Cedar Point - 5/20/18, 5/21/18
Cedar Point's newest addition this year was Steel Vengeance, the RMC Iron Horse conversion of Mean Streak. So this ended up becoming my first RMC credit.
And, I have to say this... I've seen coasters keep getting topped off in terms of excellence and quality by more and more coasters. In 2008, I thought SheiKra was the best. In 2009, Manta went right up there. In 2010 when I started going out of state for coasters, I thought X2 was the best, and Blue Fire was amazing too. In 2011, I thought Millennium Force, Top Thrill Dragster, and Intimidator 305 were the best. In 2012, I fell in love with Kingda Ka (yeah it's short, but simply the launch felt AMAZING). In 2015, I thought Fury 325 went up there. And now, here we are again: Steel Vengeance is one of the best coasters, if not THE best coaster, I have ridden yet!
I heard a lot of people claim this is the best RMC in the world. While I have not ridden any others, I think it's going to be very difficult to compete with this particular coaster. My Dad who rode with me joked "Why do we need seats?" The reason being, you're pretty much out of your seat for the majority of the ride. Yeah, Steel Vengeance has the craziest airtime I've ever experienced. The inversions were also some of the best I've gone though. After the ride, I had the urge to ride Millennium Force as soon as possible just so I can compare the two. Even after riding other coasters like Rougarou, Blue Streak and Raptor, I was still contemplating how to react to what I just rode in the back of FrontierTown.
I rode Millennium Force soon after, and I found that Steel Vengeance has more airtime than Millennium Force. But Millennium Force felt more fast than Steel Vengeance (obvious since Steel Vengeance is 75 mph vs Millennium Force's 93 mph). I can't choose between the two ultimately, but I could say what the best ride experience of these two days was: Steel Vengeance, and that is simply spectacular since Millennium Force is one of the best coasters I've ever ridden.
So there you go... we have another top coaster. It's likely the best coaster I've ridden, and as of today I have ridden 165 coasters (and I'm not even done yet)!! Steel Vengeance is worth *any* wait. See a 3-hr wait with one train going? Do it! You will NOT regret it!
Kings Island - 5/23/18
And now we have my 5th Cedar Fair park. The previous 4 have been spectacular, and this park is no different. And yes, I was immediately reminded of Kings Dominion.
First ride of the day was Banshee. We rode the coaster twice, and that coaster went right up there with Montu as one of my favorite inverted coasters. I still have to give the edge to Montu, simply because of nostalgia; but Banshee is a great ride of it's own. What I liked about the ride is how different it is compared to other B&M Inverts. The layout of the ride is:
-Dive loop
-Vertical loop
-Zero-G-Roll
-Pretzel Knot (reminds me of the Batwing elements on Montu and Afterburn)
-Vertical loop
-Right turn
And you would think if you'd take a right turn on a B&M Invert, you would enter a set of brakes (MCBR). Banshee has other plans though, because as soon as you complete that turn, you enter an inline twist.
And then you enter a left-hand downward helix, before making another turn into the final set of brakes.
It's a very unpredictable inverted coaster. If you're accustomed to simple loop, immelmann/dive, zero-g-roll, cobra/batwing, mcbr layouts, prepare yourself for this thing. Overall, a very solid coaster!
I next did my 3rd Arrow Suspended credit: the Bat. A very fun ride that takes you through some woods, and 6 years ago next to the wooden monstrosity Son of Beast, once the tallest wooden coaster in the world. Son of Beast has since been demolished and replaced by Banshee. Bat is pretty fun.
Delirium was next, as it was my 2nd HUSS Giant Frisbee. Since MaxAir at Cedar Point was closed both days, this was very welcoming! And Delirium is just as fun as MaxAir! I next did Drop Tower, an Intamin Gyro Drop like the version in Kings Dominion, except it's even taller! :O Great ride! Of course, to me, Falcon's Fury is hard to beat, but the Drop Tower gyros are both very insane!
Next came my first Invertigo credit, as I rode the Kings Island version. Boomerangs have always been a bit of a guilty pleasure for me, so I actually really enjoyed Invertigo! Afterwards came Adventure Express, a ride Mom can ride. That's always a good thing!
Then we focused our attention to Rivertown, home of Diamondback, Mystic Timbers, and the Beast. Our first ride was Diamondback, twice, making it the third B&M Hypercoaster staggered seat credit on my list. The two others are Intimidator and Behemoth. I believe the only other staggered seat B&M Hypercoaster I have yet to do is Shambhala in Port Aventura (unless there's one in China that I don't know about). What do I think of Diamondback? It's amazing, like pretty much every other B&M Hyper (I do have a thing for airtime machines after all)! Probably the best ride in the park, but this is against some stiff competition.
Next is Mystic Timbers, the park's newest coaster that opened last year. A very spectacular and unique wooden coaster. The ride experience feels like something from a coaster in Busch Gardens Williamsburg. But what makes it very unique is the ending, which takes place in a shed. Like in Verbolten at BGW, there are 3 alternate endings: a giant bat, a huge snake, or a magic tree await riders on screen, giving the illusion of attacking/grabbing the train. I've only seen the bat ending, but the bat looked terrifying! This went up there as one of the best rides in the park as well as one of the greatest wooden coasters I've ridden (not counting El Toro/Steel Vengeance). Not so fast though...
The next coaster on the list is the world's longest wooden coaster, as well as the 3rd longest coaster overall: the Beast. The ride is well known for how long it is (the duration according to RCDB is 4 minutes and 10 seconds). I've seen POVs of this coaster. However, I did not expect the feeling of riding it to be so amazing! From the sights in the woods, to the insane tunnels and drops, the Beast is truly an experience to behold. If you are a coaster enthusiast and haven't ridden the Beast yet, do it (and first off, go to Kings Island period). The POVs don't do it justice. It's probably right up there with Diamondback as one of the best rides in the park, and it passed Mystic Timbers as the best non-El Toro/Steel Vengeance woodie I've ridden just shortly after I rode Mystic Timbers.
Then we had lunch at Festhaus (most of the restaurants were closed... understaffing perhaps? Still though 😒 I'll let it slide since it was May lol). Afterwards I rode Racer, a coaster that opened with the park in 1972 as well as one that started the second golden age for coasters after the industry seemingly started to dissipate in the 60s. Yeah, this park has plenty of coaster history. Overall, Racer's a pretty fun coaster!
We then journeyed up Coney Mall into X-Base, traveling underneath Racer, where Firehawk and a version of Flight of Fear are located. We first did Firehawk, a Vekoma Flying Dutchman like the one in Carowinds (Nighthawk). Much like Nighthawk, this ride was relocated from another park (from Geauga Lake after 2006 where it was called X-Flight). Also much like Nighthawk, this ride was pretty sick! ^_^
Flight of Fear came next. I rode the one in Kings Dominion, and I enjoyed that one. The Kings Island one brought back good memories, as it was just as fun as I remembered the other version.
Afterwards I rode Vortex, a fun yet somewhat rough Arrow Looper, and WindSeeker, which like the others is a nice, calm, yet very high ride. Then there was only one credit left: Backlot Stunt Coaster, which is the 3rd and final version I had yet to ride (riding the ones in Canada's Wonderland and Kings Dominion). Like the others, it's a fun and fast family launch coaster. And then I did rerides of coasters/rides (Diamondback, Mystic Timbers 2x, Banshee, Delirium, Drop Tower, Invertigo, and Adventure Express), and at one point I went to the Eiffel Tower, the park's observation tower much like the one in Kings Dominion.
Overall, Kings Island was yet another amazing and beautiful Cedar Fair park I added to my list! What made it even greater was the terrain, especially how it was used on rides like Banshee and Beast!
Carowinds - 5/25/18
I finally got the chance to try Fury 325 and Millennium Force on the same trip. I'd say Millennium is more forceful while Fury 325 has a little more airtime. They were both, however, extremely elite coasters and two of the best ones I've ridden. What has changed since I was last here in 2015 was that the water park expanded (didn't visit the water park though), Carolina Cobra became Flying Cobras and the area around it got a makeover with 4 new flat rides and a new "County Fair" theme, and they have added a Plants vs Zombies ride. Given that I'm a huge PvZ fan, I really enjoyed the ride as well as the effort/VA in the animation cutscenes.
And if you've been following the park, you know that Carowinds is gearing up for major expansion in 2019. To the right of the entrance, they are building a new SpringHill Suites that will be "owned and managed" by the park; an on-site hotel, very key to turning Carowinds into the "Cedar Point of the South." Additionally they removed WhiteWater Falls in the 2016-17 offseason and have also removed the Sand Dune Lagoon. What for? A new 2019 coaster. It will be a Mack Launch Coaster (with two launches) with a barrel roll element once you get out of the station. Then you launch into another inversion (from the looks of the layout posted on Screamscape it looks like a vertical loop). Additionally, the second launch will send you into a top hat. I got to see the construction and it looks like the former site is now cleared. Additionally the former station area for Thunder Road, removed in 2015, looks like it's being used for this new project. Looks like another coaster I have to do soon! I really enjoyed Blue Fire at Europa Park, and I am so pumped we have the opportunity to have something similar to it in the USA. As of now, the only launched Mack coaster in the US is Manta at SeaWorld San Diego, and that's a family launched coaster. To have a thrilling launched Mack coaster opening a year from now in a park that takes a day to travel to from where I live is just exciting!
Otherwise Intimidator and Nighthawk were great as always! Afterburn was fun! Hurler, Flying Cobras, Carolina Cyclone and Vortex were all fun coasters that rounded up the park too. It's still amazing how Carowinds has grown into a coaster kingdom, and at the very least Carowinds is the coaster capital of the Southeast. I'm really excited to see it grow even more!
And with that, there's my recap of the trip. It was fun! What's impressive is that we compacted it into a week and a half lol. 😂
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