2003 Season Results

I normally don't start topics like this (hell, I normally don't start topics at all), but since the off-season has essentially started for many of us, what parks did you get to visit this year?

As usual, my plans before the season had begun were much more colossal than what I actually was able to accomplish this year, and therefore my list will be pretty short in comparison to many of yours, no doubt.

I've included links to my trip reports, except for the weekend of Stark Raven Mad--the myriad of mixed emotions killed any desire I had to write about the trip.

February 7 (first time ridiing coasters on my birthday ;) )
Stratosphere Tower
NASCAR Café
Adventuredome

February 8
New York, New York Hotel & Casino

May 30 - 31
Holiday World (SRM - first coaster enthusiast event)

June 1
Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom

June 30
Six Flags America

July 26
Six Flags America

...and for the final trip of the year:

November 1
Paramount's Kings Dominion (second consecutive year attending FearFest)

Edit: I forgot to mention that all parks except for SFA and PKD were first-time visits.

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-Mike Buscema

'No matter how skilled the designer is, every time we push the envelope we learn new things about coaster design.' --Dana Morgan
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*** This post was edited by Vater 10/16/2003 1:35:26 PM ***

GAdv. 12 times and counting, PKD, SFA, Dorney 2x, SFMW 6 times, PGA, SFNE, Knoebels, Hershey, Isla Magica. Not too much new park wise (only SFMW) but I somehow managed to rack up around 50 credits.

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Be polite and ignore the idiots. - rollergator
"It's not a Toomer" - Arnold Schwartzenkoph
"Those who know don't talk and those who talk don't know." -Jeff

Lots of new parks: SFA, PKD, Boomers Dania Beach, SFOG, Lake Winnie and Visionland

Returns to parks that I haven't been to in years: WDW Magic Kingdom and MGM Studios, BGW, Casino Pier (Seaside Heights)

I got to some "local" parks: Lake Compounce, Knoebels and Morey's Piers but didn't find time to get to Dorney, Hershey, Rye Playland, Coney Island and SFNE like I had hoped. Oh well, next year... meanwhile, I have another trip to FL coming up next week, which means IOA, Epcot, Animal Kingdom, Universal Studios and Old Town.

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-Rob
A.C.E. member since 1990
Posting @ Coasterbuzz since 2000
E.C.C. member since 2002

Well, the season isn't quite over yet, but I think the only places I might get to are ones I've already been to earlier this year (Six Flags Worlds of Adventure, King's Island or King's Dominion, and Kennywood)

The new-to-me locations were Adventure City, Enchanted Village, Knott's Berry Farm, Lakeside, Vancouver Playland, Santa's Workshop, Silverwood, Six Flags {Elitch Gardens, Great America, Magic Mountain}, and Vegas.

New-to-me coaster credits at previously visited places included Cedar Point, Conneaut Lake, Fun Forest, Kennywood (thanks to little Jordan Uhing!), and Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom.

Parks I've been to before and returned to this year without new coaster credits were Holiday World, Knoebel's, King's Island, and Six Flags Worlds of Adventure.

You can see the full list of coasters I rode this year here.
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--Greg, aka Oat Boy
My page
"Friendship -- more lasting than love, more legal than stalking."
*** This post was edited by GregLeg 10/16/2003 1:39:55 PM ***

May: Knoebels, Morey's Piers

June: Hersheypark (twice), PKD (first visit)

Mid August: Vacation / Coaster trip (all first visits): Marineland (Ontario), Martin's Fantasy Island, Seabreeze, Six Flags Great Escape, Canobie Lake, Funtown, Palace Playland (Old Orchard Beach), Lake Compounce, Playland (Rye). Later in August, Dorney Park

Late August: Dorney Park

This coming Sunday: Hersheypark

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Half of the people surveyed agree, half disagree and another half are unsure.

I'll have to come back to this later, as I just racked up an unexpected credit at the Mouse House - Primeval Whirl, PW...;)

I have a file on the laptop at home, called requiem, that started to summarize an overwhelming "season", but it's nowhere NEAR finished.....can I just copy off of bASS, *again*? ;)
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Tact is for people not intelligent enough to comprehend sarcasm...;)

PKD,BGW,SFA,SFGADV,CP,SFWOA,KW,DP,HP,SFDL

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http://coastertrackrecord.tripod.com/

Parks hit this year: MK, MGM, AK, Epcot, SWF, BGT, Old Town, SFKK, SFGAm, HW, VF, KCS-MoA(think Mall), Big Chief, SFMM, KBF, DL, DCA, Belmont, Pacific

New Parks this year: Old Town, SFKK, HW, VF, SFMM, KBF, DL, DCA, Belmont, Pacific

Number of new coasters this year: 40

All in all a great great year. Got to attend my first two enthusiast events, meet lots of new friends, and ride lots of new coasters. I also finally broke the 100 mark! California was completely unexpected as was Valleyfair and Mall of America. Season isnt quite over for me yet. One more visit to Big Chiefs and SFGAm yet.

Some of my highlight coasters of the year for me were Raven, Legend, X, Scream!, Xcelerator, Ghostrider, Belmont Giant Dipper, and Steel Venom.

The lowlight coaster of the year for me was Psyclone. TAER it down!

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Bob Hansen
Operation Wicked Twister 2 - Goal: Lose 100 pounds by next season so I will DEFINATELY be able to ride Wicked Twister. Progress: 25 pounds. Doin' the Atkins!

I have gotten to go to the following parks:

Six Flags Great America
Dorney
Hershey
Knoebel's
Del Grosso's
Lakemont
Idlewild
Kennywood

Missed due to things out of my control:
Conneaut Lake Park (Closed due to inclement weather)
Sesame Place (Too darn crowded!)

Coming up next weekend:
Cedar Point, PKI, or SDC/Celebration City depending what we decide to do. Of those I have not been to SDC/Celebration City. Although I think I want more time than a 3 day weekend to drive from Chicago to there, go to the SDC/CC, and drive home.

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Zero G Thrills - Moved and Improved

As my sig has said for the last week or so ...

I thought that this was going to be a dry year, in fact going into summer I was doubting I'd even get to Cedar Point beyond opening day for Dragster and Halloweekends. Much to my surprise, I doubled my track record this year and gained more frequent flyer and frequent hotel stay miles and points than I could have even imagined!

I actually kept track of dates this year so:

The Usual Suspects
CP - 3 in May, 2 in June, 3 in July, 1 in August, 5 in Sept, 3 in October
KW - 1 per month cept. October
SFWoA - 2 times May - July, 1 in August
Hershey - 1 in May, 1 in June

The New (and totally unexpected)
June - SFMM (3), SFMW, KBF, USH, PGA
August - Dorney (2), SFGAdv, PKD

Highlights: Xcelerator, Ghostrider, X, Viper (MM), Roar, seeing California for the first time, becoming "Someone Who Knows", Talon, Volcano, Medusa East and Nitro.

Disappointments: X, California, GASM

As my sig says, it was one hell of a summer!!

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Brett
Resident Launch Whore
2003: (new) SFMM, KBF, PGA, SFMW, PKD, SFGAdv, Dorney (old) CP [17], KP [5], SFWoA [7], Hershey [2] ... What a summer!
*** This post was edited by Impulse-ive 10/16/2003 2:34:40 PM ***
*** This post was edited by Impulse-ive 10/16/2003 2:39:21 PM ***

Damn, you people really like coasters. How do you find the time?

I am happy with my 2 trips to kennywood this year.

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Mac Forever.

Weekends and vacation days!

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-Rob
A.C.E. member since 1990
Posting @ Coasterbuzz since 2000
E.C.C. member since 2002

http://www.coasterimage.com/features/schedule/2003.htm

The summer at Dorney consists of 17 visits and we still need to hit PFN at Kennywood. That should wind up 2003 for me.

I hit 59 new coasters this year bringing my total to 165. The highlight for 2003 was my daughter finally just making the coveted 48 inch mark. She turns 6 next month and has 82 coasters under her belt already - we had a fun year! :)

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www.coasterimage.com
Dorney Park Visits in 2003: 17

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-Rob
A.C.E. member since 1990
Posting @ Coasterbuzz since 2000
E.C.C. member since 2002

Parks we visited this year include:

Kennywood - 4 trips

SFWoA - 4 trips

CP - 5 trips

SFDL - new park

Martin's Fantasy Island - new park

Marineland - new park

SFKK - new park

SFGAdv - new park

PKI, HW (SRM), Idlewild, Knoebel's (PPP)

Not as many new parks as last year or as many parks for the matter, but still had a ton of fun.

Oh and Greg, Jordan says your welcome. :)

I made it to the fewest number of parks in about 20 years.

Rain every weekend here in MD from April to July didn't help, and going to the hospital at the end of July (and almost dying) CERTAINLY didn't help!

But I did make it CLP, Waldameer, Seabreeze, PCW, Marineland, MFI and SFDL over July 4th weekend (all new parks for me). And I got to Knoebels twice (once in August, once for PPP), and SFA for a corporate buyout day. And I'm going to WDW and IOA in November.

Most importantly, I have someone that will ride coasters with me again. I'll take that over visiting 20 or so parks a summer any day...:)

dt

Wow, i'm jealous. I was unemployed most of the summer so while I had plenty of time there was a cash-flow problem to deal with. I also have about 100 other interests to service.

Still got to Geauga Lake, Camden Park, Conneaut Lake Park, Holiday World, Strickers Grove (twice), Coney Island (Cinci), Kings Island, and Wyandot Lake.

Also visited three non-park carousels - Columbus Zoo, Mansfield, and Put-In-Bay. Do they count?
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Ripple Rock Amusement Park

My 2003 season was quite packed with trips and I added many new coasters to my TR to finally break 100! My trips included:

Cedar Point- 8 times and still 1 to go

SFWOA- 5 or 6 times and 1 or 2 to go

Kings Island, Kings Dominion, BGW, SFA, Lakemont- all 1 trip

Kennywood- 1 trip but I am going tomorrow night for the informal ACE event

So all in all I think my coaster season was pretty fulfilling, but as usual my expectations exceeded the number of actualy park visits. But there are many more to come in 2004!

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Who was the first person to look at a cow and say, "I think I'll squeeze these dangly things here and drink whatever comes out."

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jdancisin said:
Damn, you people really like coasters. How do you find the time?

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Unemployment.

Vegas, CP, PKI, SFFT, SFOT, SFGAm, BGW, and in 10 days, SFAW. Added 31 coasters to my track record, visited 3 new parks, sent out 17 resumes, and had 3 interviews with one company which has yet to inform me if I got the job. So, overall, it was a decent season. ;)

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Colin D.
Ask about my references!

First-time visits:
Cedar Point (4 times), Knotts, Disneyland, Disneyland's California Adventure, SFWoA

10+ years since I have been to the park:
SFMM, Kings Island

Home park: SFGAm

Highlights:
- Riding S:UF w/ my dad
- Riding X, SOB, Ghostrider, & the CP Coasters
- FINALLY getting to CP
- First enthusiast events (Coastermania, Beastbuzz, CosterCon)
- Riding SFGAm's Deja Vu for the 2nd time.