planetkris

Sit back, relax, and enjoy the crash…

So much has happened in the last two weeks that it would be impossible and tiring to document all that has happened. So I will focus on the “highlights” and let you piece it together. The trip looked like this: Went East for Christmas. Picked up the rallycar and drove it to Maine. Stopped for tires and tax free shopping in New Hampster. Spent a few days in Maine then drove back to Jersey. Celebrated Christmas. Packed up and left for Irvine with the rallycar. Cape May ferry. Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. Stop in South Carolina. Stop in Mississippi. Stop in Texas (twice). Six Flags over Texas. New years in Tucson, AZ. New years day we got home to Irvine, CA.

Don’t take a ferry when there is a 40 knot crosswind and 8 foot seas. Halfway to Delaware we start lashing port and starboard. I want to say 30 degrees but I’m not sure if that would be too much or too little exaggeration. When we hit a big wave the tables and chairs that they have setup all slid left. At that moment I could see nothing but sky from the windows on the right and nothing but Atlantic to my left. Little kids puking. Gift shop destroyed. Christine and I were doing okay. Having rode the T in Boston for most of my life I have my “sea” legs. I crossed the deck and grabbed a fistful of napkins for the father of the little girl that hoarked all over him. “I’ve never seen it this bad” mumbled one of the ferry operators. The rocking started to subside and soon we were protected by the breakers and then the jetty. First ferry ride for me… Check.

I think I know why Texas is so wide. Louisiana is mostly flat. Very fertile. That fertile earth dies off when you get into Texas. Arid petroleum wastelands. Once the elevation changes and you begin to see mountains, you are in New Mexico. There is almost nothing in between. Just about every town on I-10 is there because of oil. Just the following would not constitute hating it. No, I would need a better reason than that - and a diagram.

Why I hate Texas: Here is every intersection off every highway in Texas. You’ll notice that they took time to build an over pass but not the exit ramps. When you exit the interstate you are greeted by on-coming traffic. You are then hit with a two or four way stop roughly 30 yards later. An intersection where stopping is optional - apparently. Then to get back onto the highway you must swerve into on-coming traffic again. Wind your way to the on ramp that tightens right at the end. This slows you down to about 22MPH. A good speed to merge onto a highway with a daytime speed limit of 75 don’t you think?

The Neon was not happy above 2,000 feet. It would cruise fine, but when we stopped for refueling she would stutter and run really rich. Crappy Texas gas didn’t help this. I still don’t understand why the one place in the US where refineries and oil wells outnumber people they have 85 octane gas. So I bought 87 which is “mid-grade” gas in Texas and “swamp gas” everywhere else. Then dumped a bottle of octane booster in.

Six Flags Over Texas was an added downer. They had literally like 4 rides open. The thing that sucks is they post this big board outside stating that A LOT of the rides will be closed during the Christmas season. Yet no mention of it on the website. We were able to ride Titan and the train that goes around the park… I have never spent only 3 hours at a Six Flags.

We celebrated the new year in Tucson. We lucked out with a room that had a hot tub. Filled the tub, pressed the button, and nothing happened. I picked up the phone to try and get some help with the lack of water jets. “Did you press the button on the back of the tub?” “Yes.” I explained that the only reason we upgraded was because of the hot tub. They took the $119 room off the bill. Drinking bad pre-mixed Long Island Ice Tea in a huge bathtub is rather anti-romantic. Taking the complimentary soda, popcorn and bath items from our free room was the next order of business.

Saturday we made the dash from Tucson to Irvine. I was excited to be home. Felt good to have the Neon in Cali. I have a lot of projects ahead of me and taking Sunday to do nothing was just what the doctor ordered. It could have been better. It also could have been a lot worse. Drive across the country again - check.

Check out this link to the Travel Channel / Discovery Channel on coasters. The have a great selection of coaster videos, both steel and wood. I was impressed with the quality of the video. On most of the videos they mounted the camera right up front. If you have enjoyed the “Worlds Best” and “Extreme Machines” shows, check this out.

You would think after adding “Top Thrill Dragster” to your coaster list, you would have no fear. No stomach turning would occur while you looked up at a little shuttle coaster that goes a measly 100 miles per hour. No nervous twitch in your voice when you said - “I don’t know if it’s worth waiting in line for.” Superman Great Escape - SFMM.

My girl dragged me down the ramp to the queue. “You’re going on it.” she said. “Right. Yeah. Of course I AM! I was all along!” We waited in possibly the shortest line in the park. (Sundays in November are great for us coaster freaks!) I had too little time to decide. I had no time to back out, or make excuses. Was I a super man?

Wow. Not as bad as I thought. The ride to 100 is ultra-smooth. The hangtime is great. Going backwards is no more gut wrenching than Deja’Vue. I suprised myself. Why was I scared of this ride? Why was I relieved the last time we came and I saw it wasn’t running? Maybe it just built up the fear. It’s the loudest coaster in the park and it’s not always running. It’s still way up on the top 10 steel coaster rides in America. I think all this contributed. It’s great that after all the coasters I’ve been on, I can still be delightfully scared.

You’ve seen them. Those safety warning icons found around the park. My interpretation is more imaginative, but look at number three. Does that look like “back and neck pain” to you?

No - that looks like a penguin. A farty penguin. We wouldn’t want that on the ride would we? Be safe and obey the warning signs around the park.

Spent today at Six Flags Magic Mountain. Got to ride on Colossus backwards! They only do this for 4 weeks a year during “Fright Fest.” The picture is the Cyclone train on Colossus with Goliath dropping in the background.

I really can’t describe to you the feeling of riding a wooden coaster backwards. It’s quite a rush! We were stoked when we saw the other train (facing forwards) make it to the lift hill moments after we did. They don’t usually run both tracks at the same time, and they race at the same time even less often. So, it was cool to get this opportunity on video!

This is what Colossus backwards looks like going up the lift hill and over the first drop. It’s a small mpeg that I took with my digital camera. The quality is great though. Click here to leave the other train behind and fall off Colossus backwards! (5MB video mpg)

I’ll have more details about our trip this weekend to be posted later. For now I need some sleep.

This cartoon was originally entitled “I eat line jumpers.” I thought - maybe too harsh. The idea of a line jumper eating demon seemed better. Not to say that the demon isn’t me.

This was what I wanted to wear to Magic Mountain last month. “Everybody seems to have friends at the front of the line”, I said. As yet another dude walked right past us to “catch up” to his pals that were an hour ahead of him. Maybe if he saw the demon that jumped out at him in time - he wouldn’t have been ripped in half and eaten.

I have them in white, grey, “safety yellow” and one for the girls… The girls with the demon inside that is.

One day at Six Flags Great Adventure, we waited in line to ride one of the wooden roller coasters. The wait up until this point was about 35 minutes. We were just about to smush through the turnstile when the attendant stopped us. Just then, two dozen kids appeared in the exit lane. Holding up a little electronic contraption they were all let through, filling up the next car and adding another 10 minutes to our wait. My first experience with the new park queuing system.

Mouth open, shocked. My first thought was anger. Who do you think you people are?! My second thought: Where do I get one and how much?

On our next trip to Great Adventure I inquired as to the price. With 4 of us it breaks down to about $12 per person. Okay, what does $12 get you… exactly.

First they will tell you some crap that it doesn’t wait in line for you. I think this is some sort of mis-information to make the people not paying $12 feel better. If you are clever and plan your queuing like a general going to war, you can ride every coaster in the park on a busy Saturday - twice. Yes - we did it all, again.

You must realize that in a park of this scale it takes you 20 minutes to walk from one section to the other and 30 minutes (or more) to walk all the way across the park. The idea is to have the system wait for you while you walk.

For example: The first ride you will have to wait for. This isn’t too bad as the wait times in the morning are low. When you walk to a ride and queue it - we’ll call that “beeping the ride.” You can queue an unlimited number of rides, but the counter for the next ride won’t start until you finish the previous one. So you beep Batman and it says wait time 35min. Then beep The Chiller. Okay, now go ride Skull Mountain as a warm-up. Buzz, buzz. What’s that? Batman is ready! Okay get off Skull Mountain and ride Batman. On the way over, beep Nitro. Off Batman onto The Chiller. You get there 5 minutes early, but it lets you on anyway. Hop off the chiller and head towards Nitro. Nitro is a big ride so the wait time is still at 40 minutes. That’s okay you have time to ride The Mine Train on your way to beeping Medusa / Viper / etc. and then back to ride Nitro in the nick of time.

So, the guide is this: Always beep (queue) a ride while walking to another one. You may have to backtrack a couple of times (based on the park layout), but your wait time for ride B will be eaten up by you walking to ride A, getting on, riding it, walking back and beeping ride C. Walk to ride B, get on, ride, beep ride D and then ride C. etc. etc. This is much more efficient then: Walk to ride A, wait an hour, ride. Walk to B, wait 45 min, ride. etc. In the same amount of time you went on 3 rides I did 5. The more you keep the ball rolling, the more this time adds up.

Queuing coming to a park near you? Based on the new system they implemented this year at Six Flags New England, I’d say YES. The new system not only does ride queuing, but knows where you are in the park (with a form of RFID - Radio Frequency Ident) and will spam you with “deals” for park food and promotions. They are tracking where (exactly) you go, how much time you spend there and what you ride.

Counterpoint: Cedar Point had implemented a rider queuing system and later pulled it because of complaints and problems. They seem reluctant to implement a full park system. The medieval “hand stamp” system is just not going to cut it in the 21st century. Don’t expect them to adopt any system that Six Flags uses.

Do I like queuing systems? Yes and no. On a busy Saturday when you want to ride EVERYTHING it’s a must. It’s worth the extra $12 per person. I dislike the spam systems they use now. I don’t like that they track you around the park. Should they spend the money on a queuing system instead of training the operators to make the rides queue quicker? Probably.

For those men who have been on a standup coaster, this T-Shirt needs little introduction. As a male of my species, these rides afford little comfort in the way of the lower half. Loose fitting shorts and boxers will pay the price for riding the standup.

We were in a restaurant the night before our big day at Cedar Point. We were talking about rides with our waiter and he mentioned Mantis. “Just - a - watch out for Mantis.” He said with a bit of nervous hesitation. “Is there something wrong with it?” Christine asked. “Well - not for you - but for us men… The seat is a little um…” “Oh - I get it. Okay, cool.”

My advice: Make sure you get on the ride nice and slow. There’s nothing like getting an oversize bicycle seat in the groin just before going upside down. OOF! Warn others of your kind! Click to here to buy the T-Shirt!

This idea spawned a whole catalog of “fun with safety” ideas. Look for more designs coming soon.

After a little GPS mapping problem we were able to find our hotel. You see everything in Cedar Point is called Cedar Point “Something.” Even the streets. So, It’s Cedar Point Park on Cedar Point Drive, in Cedar Point. It’s right past Cedar Point Lanes and the Cedar Point Hotel. You can’t miss it.

The park is great. The weather was great. I can see why it’s listed as one of the worlds best coaster / amusement parks in the world. As a coaster snob afficinado - I think that this park has a lot to offer, but not necessarilly my favorite rides. They are higher and faster, but they seem to lack the ride time of some of the coasters in the East. The Top Thrill Dragster is an amazing ride, yet only 14 seconds. The Millenium Force only has a couple of turns and a few big hills. Maybe some whoopdies, or a tight spiral? I guess they thought dropping you 300 feet was enough. If we were to compare Cedar Point in Ohio to Six Flags Great Adventure in NJ - Park to park, I would give Cedar Point the crown but tell them to watch out. Six Flags Great Adventure is a close second and could soon take that crown in 2005 with the new Kingda Ka ride.

The run down: We tried to compare like to like, based on the age or style of the ride. Some rides don’t have a good counterpart.

Millenum Force or Nitro - Nitro wins. Longer but not taller. I love the upwards spiral. Is is apples to oranges? I don’t think so. Mega, Hyper, Giga?
Top Thrill or Superman - Equal in very different ways. Fly like Superman or drive a Dragster… I chose these to compare for the time being, as they are the “newest” big ride of both parks.
Mean Streak or Rolling Thunder - Mean Streak is better. EDIT I actually got this confused with Gemini?!
Wicked Twister or The Chiller - Wicked Twister is awesome. The Chiller is too loud. Both linear induction. Even though The Chiller is 2 rides (Batman & Robin) They never run them together and one is always down.
Magnum XL-200 or Scream Machine - Equal. Both older style unique coasters. One has a big drop. One loops.
Raptor or Batman - Raptor wins, but it’s no Medusa. There are what - 7 identical Batman rides all over the US. They are cool - but all the same.
Mantis or Medusa - Medusa hands down. I know, I know - one is a standup, one is floorless. It’s my show.
Corkscrew or Viper - Viper, even though it’s closed all the time.
Cedar Creek Mine Train or Runaway Mine Train - Equal. It’s the same ride. Gotta love the 1970’s Arrow coasters.
Disaster Transport or Skull Mountain - Equal. In the dark and not scary.

Now the gem of the park is a little “kiddie” ride called the Wildcat. It’s a old coaster that is really smooth. Very traditional “around then drop, around then drop” but it was a suprise to me how soft and fun it was. If you want a good “warm-up” ride: Skip Disaster Transport and head to the Wildcat.

Here are the final arguments: In order for Great Adventure to overtake Cedar Point as the worlds best amuzment park.
1. Add giga ride… Check.
2. Add a lot more little kid stuff. CP has a huge park - just for the kiddies. This looks like where they are going with the Golden Kingdom.
3. Pretend you’re as friendly as the mid-west. Come on Jersey!

Just as when a coaster designer picks a system for shooting riders hundreds of feet in the air. I am going to take this project step by step. Careful not to forget anything and careful not to rush and try to put all my ideas and thoughts down in one late night session. I will build, slowly at first. Taking steps up the lift hill. The anticipation growing. Even I am not sure where the ride will take us right now.

The store items will be were I focus most of my attention. I have a zillion T-Shirt ideas and a dozen or so will be good enough to make it to the store. I have some more character work to do. I don’t know - maybe even a comic could be in the works. (Do we need another one?)

I’ve ridden on 8 of the top 10 steel coasters, 2 of the top 10 wooden ones, and spent a lot of time at some great parks across the country. My home park is now Six Flags Magic Mountain and I’ve got a trip to Texas planned in December. I’ve got some great experiences to share. Enjoy them, wont you?