The Veloci crew was so amazing and even congratulated me over the loud speaker during the ride!!! They also gave me a bunch of goodies as a celebratory gift!!!🥹

One of my Top 3 roller coasters

I got to have the best day, I’ve ever had at an amusement park, this Tuesday at Busch Gardens Tampa.

The park was DEAD. Walk-ons left and right. Over 15 total rides in under 4 hours.

However before coming, people on this subreddit kept telling me Montu was the best. That Alpengeist and After Burn were good but they didn’t come close.

I disagreed. Now. After 5 rides on it. Not only is it my favorite Inverted. It’s my 5th favorite coaster of all time.

This past summer we parked ourselves in Europe for a few months (long story) and since we had our dog with us, I was set on visiting parks that could accommodate him. Because he's a baby. So we settled on Phantasialand since we hadn't been since 2019, and our last visit was admittedly a bit rushed.

We took the train from Avignon, rented a car from Cologne, and drove the 30min to the park. Since I'm a dialysis patient, I had set up treatments near Cologne which necessitated the car - and we planned it so that we'd stay at the park checking in on a Thursday, spend half a day Friday at Phantasialand after treatment, Saturday at Bobbejaanland (dogs welcome), Sunday at Phantasialand, and Monday head to Toverland for a few hours after treatment, then travel back Tuesday.

When we arrived my wife's jaw was on the floor with the notion that they would theme a hotel to Charles Lindbergh in Germany of all places. You can do your own research if you have no idea what I'm talking about. The only hotel that allows dogs is Hotel Matamba, which is themed to... Africa lol. While feeling a bit tone deaf for 2026 in my ultra-woke mind, it was pretty nice! The only dog friendly rooms are the ones directly facing the courtyard with the water features but it was pretty spacious and you're SO close to the park entrance, which made for a great stay when my wife wanted to head back for naps.

On Friday I headed straight for FLY since it was brand new for me, and was blown away by the area of Rookburgh. I love how hidden it is from the rest of the park, with the tunneled entrance giving way to a grandiose first view. The mess of FLY track, the music, the steampunk theming, and the hotel and restaurants all create such a fully immersive sensation, ugh, I wish more parks had the time, money, and patience to build areas like this. I would take a heavily themed mid-thrill coaster over intensity any day.

With a wait of only 30 min I hopped in line while my wife found a cozy spot with her book, and my dog enjoyed lots of attention from children running up for pets - so I was told. I have to give credit to Phantasialand for creating a queue that is very deceptive, as the way it winds and weaves, you never have any clue how much more line there is! I love how you slowly descend underground with more rooms revealing themselves. The sign on the front row line split - something I wish more parks had - said 100 minutes from this point! Yikes! So I decided to try that one later.

The locker system is so efficient and by having nothing in your pockets - we get NO NETS below the coaster in the main area. I love this. I hate nets so much. I know - weird.

Since there are no pics really of the FLY station, I was so surprised by the loading situation. You essentially load sideways, and depart the station horizontally. Then as the train picks up speed the track rotates and the cars rotate, bringing you ever so smoothly into the flying position right as you hit the first launch.

What follows is a beautiful mess of positive and negative g's in - for me - a tinier human - some of the most comfortable restraints. I was obsessed with the close fly by elements with the themeing, watching people watch you, and how the coaster plays so well with layers in ducking over and under itself and the ground multiple times. Is it the most intense coaster? No. But it's just so...flowy? Fluid? Well paced is maybe the best phrase.

Overall on our trip I got 5 rides in total - 2 in the front, and my wife, who hates coasters even rode it once! She thought it was fine. (FYI her fav coaster is the Cancan coaster at Europapark)

Other highlights from our Phantasialand trip were more rides on Black Mamba, as last time I only rode it once. Maybe I'm just old, but this coaster has a solid whip to it! I also love how close it gets to the bar at Hotel Matamba, which provides a great viewpoint for some of the initial turns. New since the last time I had been here was the Deep in Africa Adventure Trail which was so much fun! It's essentially a climbing course that traverses over various parts of the coaster, which made for some really fun viewpoints. And - surprise - you get a bit wet.

Taron still sits in my top ten and thankfully it was running just as awesome as I remember it. There's one specific whip in the first half that throws your body so hard from left to right. This coaster is just pure fun for me and I was so happy it still hits.

Colorado Adventure on the other hand - or as I still remember it - the Michael Jackson thrill ride (again look this up if you don't know) did NOT hit like I remembered. This thing threw me around so painfully. Something about those tight turns in the back of the train was just discomfort.

Winjas is also fun. I got a few rides over the trip since those lines are never too terrible. Raik reminds me that going backwards makes me nauseous in my 40s. And Crazy Bats had too long of a line the whole trip for me to hit it again.

Can we last talk about how much I love a good river rapids ride? We all know how great Chiapas is - it gets talked about on here a fair bit. But River Quest 's drop should be illegal! I actually got thrown out of the seat a bit as did everyone on the raft. This is easily in my top 3 River Raft rides. I rode it multiple times with the advantage of having our hotel room be so close for a quick clothes change.

Overall we had a fantastic trip and I'm so excited to have experienced FLY. I wish this park had just one more banger. Where they can physically put the next coaster is anyone's guess however, as I've heard the noise restrictions in the back half of the park around the lake would prevent a coaster from going there. So who knows what's next.

Some other random thoughts:
-My dog loved Rookburgh the most based on how intently he'd watch FLY traverse over his head. Maybe I'm imagining things.

-All the food in their China section was fantastic and really fresh! But overall and compared to other European parks I still find this place lacking a bit compared to how themed the lands are.

-I always love how friendly German people are and how easy it is for me to drive in this country compared to the seemingly incessant road rage I experience in France. Just one silly American's perspective.

-The hotel packed me a really nice breakfast / lunch to go bag for my dialysis days which was very charming

-I really seemed to startle the workers and other guests when I proceeded to buy my dog a small ice cream - maybe this is more of an American thing. We have a dog ice cream shop down the street from us here for example.

Can't even lie to y'all, Fun Spot ATL was a great park to go to. I preferred it over SFOG or Carowinds or all the other parks in the region I've been to because of the service and the ride ops. Food was cheap and way better than other food at (most) parks, ArieForce One was always a walk-on (or a sit-on, where you can just stay on and go again without going around), and I can still remember most of the names of the ride ops there, and not even for just the AFO crew! It was also great to see James there nearly every time. Ofc it didn't have a lineup or was to the level of SFOG, but the vibes of that park and the fact you could hop on go-karts if your thighs were hurting from the bunny hills was wonderful as well. In short I guess you could say that this place was really just built like a carnival with a massive RMC, at the same time i never got carnival "vibes" because of how well maintained and friendly everything was. Really wish it never closed.

Just an all-around banger of a park, so much to do and so many world-class rides piled on top of one another. Not to mention, so many awesome food options and great operations. I did use the fast pass because I was only there for a day and was trying to knock out all the credits. Raging Bull, Maxx Force, Wrath of Rakshasa and Goliath were my favorites!

I am already looking forward to coming back here ASAP.

This ride encapsulates every gimmick that i love in one

1. Great Airtime ✅
   
2. Spinning ✅
   
3. Launches ✅

BIIIG fan of this one. I love how the orange track looks against the sky!

Film cameras and rollercoasters are a great hobby combo IMO!

Btw does anybody know if there's an alliance focused on making art related to coasters, if yes, how to get in and if no, would anybody be interested in joining one?

I'm looking for an image of the old entrance with the sewer grate and the eyes that had blood flowing out of it. (I know they did a variation on that for their halloween event for many years, but I'm trying to find a picture of the original.)

Might post a review and trip report soon!

I went to Holiday World on Saturday for the first time with my kids. Honestly I was a little concerned that visiting a woodie heavy park would be repetitive, painful, or both. What actually happened was one of my favorite days at a park since we started traveling for coasters last year. If you haven't been I highly recommend going on a day where night rides are possible, simply glorious. I would be surprised if we didn't go back a year from now.

#5 Good Gravy 1x - Rope drop, surprisingly not smooth.

My home park has Rookie Racer so I was expecting a smooth coaster with minimal forces. I did like the drop and the positives in the turns. What I didn't enjoy was the rumbling vibration throughout the whole ride. At least my kids aren't scared of the big stuff, one ride was sufficient.

#2-4 are all interchangeable in where I rank them, they are all excellent rides.

Legend 2x (night 1x)

I had heard that Legend and Raven were rough. I’m happy to report that aside from a few minor jolts, Legend was pain free. We loved the twisted, chaotic layout with endless head/arm choppers and surprise elements. My only complaint is that they were only running one train and the ops were the slowest of the major coasters. We ended up waiting about an hour for our first ride. Top notch woodie regardless.

Raven 1x night ride

Raven surprised us, this is my favorite "rough" coaster. The layout is just that good and the pain in odd rows was minimal. If I had to choose I think I enjoyed Raven's sweeping, flowing layout slightly more than the twisting rapid transitions of Legend. Add 500' to the layout and it would've taken the #2 spot at the park even in its current state. Just amazing, at least at night as I didn't get on it during the day.

Thunderbird 5x (Night 3x)

Thunderbird was also a surprise. My only other wing coaster is X-Flight, fun enough but far from a standout. Thunderbird has power that X-Flight and many other mid-size B&Ms could only dream of. I loved the positives in the valleys and the zero-g roll was phenomenal. My favorite launch coaster and one of my favorite B&Ms.

#1 The Voyage 3x (Night 1x)

So much has been said already. I will just say that while Arie is my favorite (I haven't been to Ohio or Florida), The Voyage is much more dauntingly impressive in size and engineering. The way it pummels through the forest, tunnels, and its own structure is mad. Most of the rest of the coasters that I've ridden feel like carnival rides in comparison.

Holiday World is wonderful and deserves most of the praise that it gets. Their full size coasters are all high-quality, one of a kind works of art in what I consider the best setting for a coaster. I would like to see another steel coaster in the future, preferably not something gimmicky like a dive or tilt. I know this sounds cliche but there aren't many terrain RMC I-Box coasters, I would love to see what sort of gem Joe Draves and Holiday World could come up with. Just as long as they always give their amazing woodies the love that they deserve.

Last weekend me and my girlfriend went to Liseberg and Tusenfryd.

On friday we went to Liseberg, it was my third time and her second time. The park was open from 15:00-22:00 and there was a halloween event. We had an amazing time! The coasters are so good, the virtual queue really adds to the experience!

However, the VQ for Balder was closed (how can something virtual be closed..?) so we only did it once, with a wait time of about 30 minutes.

The VQ for Helix only gave timeslots for "right now", this kind of defeats the purpose of a VQ because who is refreshing the app right in front of the entrance of the Helix? We managed to get the VQ 3 times, once we were very luckily just around the corner, the second time we were at the station of the Lisebergbanan and only had 8 minutes before the end of our time slot so we missed it, and the third time we were in the standby queue for Helix but we got an error message trying to join the VQ.

We still had a very good day and I'm not a picture guy so I don't have that many pictures. There are 2 scare zones in the park and they are beautifully themed, just like the rest of the park. The scare actors do a nice job, and if you want to avoid them you easily can. There are also haunted houses, and they are included in the ticket price! The waits were all 30+ mins, and we didn't do any of them.

It was a rainy afternoon and evening, which hurt your face on the Lisebergbanan and the Helix. Thankfully there were also periods without rain. For a ticketprice of only €38, we had an amazing day!

On saturday we went to Tusenfryd, and oh boy what a contrast between the parks. Starting with the ticketprice, it was €60! And the park was only open from 12:00-18:00. Well, everything in Norway is expensive so we gave it a chance.

At the entrance there were no English maps, only Norwegian. The maps didn't show any attractions at all, just some showtimes and the location of the haunted houses. Of course, you had to pay extra for those... The park doesn't have an app, so we had to navigate with google maps. There are signs in the park but some attractions are missing on them. There are also some signs with the park map on them, but they don't show a "you are here", so we had to look around to pinpoint ourselves on the map.

We arrived at rope drop and walked to Storm, one of the best coasters of the park located in the back of the park. When we arrived, the coaster was closed and openend at 12:30 -.- It was a very good coaster but there was an AI poster in the queue... Then we went to the next coaster, Western Express, this one was only open from 13:00-17:30! I have never seen anything like that before.

We did the Speedmonster, which was a very fun coaster! We also did Thundercoaster which was very very rough. We wanted to do it a second time but it broke down. We managed to do all the coasters, except the water coaster because it was already closed for the season.

On the way to the exit we saw another AI sign promoting their cinnamon buns, absolutely afwul. At 16:30 we decided we saw enough and went home. We did every coaster once, except the water coaster and we did the Speedmonster twice.

We were very dissapointed in this very expensive park. I'm glad I got the credits but I will definetely never return to Tusenfryd.

Did any of you have a similar experience in Tusenfryd? I would love to know!

Following the tragic death of Dolly Parton, I planned a mecca to a site that most everyone who has lived in the Tennessee Valley has visited at least once in their lifetime, Dollywood, and the added bonus of a new coaster in NightFlight Expedition was of course appealing.

10/19:

I knew that NightFight (NF) would probably be down at least once in the day, and was mentally prepared.

However, what I was not prepared for the madness that would ensue. When I arrived ahead of opening, no rides were listed as down for the day that were not already known, and joined the masses to walk through Wildwood Grove to Nightflight.

When around 200 people arrived at NightFlight, we were met with this sign:

This was not communicated in anyway, and was disappointing from Dollywood. I understand these things happen, but to not communicate it in anyway is really disappointing. I hope that is an issue if anyone from the park is ready is addressed.

I will add it did not help everything in Wildwood Grove also decided to die alongside NF:

This left me deciding to head for rides on Wild Eagle, Tennessee Tornado, and Blazing Fury (Oh boy), before enjoying Wing of America, and enjoying this sweetie:

You will probably notice I skipped FireChaser Express, I will circle back to that when I break down coasters.

Afterwards, I looped back around to Mystery Mine (another ride I am going to complain about), Big Bear Mountain, Dragonflier, Thunderhead, and Drop Line, before enjoying Lighting Rod and slowing down with the Dollywood Express and Songteller.

The day ended with additional night rides, and hope for NF tomorrow.

10/20:
Arrived at the park completely ready to call NF a bust and look towards a possible 2027 trip. However, when I walk into Wildwood Grove, there was no sign, and what do you know?

However this also lead to a very funny moment where the incorrect chains were set for the queue, leading the general public queue into the wrong section of the building, and everyone having to work through the line to get to the correct location.

Will have more about NF in a bit.

I rounded out my trip with additional rides, plus finally getting a ride on FireChaser express.

Coaster thoughts/reviews/complaints:

Blazing Fury (3x): Where to start. I'm going to say something that might upset some. It's time to reboot the ride ala Fire in the Hole, or rip the band-aid off and use the space for something else (Space/land is another thing I will discuss later). I was excited to ride with water now back for the ride! No water. Dummies/animatronics/some effects & set dressing were close to levels of bad I have never seen. It wasn't so bad it's good, it was just bad. The park needs to decide if they want to go all in on a refurbishment, or decide to retire the attraction. Pretty sad state. Also, one of the effects with a mans head sticking out of a barrel were broken, so now it looks like a guy is watching you and doing something with his hands.

Big Bear Mountain (2x): Fun, long ride and with the trees starting to grow in, is starting to feel a lot more adventure like.

Dragonflier (2x): SFC is such a good ride model, no other notes.

FireChaser Express (1x): Down to one train, and while I like the ride, its not worth the wait that one-train ops puts on the queue.

Lighting Rod (3x): Has taken the title of being my favorite hybrid that is currently operating. Long live the King of trying to throw you out of your seat.

Mystery Mine (2x): I am a huge defender of this coaster. What it is at 100%, its an example of how you theme an outdoor coaster and have a great coaster also. However, during my visit, the music was off for one ride, the canary is now gone, the dynamite/fireball was completely off. It took away from the coaster, and was sad.

If the ride needs a full refurb for effects, its time to do so for the 20th anniversary.

NightFlight Expedition (1x): Such an interesting ride. However I will add one that really needs a pre-show. I had picked up enough storybeats before hand to understand what was going on, but some definitely were not clear about what is happening.

Rocking Boat is such a cool model, and was used in a fun way here. Dollywood has desperately needed another dark ride, and this is a great compromise for a roller coaster and a dark ride.

Thunderhead (4x): I was never the biggest fan of this coaster until now. This visit has changed something about the ride for me. It was just a fun, runaway, insane ride. What a woodie should be.

Tennessee Tornado (3x): A great insight into what Arrow could have been in the 21st century. Forceful, intense, knocks your socks off.

Wild Eagle (3x): Great coaster to ever be based on a Bible verse? This and Thunderbird are what the wing coaster should be like at it's peak.

Dollywood coaster rankings:

1. Lighting Rod
   
2. Thunderhead/Wild Eagle
   
3. Dragonflier
   
4. Tennessee Tornado
   
5. Big Bear Mountain/NightFlight
   
6. Mystery Mine
   
7. Blazing Fury

Overall, really enjoyed my visit, and I am excited to see what is next for the park. I plan to make a post on the topic in the near future, but with space and land becoming a concern, I am sure Herschend needs to decide if they want to add a 2nd theme park, or do they look to build another park in the Tennessee Valley to take pressure off Dollywood.

A question for sure.

I became an enthusiast in 2021, so nearly all of these parks have been visited in the past 5 years. Blue pins represent parks, red pins represent states I’ve visited (whether or not I was there for a park).

My most recent trip was last weekend, where I knocked out Knoebels, Kennywood, and Dorney. I’m planning on getting the upstate New York parks and Canadian parks next year! Where else should I prioritize?

trying to put my personal bias aside, but it genuinely feels like Millie is a brand new ride these past few years.

i will admit, i was disappointed with my first ever rides in 2022. but 2025 and now 2026 have both blown me out of the water.

i guess i’m just curious if it being my #1 is such a crazy take, or if anyone else has felt a large improvement.

(oh, and the restoration of some of the station effects and the dispatch time records are incredible. and the reliability has greatly improved since the new lift motor was installed.)