Then it was Saturday! ... late morning! ... almost afternoon!
... and on the way to KI we stopped at B-dubs (Buffalo Wild Wings - BW3s). I had like two glasses of pop/soda there, and took another one to go. And that's worth mentioning because by the time we made it off the exit, through the first long line of the day (traffic into the park), and on/off the first ride of the day ("the parking lot space in BFE, and front gate hike" ride), that third cup o' pop was sittin' large... and I nearly hurt someone with the “death ray gaze of panic” when I was halted mid-stride to the restroom and told I had to go through the metal detectors to get there. I hadn't gone primal yet, understood the request, and no one got soiled in the end. A few moments of running around secured our tickets, then we were through the gates, among the masses, in the park.
In the Park
I’m just going to make it known that the park was crowded… at least more crowded than the previous two times I’ve been there. It is the reason we only got in a few rides, even staying until
Right through the gates we saw and checked out the Diamondback display, complete with a Coaster Dynamix model of the new coaster. Great job on the model, guys! The videos, sounds, and images are the same as the ones on the KI-Diamondback web-site (which is awesome, BTW!)... and they had people captivated around the display all day. It looked like that scene from "A Christmas Story" with all the families and Ralphie plastered around the Higby's seasonal toy & Christmas window... eyes wide, and drooling at things to come.
Loafing around turned into a casual bee-line for the SOB (Son of Beast - the world's tallest & fastest wooden rollercoaster, previously with a loop). The loafing was actually an uncertain attempt at que-ing up for Delerium. The SOB won, and we waited about 40 minutes. While in line, I talked at length (about Sonny, ACE & life) with a great family from Jersey, after taking their group picture somewhere before the switchbacks leading up to the station. I hadn't ridden Sonny since 2002, and was curious about the break-in and re-mods (tracking, trains, loop bye-bye). We sat in row 4 (front row, second car).
This coaster is so huge. With over 2.5 million board-feet of lumber and God-knows how much steel, Son of Beast is truly an engineering marvel… and for that fact alone is praiseworthy. They actually had to build it in two stages. The first stage (with foundation, batter & other bracing, bents) up to 10 or 12 stories (I think), then the next 10 stories on top of that. “A coaster doomed from existence”… is what I heard one industry voice tell me in a meeting back in 2000. To explain the meaning of that would take a lot of time and memory-digging, but consider The Rattler, and the story is similar. As we took off from the station down the 60-foot dive to the hill (great start), I couldn’t help but get nervous in that “this sh** is for real” place within my heart. We are riding a monster, whose namesake still remains legendary… and I approached my climb up the hill in the way a surfer would approach paddling into an 80-plus foot wave in
Over the top and quickly around the towering turn to the 215 foot cliff… the first drop is better than I remember. It felt steeper for some reason, and the dive is decisively ground-hugging. Entering the "rose-bowl" (or first monstrous helix), I briefly glance at angled track way down there, and rush to meet it, shaking violently with the train the whole way through. (My opinion is the shaking I felt had to do with the lighter trains. They “felt lighter”. The heavier ones didn’t get thrown around as much, like a pickup truck weighed down with cinder blocks and sand bags in winter to keep it glued to the terrain better. But those who’ve been riding this coaster consistently through the years will have more qualified input.) Somewhere after bottoming out of the first dive into the helix, I decide to let go and ride this like the beast it is. I drifted and swayed as we crested, dove, shook, and circled through the second pass… up and onto the MCBR. Evidence of the loop’s demise became obvious as the brakes squeeze us to a crawl. I seem to remember cruising through the mid-course brakes with enough pacing to get a pop of air in the plummet approaching the loop… but not this time. We crept over the angled track, and down the hill, through the loop’s ghost, flying up to the second helix. (From the line, it looked like there might have been a small speed-bump where the loop once stood… but I noticed nothing while riding.) I can’t remember for sure where the accident took place that brought the train to a halt, but heading into the second spaghetti bowl, everything became hazy as my mind sifted the memory banks and processed the bents flying by. I snapped back in time to catch the deep-dip finale… and on to the brake run.
I think you have to ride Sonny like you do the back seat of Georgia Cyclone… and that would be in the same way you walk around a small boat in rough surf… with sea legs on, rolling with the hills and breakers.
Next up, while in the neighborhood, was Flight Deck. I missed riding this (as Vortex) at Canada's Wonderland (CW) several weeks ago… but had ridden it as Top Gun here previously. The track was looking rough! We had wondered how much a bid would go for the paint job on just the track… somewhere between 80 and 150 grand were our guesses. There was only a short, 15 minute wait for the front row of the last car. This coaster is pretty peppy. I like the first drop, not so much the speed-sucking rise to the second drop, and then really like the whole section off the second drop, through the ravine, and onto the break run. It’s no Big Bad Wolf (BBW)… but then it wasn’t designed to be… it’s Flight Deck. This goes in as my #2 suspended coaster... behind BBW… before Ninja and Iron Dragon (can’t remember if there’s any other I’ve ridden at the moment).
… and then came Delerium. I don’t care how sad the wait looks… this ride is a must. Max Air was closed the last time I went to Cedar Point (CP). Psyclone had to be cut out of my CW visit for time’s sake. So, Delerium was my first Giant Frisbee. Considering my decreasing tolerance for multi-directional centri-purge rides, it spun just fast enough for me to enjoy. The moments where you swing and spin to rush at the ground and see the sky next second are amazing. Everyone sitting around me was in agreement with our smiles and on-ride, approving commentary. I was looking so forward to Delerium and it is now my favorite, non-coaster, thrill ride.
Shuffling along, we finally get out of Action Zone and eventually found ourselves in line for the Blue Racer. This is the first time since my early years on Rebel Yell (RY) at Kings Dominion (KD) that I’ve seen the two coasters go forward. We waited two trains for our seats (front row, back car for me… and middle row, back car, for Chip). Although the previous two trains didn’t race, we in the Blue were given the option to go ahead or wait by show of hands. We remained in the station, to race Red. Pulling out of the station with a slight lead on Red, gave me such a sense of nostalgia… both with memories of KD and battles on RY, and for what it must have been like at KI back when Racer first opened (but it might have been going backwards then, so meh). During the race, I got so absorbed with watching the other train and waving to them, that I didn’t pick apart every inch of the ride experience. It was fun and we didn’t wait that long.
My friend wanted to check out Flight of Fear (FoF) w/o OTSRs (over-the-shoulder-restraints), and I hadn’t ridden KI’s version (having plenty of rides at KD), so we went there. A 2.5 hour wait, with full ques inside and out, kept us from going for it… and same went for Firehawk with its 120 minute wait and both of us having ridden X Flight, SFA (Six Flags America). I liked Firehawk’s colors! Passing up Vortex’s long line and getting suckered by the dead end once again, we got back around to check out Beast and Crypt.
After Beast, we would find out Crypt was closed… and remain so the rest of our day. That kind of sucked because I’d missed riding it as Tomb Raider, with the increasingly missing effects… but I wanted to see the themeing, and standing in the mouth of the cave with air conditioning leaking out was teasing on a h-a-w-t Saturday… oh well, let the Crypt’s cold breath rot in its cold belly until another visit. I wrestled the Beast instead.
Beast was kept on a short leash with trimmed moments coming down the first drop, through the brake shed, into the second drop, and a few other spots. That aside… this coaster still rocks. The main thing Beast has going for it is the nice, long, terrain-hugging, cruising ride that travels way out in the heavily wooded setting… and thankfully no development other than Diamondback is encroaching the Beast’s domain. That main thing is why this coaster still rocks… now, if only Cedar Fair would give enthusiasts just one night, one event, with brakeless/trim-less travels… *sigh*. The only issue that I have with Beast, is that I don’t have a t-shirt with just the original logo on it… something retro and simple (size XL, in black preferably).
We lingered around the Crypt area for a little while, shooting some video and photos of Diamondback’s footers hidden by flowers and pots. I had seen posts about that. Also one of the train engineers came walking out from behind the fence while we were peering over it at the rows of footers and cleared land in the developing areas, and pointed out the camouflaged foundations. I had a photo taken of me next to one of those footers that I’m totally going to go back and have re-taken next to the lift support, before/after style, once the massive coaster is finished. We proceeded to the train ride for more views and photos.
The train ride was chill… and I usually try to ride them if a park has one. They are, after all, older and more mature relatives to the wooden coasters we love… and they help you slow down and look around at life, instead of scream and tear through it… both scenarios having their place, of course.
Avatar would be our next ride. I’d seen it moving through the trees during the walk in from the parking lot. I had no idea KI got one of the “Disk-O Coasters”. Nice little surprise. The only thing I discovered was that it was the “Skater Coaster” model instead… which makes sense for the family aspect (if the coaster model is anything like the park model Disk-O I’ve ridden at DW (Dollywood), it could be a little extreme for the whole family). I enjoyed this ride a lot and was given a small glimpse of how it would be to lose control of a vehicle at various speeds, entering into a slow spin while traversing a freeway overpass (or mountainous highway). Wait! That’s totally happened to me (mountainous highway version) and I live to tell the tale. Thanks, Avatar, for the reminder!!!
We took a ride up Eiffel Tower, and did well jumping in line when we did, because shortly behind us, a crowd of about 30-40 more people piled up… and we were 5th/6th in line. From the top of ET we viewed… everything. Dusk was coming on the way, too. That’s a great time of day to get up the tower. The sun is just about to set, or setting. The temp’s cooling down a tad. The colors in the sky are more pronounced. The light is mellower. The colors start glowing in the main street fountains and on buildings and rides around the park. For the spiritually-considerate, or metaphysically-oriented person, ET is a good place to feel a little closer to home... I was also taking photos up there with my cell, but while on ET I didn't phone home.
Ok… so on that corny note, it's obvious I need to wrap this up. And I do that by saying the last thing I rode was Adventure Express (while Chip tried to find something to eat). AE is a better-than-average, mine train. I really like the back half, after the second lift. The track twists all around the valley, under the trees. And I KNEW I’d remembered some enclosed lift hill (with random themeing that featured stone statues pumping their fists to menacing music and speaking odd things) from one of the mine rides. AE is probably in the top 5 of my Arrow mine list. I’d have to think more than I want to currently about all the others I’ve been on and where they fall in the objective rankings.
Leaving the park followed this course: photos of fountains playing in vibrantly-colored water, buying a nerds rope and eating it quickly, finding a technical SOB shirt I liked and bought, photo of friend and I at KI sign in front of fountains, drooling again with the masses at the Diamondback display, talking with a couple of vampires pimping the Halloween Haunts hearse display at the entrance, walking the 4 miles back to the car, and rolling out like I’m about to right now.
Peace,
James
p.S. the Chinese restaurant in the strip mall near the park is open late and has tasty, fresh food that hit the spot and didn’t cost a crap-ton to enjoy.
Went to Dollywood on Thursday 08-09-2007. I'm always nervous getting to the park early, and you can't see how many cars are already in the parking lot, or at least judge how crowded it is because the parking lot hasn't filled up yet. I took the gamble, paid the parking, parked in section D, avoided the first line of the day (tram) by walking with friend to main gate.
Headed to Thunderhead Gap & Timber Canyon area for Mystery Mine.
Mystery Mine - waited in line about 50 minutes. Though it was 10:45 AM, ride was testing (slowly), no passengers. Finally saw people riding, cars cycled more regularly after that, line moved steadily. Great themeing. I'd unfortunately already read about (and seen video) of the "surprises" in the mine, so no surprises left for me... except for the sheer fact of riding it and studying it myself. I was discussing with a friend the amazing detail... we especially took note of and discussed the decrepit wood facade placed over the steel bents and supports outside the ride around the "trestles" section. It looks like they are cracked, broken, splintered, and split in two... all covering the metal underneath... big thumbs up for that and more. I'd love to take more time studying the themeing and detail, but once we rode MM, it was time to go.
Timber Tower - walk on (cycle was ending when we approached, we got in the next ride). Was VERY interested to ride the topple-tower, and with all the previous posts and rumors of it being shut down or SBNO for various reasons, I consider myself blessed for being afforded the opportunity to ride. Again, GREAT themeing here. We sat (were assigned) seats 19 & 20. They told us we could leave personal items in front of where we left because we'd be returning to the exact same spot when the ride ended. I mention the seating because as the ride cycle proceeds, there are definitelly seats that get the full view of the various thematic elements and others that kind of miss them. Seats 19 & 20 (and surrounding) take your legs right through the water jets... a cooling and surprising discovery for me and friend. Friend noted later that other people were completely dry... so there you go, the assumption is our seats were the money seats for water interraction... avoid them if you don't want it. Other animatronic scenes for the topple-tower were neat (beavers building dam, bear doing something, sawmill blade spinning, etc). It's a good family ride and the slower rotations didn't make me want to hurl.
Thunderhead - 3 rides (2 back, 1 front), walk-on, 2 train operation, couldn't hope for better! Yeah, so Thunderhead is basically awesome. I rode this opening year (over and over and over again, during a non-crowded late-summer weekday). The ride attendants had such great attitudes (as found all over the park). Front seat & back seat rides are incredibly different, duh... but equally forceful and intense. Ride experience of note, friend at crest of lift hill on ride 3 (from back seat) says, "hey, we should ride this time with our eyes closed". I shout, "OK, starting now" (about 3 seconds before getting ripped over the top). Dear Heavenly Father... I just can't tell you how fun that ride was. I tried to read where we were along the track by various elements. I got some of the landmarks, but was thrown around so much. The on-ride photo later revealed me white-knuckling the metal bar that supports the seat (to my left) to brace myself from getting thrown around and nailing my ribs (had already happened). It's been years... YEARS... since my stomach was taken away from the drops and lats on a coaster, well that came rushing back by the random close-eyed ride. It made me so happy.
Left Thunderhead Gap with ice-water and smiles... made way towards Country Fair.
Sky Rider - me and friend took separate vehicles. Wanted to pilot own flier. Fun ride, goes pretty high, good for families.
Amazing Flying Elephants - (one word - OWNED) walk-on... and yes, you read it right, I have to ride this. This ride is one of those rare gems that remind us of youth, Dumbo, the fantasy of flying with a favorite pacyderm... and being shady. I posted a blog a couple years ago about the flying elephants and how your ride experience can get totally tweaked. It all comes down to finding the right rhythm of pressing and releasing your "fly button" to get the elephant to drop and rise suddenly. Eventually you get the whole beam that supports the elephant to flex, resulting in an extremely erratic and haywire ride experience (you find the natural frequency of the beam and pneumatics). I discovered this quite by accident a few years ago, riding this ride with my niece. She released then pushed the button, causing a jerky free-fall and bounce. I freaked out with her discovery and we rode it several times having the time of our lives. Since then I have to ride it.
This technique is on-par with "snapping the fliers"** as far as experiences go... remember what I'm telling you. Get this one down and you'll never look at a "flying elephant" ride the same... I promise!
I had my elephant bouncing so much that it wouldn't stop, which made me nervous that it would break the beam and pneumatics... and that the ride attendant would scold me over the loudspeaker (heh, how many of us have had our spines run cold when we "snap the fliers"?) Every time I'd circle back around to the onlookers, I was free-falling and bouncing the elephant. People were amused, the kid across the way riding with his guardian was shouting "cool" and pointing at me, I felt like the "king of flying elephant land". I rode it once and moved on.
Dizzy Disc - walk-on. Due to ride being closed last time, I hadn't ridden this before. Great ride. A little hard on the "family jewels". While being entertained on the flying elephants, ride attendants were "hosing" down a previous gut-purge on the ride. Friend and I studied where they might have cleaned. Glad to see which seat(s) to avoid (did this by looking at the river of stains spilling around the front of the seats and down over the disc). We made sure to choose our seats wisely. Best part of ride was spinning over highest arc of the half-pipe. It really looks like you're going to fly off the track! I like this ride, although sitting in the face-out position with your diaphram pressed against padding causes me to see how gut-purging could happen pretty readily!
Hot day, Country Fair area in low part of valley, still air makes for hottest part of the park and it was around 2pm, so we left the scrambler, tea cups, wave-swinger, and bumper cars for another visit someday... Got some awesome hand-churned, homemade ice-cream (cookies n' cream) instead. That was nice to help with dehydration (yeah, right) and getting some sugar back in system for quick energy. Then on to Craftsman's Valley.
Daredevil Falls - was unfortunately closed. No explanation given, just two ride attendants relaxing in the shade near the entrance. Unfortunate for us (though you don't get really wet), but fortunate for the ride ops (I know how it is to be working a ride, it goes down, and you get to chill for the day while getting paid). Only bummer for this was we had asked the ticket-sales person if any rides were not operating that day. She said they all were. DF probably went down after buying the tickets and entering park, so we didn't get ALL we'd paid for... (however, I really feel if it had been a big enough deal, we could have gone to management, told them we'd asked about rides being down, and probably been compensated somehow for this).
Blazing Fury - 20 minute wait, two train operation. I waited the longest I've ever waited for this ride. I always have to ride this it seems. BTW, when entering the building and heading down the ramp to the que, look at the poster in the middle of the wall... it still has "Silver Dollar City Fire Department" (or something like that) on it from when the park was actually called "Silver Dollar City" (like it's Branson cousin, if they're both still owned by the same parent corp.). I've noticed that sign for years, just never mentioned it. Blazing fury is a fun dark-ride/coaster. Coolest effect is the falling lanterns and ceiling on the burning bridge as you drop down the first drop... I was blown away by this themeing as a kid when I first noticed this.
Tennessee Tornado - 1 ride, rear seat, had issues, they got resolved, first serious "gray-out" on coaster, crazy! So, usually this ride is a walk-on. The ride ops were not having much luck dealing with people. Because the que is so narrow heading to the back seat, I got back there with friend and a ROPE kept people away from the rear train... um, not good. Because of height issues (being tall), and car design on Arrow loopers, I absolutely HAVE TO sit in the front section of these cars. My knees are pressing into the plastic on the back of the front seats if I sit in the rear seats. The narrow que, gathering crowd, slow cycle/unload (1 train operating)... all pinned me to the rear seat of the second-to-last car. I was not a happy camper. The rear car was roped off for handicapped guests, which there were NONE. The people waiting from the Q-Bot line were evidently pretty upset with the ride attendants as well (my friend heard one woman tell the female ride attendant, "I can be a real A**hole, you don't want me to get that way, we've been waiting here twice as long as people who've exited the ride and re-ridden several times."). I asked them about the EMPTY rear car and they said you can't ride, it's reserved (for the non-existent riders with special needs)... I was like, for whom?! I sit down in the rear seat, cross my legs even, determine that the Arrow Trains haven't magically changed their space issues, and get up to exit the train. The male attendant asks me if something is wrong. Feeling the tension and attention already brewing around the station due to other issues at hand, I realize this is an opportunity for me to stay chill and not be part of an inadvertent scene. I told him my height vs. train design issues. He told me I'd have to leave the station and stand at the (sun-drenched) platform down the steps from the ride area (that didn't help). I remained there until friend returned from his ride, and all the other people passed me running down the stairs. Eventually all worked out... I got the front part of the rear car... did my one ride on the Tornado, and we left that area. OF additional NOTE. I seriously went down the fuzzy tunnel of consciousness approaching the second loop. I had felt it coming on exiting the HUGE vertical loop, then when flying over the hillside banked turn, hit the bottom of the approach to the second loop and hardly remember anything until coming up through the section of track through the vertical loop and hitting the brakes. I thanked the ride attendant, internally hoped for a more peaceful and better day for them all, and left the soulish-whirlwind of the Tennessee Tornado.
Shops, horse-drawn-buggy-maker conversations (it's classic wood science!), eagle habitat viewing, Treehouse tour complete with air-canon nerf-ball battle, and water gun war (I destroyed a group of kids by reaching over and cupping my hand to angle the water coming out of the gun... kids below were getting soaked and this one kid on the other side was trying to battle with a gun that couldn't reach us... I used my adult intellect well to avoid water and dish out heaps of it).
Mountain Slidewinder - 15 minute wait, usually a classic ride, glorified waterslide with extruded foam raft-vehicles. The walk up the hill usually keeps people away from this ride. It didn't keep us away, but by that time of day (3pm) it was hot and some water ride was looking great. Quick wait with more friendly staff around. 3 of us in the boat. THANKFULLY, we didn't have to straddle each other and could stagger the seating. Was a pretty wet ride.
Walked back up to Thunderhead Gap for a T-shirt. Left the park. Walked back to car (long tram line again). Went through Gatlinburg and ate before going across national park to NC. (Didn't get to Ghost Town in the Sky this trip, but checked out the gift shop and will probably go in a couple of months. It was good to see the business in Maggie Valley!)
I told various ride ops and attendants how good a job they were doing, thanking them for their attitudes and that it was making a big difference. Though unpleasant park and ride experiences abound, I always try to make the effort to let people know when they're doing things right! Besides, we're so fortunate to have all the parks and rides we've got here in our neck of the world... just getting to go is such a big deal!
**P.S. In case you don't know what I mean when I talk about "snapping the flyers"... it has to do with a particular type of ride that can be found at a few amusement parks. It's basically a big fin attached to a bucket that you sit in, where you can control how high you rise and dive while the ride spins around. The buckets you sit in are attached to the ride by cables. On CERTAIN models of this ride, you can maneuver the huge fin far enough around to eventually be able to "stall out" at the top of the ascent when you rush up. This causes the buckets to twist and stall, then when the spinning motion of the ride catches up with it, the cables bounce, pop, and snap. This sends the bucket bouncing and shaking. You'll know you've done it once you do it... because you'll think something just broke and you're about to die. It's great fun and if the ride attendant doesn't care, you can scare the crap out of yourself over and over again to your heart's content! Yay... go have fun.
