Vacation Days 1-3

[blueeowyn]

Friday and Saturday
While Java valiently tackled various things around the house and yard (like mowing); I went to be a pin-cushion at the doctor's office, get gas, and run a couple of errands. It took for-bloody-ever to get all that done. I HATE getting bloodwork done and my small, hard to find veins do NOT make it simple. *sigh* We had sort of targeted leaving late morning and made it on the road around 1:00.

The drive went fairly well and we scored some of the Shrek glasses en route. We spent Friday night and most of Saturday visiting Java's grandmother. It was really good to see her and have some nice quality time with her. She is such a neat person and she really seemed to like the gift we took to her. After dinner at Shoneys it was time for us to hit the road again.

Sunday 6 Flags Kentucky Kingdom http://www.sixflags.com/kentuckyKingdom/index.aspx
Unfortunately, despite our understanding, our parking pass didn't work but hey, parking is only $5 and we were maybe 100 feet from the entrance. Got there just as they were finishing the opening whoop-de-do, got wanded (for some reason the Ibuprophen worried them), grabbed a map and away we went. It has been 5 years since we were here (for one day at the beginning of a trip) and while I do have a good memory, there are limits. The construction didn't help.

We missed the bridge to the back part of the park (figuring on getting the big rides done early in case it ended up being a busy day. But awww, shuckydarn, we ended up next to Greased Lightning. Until recently (May 2005), I hadn't ridden an Anton Schwartzkopf shuttle loop since the King Kobra left King's Dominion in the early 90s. And I do enjoy them. The only Schwartzkopf ones I had ridden recently are the SuperDooperLooper at Hershey and the Wildcat (non-looping steel) at Cedar Point. I dragged poor Chris on the one at Six Flags in Texas (http://blueeowyn.livejournal.com/123246.html) and he found them fun.

So we rode Greased Lightning, I think they may have shortened the tail on this one because it doesn't go as high and they break it pretty hard going backwards into the station. Then across the bridge and up the Ferris Wheel to get organized. TALL wheel but very nice. Then off to Chang (B&M?) standup looper. The last time I remember it being pretty rough but this time it was fairly smooth and I am getting better at riding these. Then to T-2 ... what a mistake. The Vekoma Hang-N-Bangs seem to all be some variation of bad or worse. OUCH!

The cut-through at that corner was closed due to the construction of Deluge a hydromagenetic water coaster. It looks to me like a water slide built on coaster principles. I found the mesh over the open areas amusing from my RCT runs. So, back around the park we went and found the carousel. It looks OLD. It looks like it was made from several older carousels (several 'stander' animals on moving poles). Cute ride ... it turns out it was built in 1994 (I checked). Roller Skater is right next to it, a cute kiddie coaster that the cars look like skates. I almost managed to shriek all the way through the ride, just missed it. Java was amused.

Then to Thunder Run which is basically a Hurler clone but a mirror. It was rough but not brutal. Then to visit the sisters. But wait, there is a shootthe chutes and I am getting hot. So we stop to ride it. It is called Mile High Falls, it is actually 100' tall and gets a pretty good WHOMP into the water. They had to add a few inches of water to the attraction before they would let us ride. The walls of water rising up on either side of you when you are in the back are truly an experience. Then the wall that is in front of the boat meets gravity and the COLD water meets you at 9.8m/s/s. It was fun and the observation bridge has 2 sections, one has a plexiglass wall in front, one has that in front of you (with a 2nd wall between them) and a roof. Unfortunately one guy who had a nice looking camera didn't notice the lack of roof in the front viewing barn. You get a pretty neat (and reasonably dry) view from there (though I still instinctively closed my eyes when the wall of water hit.

Then to the Twisted Twins (formerly the Twisted Sisters). It used to be they were Stella and Lola (and there are still some references to the names such as the Stella and Lola diner). Now they are merely the twins. 2 wooden coasters (on steel framing) that duel. They don't race (or at least don't race well) and the patterns are fairly different (not just near mirrors like Lightning Racer at Hershey). We rode the pink near the front, then the blue near the back. Then we took a break and went off to ride the Zeppelins (sort of a swing ride with very little swing but very cute 'zeppelins' holding up the gondolas and get some lunch. Then we went back to Thunder Run, the sisters (one each side), played with the bumper cars (which were OK), Greased Lightning, and stopped by the Road Runner Express which is a Wild Mouse with some nice airtime (we squeaked and squealed appropriately. The theming of the entrance was very nicely done with Acme stuff everywhere. Then we went out to the car to get the camera.

Back inside again to watch the announced 'parade' which was not much of a parade with regard to park employees but did have some cute antique cars and ended up with a large train of kids behind it to be most of the parade. Then we went to the 3D movie which was Hanna Barbara (like at KD) instead of the Justice League and Warner Brothers like the rest of the park. We did some window shopping (couldn't find the shirt in the window that we wanted), took pictures of the carousel, rode it again, snagged some photos of the Shoot-the-Chute (being very annoyed at the guy who blatantly ignored the No Smoking signs), re-rode Twisted Sister, Thunder Run (rough but AIR), Greased Lightning and called it a day.

We admired the antique cars throughout the day with their statues of cute cows in unique patterns and cute signs. Very nice theming for a cute little ride. The setting is a test drive of the cars that you could then buy. There were also some pigs looking out over the tracks. We were also amused by the Flying Dutchman which has nothing to do with Pirates of the Carribean but are flying shoes to ride in.