Transcript
Speaker: Sunday, Sunday! you ready for the highest and fastest coaster in the world? Are you ready for... This
Speaker: island dares you to come face to face with the beast. The beast. 7,000 feet. You um
Speaker: hear my voice. The Loch Ness Monster. It's Andy Can Andy.
Speaker: wow Oh, no. Mr. Pop. Ready to go.
Speaker: all riders waiting and on top those rap here we are currently experiencing And welcome back to the single wine i am your host lance luarous whatever the hell you want to call me It is August 11th before work.
Speaker: I wasn't going to record an episode until later tonight, but then one of my one of my jobs that I'm supposed to do today got taken off of me because the person canceled. So I'm not complaining.
Speaker: ah It's... ah Excuse me. So um I got an extra hour before work, so I'm going to go ahead and record an episode and ah get it out there to the masses prior to prior to work.
Speaker: So ah we got a lot going on. I got a trip report. I've got... We got a bunch of news because we are in announcement season. We've got... um Haunt stuff starting to pop up.
Speaker: ah It's... We got a ton of stuff... going on right now. Hold on, just finishing up this last note for for news that we got going. and so So we're going to hop straight into it with the trip report because we... I was gone, if you don't know.
Speaker: I was gone. I was... Actually, before before I talk about the trip report, um this weekend, this upcoming weekend, this ah Thursday through Sunday, I will be at Kings Island and Cedar Point for the first ever...
Speaker: Single Rider Line meetup trip. it's going to be at It's going to be Thursday. We all show up to Cincinnati, you know get into town. If you're local, you know don't worry about it.
Speaker: Friday, we're going to be at Kings Island all day long. Saturday, we're going to wrap up any credits we may not have hit at Kings Island, just in case. And then we're going to book ass up to Cedar Point.
Speaker: We're going Cedar Point all day Saturday and all day Sunday. So if you want to come join us, ah let me know. DM me on Instagram ah or Twitter or however you have to get a hold of me.
Speaker: And come join us. ah Housing is obviously closed. But, um you know, if you want to join us, just let us know and I can throw you into the group chat we got going on. So. Come join us.
Speaker: All right. News or not news. ah Trip. So I went to Canada's Wonderland for the first time ever. So I left.
Speaker: Let me take a look at my calendar. When did I leave? So I left last. ah So I left i left the 31st of July. And we stopped by Cedar Point on our way up to Canada's Wonderland just because my girlfriend had not rode Siren's Curse.
Speaker: So we stopped up there, road sirens curse. It was wet. It was breezy. It was not fun. I had to wear a hoodie because it was it was so cold. It was July 31st, and it was like 50 degrees outside.
Speaker: Cedar Point is wild, man. Sometimes it's 90 degrees and 90% humidity, and then sometimes it's 50 degrees and with 20 mile per hour winds and a slight spit of rain you know in the same month.
Speaker: So, you know, it's... It is what it is. But she liked it. It's a good time. I love Siren's Curse. I wish it was three trains. um I'll be doing a live episode during the meetup at some point.
Speaker: but um So ignore. so I'll have a full... ah full ah I've already talked about it, but we'll get everybody else's opinions as well. And then we left Cedar Point after we got some food. we' Went up to Canada's Wonderland. We barely made it there in time.
Speaker: I mean, we had we got in with 15 minutes left. Um, we both really had to pee. So we use the restroom and just barely got in line for Alpen Fury, uh, Alpen Fury. Holy shit.
Speaker: Oh my God. The hype, the hype is there. And the hype is, it lives up to it and it's not close. Um, it's, it's got a powerful launch.
Speaker: It's, It's an intense layout all the way through. I mean, it's genuinely it's disorienting, but like not in a bad way. Like there's some coasters like the inverted boom, like ah like the boomerangs. Those are a bit disorienting, but not in a good way. Those those things are ass.
Speaker: This is just buttery smooth, well designed. It's it's so well put together. So good job, Premier. Yeah.
Speaker: I won't get too much into the ride experience. Just go ride it yourself if you can. Unfortunately, it is two trains. Why Premier or Canada's Wonderland thought that was a good idea is beyond me.
Speaker: um You can't tell me you couldn't have... made that brake run a bit longer and added another block zone so that you could have three trains on this thing. I refuse to believe that um because the line for this thing fucking sucks.
Speaker: It is one of the worst lines I have ever been in. air It's just the turnstiles. ah You get a little bit of shade, but not a ton. ah And the line is almost always out of the queue.
Speaker: I mean, it's we waited over an hour for both of our rides on it. So it's I don't know. Just just expect a long wait, but enjoy it because it's definitely worth it.
Speaker: So Fastlane would be massively recommended for this ride. So um after that, we went to McDonald's because I have never had poutine up until...
Speaker: ah today or up until that that trip. And the amount of things... Okay, back up. For those of you who don't know, I have what's called celiac disease. Basically, I can't eat wheat, gluten, that sort of thing, because it destroys the intestinal lining in my intestines and I can't absorb nutrients from food if I eat it um I do heal from it so if I do eat it it's not like i have to go to the doctor or anything um but if I eat enough of it then I'll just uh I'll essentially starve to death because I won't be able to absorb nutrients from food anymore anyways um
Speaker: The fries at McDonald's in the United States are not gluten-free. Why? i don't know. that's that's a great That's a great question. um The beef flavoring they put into them contains wheat.
Speaker: In Canada and everywhere else in the world, they do not contain wheat, and they are gluten-free. So...
Speaker: I don't know who thought that was you know a good idea to add that to the list of things that are – who at McDonald's corporate thought, yeah, let's let's do this. everywhere Every other country, the fries are gluten-free except here.
Speaker: So I got to have McDonald's fries for the first time in my life. i I get the hype. They're pretty good. I don't think they're as good as Culver's fries or Wendy's fries, but they are good. Um, got to have some poutine from McDonald's. It was all right.
Speaker: I mean, I've been told I had better poutine later in the trip. I'll put it that way. But at the time it was all right. You know, it's, it's McDonald's food. What, what are you, what you asking for?
Speaker: Um, so that was good. We went to the hotel and, uh, went for night two, uh, or for, for night one, woke up, Rope dropped Canada's Wonderland and just got all the credits done. That park is so top heavy. I know everybody says that, but I mean, you've got your big four. You've got Alpenfury. You've got Leviathan. You've got Yukon.
Speaker: ah And I'm blanking. Jesus Christ. I can't think right now. Yeah. Leviathan, Alpenfury, Yukon.
Speaker: And then Behemoth. Yeah. i don't know why I was blanking on Behemoth. But. yeah That park, it's so, the top four are so good. I think Behemoth is probably, probably one of my favorite hyper coasters, if not my favorite hyper coaster.
Speaker: um UConn Striker is the best dive I've ever rode. I know people talk shit about the vest restraints. I personally don't mind them. I think they're fine. Everybody's like, oh, the over-the-shoulder restraints from um from the old B&Ms. I don't like those, honestly. Hot take. I think that's, ah I think that's stupid.
Speaker: um the The layout for Yukon actually feels somewhat complete for a dive coaster. Alpenfury I already talked about. Leviathan is far better than Orion is.
Speaker: um Orion is still better than Millennium, but Leviathan is probably my second favorite giga behind Fury. um I enjoyed Leviathan quite a bit, honestly. um I know that one gets gets some shit for some reason from some people, but that was...
Speaker: At least when I was there, it was running pretty quickly. I mean, it wasn't, to I've heard people say it feels slow and i i don't understand that take. It's ah it's it's cool it's quite fast and quite good if you ask me.
Speaker: ah Behemoth, I know it's just airtime hill after airtime hill, but the airtime you get on it is so nice and none of the trims were on. So even better. ah Thunder Striker at Carowinds, take notes, please.
Speaker: The trips on that are so are so terrible. um That park in general is just it's just really nice. It's really beautiful, really well taken care of. However, everything besides the top four is hot garbage.
Speaker: um Flight deck, garbage. Backlot doesn't even have any of the effects working whatsoever. Garbage. um Yeah, not Not good.
Speaker: So spent the rest of the day there. Hitting everything else. Got most of all the credits. Didn't get any of the kids credits. And we went home after a another Alpenfury ride at the end of the night.
Speaker: Day two in Canada. Went to a Toronto Blue Jays game. Hell yeah. That was awesome. I have never been to a stadium that is this modern.
Speaker: And that's probably one of my favorite ballpark experiences I ever had. I love like well put together modern looking stadiums, whether it's football, basketball, baseball.
Speaker: And ah the only MLB stadiums I've been to are all old or not as modern as they could be. Like Great American Ballpark is relatively modern, but it's not As modern as it could be. I've been to the Oakland Coliseum.
Speaker: that's ah That's the Oakland Coliseum. And it is now getting torn down. ah Yankee Stadium. Been there. it's been That was alright. that was It was a fun experience with the stadium. Isn't anything to write home about.
Speaker: But this ballpark. Oh my goodness. It's so. First off the crowd was super lively. So good job ah Toronto and Canada. ah Second off, it's just pretty. It's so pretty to look at. All the concourse levels are really well maintained. It's clean.
Speaker: i can't I cannot empha reemphasize how clean Toronto is and just and the ballpark as well. the The whole city is the cleanest city I've ever been into.
Speaker: um
Speaker: Blue Jays won. Was a good game. bit of a pitcher's duel at the beginning. But ah Blue Jays held on to the lead after a little bit of pushback from the Royals and got the W. After that, we went home or what we hung out around Toronto, went to this restaurant called The Works, had some more poutine and an amazing burger.
Speaker: And went back to the hotel and got ready to leave. Next day, we went to we were on our way to Chicago. But on the way there, we stopped by Michigan's Adventure. I'd never been here before.
Speaker: but here to get the credits and to leave. And that is exactly what we did. This park is, uh, if this is your home park, I am very sorry. yeah Even shivering timbers. Like, I don't know, man. I, everybody talks, talks that coaster up and I wrote it. I'm just kind of thinking that was okay.
Speaker: I got long legs. So my legs were digging into the back of the restraint. So maybe it wouldn't have been that bad if my legs weren't doing that. Um, but, It was like really rough in some parts and other parts were glossy, smooth.
Speaker: And it's, it's just not consistent. Same with Wolverine wildcat. Some parts were brand new, brand new, brand re just retract. And then this is like, ah you know, and and then the rest is just rough as hell.
Speaker: So a thunder Hawk was closed. So it didn't get to ride that got on Zach zoomer, got on wild mouse and got on corkscrew.
Speaker: Needless to say, I wasn't ah wasn't too impressed with the park, and I don't have any plans on going back unless they get something you know brand spanking new that's worth my time.
Speaker: Left Michigan's Adventure, drove to Six Flags Great America, dropped our stuff at the hotel, got back, went to the park, got night ride or two.
Speaker: We got on Superman and on raging bull. I have been to this park before, so these were all redos for me, but those are two so really solid coasters. And then we went home but back for day two at, or sorry, backup went to the Cubs game the next day because they were playing my Cincinnati reds.
Speaker: That was a great experience. Go into the a Wrigley field. That's such an old ballpark. It's such a classic. Um, The fans there were awesome. They were having a ton of fun. The Reds won.
Speaker: So, you know, I'm happy about that. They wrote they won both days I was there. um Go to Wrigley Field if you can. Got some decent seats. Got some decent tickets. Would suggest.
Speaker: ah Went for a full day to... Or had plans to go for a full day at Great America. Went there. And this is probably the worst operated amusement park that I've been to in quite a while. Almost everything was one train, um except for the ones that required to have two trains.
Speaker: Operations were so in incredibly slow. um None of the stations had groupers, so there was like seats or there was like rows of four with like one person in them because they are a single rider and nobody else wanted to join them.
Speaker: And We were having a pretty, a pretty bad time. Honestly, it wasn't even that enjoyable. Um, wrath of Rakshasa was rough. It's a brand spanking new B and m I sat in the back row and it it was genuinely rough. I got off.
Speaker: I got off and had a little bit of a headache. I had to take some water and Tylenol. I'm 22 years old. I shouldn't be having to deal with rough B and M's that aren't even, they're not even six months old.
Speaker: Um, You know, if it's ah if it's a wooden coaster that hasn't been retracted forever, you know, I get it. But this is a brand new, brand new B&M. the layout The layout has potential. I love the layout.
Speaker: But if this thing isn't smooth, I can't enjoy it. um Yeah, smooth smooth out. well i don't know what's up with the train. I don't know if it's like seeking or what. But the train, I believe the train's at the issue. If you can get the train resolved, this ride is great.
Speaker: I think it's on the upper echelon of dive coasters if the train wasn't so shaky. um We actually ended up leaving the park early after getting most of the credits because we weren't having a great time and we said, fuck it.
Speaker: Let's go to the Cubs game again tonight. um So we went to the Reds and Cubs game again, two nights in a row. Reds won again. Hell yeah. And ah my girlfriend was not too happy because she's a Cubs fan.
Speaker: Two nights in a row. We then went to this restaurant. I forget what it's called, but it's in Wrigleyville. There's a lot of great bars and stuff down there. If you want to go bar hopping, that is an awesome place to do it.
Speaker: would suggest Would suggest going. And that was it. That was it for our trip. We went home the next day. And now I am back.
Speaker: And we're going on another trip here shortly. Come to the St. Rite of Leiden event. Yeah, I'll show up now. All right, announcement season. We got news to hit. Oh, my goodness. So we're going to start with Halloween Haunt, Halloween Weekends, Fright Fest, whatever you want to call it for Six Flags.
Speaker: Because it is now paid. If you want to do any of the houses, and I mean any of them, you are going to have to pay for them. It's not a lot, to be fair. it's It's actually a decent, you know, it's decently priced.
Speaker: So, um you know, here is a here here is what's going on. So, kings I'll use Kings Island, but this is going to apply to all of the parks, I believe.
Speaker: ah Halloween Haunt is going to be starting September night teeth which is a little more than a month away.
Speaker: we are about a month and a month and eight days away from that. So just around the corner, you're not going to see a whole lot of new stuff this year. It's going to be ah relatively the same, but we do have some new stuff. I shouldn't say a whole lot.
Speaker: So here's what we got going on. So if you want to do any of the haunted attractions, you want to do any of the houses, anything like that, you're going to be going to need even if you're a pass holder you're going to need to get the haunted attractions pass which is ten dollars it gives you unlimited access to all the haunted mazes all night uh obviously that doesn't include your park ticket or parking or anything like that um oh it's sorry it says from ten dollars oh no
Speaker: Oh, no. No. Oh, no. I misread it. Oh, no. I'm so sorry. all right. Misinformation alert.
Speaker: So, it starts dar at $10 on Fridays. On Saturdays, it fluctuates.
Speaker: So, during peak days, it is going to be $30.
Speaker: if you want to
Speaker: if you want to go through any of the haunted houses. I don't think this is going to go over very well. um Maybe that's $30? we serious? $10 I If you $10, that's reasonable. get that. But $30, guys? Really?
Speaker: ten dollars i get if you charge ten bucks that's that's ah reasonable you know i get that but thirty dollars guys really
Speaker: Oh my God.
Speaker: That's stupid. All right. So like the 19th opening night is $10. Saturday the is $20. the is $15. then following Saturday, $30. Christ, What are we doing here? And the Conjuring one is fifteen dollars um and then the following saturday thirty dollars jesus christ guys what are we doing here and the conjuring one The brand new one starts at $15, but it goes up to $25 as well.
Speaker: So...
Speaker: What are we doing? i understand that you guys are in a ton of debt and you need to make... You need to make some more money,
Speaker: so more money but
Speaker: thirty Six Flags, go fuck yourself. Fuck you. That's so stupid. um
Speaker: Alright, I'm going to stop being pissed about this now. ah Also coming out of King's Island, Boo Blasters is closing. It is going to be done September...
Speaker: They closed it before... It's getting closed before Haunt. I know that.
Speaker: Let me double check which day it is closing. Because I forget.
Speaker: two two to to do
Speaker: it is closing.
Speaker: September 1st. Boo Blasters is going to be done for. For new development of the space. Whatever that may be. I have no idea. Um...
Speaker: Who knows? Hopefully it's a Phantom Theater redo and it's like a Phantom Theater shooting Dark Ride. Actually, back up. but Since we're on the topic of haunt, I forgot to mention this.
Speaker: Kings Island does have some new haunts, at least. They have all of your old stuff. They got Alien Abyss, now presented by Snickers. Cornered. ah Hotel St. Michelle, that one's pretty good, typically. Kill Mart, presented by M&M's.
Speaker: And Slaughterhouse, presented by Skittles. Um... And they have a new one. Order of the Dragon. It says it's an action zone. So i've is this going to be in the new...
Speaker: Like, is this going to be in the new section?
Speaker: Where... or back I have no idea what this is going to be. This could be in like that old building or this could be in where the Sun B station was. But it says, Braid the Vampire King's Catacombs stocked by fanged whores.
Speaker: Can you escape the dragon's endless hunger? hunger and that is all I know about it. um The scare zones are still a thing. You don't have pay for those. So there's abandoned Coney Mall hooked international street fear and pumpkin eater.
Speaker: So same ones as last year. No new ones. They're perfectly fine by me. So it looks like everything is basically the same except now they're charging way too much money for the ah haunted stuff.
Speaker: So Um, in other news, actual coaster news, Pantherian finally opened. It's having some issues though. Apparently the wheel misters don't work and it's been burning through wheels like nobody's business.
Speaker: Um, I'm sure you can go find some pictures that are floating around on the internet of like the wheels being torn up on running trains. Um, supposedly those are, are going to be fixed if not already fixed so that and we can keep those wheels cool.
Speaker: Um, ZDT is closing for good. No word on a new owner or purchaser. So switchback is, uh, is going to be done for unless somebody else buys that park.
Speaker: So rest in peace switchback. Because unless that coaster gets transferred, which it's a wooden coaster. So I highly doubt it will be, uh, you know, it's, uh, it's kicking the bucket.
Speaker: which Which I hate seeing smaller parks die. That's like the worst thing. Because we need smaller parks. We need smaller independent parks. but So we don't have this bullshit that Six Flags is trying to pull.
Speaker: um Six Flags Mexico is getting a Vekoma failing boomerang called a Speedway Stunt. um It seems very similar to Backlot Stunt Coaster in theming. But it's one of the really easily clonable Vekoma family boomerangs.
Speaker: They're fun little rides. They're surprisingly intense for what they are. Again, not saying that they are intense coasters, but for being a family coaster, they're surprisingly intense.
Speaker: um
Speaker: You know, I feel bad for Six Flags Mexico because that should have been Siren's curse, but no. They and wanted, a you know, they wanted...
Speaker: to save the trees and not build a new, and brand new tilt coaster.
Speaker: And now it's at Cedar point, which I don't think it should be there, but I digress. Um,
Speaker: We already talked about haunt pricing in Vertigo at Kings Island. We got a lot of news out of Kings Island. It's potentially closing. This is just a rumor, but a lot of stuff has been removed from the station. There is caution tape around the trains.
Speaker: um All the people that are working it have been reassigned to other stuff. So unless it's getting completely ah like redone or revamped then invertigo is could potentially be done for it so i hope you liked it i sure didn't i wouldn't be sad if this thing kicks the bucket i think that thing needs to go asap but i think we need to get a vortex replacement before we get uh you know invertigo removed give us a replacement coaster and i'll be happy
Speaker: Sound good, Kings Island? Sound good? Something something like from Vekoma, the Vekoma launch coaster with a lot of inversions? With a powerful launch too, not like a mock launch. We need it we need one more good launch coaster and we'll be we be all right.
Speaker: um As far as I know, that is all of the news. Oh, back up. I do have one more thing about Halloween Haunt. um You could also get the Haunted Attractions Pass bundle where... or Sorry, two things.
Speaker: you have You have two more options as well. So if you're if you don't have a Season Pass and you're just wanting to come to ride the coasters and do the Haunted stuff, um you do have the Ticket Plus Haunted Attractions Pass, which is fifty starts at $55, which gets you a mission and the...
Speaker: pass as well and then there's also the haunted attractions express pass which gets you single entry into the conjuring and also gets you priority access to all the haunted houses that starts at 29 but goes as high as 54 so uh all right i'm gonna stop bitching i could I am not happy about this in the slightest. I was expecting it to be like relatively cheap, like 10, 15, 10, $15.
Speaker: ten fifteen dollars That's understandable. I get that. You want $30. thirty dollars
Speaker: Why? Why do you want $30 for something that was free last year? It was included with a mission.
Speaker: Now you want $30 for it Saturdays. on saturdays
Speaker: Oh my god. I'm done with this shit, dude. I'm done. Alright. um I'm going to stop complaining. I'm already getting too fired up about it. It's...
Speaker: It's so stupid. It's so stupid. Alright. Alright. We're going to end it on not-so-positive note. Come to the SignalRideLine meetup. ah It is Thursday through Sunday of this week. you want to come ride coasters with me and a bunch of other cool people, we've already got five people going, DM me.
Speaker: I'll give you the itinerary and you can come join us. Follow me on socials, Instagram, Twitter, X, whatever the hell you want to call it. And do whatever you got to do to stay up to date.
Speaker: ah Thank you so much for hanging out, for listening. ah We're starting to get into announcement season. Been kind of been on ah somewhat of a break. Not really, but more so just enjoying summer while I have it.
Speaker: Summer is only here for so long. ah You'll be getting more consistent episodes more frequently as we start to roll into the off season. So um we will see you guys. We will see you guys then. Expect a live episode this weekend or early next week, depending on when it goes up.
Speaker: And yeah, hope you guys can join us. That's all. We will see you guys next time in the Single Rider Line. Peace.
