Steve NY
Posts: 123
Registered: 4/27/2008
Rank: Bronze Critic
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 6/2/2008 9:01:45 AM
This past Memorial Day weekend I took a mini-trip to get three of the new coaster credits near me that opened: VooDoo, Dark Knight, and Fahrenheit.
Saturday 5/24/08: Dorney Park
After a two hour and fifteen minute ride, I arrived at my destination: Dorney Park. From the parking lot, Voodoo stood proud and I knew it would be my first ride of the day. Well, I guess that's what basically everyone else though because the second the park opened, whoosh! Everyone flew over towards VooDoo. Thankfully, being the fit individual I am, I made it there before about half of them  .
Considering it being a Saturday, VooDoo's line wasn't overly bad. My first wait probably lasted around an hour and it was an hour of anticipation. All during my wait, the screams of others boomed through the air. Eventually I borded in the back row. After checking the restraints, VooDoo launched with such grace and speed just like Volcano's launch. At each of the spikes, the air was unbelievable and the drops were great as well. Only complaint was the short cycles I got. Later in the day I rode VooDoo 3 more times, each with an hour plus wait.
The rest of my day consisted of riding Dorney's other coaster beasts: Talon, Steel Force, and Hydra. Talon is still my favorite invert because of how forceful it is and just how fun it is. It's still my favorite ride in the park. Dorney also seemed to speed up the loading on it this year. I got three rides on it during the day, with a 30-45 minute wait all three times.
Steel Force's line was pretty much non-existant all day, with my longest wait being 15 minutes. Steel Force is the king of capacity for me (I haven't been on Gemini yet) and it's a good hyper to boot. While it's layout is pretty simple, it still gives good air after all these years. I got probably 6 rides on this during the day.
Hydra's wait was around 30 minutes all day, and I got two rides on it, one in the second row and one in the back. I for one love the jo-jo roll and the first drop is really good in the back. While not as good as Medusa, Hydra still is a respectable floorless.
RIDE TOTALS
VooDoo 4X
Talon 3X
Steel Force 6X
Hydra 2X
Thunderhawk 1X
Hang Time 1X
Musik Express 1X
Sunday 5/25/08: Hersheypark
I didn't get to the park until 10:45 and the park looked to be fairly crowded. After purchasing my ticket, I made my way right on over to Pioneer Fronteir to ride Fahrenheit.
Prior to Fahrenheit's opening, many had concerns over the ride's capacity. After my experience, I can say that they unfortunately are a grim reality. Despite this, I got 4 rides, each with about a 75 minute wait. I rode twice in the back, once in the front, and once towards the middle. The first drop was absolutely insane and had incredible air. Also, the entire ride was very smooth and the Norwegian loop was just as incredible as advertised. The forces were excellent throughout and the whole ride was relentless and very thrilling. Fahrenheit just creeps into my top 10 and is narrowly better than Storm Runner.
Speaking of Storm Runner, I rode the other Intamin creation twice, each with an hour wait. The launch still is arguably the most intense I've experienced and the few elements the ride has are incredible. The flying snake dive is just insanity and Storm Runner is the best "rocket" coaster I've been on.
RIDE TOTALS
Fahrenheit 4X
Storm Runner 2X
Lightning Racer 1X
Wildcat 2X
Claw 1X
Great Bear 1X
Monday 5/26/08: Six Flags Great Adventure
Out of the three parks I was going to visit, this was the one that I was most concerned about in terms of waits and I was unfortunately correct. The park was absolutely packed and sold out of Flash Passes (I've never used one anyway).
Once entering the park, I ran over to the Dark Knight to encounter a 2 hour wait. I stuck out the wait t
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