2005 - Review of your year in Theme Parks

[sir clinksalot]

Saw this at CoasterFanatics. Thought It'd be fun to see a little review of everybody 's 2005 park reviews, and new to them rides.

2005 a year in review:
Lots of new coasters and parks. Finally broke 100 this year. Big trips included SFOG in April, Bay area in May and PA/NJ in September.

Best new wood to me:
Phoenix at Knoebels. My new #1 woodie certainly didn't disssapoint.
- Honorable mentions go to Lightning Racer (Hershey), GASM (SFOG) and Comet (Hershey)

Best new steel to me:
Storm Runner at Hershey.
- Honorable mentions go to Nitro, Kingda Ka, S:UF (SFOG and SFGADV) and Great American Scream Machine (SFGADV) for not sucking as much as I thought it would.

Best new flat ride to me (non-coaster):
Flyers at Knoebels, Knoebels Bumper Cars. Does it get any better?

Best new water ride to me:
Log Flume at Knoebels. Anybody else seeing a trend here?

Best new drop ride to me:
Acrophobia at SFOG.

Best new dark ride/walk through to me:
Haunted Mansion at Knoebels. I actually got freaked out in a few parts.
- Honorable mention goes to Monsters Inc. at DCA. Very nice replacement for the most screwed up ride ever.

Best new park to me:
Knoebels. The trend continues
- Honorable mention goes to HersheyPark and SFGADV.

Worst new attraction (any kind) to me of the year:
Batman and Robin: Chiller (Robin Side). It's not that it was BAD, but after riding Freeze and Poltergeist in TX I was expecting a lot more.
- Honorable mention goes to Hydra. It would have been the worst but I wasn't expecting anything to begin with.

Best event at a park:
NYE at Disneyland (only event I went to this year)

Best non-event day at a park:
PA/NJ trip. Had 3 of the best coaster days EVER. It's hard to just pick one of the days.

Best post/thread of the year:
Anything I started.  

Best Amusement related news of the year:
Six Flags under new management

Worst Amusement related news of the year:
Paul Rueben on my TV

Worst post of the year:
Anything I posted.   :?

Ride that I had to rethink my opinion of in 2005:
CA Screamin'. They just butchered the ride after the accident. While it's still a great ride and still fun it fell out of my Top 10.

Hopes for 2006:
CA Screamin' get's the trims taken off
Our WDW/USF/IOA/SWO trip in October is awesome.
Make at least 1 coaster trip to the East Coast (were torn between GA/TN/NC and PA/NJ again).

[Bubba Z]

That hurt my brain yesterday when I was on Ted's site. Actually I copied and pasted it into Microsoft word to work on it and I still haven't finished it yet.. soon my friends, soon.

BTW Gregg,  your avatar rocks  :lol:

ok updated

2005 a year in review:
48 new credits,  Ending the season at SFAW , Breaking 100  and my daughter breaking 25

Best new wood to me:
Dania Beach Hurricane

Best new steel to me:
Return of the Mummy

Best new flat ride to me (non-coaster):
TR: FF =PKD

Best new water ride to me:
Splash Mountain

Best new drop ride to me:
Drop Zone PKI

Best new dark ride/walk through to me:
Dante?s Inferno .Williams grove /Spiderman  
 
Best new park to me:
IOA

Worst new attraction (any kind) to me of the year:
TR: TR PKI

Best event at a park:
Grizzly Fest

Best non-event day at a park:
PKI/CEDAR POINT & SFAW

Best post/thread of the year:
My new site Coaster and Cake  :lol:

Best Amusement related news of the year:
wooden coaster installations for 2006

Worst Amusement related news of the year:
Park closings

Worst post of the year:
Chewman  

Ride that I had to rethink my opinion of in 2005:
Hydra, IJST


Hopes for 2006:
Breaking 200

[ChuckR]

2005 a year in review:
Again, lots of new coasters and new parks I went to. Finally made it to CP!

Best new wood to me:
Easily Boulder Dash!
Honerable mentions: Lightning Racer at HP and Wildcat at HP

Best new steel to me:
Easily Superman: Ride of Steel at SFNE, never got so many bruises on my legs from airtime!
Honorable mentions: Kingda Ka, Millenium Force, TTD

Best new flat ride to me (non-coaster):
MaxAir at CP

Best new water ride to me:
I guess the log flume at DP, I didn't go on that many water rides.

Best new drop ride to me:
Hmm, probaly Power Tower at CP.

Best new dark ride/walk through to me:
Haunted Graveyard at Lake Compounce

Best new park to me:
Lake Compounce
Honorable mentions: CP and SFNE

Worst new attraction (any kind) to me of the year:
Corkscrew at CP or Mind Eraser at SFA

Best event at a park:
Commercial Shoot for Ka at GADV

Best non-event day at a park:
CP/GL trip, awesome 3 days!

Best post/thread of the year:
Dont know...

Best Amusement related news of the year:
Toro!!

Worst Amusement related news of the year:
Ka breaking down..

Worst post of the year:
Dont know...  

Ride that I had to rethink my opinion of in 2005:
Hmm...

Hopes for 2006:
El Toro and Ka run flawlessly all year!
Batman side of Chiller is running!
Cali Trip goes great!
Finally get to go out to the Midwest!

[sir clinksalot]

BTW Gregg,  your avatar rocks  :lol:

Yeah, some weird guy took that picture.

BTW, Kristi says I got a package from NJ in the mail today ... Hmmm.

[Nitro1118]

Not gonna do all of that, but here is a very small review:

Best new coaster I rode in 2005- Kingda Ka

Best new theme park I visited in 2005- Busch Gardens Williamsburg

[chilled182]

this year wasnt really all about coasters for me.  This summer was a struggle to stay mentally um, balanced i guess you could say.  I saw Alaska and achieved great feats.  ANd than the rest of the summer i spent alot of time with friends.  

I only got to GADV clementon and knoebels this year.  

I got to ride kingda ka and the commercial shoot and all of that jazz.  For lack of a better term, it was an amazing experience and it was just a time ill never forget.  I dont remember parks by the roller coasters i rode.  I remember parks by the great times i had, things i can remember forever.  The commercial shoot was one of them and i cant thank the park enough for that.


My clementon trip was bittersweet, as they all are anymore.  In one hand.. i have J2.. i my backyard.  But as i look around the park, its just decaying.  Nothing is really left from what i remember.  The worst part ofcourse being jack rabbit.. sitting awaiting its death.  IT just makes me sad.. that was my first rollercoaster.  J2 is sweet, but nothing is going to compare to such a classic.

Upon learning that my HS soccer career was over late in september due to a few injuries.. I retreated to Knoebels.  It went from one of the worst times of my life to one of the best.  For those who know me.. i am an athlete.  I cant sit on the sidelines.  I have to make the plays and i have to be the differance maker and the leader on the field.  And that was over for me atleast until college next year.

So to knoebels i went.  And i got my rides on the phoenix and twister.  2 of my favorite rides.  I love knoebels just because of its atmosphere.. and cannot wait to go back this year.


I go to theme parks to escape life.. when im not in the best of moods or something significant happened to me.  I enjoy parks because i feel like my life is on pause while im there.  I hope to continue going to parks year after year.. and i hope that i can add some more parks to my list this coming season.  WIth any luck.. ill be going on a crazy NOCAL trip.. since i already hit SOCAL.  I might also hit a park or 2 in washington state.

if anyone has any sugestions for that trip, please let me know.  frisbeeking im looking your way.. lol

[SilverBullet]

Best new wood to me:
Only rode Thunderhawk at DP so...yeah.

Best new steel to me:
Kingda ka.

Best new flat ride to me (non-coaster):
Screamin' Swing at Morey's Piers

Best new water ride to me:
Thunder Canyon at Dorney: crazy waterfalls everywhere. Almost got hypothermia on it

Best new drop ride to me:
Only new one was AtmosFEAR at Morey's Piers. It was ok...

Best new dark ride/walk through to me:
One weird walk through on the boardwalk

Best new park to me:
Didn't get to a new park...

Worst new attraction (any kind) to me of the year:
Hydra.

Best event at a park:
Coaster Celebration

Best non-event day at a park:
Dorney Park. Great day, met up with some friends from the summer, amazing weather. No lines.

Best post/thread of the year:
KK breakdown thread on GAdv.com

Best Amusement related news of the year:
SFI's package of coasters.

Worst Amusement related news of the year:
Six Flags under new management

Worst post of the year:
Ka will be torn down.

Ride that I had to rethink my opinion of in 2005:
The Great White at Morey's Piers. I didn't think highly of it til I rode in the back...now my #1 woodie. [/sad]

Hopes for 2006:
Hershey, SFNE, tons of GAdv, Morey's, Dorney
Toro to be great
People to not screw with Mitch's poll

[Metsman.]

Best new wood to me:
 Wildcat at Hershey Park
 
Best new steel to me:
 Superman: Ride of Steel at Six Flags New England
 
Best new flat ride to me (non-coaster):
 maXair at Cedar Point
 
Best new water ride to me:
 Dudley Do Right's Ripsaw Falls at Islands of Adventure
 
Best new drop ride to me:
 Dr. Doom's Fearfall at Islands of Adventure
 
Best new dark ride/walk through to me:
 Adventures of Spiderman at Islands of Adventure
 
Best new park to me:
 Islands of Adventure

Worst new attraction (any kind) to me of the year:
 Great Bear
 
Best event at a park:
 SP Holders Only on Easter at SFGAdv
 
Best non-event day at a park:
 My second day at Cedar Point, no lines for anything but Millie, TTD and maXair
 
Best post/thread of the year:
 THE POST by RJ
 
Best Amusement related news of the year:
 Six Flags sharin' the wealth throughout the chain
 
Worst Amusement related news of the year:
 Mr.Six getting fired
 
Worst post of the year:
 "ZoMGz We LyKe t0tallee n33d a 4d c04ster w1th t3h l00pd3y l00ps!!!"
 
Ride that I had to rethink my opinion of in 2005:
 Superman: Ultimate Flight. It really grew on me this year.
 
Hopes for 2006:
 A boatload of back car rides on Toro!
 Batman: The Chiller to reopen
 Toro is open by Easter!