For a few months, I had been planning a big (for me, anyway) coaster trip up to Cedar Point and planned to hit Paramount’s King’s Island and Holiday World on the way. Well, the day for the trip finally came, and on June 10, I left Kansas City and made my way to the Middle of Nowhere, Indiana, more commonly known as Santa Claus.

Day 1: Holiday World

I made my first ever visit to Holiday World on Monday, June 11. I had heard much about their legendary friendliness, operations, cleanliness, and, of course, wooden roller coasters. As soon as the Voyage was announced, I knew I had to make it out there, ASAP.

The most obvious thing about this park was how clean it was. Spotless actually. I only saw a few pieces of trash on the ground all day. I wasn’t blown away by friendliness as I expected to be, but the employees were efficient, considering that most of the day Raven and Legend had just one train and only two employees manning the controls. The free pop was absolutely unbelievable, and I definitely abused this policy. My teeth still hate me for it.

Anyway, upon entering the park, we beelined to the left and into the Halloween section of the park. The park was a little different than I thought it would be. I thought it would be similar to a place like Silver Dollar City, with pathways meandering through trees with rides spread apart over the grounds. But the park was actually more cramped than I thought it would be, with all the rides built closely around each other. The area around the Legend was especially cramped. It wasn’t bad, but it was unexpected. Made for some interesting photos and ride visuals though.

Anyway, the first ride was Legend. (We skipped Raven because of a long line) It was cool and unusual all at the same time how the ride interacted and wound around the other rides. The coaster itself was just plain nuts. The first drop was great, especially in the back seat, and I loved the dive, rise, and spiraling dive near Zoombabwe. I had read a few reports that the helix was really slow, but I didn’t think it was that bad. The lateral g’s were crazy, and the airtime was good as well. It was a bit rough, but nothing I couldn’t handle, and it immediately became my favorite wooden coaster. I was exhausted and gasping for air after my first ride. Little did I know what was to come next.

Of course, the next ride was Voyage. We waited around 30 minutes for our first ride, but most of that was due to the ride finishing up morning testing. After the first ride, the line quickly died to about 15 minutes, and around five minutes later in the day. Anyway, as for the ride, what can be said that hasn’t? I had been following the construction of this ride, and looked at every picture and read every trip report on the internet. I knew this ride would be nuts, but I thought that it would be a bit of a let down. But I was dead wrong. The first drop was great, especially in the back seat. The second hill was good as well, a nice table-setter for the rest of the ride. The tunnels were fun, and I loved how cool they felt.

The turnaround is where the ride begins as far as I’m concerned. It was absolutely crazy, with turns and pops of air all over the place. I loved the drop into the far turn and the crazy little bunny hops during the turn. The train just jumps all over the place, tossing the riders around like rag dolls. The lateral g’s were actually painful. The only lackluster part of the turnaround to me wasn’t the infamous banked bunny hop, but the 90-degree turns. They gave some good visuals and were neat, but weren’t very intense and didn’t really fit into the absolute insanity of the turnaround. The turnaround was just plain crazy, and one of the best parts of any coaster anywhere.

The trim brake was a nice, well, break. The triple down was where all hell broke loose. The final dip of the triple down was crazy, and it seemed to go down into the ground forever. After that, the ride goes into insane mode. The twisting into the structure was out of control. Other than one major pothole on the first swoop through the structure, this whole section of the ride was amazing. Even though I rode the ride eight times, I still couldn’t tell or explain how it went. It was absolutely insane. Everything after the brakes was just nuts, from the swooping turns to the twist and dive by the station and the drop under the walkway into Thanksgiving. The girl behind me on the last ride summed it up best when we were sitting on the final brake run and she said “This is my after-sex hair.” The Voyage definitely lived up to the unbelievable hype. It has to be the most intense ride ever. This thing was just absolutely amazing, fast, out of control, mind-blowing, and simply unbelievable. I can’t think of enough adjectives to describe it. It is, without a doubt, the best ride I’ve ever been on.

After a few (okay, about 10) free drinks to recover from the Voyage, we headed for the Raven. To me, this was the weakest coaster of the big three. That’s not too big of a slam, since the other two are amazing. The first few hills were surprisingly fast, and the turn over Lake Rudolph was pretty cool. The famed fifth drop gave good air, but there were a few spots on Voyage that were just as good as well. The run through the forest was nuts, but it was just too short to live up to its younger brothers across the park. A good ride, but can’t really hold a candle to the park’s other two woodies.

On a side note, I counted at least three spots of downtime on Raven. Both times we rode it, it was down for about 10 minutes before we could get on, and another time when we walked by, the queue was closed. I hope whatever the problem is gets fixed soon.

Splashin’ Safari was okay, but crowded. I’m not the biggest fan of waterparks, so I wasn’t too thrilled, and we ended up riding only one slide, Zoombabwe. It was fun, but not worth the 30-45 minute wait. The new Bahari wavepool was cool, I just wish the water was deeper. The new lazy river was really boring. No shade, no geysers, and only two feet deep. It was also a requirement to have an inner tube whenever you were in it as well. Pretty boring. Overall the waterpark was cool, and made better by the fact that it was free.

The rest of the day was spent between riding the Voyage and the Legend, with another ride on the Raven thrown in there. Holiday World was an amazing park. The best roller coaster I’ve ever ridden, two other great woodies, and unlimited free drinks make for a great day no matter where you are. I fell in love with Holiday World, and it seemed like I may have caught them on a bad day. So much has been said about the park, and I honestly I didn’t believe all the hype. But after visiting, I understand what everyone talks about, and I can’t wait to visit again.

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Rock, Chalk, Jayhawk, KU!

Day 2, Part 1: Paramount’s Kings Island

I woke up on the morning of the 12th in some crazy pain from the carnage the day before. I had a bruise on my thigh from the lap bars on the Voyage, but I would do it all over again in a heart beat. I finally was able to roll out of bed, pop a few ibuprofens, and then I hit the road again for Kings Island.

The traffic going into the park was crazy, and it sucked to see that the trams weren’t working, but we finally survived the line to park and made it to the entrance.

Talk about first impressions, the pool and fountains were a great way to enter the park, and the Eiffel Tower in the background was awesome. The park was really clean, and for the most part, it was really beautiful. Too bad I couldn’t enjoy the rides the same way.

My friend is a bit scared of heights, so naturally we headed for Drop Zone first. After about 10 minutes, we were onboard. The climb to the top was great, and I loved how it rotated. The drop was good as well, but I still think Superman: Tower of Power at SFOT is my favorite drop ride.

After Drop Zone, we decided to get the worst part over with and headed for Son of Beast. As with Voyage, what can be said that hasn’t? This ride is just as crappy as everyone has made it out to be. It wasn’t so much as painful as it was uncomfortable, and I think the park decided to skip on the square wheels and go straight to the triangular ones. You know the ride sucks when the photo is taken before you are even on the lift hill. I didn’t think it was as insanely bad as everyone makes it out to be, but it’s still pretty much the worst coaster I’ve ever been on. You can see my thoughts on the ride here (WARNING: I’m not quite sure if this pic is site-appropriate so Mods, feel free to get rid of the link if it is a problem): http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g1...d/e2c15cee.jpg

After our ride through hell, we made the hike to Top Gun. Who the hell decided to make mile-long walks to get on a ride that is a walk-on? The whole ride seemed pretty ghetto, with lots of rust and just ugly brush and stuff all around. It was kind of an ugly ride too. Anyway, Top Gun was pretty cool. It was my first suspended coaster, so that gives it some extra points, but it’s just too short to really do anything. Once you start to really get going, it just ends. Fun, but entirely too short.

We decided to avoid the rest of the Action Zone and the crowds until later in the day, and headed to Adventure Express. It was about as mediocre as possible. The ride ending with a lift hill is pretty dumb as well. I know it’s a family ride, but it was just boring. Why can’t all so-called “family rides” be like Powder Keg at SDC? AE had some cool scenery and some weird theming (the tiki-god things in the final lift hill were absolutely hilarious), but overall it was just a standard mine train.

We hit Racer next, and I was really intrigued by this ride. It is probably the most beautiful ride ever built. We went forwards first, and I was let down. It was really rough and boring, with no airtime at all. My friend didn’t want to go backwards, but I finally convinced him to, and it was much better than the forwards side. It actually had some good spots of airtime. A bit bumpy, but much better than the forwards side. Still a pretty average ride though.

On a side note, I really loved the Coney Mall area of the park around the Racer. It was officially cool.

Flight of Fear was fun and intense. I really actually loved the layout of this ride. I just wish B&M or Intamin had done it instead of Premier. It was pretty jerky and I can only imagine what this ride was like with the OTSRs. It was fun though.

The ride made my friend pretty mad though when the ride op stapled him in, and he asked if maybe he could get a little more room. So the ride op proceeded to walk over and press his restraint down another click. My friend was pissed. I thought it was pretty funny, but it was rude on the employee’s part, and left a bad taste in our mouths as the day wore on.

Up next was Vortex, and I really liked it. It was a bit bumpy, but not as bad as your standard Arrow. It was also pretty intense, which was a good thing. I love how the Arrow loopers all have straight drops, I wish that was something B&M would do. Wildfire has one, and it’s insane. Anyway, back to Vortex. It was a cool ride. The drop off the midcourse brakes into the corkscrews was probably the worst-designed part of any ride ever, but other than that, it was a cool ride. Nothing spectacular, but a whole lotta fun. It reminded me of my first looper, Orient Express, so definite bonus points for that.

We walked over to Italian Job, which had the longest wait in the park, at about 30 minutes. It was fun, and I like the cars and how they had little doors. The theming was cool too, and I really like fire effects. But the ride was really actually pretty dull. The idea for this ride is brilliant, it’s too bad they have to bring it down with a boring coaster.

Up next was the most anticipated ride in the park, the Beast. I can see why people love this thing, but it was really rough, almost too rough to enjoy. My ribs killed me on this ride, and I almost couldn’t wait for the ride to be over. I loved the layout through the trees though, and I thought that it was a pretty good ride even with the trim brakes. I can’t imagine how crazy it is without the brakes. The gradual drop into the helix really gets the train flying. It seems to be going faster and faster, and just when you think it should finally reach its top speed, it gets even faster. The train basically explodes into the helix. The helix was really intense and absolutely nuts. This single element is definitely one of the craziest parts of any ride anywhere. As for the entire ride however, I really wanted to like it, but it was just crazy rough. It was a fun ride, but after seeing what a wooden coaster can be like at Holiday World, it wasn’t as nearly as amazing as some have said.

Tomb Raider had cool theming and was a really good idea, but probably had the worst Top Spin program ever. I understand letting riders view the “scenes” inside the ride (I couldn’t tell what was going on anyway), but why does the ride have to be so dull. I can only imagine what PKI was thinking when they put this in, “let’s take a perfectly good flat ride that flips and instead we can just hold the riders face down for minutes at a time, sounds like a great idea!” The concept for a ride was really good, but why can’t they take a ride that is supposed to flip and have it actually, I don’t know, FLIP? This ride frustrated me. I wanted to like it, but I came off puzzled as to why it was so boring.

We headed through the Nickelodeon section of the park, and I can see why it always wins awards for this section. There is so much to see and do, and I thought it was a neat area. I wanted to ride Avatar and Fairly Odd Coaster, but my friend was complaining with every word by this point, so we decided to hit a final few rides and get the hell out of there.

We headed back to Face/Off, and found a pretty good-sized line, close to 30 minutes. It’s way better than a standard boomerang and almost worth a reride, but nothing amazing. It was smooth through the boomerang part, but why in the hell do your ears bang on the straight parts of the ride through the station and the bottom of the loop? Pretty much another amazing creation by Vekoma. [/sarcasm]

The last thing we did (after eating a few Skyline chili dogs, which were awesome by the way) was the Eiffel Tower. It was cool, and obviously gave a good view.

Anyway, after one loop of the park, we decided we were done. I would have liked to stay longer, but my friend was miserable, and in turn, making me miserable. I did like the park, as it was very nice, clean, and a lot of things to see, and it is great for families, but it is really lacking one or two “great” rides. Nothing there really made me go “wow” other than the helix alone on Beast. If any park is crying for a good Beemer or a hyper, this is it. This is definitely a good park, but without no amazing ride, there was nothing much else I wanted to do.

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Rock, Chalk, Jayhawk, KU!

So at this point, what should we do? Haul @$$ to Cedar Point, of course. We drove up to Sandusky, and were in the parking lot in a little over 3-1/2 hours. Not too shabby. We got to the park at 9:00, one hour before close, and pretty much ran to get in with our Worlds of Fun passes. The very friendly lady at guest services wrote down our pass numbers and we stepped into paradise.

Day 2, Part 2: Cedar Point

Wow. This is what we drove all this way for, and has to be one of the most visually appealing parks around. There are lights, flags, flowers, trees, rides, people, and just random things to look at all around this park. I loved Raptor’s curlicues overhead, the flags lining the midway, and the colorful skyride crawling overhead. It only took me about two seconds to realize why this place wins all those awards.

It didn’t take us much longer to decide to head for Top Thrill Dragster. I wadded up the park map and shoved it in my pocket (who needs one anyway?) and set out for the ride.

Damn, this park is huge! It looks like it is only a few minutes away, but it took about 10 minutes at a half-jog, half-walk to get there. I knew the Point was huge, but I never expected it to be *this* big.

We found about a 30-minute wait for the ride. It has pretty much the best pre-boarding entertainment ever, watching train after train crest the hill and watching all the riders gasp for air and wipe the bugs from their face. After what seemed like forever, we were on the ride near the front and rolling forward.

The few seconds before the launch are a few of the most painfully excruciating seconds in all of coasterdom. A mixture of anticipation and nervousness flooded me. But before anything else could happen, the three yellow lights came on and tires squealed in the background. Showtime.

Wow, the launch is crazy intense. It’s one of those things you can’t ever get used to, no matter how many times you experience it. When you think it hits top speed, it seemingly goes into overdrive and blasts you even faster. The launch has to be one of the most exhilarating parts of any coaster in existence. The ascent is intense, and the g’s at the bottom of the hill are crazy. The twist during the climb was really quick, and then I saw the cars in front of us disappear over the horizon. I peered out, and saw Millennium Force, Mantis, and Lake Erie below us. Absolutely breathtaking.

After a split second of calm, we are then subjected to a few more seconds of insanity, in the form of a twisting vertical dive. It is just absolutely incredible. I wasn’t sure I would like how it twisted on the way down, but actually experiencing it is just unreal. I couldn’t help but scream and laugh during the fall, it’s just so fun and crazy all at the same time. Top Thrill Dragster sure isn’t the best roller coaster out there, but it is one of the most insane experiences around. It sounds stupid to wait 30 minutes, let alone hours, for a 20-second ride, but it’s 20 seconds I’ll never forget.

By this point, it was about 9:45, so I bought my on-ride photo of Dragster, and we high-tailed it to Millennium Force. We got in line before they closed the queue and we waited about 45 minutes before we were finally able to hop on the train in the very back row. It was completely dark by the time we boarded, which made a really cool setting for our first ride.

I had really high hopes for this ride; after all, it is pretty much a consensus top-five ride. The silent, smooth climb was eerie and cool, but I wish it would have given more time to look around. Before we could enjoy the view, the front of the train disappeared, and we followed down the drop.

The drop was, obviously, probably the best first drop I’ve ever experienced. It’s just so big and steep, and has some pretty good airtime in the back. The pullout, overbanked turn, and swoop into the tunnel is very intense. The first camelback gives perfect floating air. It isn’t intense or extreme, but it is a pretty cool feeling. The overbanked turns on the island were cool, but went by really fast, and I would have liked to have a few more turns or hills to give some variation to this part of the ride. The second camelback was cool too, and the final tunnel, bunny hop, and overbank onto the brakes all went by with blazing speed.

So, is the ride worthy of all the hype? No, I don’t think so. I love the height and speed, but it seems too smooth, too fast, too graceful to be the best ride on the planet. It was actually almost exactly what I expected, but the constant speed and ‘flow’ of the ride seemed a bit, well, boring to me. Don’t get me wrong, I would rather ride it than most coasters out there, but I feel confident in saying that this ride isn’t as amazing as most people hype it up to be.

Obviously the park was closed at this point, so we had to leave. We had not planned to be at the Point at this time, so it was great to know that we had already gotten Dragster and the Force out of the way. Wired with adrenaline, we stopped at McDonald’s and found our hotel in Milan. We decided we wanted to sleep in the next morning to get ready for the next day, our ‘marathon’ day at Cedar Point.

Day 3: Cedar Point

Since it was getting dark the night before, it was great to see Cedar Point during the day, and the place looked even more impressive in full sunlight. There are just so many things to see and do here. I think someone could spend a week here and not run out of things to do or see, and that’s the sign of a good park. We got through the gates at a little after noon, and since Demon Drop was just a few feet away, we decided to ride it first.

I’d never ridden anything like Demon Drop before, and I was pleasantly surprised. It was a walk on as well, which always helps. It was smooth, and the dropping sensation really stood out. The drop also seemed bigger than it looked, which was a plus. The pull out was smooth and an interesting experience. All in all, a fun, quick, interesting ride.

maXair was right next door, so we hopped in line, which was about half an hour. This has to be one of the most visually stunning flat rides around, basically just because it’s so huge. But I guess huge is kind of a theme at the Point. Anyway, I really enjoyed the ride. It wasn’t as intense as I expected it to be, but it was a lot of fun, and the visuals from on the ride were awesome. I loved seeing seagulls fly below my feet, and the airtime at the apex of the swings wasn’t too shabby either. A very fun ride. At the time, this was my favorite flat ride, but that would change later in the day.

Disaster Transport was next, and was the longest non-TTD-or-MF line of the day, around 30 minutes. It was definitely not worth it. The theming was weird, and bobsled coasters are always at least interesting, but the ride was just really slow and really boring, and it didn’t do much for me.

Wicked Twister was next, and I found it strange that a shuttle coaster at a park as popular as Cedar Point would only have about a 10 minute wait, but I’m not complaining. It was a really fun ride, and pretty intense. We sat in (I think) row 3. Going up the forwards spike was really fun, but the backwards spike was the best to me. All in all, a quick and very fun ride, one of the best in the park.

After Wicked Twister, we headed over to Raptor to find a 90 minute wait, so we skipped it and hiked to Corkscrew. I liked Corkscrew. It was pretty smooth, and I have a soft spot in my heart for Arrow loopers. As pretty much everyone knows, it is a very good looking ride, with the corkscrews over the midway. The ride was very short. It was pretty fun, and is perfect for what it tries to do.

We decided to ride Dragster again, and this time we sat in the front seat. Take everything I’ve said about the ride above and triple it, the front seat is absolutely insane. It seems twice as fast as any other car on the train. The wind was absolutely crazy, and the view at the top and the dive from the front are absolutely amazing. We waited probably an extra half hour for the front (they were having some dispatch problems), and it was definitely worth it.

After wiping the bugs from my shirt, we headed to Magnum XL-200, and found about a 10 minute wait. We rode in the back seat. It was pretty similar to my other ‘standard’ hyper (Mamba) and it gave really good airtime. But the ride was bumpy. Very bumpy. I had a hard time keeping my arms up the whole ride, I had to brace myself for what was coming next. It was very fun, and I can see why people think it’s so amazing (the airtime is great), but it’s just too bumpy for my liking. I actually prefer Mamba to Magnum.

Next up was Gemini, and it was a walk on. It was a fun ride, a few spots of airtime and very cool drops. I really liked the ride, and it was very smooth. It wasn’t crazy or intense, but it was very fun.

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Rock, Chalk, Jayhawk, KU!

(grrr, stupid character limit)

We hiked to the very back of the park, and after sneaking a peek at Maverick’s site, we hopped aboard Mean Streak, with about a 10 minute wait. It is definitely one of the most visually stunning rides, at it is just absolutely huge. As for the ride itself, it wasn’t as bumpy as I thought it would be, but that just may be because the trim brake killed any speed the ride may have had. I’m pretty sure this is the first rollercoaster I’ve ridden that actually slows down on the first drop. I liked the layout and sheer size of the ride, but it was just really slow and pretty boring. I can only imagine how rough it would have been without the trim though. I would love to see Gravity Group try to tackle a ride like this, I think they could make it great.

Next was the Cedar Creek Mine Ride, a standard mine train. I liked it better than Adventure Express at PKI, and it was pretty smooth, but otherwise pretty boring, standard stuff. No mine train matches Thunderation at Silver Dollar City as far as I’m concerned.

After CCMR, we hit the new ride for 2006, Skyhawk. This is the ride that dethroned maXair as my favorite flat ride. The first day I was there, they only had one side running, but the next day both were up. As for the ride experience, it is absolutely great. Fast and intense, with great air at the top of each swing. The swings were very forceful, and the direction changes were quick. I don’t like the S&S lap bars on PowderKeg, but they are wonderful on this ride. The visuals are also great on this ride. I actually think this was my third favorite ride in the park behind MF and TTD, it was just so much fun. The only downside is its length, or lack thereof. The ride only makes about two or three full swings before it ends. I understand it being so short to improve capacity, but I hope in the future they can make it longer, because otherwise this ride rules. I really hope I’ll see one of these at Worlds of Fun in the next few years.

We headed for another ride on Millennium Force, which had about an hour wait. We sat towards the middle. I hate how they assign rows to you on this ride, but I can deal with it if they are trying to improve capacity. It was warmer than the night before, so it was running a little faster, and I enjoyed this ride more. Still a bit let down by its gracefulness, but still a good ride. I would really like to see a few bunny hops or other elements on the island part of the ride.

After the Force, my friend kept complaining and he really wanted to leave. We still had a few credits to grab though, so I forced him to ride the remaining coasters. The next one was Mantis, and was my first standup coaster. It was pretty much a walk-on, so I didn’t have time to figure out how the restraints worked. I wish I would have though, as I was loading and I pushed the seat down a bit as they locked, and it locked about six inches too low. As a result, my legs were stuck bent under me and when I tried to straighten up, the restraints dug into my shoulders. I dealt with it, and despite being so uncomfortable, I enjoyed the ride. It was really intense even with the trim on the first drop, and I loved how it had a unique layout. The dive loop was really cool. I hadn’t eaten much all day, so the g’s on this started to get to me, but overall I enjoyed Mantis. Wasn’t amazing, but fun nonetheless.

We rode Iron Dragon next, and I know I’m going to get bashed for this, but I honestly enjoyed it more than Top Gun at PKI. It wasn’t as fast, but it felt like more of a ‘full’ ride. I loved the setting over the lagoon, and I really loved the fountains and fog on the last half of the ride. It was pretty relaxing, but the setting was great, so it gets extra points for that. Still not too thrilling, a pretty mediocre ride.

We headed to Wildcat across the midway, and it is probably the ugliest ride in history, with the purple track and lime green supports. It felt entirely too ‘carny’ to be in Cedar Point, but the ride actually wasn’t bad. It was smooth and had some good drops. A good family coaster, and I’d rather go on something like this than a wild mouse.

The second to last coaster was Blue Streak. It was a walk on, and we rode in the front seat. I figured this ride would be fun, but nothing spectacular. But as it turned out, I absolutely loved the ride. Some good pops of air on the bunny hops, and wasn’t rough at all. I loved this thing, it’s small, quick, and to the point. Fun ride.

The final ride was Raptor, and I was glad we skipped it earlier, because it only had about a 10 minute wait at this point. We sat towards the middle. I was looking forward to this ride, and it was really fun. The zero-g roll was great, and overall it was really intense. I liked it better than Patriot for sure. A really great invert. I still think I like Dueling Dragons more though.

By this point, it was about 8:00, and we were pretty beat. We decided to head back to the hotel. Overall, we had a good day. The lines weren’t bad at all, and we rode all the major coasters in about an eight hour span. Cedar Point is a really great park. It is huge, clean, and has so many things to do. The operations are first-rate, as all the coasters had at least two trains, or in most cases, three trains running. I was really impressed with the condition of the place. Other than bird poop all over the place, the grounds were very clean, and I loved the gardens and landscaping of the park. I definitely know why this park wins all the Golden Ticket awards, and I can’t wait to visit again.

Day 4: Cedar Point, Heading Home

The last day wasn’t really much of the day. Since we rode everything the day before, we rode Top Thrill Dragster again. We went by Millennium Force, but it was down, so we couldn’t do that again. It was much more crowded than the day before, so we did some souvenir shopping and headed home. We wanted to go to Indiana Beach on the way back home, but my dad called and wanted us to stop in Columbus to look at a car for him, and we kind of got off schedule, so we decided to head home.

Overall, it was an amazing trip. Tons of new rides and parks, some good, some not so good. Even the weather was perfect, temperatures in the seventies and eighties all week with no clouds. I’ve decided I kind of want to do something a little different, and give out some “Best Of” award for the parks. Here they are:

Best Operations: Cedar Point, had maximum capacity on all the rides, and the ride ops were exceptional.

Worst Operations: I know I’ll get bashed for saying this, but I’m going to go with Holiday World, mainly because for much of the day, Raven and Legend only had one train running, and only had two people manning the ride. They were very efficient though, and the waits still weren’t bad at all.

Best Appearance: Cedar Point, I loved the gardens, flags, and just all of the things they had to look at. The rides were all in great shape, and everything was very colorful.

Worst Appearance: PKI, it was mostly good, but Top Gun was nasty, so it loses points for that. Other than that, there wasn’t really anything bad, it just wasn’t as good as Holiday World or Cedar Point.

Best Food: I wanted to say Skyline Chili at PKI, but nothing will ever match Holiday World’s free pop. Just amazing.

Worst Food: I didn’t eat too much in the parks, but if I had to choose, I would say the chicken fingers basket at Cedar Point, just because it cost $8.00.

Best Non-Coaster Ride: Skyhawk. I loved Drop Zone, but Skyhawk was just so much fun.

Most Overrated Ride: Sadly, this was tough, but I’ll go with Raven. It was a ton of fun, don’t get me wrong, but it was really too short to be the #1 wooden ride, and wasn’t as good as the other two woodies in the park. But for what it’s worth, I don’t have a night ride on it, so that could change.

Worst Ride: Son of Beast wasn’t as bad as everyone made it out to be, but it still sucked. I think it broke my camera.

Best Wooden Coaster: Umm, I think it’s pretty obvious what the best wooden coaster is, isn’t it?

Best Steel Coaster: Like I said, Millennium Force was quite a let down, but it was still a fun ride. I did like the speed and the intensity, and it is one of my favorite rides, but it just isn’t the best ride in the world as so many have said.

Best Coaster: I said it above, and I’ll say it again, the Voyage is just plain outstanding. Everything about the ride, from the speed to the intensity to the pacing just pushes the envelope of what a roller coaster should do. I knew after about half of my first ride on it that nothing I’ve ridden and probably ever will ride will compare to it. I’m already planning another trip to Holiday World this summer just so I can ride it. It is an amazing ride, and I feel very comfortable in saying that this is one of the best rides in the entire world.

Anyway, if you made it to the end of this literary masterpiece, thanks for reading. I’m sorry that it’s so repetitive and cliché-filled, but I hope it wasn’t too bad of a read. Anyway, here’s some photos of the trip:
http://s56.photobucket.com/albums/g1...halk2987/?sc=2

Thanks again for reading.

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Rock, Chalk, Jayhawk, KU!

Wow I have to go take a nap I am tired from reading. It took me as long to read as it would to go catch a few rides.
Very indepth trip report.
Sounds like a great time and I agree with your assesments of most all the rides. Sounds like you are able to ride a ride for what they are, and can enjoy the rides. I agree with MF it just seems like its missing something like a spegeti bowl ending like Superman at SFNE.
I loved the triple down after the brakes on the Voyage its probably my favorite element on the ride except for the wild ending around the station house. All you can do is just hold on!!!
Thanks for the great trip report.
J.

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Stop by and take a look at lots of coaster photos, construction and trip reports.

Great TR! Thanks for the openness about MF. I love MF, but I still like Magnum better. In fact, Magnum held the titel of my personal favorite from the first time I rode it until... I rode Voyage. I'm no longer sure which I like better. I guess I don't have to be sure.

One other little element on Voyage that is almost insignificant in terms of the entire ride, yet is really great at the point which it occurs is the small airtime drop just before you enter the insanity of the turnaround. It's almost as though it's telling you that this isn't your father's coaster turnaround.

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ThrillNetwork Lead Moderator


Tonight I just need my guitar

Woah, great trip report!

I really enjoyed reading about your adventures at HW, PKI, and CP. Also, thank you for using paragraphs, it makes it so much easier on the eyes to read.

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"I go out and see a kid grabbing his crotch. Ain't nobody telling them that. Where do they get it from? They watch MTV. I say, 'If you wash up more often, you won't have to grab your crotch.' I'm telling these guys, 'Why you gotta grab your crotch?' Then you see Michael Jackson grabbing his crotch 50 times. What's with him?" - Mr. T

Thanks for the detailed trip report! These 3 parks will probably be the only ones I get to visit this summer, including my first-ever trip to HW in a few weeks! I'll also be riding Skyhawk and TTD for the first time later this summer and I'm even more excited now thanks to your report.

Pictures were great too!

PKI and CP in one day. Whatever happened to enjoying a park?

Did you ride Beast more than once? Its roughness varies greatly from train to train, from car to car, and even from row to row at times.

Son of Beast is always rough, too rough. Racer gave me a headache, and I chased it with SOB which gave me migraine.

With MF, I guess it has to do with what you find appealing. I love speed over all (but I can live without TTD or KK). MF satisfied me thoroughly. If I had ridden it this year (it was broke), maybe I could have unseated it, but right now it remains at the top of my list with Voyage and Beast tugging at its heels.

Magnum was nothing special to me when I rode it. Dorney's Steel Force seemed similar. MF is a class apart.

I did try to enjoy PKI, it really just didn't have much that I wanted to do. I only rode the Beast once. The roughness really bothered me, much more than SOB (SOB is still way rougher though). I hit my ribs pretty good on the side of the train right at the beginning of the ride, and after that I was done. I loved the layout of the Beast, and I see why people love it so much, but especially after powerriding the Legend and the Voyage, I couldn't handle much in the way of lats. And I agree about MF, it had nonstop speed, and usually I enjoy such speed. But it just seemed too smooth and uneventful to live up to the hype it had. I guess I should have clarified, I still loved it, and it's one of my favorite steel rides, but it wasn't as amazing as hyped up to be, and I still think I maybe enjoyed Titan and Hulk a bit more.

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Rock, Chalk, Jayhawk, KU!

haha...i felt the same way when i rode tomb raider for the first time...it was when it first opened and they had an employee at the end asking how it was and so many ppl said it sucked! lol...they just hold you upside down for so long to make you lose all your money!!!! lol....i think its time PKI steps up to the plate and makes an awesome ride...all my friends (actually my whole school) goes to PKI after prom eveery year and i really want to change the tradition to Cedar point. lol....until PKI gets a new ride.

Tomb Raider is the worst. It's a carnival ride with theming and it's indoors... woo hoo!

I just can't believe they thought it would work. I bet they spent more on the theming than the ride itself. If there ever was a line ride, that is it.

Worlds of Fun does something similar with a flat ride, but the ride is unpretentious and is kind of fun, except for the excruciating lung-crushing pain it administers to outside riders.

Worlds of Fun's top spin, Thunderhawk, is awesome, mainly because they actually make the ride flip. The restraints are way more uncomfortable than Tomb Raider, but I would pick Thunderhawk any day over TR.

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Rock, Chalk, Jayhawk, KU!

Nice trip report.

I love very detailed trip reports. That was awesome!

Skyline chili isn't ALL that, though.

<------runs and hides.

-Tina