My long Summer Vacation. (lots of pics)

Typhoid · 07-08-2004, 08:09 PM

Awesome.

You had some pretty good seats for the game.....

*wishes he didnt have to go to Seattle to watch a game*

Jason1 · 07-11-2004, 10:35 PM

Part 2:

So Thursday it was time to head to Hershey, PA. I was there once before, but its been years, probably 10 years or more so I was just a little kid, barely remember it at all. The drive from Pittsburgh to Hershey is normally just over 3 hours, but the damn turnpike had construction like crazy, we were stuck in a traffic jam that set us back about an hour. But all was cool, we still got there at 4, which gave us an hour before we had to get to the park to get the evening passes, which started at 5PM. Got a lot more done that first night than I expected, and we still had the whole day tomorrow. Overall, I had an awsome time at hershey. The crowds were light both days, got a lot of rides and re rides in on everything. I'll post some pics I took complete with captions under them for you guys.

This one is a nice shot with Great Bear, a nice inverted coster on the left, and looming in the background is Storm Runner, new at Hershey for 2004. More on that one later.

Here's a really nice picture of Wildcat taken at sunset. This is one of 2 really awsome wooden coasters hershey has. This one was just really fast and exciting the whole way through, with lots of great airtime.

This is a shot I took at night of Lightning Racer, the other amazing wooden rollercoaster at Hershey. I took it at night without the flash, which means that if there is any camera movement at all the whole shot will blur. So I sat it on a cement border thing and set the timer. Turned out pretty good I think. You cant really tell by this picture, but Lightning Racer is a racing coaster. To trains are dispatched at the same time on seperate tracks, and they race throughout the twisted course. Besides being probably the smoothest wooden coaster ive ever been on, it also had some nice air, a tunnel, and it was all that more exciting with the racing aspect.

Here she is, Hershey's brand new Rocket Coaster, Storm Runner. Its one of only 3 in the world to use a special new type of Hydrolic Launch. Very powerful. Ive been lucky enough to now have gotten on 2 of the 3 in the world that use this type of launch(more on that in part 3). Anyways in this shot is the station, its got a cool dual loading station, loads from both sides, it really speeds up the loading process. You can see the two openings where the trains come through before they are launched on the right and left sides of the station. Also just barely visible on the far right of the picture is a train about to be launched. The launch was very powerful, 0-72MPH in 2 seconds flat. It then goes into a 150foot top hat, does a few awsome iversion elements, and its over, all in about 40 seconds. But man, its one hell of a 40 seconds. Here are a few other shots of various parts of the ride.

The most amazing thing about Storm Runner was how short the line usually was, and how quickly it moved when it was long. First time I rode the line was completley full, and I still got on in 40 minutes, which is great for a ride this good, especailly considering its brand new. On Friday I got re rides on everything, the crowds were light all day, it was awsome. Saturday we drove to Canton Ohio and on Sunday we visited the Pro Football hall of fame. It was alright, overall I think the baseball hall of fame is better, more to see, but it wasnt bad. After that we drove to Sandusky, OH, which was only an hour and a half drive. Part 3 of my trip report will be the last, and it will cover Cedar Point, the best amusement park in the world, and my experience there, it being my 4th time being there. But thats for another day.

GameMaster · 07-12-2004, 12:01 AM

You took pictures while on the roller coasters, that's cardboard awesome, +rep.

Jason1 · 07-12-2004, 05:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GameMaster

You took pictures while on the roller coasters, that's cardboard awesome, +rep.

Eh...no I didnt. I took pictures of the rollercoasters from the ground...I never took any while riding. Thats against park rules. I would never do that. Besides being pointless, its dangerous to others riding and people on the ground as well. Go ahead and minus rep me if you want, but thats not somthing I did or ever would do.

Typhoid · 07-12-2004, 07:47 PM

Those are some nice pics my friend, + rep just for the hell of it all.

GameMaster · 07-12-2004, 11:57 PM

Sorry for the misunderstanding, I'd never -rep ypu though, you're a good friend.

Jason1 · 07-13-2004, 06:28 PM

Part 3: Cedar Point.

Got to our hotel in Sandusky at around 4ish on Sunday, July 4th. Its a Ramada Inn, we stayed in the exact same hotel last year, its pretty decent, they have a pretty nice outdoor pool. There weather was picture perfect for swimming, so me and my bro took a dip in the pool for an hour or so. Afterwards, we ate at a Ruby Tuesdays. Their Deep Fryer broke after we had all allready ordered, which sucked because my brothers and my food was both chicken which apparently required the use of the deep fryer, so we had to order something else. Anyways there are a few Minigolf-Go Kart places around there, so my and my brother decided to go ahead and play one of the mini golf courses. Twas a pretty fun course with some neat holes, I of course killed my brother, getting 3 hole in ones, 2 of them in the first 4 holes.

on Monday we got to Cedar Point as it was opening and overall I had a great day. I just wish that it wouldnt have been quite so crowded. What follows are pictures with captions, some taken this year, some last year.

This first one is of course Top Thrill Dragster, the tallest and fastest rollercoaster in the world. It is 420 feet tall and goes from 0-120mph in 4 seconds. While it is quite a rush, its too short of a ride, only lasts about 15 seconds, and its just not as good overall as several other rides at Cedar Point. Besides that, it has all kinds of problems, often times its not even running at all. So I guess I was lucky to get another ride on it, but it wouldnt have been the end of the world If I hadnt.

Here is another view of Dragster. On the way up, it just makes a 90 degree turn to the left, on the way down, it rotates 270 degrees to the right, eventually ending up point in the oppisite direction in which it came.

I didnt take this one, but I just had to post it because its such an awsome picture. Really gives you a feel for just how high this thing really is.

I took this one last year, it shows the view as your driving to the park. A pretty neat view I think, almost like a city of rollercoasters rising up out of the water.

This one is of the Mellinnium Force, which is probably the best rollercoaster ive ever been on. It opened in 2000, and when it was built was the tallest and fastest rollercoaster in the world. Its a nice long ride, almost a mile long, and it pretty much has it all. Its fast all the way through, its got awsome drops and some nice airtime, and the high speed turns are overbanked to 122 degrees, which is almost upside down.

This is the final turn on Millennium Force. You can see just how banked the turn is. I took this near the end of the queue line, before you board. You can see the rest of the line underneath.

Here you see the 300ft first drop and first overbanked turn on Millennium Force.

Besides those two, Cedar Point has 14 other rollercoasters(16 total). Its a pretty amazing place I think. This ends my trip report, I hope you enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed writing.