Coast-to-Coaster Tour

So, if you've seen my last post, you will see that I have absolutely lost my mind. I am planning this crazy month-long tour of the eastern U.S. with a friend of mine (and maybe more people, if they would like to accompany us).
The parks that we are going to try to get to are the following:

1. Six Flags over Georgia
2. Dollywood
3. Carowinds
4. Busch Gardens Williamsburg
5. Kings Dominion
6. Six Flags America
7. Six Flags Great Adventure
8. Coney Island
9. Dorney Park
10. Hersheypark
11. Knoebels
12. Marineland Canada
13. Canada's Wonderland
14. Waldameer
15. Kennywood
16. Cedar Point
17. Kings Island
18. Holiday World
19. Six Flags St. Louis
20. Worlds of Fun
21. Silver Dollar City
22. Frontier City
23. Six Flags over Texas
24. Six Flags Fiesta Texas

There is a possibility that we might hit Lake Winnie (Chattanooga) on our way from Atlanta to Pigeon Forge, but I'm not sure about that yet.

The parks that are written in red are all Six Flags parks and are covered with one season pass. (Woohoo!)

The parks that are written in lime are all Cedar Fair parks and are covered with one season pass. (Yippee!)

With those 2 passes, 13 of the 24 parks are taken care of.

Four of the remaining parks are special cases: Dollywood & Silver Dollar City and Knoebels & Coney Island. With a Dollywood season pass, one can get admission to Silver Dollar City for 50% off the regular admission price. For Knoebels and Coney Island, they are pay-as-you-ride parks, so they don't have a base admission price. At those parks, one has to pay to ride each time (not expensive but just takes time).

Well, that's all for now! Stick around for more updates!

Am I crazy? a.k.a. Mega-huge Theme Park Tour

First half of the Tour

Second half of the Tour

Parks 1-3: SFOG, Dollywood, Carowinds

Parks 2-6: Dollywood, Carowinds, Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Kings Dominion, Six  Flags America

Parks 6-11: Six Flags America, Six Flags Great Adventure, Coney Island, Dorney Park, Hersheypark, Knoebels

Parks 11-16: Knoebels, Marineland Canada, Canada's Wonderland, Waldameer, Kennywood, Cedar Point

Parks 16-21: Cedar Point, Kings Island, Holiday World, Six Flags St. Louis, Worlds of Fun, Silver Dollar City

Parks 17-24: Kings Island, Holiday World, Six Flags St. Louis, Worlds of Fun, Silver Dollar City, Frontier City, Six Flags over Texas, Six Flags Fiesta Texas

I am abso-FREAKING-lutely insane.

Six Flags St. Louis

Well, this was the second Six Flags park that I have been to this year. And, it didn't really live up to expectations.

Overall, the rides were decent. One of the coasters has moved itself into my number 2 wooden coaster spot, and another one was just pretty darn cool. A HUGE drawback though was the lines. They are extremely long (not filled with people) and there is no way to shorten them. You have to walk an extraordinarily long distance to get from the main walkway to the entrance of some coasters, then have to walk the same distance just to get back. It's ridiculous!
Luckily, there weren't many people there the day we went because it would have been absolutely miserable. Oh, wait! It already was miserable! For the most part, the lines weren't shaded so there was no way to stay cool. Because it was a really hot day, the park had tied sprinklers up to the lamp posts to spray water on the attendees. Bad idea. For those people who had gone to the park not looking to get soaked, we had to navigate our way around the area that was getting sprayed and the huge puddle that it caused. Total pain-in-the-butt. I understand that they didn't want people to get overheated or anything but really? A sprinkler? Get misters. They waste less water.
My mom and I did see one show while we were there and, to be totally honest, it sucked. The performers weren't that great, the audio was terrible (couldn't hear the singers over the music), and the atmosphere was just bad. It was in a very small venue and the performers were trying to get the audience to play along. News flash: audiences like to watch shows! In a setting such as Six Flags, a big amusement park, the performers shouldn't interact with the audience. They should perform. If it was an outdoor performance, I can understand getting the audience to join in, but not in a theatre.

Alright, enough of my complaining. On to the rides!

American Thunder: Rank 2 on my wooden coaster list! Yay! Great Coasters International has once again made a GREAT coaster! It was so smooth and had an ingenious design. I could ride this over and over. 9/10
Batman: The Ride: This is a clone of the one at SFOG and it was very similar. The layout of the ride was the same and so was the experience. The worst part about this coaster is in the station. The microphone/speaker system is horrible! You can't understand anything the ride operator says. You'd better know what to do before you get there because you'll have a hell of a time trying to figure it out! 7/10
Log Flume: This ride was alright. It was a 4-person log flume ride, like Splash Mountain, but it had no theming and had a LOT shorter drop hill. There are two different sides, and both sides give you different rides. I would have liked it if the pictures on the drop hill were working because I would have thought about getting one. Oh yeah, and you get barely wet, not soaked. 5/10
Mr. Freeze: Reverse Blast: This is a clone of the one I had ridden on at SFOT years ago, but with the seats facing the opposite way. And I kinda like the seats facing out of the tunnel rather than the way they are now. Yes, I know it ups the thrill factor, but it doesn't really do anything for me. Still a pretty fun ride. 7/10
Ninja: Yikes. Where do I begin? This Arrow/Vekoma mix is rough. It is a steel coaster, but it is very compact and that doesn't allow for much give. The seats aren't really comfortable (not much wiggle room), but if you like tight (and bumpy) fits, this one is for you. 5/10
Pandemonium: Wow. Just wow. My mom and I stood there and just watched this ride. Then finally we realized, "Hey! It would be a lot more fun if we actually rode the darn thing!" And WOW. Gerstlauer has really outdone themselves. It is similar to a wild mouse ride, but so much better. This has taken a spot high up on my steel coaster list. 8/10
Screamin' Eagle: Another one of the rides that has gained a spot on my wooden coaster list. This up-and-back style coaster was great. If I hadn't been so hot and tired, I would have given it another go! 8/10
SkyScreamer: Just a really high swing ride. Not too special. But you did have a great view from the top (if you don't mind heights). 6/10
The Boss: Ugh. I was told that this coaster was going to be AWESOME so I had really high expectations for it. Unfortunately, it beat the hell out of me! It actually gave me a really bad headache, and coasters never do that to me. I don't know if I caught it on a bad day or not, but I don't really have any desire to ride it again. (I'll always give a ride another chance) 5/10

My mom and I also rode on Scooby-Doo! Ghostblasters, River King Mine Train, and Moon Antique Cars, but they weren't really anything special.

The day we were there, the park opened at 10AM and we were done with the park by about 3:30. It was too hot (over 100*), too humid, and we were too worn out/dehydrated to do anything else. It was a decent day at the park and I would give it another go.

Six Flags over Georgia, Visit 1

This past Saturday, April 14, my mom, brother, and I went to Six Flags over Georgia for the first time. The following is a basic review of SFOG.


Roller coasters/Rides
Pros:
-The ride waits weren't that long (10-40 minutes)
-All of the roller coasters are really fun to ride (although some are rough)
-Price for locker rental wristbands was extremely affordable ($3 for an all-day, all-ride wristband compared to $1 per hour just at one ride's locker booth)

Cons
-Some of the ride wait times were inaccurate, such as a 30 minutes wait time sign on the loading dock of Dare Devil Dive which only took us 5 minutes to get through
-There was no sense of urgency for the ride operators. To us, it seemed as if they were taking their time with everything.
-Loading the cars wasn't efficient. They were sending out trains with lots of empty seats. Instead of filling the trains and getting people on the ride faster, they were letting whole rows go empty because the riders didn't want to go without their group.
-The exits for the rides are in the gift shops which is good for business. However, your bags are in the locker, at the ride entrance <-- not so good for business. Entertainment
-Extremely loud music videos and commercials constantly playing. We had to yell at each other to hear over the music.
-Lack of places to go (theatres) when it gets hot outside
-It was only about 85* when we went but there was little shade in some parts of the park, no fans, and only some billboards had misters on the sides of them, which occasionally didn't work.


Food
-The food was delicious however, in my opinion, there were WAY too many food choices.
-Also, some of the restaurants didn't pertain to the themed section of the park it was located in. Best example: a Mexican restaurant in the French section of SFOG with rap music playing over the speakers.


Shops
-There was very little SFOG specific items
-Things offered:
-A lot of Marvel, Looney Tunes items
-Generic roller coaster shirts
-Miscellanious jewelry and other accessories


Park Demographics
-Very young, mostly age 25 and under
-Quite noisy
-Not as friendly as other theme parks


Theme
-It was hard to see the theming of the park sections.
-There was a lack of:
-Signage telling you what part of the park you were in (besides the USA section which is clearly marked)
-Building differences. Most of them looked the same as in other sections.
-Food choices that were specific to the theme area. There was barbeque offered in USA and Lickskillet. Hamburgers were offered in just about every section. See "Food" for another example
-Music differences. In every section except Lickskillet, the same music was playing throughout the park.
-The best themed sections of the park would be Gotham City and Lickskillet.


First Aid / Security
Pros
-There were a lot of uniformed officers walking through the park which I like to see
-As you enter the park, there are metal detectors and simple bag checks

Cons
-Response of security and first aid was very slow.
-There was a medical emergency when we were there and it took EMS about 10-15 minutes to respond. When they arrived, they had no golf cart or stretcher on which to carry the person out. The woman was on the other side of the ride station (the exit) and their options were either 3 flights of stairs to descend/ascend to get back to the main walkway or they had to cross the train and file out through the ride gates to get back.
-However, EMS was fast-moving when they did eventually get to the scene.
-Only 1 first aid station for the entire park. There is probably a need for another station or two.