Well I just got back from a great coaster filled trip. 3 parks and 20/21 coasters (depends on your definition), many of which make my top list. Those 3 parks are SFA, PKD, and BGW.

I got lots of pictures, hopefully most of which turned out well. I'll add them to this thread as soon as they get processed and scanned, which hopefully won't be too long.

So here are my reviews of the parks and their rides and coasters. I will list them in order of how I liked them, starting w/ least favorite. The grading system is based on 10; the closer to 10 the better. There are also awards at the end to all of the bests.

Here's the first park:

Six Flags America Rating=9.2

Six Flags America, as far as coasters go, is the most well rounded park I have been to. They're almost perfect...they have a hyper, a reverse incline, a launched, a regular inverted, a strange coaster (Batwing), an out and back wooden coaster, and a twisty wooden coaster. (Plus a kiddie coaster which I didn't go on). They have a good assortment of flat rides too, and one of the best water ride selections I've seen. They just need one more big coaster and they'd be one of the best parks IMO.


Other rides I went on
Teacups
Spinning ride by Wild One
Flying Caroussel
Cyclone (a scrambler)
Some spinning Ride by Joker's Jinx...I think it's called Alpine Blast or something
Caroussel
Car Ride (name unknown)

Coasters

Mind Eraser = 5.6

This is a typical SLC. I enjoyed the other SLC I went on, the Great Nor'Easter at Morey's Piers, a bit more since it was located right along the beach. They're about equally rough, but it's still a pretty fun ride.

Joker's Jinx = 7.5

Joker's Jinx is a "Mad Cobra" design. It is a very twisted and turbulent layout. I thought this ride was fast and fun, but a bit too bumpy for my tastes. The restraints are comfy, but you still manage to bang your head enough to make this ride not as fun as it can be. A lap bar instead of the OTSR's would help (see further down).

Two Face: The Flip Side = 7.9

Two Face: The Flip Side is a standard Vekoma Invertigo. Though it's bigger cousins, the Deja Vu's, look to be much more intense, this ride packs quite a punch. Not too bumpy, but very disorienting, I though this ride was surprisingly fun.

Wild One = 8.5

Wild One is a fast and furious out and back wooden coaster. It provides an excellent place to get pictures (hint hint), but you better hold on 'cause this coaster gets going pretty quickly. Though I prefer the other wooden at SFA, Wild One was better than every wooden coaster at PKD.

Roar = 9.0

Roar is an incredible piece of work, another GCI masterpiece. It's full of many turns, but yet is one of the smoothest wooden coasters you'll find anywhere. Definitely the best wooden coaster on my trip, and my 3rd favorite wooden overall, behind Lightning Racer and Mean Streak.

Superman: Ride of Steel = 9.3

When I first rode S:ROS, I thought it edged out Magnum at CP. But then I rode it in the back, and I found out what you guys meant by "ejector airtime". Wow, does that pack a lot of airtime. Though Nitro still has more, I think this is an incredible piece of work. I thought this was the best coaster in the park until...

Batwing = 9.7

This coaster was simply amazing in every aspect. It is in a serious duel for the number 2 spot on my list with a coaster double its size, Nitro, and I don't know which one is better...another ride on Nitro will help me decide. But who really cares which one is better when they're both so much fun. Batwing is an incredible experience that I was glad to experience. I'll never forget looking straight down 100 feet hoping my restraint won't collapse. An incredibly fun, fast, furious, and frightening ride worthy of much praise.

When I was in line for this ride, I knew it would either be incredible or it would be one of the biggest "bombs" ever. Fortunately, the first one was definitely the true one.


Paramount Kings Dominion = 9.2

While SFA showed that having all around coasters can be great, PKD shows that having two incredible unique coasters can save a park from certain doom, at least in my book. I bet you can all guess which coasters those are, and those two are by far the best here. But there were some other surprises along the way. Overall, I was definitely pleased by PKD, especially the way I ended it. Want to know how I ended it? Scroll down to see

Other rides I went on
Eiffel Tower
7th Portal
Caroussel

Coasters

Shockwave = 4.8

Shockwave was the worst coaster on my trip, but I knew it would be. When I saw this I thought "Oh great...another Togo. If this is anything like Viper it'll ruin Kings Dominion for me." The Japanese did a little better with this stand up coaster than they did with "All Your Base are Belong to Us", but this stand up was not much better than my first stand up experience, Mantis. My new philosophy for stand ups is the shorter, the better. And this one is plenty short, so I thought it was all right. A bit better than I expected, but still not good.

Hurler = 5.1

I was disappointed by Hurler. It looked like a great ride, but it was very bumpy and not very thrilling. I think it was the worst of the woodies I went on because of this. It was an okay ride, but it looked much better than it actually was IMHO.

Avalanche = 5.9

I was surprised by this ride. I thought it was gonna edge out Shockwave, but it was surprisingly fun. Definitely the better of the 2 bobsleds I've been on (the other being Disaster Transport at CP), with a great layout. Still not that thrilling, but better than I expected.

Rebel Yell (Forwards) = 6.1

I was disappointed by this ride. The forwards side was much rougher than I expected. Still okay, but not that great IMHO.

Rebel Yell (Backwards) = 6.5

This was a very unique experience. I liked going backwards on a wooden coaster, and it was quite a bit better than the forward side IMHO. The only thing was that it was the most disorienting ride on my trip, and I felt like I was going to throw up afterwards. I guess that's the ride's goal in a way, but I didn't like that feeling, which is why this got rated so low.

Anaconda = 7.2

This coaster was all right. Going underwater was pretty cool, as well as the first two inversions, but I thought the helices were kinda rough. The corkscrews weren't any great shakes either. I liked this better than GASM at SFGAdv., but it wasn't that great overall. I'd take a smooth B&M looper over this any day.

Grizzly = 7.9

This coaster was kinda disappointing. I was expecting it to easily rival, if not beat the two wooden coasters at SFA. It fell short of both in my book though, mainly because it was so short. The part after the second drop is very wild and fun, but I wish this ride was bigger and longer.

Flight of Fear = 8.6

This coaster was very similar to Joker's Jinx, except I think it is a little shorter. However, this is much better than its SF counterpart IMO because of the lap bars and theming. Surprisingly good, but it doesn't stand a chance against the other launchers at PKD.

Hypersonic XLC = 9.2

This coaster has the best launch that I've ever been on, easily. It also provides impressive airtime on the two hills. It would probably be the perfect ride, except for the fact that it is a mere 17 seconds long. I really wish that this was longer, but you can't have everything, right? When I first rode this, I thought it was pretty easily the best in the park. But then I took my second ride on my favorite one, which turned the tables considerably...

Volcano: The Blast Coaster = 9.4

Yes, Volcano beats its newer counterpart. Of course the launches are no comparison...Volcano's is great, but Hypersonic is just in a league of its own. But if you compare the overall length and track design, Volcano wins pretty easily.

The reason for this coaster winning was because of my luck on my last night at Kings Dominion. We got in just before they closed the gates at 8:00 (a bit early, for some special group I think). My dad and I also got on the front row of the last train. The people right behind us had to leave to go to other rows because they wanted to make this the last train for the special group. Talk about incredible luck, which led to an incredible ride. Pure adrenaline, with the 2 great launches leaving me almost speechless. The inversions were utterly amazing from the front. This was one of the best coaster rides I've ever had, up there with my first ride on MF and Magnum. This was the way I ended Kings Dominion, and we left with a bang. Wow, what a ride.

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Part 2

Busch Gardens Williamsburg = 9.2

While the other two parks were about thrills and more thrills, Busch Gardens is a different kind of park. It's more of an experience than a thrill park, though it packs a good amount of thrills too. This park proved that it takes not only coasters to make a park great, as well as the importance of scenery and theming.

Other Rides I went on
Train ride (We used this a lot)
Caroussel
Chairlift
Corkscrew Hill
Reptales (okay, it's a show, but it was still pretty cool)
Escape from Pompeii
Le Scoot

Coasters

Loch Ness Monster = 7.3

I was very disappointed by this ride. It had a lot of hype, so I thought it was going to be very good. Unfortunately, the drop didn't seem that great, and it was a bit bumpy and not too intense. Pretty good for an Arrow coaster this old, most of which are extremely bumpy or not very good IMO, but I thought this would be better.

Big Bad Wolf = 8.2

Big Bad Wolf was surprisingly good. I was expecting it to be the worst in the park, but I liked it a lot more than LNM. The first part is wild, and the second part is just as, if not more intense. Definitely better than the other suspended I've been on, Iron Dragon at CP. Great theming and design.

Alpengeist = 9.0

Alpengeist lived up to its hype IMO. It was pretty fast and furious, and its first drop was great. Unfortunately I couldn't wait for the front seat because the extra wait was about an hour, so I settled for the second row. Perhaps I should have gone for one of the back rows, but this second row was great anyways.

And the best coaster in the park...

Apollo's Chariot = 9.2

Honestly, I was a little disappointed by the Chariot. I thought it would easily rival my number 2 coaster, Nitro, but it failed to meet it in my book. Believe me, I tried a lot to make this my number 2/3 coaster, but it just didn't deliver. I did ride it 7 times, including the front, back, and supposedly "magical" 3rd row, but I only got a lot of airtime in the front. Perhaps I'm spoiled w/ Nitro being 20 minutes away, and maybe I was setting myself up for disappointment w/ Batwing, S:ROS, and Volcano, but I didn't find this to be that intense. It is a very smooth ride, and is the best in the park IMO, but I thought it would be a bit better.

The thing I liked about this ride, though, is that it was my mom's first hyper. My mom's biggest and favorite coaster before this was Mean Streak, which is 161 feet tall. I convinced her that if she ever goes on a hyper coaster, this should be the one, since I tested AC in the back row first and came off a bit disappointed. It turns out that we sat in the middle and talked with this other coaster enthusiast all the way up the hill about Kennywood, which got her mind off the fact that she was going to be going down a 210 foot drop. She ended up loving the ride, and it is now her favorite coaster. So AC has made her, as well as my 10 year old brother, true coaster fans. She ended up riding it 6 times, one less than me. For this I thank Apollo's Chariot's somewhat lack of intensity.

Believe me, I'm not trying to diss this coaster. It is a great ride, and is a bit better than Magnum in my book. I had high expectations which I didn't think it met, but it was still a great ride.



HOW MANY TIMES RIDDEN

SFA
Mind Eraser: 1
Joker's Jinx: 1
Two Face: 1
Wild One: 4
Roar: 3
Superman Ride of Steel: 2
Batwing: 1 (unfortunately)

PKD
Shockwave: 1
Hurler: 1
Avalanche: 1
Rebel Yell (forwards): 1
Rebel Yell (backwards): 1
Anaconda: 1
Grizzly: 2
Flight of Fear: 1
Hypersonic XLC: 2
Volcano: 2

BGW
Loch Ness Monster: 2
Big Bad Wolf: 2
Alpengeist: 1
Apollo's Chariot: 7

(I didn't go on Wild Maus for 2 main reasons. First of all it had a long line on Friday, and I didn't check on Saturday. Second of all, it looked very similar to the Wild Mouse at Hersheypark, which is my second least favorite coaster ever, following Viper at SFGAdv. I didn't want to spoil BGW with this, so I decided to play it safe and stick w/ the other coasters.)

Overall, I spent the most time at BGW, but I needed to since it was a Friday and a Saturday. I spent about equal time at SFA and PKD. I was glad to have such great weather during my trip, because if it had rained I might have only gotten on 10 coasters, which would have been really bad. An overall great week

And now, here are the awards:

Best Scenery: BGW
Best Food: BGW
Best Theming: BGW (duh hehe)
Best Service: BGW (Free ice water in Virginia is a great feature)
Best Inverted Coaster: Batwing, SFA(if you count it as one), or Volcano, PKD
Best Launch: Hypersonic XLC, PKD
Best regular sit down looper (not launched): Loch Ness Monster, BGW
Best Hyper: S:ROS, SFA
Most Original (ride itself, not whether it's cloned or not): Batwing, SFA
Best Water Ride: Escape from Pompeii, BGW
Best Non Coaster Ride: Corkscrew Hill, BGW
Best Wooden Coaster: Roar, SFA
Best Steel Coaster: Batwing, SFA
Best Overall Coaster: Batwing, SFA

and Best Park: Ooooh, this is tough. How about a tie? They're all great in their own way, and so different that they're hard to compare. The best ending was definitely Volcano, but the best beginning might have been Superman: Ride of Steel. I don't know, 3 way tie. They were all great parks, and combined to make one fantastic trip.

Questions? Comments? Please post them here. Also, I'll be sure to add my pics soon, as well as updating my site.

- CoolCoasterKid

__________________
"YOU got into Harvard Law School?!"
"Why, is that hard?"

One of the most interesting, readable and comprehensive TR's I've ever read - (even better than any of mine!). Great stuff!

__________________
Andy Rathe

Thanks Andy...It took me a long time; almost an hour. Plus I was thinking up lines in the park after I went on the rides, such as the one about "All Your Base Are Belong To Us". I was thinking of you guys on my vacation hehe.

Does anyone know how long it takes to get pictures processed, on average? I bought one of those one time use cameras, and I think I used up all of the 25 shots. My friend has a scanner which I could use to get the pics on here and my site, but I'm wondering how long it'll be at minimum for them to get done. I'd be grateful for any help...thanks.

- CoolCoasterKid

__________________
"YOU got into Harvard Law School?!"
"Why, is that hard?"

I'd like to know a bit more about the waiting time in the queues for the coasters. Only reference I saw was an hour wait for the front row on Alpengeist. An HOUR wait just for the front?? How long was the line otherwise?

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http://www.webtechnik.com/ebony/cplady.htm

Oh, cool idea...I'll write down the times as soon as I come back (I have to go to SFGAdv. now) But Alpengeist's line otherwise was about a half hour. I didn't feel like waiting an extra hour for the front...The next day I went, Saturday, it was 2+hrs. for any seat, and the front probably had close to 3 hours.

I'll write the other times when I come back...thanks for the idea

__________________
"YOU got into Harvard Law School?!"
"Why, is that hard?"

Weird. Whenever I go, Alpengeist is always 10 minutes for other seats besides the front, Loch Ness Monster is about 10 minutes as well, while AC can be anywhere from 10 minutes to 45 minutes and Big Bad Wolf is always 30 min. This seems to differ from everybody else though.

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Your favorite coaster sucks.

These wait times may be a bit off, since my memory is a little hazy (Plus I went on so much, it's hard to remember everything). I'll try my best though, and these are pretty close


Approximate Waits

SFA
S:ROS - 1st time=45 min., 2nd time=15 min.
Wild One - Each time about 15 min.
Roar - 1st time=Walk-on (Front too), 2nd time = 5 min., 3rd time=15 min.
Two Face-Walk-on
Joker's Jinx-Walk-on
Mind Eraser-Walk-on
Batwing-45 min. (But it was well worth it)

PKD
V:TBC-1st time=45 min., 2nd time=1 hour 15 min. (But the second trip was much better)
Avalanche-20 min.
Shockwave-15 min.
Rebel Yell (Frontwards) - 10 min.
Rebel Yell (Backwards) - Walk-on
Grizzly-1st time=1 train (Front), 2nd time=5 min.
Hurler-Walk-on
Flight of Fear-1 hour 15 min.
Anaconda-20 min.
Hypersonic-1st time=45 min., 2nd time=1 hour

BGW
Loch Ness Monster-1st time=10 min., 2nd time=30 min.
Big Bad Wolf-1st time=20 min., 2nd time=30 min.
Alpengeist-30 min.
Apollo's Chariot-1st time=10 min., 2nd time=15 min., 3rd time=15 min., 4th time=20 min., 5th time=30 min., 6th time=1 hour (front), 7th time=1 hour

__________________
"YOU got into Harvard Law School?!"
"Why, is that hard?"

Do you go on normal weekdays? I went on a Friday and a Saturday during July, which is one of if not the most crowded months. That's the main reason why the waits were so long...

__________________
"YOU got into Harvard Law School?!"
"Why, is that hard?"

Okay, since every time I go it's a Friday in May or June.

__________________
Your favorite coaster sucks.

Okay, I finally got the pictures processed...hooray! None of them were really messed up, thank God

Well I'll try to get them on here A.S.A.P. As of now it's past midnight where I live, and tomorrow (well, actually today, but you know what I mean hehe) I'm going to Dorney. So hopefully Thursday I can go over my friend's house and scan them on his scanner (I have a scanner too but I have to install all this software, so I'll just use his ). Then I'll put them here, and eventually on my site.

BTW, I had a couple pics left from the trip on the camera I bought, so I took some pictures of my dogs...The pics are really cute, so I'll put them on too...

Finally, is there any way I can put a lot of the pics in the same post, or maybe 2 posts? Because otherwise I'm going to get 25 posts or so, which might be considered spamming. Any word on this would be helpful, thanks

__________________
"YOU got into Harvard Law School?!"
"Why, is that hard?"

Great review, very thorough...sorry AC dissappointed you, but anyone could have told you Nitro was better, even me, so high expectations shouldn't have been in place after Nitro. I see it as you disappointed yourself on that one...I do that a lot myself so don't think its something bad. Glad you liked Batwing, thats my fave steelie....and S:ROS is my fave hyper over Nitro and AC simply because it has the non-stop (no mid brakes) speed trip from start to finish. Overall, you gave a thorough review of the parks, and I noticed my old home park BGW (I just moved 3 days ago away from the beach) ranked high in your rewards for non-rides, tis alright, its a beautiful park.

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Ich lebe deinen Traum!

Okay I finally got the pictures processed! You can view them here: http://www.angelfire.com/nj3/coaster5/vacationpics.html

Also, I added some pictures of my dogs, since I needed to use up the film anyway.

Any questions/comments about the photos would be appreciated

- CoolCoasterKid

__________________
"YOU got into Harvard Law School?!"
"Why, is that hard?"

Nice pics, shocked no apollo's chariot, and why did ya take the shots at BGW so late in the day??? Your shots of BBW and LNM are rather dark, thus showing the time of day...SFA and PKD looked good. Great flowers buy the way

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Ich lebe deinen Traum!

Yeah I was trying to get a good pic of Apollo, but I couldn't really find a good place...The only part I could get was the first hill, so I figured I'll get a pic off another site for my site. Then again, I did the same sort of thing w/ BBW, but that's besides the point

__________________
"YOU got into Harvard Law School?!"
"Why, is that hard?"