Whirlwind '04 - 19 parks in 7 days (Day 1 - Idlewild, Lakemont, Del Grosso's, and Hersheypark)
Associated parks:
None
Day 1 of 7
Idelwild, Lakemont, Del Grosso’s, and Hershey
“This hobby really, really, sucks”
Every couple of years, Jeff “Master Planner” Johnson comes up with some sort of insane coaster related trip. I have done a couple of these trips with Jeff. Jeff refers to this type of trip as a “credit whore” trip, or as Mike Miller recently dubbed it, a CreHo trip. The point in doing these trips is to ride as much stuff as possible in the given time that takes place on the trip. These trips aren’t for everyone, especially those that like to take their time at parks. These trips also let us sample a lot of parks so we know where to return and what not to bother coming back to.
A few years ago, Jeff planned a pretty big trip that took 7 day. In those 7 days, we went to 18 parks in California, with a side trip to Silverwood in Idaho. Everything worked out as planned so I had no doubts of Jeff’s planning abilities.
I have a strange work schedule that allows me to take a week off, two times a year, without using any of my vacation time. The last week I had off was in February when I went to Las Vegas to ride coasters and skydive. My next week off would be in August. When I mentioned this to Jeff, I told him I was thinking about going to a lot of the parks in the central area of the country that I have never been to before. It would have been fairly easy to do. Jeff had other plans.
Jeff was missing a ton of parks in the Pennsylvania, New York, and Canada areas. He suggested a crazy trip around those areas. He sent me a rough itinerary and asked what I thought. At first glance, I thought there was no way to pull it off. Yes, I doubted Jeff’s planning abilities. What was I thinking?
I decided to postpone my central Midwest trip until the next year or so. Most of the parks that Jeff wanted to visit were parks I have been to before but I had no problem with another visit. Jeff soon got a schedule down and worked his magic. We still had one other trip to take care of. Recently, I just posted the trip reports for that trip.
Between the end of the last trip, and the beginning of this new trip was a total of 2 days. Those two days I would be working so I would have no time for rest. Jeff also had to work for two days, the fly out to Columbus so we could start the trip. The more and more I looked at the schedule, the more and more I questioned if this trip was going to be a success.
Wednesday, August 4th
The plan was rather simple for this day. All I had to do is pick up Jeff at Port Columbus International Airport at 8:00pm, after I worked my 12 hour shift at work. Jeff said we would need to leave Columbus by 4:00am to get to our first park by opening. This wouldn’t give us much rest the night before, but that’s nothing new. Sleep deprivation plays a part in these trips whether or not we like it.
I got a voice mail message from Jeff telling me that Southwest forgot to book him on his flight out of Los Angeles, so he had to take a $100 cab ride to Ontario Airport so he could get the last remaining flight out of California to Columbus. He now planned on arriving at 11:30pm. So much for sleep. We also planned on taking a rental car on this trip as I didn’t particularly care to put thousands of miles on my car. Since the rental car place was to close at 10:00pm, I had to pick up the car airport.
At 1130pm, Jeff’s flight showed up on time. While at the airport, we met up with ACE member Danielle Miller who works for Delta. She hadn’t seen Jeff since the ACE ECO trip in 2002 and didn’t get to talk long as we really had to get back to my house. Sorry Danielle.
Once back home, I quickly finished getting everything ready for the trip that was to officially start in 4 hours. I ended up getting to sleep at 1:00am. My alarm woke me up at 3:00am. Yep, a whole 2 hours of sleep. Did I mention this day was a big day? Lots of driving. Lots of riding. Not a lot of sleep.
By 4:00am we were ready to go. We pulled out of my driveway in our Ford Taurus (similar to the one we drive the week before) and headed out to our first park. According to Jeff’s calculations, our first park was about a 6 hour drive. We headed east on I-70 and headed to Pennsylvania. We stopped somewhere near Wheeling for a quick bite to eat at a gas station/McDonalds, As I was ordering my food, I turned around to ask Jeff a question and noticed the guy standing behind Jeff was wearing a Cedar Point Raptor shirt. It was one of the original 1994 shirts that I hadn’t seen in a long time. While I doubt the man was a coaster enthusiast, it was cool seeing that shirt again.
We continued our drive through the hills of West Virginia and Pennsylvania. We followed all the routes we were supposed to be taking according to Yahoo Maps. Of course, we still managed to get a bit lost when we got off the exit we were supposed to take. In all honestly, it wasn’t our fault as the route sign we were looking for wasn’t there. We even turned around and looked for it after we traveled a few miles the way we weren’t supposed to.
It didn’t take long to reach our first park.
=====Idlewild====
We arrived at the park at 8:30am.
Wait a second here.
I thought it was supposed to take 6 hours to arrive here. It only took us 4 and a half and I wasn’t driving very fast. We noticed a security guard standing by so we asked him if there was anywhere we could park so we could catch some sleep as we had a full hour and a half before the park was to open. The guard pointed us over to a passenger drop off area. We pulled over there and slept for a good 45 minutes before the sound of cars pulling up to the park woke us up. People were starting to line up at the parking gates. We drove over to the gates and waited to be let in.
At Idlewild, you pay for your admission to the park at the parking gates. The park was having a problem with processing credit cards so it took a bit longer than expected to get to the parking lot, but we had plenty of time to spend. While the park opened at 10:00, the rides didn’t start until 11:00am. Jeff and I just spent the time walking around the park. We watched as the maintenance crew started getting the mouse ready for operation. There was a brief delay in getting this coaster up and running but once it was ready, we were able to ride in the first car.
---Wild Mouse---
This Vekoma mouse has to be one of the longest mice in the country. It used to operate overseas but has been located at Idlewild since 1993.The ride layout is hidden very well thanks to the large trees that surround it. The last time I rode this, I remember it being a very long, but violent mouse. Since then, the ride has been retrofitted with magnetic trim brakes. I really like magnetic braking and was interested in seeing how a Vekoma mouse was to be retrofitted with mag brakes.
I couldn’t even tell you the layout of this coaster as it is pretty twisted and long. The magnetic brakes do trim the ride, but it was still damn quick and fun. We would have loved to ride it again but there was a line forming and we needed to get to the other coaster in the park.
---Rollo Coaster---
Otherwise known as Boulder Dash Jr., this small out and back follows the side of a hill. The trains have a fixed lap bar but that’s it. No seat belt. While the ride may be tame in nature, there are a couple of surprising moments such as the laterals felt during the diving turnaround.
With the first two coasters of our trip ridden, we were thinking about leaving as we still had a lot to get to this day. We stopped by a couple of gift shops so Jeff could stock up on souvenirs. We also did the park’s haunted swing before leaving. If time would have permitted it, we would have ridden Mister Rodgers Neighborhood as Jeff hasn’t done that one yet.
We hopped back into the car and drove to our next park of the day.
===Lakemont===
I have been to this park a few times. Jeff had never been anywhere in this area so he was excited to finally get to this park. From the look of the near empty parking lot, we knew we would have no trouble riding the things we wanted to.
---Toboggan---
These coasters are a rare site nowadays. Jeff had never seen one run in person. Jeff and I walked up and got on with no wait at all. I love unique rides and this one is no exception. I warned Jeff to lean back as far as he could when going down the small drops at the end of the ride as they can be pretty violent if you don’t watch it. My car stopped at the last turn of the ride before the loading station. I had to be pushed a few feet. If I remember correctly, this happened to me one other time when I rode the coaster during a cool fall day.
---Leap the Dips---
Riding the world’s oldest coaster is a privilege. I first rode this during the grand re-opening ceremonies of 1999 during the ACE Ultimate Preservation Conference. It was during that event that we also were able to ride Knoebel’s Twister on opening day. There aren’t many times where you are able to ride the world’s oldest and newest coasters in the same day. This day however, we would not be doing that.
Once again, this coaster had no wait. Jeff and I hopped into the lone car with two other people that was running and began our ride on a coaster that is pretty tame, or so I thought. I have never gotten a wild ride on it. My last ride slowed down so much that I almost had to push the car around the curves as it almost stopped. I don’t know what Lakemont has done to this ride but it was flying. The turns had strong laterals. The dips actually had airtime, which is scary if you think about it as there are no upstops. I clocked the ride from top of lift to brakes at 55 seconds. I am not sure what a normal ride is but this was far wilder than I remembered it.
Jeff and I were so impressed with the coaster that we rode again. This time, we were the only people riding. This resulted in an even wilder ride complete with more airtime. The front of the car lifted up off the tracks more than once. Yes, I am talking about Leap the Dips here.
---Little Dipper---
Jeff needed the coaster credit. As with most kiddie coaster on the trip, I stood by and took pictures of him riding. As Jeff was leaving the ride, the ride operator wanted to know why he was riding and being photographed. We started talking to him about our trip and wanted to know where we were from. When Jeff said he was from the Los Angeles area, the man asked Jeff if he knew of one of his friends. Jeff had no idea who the ride operator was talking about. I think the ride operator didn’t realize how large LA really is. We got a laugh out of that.
---Skyliner---
As with the other rides in the park, this had no wait. Jeff and I rode in the front car for our first ride. For our second ride we rode in the back. I knew better not to sit in the last row as I remember it being quite violent. I sat up one row while Jeff sat in the last row. The first drop is amazing in that back car. The rest of the ride isn’t that bad either. The turnaround closest to the station is filled with laterals. I wasn’t expecting it as I was looking over that the empty stadium. Since my last visit, the park painted the sides of the cars with “Go Curve” for the Altoona Curve baseball team.
The wild mouse that used to operate on the other side of the park is no longer there. A small fun house takes its place. Neither Jeff nor I felt like going through it. We made a quick stop in the gift shop before heading on to our next part.
===Del Grosso’s===
A short 20 minute drive and we were soon parking our car at our 3rd park of the day. The parking lot is across the street from the park so it’s required anyone wanted to go to the park has to hike up a ramp and across a bridge. We would hate this bridge by the end of the day. More on that in a bit.
Instead of purchasing a ride all day wristband, we opted for ride tickets. We didn’t plan on re-riding anything. Once we had our tickets in hand, it was time to ride.
----Wacky Worm----(#558).
This was the first new coaster of the trip for me. Nothing really to mention here other than it was a standard Wacky Worm that consisted of two laps. There were plenty of families watching Jeff and I riding with other families As usual, we stood out like a sore thumb on this coaster.
There used to be a very nice Jumbo Zyklon at the park but it was since moved to a new park in Delaware. What takes its place is a new Reverchon spinning mouse. As we walked up to it, we noticed there was no movement going on. There were no signs at the ticket booths saying the ride was to be closed so we were hoping whatever the problem was would be fixed soon as we didn’t have a lot of time to spend there.
We watched as a maintenance crew worked on a set of brakes near the end of the ride. We decided to wait it out for another 10 minutes before moving on. Another 10 minutes go by and we decided to give the new drop ride a try.
This new Moser drop ride looked a lot of fun. The tower only stands maybe 30 feet in the air. At first glance, the ride looks like a larger version of an S&S Frog Hopper with back to back seating. It was obvious by the line that the ride is very popular with kids, but we did see a few adults riding. We didn’t expect a huge thrill from the ride but were pleasantly surprised at what the ride did. The program they were running had many drops that were different in length. As you are pulled up the tower over and over, you have no idea when you are going to drop. The drops themselves were awesome. They dropped my stomach and everything.
We walked back to the mouse and noticed it looked like it was about to test. We saw a car leave the station. It looked promising. The car crested the lift and made it around to the last part of the ride. Then it was block stopped. The crew looked baffled and continued to look into fixing the problem.
Jeff and I decided to wait another 20 minutes before leaving. Twenty minutes turned into 30. Thirty minutes turned into 40. We had enough of waiting. We still had to get to our 4th park before 6:00pm. Jeff and I left the park and headed back across the bridge to the parking lot. We hopped in our car and started it up. Just as Jeff was about to drive away, I looked over and saw the coaster running. This was enough for us to turn the car off, walk across to the bridge and wait. I had a phone call during this time so the wait felt minimal. I am willing to guess we waited another 20 minutes before we gave up as the testing had stopped.
We hopped back into the car and started it up. This time we did leave the parking lot and pulled out onto the main road. We had to drive right by the coaster to get back to the main highway. As we were driving by, we looked over and noticed ride operators taking their stations.
Could the coaster be getting ready to open?
Jeff turned the car around so we could get a better look. For whatever reason other than being a couple of coaster freaks, we pulled back into the parking lot, crossed the damn bridge once more and headed back to the coaster. By this time, a rather lengthy line had formed. Within a couple of minutes, the ride was open. While there were 5 or 6 cars on the track, they were only allowing one car to be on the main course at one time. Perhaps that was the solution to the problem we saw earlier?
By the look of the line, it appeared we would be waiting well over a half hour. Jeff and I really wanted to ride the coaster, especially after waiting near 3 hours to get on it, but a half an hour would seriously affect the time at our final park. At this point we made a choice to skip the final park and go to another park that would be open later. We also noticed the coaster didn’t look like it was spinning very fast. Perhaps the cars weren’t broken in or something.
----Crazy Mouse----(#559)
“We need two riders! Two riders to ride right now!”
As luck would have it, everyone that was in front of us had 3 or 4 riders. Jeff and I were the two riders they were looking for. We bypassed the entire line and walked up into the station. There was a car with two small girls sitting on the inside. Jeff and I sat on the outside.
The ride began just like the rest of the other Crazy Mice I have ridden. The first part had some great laterals and the drops were nice. When we came to the area where the car starts to spin, we weren’t expecting much because of the lack of spinning we saw other cars doing. Due to the off weight of our car, we began to spin, and spin, and spin, and spin. This was, by far, the most spinning on a mouse I have ever gotten. We didn’t stop once. This wasn’t Tilt-A-Whirl spinning we are talking about here. This was Waltzer spinning. When our ride came to an end, we could barely walk. It was that intense. Woo!
Jeff and I knew we really would have to get back on the road if we wanted to finish our day with another park. We left the parking lot (for the last time this day) and headed to our next park. Originally we were going to go to our next park in the morning of the next day but we expected to arrive at the park by 8:00pm. That would give us two hours to ride the new ride and whatever else we could manage in that time. No, that may not sound like a lot of time to spend in a park, but considering the nature of our trip, it was enough to us.
At 8:00pm on the dot, we arrived at our 4th park of the day.
===Hersheypark===
We decided to purchase a double park ticket for our second day. This would provide us with not only park admission to Hersheypark the next day, but another park as well, and free admission this night.
As we walked into the park we were welcomed by a lot of people. The park was very crowded. We didn’t care as we walked rapidly to the main reason we came to the park in the first place.
----Storm Runner---(#560)
As soon as we got in line, we looked ahead and noticed a group of people that we recognized. Friends Tim Melago, Greg Legowski, Adam Revesz, Ellen, Tom and Leanne Smith were right in front of us. We just happened to get in line for the ride as they were in line. It was nice talking to them for a few minutes while we waited. They asked about our trip and we asked about theirs.
Storm Runner’s loading station is a double station like those found on the Vekoma flying coasters or Superman at Six Flags Over Georgia. Perhaps I am missing something here, but I don’t see the point in the double loading station for this ride as it didn’t look like a single loading station would lower the capacity of the ride. At least while we were in line.
Jeff and I decided to wait for the front seat for our first ride. As we got a closer look at the train and the new restraints, we couldn’t help but notice there were large stickers telling riders not to put their hands in the restraint area of the seat in front of them. It was very obvious a hand or finger could be caught in the restraint area if you were not careful. I am not sure if this Intamin is to blame for this design flaw or not, but the park made it very clear where not to put your hands.
Once our train pulled into the station, Jeff and I sat in our seats and pulled down the new restraints. As I was doing this, a man that was behind me started hitting me in the shoulder. I had my restraint most of the way down and couldn’t get it back up. He was yelling for me to stop pulling it down. The ride operators ran over to see if the man was alright. The restraints were released and the man sat down in his seat. I am not sure how much damage was done to his hand, but I know he wasn’t too happy. It wasn’t my fault. He should have read the signs and not put his hand where he wasn’t supposed to.
Our ride began. We left the station and made the short curve to the launching area. Due to the double loading station, the curve out of the station is part of a transfer track that slides back and forth so each side of the station has access to the launch area.
As we made our way to the launching area, the sound of a heartbeat plays from speakers up ahead. As with the other two Intamin rocket coasters I have ridden, the train rolls back slightly and the brake fins go down. A voice is soon heard telling us to get ready.
Just as the voice ends, we are zooming down the launch track. For some reason, the launch wasn’t as powerful as I was lead to believe, but it was quick. Within a couple of seconds, we were speeding up into the top hat. This element was shorter than I thought but I was surprised at the amount of airtime we got at the top.
We then dove down 180 feet in to a ravine. Since it was dark out, we couldn’t see how deep the ravine was so we were surprised at the drop. Up into the next inversion which reminded me a lot of a B&M Immelman, but with a strange kink to it. From there we dove back down and up into what looks like it could be a nice hill as it provides a great moment of airtime. This isn’t any hill as we rip up and through a nice inline twist with great speed before ripping out of the element upside down and back towards the ground.
Our ride was just about over but not before ripping up into a twisted set of curves before flying over one last hill to the brake run.
Jeff and I were both very impressed. We noticed the train didn’t have the standard “Intamin rattle” as it tore through the elements. The entire ride was very smooth and offered a lot of forces. The restraints were not offensive although Jeff and I did have sore shoulders for riding with our arms up. There are hand grips to grab at the bottom of the shoulder restraint but we forgot they were there. I believe the restraints are the perfect GP restraints as they have an easy grip right at their fingertips. You no longer have to raise your hands much to hold onto shoulder restraints. While the launch was quick, I feel it was tame enough that most people could handle it with no problem.
We knew we had to ride this again but Jeff still had one coaster left to ride.
---Roller Soaker---
I told Jeff it would probably be a good idea for him to ride this coaster tonight as we would be able to go to the hotel after we rode instead of him walking around in wet clothes the next day. He agreed. I had already ridden this ride so I decided to wait and watch.
I watched as Jeff got soaked to the bone. Every water effect that ride has to offer was on in full force. Poor Jeff was taking a beating and I knew he wouldn’t be happy. Sure enough, as soon as he got off the ride, he had a look of discomfort on his face. He wasn’t a happy camper but knew he needed the credit.
---Lightning Racer---
Since it was nearby and had no line, Jeff and I decided to give this a quick ride. Both of us sat on different trains in the back row. This is such a fun coaster and very interactive. Jeff and I constantly pointed at each other the entire ride. Not only was Jeff still wet, but he didn’t win. =:^)
We quickly made it back to Storm Runner before they closed the line off. The wait looked to be about a half hour. Within 10 minutes of our wait, we were line jumped by two girls. While I have had my fair share of arguments with line jumpers, Jeff usually takes it an extra step and really goes after them. He wasn’t in the mood to start anything this time and wanted to end his night on a good note.
Another 10 minutes goes by and a tall guy line jumps us. We watch as the guy walks all the way down to the front row and even jumps in front of the people waiting in the front row line. He wasn’t even meeting up with anyone. He just didn’t want to wait.
We noticed the guy motioning his girlfriend to also cut the line. By this time, everyone had enough of this. When the girl reached Jeff and I and rudely tried to push her way in front of us, Jeff started asking her what she was doing. She wouldn’t answer so Jeff made a scene. The girl started screaming down to her boyfriend. He got out of the front row line and made his way back up the stairs and attempted to pull the girl out of the way. Jeff wouldn’t budge and the guy was getting really angry.
Jeff, the girl, and the guy started arguing with each other while everyone else around us agreed. For a minute, I thought it was going to get really violent, but the guy somehow pulled his girlfriend around Jeff and went back down into the loading station. The funny thing was that while he was arguing with Jeff, the ride operators blocked off the front row line so no one else could ride up there. When the guy returned, he was visibly embarrassed and quickly tried to blend in with the line for row two.
At this time, someone up in front of us pointed out to a ride operator what had just happened. One of the ride operators called security. A few minutes later, security showed up and the guard went over to talk to the line jumpers.
Mission accomplished.
..or so we thought.
I am not sure what Hersheypark’s line jumping policy is but the guard ended up letting the guy ride anyway. We thought this was bizarre but there was nothing we could do about it. Jeff already embarrassed the guy so he was happy. We weren’t going to let this ruin our last ride. Just by chance, the line jumpers were riding in the same train we were. Jeff and I decided to ride the last car this time.
Our ride was pretty much the same as our first although the drop into the ravine was even more incredible, as was the dive out of the inline twist section. Jeff pointed out how close the train comes to the monorail track as I didn’t really notice it being that close for our first ride. From the sound of it, the car we were sitting in had a bad wheel. It was making quite a sound.
As we were leaving the ride, we ended up walking directly behind the line jumpers. Jeff said he wasn’t finished with this guy so he walked up to him. At first, I thought Jeff was going to start something again, but all he wanted to do was tell they guy that there were no hard feelings and explained to him that all he wanted to do was embarrass the guy. While the girl was ignoring us, the guy said it was alright and the only reason he did it was because he saw two girls do it earlier. What a crock! See what line jumping does?
As we walked out of Hershey, our third or fourth wind ended. We were really looking forward to getting to our hotel in Lancaster and crashing out. We headed out to our car and mapped out the drive to our hotel.
Jeff decided we should skip the highways and drive directly to Lancaster with side roads. The drive ended up being about an hour and a half. During times, it was very difficult to drive as I was falling asleep quickly, but we made it to our hotel before midnight. It didn’t take long before I fell asleep and put an end to one long and crazy day.
…..and this was just day one.
Next up….
Riding one of the scariest coasters on the planet.
Thanks for reading,
-Sean
. *** Edited 9/8/2004 2:42:39 AM UTC by Sean Flaharty***
I just went to Hersheypark for the first time last week, and loved Storm Runner as well. It was great in the day, but was even better at night. Glad you had a good time there, as it really is a nice park.
--Greg
"You seem healthy. So much for voodoo."
Glad you had Fun, I can't wait to get to Hershey next year. But I don't think I'll ever do 19 parks in that many days, at least not till I hit Europe/Africa and my Japan trip... *** Edited 9/8/2004 9:00:23 AM UTC by TeknoScorpion***
WOW!
When you and Jeff told me your plans at Pres Con I thought you guys were nuts but never doubted you for a minute since you are used to these crazy marathon trips. :-D
The Del Grosso's bridge thing is just TOO funny. I am actually visualizing the whole thing.....LOL! That Mouse is absolutely sick, insane, AWESOME! I am sure it was well worth the trouble. :-D
When I went to Lakemont a few months ago I really had no interest in the kiddy coaster but did it anyway (and in pouring, cold rain)...just because. I think I have been influenced by too many of you credit ho's. ;-)
AWESOME, Sean. Maybe one of these days I will give up my sleep and sanity and join you guys on one of these crazy whirlwind trips. ;-)
-Tina
--Greg
"You seem healthy. So much for voodoo."
Chuck, looking foreward to your next TR and reminds people to beware of people throwing water balloons at the oposing trains on Lightning Racer. (It hurts)
Seabreeze, Conneautt, Waldameer, Marineland, and Midway Park had to be cut out though...:-( Maybe I need to hire Jeff and Sean as consultants for planning whirlwind trips. ;-)
Usually when I *attempt* to do credit ho/whirlwind trips I end up cutting it in half......mostly due to the fact that I lose track of time and don't give a *** and end up living in the moment and not worrying about it it anyway.
I spent way too much time at Darien (under the spell of my first ROS) and it totally screwed up my time factor. Oh well.......I am much more of an "F it and play it by ear" type of traveller anyway. :-D
-Tina
*** Edited 9/8/2004 1:00:30 PM UTC by coasterqueenTRN***
Also, the Damn Bridge is ONLY at Kentucky Kingdom.
Im also surprised you didn't ride the Dark Ride at Lakemont. Since it's gravity-based, and could count as a coaster.
Your 560 so far makes my 411 look pathetic :(
Sean Flaharty said:As luck would have it, everyone that was in front of us had 3 or 4 riders. Jeff and I were the two riders they were looking for. We bypassed the entire line and walked up into the station. There was a car with two small girls sitting on the inside. Jeff and I sat on the outside.
That's so funny! The same exact thing happened to us on Monday. The line was probably about 1/2 hour long. We got at the end and heard them calling for 2 people. We raised our hands and they signaled for us to come up. That definitely worked out well.
Thanks for the entertaining TR's, Sean!
Sue *** Edited 9/8/2004 6:41:05 PM UTC by Sue***
That's a good way of thinking. There is no such thing as doing too many parks during one trip. =:^)
Greg,
I should't have been surprised to see you and your group there because that is the nature of the hobby, but after a long day of travel it was very cool to see a group of friends, and I was surprised anyway. LOL.
Tina,
The strange thing about Jeff's planning is we do the whole play-it-by-ear thing a lot. We just kind of have a line to follow and we can drift off of it any time we need. This trip was supposed to be 23 parks in 7 days but we changed some stuff on the fly.
John,
That's pretty crazy. I know you got Jeff already thinking about toping our 19 park trip. What dark ride at Lakemont are you refering to? Do you mean the Devil's Den at Conneaut Lake?
As for your 411 coaster count, just remember this... just because I may have ridden more coasters than you doesn't mean you are any less enthusiastic. I really hate it when people use a coaster count to act like they are more of an enthusiast than someone that has ridden less. The way I look at, a person that has ridden 1 coaster can be more enthusiastic than someone that has ridden 900. During some of the interviews I have done, they never fail to ask how many different coasters I have ridden. I try to explain why I mentioned above but they think a "coaster expert that has ridden XXX number of coasters thinks this ride is cool because" sounds good for their show.
Sue,
Thanks. You and Rich seem to travel a lot like Jeff and I do and have very similar things happen. Remember the blackout at the hotel we were at in Florida (Jeff wasn't on that trip)?
-Sean
Theres a thread on here now that talks about "two new rides at Lakemont" Apparently, this year Lakemont has put in a dark gravity-based ride, which sounds nearly like the Devils Den and the Haunted House at Camden, which could be considered a coaster.
Im darn proud of my coaster count. Im just a bit jealous! ;) Im happy with any ride I can get on, and after this year, Im really happy I could experience what i have so far.
Im catching up to you though :)
Sean Flaharty said:
Next up….Riding one of the scariest coasters on the planet.
The Williams Grove Cyclone???
Sue *** Edited 9/9/2004 8:49:51 PM UTC by Sue***
I wasn't aware Lakemont had such a ride. We didn't see it when we were there in August. I wasn't even aware there was a thread as I have been gone the last few days just to make my count even higher than yours!
BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!! (kidding of course)
Tyler,
Thanks! The second part should be up in a half hour or so. I just have to add the links to the pictures.
Chuck and Sue,
You are both correct.
-Sean
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