An EPIC Adventure - A Live & Interactive trip report

[Mad Dog]

Day 7 cont.......

A big part of this trip was to get out of the bubbles of Uni and Disney and get to see some of real America. Having skipped Johnny rockets this gave the perfect opportunity to hit up a local bar for dinner instead.

I really wanted some decent BBQ food on this trip so @Mad Dog suggested a local beer and ribs joint.

We walked in and it reminded me of the kinda place you see on TV where one person throws a punch and before you know it the whole bar is fighting. Perfect.

We had the smoked ribs with home made BBQ sauce, beer batter fries and slaw on the side, to drink was yeungling followed by an IPA. The fact my shirt and shorts were covered in sauce at the end was testament to how good those ribs were.

Bellies full we made for the door but not before having our photos, randomly, with the tin man and cowardly Lion from the Wizard of oz.

I forget the names of the bar, the sauce and the IPA but I'm sure @Mad Dog will be along to help out.

Will get the photos up tonight.

Cross Creek Tavern, in the past a shot and beer mill hunk bar/restaurant......The "Sauce" is Blaine Hill BBQ sauce, a vinegar & tomato based sauce that is reminiscent of the sauce from the local Sunnyside/Gallatin old coal patch village block house establishment that had a dirt floor and bbq pit in the middle of the building. The owner of Cross Creek, Droopy, bought the sauce recipe from Joe Gray, the owner of that old coal patch establishment. Droopy also markets it through the local supermarket chains. It's a great sauce, and it comes in three degrees, the real names being Mild Child, Hot Woman, and BatMan. ....Cross Creek has a 'smoker' building out back, where the ribs and chops are slow cooked. Delicious and inexpensive. A half rack with sauce, a large hard Italian bread roll to soak up the sauce, a huge order of steak fries, and slaw...only $12.98....Quality and a great price. Can't beat that. ...Advertisement over. :thumbsup:

 

[UK-Trigg]

Here are the photos from our day at Kennywood

20180902_165008[1] by UK-Trigg, on Flickr

20180902_165024[1] by UK-Trigg, on Flickr

20180902_144700[1] by UK-Trigg, on Flick

20180902_145940[1] by UK-Trigg, on Flickr

20180902_104621[1] by UK-Trigg, on Flickr

20180902_142956[1] by UK-Trigg, on Flickr

20180902_134429[1] by UK-Trigg, on Flickr

20180902_111054[1] by UK-Trigg, on Flickr

20180902_104017[1] by UK-Trigg, on Flickr


20180902_160521[1] by UK-Trigg, on Flickr

20180902_114059[1] by UK-Trigg, on Flickr

20180902_115806[1] by UK-Trigg, on Flickr

20180902_120342[1] by UK-Trigg, on Flickr

20180902_154452[1] by UK-Trigg, on Flickr

20180902_153717[1] by UK-Trigg, on Flickr

20180902_121906[1] by UK-Trigg, on Flickr

20180902_121823[1] by UK-Trigg, on Flickr

20180902_121727[1] by UK-Trigg, on Flickr

20180902_125035[1] by UK-Trigg, on Flickr

 

[UK-Trigg]

Cross Creek Inn

20180902_182753[1] by UK-Trigg, on Flickr

20180902_182910[1] by UK-Trigg, on Flickr

20180902_182709[1] by UK-Trigg, on Flickr

20180902_182656[1] by UK-Trigg, on Flickr

20180902_174449[1] by UK-Trigg, on Flickr

20180902_172312[1] by UK-Trigg, on Flickr

20180902_182159[1] by UK-Trigg, on Flickr

20180902_172358[1] by UK-Trigg, on Flickr

 

[UK-Trigg]

Day 8 - cedar point

Cedar point is been on my list of parks for years, the main draw for me was always Top Thrill Dragster. We have a version at Thorpe Park back home and it's one of my favorite coasters to ride, ours is only 200ft though.

I'd looked into going a fee times but never managed to factor it into a trip, so this time even though we are still 3.5 hrs away it was too good off an opportunity to miss.

We set off just before 6am @Mad Dog drove and the ride up went surprisingly quick, good company end conversation sure helped passed the time. Before we knew we were crossing the ccausway to CP just in time for opening.

We are soon through the gates and making our way forward towaback of the park, millennium force was only a 15 minute wait so we hit that first, what a first ride of the day. I just love that first drop and it was just the tonic to get is going after the long drive, long by UK standards anyway.

Next we made our way over to steel vengeance, 2 hrs was posted so we skipped by maverick was posting 1.5 hrs so we skipped that too.

Before the trip we had discussed getting the fast pass plus option and it was looking more likely that we would have to put out hands in our pockets.

We headed over to top thrill dragster expecting to be met by another long line. 15 minutes, result. This was it, the ride id so wanted to go in on all these years was now a reality and I could feel myself grinning like a kid as we walked the line. We were soon sat in the car and looking up at the top hat as the train revved up the lights went green and boom,120 mph, 420ft and 17 seconds later it was over, and boy what a ride living up to everything I expected and more. Top Thrill is a solid 10 for me and well up there one of my favorite coasters, so good we went right back round and rode again. Still only 15 minutes and this is how it stayed all day, maybe we wouldn't have to lay down 100 bucks after all.

To be cont.......

 

[Scott W.]

I think the title of this thread is maybe underselling this trip. This is bucket list stuff.

I’m glad you’re having a great time, mate. It looks awesome!

 

[UK-Trigg]

I think the title of this thread is maybe underselling this trip. This is bucket list stuff.

I’m glad you’re having a great time, mate. It looks awesome!

Thanks buddy glad yinz is enjoying the ride.

Spot on in the bucket list, I've already ticked off a fair few.

Can't be long til your trip, looking forward to hearing all about it over a beer on the 22nd :thumbsup:

 

[UK-Trigg]

cont............

After Top Thrill we hit up Magnum XL, Gemini, and the mine train, with what seemed like half the crowd being inline for Steel Vengeance and Maverick the older rides were pretty much a walk on.
I found Magnum and Gemini to be rough and we came off of these coasters feeling pretty beat up the mine ride was much smoother. The girls had other plans today, good job as I don't think they would have enjoyed the beating we took.

Lunch was calling so we hit Coasters Drive in, the place very much reminded me of Mel's at USH, only problem was this place was a rough as the coasters we had just ridden. The whole ordering process here was a mess with neither staff or customers really understanding the system, once you had figured out how to order you go through to wait whilst they pit your order together, the area is small and also contains a fixings bar which was hard to get to as so many people were already in this area waiting for their orders, also the fixings bar was a mess with empty sauces and salad items. We eventually got our food and sat down at a rickety table to eat what turned out to be the worst burger I can remember ordering in a theme parks, soggy bun and a cold patty wasn't enjoyable at all.

After a disappointing lunch we headed back out into the park. We made over towards the Gate keeper which according to the app was a 30 min wait, this is about my limit for standing in line but when we got there the actual wait was 45 so we skipped it deciding to try and hit it on the way out of the park later in the day. Wicked twister however had only a 10 min wait so decided to that instead. I had little to no interest in this ride before we got in line but what a surprise package it was, it was a fun ride and we both came off having enjoyed it.

We headed over to the opposite side of the park where Raptor was down to a 15 mins, again the app had this wrong as it stated well over an hour. Unlike @Mad Dog I love B&M inverts so whilst John got his 421st soda of the day ( It was baking at CP) I hit up Raptor. Fantastic ride, fast and intense with some incredible Gs round the helix some inversions and a great first drop and smooth, everything you expect from a B&M. After Raptor I hooked back up with @Mad Dog to ride Blue Streak, again we had no wait and we soon found out why, that thing is brutal and once again we came off a ride feeling beat up.

Not long after a huge storm cloud descended on the edge of the park it didn't dump any rain on us but the lightening was close enough to shut down the rides for a while, this gave another opportunity to take on more yet fluids. spent a small fortune between us on beverages but they were needed as it must have been over 100 in the park that day and with all the concrete and steel it felt far hotter. Valrayvn was running well over an hour and as good as it looked I wast going to stand in that heat for any ride for that amount of time. Top thrill however was still only 15 mins when we walked by, would have been rude not to ride so I took my 3rd ride of the day, just as much fun as the first.

Corkscrew was up next, Alton towers had a version which was taken out in 2008. As a kid I loved it it but in it's later years it had become painful to ride, because of this I was apprehensive but what the heck, it had no wait so we gave it a blast. My apprehension was correct and once again we came off a coaster feeling like we had been ten rounds with Mike Tyson, this wasn't a fun ride. We headed down to Steel Vengeance but unsurprisingly it was still running over 2 hrs and it neighbor the Maverick not much less. The only way we were going to get these 2 rides was with a fast pass, No way was I going to pull out $100 for these 2 rides, so we decided we would make gate keeper the last ride of the day no matter what the wait. We got there to find it down to 15 mins, in reality it was a walk, winner. I took 2 rides, left side and right side, the left is best but both give a good, thankfully smooth ride. It was now 6 pm so we decided to make tracks and get in the road for drive back down to Pittsburgh. The drive home was a bit slower as we hit a storm and some road works but we got in around 10PM having had a good day out but feeling tired and a little battered and bruised.

Final thoughts on Cedar Park.

A fun coaster park with some decent flats too, the landscaping and planting is a little sparce I thought more could have been done in this area to break up with vast areas of concrete. Shade was hard to come by, especially in some of the lines, luckily we had walk ons for the majority but on busy days this could be a real issue for those who don't like the heat. Some of the coasters, mainly the older ones, are rough to ride and because of this had no re readability for me, the newer coasters were naturally better and I enjoyed Raptor and Millennium Force, however the star of the day and my main reason for going was Top thrill dragster, this was everything I hoped and more and I would have paid the admission price alone for my 3 rides on it. We missed out on 3 of the coasters but whilst I would have liked to have gone on these I wasn't going to wait in line in that heat or fork out for the pass, this didn't detract from the day though as we got in a good ride count for the 8 hours we were in the park

A fun day was had all round and I am glad I went but Cedar Park is one and done for me.

Stay tuned for photos of the day

 

[Scott W.]

Thanks buddy glad yinz is enjoying the ride.

Spot on in the bucket list, I've already ticked off a fair few.

Can't be long til your trip, looking forward to hearing all about it over a beer on the 22nd :thumbsup:

Case is almost packed, money exchanged, all documents printed and one shift of work left to do. Flying out on Friday afternoon and weirdly I'm still not even remotely close to being in holiday mode. Once I get the mandatory pint in the airport, I'm sure I'll be feeling better. I'll send you a message closer to the time to meet up. :toast:

 

[Disneyhead]

cont............

After Top Thrill we hit up Magnum XL, Gemini, and the mine train, with what seemed like half the crowd being inline for Steel Vengeance and Maverick the older rides were pretty much a walk on.
I found Magnum and Gemini to be rough and we came off of these coasters feeling pretty beat up the mine ride was much smoother. The girls had other plans today, good job as I don't think they would have enjoyed the beating we took.

Lunch was calling so we hit Coasters Drive in, the place very much reminded me of Mel's at USH, only problem was this place was a rough as the coasters we had just ridden. The whole ordering process here was a mess with neither staff or customers really understanding the system, once you had figured out how to order you go through to wait whilst they pit your order together, the area is small and also contains a fixings bar which was hard to get to as so many people were already in this area waiting for their orders, also the fixings bar was a mess with empty sauces and salad items. We eventually got our food and sat down at a rickety table to eat what turned out to be the worst burger I can remember ordering in a theme parks, soggy bun and a cold patty wasn't enjoyable at all.

After a disappointing lunch we headed back out into the park. We made over towards the Gate keeper which according to the app was a 30 min wait, this is about my limit for standing in line but when we got there the actual wait was 45 so we skipped it deciding to try and hit it on the way out of the park later in the day. Wicked twister however had only a 10 min wait so decided to that instead. I had little to no interest in this ride before we got in line but what a surprise package it was, it was a fun ride and we both came off having enjoyed it.

We headed over to the opposite side of the park where Raptor was down to a 15 mins, again the app had this wrong as it stated well over an hour. Unlike @Mad Dog I love B&M inverts so whilst John got his 421st soda of the day ( It was baking at CP) I hit up Raptor. Fantastic ride, fast and intense with some incredible Gs round the helix some inversions and a great first drop and smooth, everything you expect from a B&M. After Raptor I hooked back up with @Mad Dog to ride Blue Streak, again we had no wait and we soon found out why, that thing is brutal and once again we came off a ride feeling beat up.

Not long after a huge storm cloud descended on the edge of the park it didn't dump any rain on us but the lightening was close enough to shut down the rides for a while, this gave another opportunity to take on more yet fluids. spent a small fortune between us on beverages but they were needed as it must have been over 100 in the park that day and with all the concrete and steel it felt far hotter. Valrayvn was running well over an hour and as good as it looked I wast going to stand in that heat for any ride for that amount of time. Top thrill however was still only 15 mins when we walked by, would have been rude not to ride so I took my 3rd ride of the day, just as much fun as the first.

Corkscrew was up next, Alton towers had a version which was taken out in 2008. As a kid I loved it it but in it's later years it had become painful to ride, because of this I was apprehensive but what the heck, it had no wait so we gave it a blast. My apprehension was correct and once again we came off a coaster feeling like we had been ten rounds with Mike Tyson, this wasn't a fun ride. We headed down to Steel Vengeance but unsurprisingly it was still running over 2 hrs and it neighbor the Maverick not much less. The only way we were going to get these 2 rides was with a fast pass, No way was I going to pull out $100 for these 2 rides, so we decided we would make gate keeper the last ride of the day no matter what the wait. We got there to find it down to 15 mins, in reality it was a walk, winner. I took 2 rides, left side and right side, the left is best but both give a good, thankfully smooth ride. It was now 6 pm so we decided to make tracks and get in the road for drive back down to Pittsburgh. The drive home was a bit slower as we hit a storm and some road works but we got in around 10PM having had a good day out but feeling tired and a little battered and bruised.

Final thoughts on Cedar Park.

A fun coaster park with some decent flats too, the landscaping and planting is a little sparce I thought more could have been done in this area to break up with vast areas of concrete. Shade was hard to come by, especially in some of the lines, luckily we had walk ons for the majority but on busy days this could be a real issue for those who don't like the heat. Some of the coasters, mainly the older ones, are rough to ride and because of this had no re readability for me, the newer coasters were naturally better and I enjoyed Raptor and Millennium Force, however the star of the day and my main reason for going was Top thrill dragster, this was everything I hoped and more and I would have paid the admission price alone for my 3 rides on it. We missed out on 3 of the coasters but whilst I would have liked to have gone on these I wasn't going to wait in line in that heat or fork out for the pass, this didn't detract from the day though as we got in a good ride count for the 8 hours we were in the park

A fun day was had all round and I am glad I went but Cedar Park is one and done for me.

Stay tuned for photos of the day

Glad you guys had fun. Millinium Force is my favorite coaster ever. That drop and first turn, Oh My! Top Thrill is a hell of a kick in the pants. Very impressive. Maverick is fun but overrated. I like Cheetah Hunt better.

And just a note, heat really isn't a big concern for CP. It's usually freezing there.

Shame you guys didn't have time for Put-in-Bay. It's a small island off the coast there that is nothing but Bars. On second thought, probably a good thing you 2 didn't go out there.

 

[UK-Trigg]

Glad you guys had fun. Millinium Force is my favorite coaster ever. That drop and first turn, Oh My! Top Thrill is a hell of a kick in the pants. Very impressive. Maverick is fun but overrated. I like Cheetah Hunt better.

And just a note, heat really isn't a big concern for CP. It's usually freezing there.

Shame you guys didn't have time for Put-in-Bay. It's a small island off the coast there that is nothing but Bars. On second thought, probably a good thing you 2 didn't go out there.

I can see why you like Millennium Force, it's one hell of a coaster. No need for the bars, we got Jim Beam on tap :freak::grin:

 

[UK-Trigg]

Cedar Point Photos Part 1

20180903_180142[1] by UK-Trigg, on Flickr


20180903_175621[1] by UK-Trigg, on Flickr

20180903_111502[1] by UK-Trigg, on Flickr

20180903_111643[1] by UK-Trigg, on Flickr

20180903_170555[1] by UK-Trigg, on Flickr

20180903_114846[1] by UK-Trigg, on Flickr

20180903_122459[1] by UK-Trigg, on Flickr

20180903_124231[1] by UK-Trigg, on Flickr

20180903_124814[1] by UK-Trigg, on Flickr

20180903_124908[1] by UK-Trigg, on Flickr

20180903_135253[1] by UK-Trigg, on Flickr

20180903_135936[1] by UK-Trigg, on Flickr

 

[UK-Trigg]

Cedar Point Photos Part 2

20180903_140827[1] by UK-Trigg, on Flickr



20180903_141954[1] by UK-Trigg, on Flickr

20180903_140629[1] by UK-Trigg, on Flickr VIDEO CLICK TO SEE

20180903_144332[1] by UK-Trigg, on Flickr

20180903_145307[1] by UK-Trigg, on Flickr

20180903_145704[1] by UK-Trigg, on Flickr

20180903_151218[1] by UK-Trigg, on Flickr

20180903_155529[1] by UK-Trigg, on Flickr

20180903_155815[1] by UK-Trigg, on Flickr

20180903_171914[1] by UK-Trigg, on Flickr

20180903_163644[1] by UK-Trigg, on Flickr

20180903_160151[1] by UK-Trigg, on Flickr

20180903_173634[1] by UK-Trigg, on Flickr

20180903_172907[1] by UK-Trigg, on Flickr

20180903_155424[1] by UK-Trigg, on Flickr

20180903_175920[1] by UK-Trigg, on Flickr VIDEO CLICK TO SEE

 

[Scott W.]

I've not really had that butterfly feeling in my stomach feeling on a coaster in a long time. I had a freakout on Superman at Magic Mountain because I didn't expect it to be so high but that's a different story. Top Thrill Dragster though....just the image of it brings out something inside me.

 

[Mad Dog]

I've not really had that butterfly feeling in my stomach feeling on a coaster in a long time. I had a freakout on Superman at Magic Mountain because I didn't expect it to be so high but that's a different story. Top Thrill Dragster though....just the image of it brings out something inside me.

Second ride on GateKeeper made Mark a bit nauseated. But he was completely cool on Top Thrill Dragster. Top Thrill was really intense to me, but it was fun. It was probably the most intense ride I've ever done....and we did it back to back as it was just about a walk on. Cedar Point had a few really good coasters, but way too many whose rides have really deteriorated from when I rode them previously. As an example, Magnum used to be my favorite coaster. But it was soooo bad now I would never ride it again. There's about six coasters there that are so painful that they really need to be torn down. I would guess the water situation from the lake causes major issues. I've been going to Cedar point since the 70's. I doubt I'll ever go back. The park has certainly been uglified with too much concrete and coasters, many of them terrible. It's no longer the beautiful & diversified park I once knew.

 

[Disneyhead]

Second ride on GateKeeper made Mark a bit nauseated. But he was completely cool on Top Thrill Dragster. Top Thrill was really intense to me, but it was fun. It was probably the most intense ride I've ever done....and we did it back to back as it was just about a walk on.

Top Thrill is an extreme ride in anyone's book.

And great Snoopy pic.

 

[JoeCamel]

Second ride on GateKeeper made Mark a bit nauseated. But he was completely cool on Top Thrill Dragster. Top Thrill was really intense to me, but it was fun. It was probably the most intense ride I've ever done....and we did it back to back as it was just about a walk on. Cedar Point had a few really good coasters, but way too many whose rides have really deteriorated from when I rode them previously. As an example, Magnum used to be my favorite coaster. But it was soooo bad now I would never ride it again. There's about six coasters there that are so painful that they really need to be torn down. I would guess the water situation from the lake causes major issues. I've been going to Cedar point since the 70's. I doubt I'll ever go back. The park has certainly been uglified with too much concrete and coasters, many of them terrible. It's no longer the beautiful & diversified park I once knew.

I wonder if some operators are going too far? The swing tower on I Drive is something I just won't ride. Top Thrill does not look like fun and I have driven a rail at 250+.
Anyway it sounds like you are having too much fun. Driving down or flying?

 

[Mad Dog]

I wonder if some operators are going too far? The swing tower on I Drive is something I just won't ride. Top Thrill does not look like fun and I have driven a rail at 250+.
Anyway it sounds like you are having too much fun. Driving down or flying?

Mark will be driving to Dollywood area and meeting Bob Wadd. They'll be there for a week and then they'll drive down to Florida together.....Top Thrill looked scary as all hell. If I was with just my GF, I'd be too coward to try. But being with Mark, it made it easy to give it a chance, and I'm glad I rode it.Though the lack of hardly anyone in line all day kind of says a lot, namely most are probably intimidated by it. But it is just about as intense as anything you'll probably ever ride in the present. But the intensity wasn't nearly to the degree of that large group of older coasters that are so rough they beat the hell out of your back, neck, head etc. Really really bad. Space Mountain is smooth compared to that bunch of wasted metal.

 

[JoeCamel]

Mark will be driving to Dollywood area and meeting Bob Wadd. They'll be there for a week and then they'll drive down to Florida together.....Top Thrill looked scary as all hell. If I was with just my GF, I'd be too coward to try. But being with Mark, it made it easy to give it a chance, and I'm glad I rode it.Though the lack of hardly anyone in line all day kind of says a lot, namely most are probably intimidated by it. But it is just about as intense as anything you'll probably ever ride in the present. But the intensity wasn't nearly to the degree of that large group of older coasters that are so rough they beat the hell out of your back, neck, head etc. Really really bad. Space Mountain is smooth compared to that bunch of wasted metal.

If it doesn't bang my head I would be happy. I rode Gwazi two months before it closed, that was rough!

 

[Mad Dog]

If it doesn't bang my head I would be happy. I rode Gwazi two months before it closed, that was rough!

Mark said Gwazi was the Badger's ass. He rode it shortly before it closed.........Those CP coasters did a head job too. They spared no parts of the human body......I actually like a little roughness in my coasters. One reason I prefer woodies over steel. But these were way way beyond even my threshhold. Extreme pain is not fun.

 

[UK-Trigg]

I wonder if some operators are going too far? The swing tower on I Drive is something I just won't ride. Top Thrill does not look like fun and I have driven a rail at 250+.
Anyway it sounds like you are having too much fun. Driving down or flying?

Don't be intimidated by Top Thrill it is extreme but the adrenaline rush is awesome and you can't help but come of grinning from ear to ear. Solid 10 for me.

I rode gwazi at the end too, Advil was needed right after. If I remember right @bobwadd and Dianne were with me that day. The only coaster I've ridden that came close to how bad gwazi was at the end was furious baco at port aventura.