Wild Adventures passholder day - 3/5/10

Short hours, 4p-8p, for passholder appreciation day. My first pass since Herschend took over, and reviews are mixed-positive.

The loss of several attractions from the last pre-Cypress expansion under Buescher is kind of a downer. Screamin' Swing, the Power Surge, and the admittedly-carny simulator attraction are all gone (along with the various movies including Red Rock Run, Elvira, Spongebob and others). The Double Shot was not running, and didn't seem to be a candidate for operating anytime soon. OzCat trains are reportedly on-site, but in hiding...I was hopeful for a few days that they might end up on Cheetah...but that hasn't happened yet (maybe we'll get the ride those trains were built for, LOL!). Park layout has been changed, and it IS harder to get from place to place, but hopefully they'll fill in those areas with more scenery/landscaping (i.e., "charm") ;)

A couple employees mentioned that a more HFEC-quality simulator might be in the mid-range future for the park...probably not for '11, but not long after that. Another positive is the improved food options - a sure sign of Herschend management. Employees were friendly and interactive, and certainly trained on safety issues (became evident during a small breakdown on Cheetah)...

A decent segue into coaster news - gone are Tiger Terror (now at Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa) and the Chance Gold Rush (probably scrapped). Celebration City donated its crazy Miler "family" coaster with its steep drops and insanely tight turns. Fun ride, open and thrilling, but low capacity.

And then there's Cheetah - the only wooden coaster between Atlanta and Tampa - about 8 hours' drive. Advertised was a $1M rehab, but it sounded and felt like there may have been a bit more to it than the pricetag indicated. I rode Cheetah when it opened to the public - and it was certainly NO smoother on that day than it was today. I'm not a huge fan of the layout, but it was smooth and really fast, with no beating at all from the Gerstlauers...I typically would ride it once every other season (or so) just to reassure myself that it was still in pitiful condition, and rank it very near the bottom of my wooden rankings. With HC5 and Psyclone gone, there were very few wooden coasters left that were worse than my last rides on Cheetah. But now, I have a wooden coaster well within two hours of home that I am happy to be riding....and night rides tonight were blissful.

Thank you HFEC! :)

Sounds awesome. It is interesting that Orlando has no real airtime.

I rode that Miler when it was at CC and it was crazy. I don't know if it was good crazy or bad crazy, but it was definitely crazy.

Orlando does have come crazy airtime, it just not on a coaster. Its not too many times you can drop faster then the speed of gravity with only a single seat belt holding you in, which is why the Tower of Terror is by far my favorite non coaster ride.