Passport To Thrills: A VIP Experience of Epic Proportions

Last fall, Busch Gardens Williamsburg announced an incentive program for their existing members and pass holders. If you visited the park a certain number of times during Howl O Scream and Christmas Town, you would qualify for Passport To Thrills. This would be an exclusive VIP event that would give those in attendance access to Pantheon (the park’s new for 2022 Intamin multi-launch roller coaster) ahead of its official opening to the public along with some other pretty cool perks.

Fast forward to last Friday and it was time to attend this event. I picked up Hannah early from school (huge cool Dad points there) and her, Carrie and I were off to Busch Gardens. Of course, as any resident of the 757 fully understands, you don’t leave the peninsula without sitting in traffic around, on, or in the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel. Friday was no exception.

Fortunately we only lost about 15 minutes with this minor traffic jam and arrived to the park right at 3PM when the event was slated to start. We immediately made our way through England (the park is themed to European countries) and then made that left turn to head towards Festa Italia where our party and our roller coaster were waiting.

When we arrived, we found that the back section of Festa Italia had been blocked off so that only PTT event goers could get into this area. It was here where we were given exclusive early access to Pantheon merchandise (yes, we brought some home) as well as free face painting, a free cupcake, and a free exclusive pin that will not be sold. Here’s a look at some of the merchandise as well as the exclusive freebies we got. I hate to disappoint you, but I didn’t get my face painted.

The highlight of this event, of course, was Pantheon. I’ve already written a lot about the ride experience here. https://charlestonheel.wordpress.com/2022/03/05/pantheon-a-ride-three-years-in-the-waiting/ I can safely tell you one difference that I noted immediately from my first rides a couple of weeks prior. The park was sandbagging the launches on that first weekend. This ride had noticeably more zip and more force. The ejector airtime was stronger and the one moment that I was semi-disappointed in two weeks ago, was much better. The ride was running fantastically. We waited no more than two trains at any point during the event. After two laps to get the day started we ventured out into the rest of the park for a bit.

We grabbed dinner at Marco Polo’s Marketplace. This location is a favorite of mine for the variety they have. Also, it was closed more than open last season so I didn’t get to eat there very much at all last year. After eating, we wanted to go grab a ride on Alpengeist before catching the 5PM showing of Celtic Fyre. As we got to Alpengeist, we noted a line that would probably make it impossible to catch the show so we decided to head on to the Ireland section of the park.

I should show you this. The park has repainted the Rhinefeld area of Germany and it looks completely different. This has been very controversial online. Some really like it and others absolutely hate it. I snapped this photo as we were on our way to Alpengeist.

We made it to Ireland in time to grab a couple of ICEEs and get really good seats for Celtic Fyre. This show has become a staple at Busch Gardens and for my money it is still the best theme park show that is not from a Disney or Universal park. It was even more refreshing to see it this year when the performers were able to go without wearing masks. The music, the energy, the dancing, is all absolutely first rate with this show and it never disappoints.

Before heading back over to the Pantheon party for some more rides, we chose to take a lap on Loch Ness monster, the park’s 44 year old Arrow looper. Well, we were set to board the next train when it went down temporarily because someone decided to lose their lunch on the ride. I mean, who does that on this ride? I digress. We could have waited it out, but chose to go ahead and head back to Pantheon to finish off the night. Anyway, here’s a few shots of Nessie anyway. When I think of how old this ride is, the amount of theming they put in the queue is remarkable. I just wish they would permanently bring back the effects in the tunnel.

It was time to head back over to Pantheon for some more rides and to purchase some merchandise. We were surprised when we got back over there to discover that since my and Carries’ first rides on Pantheon two weeks prior, a very impressive lighting package had been added to the ride. It looks stunning. There was some concern that the lights would detract from the thrill of a pitch black night ride, but the lights really don’t mess with it too much in my opinion. When you get down near the ground it is still VERY dark and hard to see.

When all was said and done, the three of us got 5 laps in on Pantheon. With the lack of a line, we could have easily gotten many more, but we chose to walk around the park to take in some of the sights of the St. Patrick’s Day celebration that was going on as well. I should also mention that this was Hannah’s first time on the ride and despite being nervous, she absolutely loved it. We had a wonderful several hours in the park and are thankful that the park put on such a fun event for those of us who tend to visit quite a bit. I’ll leave you with some images from around the park that day including looks at the new paint on Alpengeist (which turned 25 yesterday) and Griffon.

Coaster Credits are Coaster Credits, Right?

As those who read this blog know, last month on September 11 I found myself just outside of Lancaster, PA running the Bird In Hand Half Marathon. You can check out that race report here (https://charlestonheel.wordpress.com/2021/09/15/race-recap-bird-in-hand-half-marathon-2021/).

Well, I had a little over 7 hours of driving to knock out after the race on my way home, but I found myself with an interesting dilemma. There were six possible new coaster credits for me within easy driving distance and barring unexpected crowd sizes, the previously mentioned detours would cost me no more than 2 hours. What’s a coaster enthusiast to do? If you’re an enthusiast, you already know the answer. I was going to knock as many of those six credits out as I could.

Credits #130-132: Dutch Wonderland

I still can’t believe it took me this long to snag these three credits, or at least two of them as their newest coaster only opened in 2018. I grew up an hour and a half from this park and even visited this park several times as a child. However, they didn’t have any roller coasters at that period in the park’s history. I purchased my ticket and paid for parking on Friday night and decided to head into the park after my half marathon on Saturday.

When I arrived at the park, I quickly became very nervous. The parking lot was pretty crowded. All I could think of at this point was the fact that I had already purchased my ticket and now this quest for three credits was looking like it might take longer than planned. I was pleasantly surprised.

I started off my day with the park’s newest coaster, Merlin’s Mayhem. This is a family inverted coaster built by S&S. Operations were pretty slow given they were only running a single train, but I managed to get on and off in about 20 minutes. The theming on this coaster is fantastic and is complete with on-board audio as you are going through the course. While this is certainly not a thrill coaster, it is a wonderful family ride and actually ended up being my favorite of the park’s coasters which kind of surprised me. More on that in a minute.

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Up next was the park’s kiddie coaster, Joust. This is just a simple little kid’s coaster built by Chance Rides. It is what it is, and for me, that’s a credit. I’m sure the adults were a little curious about the 40+ year old man in line by himself for this kiddie ride. It was a four lap special and I was on and off in less than 10 minutes. Only one more credit to nab here.

Up last at Dutch Wonderland, was the park’s Custom Coasters International wooden coaster, Kingdom Coaster. I was most looking forward to riding this upon arrival. For starters, the paint scheme on this ride is absolutely beautiful. I wish more parks would think outside the box a little bit with coaster paint schemes.

As excited as I was to ride this (and I walked straight on for a back row ride), this one underwhelmed me a bit. It’s not that it was a bad ride, because it’s not. It’s just that it provided zero air time for me even in the back row. I wasn’t expecting Phoenix level airtime at all, but I was sure I would get at least a few little pops and I got nothing. Oh well. Mission accomplished and I was in and out of the park in less than an hour.

Credits #133-135: Adventure Park USA

My oldest daughter, Carrie joined me for these three credits. She had stayed with her aunt in Maryland while I ran the race and after picking her up, we made a slight detour to the west to visit Adventure Park USA. This park is basically a Family Entertainment Center and not a park, but they do have three coaster credits (even though the employee at the desk tried to tell me they only had two because I guess she couldn’t fathom that we would want to ride the kiddie coaster). We were in and out of here in less than an hour with all three credits, there’s not much to say about any of them, but, I will try.

Up first was Tumbleweed. This is a kiddie coaster in every sense of the word. It was built by Miler Manufacturing and has been operating at this park since 2015. Nothing special except that we had to text a phone number for them to send a ride operator over so we could ride. That was a first.

Up next was the park’s Schwarzkopf coaster, Wildcat. This ride has been at Adventure Park USA since 2007, but it’s early history actually goes back to my current home park of Busch Gardens Williamsburg where it operated in the German section of the park as ‘Die Wildkatze.’ I got nervous when the ride operator told us to be careful because there were some rough spots on the ride. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that this ride was actually really smooth.

Normally, you save the best for last, but that couldn’t be further from the truth here. We ended the night on the Zamperla coaster, Wild West Express. It was definitely wild. The restraints were basic lap bars but they were just metal bars that squashed your legs together and had zero padding on them. From the first turn after the drop I knew that this ride was just going to hurt. Each turn slammed my legs into the restraint with no letup. Not fun. Not good. However, a credit is a credit and this left me with 135 credits to my name.

Regardless of the pain induced from Wild West Express, this little coaster detour for me on my way home made for an exciting day and certainly helped to break the first part of the drive up a little bit. It’s always fun when you can ride something that you haven’t ridden before and even more fun when you discover that one of those rides used to operate in the park you call your home park. Overall a great day and a lot of fun was had.

Ride on!

Busch Gardens Williamsburg – 7/13/21 – Maxxing Our Thrills

On Tuesday, July 13, Carrie and I had the chance to meet up with Steven and Rocco from the YouTube Channel Thrill Maxx (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdPGAv4Ih8VMLwX09WnS5vA)at Busch Gardens Williamsburg. Of course, this is my home park and Rocco has been there before, but it would be Steven’s first time in this amazing place and it was so cool to get to see someone experience the park for the first time.

I really do think that I spend so much time in the park, it becomes easy to take for granted how incredible this park truly is. Watching Steven explore this park with fresh eyes was really something special to watch as it unfolded.

Carrie and I picked up Steven and Rocco at their Air B&B and made our way to the park. As soon as we arrived, we all went to guest services to pick up our All Day Dining Plans as well as getting Steven approved to shoot on-ride footage with his glasses. This was a very quick process and it was time to explore.

The obvious first place to go when starting to check out rides is the legendary Loch Ness Monster. However, when we first arrived at the park, the ride had not yet opened for the day. No worries. We had all day and since this was a Tuesday, we knew crowds weren’t going to be an issue. We would simply come back and hit this ride later on.

We took that right out of the Scotland section and descended (this park is hilly) into Kilarney Village, the park’s Irish themed area. We all got our first of many drink refills (it was going to be in the mid 90s) here and checked to see the showtimes for Celtic Fyre. We were initially gutted (do I sound British when I say that?) to see this sign posted outside of the theatre.

We circled around into the France section of the park where we would grab our first ride of the day on the park’s B&M Dive Coaster, Griffon. I always describe this ride as riding a roller coaster while sitting on a couch. That description isn’t just because of the 10-across seating arrangement, but because the ride is just really that smooth. The views of the James River from the top of the ride are spectacular, and while this ride may be a one trick pony, it does that one trick really well.

Upon leaving Griffon, we continued around the circle and into New France (Canada) to ride the park’s GCI wooden coaster, InvadR. This is a polarizing ride. I get that it had the misfortune of opening the same year as Mystic Timbers at Kings Island, but the comparison between the two is really an unfair one. Mystic Timbers was built as a thrill ride and InvadR was built as a family coaster. Don’t let the family coaster label fool you, though. InvadR provides several really good moments of airtime and seems to be running better with each passing year. I really enjoy this ride and the guys from Thrill Maxx did as well.

Keep reading….the coaster faces get more and more bizarre as the day goes on. It must have been the heat.

We were starting to get really warm by this point, but unfortunately because of the lack of lines, it still wasn’t even noon which is when Le Scoot (log flume) was scheduled to open for the day. Time to grab more drinks and press on.

Up next was my favorite ride in the park, Alpengeist. Despite being over 20 years old, it is still the tallest and fastest inverted coaster (meaning the track is above you) in the world. Carrie and Rocco waited for the front row so Rocco could film a POV and, well, Carrie will only ride the front on this one. While they waited for the front, Steven and I managed two rides. By the time Rocco and Carrie got to the front, the heat was doing a number on Carrie so she sat the ride out. It was definitely time for some nourishment and a break.

That Cobra Roll is absolutely nuts. Such a forceful element.

Our first stop for a meal would be at the Festhaus in the park’s Oktoberfest section of the park. Carrie and I split a pizza and mozzarella sticks while Steven and Rocco both enjoyed some of the German offerings. The German potatoes they serve are absolutely off the hook and I highly recommend them. As we were finishing up our meal, the Oom Paa band was taking the stage for their show. We didn’t stay for the show, but the few minutes we heard were very entertaining. Be sure to check it out!

Back to the rides. If you know the park layout, you know where we went after leaving Festhaus. It was time to brave the Black Forest and ride the park’s unique family coaster, Verbolten. This ride replaced the iconic Big Bad Wolf, and while I still really miss that ride, this is a worthy replacement that includes one of only two drop tracks in the United States. Rocco had said that this is his favorite coaster in the park and Steven really enjoyed it. On our one ride this day, we got the wolves theme inside the show building.

Did I mention that it was hot that day? After riding Verbolten we decided that it was time to cool off on the incredibly Shoot the Chute ride, Escape From Pompeii. This themed water ride is undoubtedly one of the best of it’s kind in the country. The show building is so immersive and is full of fire effects, and falling columns and statues. All of that is followed by an awesome splash down that on this particular ride really got us soaked.

Three coasters left to finish up our credits for the day (we didn’t ride Grover’s Alpine Express). We rode Tempesto, Apollo’s Chariot, and of course Loch Ness to finish up our rides for the day. We had great rides on all three of them. Steven was incredibly excited to ride the first ever B&M hyper coaster (Apollo’s Chariot) and of course the legendary Loch Ness Monster. He was especially impressed with how smooth the 43 year old Arrow looper was running. We also managed to sprinkle in some more food during this stretch, this time from Squires Grill where the fish n chips is really good.

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With all of the rides completed for the day, we finished the day off with some more food and a couple of shows. Remember earlier in the day when I mentioned the sign we saw in front of Celtic Fyre? Well I posted it in a Facebook group that I am an admin for (Busch Gardens Williamsburg Insiders) to let people know. Fortunately, someone saw my post and let me know that there were actually going to be two shows that day at 4pm and 6pm. By the time I saw the notice, it was too late for the 4pm, but it worked out perfectly for us to check out the 6pm show. If you want the most up to date information possible regarding Busch Gardens Williamsburg, be sure to click this link and join the group. https://www.facebook.com/groups/537154756851713

After watching an amazing performance of Celtic Fyre it was time for more food at Trapper’s Smokehouse. This is my favorite restaurant in the park. The only thing it’s missing is indoor seating. Whether you get the brisket, ribs, chicken, or the sampler that gives you a little of everything, you won’t be disappointed.

The night cap for the day would be the park’s incredible laser and pyrotechnic show, Spark. Even for someone like me who isn’t into dance music at all (shocking, I know) the quality of this show is incredible to watch. As an added bonus, the park’s fireworks display started about 3/4 of the way through Spark so we could watch 2 shows at once. It truly was a great way to end the day.

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This was the first time that we had met Steven and Rocco in person and we had an absolute blast hanging out with them. We would hang out with them again a few days later at Kings Dominion. You can check out that blog here https://charlestonheel.wordpress.com/2021/07/17/kings-dominion-7-16-21-an-interesting-day/

Total Ride Count

1. Griffon x 1 (everyone)
2. InvadR x 1 (everyone)
3. Alpengeist x 2 (Chris and Steven) x 1 (Rocco)
4. Verbolten x 1 (everyone)
5. Escape From Pompeii x 1 (everyone)
6. Tempesto x 1 (Chris, Steven, and Rocco)
7. Apollo’s Chariot x 1 (everyone)
8. Loch Ness monster x 1 (everyone)

Kings Dominion, 7/16/21 – An Interesting Day

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

Before I get into the details of a very hot day at Kings Dominion, allow me a few moments to deliver a sort of Public Service Announcement. If you are at a park and you are riding a ride of ANY thrill level, but especially a roller coaster, either put ALL of your loose articles (hats, keys, phones, glasses if they aren’t on a strap) in a locker or leave them with a non-rider. It’s outright dangerous. I’m sure many of you will say that you always take your phone on rides and it’s never come out. It only takes one time and you can potentially impact someone for the rest of their lives.

Yesterday, while on a ride of Intimidator 305, we got an up close and personal look at why you shouldn’t bring anything on a ride. If you don’t know, this ride is 305 feet tall, reaches speeds in excess of 90mph and is generally considered one of the most intense rides on the planet. Here are a couple of photos.

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While on this ride with Carrie and 4 other friends of ours, I suddenly heard my friend Steven yell from behind me that something had hit him in the face. It turned out to be (we believe) a pair of glasses that someone had in their hand and dropped during the ride. How do we have that much detail? While telling the ride operators what had happened, a young man was telling another ride operator that he had dropped his glasses on the ride and the area where he said that he dropped them was right in the area that Steven got hit. Here’s our on-ride photo which snapped seconds after the incident and a picture of Steven on the ride platform while we were waiting for first aid.

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After some time in first aid, Steven’s day was over because his eye was just throbbing so bad. Steven is a fellow coaster enthusiast that was making a road trip with his friend Rocco to visit some parks that he had always wanted to visit. His final day at Kings Dominion was cut short because someone couldn’t be bothered to follow park policy, and the employee at the entrance to the ride didn’t catch the guy coming on the ride with a loose article. This could have been avoided if someone had just bothered to pay attention.

Ironically, this afternoon as I was scrolling through Facebook I come across this post in a Kings Dominion group. I have cropped the posters name out for obvious reasons, but just read this.

This type of attitude causes the problem.

Notice a couple of things here. First of all, he admits to frequently taking his phone on rides and that he has never lost a phone on a ride in 11 years. The phone falling out of his pocket ruined his day so much that he ultimately left because he was so upset about his phone. No mention of being thankful that no one got hit by it (Dominator has 5 inversions and approaches 70mph). On top of that, after several other posters including myself reminded him that the phone shouldn’t have been on the ride in the first place, others came to his defense telling us that it had never happened to him before and it was just one time. It only takes one time. If those glasses had hit Steven an inch higher, he could have been looking at significant damage to his eye. Come on people. Ride lockers aren’t that expensive. If you’re going to the parks, budget $5-$10 depending on the park for an all day locker that you can move from ride to ride. It’s the responsible thing to do.

NOW FOR THE GOOD STUFF

Yesterday, Carrie and I made the trek up to Doswell, Virginia to hang out with our friends Steven and Rocco from Thrill Maxx (https://www.youtube.com/c/thrillmaxx), Patrick from We Were Inverted (https://www.wewereinverted.com) and his friend Kaylee. As I mentioned earlier, Steven and Rocco were finishing a four park trip that included Silver Dollar City, Carowinds, Busch Gardens Williamsburg (I’ll blog on that later), and Kings Dominion. They had spent Thursday at Kings Dominion and the other four of us were going to join them for their final day of the trip. This was also Kaylee’s first visit to Kings Dominion.

Carrie and I arrived at the park right at opening which was 11am. Patrick and Kaylee were supposed to be there around the same time. Steven and Rocco were supposed to get there around noon. Well, Carrie and I were the only ones who didn’t have traffic issues getting to the park so we had the first 2 hours by ourselves. After making sure all of our season upgrades were active our plan was to hit up I-305 for a few rides before everyone else arrived. Well, that ride was down at the beginning of the day so we went back to ride the park’s wonderful RMC Twisted Timbers. We practically walked right on to the front row and the back row in succession and had amazing rides. In a shocking development, we finally found a coaster that Carrie prefers the back row on.

It was an incredibly hot day so hydrating and taking advantage of A/C at every opportunity was important. We grabbed drinks and went over to ride the park’s shooting dark ride, Boo Blasters. For the record, I smoked Carrie on this ride by nearly doubling her point total.

After that ride, we got word that the others were within about a half hour of the park so we decided to grab lunch at the park’s newest restaurant, Grain and Grill. Oh my goodness, Kings Dominion upped their food game with this restaurant. The garlic herb chicken was fantastic.

As we were finishing up, the rest of the crew arrived so we set out to ride some coasters. The park closed at 7 that night and since it was now approximately 1:15, we needed to ride as quickly as we could. Ironically we went back to Twisted Timbers for another amazing ride on this machine. Everyone was stoked for what should be an awesome day hanging out. While in that section of the park, we snagged a quick ride on Apple Zapple (the park’s Wild Mouse). It’s actually a fun Wild Mouse as it has a unique layout that includes a decent size drop.

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We then went back to Grizzly so that Carrie and I could snag a Grizzly pin to add to our collection and for Kaylee to get her credit on this wooden coaster that hides back in the woods. Steven and Rocco sat out as they didn’t enjoy their ride on it the previous day and Carrie chose to sit out as well. Patrick, Kaylee, and myself made the walk back to see what Grizzly had in store for us. This ride is really a mixed bag. They’ve done some re-tracking on sections of the ride that seem to have significantly improved the airtime. On the flip side, the laterals on this coaster are pretty rough. It’s a one and done for me each time I visit, but I always ride it because with an old wood coaster, you never know when you might be riding it for the last time.

We then made our way to the classic out and back wooden coaster Rebel Yell….oops….Racer 75. They were only running one side of this racing coaster, but my goodness is it running incredibly well. Loads of airtime and a very smooth ride.

Up next was the big one. Intimidator 305. I won’t rehash everything but above. Obviously we only got one ride on this incredible coaster, but it still delivers a really good ride. While it’s not for the faint of heart (it causes me to gray out for a few seconds every time), if you’re up for the challenge, this is a MUST RIDE.

While Steven and Rocco were at the first aid building, the rest of us made our way over to the park’s indoor coaster from Premier Rides, Flight of Fear. I’m so glad they ditched the over the shoulder restraints on this ride several years ago. It’s much more enjoyable with just a lap bar. My only complaint is the same complaint I have about every Premier coaster I’ve ridden. The trains are ridiculously tight. I know I’m not the smallest guy, but even smaller people that I know find these trains difficult to get in and out of. This ride is still delivering a pretty smooth ride experience and I love the launch out of the station.

Next, Carrie and I went to grab some more food (gotta make use of that dining plan) while Patrick subjected Kaylee to the pain inducing Arrow looper, Anaconda. While I didn’t ride it yesterday, I’m always saddened by how rough this ride has become. It was a fantastic ride early on, but time (and the park’s maintenance procedures) have not been kind to it. I’d much rather photograph it than ride it.

We then all met up with Steven and Rocco to say our goodbyes as they were going to leave so Steven could go lie down and get some ice on his eye. Then we went to Berserker where Patrick and Kaylee enjoyed the most hang time in the park on this looping pirate ship. I used to love this ride, but as I’ve gotten older, I just can’t do it anymore.

Up next was my favorite B&M floor-less coaster, Dominator. I truly forgot how fast that ride moves. While it has picked up a bit of a rattle since the last time I rode it, it is still such a good ride as it just plows through those 5 inversions and really barely slows up at the mid course brake run.

We had to ride Dominator. I promised Beth we’d ride it for her as it’s her favorite ride in the park.

This would be mine and Carrie’s final ride of the day. Patrick and Kaylee went for a spin on Backlot Stunt Coaster and Kaylee then rode Windseeker by herself. We finished the day by spending some time atop the park’s Eiffel Tower getting some photos from an incredible vantage point.

Overall this was a fantastic day. I hate what happened to Steven and wish we could have hung out more. I little rain shower mid day to cool us off would have been nice too. All in all, the park wasn’t very busy. I don’t think we waited more than 20 minutes for anything and most rides were practically walk-ons all day.

It should also be stated that while this park is certainly not Busch Gardens for theming and aesthetic beauty, it is still a very pretty park and it has a strong top 3 coasters and a solid supporting cast underneath of that. If you haven’t been, you need to get there to check it out.

FINAL RIDE COUNT FOR CARRIE AND I

1. Twisted Timbers x 3
2. Apple Zapple x 1
3. Grizzly x 1 (Chris only)
4. Racer 75 (north side) x 1
5. Intimidator 305 x 1
6. Flight of Fear x 1
7. Dominator x 1
8. Boo Blasters x 1
9. Eiffel Tower x 1

PHOTOS FROM AROUND THE PARK

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Have you visited this park? What are your favorite rides or memories? If you haven’t visited, what ride do you most want to ride? Comment below.

Roller Coaster Rankings: They’re All Subjective

Coaster enthusiasts (or nerds as many call us) always love to talk about ranking our favorite coasters. Here’s the thing, when you compare the lists of ten enthusiasts you will probably not see two identical lists. Sure there will be some similarities for sure. There are certain rides that are just universally loved. Here’s the thing though, everyone likes different elements on a roller coaster. Consequently, everyone will rank coasters a little bit differently. Another factor is that certain coasters run better in certain conditions. Take for example Goliath at Six Flags over Georgia. I have many friends that rave about this B&M hyper coaster. Some rank it as the best hyper out there. I’ve ridden four hypers and I rank it at the bottom of those four. Does that mean it’s a bad ride? Not at all. Chances are I just didn’t get a great ride on it. The next time I ride it, my opinion may change. Also some rides seem to improve with age (looking at you, InvadR) while other’s just seem to get worse and worse (Roar at Six Flags America – although I’m not sure it was ever good).

Hannah’s Top 10

The point is this. Opinions on roller coasters are subjective. I know what I like and what I don’t like and you won’t change my mind. I’m not going to change your mind. To prove my point, I thought it would be fun to compare my top 10 roller coasters (out of 129 unique coasters ridden) with Carrie’s top 10 (out of 72) and Hannah’s top 10 (out of 21). While Hannah’s is certainly a smaller sample size, comparing the differences in all three lists will still give you some idea of how subjective this really is. I’ll include photos of some of the rides at the end of each list. Let’s do this.

1. Apollo’s Chariot – Busch Gardens Williamsburg
2. Loch Ness Monster – Busch Gardens Williamsburg
3. Space Mountain – Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom
4. Verbolten – Busch Gardens Williamsburg
5. Seven Dwarfs Mine Train – Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom
6. Big Thunder Mountain Railroad – Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom
7. InvadR – Busch Gardens Williamsburg
8. Barnstormer – Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom
9. Woodstock Express – Kings Dominion
10. Tempesto – Bush Gardens Williamsburg

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Carrie’s Top 10

1. Fury 325 – Carowinds
2. Intimidator 305 – Kings Dominion
3. Mako – Sea World Orlando
4. Apollo’s Chariot – Busch Gardens Williamsburg
5. Twisted Timbers – Kings Dominion
6. Griffon – Busch Gardens Williamsburg
7. Alpengeist – Busch Gardens Williamsburg
8. Verbolten – Busch Gardens Williamsburg
9. Cheetah Hunt – Busch Gardens Tampa
10. Dominator – Kings Dominion

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My Top 10

1. Fury 325 – Carowinds
2. Intimidator 305 – Kings Dominion
3. Phoenix – Knoebels
4. Mako – Sea World Orlando
5. Twisted Timbers – Kings Dominion
6. Lightning Racer – Hersheypark
7. Skyrush – Hersheypark
8. Alpengeist – Busch Gardens Williamsburg
9. Cheetah Hunt – Busch Gardens Tampa
10. Twisted Cyclone – Six Flags over Georgia

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You will certainly see some similarities between mine and Carrie’s lists although that list also shows that I’ve got a little soft spot for wooden coasters that she hasn’t quite developed yet. Likewise, there are some similarities between Carrie and Hannah. It’s clear that they both love Busch Gardens Williamsburg, and why shouldn’t they? It’s their home park and the one that they’ve been to far more than any others. I’m very curious to see how Hannah’s list continues to morph as she finishes out the credits at Busch and then explores the big ones for the first time at Kings Dominion.

As I said in yesterday’s blog, I love getting to share this hobby with my daughters. The memories made are priceless.

Hannah’s Big Coaster Day

So my youngest daughter, Hannah has been a little bit slow to get bit by the roller coaster bug that bit Carrie and I a long time ago. That’s not to say that she hasn’t ridden any coasters, but most of her credits have been on smaller coasters. At our home park of Busch Gardens Williamsburg, she has previously ridden Grover’s Alpine Express (their kiddie coaster), InvadR (the park’s family wooden coaster), and the classic Loch Ness Monster. Even though she enjoyed Loch Ness, she still wouldn’t ride it on every trip to the park and InvadR was certainly not a favorite of hers on her previous rides. That’s why when a few weeks ago, I was surprised to hear Hannah say that she wanted to join Carrie and I on our next Busch Gardens trip so that she could try out some more coasters.

Prior to our June 6 visit to Busch Gardens, Hannah had 18 coaster credits from various parks. I was very curious to see which rides she was going to make the decision to try out for the first time. Here’s a rundown of our day.

We left for the park right after church and we arrived a little bit after 2pm. After getting our obligatory photo at the entrance, Hannah wanted to get herself warmed up by taking a spin on the parks 43 year old classic Arrow looping coaster, The Loch Ness Monster. This ride is a classic and it always delivers fun for everyone.

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I love these two girls of mine.

The perfect coaster to start your day on at BGW – The Legendary Loch Ness Monster

We got off of ‘Nessie’ and made our way back to the Oktoberfest section of the park which is where Verbolten, the park’s Zierer multi-launch family coaster resides. However, before Hannah was ready to brave the Black Forest, she wanted to take a ‘spin’ on Der Wirbelwind, the park’s Wave Swinger. Carrie chose to sit this ride out which left me to put my stomach to the test on the swings. I can ride coasters, but spinning is a whole different ballgame for me. Fortunately, my stomach stood the test and we got off of the swings and walked across the midway so that Hannah could tackle Verbolten. I did give Hannah a head’s up about the drop track inside of the show building and when we got off of the ride, she was smiling. She loved it. Coaster credit #19 achieved for Hannah.

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Hands up! Gotta love it.

It was a warm day and we were kind of wanting to cool off a bit. We made our way back to Le Scoot, the log flume, and waited on our friend James who had just arrived at the park to join us. Well, as soon as we got in line, the ride went down, so we went over to ride InvadR. Hannah had ridden this ride before so it wasn’t a new credit, but she did get her first ever front row ride as she rode with our buddy James.

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The ride photo is on the first drop, but shortly after the photo snapped, Hannah’s hands went back up.

Did I mention that it was a warm day? We really wanted to cool off and with the most likely next new credit for Hannah being in the Italy section of the park, we decided to make a pit stop and Escape from Pompeii. This is a highly themed shoot the chutes ride themed around the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius that destroyed the city of Pompeii. Falling beams, statues and a whole lot of fire surround you before taking the plunge and making a splash. Interestingly enough, this is still not a favorite of Hannah’s.

James and I were the only ones in our group that seemed to be having fun.

Well, we got off of Pompeii and asked Hannah what coaster was going to be next. Her answer shocked me. I fully expected her to say Apollo’s Chariot, but she said Tempesto. On the way over to those two coasters she changed her mind and wanted to ride Apollo’s first. That was fine by me. The only problem was, Apollo’s Chariot had just went down for a minor maintenance issue. Hannah nervously made the walk over to Tempesto. Unfortunately there is not a working on ride photo for Tempesto. However, she conquered it and while it wasn’t her favorite, she enjoyed it. Credit #20 achieved.

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I was so proud of her on this one. I really didn’t think she would ride it.

The day was winding down for us. We were all tired and hot. But we weren’t finished just yet. While we were in line for Tempesto, Apollo’s Chariot began running again. We decided that we would ride that as our finale for the day. Long story short with this ride, Hannah’s hands were up before the second drop and when we hit the final brake run, she deemed it her favorite ride ever. Credit #21 achieved.

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What a great day!

Well that’s a wrap on our June 6 trip to Busch Gardens Williamsburg. Hannah still needs two more coaster credits at the park and I’m confident that she will get them this year. I’m also curious to see which coasters at Kings Dominion she’s ready to try out this year. At that park she has only done their two kids’ coasters and the family friendly Back Lot Stunt Coaster.

I really love sharing this hobby with my girls. I’m super excited that Hannah now seems to be catching the fever too. These are memories that I will always cherish. Until the next adventure, ride on!

Trip Report – Busch Gardens Williamsburg – Member Preview Day – March 13, 2021

Last Saturday marked the first theme park trip of 2021 for Carrie and I. We ventured to our home park, Busch Gardens Williamsburg for their Member Preview Day. This was still a limited capacity event and they broke the day up into two separate sessions, 10:00-4:00 and 5:30-10:30. We made reservations for both sessions and planned on a great day. It is safe to say that we certainly had that.

Typically our trips to Busch start with a pit stop at Chick-fil-a and then we are off on the hour drive to Williamsburg. This day was no exception. We were both blessed to find an extra little chicken nugget in with each of our 4-count chicken minis. The day was off to a great start.

We are on our way!

Now, this has nothing to do with the park, but it is a tradition for Carrie and I. We usually make our drive while listening to the soundtrack from Hamilton. Recently we have transitioned to listening to it on shuffle. Don’t ask me why, but if you are a fan of the show and you’ve never done that, you have to try it at least once. It is strange but so much fun.

We were in line at the parking plaza by 9am and they started letting cars through at about 9:20. After clearing the health screening, we were in the main park by 9:30. The entrance to Busch Gardens is the England section of the park and it is one of my favorite areas of the park. Since Member Preview was also coinciding with the St. Patrick’s Day Celebration special event, the entire park was decked out in Irish decorations which you will see in the photos as we go along.

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After hitting the Emporium to make sure we nabbed the limited edition Apollo’s Chariot pin (which is huge by the way), we took that left turn out of England and headed towards Festa Italia to voyage to the sun on the wings of Apollo’s Chariot. This coaster had been closed during the Christmas event due to Pantheon construction, so we were very excited to get back on the original B&M hyper coaster. The ride has developed a little bit of a rattle over the years, but it still provides an excellent ride and the helix turnaround is a favorite moment for me.

Photo Credit – Randy Davidson (bgwphotofan on Instagram)

I love the back row rides. Carrie….not so much although you can’t tell from this pic.

After our group finished on Apollo’s Chariot, it was off to brave the Black Forest on Verbolten. I stopped along the way with our friend Markus to grab a ‘nerd shot’ or two of the new Intamin launch coaster Pantheon. Consequently, I actually didn’t get on this particular ride for Verbolten, but the Pantheon pics made up for it. Don’t worry, we came back to Verbolten later on.

After this ride, Carrie and I broke off from the big group. They were heading to get seats for a concert that we just weren’t interested in seeing. Ironically as we walked by Das Festhaus, we noticed that the stage show, Celtic Celebration, was starting in about 10 minutes so we decided to grab a quick bite and enjoy the show. This show was a tribute to the different shows that have run in the Abbey Stone Theatre over in the Ireland section of the park. We both absolutely loved this show. It lasted about 30 minutes and we actually decided to go see it again later in the day. If you are able to get to the park for the last week of the St. Patrick’s Day Celebration, this show is a must see.

The outside of Festhaus. I was shocked to read reports on social media the following day that people thought the park was too crowded…..and they were serious.

After the show, Carrie and I went on a major hunt to grab a few more of those Apollo’s Chariot pins for some friends. We ended up all the way back at the front of the park and happened to see an employee bringing out more of the elusive pins while we were there. Score! We made the purchase and it was time for more rides.

As we were exiting England, an announcement came over the speakers that as a special treat for Member Preview Day, the B&M inverted coaster Alpengeist was opening. This ride was not slated to be running during this event and it just so happens to be my favorite ride in the park. You can guess where we were headed.

As we were passing by Griffon, we noticed it had essentially no line, so we detoured off into the queue for a lap on the park’s B&M dive coaster. This ride may be a one trick pony but it is so much fun.

Now it was really time to ride Alpengeist. This ended up being our longest wait of the day at about 30 minutes since we opted to wait for the front row. We could’ve been on the back row in less than half that time, but did I mention how Carrie feels about back row rides? Either way, this ride is running so good and has been for the last 3 seasons. It seems to be smoother and faster than it used to be. That’s never a bad thing.

So crowded. lol.

Before detailing the rest of the day, let me show you a few shots that I got from around the park.

I did manage to get that ride on Verbolten. I noticed this towards the end of last year as well, but the ride seems to be running just a bit faster and is certainly more intense in the building (or maybe I’m just getting older). That said, I have greyed out a couple of times in the show building.

Rather than detailing the rest of our day which was just some repeat rides, I want to share something that over the last 6 months has become one of my favorite parts of heading to the park. We have made some really great friends. I think of people like James (the mayor of Busch Gardens), Randy (bgwphotofan) and his wife Andrea, April, Carlos, Markus and others that are just too numerous to name. It was also great to get to meet Alaina (from We Were Inverted) and her boyfriend Austin on this trip. I do need to give a special shoutout to Randy as he is a phenomenal photographer and he is amazing at grabbing these in the moment shots. Check these out that he snagged of Carrie and I on this trip.

For me, the park is about time with friends and family. I absolutely love that I get to share my passion for riding roller coasters with Carrie and I’m still holding out hope that one day soon, Hannah will decide to join us for some coaster fun.

All in all, Busch Gardens Member Preview Day was a great time. We had so much fun riding and hanging out with friends. I’m sure there are many more trips to our home park in store this year, but it was great to kick off the year with such a memorable one.

Hope to see you in the parks sometime this year!

Thrills Coming in 2021

The year 2020 was certainly a very unique year for theme park/roller coaster enthusiasts like myself. The earliest a park near me opened was the weekend of July 4 (Six Flags America) and our home park of Busch Gardens didn’t open until late July. Our other home park (Kings Dominion) only opened for a few days in December. That said, we still made the most of the year visiting Six Flags America once to complete both mine and Carrie’s coaster credits for that park. Then while on vacation in South Carolina we made a trip to Six Flags over Georgia. Once Busch Gardens opened up for limited capacity events Carrie and I were there almost once a week up through December. All in all we still managed to have some good roller coaster fun during the year of Covid.

Now it’s 2021 and there are new adventures awaiting us. We have already made a trip to Busch Gardens for Member Preview Day (trip report coming soon), and there are several other parks I am hoping to hit this year.

Carrie’s coaster credit count is currently sitting at 72 and I am sitting at 129. One of our goals for 2021 is to get Carrie up over that magic number of 100 and I would like to get to 150. Here’s my plan to do that.

I want to take Carrie to Dollywood for a couple of days. If we get every credit there it will be a +8 trip for me (I already have Tennessee Tornado) and a +9 for Carrie. That would put us at 81 and 137 respectively. When Pantheon at Busch Gardens opens, that will move us to 82 and 138. Here are the other parks I hope to hit this year.

Kings Dominion – this won’t add any credits, but I need some time on I-305 and Twisted Timbers.

Knoebels – This will give Carrie a +6 (88).

Hersheypark – Carrie +9 (97) Me +1 (138)

Six Flags Great Adventure – Carrie +12 (109) Me +10 (148)

Dorney Park – Carrie and me +7 (116) (155)

Adventure Park USA – Both +3 (119) (158)

If our plans hold up, we should both hit our credit goal for the year and then some. Of course this is assuming that the coasters are all running on the days when we are at the parks (looking at you Lightning Rod) and that we can hit every coaster during our stay. It should be a fun adventure either way as I always love spending time with my oldest daughter riding the rides.

Speaking of Carrie, she was recently featured on my friend Patrick’s website, https://www.wewereinverted.com. If you want to go straight to the feature on her, you can go to this link instead, although I highly recommend checking out the entire site. https://www.wewereinverted.com/qa-carrie-growing-up-an-enthusiast/

Well, that concludes my series of blogs on 2021 goals. It took longer to finish up than I had anticipated but it is what it is. Stay tuned this weekend for my trip report from Member Preview Day at Busch Gardens Williamsburg.

When Roller Coaster Rankings Change

Roller coaster rankings are an interesting thing. They are completely subjective because they completely depend on what the individual likes in a ride. There is no formula to scientifically say what the best roller coasters are. That’s one of the things I love about this hobby. There is no right or wrong answer as to what the best rides are. Well, if you rank a suspended, looping coaster by Vekoma (SLC) as the best, you’re either wrong or you just really enjoy getting beat up by a ride. The reality is that it’s ‘to each their own.’

Despite being 41, I would only consider myself to have become a roller coaster enthusiast in the last 2-3 years so I really haven’t been ranking roller coasters that long. However I can tell you that even before my enthusiast mode kicked in, if you had asked me what my favorite inverted coasters were, I would have listed Alpengeist at Busch Gardens Williamsburg and Montu at Busch Gardens Tampa as my top 2. Prior to November of 2018, I would have considered Alpengeist as my favorite invert. This was probably due to several factors. First would be a home park bias towards Williamsburg. Second would be that I’ve ridden Alpengeist countless times and up until 2018 only had 1 lap on Montu and that was way back in the summer of 2001.

Upon riding Montu again in 2018, it was clear to me that despite being the same age as Alpengeist, it had aged a little bit better. I made Montu my favorite invert. Alpie was more intense, bigger, and faster, but it had just gotten really rough over the years.

Fast forward to September of this year. Busch Williamsburg had been closed all season due to the pandemic, but in August they began running month long special events with a 1,000 person capacity limit. With the small capacity, they haven’t been opening the entire park for each event and in August Alpie never opened. September’s event brought the return of Alpengeist.

I was excited to get back on this ride as it is my favorite ride in the park. (That’s a controversial opinion to those who love Apollo’s Chariot.) The first ride I had on it in September was absolutely amazing. It was running much more smoothly than I remember and it seemed to be a little bit faster. We got four rides in that night and they were all fantastic. We rode front and back (back row on Alpie is something that you just have to experience as it is insane). I held off on changing my invert rankings and consequently my overall coaster rankings until we got another visit or two in during the month.

During a visit later in the month with Patrick, Greg, and Sam from the flight crew of We Were Inverted (https://www.wewereinverted.com). We had a great night that included several more amazing rides on Alpie. In fact, you can find a blog about that night over on their page as well. Greg and Sam had never experienced Alpengeist prior to that night. Some point during that night I decided to rearrange my coaster rankings and move Alpengeist ahead of Montu. It’s simply running unbelievably well right now.

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What’s the big deal about rankings shuffling around on my list? Not much, except that it’s pretty rare for me to move around rides that I have already ridden. I had that happen one other time with a certain wooden coaster that seems to keep getting better each year that it’s open and it has moved up a few notches as well. Either way, it just doesn’t happen very often. When it does happen it’s usually because a ride begins to deteriorate with age so you would see a ride drop for that reason. While this change did drop Montu a slot, it had nothing to do with Montu getting worse. It’s a world class ride that should definitely be experienced. Something was just different with Alpengeist this year and it is running better. The only work that I can confirm was done on the ride was an upgrade to the braking systems. This definitely helps out on the mid-course brake run, but shouldn’t play into the rest of the ride.

So with all this talk about ranking coasters, I guess I should reveal my updated top 10 steel list and top 10 overall list since this change shuffles both of them around. There is one addition to the top 10 steel list since I did that entire series at the beginning of this year. That ride is Twisted Cyclone at Six Flags over Georgia. While it made my top 10 steel list, it just missed the top 10 overall list as I have now ridden 128 unique roller coasters.

Top Ten Steel Coasters

1. Fury 325 (Carowinds)
2. Intimidator 305 (Kings Dominion)
3. Skyrush (Hersheypark)
4. Mako (SeaWorld Orlando)
5. Twisted Timbers (Kings Dominion)
6. Alpengeist (Busch Gardens Williamsburg)
7. Montu (Busch Gardens Tampa)
8. Twisted Cyclone (Six Flags over Georgia)
9. Drachen Fire – defunct (Busch Gardens Williamsburg)
10. Cheetah Hunt (Busch Gardens Tampa)

Top Ten Overall

1. Fury 325 (Carowinds)
2. Intimidator 305 (Kings Dominion)
3. Phoenix (Knoebels)
4. Skyrush (Hersheypark)
5. Mako (SeaWorld Orlando)
6. Twisted Timbers (Kings Dominion)
7. Lightning Racers (Hersheypark)
8. Son of Beast – defunct (Kings Island)
9. Alpengeist (Busch Gartens Williamsburg)
10. Montu (Busch Gardens Tampa)

Ranking the Roller Coasters of Knoebels

For the next installment of Thrilling Thursday, we are going to journey to the middle of nowhere.  No seriously. If you’ve ever been to Knoebels in Elysburg, Pennsylvania you know exactly what I mean. It’s like you’re driving through the mountains of PA and all of a sudden you emerge and there’s this park just kind of sitting there. It is an incredibly unique setting, to say the least.

Before jumping into the coaster lineup, let me mention a couple of things that are really cool features of this park. First, the parking is free.  Yep. You do not have to pay to park your car at Knoebels. Secondly, there is no park admission. You only pay if you are going to ride and you can choose a ride-all-day wristband that includes coasters, one that doesn’t include coasters, or you can buy tickets and essentially pay per ride. Lastly, the food offerings at this park are not to be missed. Everything is so good.

Now let’s get down to the coasters.

#6 Kosmos Kurves

This is the park’s kiddie coaster. Let me say, that while it is a kiddie coaster, it was a pleasant surprise. It had a few pretty cool little moments.

#5 Black Diamond Mining Company

Let the debate begin. Dark ride or roller coaster? The answer is actually both. This is one of the most unique rides that I’ve ever been on. It is weird, bizarre, and just strange. That said, it’s really cool. It is about 95% dark ride and 5% coaster, but it’s still a lot of fun. The video doesn’t even do it justice.

#4 Impulse

Impulse is the park’s newest coaster. It was manufactured by Zierer and is very similar to many Gerstlauer coasters. While it’s not huge it is a very good ride. The lack of over-the-shoulder restraints is a huge plus. It crams 4 inversions into less than 2,000 feet of track which is pretty amazing and honestly, at least for someone my age, can be somewhat disorienting. Another unique feature on this coaster is that for kids that fall into a certain height category, there is actually a booster seat that will allow them to ride. This is the only place I’ve seen that. Ranking this at #4 seems kind of low, but it’s not a disrespect to this ride, it’s really a statement as to just how good the top 3 are.

#3 Flying Turns

The infamous Flying Turns. An incredibly unique wooden bobsled coaster that was built in house by the folks at Knoebels. This ride took a really long time to build because they just couldn’t get it quite right. Their patience was rewarded as this is an absolutely amazing ride. I will offer this suggestion to you if you want to ride it. Get to it as soon as the park opens. It is not great on capacity and the operations are slow because they have to weigh riders to properly disperse them onto the trains. Consequently, this ride will always have a line.

#2 Twister

One of the most unique wooden roller coasters I have ever been on. This is a wooden coaster that is going to ride like a wooden coaster should. It is not glass-smooth and it’s going to throw you around a little bit. The unique feature is the split lift hill which I’ve never seen before. The highlight of the ride for me, however, was the massive double helix that wraps around the station. The lateral forces are so crazy during that moment. Phoenix gets all the love in this park, but Twister is definitely not to be missed.

#1 Phoenix

This should be no surprise to anyone to see Phoenix sitting in this spot. For me, this is a flawless wooden coaster. The airtime on this ride is absolutely insane. Couple that with the only restraint being a buzz bar and you will find yourself nearly standing up more than sitting down during the ride. It really has that much airtime. I’ll admit that this ride is sentimental for me as it was my 100th coaster credit, but sentiment aside, this is my all-time favorite wooden roller coaster and if you are anywhere near Knoebels and you have the time, go in and at least spend a few bucks to ride this great ride.

Well, that’s it for Knoebels. What park’s coasters will I rate next? You’ll have to come back next Thursday to see.

Have you been to Knoebels? How would you rank the coasters? Leave a comment down below.