Photo TR: Too many parks to list!

[65skylark]

Last month I was out of town for just over three weeks. Almost two weeks in Charlotte, a few days in Orlando and another five days in SoCal. I posted a HUGE photo TR on Theme Park Review that explains everything. It is the largest photo TR I have ever done and I am really happy with the way it turned out. Go check it out if you have the time.

www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=39966

Here are just a few pictures from some of the parks I visited.



Carowinds would be the first stop.



BORG Assimilator - aka Stealth from Great America.



Top Gun: The Jet Coaster. The only really good coaster in the park.



Next was Busch Gardens Europe for Hallowscreem.



Griffon was the highlight of this park, although every coaster was good!



Then it was off to Kings Dominion.



Volcano prooved to be as good as I have always heard it is.



While Italian Job was a big surprise! I loved it! Silverwood really needs a coaster like this, just with a different theme, that the whole family can have fun on. Not too intense for the kids, but still intense enough for the adults.



A short eight hour drive south and I'm at the other Busch Gardens and the other B&M dive machine. Almost as good as Griffon, but not quite. Both were great though!



Kumba was also amazing.



As was Montu!



Cypress Gardens was next for a ride on Starliner.



The next morning was Animal Kingdom



to see if we could find the Yeti.



Then it was off to Epcot.



Back at home the car is loaded up and we are ready to head to Pomona!



DLR on Halloween!



Of all the trips I have made to Disneyland, I had never been on Holiday Mansion. I still like the original version better, but it was fun for a change.



Later that evening we took the kids trick or treating at DCA.



Needless to say, they had a blast.



Back to Disneyland the next day.



THen it was to The Mountain on Saturday before the big race on Sunday.



My three weeks of insanity ends with me racing my '65 Skylark in front of over 40,000 people in Pomona at the NHRA Auto Club Finals.

So these are just a very few of the pictures I posted. Go check out the full report!

www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=39966&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

[skinnyguy]

Wow, that was a very long TR! I just read the entire thing...took me about 45 minutes! But very nice pictures and comments. I can see why you said this will be the last one for a while...that's an awful lot of traveling!

Few questions....sounds like you thought Expedition Everest wasn't all that great - curious to hear more details.

You mentioned trims on Screamin' - is that a recent addition? I must have missed that...where are they on the ride?

And finally - you didn't ride the subs?? What's wrong with you, man??? Seriously though, I was just anxious to hear what you thought about it, but oh well...I'll have a review on those here in about a month when we go down in December!

Congrats also on making it so far in that racing competition - too bad you didn't win, but even so, not too many people can say they made it as far as you did! What place did you end up getting?

Overall, great TR - thanks!

[65skylark]

skinnyguy said:

Few questions....sounds like you thought Expedition Everest wasn't all that great - curious to hear more details.

I thought it was a decent roller coaster, but it isn't the best Disney coaster out there, and for the time and money put into it, it should be. I like both Space Mountain and California Screamin better. And I would probably rank the Matterhorn about equal. But, what it lacks as far as the ride goes, it makes up for in theming. There is no more highly themed coaster on the planet. Period.

skinnyguy said:

You mentioned trims on Screamin' - is that a recent addition? I must have missed that...where are they on the ride?

They were added after the accident where a train rear ended another train maybe two years ago. There is one just before the loop that isn't very noticeable. The other one is just before the bunny hops that is more noticeable and has taken away virtually ALL of the air-time. Before the trims you really got some good floater air on those bunny hops, now you really don't get anything. But, even at that, it is still a great coaster.

skinnyguy said:

And finally - you didn't ride the subs?? What's wrong with you, man??? Seriously though, I was just anxious to hear what you thought about it, but oh well...I'll have a review on those here in about a month when we go down in December!

I hated the subs when they were there before. Even as a kid I thought they were bad. I had heard from several friends that the new version wasn't that much better. If the kids would have really wanted to ride, then I would have done it, but they didn't. They also take FOREVER to load and unload. That line moves slower than a snail, and they don't have a fastpass for it, so that made the decision even easier.

As for the race, I made it to the semi final, wich was only four of us left. So, you could say I tied for 3rd or 4th however you want to look at it.

Thanks for asking! I'm glad you enjoyed the PTR.

[Bud Parsley]

Nice TR Skylark.

I didn't see anythig about Gwazi? Any word on this coaster(s)?

[65skylark]

^ I thought it was a decent coaster. It had just got done raining so that helped. Everyone who was with me that had rode it before said it was normally rougher than when we rode. If that is the case then it would normally be a fairly brutal ride. It was certainly the worst of the GCI's that I have been on, but it was a nice layout, and with some new Millennium Flyer trains to replace the PTC's, it would probably be really good.

My ride, at least, was pretty decent. I would rank it a seven on a scale of one to ten. (Ten being the best)

[timberterror]

I just got back from Orlando a couple of weeks ago and I thought Expedition Everest was the best Disney coaster I've ridden based on the overall experience. BTW I've only ridden all the U.S. ones. I agree with you on Volcano, Italian Job, and the BGW coasters except Griffon which was just a pile of dirt when I was there . - Barry

[Bud Parsley]

Timber, welcome to the boards!

Can you elaborate a bit more on Everest? What made it the "best overall"?

[timberterror]

The theming is second to none. The ride is extremely smooth. Going backwards through the mountain is alot of fun and the final drop and helixes are great. The line was also moving very fast with several trains running. For me it was the most fun and re-ridable Disney coaster. - Barry P.S. I've been looking at this site for years and I'm glad they have a forum now.