Associated parks:
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As with IOA the day before, SWO was more crowded than I thought it would be. However, this would never really end up coming into play, thankfully. The first thing we did after entering the park was go to ride Kraken, which of course had to be in the back of the park. Kraken was going to be my first floorless as well as my 100th coaster, so I was very much looking forward to the ride.
Kraken certainly did not dissapoint, as the ride in the front seat (after no wait) was fantastic. The floorless aspect was fun, though I really didn't find it to be all that amazing, or really worth all the trouble. Still, it provided for some cool visuals. After buying an on ride photo to comemorate my 100th coaster, it was back into line to ride the back seat.
Again, the floorless aspect really does not come into play when your not in the front seat, but it was still a great ride, and more intense in the back. I even got some airtime on the first drop which was a pleasant surprise. I really loved the pacing of this ride, and the second half didnt seem like filler but was actually almost as fun as the first half. Just a great ride, and probably 5th on my steel coaster list, maybe 4th, we'll see after I ride Raptor again this summer.- A
Next up was Journey to Atlantis, the coaster/flume hybrid. Wasn't sure what to expect from this ride, and I'm still not quite sure what I think after riding it. There seemed to be some kind of story going on, but it seemed like half the audio was turned down and half the effects weren't working. To put it simply, I had no idea what the hell was going on. The ride was still fun, or at least as fun as any other flume ride, and the coaster track was a nice touch at the end. But I can't say I have much of a desire to go on this one again. At least there was no wait.
From there we took in the shows and saw all the exhibits, which were great, especially since I had never been to sea world before. Went on the Wild Artic simulator as well, which made me almost throw up, but at least the exhibits afterwards were good. Also got to feed and pet the dolphins, which was a cool experience. Just got to hide the fish from those birds, as a few people had birds attacking them. I tried to get the dolphins to let me pet them after I ran out of food, but only one fell for it. I guess they really are pretty smart afterall.
We went on Kraken a couple more times, pet some stingrays, and then about called it a day. I have to say I was very impressed by some of the exhibits at sea world, as they made the ones at the Shedd Aquarium in my hometown of Chicago pale in comparison.
The next afternoon we drove a half hour down from Boca Raton to go to Boomers at Dania Beach. The only reason to go here was to ride the hurricane, and thankfully it ended up being worth it. Boomers is basically your typical family entertainment center type place, but just with a coaster and skycoaster alongside it. I wanted to go on the blender as well, but my girlfriend was not quite up for it.
We paid $10 for the all day pass on the Hurricane, which seemed to be what everyone got, and headed off to ride it. The ride was a walk on, as I would imagine it almost always is. They had the last car roped off for some reason, so we sat as far back in the train as we could. After about 6 more people got on board we were ready to go.
This was a fun coaster, nothing life changing, but still a lot of fun. It gave some good air and kept great speed throughout the course. The layout was great and there was no dead spots. While I wouldnt quite put it in my top tier of wooden coasters, this was still quite enjoyable, and I'd give it a B, though if I had gotten to ride in the very back perhaps it could have worked its way up to a B+.
Next up was a day of enjoying the non-coaster related activities Florida has to offer, but the day after that we were headed for Busch Gardens Tampa......
*** This post was edited by ViperMan6flgs 4/1/2003 8:52:51 AM ***
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