The big one. Furie's trip with ECG across the East Coast!
- Thread starter furie
- Start date
MouseAT
Hyper Poster
The floorless trains on Griffon don't make any difference to the forces, and I generally regard the whole floorless idea as a pointless gimmick, but there's certainly something to be said for getting an outside front seat on Griffon. There's just something about hanging over the edge of a 200ft drop and having nothing in front of you.
Excellent trip report, guys. I've been reading along for the last week or so and getting all nostalgic. I'll probably post a few more comments a bit later, but suffice to say I'm glad you've had a great time on the East Coast and that you loved Boulder Dash as much as I did.
Excellent trip report, guys. I've been reading along for the last week or so and getting all nostalgic. I'll probably post a few more comments a bit later, but suffice to say I'm glad you've had a great time on the East Coast and that you loved Boulder Dash as much as I did.
LiveForTheLaunch
CF Legend
Wow, I'm soo jealous you got to go here, along with all the other awesome parks you got to go on during your trip. Busch has certainly been one of my "most wanted" parks though, so I'm glad your opinion of it was a positive one!
Great reports Furie, I've enjoyed reading them all.
Great reports Furie, I've enjoyed reading them all.
I didn't find the trains on Griffon (floorless) made any difference at all. However, we're pretty hardened to these things, so I think that perhaps we don't notice? I've had scarier experiences on Apocalypse/Condor of the floorless variety 
You noticed on the lift hill, but it just kind of gave you a view of the guts of the lift. The rest of the ride, you are looking forwards anyway. I think that it may help a little with the peripheral vision as you speed around, but it wasn't a case of "OMG! There's no floor!". I seriously forgot and didn't notice until Jerry asked "what do you think of the floorless cars?" :lol:
Again, just been on Alpengeist next door, where you don't have a floor
I'd forgotten about Pompeii. Shows how memorable a ride it must be :lol:
Time was really odd at Busch. We had a fair amount of time there, but didn't do a great deal (hence why the time was messed up in my head). In the same time period at SFGtAdv, we rode fourteen coasters or something plus multiple re-rides. Getting around there wasn't that much different to getting around Busch. So it seems odd that we rode so little. There was just no rush though, and no need to rush. You just wandered and enjoyed being in the park.
You noticed on the lift hill, but it just kind of gave you a view of the guts of the lift. The rest of the ride, you are looking forwards anyway. I think that it may help a little with the peripheral vision as you speed around, but it wasn't a case of "OMG! There's no floor!". I seriously forgot and didn't notice until Jerry asked "what do you think of the floorless cars?" :lol:
Again, just been on Alpengeist next door, where you don't have a floor
I'd forgotten about Pompeii. Shows how memorable a ride it must be :lol:
Time was really odd at Busch. We had a fair amount of time there, but didn't do a great deal (hence why the time was messed up in my head). In the same time period at SFGtAdv, we rode fourteen coasters or something plus multiple re-rides. Getting around there wasn't that much different to getting around Busch. So it seems odd that we rode so little. There was just no rush though, and no need to rush. You just wandered and enjoyed being in the park.
As we also discussed, the only part of the elephant I've got is the trunk (and no, not in a euphemistic sense )
I'll do Central Park later, probably after I've got the pigging Facebook upload to work - what I missed on photos at Busch, I more than made up for at Central Park. Too many for me to individually sort and FTP in advance like my usual reports.
)I'll do Central Park later, probably after I've got the pigging Facebook upload to work - what I missed on photos at Busch, I more than made up for at Central Park. Too many for me to individually sort and FTP in advance like my usual reports.
LiveForTheLaunch
CF Legend
^ I'm excitef for your Central Park photos, Furie.. It was actually one of my favourite places in NYC, so seeing photos should bring back some memories!
And damn.. You guys did a lot of driving.
And damn.. You guys did a lot of driving.
Yep, there was a fair bit of driving... more than the length of the UK and back again! :lol:
Last day and Central Park
So we missed a day for New Yorking, but I think we saw most things on arrival day thanks to Jerry's sight seeing tours.
Today I wanted to hit Central Park, it's that one place that you know is famous, interesting and you can get out of the car an walk around. With a 7 hour flight coming up, I fancied the chance of stretching my legs for a few hours.
Jerry managed to get a parking spot pretty close the middle section, just a block or so away. Minor_Furie wanted to take a picture of "one of those funny things":
They're called fire hydrants...
Opposite the entrance was this church... I find it odd to see classic churches here in the middle of the blocks. I guess I shouldn't, as most of our (town) churches of this style tend to be only a 120 years old. Still, I like it.
Had to laugh at the flags at the entrance though. Did nobody understand "thou shalt not worship false prophets"?
There's also a very famous building - due to its shape and stuffs!
We came in to Central Park right by the reservoir. I walked in front of the runners, no realising that they had right of way. The outside is dedicated to people exercising. I guess as this is America, I shouldn't really stop them?
There's no describing the sheer scale of the park. This is a shot across to the other side of the reservoir.
That's the thin section. The park goes right across to the buildings.
We wandered round to the lower side of the park, where the most interesting landmarks are. We only have a few hours, so it's just going to be a half park trip!!!
I love the police Robin Reliants!
If you're not an old enough culture to have your own original castles, build a new one in your park!
They do free Shakespeare with this as a backdrop. Eat your heart out Stafford Castle!
The view was from across the turtle pond! The turtles are neither teenage, nor mutant though - my dreams are dashed!
From the point overlooking the turtle pond from the other way, you get a good view of more park and some ideas of scale. This is a tiny section.
There's lots of wooded paths and things as you head down through the park. It just kept on going and going (and blurring images):
Minor_Furie hated it. He's an uncultured ingrate!
It's lovely. You're so fantastically removed from the city, love it!
Brilliant mix of nature and nasty
Seriously, I love the stark contrast of the lake and trees, with the skyscrapers beyond.
Coming from Liverpool, I guess it was obligatory to see where John Lennon met his demise. I've seen his birth place and his place of death now. Pity I think the Beetles are over-rated
Happiness is a warm gun!
And this is what they call "Strawberry Fields", a place in honour of John being killed. I've now also seen both Beetles related Strawberry Fields!
Forever?
Minor_Furie cheered up a bit when he found some rocks for him and The Kid to climb on!
Again, impressive skyline, framed by trees!
There were squirrels from da hood too!
I spent some time tittering over the way Jerry and The Kid say squirrel "Squerl" :lol:
Apparently Central Park was becoming really run down, and there's been a long process of renovation. The castle was one point, the classic carousel was another:
It's good that they're making the effort, the park is very clean and tidy. I imagine it was pretty nasty when run down.
Some famous buildings!
Again, it looks fantastic. I'd love to live close by and just spend time here lazing about. You can just about see the buildings behind the bridge.
The back end of Trump's summer area where the ice-rink usually is. There's a small kiddie fair he moves in. This coaster isn't on RCDB! Oooooooh!
This is the Grand Hotel!
Reminds me of something Wallace and Grommit would name.
Obligatory bunny shot...
My trip was devoid of real bunnies
We skipped the zoo because it relatively expensive for what they have. Both Minor_Furie and myself spend a lot of time at zoos and safari parks anyway - so we were happy just looking in through the fence.
Minor_Furie found another rock to climb as the old men had a sit down to recover. The Kid took more persuading to clamber than Minor_Furie:
Minor_Furie got to the top in the end:
The Kid wasn't too upset! :lol:
Cleopatra's Needle was on my list of "things to see in the States". So we did.
Needle count = 2 now! :lol:
Not entirely sure about the lobster claws though...
Minor_Furie was not impressed with all my Cleopatra's Needle factoids though - did I mention he's an ingrate?
And that was pretty much it. A wander back to the car and then off to the airport, via some more landmarks.
The traffic was pretty horrendous to the airport, but not as bad as coming over (remember the missed flight and I'd come back to it, all those pages ago?), plus we had about four hours to spare when leaving Central Park.
I reckon it was probably this cab causing problems.
"Which way to Piccadilly Circus?"
We arrived at the airport with three hours spare before departure and said our goodbyes! Then queued long and hard (we queued more for baggage check that week than we did for any ride) to check in.
We got there and... "You don't have a reservation sir, sorry".
What???
Apparently, when you miss a flight, all your reservations are cancelled. When the guy rebooked, they needed to rebook a reservation on the return flight as well!
The girl was a little embarrassed about it, so did her best to help out. They couldn't get me on standby on the flight I wanted (too full and too late), and the same with the 8:00 p.m. flight.
However, she got Minor_Furie confirmed on the 10:00 p.m. flight and me on standby. She said they'd make space for me, as Minor_Furie isn't allowed to fly on his own (so why charge me an adult fair then for him you thieving bastards?)
We had about six hours to kill then in the airport, and no actual guarantee of getting home - great!
We played the waiting game, and the eating game and the waiting some more game. The gate finally opened and I introduced myself (it's first come first serve on standby) and explained the situation. They said they'd let us know.
More sitting and waiting... And more waiting and sitting. Getting tired now, it's been a long week and I just want to know if we're going home.
Announcement "All passengers for flight (whatever) to London Heathrow. We're sorry but this flight has been over sold and we're looking for volunteers to take a different flight tomorrow!"
That's great! They have seven more passengers on the flight than they should have. I'm not only on standby, but I'm behind seven people who actually should be getting on the plane!
More tense waiting then. Fortunately, a few people did come forward and volunteer (hotel overnight, plus food, plus $400 flying vouchers). Then they called my name, and we were both finally on board and heading home. Not such a great flight this one (bad time to fly really) and it was delayed leaving due to somebody not being happy and getting off the plane before it took off (wtf?).
And that about wraps it up, other than dull stuff like a two hour tailback on the M40 and not home until ten hours after I'd expected to be.
All I have left to say is a massive, massive thanks again to Jerry for all the driving, effort, time off, excellent company, etc, etc, etc on this. It was absolutely brilliant across the board (even the low spots like poor Phoenix and Ka being shut). So massive thank you indeed!
And thanks to everyone for going through this epic, it's been fun. I was going to sum up with some further conclusions, but I hope that I've got everything across well enough. I suppose my new Top Ten post says the most about the coaster side of the trip:
Last day and Central Park
So we missed a day for New Yorking, but I think we saw most things on arrival day thanks to Jerry's sight seeing tours.
Today I wanted to hit Central Park, it's that one place that you know is famous, interesting and you can get out of the car an walk around. With a 7 hour flight coming up, I fancied the chance of stretching my legs for a few hours.
Jerry managed to get a parking spot pretty close the middle section, just a block or so away. Minor_Furie wanted to take a picture of "one of those funny things":
They're called fire hydrants...
Opposite the entrance was this church... I find it odd to see classic churches here in the middle of the blocks. I guess I shouldn't, as most of our (town) churches of this style tend to be only a 120 years old. Still, I like it.
Had to laugh at the flags at the entrance though. Did nobody understand "thou shalt not worship false prophets"?
There's also a very famous building - due to its shape and stuffs!
We came in to Central Park right by the reservoir. I walked in front of the runners, no realising that they had right of way. The outside is dedicated to people exercising. I guess as this is America, I shouldn't really stop them?
There's no describing the sheer scale of the park. This is a shot across to the other side of the reservoir.
That's the thin section. The park goes right across to the buildings.
We wandered round to the lower side of the park, where the most interesting landmarks are. We only have a few hours, so it's just going to be a half park trip!!!
I love the police Robin Reliants!
If you're not an old enough culture to have your own original castles, build a new one in your park!
They do free Shakespeare with this as a backdrop. Eat your heart out Stafford Castle!
The view was from across the turtle pond! The turtles are neither teenage, nor mutant though - my dreams are dashed!
From the point overlooking the turtle pond from the other way, you get a good view of more park and some ideas of scale. This is a tiny section.
There's lots of wooded paths and things as you head down through the park. It just kept on going and going (and blurring images):
Minor_Furie hated it. He's an uncultured ingrate!
It's lovely. You're so fantastically removed from the city, love it!
Brilliant mix of nature and nasty
Seriously, I love the stark contrast of the lake and trees, with the skyscrapers beyond.
Coming from Liverpool, I guess it was obligatory to see where John Lennon met his demise. I've seen his birth place and his place of death now. Pity I think the Beetles are over-rated
Happiness is a warm gun!
And this is what they call "Strawberry Fields", a place in honour of John being killed. I've now also seen both Beetles related Strawberry Fields!
Forever?
Minor_Furie cheered up a bit when he found some rocks for him and The Kid to climb on!
Again, impressive skyline, framed by trees!
There were squirrels from da hood too!
I spent some time tittering over the way Jerry and The Kid say squirrel "Squerl" :lol:
Apparently Central Park was becoming really run down, and there's been a long process of renovation. The castle was one point, the classic carousel was another:
It's good that they're making the effort, the park is very clean and tidy. I imagine it was pretty nasty when run down.
Some famous buildings!
Again, it looks fantastic. I'd love to live close by and just spend time here lazing about. You can just about see the buildings behind the bridge.
The back end of Trump's summer area where the ice-rink usually is. There's a small kiddie fair he moves in. This coaster isn't on RCDB! Oooooooh!
This is the Grand Hotel!
Reminds me of something Wallace and Grommit would name.
Obligatory bunny shot...
My trip was devoid of real bunnies
We skipped the zoo because it relatively expensive for what they have. Both Minor_Furie and myself spend a lot of time at zoos and safari parks anyway - so we were happy just looking in through the fence.
Minor_Furie found another rock to climb as the old men had a sit down to recover. The Kid took more persuading to clamber than Minor_Furie:
Minor_Furie got to the top in the end:
The Kid wasn't too upset! :lol:
Cleopatra's Needle was on my list of "things to see in the States". So we did.
Needle count = 2 now! :lol:
Not entirely sure about the lobster claws though...
Minor_Furie was not impressed with all my Cleopatra's Needle factoids though - did I mention he's an ingrate?
And that was pretty much it. A wander back to the car and then off to the airport, via some more landmarks.
The traffic was pretty horrendous to the airport, but not as bad as coming over (remember the missed flight and I'd come back to it, all those pages ago?), plus we had about four hours to spare when leaving Central Park.
I reckon it was probably this cab causing problems.
"Which way to Piccadilly Circus?"
We arrived at the airport with three hours spare before departure and said our goodbyes! Then queued long and hard (we queued more for baggage check that week than we did for any ride) to check in.
We got there and... "You don't have a reservation sir, sorry".
What???
Apparently, when you miss a flight, all your reservations are cancelled. When the guy rebooked, they needed to rebook a reservation on the return flight as well!
The girl was a little embarrassed about it, so did her best to help out. They couldn't get me on standby on the flight I wanted (too full and too late), and the same with the 8:00 p.m. flight.
However, she got Minor_Furie confirmed on the 10:00 p.m. flight and me on standby. She said they'd make space for me, as Minor_Furie isn't allowed to fly on his own (so why charge me an adult fair then for him you thieving bastards?)
We had about six hours to kill then in the airport, and no actual guarantee of getting home - great!
We played the waiting game, and the eating game and the waiting some more game. The gate finally opened and I introduced myself (it's first come first serve on standby) and explained the situation. They said they'd let us know.
More sitting and waiting... And more waiting and sitting. Getting tired now, it's been a long week and I just want to know if we're going home.
Announcement "All passengers for flight (whatever) to London Heathrow. We're sorry but this flight has been over sold and we're looking for volunteers to take a different flight tomorrow!"
That's great! They have seven more passengers on the flight than they should have. I'm not only on standby, but I'm behind seven people who actually should be getting on the plane!
More tense waiting then. Fortunately, a few people did come forward and volunteer (hotel overnight, plus food, plus $400 flying vouchers). Then they called my name, and we were both finally on board and heading home. Not such a great flight this one (bad time to fly really) and it was delayed leaving due to somebody not being happy and getting off the plane before it took off (wtf?).
And that about wraps it up, other than dull stuff like a two hour tailback on the M40 and not home until ten hours after I'd expected to be.
All I have left to say is a massive, massive thanks again to Jerry for all the driving, effort, time off, excellent company, etc, etc, etc on this. It was absolutely brilliant across the board (even the low spots like poor Phoenix and Ka being shut). So massive thank you indeed!
And thanks to everyone for going through this epic, it's been fun. I was going to sum up with some further conclusions, but I hope that I've got everything across well enough. I suppose my new Top Ten post says the most about the coaster side of the trip:
furie said:
I thought I would wait till the end of the report to leave my comment.
What a fantastic report to have read, really enjoyed reading it!
I know how much you were looking forward to this trip (AT Bar in Feb) and it sounds like you had a fabulous time over there with Jerry!
Tis a shame about the likes of Ka and Storm Runner, but nevertheless, you had fun!
Glad you and MF had a great time though, you deserved a good break!
What a fantastic report to have read, really enjoyed reading it!
I know how much you were looking forward to this trip (AT Bar in Feb) and it sounds like you had a fabulous time over there with Jerry!
Tis a shame about the likes of Ka and Storm Runner, but nevertheless, you had fun!
Glad you and MF had a great time though, you deserved a good break!
Cheers Rach - I think anyone who talked to me before knew I was looking forward to it
I still think two major coasters out of 60 down is a pretty good ratio, especially when you consider that as Intamins, they were bound to be spending a lot of time down anyway
I still think two major coasters out of 60 down is a pretty good ratio, especially when you consider that as Intamins, they were bound to be spending a lot of time down anyway
^Who needs an excuse. :wink: Seriously though - I do this kind of thing all the time, but have never been able to do it with a friend (always just the family). So it was fun to go back & ride some coasters I haven't ridden in years (we only re-ride our favorites), but nothing can compare to just being able to meet & spend so much time with someone like Phil. I can't begin to tell you how much that meant to me. We got along perfectly, even when we disagreed & as the kid says "he's just like you", giving further credence that he really is my younger twin.
I have a few photos of our time in Central Park, but they're at home so I have to wait until later tonight to post them (if they're even worth posting at all). I had a great time walking around the park just chatting it up & soaking in the last couple of hours together. Plus it was great for minor_furie & the kid to get to spend some more time together (since the kid had to miss out on most of the week due to school).
Sorry to hear that you encountered more troubles on your departure, but I guess you'll have to chalk it up as another lesson learned. Let's hope the first lesson doesn't get repeated & then you'll never have to worry about the second one. :wink:
At the beginning of the report (if you would have read it from the start) we went to Coney Island. I took the furies straight through Brooklyn on the way there & the long way around on the return to Manhattan. They got to see some of the great neighborhoods like Prospect Park, Brooklyn Heights, Sheepshead Bay, Bensonhurst, Red Hook, etc. We also drove through Harlem at night & they got a view of the Bronx (if somewhat foggy) on our way up to New England. They also got to see Staten island from the other side of the Varazano Narrows, so the only borough they missed was Queens.zcl said:
I have a few photos of our time in Central Park, but they're at home so I have to wait until later tonight to post them (if they're even worth posting at all). I had a great time walking around the park just chatting it up & soaking in the last couple of hours together. Plus it was great for minor_furie & the kid to get to spend some more time together (since the kid had to miss out on most of the week due to school).
Sorry to hear that you encountered more troubles on your departure, but I guess you'll have to chalk it up as another lesson learned. Let's hope the first lesson doesn't get repeated & then you'll never have to worry about the second one. :wink:
LiveForTheLaunch
CF Legend
Loved the Central Park pictures, and if those are the rocks I am thinking of, I have a picture of myself on them. But, I agree with you, the complete comtrast between a park and the big city is amazing, and sometimes when you're in there you barely even remember you're in NYC!
Really loved all the reports!
Really loved all the reports!
Antinos
Slut for Spinners
This was a great report. It took quite a while, and I fell way behind reading it, but it was worth it. It was great to hear about all these parks; a lot of them I will be doing this summer. It's also great to hear some of your opinions. I would have more to say, but there was just so much interesting stuff in this to even mention a few of them. It was a fantastic report though.
Now you can start planning a trip through the midwest! You'd be able to meet up a ton more members too.
Now you can start planning a trip through the midwest! You'd be able to meet up a ton more members too.
