Hey everyone,

As some of y'all know, a contingent from Metro MINI's made it out to King's Island over the weekend to enjoy some MINI-themed entertainment.

The rides were thrilling, the banter captivating, and the beer steins were downright capacious. Irishcow, Paul!, CmdrVimes and myself had a great time.

The drive home, however, was murder. On the road with not significant stops from 10 a.m. until about 7 p.m. or so..

So here's the rub: I've got the coaster bug again, and need to see preferred dates and locations for a coaster run by club folks. I'm considering Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, VA.

Where would YOU like to go?

For the active-duty types in the club, Busch Gardens is offering a Summer promotion of free admission for active-duty and their immediate family. A great deal for the Babischkins, but limited use to the rest of us. Paul, Janelle, and myself could get in cheap, but we'd have to ADOPT the rest of you to get any further..sorry.

It's enough work keeping me fed, and I already know how to wash my MINI. Unless you're an experienced mechanic, and will arrive with your own lift-bay and garage, the deal's off.

All that being said, let's see some input! Requests for "clings" will be considered AFTER this event gestates and truly takes shape. No cart before the horse here, I tell you!

Cheers,

Matthew Z

 

How was the Italian Job ride?
Y'all should go to that place in NJ, that boasts of the tallest/fastest and is Swahili for "lose your lunch". Sounds like a good one, yes?

 

That would be Six Flag's Great Adventure in Jackson NJ, exit 7A off the New Jersey Turnpike... I know it well, used to live 20 minutes away and had a season pass there throughout High School. They also have a fun drive through safari there. The only thing that seperates you from the animals is your car! Ostriches will come and pick the dirt off your windows, and monkeys will climb all over your car... Not a place for ragtops!

We're kinda out right now on coasters since David's too small. Although we're thinking about taking him up to Seasame Place in Langhorn PA next month.

I think the four best coaster parks within 5 hours of DC are (in no particular order) King's Dominion, Busch Gardens Williamsburg (which is just a great park all around), Hershey Park in PA, and Great Adventure. Although I believe there are also two other decent parks in PA one in Altoona and the other outside of Pittsburgh (Katie is that Kennywood?)

And I'm sorry, it's nice that Great America is so close, but we have some truely great parks in the area that are head and shoulders better than Great America.

 

The DC contingent that went to Ohio were discussing amusement parks in general and I think the concensus was that we should keep it reasonably close. I think we decided on Busch Gardens because none of us present at the discussion had been there recently. If there are enough people who would want to go to Six Flags Great Adventure then I'm up for it. But does anyone really want to go to New Jersey unless they absolutely have to?

Oh yeah, based on the Six Flags page it doesn't look like Kingda Ka is even running. Looks like they are experiencing some difficulties.

 

From DC we could probably get to Great Adventure in 4 hours, Busch Gardens is about 3.

It's been a while since I've been to either park, but Great Adventure used to be a zoo on the weekends. We'd either hit the park late on Saturday afternoon (3:30-4ish after many of the people from Philly and New York headed home) or better yet on a Monday. For some reason the summer camp groups didn't come until Tuesday or later in the week, so the park was nearly deserted on Mondays...

 

Hello all,

New "attraction" at Busch Gardens Williamsburg (hereafter referred to as "BGW"), called "Curse of Darkastle". An indoor ride relying heavily on projection and other illusion tricks, everyone has 3-d glasses. Apparently, there's a nice "drop" to rattle folks, too.

Not really feeling the inverted roller coaster "Alpengeist", but the "Big Bad Wolf" and other rides sound good. Any place that promises "Oktoberfest year 'round" can't be all bad, right?

They've got my vote for now. Not to say I won't hit EVERY park I can this Summer, but they're first on my list for now. And yes, proximity has much to do with this.

Cheers,
Matthew Z.

 

Suspended roller coasters are alot of fun, it's a different experience to have your feet hanging free. My first experience with one was The Mind Eraser at Six Flags America (I think at that time it was called Adventure World).

"Oktoberfest" is a good thing. Oktoberfest at a theme park owned by Anheuser-Busch isn't. Of course I am rather biased against most mass produced domestics.

 

I'm down to go wherever so long as I can afford it Never been to Six Flags, Hershey Park, Busch Gardens, Great Adventure. Been to Kings Dominion but when I was knee-high to a grasshopper.

 

I posted some on the M2C2 thread about PKI that there was some discussion between members of our club of heading to Busch Gardens. A few seem vaguely interested. They were talking amongst themselves about a run to another Amusement Park too.

 

Yep, about thirteen years since I went to King's Dominion last. Funny, I was stationed at Fort Meade then, too. Go figure.

I need to check out Hershey Park's website, and get some links to current attractions up for folks.

Cheers,
Matthew Z.

 

Yup, Kennywood's in Pburgh. It's home to several famous coasters, including the nation's oldest racing(dual) coaster and the oldest wooden coaster. The Steel Phantom's gone, but it was famous in it's day. It's the one and only big coaster I've ever ridden, and it scared the begeezus outta me...plus, I fainted when I got off! Needless to say, no more coasters for me, unless they're in the kiddie section. Yup, I'm a roler coaster wimp and proud of it!

 

Depending on the timing, I think some of the M2C2 people might want to join in on this, if you don't mind. I know you'll probably have interest from the Richmond and Norfolk groups, as well. If you want to open it up to all comers, you're more than welcome to put a thread on the M2C2 forum when planning comes together a bit.

 

We've got some interested parties here, I think folks are waiting for a firmer date, among other things. I'd love to see input from your club and others in the area, as well. Please invite 'em to post, I'll try and visit and get a mention on their forums as well. We've got a pretty busy sked for July, but not that much for August yet. I'll be on vacation in August, from the 6th - 16th. Maybe the first weekend in September? That could be good. Maybe fewer school kids, too.

Cheers,
Matthew Z.

 

Actually, the 1st Sept weekend is Labor Day weekend. As it's the last holiday weekend of the summer, it may be a bit crowded then. How does the following weekend sound? I know the weekend of the 17th we've got in planning an event at either the huge car show at Charlotte Motor Speedway or the BMW Oktoberfest (or maybe Sat at one and Sun at the other).

 

Kennywood is home of the world-famous THUNDERBOLT, the world's largest all-wood coaster.

James (STELLA)

 

Count me in for going to the 6 Flags in Largo, MD. Its practically in my backyard

 

I think that park has been ruled out as it's pretty crappy.

 

I would vote for the third weekend in September, then. 2nd weekend will be the driving school held by MINI of Towson, if that event goes as planned.

Cheers,

Matthew Z.

 

I live less than 2 miles from it... I got a season pass the first year, went once, and will not go back, unless someone from out of town specially requests it.

It's not the park, it's the people who ruin it. There was a shoot-out in the parking lot there about 2-3 weeks ago.

 

>>>I would vote for the third weekend in September, then.<<<

If you do have it this weekend, I'll make sure the word is spread among the M2C2 club members. Unfortunately, as I stated above, we do have another event already scheduled that weekend, but some of the members might want to do the amusement park instead of attending a car get together. Variety is what it's all about, right?