# 6 - Raven - Labor Day 2007

I will not go into too many details since this ride has been discussed in my review of The Raven. I will say that this little coaster does indeed pack a wallop no matter where you ride it. I actually prefer the back seat because the surprise 60 foot drop in the middle of the course is much more intense back there. However, the ride that falls #6 on the overall greatest rides of all time was our front seat night ride during Labor Day Weekend of 2007.

It was the final ride of the day and we were lucky enough to be in lap mode. We had sprinted around for one last ride and were at the head of the pack of people doing the same. We dove in the front seat line and had a total blast. There are no lights at all on the track so the entire ride was in total pitch black darkness. It was easily our best ride of the day. I only wish we would have had a opportunity to ride The Voyage at night. So far that feat has eluded us. As far as the Raven is concerned however, it is a proven fact that the woodies at Holiday World warm up as the day wears on and the best rides are given toward the end of the day. We can definitely attest to that fact thanks to this wonderful ride on a very well-respected coaster.

The Raven sits solidly at lucky number 13 in my Top 20 and this great Labor Day ride comes in at # 6 overall in my best rides ever.

# 7 - Magnum XL200 - NO BRAKES!!!

I feel that as far as steel coasters go, Cedar Point is the best park in the world. Magnum XL-200 is the ride that started it all back in 1989 as the first ever coaster to crack the 200 foot barrier. It is still a great ride as evidenced by its current top 5 ranking in the Golden Tickets.

I have continued to keep this coaster in my top 20 due to a number of great rides I have taken, the best which was in the fall of 2007. This specific ride took place directly before the park was about to close. For those of you unaware, the ride operators begin to close down certain seats in the middle of the train at the end of the day. They keep the front seats and back seats open in order to keep the weight balanced and each train at least half full.

When this happens, the lower weight on the train allows the mid-course brakes at the turnaround point to not kick in which leads to an insane second half of the ride along the bunny hills. This actually happened to us on this ride (we were toward the front) and the coaster was totally out of control. My legs were actually sore from being forcefully thrown into the lap bar going over each and every hill. It was totally dark, the breeze was nice and cool, the view looking out over Lake Erie was great, and the airtime was some of the most intense I have ever had on a coaster.

That adds up to the #7 ranked ride of my life…..so far.

#8 - Top Thrill Dragster - The Bug Ride (Fall of 2008)

Wow. It has been a while since I have posted anything. Hopefully, the consistent readers we have did not totally desert our site. Thanks to running races on two of the past three weekends and traveling to CA on the other, I have not been on here in a long time. In addition with fantasy basketball season ending and fantasy baseball beginning, my computer time has been spent on Yahoo Sports and CBS Sportsline. Yes, I have more than just one nerd activity; I have multiples!

Anyway, thinking back to my 8th greatest ride of all time brought back an actual audible stream of laughter. The ride took place late one night at the Coaster Capital (Cedar Point) when Guy and myself decided to wait the extra time for a front seat ride on TTD. This is normally an extra 30 minutes or so since the front has a huge line due to the nature of the ride. Out of over 10 rides we had never waited the extra time before so on this particular night we decided that the time had finally come.

Neither of us were prepared for what followed. Being that the ride is only 20 seconds or so, I personally did not think a front seat ride would offer that much more. I was wrong. While the ride goes over 120 MPH, the front seat seems much faster due to the unimpeded air that is totally slamming into your face. That, along with the intense 420 foot 90 degree drop made this a very memorable ride. However, it was the choice I made in choosing my seat that was the key decision that night. For some reason, Guy got in first. I normally enter the trains first while he goes last but on this occasion our roles reversed. By entering first he rode on the side of the train that had lights the length of the track......and bugs!

When we exited, I had maybe 5 or 6 plastered on my shirt due to our high rate of velocity. Guy had hundreds! He had bugs on his face, his glasses, and both arms. It was hilarious and he spent the next 5 minutes trying to clean bug stuff off himself.

Once this task was completed, we decided that we just had one of our greatest ride experiences. TTD is a great ride on any seat but the front takes the intensity up another level. Just don't forget to send your buddy in first!!

# 9 - Volcano-The Blast Coaster (Spring of 2007)

Continuing on with this series, which is very enjoyable to look back on by the way, I decided on Volcano as my 9th greatest ride of all time.

Back in 2007, Julia came out for a couple of weeks during her track break and we took two outstanding trips. The first was to Virgina and back down through the Carolinas to visit King's Dominion and Carowinds. We processed our season passes at King's Dominion and had a great time there. We rode everything in the park, starting off with the now defunct Hypersonic XLC. By mid-afternoon, we had ridden everything with the exception of the Grizzly which had been down due to problems with one of the trains. We had gotten one ride in on Volcano and it instantly became one of our favorite rides. We decided to leave and go grab a bite to eat and then return that night with the intent to finish the park and get a night ride on Volcano.......on the front.

Up until this point in my coaster riding career (I was at a little over 100 total coasters), I really did not prefer one seat to another. I liked the front seat better but was really not that obsessed with waiting the extra time that a preferred seat requires. I had read on a web site however that a front seat night ride on this monster was not to be missed. We decided when we returned we would ride the Grizzly and then wait the extra time for the front seat on Volcano.

The plan went to perfection as the Grizzly was back running and we walked right on it. We then busted it across the park to Volcano and after about a 30 minute wait, we were rolling around the turn about to have one of the best rides I have ever had.

Simply put, the speed on some of these launched coasters is unbelievable when riding the front. Since Volcano is an invert (the track is above the train) then our view was totally unobstructed. We tore out into the night at over 70 MPH, turned the curve around the mountain and then were launched straight up the volcano itself with fire bursting out everywhere. The ride was totally insane through the inversions on its way back into the mountain where we de-boarded. We were both laughing hysterically the entire time.

Our ride on Volcano was silky smooth with the huge adrenaline rush of being launched out of the station, down the dark tunnel, around the bend and then blasted straight up and out of the top of the mountain. Everything else was just gravy after that unbelievable start.

In summary, riding this coaster at night is a must for every coaster enthusiast. The launches, the special effects, the super-slow inversions, and the smoothness make this a unique experience for even the most veteran coaster rider. The good thing is that the next year I got to experience this same identical ride with Guy under the same circumstances. And just like my previous ride, this one was also a "blast".

# 10 - A Night Ride on the Boardwalk

When beginning this series, I could not think of a better place to start than on the # 1 ranked seaside amusement park in the world today: The Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk featuring the historic Giant Dipper coaster.

The specific ride I am thinking of took place in the summer of 2006. This was my first summer of obsessive coaster riding and the Dipper was actually an afterthought on a day we visited what was then Six Flags Marine World. The day was ridiculously hot as California can be in the middle of the summer, and we were finished a little after lunch. To kill the rest of the day, Julia told me of an old wooden coaster in the area that she remembered riding as a little girl. We googled directions and headed off.

Once we pulled up, I immediately fell in love with the place. It reminded me so much of all those countless hours spent riding the Cannon Ball at Lake Winnie when I was young. We took a ride on the Dipper as well as the other two coasters in the park, the sky ride, and took a stroll down the boardwalk. We saved enough tickets for one more ride on the Dipper and waited until it was completely dark. That is the ride that makes the top 10 of my greatest coaster rides ever.

The station was rocking as the coaster would pull in and the riders would reach up to high five those in line as the train pulled into the station. We ended up sitting somewhere toward the middle of the train since preferential seating is not allowed and rolled into the tunnel heading up to the track. The coaster itself is totally gorgeous at night with running lights along the rails, the beautifully lit up boardwalk, and the sounds of the Pacific Ocean off to your right. I do not remember a lot about the ride, only the sense of serenity this quaint old woodie offered me during a very chaotic time of my life. It seemed that ride lasted for hours (actually only a couple of minutes) with the wind blowing through our hair, the smell of cotton candy, and the typical amusement park sounds not often heard at larger parks. It was simply a great ride and one that I will always remember and cherish as the Dipper sits rock solidly in my overall Top 20.

Now, here is the good news. During Spring Break, we are headed back out there to stay at the Carousel Hotel with the intention of spending a couple of days in the park itself. On our only two visits so far, we have only stayed for a few hours and not really enjoyed all the park has to offer. This year I am going to ride the carousel and toss the rings in the clown's mouth and put up double digits on the Dipper itself. I can only hope that we receive another ride as great as that one on my first visit to Santa Cruz.

A New Series.........

I think most of you know that I like to count stuff. It has been documented in earlier posts about how the staff here at CoasterReviews keeps up with their rides, their books read, and so on. If there is a site to count stuff, we are members.

In light of that, over the next few weeks, I will be counting down the best coaster rides I have ever taken. I received lots of positive feedback from our "Year in Review" post, so it gave me the idea of listing my ten best rides. Now, please understand this is not simply a list of top coasters. Anyone who visits the site can click on the links to the left and see out Top 20 list. No, this is something more......this is the cream of the crop (I hate cliches....sic) as far as solitary rides taken over the past 3 years. There is a wide variety in the types of coasters. They range from sleek, new scream machines to old fashioned woodies. The one thing they all have in common was that they delivered unbelievable rides.

So, when you count up the 334 coasters I have been on and multiply them by 5 (which is the approximate number of total rides I have) you end up with over 1500 total journeys on roller coasters. Of that massive number, the ten that follow are best. Number 10 should be posted later this week. Thanks for reading and Happy Blogging!!

Trip report - Indiana Beach on Labor Day Weekend of 2008

I'm still getting around to posting some of my trip reports from last year. I have reviewed a large majority of the more well-known coasters I have ridden and am now trying to focus on some of the parks themselves as well as the smaller coasters at those parks. Indiana Beach was a wonderful little park that I had listed as must visit destination due to the famous Cornball Express wooden coaster. In addition to their signature ride, IB has two other woodies (The Hoosier Hurricane and The Lost Coaster of Superititous Mountain), a couple of small steel coasters (Tig'r and Galaxi) and a radical new steel coaster called Steel Hawg which features the steepest first in the U.S. I have reviewed it and Cornball already on this site so if they interest you, feel free to scroll down and read the reviews. Cornball was by far the best ride in the park with a solid 9 rating while Steel Hawg garnered a very high 7 due to uncomfortable trains. The Hoosier Hurricane is an fun little out and back design which goes out over the lake. It was great fun to ride at night but is more of a family oriented type ride than a true thrill machine. I still scored it as a solid 8 which is about a point higher than most enthusiasts would probably score it. However, I am a sucker for the forces provided by fun little wooden coasters and this one was lots of fun.

The other three coasters were well below average although for different reason. The Lost Coaster of Superstitious Mountain was a unique ride offering both forwards and backwards facing seats and a strange feel vertical lift. The problem was that we waited 45 minutes on a day in which the park was virtually empty. Terrible capacity makes this average ride lose a point or so. The other two steel coasters are simply for those who want to get the coaster credits. Tig'r is a bobsled type right without any restraints....just a lap belt and Galaxi is a typical carnival type ride with normally a long line. All three of those rides score in the 5 to 6 range as being nothing really special although the Lost Coaster is a must-ride due to the unique features it possesses.

Other rides in the park include one of the most awesome walk-through spookhouses called Dr Frankenstein's Castle. It has a slight upcharge (about 4 bucks a piece) to keep teens from tearing the place apart. The gags inside are great and the path is very long. There are no live people inside to jump out and scare you, just little gags and lots of darkness.

There is also a drop ride which overlooks the lake, a pretty fun shoot-em up ride called Den of Thieves and a beach type area with lifeguards. We paid a little of 20 bucks for an unlimited ride wristband for the late ride session and had no problems doing everything we wanted to do. We also had a great meal at the restaurant overlooking the lake.

Overall, Indiana Beach was a blast. While definitely not dirty, the park was not as neat Holiday World or Beech Bend and lacked a little in atmosphere due to all the rides being lumped together. There is very little walking necessary to get from one area to the next which is another plus. The park itself scores in the high 7 to low 8 range with it being equally good for thrill seekers and families. The Cornball Express is good enough itself for a visit.

Updated Top 20

To start out the New Year, I always like to re-evaluate my favorite coasters based on rides from the past year. I have made some slight changes for this year with the most notable being a bump up of Ravine Flyer II and Goliath to the Top 10 as well as an addition of The Beast in place of the now defunct Ozark Wildcat. You can see the upated list on the left side of the screen as well as on coastergrotto.com by clicking on any of the pics on the left. For February, we are looking at a trip to Knotts, Magic Mountain, and the Santa Monica Pier as well as Six Flags Over Georgia's opening day on the 28th. I think coaster season has officially begun.

Dollywood Trip Report - Winter of 2008.

November and December are not good months for a roller coaster enthusiast. Unless one is fortunate to live in either Florida or California, most other parks are closed for the season. So following my October trip with Guy to Cedar Point and Holiday World, I figure that was it for my coaster riding until my trip out west for New Years. However, thanks to Ms. Rhonda Ledbetter and the Chattooga High School Chorus, I was able to help "chaperone" a trip to Dollywood and take 12 laps on one of my favorite coasters, Thunderhead.

This was my second year in a row to visit Dollywood. This time I had lots of fun mainly wondering around by myself. I got in 4 laps on Myster Mine as well as another ride on the Tennessee Tornado in addition to my Thunderhead rides. The park has the three coasters listed above plus a dark ride/coaster called Fire in the Hole (which scores in the 5 range and is not really worth its own individual review) as well as a Topple Tower, and a couple of fun water rides which are among the best rides in the park. I definitely avoided the few water rides that were working due to the cold weather but feel free to ride them all if visiting in the muggy summer season.

The park was not crowded at all during our visit. I planned on putting up more laps on Thunderhead, which is the main attraction at the park without a doubt, however there were problems with one of the train which led them to run only one train after lunch. When the park opened, the ride was a walk-on and I rode it 7 times in less than an hour. Like many woodies, some of the early rides were a little rough due to the cold weather and the fact that the track was still warming up. Then just when I took a couple of great rides after lunch, the problem came up with the train and wait times went up to over 30 minutes. However, with only 2 previous rides before this trip, I was able to get a better feel for this great woodie and it is still solidly in my Top 10 although I will be the grade back to a very high 9 instead of the 10 I previously ranked it at. The best seat is by far the very front with rides there being silky smooth with massive pops of air.

Four laps on Mystery Mine did not change my opinion of it. It is still a very fun ride which due to the immersive themeing, is best the first time. It is a Disneyesque attraction which loses a little luster after multiple rides. It is a solid 8 and is a great addition to Dollywood.

The Tennessee Tornado is an Arrow sit-down looper which has a great drop through a tunnel and some massive inversions. Readers of this site know my feeling about inversions and the restraints that go with them, so I will not go into details there. However, the TT is fun and worth a couple of spins when visiting the park. It scores in the 7 range.

Other than the Thunderhead, most people visit Dollywood for the shows and the food. I personally have cannot comment on these parts of the park, but they are consistently ranked among the best in the amusement park industry each year.

Overall, Dollywood is a great place to visit with a great atmosphere and one of the best wooden coasters on the planet. Special thanks to the entire CHS Chorus for letting me tag along and ride some roller coasters with all of you as well as Dr. Perry for the great pics you find posted on this review. I had a great, and surprising, weekend trip full of coaster riding and fellowship.

Buffalo Bill's Trip Report and Desperado Update (Also the 1st Coaster Ridden in 2009)

While most parks are still closed for the winter, there are a few parks in California and Florida that are open year around. Buffalo Bill's Resort and Casino on the California/Nevada border is one of those year around parks that I normally visit on trips to Las Vegas. Using a coupon from the Vegas Entertainment Book, it is possible to ride twice for $7.00 which is about as a deal as one is going to get in the land of eternal sunshine. Julia and myself took a trip out to the resort on January 2nd and had a great time. One of the restaurants inside the resort was running a special on T-Bones for under 8 bucks so we a good meal plus a couple of coaster rides each.

At Buffalo Bills, there are a number of attractions including a log flume (pretty good by itself but better when the laser guns are working.....they were down for repair this last trip), and S and S Supershot launch tower which offers a great view of the surroundings, a Frog Hopper for the kiddies, and c couple of 3D attractions which I normally avoid like the plague due to headaches. The main attraction however is one of the tallest and fastest roller coasters on the planet: The Desperado.

I have reviewed the coaster previously on this site so feel free to scroll down to read it. It is a very fast and intense ride offering different rides based on seat location and how many people are in the train. The main positive is the outstanding view offered of the surrounding desert including the Vegas lights at night and the long line of cars on the freeway. The coaster is simply not placed in an area anyone would think a coaster would be in which makes a fun ride.

At Buffalo Bills, they offer a number of pricing options which can be found on the official website. Wristbands or single ride purchases are possible with discounts for younger children. One warning however. The casino is open 24/7 but the rides have strange hours. Be sure to call before you visit to make sure they are operational. Also, Desperado and the Launch Tower are quickly closed of inclement weather including high winds arise.

In summary, we had another fun trip out to ride one of my special coasters. Too bad I missed the snow (yep snow) on the ground the previous week.