride partner, but Joe did all the talking for him/her/it. It was also great organizing the Gemini 100 with Dan and Joe and everyone else at GTTP. Which brings me to the bad parts of the season.

I DIDN'T GET TO GO TO THE GEMINI 100 BECAUSE OF MY STUPID CAR!!! The event I created (and it sure sounded like an event from what I've been told) was denied me by my $200 car. That will be something sad I'll look back on for a while now. I guess during Halloweekends, I'll make it up to myself and try for 100 alone. Grrrrrrrr...I have to feel the pain!

And actually, other than that, I don't have much more complaints other than some PKI theming issues that haven't been fixed, and some worsened. I'll probably never be satisfied with that though. I guess also the lack of new arcade games at the parks was a bummer, but then again, arcades are kinda being zoned out right now anyway. Also, the prices of the big parks were a bit steep this year(excluding Holiday World), but that's to be expected.

All in all, a great summer. One for the scrap books.  

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!

This is the best known summer for coasters I've had. Its actually the first because I started liking coasters only since last january. I first went to Sfmm at the beginning of summer in june. I went on Goliath, My first hypercoaster, which was really fun but I was expecting to black out or vomit a lot because I've heard other people that goliath was very intense. I was definetly suprised to see all these old grandmas sitting on the ride and putting there hands up. I went on every single coaster except Superman the escape. I went on my first invert,suspened, and woodie (Collosus). Collosus was the worst coaster i've ever been on. I remember how rough it was. No banked turns and No padded seats. It was terrible. I expected all woodies to be like that. I kept thinking "Why do people like woodies" I waited loads of months to go on a wooden coaster, staring at pictures of collosus and imagining going on it. To make matters worst I experinced "Headbaning" for the first time. Usually when I go on viper Its a bit rough but nothing bad happens but this time I sat at the back of the train and I remember going up the lift hill and finally the drop, I remember knocking my head back and forth, back and forth. Until the whole ride stopped. My ears were sore for 3 days. But it still enjoyed the trip.

And the end of summer I went to Sfmw. Which I have never been to. It was a lot smaller the sfmw but I had a feeling rides would be pretty good. I remember starting on Medusa which really felt like Riddlers revenge probably because of its smoothness. Then I went in line for kong. I don't remember much of the ride because When I started It did a barell roll and My glasses almost flew off my face. So for the whole ride I just grabbed onto my glasses. After that I went on boomerang and the finally I went to roar. Roar's line was only 5 minutes long so I went 3 times. The first time I went on it I remember people getting out of the ride with their hands on their necks or backs. Made me feel worried, I thought it was going to be another Collosus :( I remember the operaters pusing down on the lap bar really hard. The 1st ride I kept thinking about the lap bars so i didn't pay any attention. I was just suprised how smooth the ride was. I went on it again and it was the first time I put my hands up on a ride, IT was fantastic, I remember the whole ride from the first twisting drop to bunny hop at tunnel under the ride. I went on it again and I went home.

Hopefully 2002 will be as good.

My summer of parks turned out to be very few, 2 in fact, but not over yet. My first park for the summer was CP, as usual, but not as usual was going on a saturday. The crowds were horrible, the waits were horrible, and the heat was horrible. Not getting a ride on MF + Magnum + Mantis + Power Tower = Huge Dissapointment. Then there was the drought of July, double drought-no rain, no parks. Then, there was that wonderful day, August 7,(my birthday) where I was told I was going to get to go to SFGAM for the first time in my life. The park was awesome, getting to ride all the coasters in one day, multiple times. But my summer of parks isn't over yet, with my trip to Millennium Mania this Friday! I can't believe it's this friday already. And possibly CP or SFWOA the day after. It wasn't the summer I'd hoped for, it had it's high points, but also had it's lows.
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Welcome back riders, how was your ride...Enjoy your day, here at Cedar Point, America's roller coast.

The Comet Blew Me Away At the Great Escape.

This is my best coasting year! Why you may ask? Because I finally got over my fear of coasters. I was so into the stats. of them, but never rode them. My friend took me to PKD he first day of operation this year....March 24. Re-rides all day long. The Grizzly was really cooking, it just gave me everything I wanted. Hurler has nice airtime, but a sucky drop. Shockwave was my first loop, so I was so scared. After the ride I screamed this is so cool! When I got off I said That sucked. Anaconda, was awsome. 17x in a row w/o getting off in the back seat. Volcano just scared me. My picture on that is so funny.

That Spring Break we went to BGW when my sister looked at William and Mary. I had been to this park many times, but I couldn't wait to get on their coasters. Lochness Monster was incredible, that drop is just amazing! Big Bad Wolf was...fun. Wilde Maus I couldn't help but screaming WTF a million times! AC, one word, WOW. This ride scared me ****less, I had to close my eyes going up the lift(too high!) The 3rd drop is totally insane.

Turns out the day I got out of school we are going to see my grandparents in IL. My parents told me we could go to a park on the way. They told me CP wouldn't be a problem, then the realized it was in Northern Ohio:( I was stuck with the question of where to go, SFKK, SFStL, HW. Well some guy (Mr. DEK) gave me all the info about HW and whats it about. I was so pleased to hear about re-rides, and an atmosphere my family would love! We got there and the Raven looked so cute. My first thought was "This is in the middle of nowhere!" The parking lot wasn't even a 1/3 filled up. We got in and I forced everyone to run to the Raven. The water park hadn't opened yet so there was a small line. I got in the back seat. WOW I couldn't believe how wild this was! Thank you CCI! 5th hill is so intense. Later I rode the Legend, the coaster not to be riden by whimps. This was a fast and furious mother! Turns out I got 51x on the Raven, and 50 were no-stop re-rides!

Now it is time for my trip to SoCal. I had to pick which park I wanted to go to. I heard about how great Ghostrider was so I had to try it! Knott's is so fun! The theming blew me away!  We got there when it opened, and went on Monte' first. I wasn't prepared for that launch. This thing flew into my #1 steel. This little coaster packs a freakishly weird punch. Move over FoF this baby is rocking. GhostRider was crazy! Airtime Extreme! I still don't know the layout. Boomerang was totally awsome, I love to go backwards now! Why does everyone ***** about these awsome things? Supreme Scream blew me away, I am over my fear of heights now.

Wow I have talked to much:)

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Ricochet: Bouncing to you in 2002, Only at King's Dominion!