Intimidator 305 opens at Kings Dominion

Grey-outs let you know that you are pushing the limits! Perfectly safe for the reasons ridemcoaster mentioned, with this in mind as a coaster junkie I like the occasional grey-out!
I'd imagine an unsuspecting person could potentially find it scary though.
But when you pull out of the turn and hit the air it's fantastic! It seemed like you could hear everyone on the ride giving a sigh of relief!!

I still worry about the guys that are getting 40-50 rides in one day and then doing that day after day.

But then again most coaster enthusiasts that are doing that are already down a bit in grey matter.

...says the guy cramming 487 parks into a week.

It is only 14 parks and 10 days. :)

What can I say, I like to go to different parks. On the other hand, I don't get the people that ride a coaster 1000+ times in a season. I know at least 3 people that did that on Diamondback and one that did it on Dominator last season. At least when I marathoned a coaster it was for charity. I just wish it would have been a better ride then Gemini.

Don't be hatin' on Gemini. I will cherish those bruises for ever.;)

Yea, but now I look at Gemini and walk on by. If we had a train on MF with as many rides, I would still line up to ride one more time.

I know some of you had said that they couldn't marathon Intimidator, but I could easily ride it from open to close without a problem. I'd love to try it anyway. Throw me some hotdogs as I am passing through the station like Mike Boodley when he marathoned the Cyclone, and i'd be a happy man. Of course I probably wouldn't have time to eat it because the lift is so fast. :)

DaveStroem said:
It is only 14 parks and 10 days. :)

What can I say, I like to go to different parks.

This is always something that makes for a good discussion. I absolutely LOVE going to different parks, but I enjoy spending time in them, not just getting in, getting the credits, and leaving.

I love spending time, taking photos, looking at sights and the like. I guess I'd classify myself as more of a "tourist" or "vacationer" than a coaster enthusiast.

RP, this can still be done. The only parks that are not full day ones we have already been to or the parks are so small that you couldn't spend a full day at. Lakemont is an example of that. Dorney was another that I was not impressed with. Last trip we got bored there so we decided to leave early and make a detour back to Knoebels.

As to the little things, we do those too. My wife does not ride most coasters so we always do everything that she wants to do including ferris wheels and carousels. This makes for a more complete day.

On our upcoming trip, we will be at half the parks from opening to close. So we do not just grab the credits.

Dorney park is the only one that we will be doing that with. Talon was down last time we were there. Every other coaster in the park was just Meh to me. If we had ridden it maybe my opinion would be different. I have heard that it is one of the better B&M inverts.

I can understand stuff like that, doing Conneaut and Waldameer in the same day, for example. I've spent a good portion of the day at Dorney before, but you're right, you run out of things to do.

At that point, though, I don't think I'd just pack up and head to another park, though. I'd most likely head to my hotel or to a restaurant/shopping in the area, or shopping at the park if its somewhere like Hershey or BGW that has interesting shopping. Most of all, I'd just wind down and do some other stuff.

Like I said, that's just me and it's how I roll. Back in the day when I was really into riding, I'd probably have no problem with doing a bigger park trip. Though, I still have to commend you on yours, that's mighty brave. :)

I like to spend time at parks looking around as well. I like to take pictures, look for stuff that is unique to that particular park (even chain parks have some unique stuff) and sometimes just people watching. I have spent a full day at Dorney and at some other small parks but I think the difference is I do the water park side as well as the ride side. If you are only doing the rides at Dorney I could see how you would be done halfway through the day.

I cant go to a park and only ride the coasters, Ive done that a few times and I find I just do not enjoy that. I need to get the "whole park experience" by riding flats, seeing shows, and if its warm enough riding water rides/going to the water park.

Raven-Phile said:
I absolutely LOVE going to different parks, but I enjoy spending time in them, not just getting in, getting the credits, and leaving.

I love spending time, taking photos, looking at sights and the like. I guess I'd classify myself as more of a "tourist" or "vacationer" than a coaster enthusiast.

I'd most likely head to my hotel or to a restaurant/shopping in the area, or shopping at the park if its somewhere like Hershey or BGW that has interesting shopping. Most of all, I'd just wind down and do some other stuff.

We do exactly the same things. In fact, we make a point to make time for other things on our coaster trips. Sometimes it feels silly to be traveling the country (or world) and only visiting amusement parks.

Yeah, that's exactly it. I remember going to an amusement park that's situated in/quite close to a major city - first time I'd ever been there, but I'd heard so much about certain foods in the city that I thought we'd be crazy not to go in to town and get some.

Guess which group ate at a chain restaurant near the hotel that night?

When you're young, or just caring about coasters, I guess it doesn't really matter, but now that I look back on it - there's so much more to see out there.

Hawaii > any amusement park. And there are no parks there.

True Dat. Zion, Bryce Canyon, Yosemite, Yellowstone & the Grand Canyon all fall into that category for me too.

For whatever reason - the local/regional eateries are usually high on my list. I mean, I cannot WAIT to try out the new Texas Giant to be sure - but really, it's all about the brisket and the Shiner Bock... ;)

I don't even like roller coasters.

I have two types of vacations, park based vacations and other vacations (to a beach, national parks, etc.) I vary the two and I would never want to just do one type.

Carrie M. said:
I don't even like roller coasters.

The queen anti-enthusiast speaks!