Re: A Goon's Guide to Vegas://An Infuriating Flight Home Day
Ladies and Gentlemen, I proudly present to you...
A Goon's Guide to Vegas
The Complete Edition
So last year I took three park trips with my cousin Brittany and her husband Paul. A week after our do-over at Cedar Point, they packed up and moved to Las Vegas. I was crushed that some of the only decent members of my dad's side of the family that were still alive and not associated with total jerks had moved across the country, but I knew they would love it out there.
When helping them pack up their stuff from Cleveland, Brittany had told me that her favorite presents were framed pictures because they cost almost nothing, store easily, and do exactly what a gift is supposed to do. At Christmas I decided to mail them a gift from Ohio and surprise them. Keeping Brittany's comment about presents in mind, I bought an eight opening photo frame and put in some pictures from our theme park trips together, wrapped it in shiny paper, and mailed it to Vegas. I needed their address so I Facebooked Brittany about it and she gave me what I needed to mail it out there, but then told me something else. "Jarrett! Come visit!" I didn't think I could because I'm a broke college student and I need money to pay for school. However, my dad informed me that McCarran has a really low airport tax so flying there should be easy. I checked on Kayak...BOOM!!!! $500 to get from Dayton to Vegas! I can live with that.
The trip was originally planned for spring break 2014 in March but with SFMM not on daily operation we decided to postpone it to May, as soon as finals week was over. Between that and Banshee Media Day, I knew the season would be off to a good start! That fateful Sunday, I got off work at 7 am, went home, and just passed out knowing I would need sleep to make the flight. When I woke up I finished packing last-minute things (mostly my camera, laptop, and other tech equipment) and left for the airport. My parents, sister and I grabbed lunch at the Friendly's across the street from Dayton, and after finishing it off with an awesome sundae, my mom dropped me off and turned me loose into security.
I knew I was in a prop plane as indicated on my boarding pass, but not such a tiny one! This thing was the size of a city bus and I'm claustrophobic! My first reaction was a big fat NOPE!!!! But I still got a selfie with it. :wink:
I hated that I had accidentally gotten a window seat RIGHT next to the propeller, but it was better than being claustrophobic in the aisle! But then I noticed something; one of my dad's former employers made the propellers for this plane, as indicated by the white stripes on the blade tips.
I then landed in Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, which had this really nice installation where the tunnel from the commuter terminal to the main terminal was.
Grabbed dinner from Great Lakes Brewing Company in CLE, which had the best grilled chicken I could have expected from an airport. Can't wait until next year when I can try the beer it was marinated in!
And from there, the next time I would be on solid ground would be on the other side of the country!
I'm terrified of flying and I did get scared taking off, but the flight was kicked off with a gorgeous view of Lake Erie at sunset.
Didn't know there was still snow in any part of the country that wasn't Alaska in May.
Brittany had given me homework to see The Hangover before the trip so I rented it on my iPad and watched it on the flight over. HILARIOUS movie, I loved it! And it made me even more pumped for Vegas! I was cracking up and some of the people on the plane were staring at me.
We were literally chasing the sun as it set across the country so it took like three hours to go down, but finally, we lost it and night engulfed the desert landscape.
I THOUGHT this was Vegas in the air...
GOON LESSON #1: Don't be looking out for Las Vegas during the flight, you'll know it when you see it. :wink:
From there, I actually filmed our takeoff and landing!
[youtube]http://youtu.be/Cg-89croonQ[/youtube]
Took this with my phone and posted it to Facebook straight after this. Simply captioned, "Viva Las Vegas." I think it got the point of the post across. :wink:
Welcome to Las Vegas! Seeing that giant sign above these gates was so exciting! The second thing I noticed? Slot machines in the terminals. This would actually turn out to be a normal place compared to some of the other places you can see people gamble in Vegas...
Got off of the plane failing to realize just how huge McCarran was...
Once that walk was said and done, you end up at this giant atrium and go down a huge escalator. And then you have to catch one of those metro trains to baggage claim. My cousin sent me a text reading the following:
Once you go outside, the pillars are numbered. We are in front of 22
So I got to the baggage claim and see that the conveyors wrap around blue pillars with numbers on them. I followed them down to 22, and looked around. No Brittany or Paul. This was bad. I told them I was at baggage claim 22, they then told me to go outside and take a bridge. So I found the stairs and went across a bridge that lead to a parking garage. THAT was what I needed to do.
GOON LESSON #2: If you have to meet somebody at Las Vegas McCarran, coordinate EXACTLY where your numbered pillar is. Failure to do so could result in serious confusion.
Walking down the sidewalk next to the numbered pillars was the home stretch, but it felt so long, especially since it had taken me so long to get there! When I passed 23, I saw Brittany sitting next to their car and I immediately ran over and hugged her. It felt so good being with family again! I got in the car, shook Paul's hand, and off we went to their apartment. I got there, set my stuff down by the futon I had been assigned, and decided to go get dinner at a place called Longhorn Casino they had informed me was inexpensive.
Walking into Longhorn I instantly felt like my eyes were being assaulted. All these flashing lights and slot machines and mirrors to make it look even more expansive. Gambling was only recently legalized in Ohio back in 2009 and it had everybody talking, so seeing this huge shift of attitude was crazy. Onto the restaurant, I wasn't sure we wouldn't want to grab fast food since I was on a bit of a budget and didn't want to splurge on day 1, but Brittany told me it was cheap, so I took her word for it...
GOON LESSON #3: Everything bar tourism and gambling is dirt cheap in Vegas.
After a very long flight, this was my dinner. Steak, lobster, mixed vegetables, mashed potatoes, and a relatively large dinner roll. Ten dollars. And it was pretty good.
From there the plan was to go to The Linq and ride High Roller. On our way, we stopped by Brittany's sister Haley's apartment (which is technically her boyfriend's but she lives there) to invite her to go with us. Haley's my age but other than that, we're nothing alike and never really got along, but she was still happy to see a member of the family from the Eastern half of the country family. I got to meet Drew, her boyfriend (who's a great guy), his dog Emmett, and Haley's kitten Prince.
There IS a video of Prince playing with Emmett on YouTube and it's adorable, but it seemed a bit much for CF's family friendly environment because of a conversation between Brittany and Haley. It's called "My Cousin's Kitten Playing With Her Boyfriend's Dog" and it's on my normal channel (2012Jarrett) if you want to find it but I didn't feel like it needed to be posted here.
Brittany had said that Haley never did anything with anybody anymore and I thought that with family around she'd want to break that trend and go to The Linq with us. She didn't and stayed at home, but that didn't matter because VEGAAAAAS!!!! VEGAS BABY!!!!!!
We parked at The Flamingo and went over to The Linq. Walking through the casinos and bars you need to walk through to get there was crazy, but nothing NEAR what I saw outside at The Linq!
GOON LESSON #4: People get drunk in Vegas. Get over it.
Walking through The Linq, we passed so many goofy drunk groups! My personal favorite was this one group with these girls cheering for this guy to jump between the rods holding up a promotional sign in front of a restaurant and cheering when he did. I was laughing at just about everything I saw and Brittany had lived there so long she had been desensitized to their antics.
It's little details like this that can bring an attraction to life. The lights in this fountain were synced with the lights on High Roller.
Walking through High Roller's line, we heard something that sounded like a fire truck siren behind us.
WooooOOOOOOOO!!!!! Turns out it was a group of about ten drunk people running behind us. Brittany and I hustled to the loading station to avoid being stuck in the same cabin as them. In the loading bay, they put us into an enclosure for one car...and the drunk people for the other. From there, I heard one of the drunk guys yell, "I think I'ma take my clothes off on this!" Yeah...glad we got the other one. Upon boarding, we were informed that it is perfectly normal for them to send around empty cabins...Brittany figured out that this was because people vomit on High Roller. Cheers! :drinking:
The view from High Roller was breathtaking at night! You can see for miles! Looking around you you can see the high-rise buildings of the strip, and looking out you can see the sea of lights that makes up the residential/"outskirt" parts expanding into the sea of lights seen on the airplane that eventually continues over the horizon. Such a gorgeous thing they built! Worth every penny of the $35 I spent to ride it.
[youtube]http://youtu.be/AK4BDay5m4s[/youtube]
Here's the video I took of High Roller along with some pictures I got, though there aren't any pictures you haven't seen I don't think.
I also got to see The Flamingo, the casino where my grandparents on my dad's side of the family (both now passed) stayed when we gave them plane tickets for their 50th anniversary.
Such a gorgeous ride! This is the perfect icing on the cake for an already awesome nightlife district like The Linq! It's big, it's beautiful, and it can be seen for miles. I hope this becomes just as much a Vegas icon as Caesar's Palace or Stratosphere Tower.
That being said, this seems like a good time to address the issue of Speed: The Ride, which I thought was supposed to go in The Linq. I think the track color is fine, but maybe it could use a repaint, and maybe a more teal color like Leviathan would suit it. That, black supports, and dark blue trains with a lighting package would work well. Give it a Vegas nightlife theme like High Roller's and play EDM music through onboard audio and complete it with a lighting package that matches High Roller's synced like those fountains and it would be more than its former glory. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought it was supposed to be part of The Linq and I feel like it would work really well.
And then the creepy thing happened. We had to swing by a Walmart to get a few things on our way home. I work third shift at a Walmart in the Dayton area, remember that. We get into this Vegas Walmart at about one in the morning, a time when I would be at work had I been working that night. Checking out, we get to the register and put our stuff down. Making small talk, I noticed that he had the same name as the guy who worked his position at my Walmart. He then asked me where my Walmart was. I told him it was in Dayton. He stopped scanning the groceries and looked up like he had seen a ghost. "I'm from Dayton," he told us in a hushed tone. He has the same name and position as a guy at a Walmart in his hometown, and a guy from that Walmart ran into the guy in Vegas with the same name and position! I'm sorry, that's REALLY creepy on a LOT of levels!
Good night, Las Vegas! I'll be up bright and early tomorrow!
And that day started on Fremont Street!
I got this artistic picture and was expecting to be able to get all sorts of nice shots of this cool structure from inside. However, little did I know that low camera battery would be the least of my worries on the legendary Fremont Street...
I get in there and Brett (Brittany and Paul's roommate who also hails from the Buckeye State) and I are walking down...and I THINK I saw Slenderman over off to the side. I did a double-take, and yup, I saw Slenderman! As many questions as this made my warped little brain spit out, I would quickly learn that I was lucky he was clothed...
GOON LESSON #5: Fremont Street is WEIRD and should be approached with caution by those with innocent eyes. And bring a TON of cash.
Some people make a living by dressing up (or not) in costumes (or nothing at all) and taking pictures for tips. Some of the stuff I saw on there scarred me for life, not gonna lie. I do wish I had taken some of the pictures though. Slenderman would have been cool, along with the obligatory Vegas showgirl picture I could have taken. Next time I'll know to bring enough quarters for a day at Busch Gardens Tampa as well, because hardly ANYTHING can be done on Fremont without cash.
From there we went to grab dinner at Sam's Town, a casino off the strip. My grandpa and grandma used to go to Tunica, Mississippi and this was always my grandpa's favorite casino there, so while being at the one in Vegas wasn't the same, he'd still have been happy I liked it. In it there was this atrium with hotel rooms overlooking it that was decorated to look like you were in the woods with restaurants with patios in the atrium.
Just an innocent waterfall prop...
It was so pretty!
This looks nice, yes, but that elevator would scare the **** out of me.
We went to Willie & Jose's, a Mexican place for Cinco de Mayo. It took them forever to get us a table, and forever to get our drinks out, and I was getting antsy because my first +1 was next on our agenda and it closed in about three hours, and we still needed to drive all the way back to the Strip. I asked Brittany why they weren't prepared to handle a "crowd" consisting of about the same number of people in a typical Ohio restaurant on an off-hour. She then explained to me that it was because they were most likely understaffed. I then learned possibly the most important lesson on the trip. It's a common perception that nobody lives in Vegas, but everybody goes there for gambling and using other venues. As a result, pretty much all of Vegas was understaffed, and the numbers reflect it. Brittany and Paul actually were attracted to the area because of all the jobs there. And it turns out that there are so many jobs and so few people to fill them that a typical Vegas work week is 50 hours instead of the usual 40.
GOON LESSON #6: Vegas has a TON of jobs!
Brittany and I celebrating Cinco de Mayo in Vegas...on the patio of a Mexican restaurant overlooking a fake indoor forest...in Vegas! What an awesome way to spend the holiday!
That seemingly innocent waterfall prop from earlier...it's actually the stage for a lights and laser show! They drew symbols on the rocks and shot water jets up in the air! It was so cool, and I got some sick long exposure shots of it!
Easily the best of the bunch right here...possibly the best of the trip.
We paid and went to the strip for the first +1 of the trip...Manhattan Express at New York, New York!
I had heard enough horror stories about this coaster to know I wasn't getting myself into another Cheetah Hunt, enthusiasts talk about this one like it's a hazing ritual. But I was still excited.
I loved the queue line and the rest of the theming on this coaster, I would love to see other coasters themed to cities. However, the rule board clearly stated,
NO DRUNK PEOPLE. It even cited a Nevada safety law regarding intoxicated people on amusement rides. The group in line in front of us was full of people carrying their tall dumbbell-shaped tumblers full of a frozen drink of sorts that was
obviously alcoholic. They let them right on without batting an eye. That and the group behind us on High Roller that was about to let things get really crazy in the cabin was when I realized just how normal intoxication is in Vegas.
GOON LESSON #7: Las Vegans DO NOT CARE how drunk you are, you pay, you can ride.
...and the train is a taxi cab, so fitting for a roller coaster full of drunk people! :lol:
Ouch! I liked the Premier trains and I love their lap bars (though I'm in a minority with this one, I personally prefer a lap and shin bar over an OTSR) but WHY did they include the little half OTSRs? My weight was not once on it, the lap bar could have done all the work, and all it did was provide something to hit your head on! This coaster could have been amazing without it, but they insist on putting something you can hit your head on...on a TOGO! I had watched the POV before we left for the night (I didn't have the layout memorized coming into this) and I made mental note of which transitions were bound to hurt based on the POV...and even that didn't prepare me for the beating I had to endure! Mahhattan Express doesn't have a storyline, but if it did, it would be, "New York cab driver drives you into a dark alley, beats you up, takes $14 from you, and you end up in the hospital with blunt force trauma to the head."
I will admit, though, it isn't the worst coaster I've ridden. It's not even in my bottom five. However, I think NYNY should do something to replace it. I noticed a traveling structure on the main portion of the ride, and that got me thinking, Gerstlauer should build an Infinity coaster with a traveling structure like Iron Shark's to replace Manhattan Express. Theme the eight-car trains like taxis and build a coaster with a Mystery Mine-esque layout but with road signs before each element (maybe a traffic light on an MCBR that turns green before you drop out) and I think it would be an adequate replacement...assuming it doesn't become the American Smiler.
From there, we headed to the Bellagio to watch the fountain show.
The Vegas Strip is absolutely beautiful at night, but the attitude is crazy! Those "clappers" I heard about in the planning thread? One guy kept clapping his cards with his eye on me waiting for a traffic light to change...so I did my crazy Vegas thing! I took the cards from him...and got a selfie with him! He was holding up the cards and wearing an inappropriate shirt so I can't post it here, but trust me, it happened.
I threw the cards away immediately after because I wasn't going to try and take those through airport security...but I have a selfie to prove it!
I loved that modern-styled elevated pathway.
Hello, Bellagio!
My cousin loves this fountain. It's her favorite spot in Las Vegas. I always thought there was no way it would be mine...until I saw it for myself.
The three songs we heard were "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," "Billie Jean," and "All That Jazz" respectively.
"Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" was first. While it was nicely synced and showed off the capabilities of the fountain, it seriously lacked height.
My favorite part of the trip up to that point was my cousin sharing her favorite spot in Vegas with me.
We moved closer to the center to watch the second show, done to "Billie Jean." This one was my least favorite, but it was still cool.
Fun Fact: The songs played at Bellagio Fountain are decided by Bellagio guests by a multiple-choice vote on a channel in the hotel rooms. You could just sit up there all day and vote on songs and watch the fountain.
Saw this at the Bellagio and thought of you guys... :goon2:
(This really belongs in the "Everyday Things that Remind you of Coasters/CF thread...)
We managed to go dead center for the last show we planned to watch, done to "All That Jazz." The speaker was a tad crackly and popped a bit on the bass but it didn't hurt the experience too much.
This one showed off the height the fountain can reach more than the other two, but it still seemed underutilized.
From there we backtracked through New York New York. I really liked this little city they set up inside.
Manhattan Express looks beautiful overlooking the pool from the skyway between NYNY and the parking garage...
It's shameful that such a beautiful structure upon such a beautiful structure produces such a GROTESQUE ride.
The next day it was off to Circus Circus Adventuredome for +2!
The latest and greatest in Vegas, El Loco, was still completing test runs when we got there...
So we headed over to Canyon Blaster!
Wow! My new favorite Arrow looper! Canyon Blaster is one of those out-of-the-way creds that you never hear about but seriously rocks! The loops are really intense, the turn around Chaos is cool, the corkscrews are relatively smooth even with the awkward banking into them, and the rest of the ride is really aggressive! I love how it goes into and interacts with the rockwork structures and how it gets close to the top of the glass dome before turning around overlooking the entrance to Adventuredome.
From there, it was off to Vegas's baby, El Loco...and it was still testing. A small line had formed so we got in to ride. We started up chat with the family behind us and learned that they were from Iowa and had been to Worlds of Fun, a park I've always wanted to visit. I asked them how they liked it, and the lady replied, "It was great, THE PatriOt was amazing!" No typo, she pronounced the final syllable like the O in "pot" or the IA in "triage," instead of pronouncing it like it should be, like the U in "cut." And then it got even better...her 7-ish-year old daughter corrected her.
After completing block checks, they opened up the gate and we got on!
Everything about this ride is just wrong on so many levels! You go under a few structures into a pretty fast lift which brings you even closer to the top of the dome than Canyon Blaster did, the ride envelope kissing the girders. There's then a nice little turnaround that gives you a really nice view of all of Adventuredome before you turn around and there's this terrifying drop off in front of you. It has the least steep drop of any of the El Locos (which disappointed me) but the way it lifts you out of your seat rivals Maverick's drop. From there you shoot around a curved pullout and up into a turn into the first MCBR. You go into an outward-banked turn from there that provides some odd vectors and lifts you out of your seat a little. From there it's an inward banked turn with banking that gets tighter as you go through it before you're about 90 degrees when you finish the turn...and then the fun begins. It flips you the rest of the way and idles through a very small kink. I fell into my overhead lap bar, it was absolutely terrifying. Next up is a pretty intense dive loop that takes you back up into the second MCBR with a small pop of airtime.. Out of that MCBR is the trick track over the station and out of that, the second dive loop. Taken slower than the first, this one isn't as high up but you idle a bit longer, and the sight of drive tires on the inverted track should give you an idea of how long it suspends you by your lap bar. Overall, best coaster in Vegas. It's messed up, it's smooth, and the airtime/hangtime you get on parts of it is sick. Don't miss this one if you're in Vegas!
There was no line...we rode again! This time in the back, which really made no difference.
...and then did Canyon Blaster again!
Adventuredome was DEAD. They were sending around empty El Loco trains just to keep it from looking down.
Adventuredome has a shot tower called Sling Shot. Take it from me, it's a waste of time. The view you get is nothing you can't get on El Loco or Canyon Blaster and the launch is absolutely vile.
From there we went straight back to El Loco...and look at this! A new for 2014 coaster was a walk-on!
It was so dead the ride ops were cool getting our picture in one of the cars. This was probably our favorite round of the day. We had this awesome new coaster to ourselves, they had turned the audio on, and it was running about the same as it was when the day started.
I had always wanted to ride a Chaos, but Circus Circus's was down.
They had a dremmel out cutting one of the teal pipes, I wonder what that was about... :?
Adventuredome is such a fun little attraction! It doesn't take that long either, anybody should be able to work it into their Vegas vacation if they want to.
Adventuredome pulled out all the stops advertising El Loco. After the park we wnet downstairs to do some souvenir shopping.
GOON LESSON #8: Get any and all Vegas souvenirs you want from Circus Circus...it's CRAZY cheap.
They had shot glasses for $.99. Yes, ninety-nine cents. I got one for my family and one for my friend Patricia along with an "I <3 Las Vegas" key fob, a Circus Circus shirt for me, a keyring for me, and a wine stopper for my parents. Everything was a dollar except for the wine stopper and shirt...they were five.
Such a bargain compared to how they like to rob you at the airport!
My late grandma on that side of the family? This, right here, was her favorite slot machine.
After this it was off to their local grocery store to get stuff for me to make them Korean BBQ for dinner. While there...I noticed this. Gambling at the GROCERY STORE??? :shock:
GOON LESSON #9: Las Vegans will gamble ANYWHERE.
In the laundromat, at the airport, at the grocery store, at a funeral (okay, this MIGHT be a stretch, but I could totally see a funeral home in Vegas with a few slot machines along the walls), there's gambling EVERYWHERE.
One from the last day in Vegas! Brittany showed me their pool and this lounging area.
GOON LESSON #10: There is no grass in Las Vegas.
This was set up on fake putt putt-style turf because grass simply does not grow there. Up until that point, I hadn't even noticed that I had yet to see a single blade of grass on that trip...and now that I thought of it, there was no grass in Vegas! No grass, the only vegetation you see are a few artificially planted rows of brush put in to separate properties and a few palm trees. It was such an odd place!
The next day we braved the 4-hour drive through the desert to get to LA for Six Flags Magic Mountain and Knott's. At first, as a Midwesterner who was used to driving through nothing but cornfields, mountains, and woods, driving through the desert was cool...for the first hour. And then it gets boring.
Sadly, we had to drive through Primm and missed Desperado since it wasn't open on that day.
As boring as it was, there was some pretty cool stuff in the desert. This was some kind of power generator that used mirrors to focus sunlight into the water and make it evaporate, producing steam. Not sure exactly how it worked but that's the idea.
Eventually it got green-er (though it was till technically desert) and before we knew it we were in LA!
And here we are!
Love the retro park entrance!
There was some dispute over the lineup when we got into the park but we ultimately got on YOLOcoaster first. What a great ride! I know it gets a lot of crap but it's one of the most fun coasters I've ridden. The launch from the station is great, the terrifying hangtime in the loop blew El Loco's out of the water, the bit over Superman plaza was gun, and the dive loop was cool. From there, you stop in the tunnel. A lot of the GP was totally taken by surprise on the backwards launch. Out of that, the hangtime on the dive loop is just as insane as it is on the loop, and by the time you've fallen back into the tunnel, you're already having the time of your life. From there it's a somewhat weak but fun rolling launch into a nice intense turn and then the grand finale, not one but two pops of airtime on the loop. The first is pretty weak, the second into the brakes is crazy. Such a great ride!
After Ninja became my new favorite Arrow suspended, we hit Tatsu, which was just running one train. It was a fun ride but I found it a tad slow for what I was expecting. That pretzel loop was so intense, and some of the corkscrews were so much fun! I love it a lot more than Vekoma's version of the product!
I did Goliath next. I like B&M's version of the product better but it was still fun. I like the queue set in the jungle-like foliage.
Did two of the DC Universe creds next. Batman backwards (it's just meh going forwards, but going backwards, OMG!!! I had no idea what was coming next and it was insane. And Green Lantern, HOLY COW!!!! I only got one flip on the turn into the brake run but this is such a cool coaster! Really intense and fun.
GOON LESSON #11: Six Flags Magic Mountain's clientele is **** awful.
Waiting for Green Lantern, there were people running in the queue line, and when I got to the stairs, the stabilizing mechanism was acting funny and rocking one of the cars erratically. Instead of staying calm and saying "Hey, something's wrong," this winner felt the need to yell, "MY ****!!!! MY ****!!!!" over and over again. -_- In a public place. I pulled my camera out afterwards and filmed some, but due to some strong language I'm not linking to it. It's on my YouTube, though, if you really want to see it.
Colossus and Scream were next. Colossus would have been a great wooden coaster had it not been for the combination of tiny rod-shaped lap bars and strong ejector, it hurt my lap SO much! Scream was even worse, I'd go out on a limb and say it's taken Mantis's title as my least favorite B&M.
We then went to Brittany's favorite...X2! The park was dead that day and I walked right on it (something I hear is extremely rare, the universe apparently likes me). Such a terrifyingly great ride! The creepy station music is awesome, and that flip at the top into the drop was just... :shock: !!! That was my first time actually being scared on a roller coaster in a while! The rollovers on the wings being flipped was really disorienting and the raven turns were sick! The only things to hurt it for me were A. The rack and pinion assembly was really loose so while being flipped around, sometimes the cars would buck forwards and backwards about three degrees or so and B. For something with such a massive footprint it was short. If they could make one of these with a smoother pitch/yaw mechanism that was more spread out (a terrain 4D coaster would be AWESOME) it could potentially be my #1.
Viper was next and all I can say was it was good. Best of the mega Arrows in my opinion.
PHOTO ANALYSIS: The front row is having fun, Brett is behind me about to punch me, Brittany was so tiny the ride threw her around like a toy in a painful fashion.
Apocalypse was next. Such a fun GCI! Liked it more than Gwazi, less than Thunderhead. The theming was good, though. It's AMAZING what Six Flags will do if you throw money at them to promote your franchise.
Last +1 of the day was Riddler's Revenge. I have to admit, it's my new favorite B&M standup, and I didn't mind it. My only issue was how it sucks all the blood to your feet and hurts your ankles. Nicely themed station, though. That was a party!
S:EFK had been down all day and by the time we made it up the mountain (and nearly passed out doing so) they were sporadically operating it on and off. We know we weren't going to get on it with a 45 minute wait and how it kept shutting down, there was no way they'd keep it up long enough for us to get on.
Accepting the reality of having been spited on yet ANOTHER 400-foot coaster at a major park (after having been spited on Dragster twice before), we ended the day on a high note. We went to YOLO Sports Bar, I had a glass of water...
GOON LESSON #12: LA's water is NASTY!!!
It tasted like swimming pool water. Brittany had explained on the way over that LA's water was really hard. I didn't know what she meant and to me, tap water has always been tap water (Well, except in Mexico last summer, where it was "elixir of spend your vacation worshiping the porcelain god"
) and I thought this was just a weird Brittany quirk that I would never notice because I'm not as well traveled as she is. I was hot and sweaty and the California sun had been beating down on me all day, so I was looking forward to a nice, refreshing glass of pure ice water filtered from some sparkling natural spring in the mountains like the bottled water companies claim.
BLEGH!!!! I got a mouthful of a pungent chemically taste chilled by ice. I didn't even finish it.
Wanting to end the day on a high note, Brittany and Brett stuck around at YOLO Sports Bar and Paul and I went to catch one more spin on Full Throttle...and we got to ride in the front! Easily the best individual ride of the day! The sun was starting to set, and it had been running for the duration of the really hot day. Needless to say, by then it was absolutely flying! The force into the loop is stronger in the front, and the airtime is better and sustained longer. Definitely a front seat ride!
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Leaving YOLOcoaster, we noticed just how **** awful the plaza built for it was. All these lights and loud dubstep music and that TV that shows people doing...a mix of exciting activities? Full Throttle's a fun coaster and I feel like it would have been received better had it been marketed as such. It was in the wilderness-themed section of the park, theming and marketing it like Wild Eagle would have been perfect. But this is Six Flags.
And then we went shopping. This in itself should be just as much a part of any SFMM visit as X2. Like when I walked into that casino, it was like I was being visually assaulted, only this time with merchandise that catered to the derelicts that frequent the park...
GOON LESSON #13: Shopping at SFMM is a thrill in itself...
YOLOcoaster guy tanks? Really?
SFMM looks beautiful through a camera lens and as a result, I was expecting myself to put it up there with Cedar Point and BGT and Dollywood as one of my favorite parks, but at the end of the day, the outrageous prices combined with the types of park guests it has and some (not all) of the employees, it really made it a dreadful experience. If Cedar Fair had bought it right now as is I'm sure it would be a lot better. Even Knott's was better with their weaker ride lineup and same clientele.
Good night, Six Flags!
[youtube]http://youtu.be/Tl-AoWj5S1c[/youtube]
Here's my SFMM music video!
From there we had to seek out an affordable dining option...so we went to In-N-Out Burger! While Californians rage over how amazing they are, I'm sorry, but I was disappointed. I'm still a Smashburger guy. In-N-Out was pretty much just a Five Guys burger with a McDonald's shake, I didn't see anything special about it.
From there...we had no place to sleep. So we found a Best Western across the street from the hotel with the best view ever.
And their choice of decoration wasn't bad either!
On the last day of the trip, we drove across downtown LA for America's First Theme Park...Knott's Berry Farm!
I was the only one to go in since the admission was so pricey, but even with Xcelerator and Ghostrider down, I was determined to have a good day! Just a goon taking on a theme park solo!
Silver Bullet was the third worst B&M Invert I've ridden ahead of Batman forwards and Raptor. It's not intense, true, but it provides such a smooth ride! And the dumb 13-year old girl in my car couldn't figure out her restraint buckle! I'm sorry, but using your head, how do you undo a buckle that isn't in a car? Pull up!
From there I did Sierra Sidewinder. In line, I heard a kid say, "this is the scariest ride in the park...you go BACKWARDS!!!!" I didn't have the heart to tell him that Boomerang goes BACKWARDS!!!!! upside-DOWN!!!!!!
GOON LESSON #14: Like Busch Gardens Tampa has the most entertaining GP, Knott's has the most entertaining junior GP. Dumb. Kids. EVERYWHERE.
Sierra Sidewinder was actually more insane than I was expecting. It spins like crazy and some of the turns are pretty intense, it absolutely blew me away.
After that, it was time for my
100TH CREDIT!!!!! Montezooma's Revenge was awesome! The launch is so interesting, the loop is incredibly intense in the Schwarzkopf tradition, and I rode in the back, so being slammed into it from the front spike was definitely the best part, closely followed by dangling up on the back spike by just that tiny lap bar. My first Schwarzkopf shuttle loop and that's all it took for me to wish they built more! Much better than the Vekoma Boomerangs of our day. Let's hope the Premier S:UF/Sky Scream/Diavolo/Tempesto/Zombie Ride clones can bring the fun clone coaster back! Kentucky Kingdom needs one!
Jaguar! was next. The theming in the queue was great but it was operating slowly so I had a bit of wait. But the ride was worth it! I love how it interacts with all the other coasters, my favorite being the pass through Montezooma's loop.
From here I went to Boardwalk...yup, Xcelerator was still down for regular maintenance. I nabbed both clone creds there, when I noticed yet ANOTHER dumb instrument of our future generation. Some twelve-year old girl behind me was with her friend on Boomerang. As it pulled us up, she looked forward and hear, "wait, this goes upside-down!?" I didn't have the heart to inform her of the backwards thing and she had to figure out herself. :wink: Preteens being dumb aside, this was, by far, the worst boomerang-style coaster I've ridden. Give it new Carolina Cobra-esque trains and it would probably stop being so awful, but with them literally just having gone over the Boardwalk area and having just repainted the ride, they kind of had a good opportunity to do that that they flat out blew. :? I guess they could do it in the future but I feel like it would have made more sense to do than to do the entire Boardwalk area and then go back over there to update something else, it would look like, "whoops, we forgot this little issue here!"
Coast Rider was next, and I see yet another group of children bound to do something stupid. There were these little nine-year old boys wearing matching t-shirts in front of me in line. Unsupervised. Some adult really decided it was a good idea to turn a group of eight to eleven year-old boys loose in a theme park with no chaperon whatsoever. I don't even HAVE kids (yet...be warned amusement industry, plenty of little adopted Jarretts running around in due time! :twisted: ) and I knew that this was a horrible way to handle them! While waiting, I saw a kid who I assume had left line to use the restroom just crawl under the cattlepen rails and brush past everybody to meet up with his friends. And then they start leaning over the station stairway banister and start screaming and waving at something. I look over at what it could be...ANOTHER kid on the midway wearing the same shirt. They were screaming at him to come [strike]get in[/strike] jump line with them. I'm sorry, but nobody should just turn a bunch of eight year-old boys loose without an adult in a theme park thinking the honor system will keep them in line.
A Jarrett solution to a real problem that plagues Knott's Berry Farm.
I did eventually get on and I have to say, I prefer the small park models, but Coast Rider is the best looking wild mouse I've seen. I love the cars on it! Nice sleek design, and the station looks great too.
I went over to Pony Express...spited on it too. :evil: Taking this picture of my dreams of riding Pony Express, a group of about four girls walked up behind me and sort of stopped in their tracks when they got to the graveyard. Seeing the guy clad in theme park merchandise photographing something carefully, they stopped and asked me, "hey, are these, like,
real?" I was polite and told them no...but these girls looked to be no more than two or three years younger than I was! What kind of real graveyard is in a theme park, built under a roller coaster, plays ominous organ music, and has a little casket leaning up against a fence for a photo op? I'm 19, do any older people in their mid 20's on here see my generation like this or is it really just anybody younger than I am?
I regret not having done Surfside Gliders as I miss Kings Island's flying scooters, but we were pressed for time to get back to Vegas early so we could sleep before turning me loose at the airport. Back to the park, I snapped this picture of something called Calico Mining Co. that I knew was a renovation and not a new ride, but beyond that, I was clueless. Upon some research, I saw that it seems to be a dark ride with a miniature train for a vehicle. The old one actually looked nice, can't wait to see what Mr. Ouimett does with it when it's done.
This is probably also a good time to address what I think Kings Island should do based on what I saw here. First off, restore Flying Eagles. Get another Flying Scooters for Oktoberfest called Flying Eagles (give it a German branding, though, maybe even call it Flying Eagles in German) and put it on the plot that sits between Sling Shot and the pond, so it's half on land and half on water. Give Oktoberfest a much-needed facelift, which could include expanding the Biergarten to accomodate the whole complex and serving brats and kraut there, getting a lighting package complete with a grid for Flying Eagles, Viking's Fury, and string lights above. Move Sling Shot to X-Base and paint the structure black, open it in the fenced area to the right when you first walk in that's currently asphalt in front of a few backstage buildings. Next, I think they need to move onto Rivertown because I feel like it didn't get enough love when Diamondback went in, nowhere near as much as Action Zone got for Banshee. Add a Wonder Mountain's Guardian-esque ride themed to a haunted mine in the old Tomb Raider/Crypt building, and use this as an excuse to make Rivertown even more fab. Repaint Diamondback, rip up the blacktop and put down cobblestone below Diamondback and anywhere in Rivertown that lacks them) install some fake rockwork in front of The Beast and modernize the queue (get rid of the midway building entrance for a good start to this). Add animatronics to Whitewater Canyon like they did for Timber Mountain. And redo the train ride, put more scenery on it, clear up the ugly backstage areas it goes through, and maybe have it get "hijacked" like I hear they do here at Knott's. Knott's had its share of flaws, but Kings Island could learn a thing or two from it.
Even with everything down, this is the perfect park to take my family to visit. My mom's usually a non-rider but likes parks like BGW and Dollywood because they're themed nicely, she would have loved Calico Square and Ghost Town. My dad doesn't like heights so the coasters would have been perfect for him. And my sister's up for anything.
I'd love to take them here someday.
Recap of this day...
*I did KNOTT get the creds for Ghostrider and Xcelerator and Pony Express...
*I did KNOTT get to share the park with the friends and family I was with...
*I did KNOTT have any faith in the younger generation leaving the park...
*I would KNOTT get to have another go at this park in the foreseeable future...
Only I could've had fun that day! :goon2:
[youtube]http://youtu.be/l3CkHCMd3XE[/youtube]
We left and went to a place called Sushi Ya. I had just blown my wallet out in LA (it was a rude awakening that the rest of the world hadn't had a huge price drop and that it was just Vegas) and was a little reluctant to go to an expensive Japanese place...
GOON LESSON #15: The sushi in LA gives a LOT of bang for your buck!
DISCLAIMER: Not my image, it's clearly marked in the bottom left-hand corner. I just found it as a visual aid. Mods can remove it if they'd like.
Sushi Ya had these really reasonably priced bento boxes for ten dollars. You have a few meat and sushi roll combinations to pick from, two eggrolls, and miso soup. Ten dollars. I got the salmon with the California roll. However, I didn't even
like sushi, but my problem with it wasn't what most sushi haters don't like. I just don't like nori or most raw vegetables. I had them wrap it in soy paper (virtually tasteless but was more of a bready texture than the gritty nori I don't like) and pass on the cucumber. I was then served some crab and a piece of avocado (I DO like avocado in almost all forms
) wrapped around something like a thin wonton wrapper covered in rice. It was SO good, I ate all six pieces! As an added bonus, they serve edamame on the house when you sit down. I called it "etta-MOMmy." Brittany corrected me and said it was "ETTA-maim." Brett agreed. Paul said it, "ETTA-MA-may." So we had this giant debate over it and then the waitress showed up and I asked her what that soybean-like appetizer was called. She told us, "It's etta-MOMmy." I SHOULD'VE taken Brittany up on the ten dollar bet!
The drive back through the desert was WEIRD. Brittany put one of these bandannas (Brett HAPPENED to leave them laying around in his car) on and started talking like a Western pioneer. Brett soon joined in. Stopping for gas the engineer (me!) had to help the cashier calculate how much gas the trucker had purchased by using the price of the gas by the gallon and the trucker's bill, we passed an abandoned dental office in the desert with a wall missing and the chair and equipment visible inside that we agreed would make the perfect place to shoot a bad YouTube horror movie, we passed a totally random Frisch's Big Boy just sitting in the middle of the desert, drove through Primm with Desperado STILL not operating, it was crazy!
GOON LESSON #16: What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, what's ACQUIRED in Vegas DOESN'T stay in Vegas.
I was sitting on my suitcase the night before because I'm already a heavy packer that brought a lot and I ended up bringing home a computer bag full of cords and camera accessories and a suitcase full of dirty clothes, shotglasses, keychains, mugs, t-shirts, hats, on-ride photos, and the tooth I woke up missing that I found in Paul's pocket. (A cookie to those of you who caught that reference.
)
The next day Brittany dropped me off at McCarran Airport to catch my flight back. Went through security flawlessly bar a ruffle in my shirt showing up on the scanner and took the long, grueling walk back to my gate to catch my flight to connection 1 in Denver...and got my obligatory "in front of the strip in the terminal" selfie.
Adios, Las Vegas! What happens there, stays there!
Look at that! Vegas from above!
Vegas was incredibly weird for a number of reasons, but this shows how it just "ends" into the desert.
I THINK this was Lake Mead...
Getting close to Colorado!
I successfully made my connection in Denver. They switched gates on us without a text alert but I figured it out and then I was on the flight to ORD.
Last picture from the trip. This is me in O'Hare. After reading the book
Allegiant which was set there I was looking forward to using this airport. What a mistake that was! The terminals were full of idiots lollygagging around in the narrow corridors, and when I finally found the gate to Dayton (where I took this picture), they delayed the flight. And then when they finally boarded, we get in line to take off. And then the unthinkable happened. "Ladies and gentlemen, we've been informed that our door popped open so we have to go back and shut it." So we got out of line and taxied back to the terminal...and the guy shut it like a car door! He could have driven out to do that for us! Unbelievable! We landed in DAY a full hour late, and I went to dinner with my family and then work afterwards.
Waking up the next afternoon I had finally calmed down after all the stupidity I had been dealing with for the past 22 hours and I was finally able to get a grip on what had just happened. I went to Vegas! Flew all the way across the country, rode the world's tallest observation wheel at night on the Vegas strip, braved the weirdos on Fremont Street, celebrated Cinco de Mayo in Las Vegas, rode a roller coaster at night on the Vegas strip, rode my new favorite Arrow, walked on a new for 2014 coaster multiple times, visited the roller coaster capital of the world, got my 100th credit, and flew back across the country and STILL got home in time for work! If that's not **** cool, I don't know what is...
...Oh wait, I do!
I WILL BE GOING BACK NEXT YEAR!!!!!
I loved my trip to Vegas and it's been the highlight of my college life to date but I wasn't 21, so drinking and gambling were off-limits for me. And having been able to drink in Mexico where the age was 18, I can safely say that there were a few occasions where a Corona would have been REALLY nice. Not to mention that they might have done something with Speed: The Ride. Maybe I'll even be able to nab Desperado!
Well that's that, it was fun, I can't wait to do it again next year! Thank you all for reading my TR and I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it.
I look forward to posting another one next year when I can drink and gamble like you're SUPPOSED to do in Vegas.
Any Ohio CF-ers want to meet me at the new racino they're building in the Dayton area and show me how to count cards?
(Oh wait, not illegal, but still highly frowned upon, never mind... :roll: )
