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East Coast 7/4-7/19

Let us know how your day at the park was.
Postby FParker185 on July 22nd, 2009, 4:54 am
This trip was just to big and fast paced to be able to write Trip Reports after the fact but I will hit on the major points for the parks in order here.

Basically after my travel companion Scott Schaffer didnt have to work on the 4'th of July we left at like 10-11 on the 4'th and we made it to Lakemont Park around open on the 5'th. From here on out I'll do basic points on each park...

7/5 Lakemont- Been here before, it's a medium sized park that's basically a permanent carnival, major things here include Skyliner, a wood coaster that's been relocated. It's alittle rough but overall pretty entertaining, nothing that will knock your socks off, but an ok coaster. Leap the Dips, the worlds oldest coaster. It's running faster than I ever remember it, it had alittle airtime and some pretty jarring roughness. It's still a decent little ride especially for it's size. They also have a Chance Toboggan which is very Chance Tobogganesque, and a Alan Hershell Little Dipper which we didnt ride. They have an ok assortment of flats, standouts or rarity's include an Alan Hershell/Chance Twister. It basically has a stop and start button vs a throttle, so the ride it gave was extremely tame, but fun none the less. Next up was a Eylerly Monster which runs quite a bit better than other examples of it, such as Cedar Point and Kings Island. Main reason we were at the park was an increasingly rare Chance Skydiver. We got on and it's no single riders so we both get in and there happens to be an after market modification solid lapbar which had absolutely no chance of closing with both of us in the car so we were refused a ride. It didnt matter to much as we had another at the end of the trip. Also with admission being normally $9.95 and being the fourth of july weekend the admission was $5, we really didn't care. Also while at the park we did paddle boats, ferris wheel and some other assorted things.

After that we checked into our Motel 6 for the night and slept for a few hours before heading to DelGrossos. Once we got there we got a wristband and hit up the rides there. While the park is extremely nice and clean, their assortment of rides is pretty standard. The had 2 new for us credits that being a Wacky Worm and a Zamperla Wild Mouse, the only other one made by Zamperla with Reverchon type cars like Ragin Cajun. Both were what you'd expect. Outside of that they have a YoYo, Pharohs Fury, an ARM drop tower under construction, Flying Bobs which was blasting heavy metal for whatever reason, a himilaya which was closed, tilt a whirl and a bunch of other random rides. We rode a few of them. They have incredible food at this park which we induged in. The park is owned by Del Grosso's which is a tomato sauce company, I bought 2 jars of it for incredibly cheap. After that they also have a really nice mini golf course which we played for I think $5 a person. There is also a waterpark on site, which really looks lackluster at best though it impresses the locals which is what counts.

7/6- Knoebels and Centralia, PA. We started out this day picking up 2 other people who flew into Harrisburg PA, and we went to Centralia, which is a ghost town due to an underground coal mine fire. It was a total let down. There used to be a road with a 200 or so foot long crack in it which emitted smoke and whatnot. It has recently been paved over. Basically in one pile of crap there were a few small holes emitting heat and very little smoke. Either way I guess it was sort of neat but if anyone heads there expecting something really cool, just forget about it. At least it was on the way between Harrisburg and our next park, Knoebels. Not much to report here except Knoebels is still it's same old awesome self. Flying Turns is still under construction, and High Speed Thrill Coaster is gone and they are awaiting it's replacement from Miler. Twister is running just about the best it ever has, though the ride still doesnt do much for me. Phoenix is running a hair rough and slow, but it's still a damned good ride. Everything else in the park was open and from what we rode everything we running decent. Flyers there are awesome. When we were done we drove back to our hotel in Harrisburg.

7/7 Hershey Park- I've been there before but it's been a while, the park is an incredibly nice park, well themed and landscaped. New to me coasters there were Fahrenheit and Storm Runner. First off was Storm Runner, for what it is it's pretty cool, though the ride was incredibly short. It's not top 10 or anything for me but a fun ride, only ended up riding it once. Fahrenheit was better, it was a really good looper with a vertical lift and 97 degree drop. The whole ride was alot of fun and I ended up ranking it at #16 on my list, which for how many coasters I've ridden is pretty respectable. Outside of that, basically every ride in the park was running and lines were short. Longest line of the day was probably for Fahrenheit and that was probably a half hour or so, though I didn't wait in it as one of the people I was with (Rocco) messed up his ankle in a construction accident a while back and can only stand for a limited amount of time which results in a handicap pass. Only other notable thing is I rode Wildcat for the fist time with the Millennium Flyer trains, and if anyone has ridden it before even with the new trains it's just as intense and out of control as it was before and is a great ride. It retained it's ranking on my personal wood coaster list at #5. Hotel tonight was in allentown near Dorney.

7/8- PTC tour and Dorney Park- We had a 10am apt with Tom Rebbie of PTC which we were a few mins late for, after we showed up we all talked for about 2 hours about various things including the new China wood coaster and all the problems that created for PTC then we toured the factory which I had done before but was really cool none the less. After that we went to Dorney where we found all rides a walk on. I've been before and Talon is still an awesome ride. Steel Force is pretty decent for a Morgan Hyper, Laser is sorely missed. Hydra was a new for me credit and it was better than I thought it'd be. I heard ahead of time it was absolute crap which helped me alot as when you go in expecting absolute crap and it's an ok ride, it seems alot better. JoJo roll is kinda neat and the ride itself is ok, nothing special, but at the same time, not crap. Hotel tonight was in Jersey about halfway to NYC. Only thing of note is on the way we found a Waffle House which we all love and that was the furthest north WH I've ever eaten at. It was spectacular as usual.

7/9- NYC Parks- First off today was Adventurers Family Entertainment Center. They have a few notable rides which I skipped, one being a Huss Flipper which spent time in Japan as the signage was written in Japanese, a dark ride which I skipped but the others rode and said it sucked. They had a Wacky Worm which I rode called TL*3 Coaster. As far as wacky worms go, it was only mildly wacky at best, but nothing great. After that we went to what is left on Coney Island that being Cyclone, Denos Wonderwheel park, and Dreamland park which is Geren Amusements, a carnival company set up on the land that used to house Astroland. I rode Wonderwheel for the second time and it's a good ride. Rode the Kiddie Coaster there also, never ridden it before so it's a credit. Pretty standard Miler Coaster. And rode the Cyclone twice including my first ever front seat ride. It's not on the website but your first ride is now $8 and rerides start at $5, but unless you are going for the front seat you can negotiate with the operator down to $3 or so as long as it's not busy. After this we went to Rye Playland and rode pretty much everything there. Rye is a nice park with some good rides. Super Flight their Volare was down which I've ridden before, though Rocco and his Wife Amy have never been so they missed out on that, but they didnt miss much :)
After Rye on the way to our hotel in Princeton NJ we stopped at the NJ state fair at the Meadowlands. After paying to park and then get in we found it mobbed with people. They had 3 coasters but each was at least an hour line. We rode nothing, looked around and left. It was a pretty huge letdown.

7/10- SFGAdv- Refer to last years trip report except this year the park was crowded and Kingda Ka is down for the remainder of the season. The day was fine til the sun went down and then it was Ghetto Paradise. After a ride on ElToro at 9pm we were assulted on the exit ramp for having some guys kids kicked out of line for linejumping and we spent til around 11pm in the security office talking to the police and park security filling out statements and whatnot. So ignore whatever I said last year about the park being alot better. It's way better until the sun goes down, then it's the same old crap. So if you go, dont stay past like 8. Also in the middle of the day myself and Scott Schaffer went to a nearby carnival called Freedom Fest Fair which has Reithoffers Orange Unit, there should have been a KMG Tango there but it was absent, though there was a Zipper, Afterburner, Flipper and other assorted rides there along with awesome reasonably priced food. Also we took in some pig racing which was pretty awesome. Hotel in Princeton again.

7/11- Moreys Piers- We were at Moreys for their annual event called Coastin by the Ocean which like last year was utterly awesome, refer to last years TR for the details, it's pretty much the same right down to late night Faciniation. Also all rides were open and running well.

7/12- Moreys and piers, we stayed at Moreys til ERT ended around 2pm then we played some fascination. AFter that we did all the Jersey Piers including Gillians and Wonderland Pier in Ocean City, Casino and Seaside Pier in Seaside Heights and finished off at Jenkinsons Boardwalk. Rocco and Amy got all their credits, and I rode some stuff I missed last year. Nothing is really a standout except for the Funhouse at Jenkinsons. Alot of good quality credit whoring.

7/13- Got a very late start sleeping in from all the craziness of the past 2 days, then drove up to Quassy, a park I've never been to, rode a kiddie coaster there for the credit checkmark, along with a very old Wild Mouse they have which looked nice but you could tell was in scary bad shape. Yet another check. After that we drove to Lake Compounce for their after 5pm deal. Park closed at 8 So it was fast paced and we all split up as Rocco/Amy needed all credits. I rode the SkyRide which is 40 min long and goes entirely up the side of a mountain and then Rode Boulderdash for the rest of the night which was running flat out incredible. It was extremely fast and smooth. Best I've ever seen it run. It sits at #12 on my ranking, but dont let that fool you. It's a great ride. (that's #12 out of 133 wood coasters)

7/14- SFNE- We got to SFNE alittle after open and lines were short. I picked up 2 credits I needed there, those being Pandemonium the spinning Gerstlauer Coaster and Batman Dark Knight the floorless. Outside of that the woodie Cyclone was running decent and SROS, now Bizarro was not what I remembered, the new trains basically kill the ride. It had all speed reducing wheels on it, the cars are lighter now being fiberglass vs. steel, and the huge speaker bearing headrests act like parachutes. Also I really dont like the new lapbars, during airtime it felt like it was going to crack my femurs. It dropped from a tie for #1 on my list down to #15 and that may be a bit generous. It's still a great layout. One thing of note at this park, when it comes time to eat, eat in the park, at their main food court there is a place selling prime rib sandwiches, it's like $10 and they actually cut the steak off a standing rib roast right there and it's roasted daily. It's one of the best sandwiches I've ever eaten in a park. If you were at a restaurant and got that prime rib, it'd probably be fair to midland, but coming from a park concession stand, it doesn't get any better than that, also for that $10 price tag it includes a bag of chips. It's about as good a deal as you'll ever find in any Six Flags Park.

7/15- Rocco and Amy flew out very early and myself and Scott slept in, once we woke up we headed to Canobie Lake, a new to us park, the park was pretty awesome. Won't go into details but the park is extremely nicely themed and landscaped and they have some great rides there. Woodie is decent and their Corkscrew came from Old Chicago in Bollingbrook which I never made it to, but it was less than 10 miles from where I currently live. Overall I highly reccomend this park to anyone in the area, to the point of calling it a Do Not Miss park. After that we treaded into new territory for us, that being Maine. First up was Palace Playland a seaside park. They have few rides of interest, was mainly there for credit purposes. First up was a Galaxi, basically the same as you'd find at Indiana Beach, and they also had an Orient Express themed dragon wagon which welcomed adults. At the park they also have a troika, small italian frog hopper type drop tower which adults can ride and was fun, a Technical Park Street Fighter from Scotland called Adrenlin which was good though ran a short cycle for the $5 price tag, though for anyone who's unfamiliar it's a spinning pendulum ride that goes up to 120 degrees similar to an Afterburner or Freak Out. After about an hour or so there we went to Funtown/Splashtown for their 2 coasters. First off was a Wild Mouse relocated from a pier in Maryland and then a CCI Wood Coaster called Excalibur. The first half of the ride was spectacular, then the ending basically sucked. It was a very middle of the road woodie overall, but in the end worth the drive. Plus, I dont get to Maine very often. Besides those they had a decent assortment of standard rides. Only other thing we rode there was the drop tower a S&S tower which I forget what it did, I think it was a Turbo Drop, but I remember thinking it was good. When we were done we made the 5+ hour drive to Montreal for LaRonde, we got in rather late, but encountered no problems with customs or anything like that.

7/16- LaRonde- Anther park we did for the hell of it, cause really, how often do you make it to Montreal? :)
Anyways, weather had been perfect for the entire trip, mid 70's and sunny every day. This morning it rained for the first hour of park operation basically then it cleared out, so the park was beyond dead, which is a good thing since the park offers absolutely god awful operations, a mixture of Six Flags operations with a Gaelic attitude. So even with rides being a walk on, we'd get on the ride and still wait 10 mins, locked in restraints til they would decide to dispatch the train. All but 1 coaster was running, they have a 2 tracked wood coaster called LaMonstre and only one track was operating but was a walk on, so that's understandable. Woodie was ok, look it up on RCDB, what it looks like is how it ran. Other than that they had a Boomerang, Vekoma Corkscrew with Bayern Kurve which I always enjoy, it's surprisingly smooth. Intamin Stand Up Coaster which is basically a clone of what was at Astroworld, it's an ok ride, and pretty smooth, but in the end not that thrilling, a Batman Clone called Vampire which was the most intense Batman I've ridden despite a shortened 7 car train, it was scary intense. There was a Mark One Space shot, which for anyone who knows what that is, you know it's damned good. There was an indoor Vekoma coaster called the Dragon which was ok, and then a pretty new B&M Mini Hyper which was all about airtime called Goliath. Goliath was flat out awesome, crazy airtime on each and every hill, a sweet turnaround and one of the best non inverting corkscrews I've ridden to date. It was running one train (like everything else) but was still less than a 5 min wait for basically any row. I ended up liking it enough to rank it at #8 on my steel coaster list. We got stuff done fast and left around 5pm and drove to Toronto. Due to traffic we didnt get there til after midnight.

7/17- Canadas Wonderland- We had both been there before, we had no interest in riding most of the rides there so we just did the basics and new rides and left, basically we rode Stunt Coaster (Italian Job) for the credit, Behemoth for the credit and cause it was awesome and held a 20 min line for the entire day, ended up being in my top 15 or so steel coasters. Their Standup cause it's a clone of King Cobra from Kings Island and is an awesome ride, and Vortex a near clone of Top Gun from Kings Island which is also awesome. We also rode their Top Scan which was running quite lame. We left around 5 and went to Niagara Falls, checked into our hotel and walked to the falls, along the way we hit up a bunch of head shops, the trunk of some guys car, another head shop to get a bag for what we bought out of the back of the guys car, checked out the falls saw some fireworks, went back to the hotel and partied like nobody's business, this partying resulted in eating a lot of candy and having pizza delivered at 2 in the morning. You all can use your imaginations, however what transpired is not legal there either, it's just dirt cheap and easy to find ;)

7/18- Seabreeze and Waldameer Event- We woke up vaguely on time and made it to Seabreeze just as they were opening, which was good cause we were pressed for time. I'd never been to seabreeze so I had 4 credits for the taking. Kiddie coaster called bear trax did not accept adults, so -1, first off we rode Jack Rabbit which is a woodie, it's ok, nothing really special. Next coaster was the Toboggan a home made steel coaster. Most special thing about it is that it's my 600'th coaster :) But for what it is, and the story behind it, it's actually a really good ride. Next up was the last coaster we needed that being a Maurer Soehne spinning coaster called Whirl Wind. It was fun as was expected. Other stuff at the park, they have an awesome Log Flume, it's drop made my life flash before my eyes, something with no restraints should not have airtime like that. We also rode an old PTC Crazy Daisy which looks like a teacup ride, and we also rode Flyers (horrible) and a Zampera Hawk, basically an inverted Kamikaze. Besides that, again this park has a pretty standard assortment of flats. After that we drove to Waldameer as there was an event happening there. We got to Waldameer just in time for dinner which was standard fare of hotdogs/hamburgers and got a speach from the owner of the park. Only new to me credit here was Ravine Flyer II, though I did a round of the park. They have an awesome Maurer Soehne spinning mouse, a really good drop tower, a new Mega DiskO, Skyride and then standard flats. I didnt ride Ravine Flyer II til basically ERT, though right before ERT it rained and it really put the coaster into high gear. I couldnt describe the ride if I tried, but it's a must ride woodie, if anyone ever goes to Cedar Point go the extra 2 hours east and go to Waldameer, you WONT be disappointed. Ravine Flyer II is an easy top 10 coaster with awesome airtime, sweet laterals and a 90 degree turn into a 60 foot drop off the side of a ravine. Night rides are even better, but even during the day, it performs.

7/19- Last day of the trip, we slept in til about 1pm then went to Conneaut Lake Park. The park is sorta depressing but it's open, I'd say if you go to Waldameer, make it a point to go to CLP. They really need the money and the park is heading in the right direction. They had a decent crowd there. Blue Streak is closed as was known before the trip and they have a Chance Toboggan that's basically been abandoned in a field, but what is open is really cool. They have the only other Traver Tumble Bug outside of Kennywoods Turtle and it's an awesome ride. They also now have a Chance Sky Diver which has it's original and far more accomodating lapbar, and had a decent ride on that., they also have fliers, tilt a whirl and a bunch of other stuff. The park is in horrible shape, but they really do try there to show you a good time. Please go there and support the park, with the necessary funds, the park has a heck of a lot of potiential and as it is, going there will be a very unique expierience. After CLP we drove home which took 9 or so hours.

All in all it was a very fun and kinda tiring trip, but totally worth it. It's pretty late so heading to bed, any questions or need for more details, post here and I'll do my best to answer whatever comes up.
Favorite Wood Coasters: The Voyage, Ravine Flyer II, Thunderhead, Balder
Favorite Steel: Voltron Nevera, Steel Vengeance, Expedition GeForce, Olympia Looping
Parks visited: 232, Coasters Ridden: Steel: 894, Wood: 179, Total: 1073
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Postby BP317 on July 22nd, 2009, 9:16 am
/10- SFGAdv- Refer to last years trip report except this year the park was crowded and Kingda Ka is down for the remainder of the season

The park has been saying its going to open within the next 2 weeks, whered you hear end of the season?
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Postby FParker185 on July 22nd, 2009, 6:25 pm
People working there were telling us not to expect it to open for the remainder of the season. They could have been wrong I suppose. Either way, I got that check mark last year, and luckily I never have to go back to that dump. Rocco and Amy on the other hand.... :)
Favorite Wood Coasters: The Voyage, Ravine Flyer II, Thunderhead, Balder
Favorite Steel: Voltron Nevera, Steel Vengeance, Expedition GeForce, Olympia Looping
Parks visited: 232, Coasters Ridden: Steel: 894, Wood: 179, Total: 1073
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Postby rcoaster on July 22nd, 2009, 9:56 pm
I can't believe you guys got assaulted! Line jumpers seriously piss me off. Then when you tell them not to line jump, they get all defensive and tough and make you seem like a bad guy. I feel sorry that you guys had to go through that...
Otherwise, great TR!
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Postby FParker185 on July 23rd, 2009, 2:36 am
Well, I kept out of it, but before Rocco went to get security there was a pretty good verbal argument with those girls in line. It was pretty heated. I think part of the problem was we were escorted to the front of the line and when we were dispatched the remainder of the party of people was on the stairs and we waved to them. Either way, not being racist or anything, as that had nothing to do with it, but an observation is, during the day the crowd in SFGAdv was probablt 70% white and 30% others, then come nighttime, it was easily 95+% minority. Not that that has anything specifically to do with it, but just from personal experience it doesn't help the situation. To the parks credit, it was like that at 3 in the afternoon last time in 2001 at SFGAdv when we got assulted for stopping linejumpers. However in that case, the linejumpers were escorted to the front of the line for their trouble.

The park is really trying desperately to turn things around, but it's a loosing battle at this point. So for now, during the day the park is rather enjoyable, but at night, might as well leave. If they keep on their current path, in time they will make headway, but for now, it's definitely still an avoid after dark kind of park. And this is really where the percentage of white vs. minority comes into play. A lot of people(families) still know not to hang around after dark at that place. It sucks as SFGAdv is a really nice park outside of clientele issues, and I give the park all the credit in the world for getting the park to the point is has gotten now.
Favorite Wood Coasters: The Voyage, Ravine Flyer II, Thunderhead, Balder
Favorite Steel: Voltron Nevera, Steel Vengeance, Expedition GeForce, Olympia Looping
Parks visited: 232, Coasters Ridden: Steel: 894, Wood: 179, Total: 1073
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Postby jm2775 on July 23rd, 2009, 12:01 pm
Dumb question that I can google, but I keep getting different answers that way. Anyway, since you just did it, what do you need to go to Canada and back? Passports? We really want to get to Canada's Wonderland and LaRonde. Thanks!
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Postby FParker185 on July 23rd, 2009, 7:41 pm
The rules just changed as of July 1, so yeah, right now you will find a lot of different answers online but officially, you need a passport for all land, sea and air travel between the US and Canada. Before July 1, passport was just for sea and air travel. For LaRonde which is in Montreal which is in French Canada, where the official language is french, an international drivers license is recommended but not required. We didn't get one, but getting an IDL only costs like $10 or $15 and is nothing more than a multi language translation of your normal Drivers License.

When I do get one, I always get one from the National Automobile Club, though AAA offers them also.
http://www.nationalautoclub.com/idp_faqs.htm
Favorite Wood Coasters: The Voyage, Ravine Flyer II, Thunderhead, Balder
Favorite Steel: Voltron Nevera, Steel Vengeance, Expedition GeForce, Olympia Looping
Parks visited: 232, Coasters Ridden: Steel: 894, Wood: 179, Total: 1073
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Postby jm2775 on July 24th, 2009, 10:13 am
Thanks for the reply. I assumed you needed a passport.
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Postby Ilovthevu' on July 24th, 2009, 1:17 pm
rcoaster wrote:I can't believe you guys got assaulted! Line jumpers seriously piss me off. Then when you tell them not to line jump, they get all defensive and tough and make you seem like a bad guy. I feel sorry that you guys had to go through that...
Otherwise, great TR!


What you are saying (FParker) is that the kids parent is the one doing the assaulting for kicking his kid out of the park?? If that's the case, this isn't the teenagers that is really causing the big problems, but rather the family unit. That really is stupid that you need to 2 people for the Skydiver. It's probably because of insurance, and they are scared people are going to pass out if only one person goes alone.

That's why I believe amusement parks need more real police in the parks, and not just the security that doesn't have a taser gun, or a batton. It doesn't always have to be a fight, but rather it could be someone stealing stuff. What Six Flags Great America does that I don't really agree is that they have the real police car in front of the park because they do have like 1 real police in the park, and that kind of tells me that this park could be unsafe as people say. It might be parked right in front to scare people to not do nothing, but the reverse effect I think is more important.

I wouldn't mind seeing 5 or 6 real police at any amusement park (not just Six Flags, but I wouldn't say that many at Kiddieland because it's a much smaller park with much less attendance). If the real police gets a call, that person is going to deal with it right away. There isn't going to much of a fight if that's the case.

That is way too cheap for Lakemont Park to be letting people in for $5, or even $10 as you said for a whole day of rides. That place doesn't sound like it's going to make it pretty soon which is sad because it has that Skydiver, Chance Toboggan, Twister, and a Spider.

I went to Dreamland Park website because you said about New York City, and holy cow look at that girl on the top left. No wonder why they call it Dreamland Park.

http://dreamlandpark.de/hp/

This is not the New York City website.
"I've been staring at the world, waiting. All the trouble and all the pain we're facing. Too much light to be livin' in the dark. Why waste time? We only got one life. Together we can be the CHANGE. So go and let your heart burn bright"
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Postby FParker185 on July 24th, 2009, 6:10 pm
Damn, you're kinda all over the place there, but....

Dad was PO'd cause supposedly we were harassing his kids when we got them sent to the back of the line by security. Jackson PD was called and we basically dealt with them. There were 2 units onsite, but both were busy, so we had to wait for cops from the PD and that's why it took so long.

For SkyDiver it falls under the same category as Zipper, Trabant, Wipeout and Falling Star, where under Chance Safety Bulletin B090R1169-A entitled Safe Rider Policy, it in part says....

Chance Rides, Inc. anticipates that it may be possible for a rider sitting in a seat on one of the above noted amusement rides to intentionally turn sideways in the seat, removing their legs from underneath the lap bar. If a rider does this, they are not properly secured and personal possibility of an injury could result. In order to reduce the possibility of an unsafe condition from occurring, Chance Rides, Inc. highly recommends all owners/operators of the above noted amusement rides to adopt and enforce an operational policy that would inhibit such misuse of the ride.

One such policy which can be used to help inhibit the misuse of the amusement ride is a "no single rider" policy. Chance however, recognizes the fact that this type of policy may not be practical or suitable in all circumstances. It is therefore up to the individual owner/operator to develop their own operational policy which best meets their own needs while maintaining the safe operation of the ride.

Lakemont Park is safe, they make most of their money on days when there are baseball games, as the amusement park backs right up into the ballpark. They seem to be doing ok as far as we could tell.

Dreamland Park has no website of it's own, as it's only purpose being there is to fail and prove the developers point that an amusement park is not feasable there and condos are much better suited to the site.
Favorite Wood Coasters: The Voyage, Ravine Flyer II, Thunderhead, Balder
Favorite Steel: Voltron Nevera, Steel Vengeance, Expedition GeForce, Olympia Looping
Parks visited: 232, Coasters Ridden: Steel: 894, Wood: 179, Total: 1073
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Postby vprlvr456 on July 24th, 2009, 6:34 pm
about canadian travel, if your drivung, you can get a passport card, which is cheaper, but only works when driving
(sings)If you want to be my Chang-y, doesn 't matter if your black or white, or brown, or blue, or green, or red, or orange, or mauve, or yellow...
2010 trips- Dollywood, SFGAm, maybe SoCal
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Postby FParker185 on July 24th, 2009, 7:06 pm
This is true, but it's only good in North America, if anyone ever plans to go to Europe or Asia or elsewhere, you need a passport book. I heard alot of people made that mistake when the passport cards first came out, people got all excited for like a $25 passport, which was not the case.
Favorite Wood Coasters: The Voyage, Ravine Flyer II, Thunderhead, Balder
Favorite Steel: Voltron Nevera, Steel Vengeance, Expedition GeForce, Olympia Looping
Parks visited: 232, Coasters Ridden: Steel: 894, Wood: 179, Total: 1073
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Postby vprlvr456 on July 24th, 2009, 8:47 pm
ah-hem, didn't I say driving? Last time I checked you couldn't drive to Europe, no offense. I got a passport card because I didn't feel like going world sight-seeing, but if you do want to go to other continents, you would need a passport. Since the guy said Canada I said there was a card. Oops, I forgot to proofread first post and continent thing, I thought everyone would get the drift when I said DRIVING. wait, shoot, you said I was right and just when everyone was excited. I wish I could delete post. Just finished my own northeast trip except with no parks, but with TLC's cake boss, man that cupcake was good!
(sings)If you want to be my Chang-y, doesn 't matter if your black or white, or brown, or blue, or green, or red, or orange, or mauve, or yellow...
2010 trips- Dollywood, SFGAm, maybe SoCal
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Postby FParker185 on July 25th, 2009, 4:25 am
I know you said that, which I why I said that is true, I just wanted to clarify, for all to see in nothing other than absolute clear text, that other than Canada or Mexico you do need an actual passport. A lot of people(non coaster) got that confused before, don't want to contribute to that, especially with all sorts of conflicting info still floating around on the internet. Can never be to careful. I'd imagine it'd suck to no end to show up at say, London Gatwick and have no actual passport and be turned around and out of your own pocket have to pay to take a flight back to the US due to insufficient documentation just cause FParker185 and vprlvr456 on sfgamworld said you could.

How was the northeast anyways? It looked like a really beautiful area, I wished I had time to check out non coaster stuff, though I was suffering from an overcrowded schedule. I would have loved to spend a full day in Maine and whatnot.
Favorite Wood Coasters: The Voyage, Ravine Flyer II, Thunderhead, Balder
Favorite Steel: Voltron Nevera, Steel Vengeance, Expedition GeForce, Olympia Looping
Parks visited: 232, Coasters Ridden: Steel: 894, Wood: 179, Total: 1073
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Postby Ilovthevu' on July 25th, 2009, 11:52 am
Whoever turns sideways on a Zipper?? How are you able to go under the lapbar on the Zipper, if the lapbar is the cage? Of all the safety for rides, I think the only rides that don't have nothing that could have them is really the Round-Ups, Scat, Gravitron, or Zero Gravity. Those are the rides where you have the kids maybe moving when the ride is still in motion, or going upside down on the Gravitron.

The way I can see someone turning sideways on the Zipper is if they are 5 years old, and that's just because they are too small to go on the ride in my opinion. Maybe, they should do the sideways thing for under a certain height, but there is no way I'm going on my side. I have been on the Zipper single rider, and I'm not moving sideways at all. If you are talking about a left to right motion on the Zipper like the Falling Star, well the ride goes in a up and down motion to begin with so that's just dumb. They Skydiver does the same thing.

I know the Wisdom Sizzler have caused a bunch of accidents, and that's probably because they are such a painful ride so they have to have seatbelts on them now. The carnival people run them too long (A minute is too long for that ride), and the kids want to get off the ride so they go underneath the lapbar. A ride for 2 minutes on that could be torture. The only reason I like that ride is because of the way it looks, but the Super Sizzler when running backwards also is so much better in my opinion.

Carnival operators are going to want to enforce the no single rider on the Zipper because of it's slow loading, and it only has 12 cars. In my opinion for the no single rider rides, they would be better off having single rider lines so than the carnivals would get more money, and still have the capacity. The Zipper has 2 sides to it. Just put up a sign, and when you get 2 people, they will go together.

The Spider is another ride I've been on (single rider) and another carnival says No Single Rider, and I wasn't moving anywhere in the car. They really should separate people by heights, but that's too difficult. Well, they do that amusement parks and Disney. You can go on this ride alone if you are so tall, but if you are shorter, you must have a parent or another person to ride with you. If you are a little kid, you shouldn't be able to go on the Spider alone, but if you are taller, and thus have more weight on you, you just aren't going to move around like anything.

The Zipper used to come around my house, and that was really the only ride that really interested me, and it really wasn't worth going on because there aren't many people I know that want to go on that ride more than 5 times. If I get a girlfriend what are the chances she would do the same thing, that's highly unlikely? So, that bugs me when people say no single riders that you should get a girlfriend. _______ the female probably won't ride 5 times on a Zipper either.

That carnival would have got me on their ride if they had a single rider line, and thus I would be paired up with someone. That's perfectly fine with me.

There was one girl that I knew that would ride the Orbiter over and over again (It was called Typhoon), and the Scat. She would be good to get to go on the Zipper most likely, but I have no idea where she is anymore. I called her Scat Girl.

Speaking of the Zipper, they selling a Zipper Lemax motor controlled (I'm guessing) ride at Kmart, but it's called Zinger. It's expensive, but it looks so cool. http://www.kmart.com/shc/s/p_10151_1010 ... ord=zinger
"I've been staring at the world, waiting. All the trouble and all the pain we're facing. Too much light to be livin' in the dark. Why waste time? We only got one life. Together we can be the CHANGE. So go and let your heart burn bright"
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Postby vprlvr456 on July 25th, 2009, 5:44 pm
^^ Sorry, :oops: that's why I wanted to delete that post. ROAD TRIP 2009- 7/12-7/19

Day 1- Driving to Canada

Day 2- Driving to Salem, Massachusetts

Day 3- Boston, we saw all the history things (and paid $10 for five people to walk through 4 rooms.) Walked up Bunker hill monument, DON'T DO IT, Just look at it, 294 steps, the pain :evil: the agony :evil: .

Day 4- toured Salem and drove to New Haven, CT, and went to 9:45 pm showing of HP 6 (boo Twilight).

Day 5- Yale, that tour was really good

Day 6- The statue of Liberty and.... CAKE BOSS! I had a really good cupcake there. Drove to Landcaster, PA

Day 7- Hershey's chocoworld free tour. Drove to Sandusky to sleep.

Day 8- Notre Dame and going home
(sings)If you want to be my Chang-y, doesn 't matter if your black or white, or brown, or blue, or green, or red, or orange, or mauve, or yellow...
2010 trips- Dollywood, SFGAm, maybe SoCal
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