Cool thread. I've been a coaster fan for years, but I've gotten too poor to go to a lot of parks, what with house, wife, bills, etc. Long post, sorry.
I haven't been to Six Flags in Atlanta in over ten years. Last time I went was a horrible experience, too many people were in the park, lines were huge. Batman was new, the Mind Bender had been renamed Riddler.
Batman was my first suspended coaster, stood in line nearly 2 hours for a 45-second ride. Not even close to being worth it.
Was in line at the Great American Scream Machine (which I've never managed to ride) and the line stopped moving. We'd been there 45 minutes, so we toughed it out. Line was getting shorter anyway as people gave up and left from in front. As we got further up and could see out from the building the line was in, we saw a train stopped halfway up the first hill. The ride was running 2 trains, and there wasn't one in the station, so guess what? After about 25 more minutes that train pulled in, with some very unhappy looking riders. No clue where it had been or why it was stopped on the track. The folks on the train on the lift hill had to get out and climb down, and they shut the thing down.
No problem. Off to the Viper, which no longer exists. Basically a catapult-type launch, a loop, then uphill till it stops, and it falls back through the station backwards. Repeat a couple times and it's done. Our group was next in line when they stopped loading, announced a delay. After 15 minutes they shot it out empty and it didn't make it through the loop. They shut it down and sent us on our way.
We did get on the Georgia Cyclone, and the Ninja.
So we were in the park from 10:30 AM to after midnight (2 hours!!! after closing - they weren't kicking people out of the lines they were in) and got 4 rides.
Superman, Goliath, and Scorcher didn't exist yet.
And the park was filthy. There was not a tree or fencepost in any of the queue areas that wasn't coated layers deep in used chewing gum. Litter was blowing all over the place, and trash cans were full.
Haven't been back since.
Had a better experience at Six Flags St. Louis. Rode Batman, Mr. Freeze (very cool! - no pun intended) Screaming Eagle (which gave both of us a headache,) and the Boss, coolest wooden coaster I've ever been on.
Had another "never going back" experience at Sea World in Orlando. The killer whale show was very good, but what years ago was a dolphin show is some ghey dream sequence with feather costumes, high divers, birds, kites, and a couple of dolphin splashes. Complete waste of time. We were in line for Kraken when they shut it down and turned us away, and Journey to Atlantis was also killed for some reason. We did get to walk though the big tunnel under the fish tank, though. Ooh! Ahh! OK, the water-ski show was OK, too.
Real coaster addiction started in high school on a trip to Busch Gardens in Tampa. Last time I was there, though, Kumba was brand new. They've since built Gwazi, Montu, and Sheikra. Scorpion is a great ride, especially for such a small coaster. Don't walk by it and think, "Nah, never mind." That endless spiral at the end is worth getting back in line a few times. There was also one called Python that no longer exists, first coaster I rode that the first drop wasn't straight ahead, and while it didn't loop, it did have a corkscrew section that went over three times, I think.
Disney has Space Mountain, Rockin' Roller Coaster, and now Everest. Space Mountain seems inconsistent; sometimes I come off of it with a really huge WOW feeling and get back in line, other times I come out with "Why did I bother?" I don't know if they make adjustments from time to time or what, or maybe the two sides are that much different.
Last set of coasters I can think of are Universal Studios. The Hulk is Epic! Dueling Dragons was great, seeing the other coaster come at you 2 or 3 times. They almost wouldn't let me on because of my weight, tried to move me to a "special" seat, but I wanted to ride with my group, and was OK with it. They actually have sample seats out front you can "try on" before you go in, so I knew I was good. Barely. While not a coaster, the Dr. Doom Death Drop is very good, too. Hollywood Rip Ride and Revenge of the Mummy are new since my visit, haven't been on them.
Would love to get out and about onto some of these newer machines. I bet it's been 5 or 6 years since I've been on a roller coaster! Seeing these vids posted had me wasting a bit of time at work this afternoon!!!!
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