Aloha and Hau'oli Makahiki Hou! We wish you a very happy and prosperous New Year. We send special mahalos to our readers and to Ed Sugimoto of Time Warner Cable. Thank you for all of your comments and your shared excitement.

Our warmest regards go out to Carole Sanderson, former President of American Coaster Enthusiasts, Director Mike Nelson, and Mallie Millis of Cedar Point Admissions, and George Richmond, Animations Manager of Cedar Point.

We thank our talented photographers for the wonderful photos we use in our columns. They are Gonchar of www.coasterimage.com, Joel Rogers of www.coastergallery.com, Joe Schwartz of www.joyrides.com, Robb Alvey of www.themeparkreview.com, Ryan Brietzke of www.xtremecoastin.com, Eric Gieszl of www.ultimaterollercoaster.com, Rick Davis and Joel Styer of www.dafe.org, and others.

A special thanks goes out to Duane Marden, webmaster of www.rcdb.com RCDB stands for "Roller Coaster Data Base". This website has been a tremendous research and photo source for our columns. Throughout the amusement park industry, Duane Marden is one of the top authorities on coasters. Much Aloha, Duane!

In 2006, we changed our usual schedule to accommodate an extra long trip in June. On June 16, we flew from Honolulu to Atlanta. We were greeted by Shredley's sister Joyce and her son Scott.

Our first amusement park was Six Flags Over Georgia in nearby Austell. Goliath, a huge steel mega-coaster, opened in Spring of 2006. This was our second trip to the park. On the first trip, we were with Joni's sister Linda and her husband Norman. The focus this time was Goliath and it was fabulous. In our February, 2007 column, we will be discussing this park and this coaster in detail.

Goliath - a new giant rules in Georgia (Photo courtesy of Six Flags Over Georgia)

Our next destination was Lake Winnepesaukah in Rossville Georgia, near the Tennessee-Georgia border. Our plan was to ride Cannon Ball, a wooden out-and-back roller coaster built in 1967. It was incredibly smooth, and had lots of gentle airtime. The park has three coasters and will be the subject of a future column.

Cannon Ball - a beautiful out-and-back coaster (Photo by Joe Schwartz www.joyrides.com)

We drove North into Kentucky to the town of Bowling Green. We went to Beech Bend Park, home to the new twisting woodie, Kentucky Rumbler. The folks that worked at the park were very friendly, and when they discovered we were from Hawaii, they treated us like celebrities. Kentucky Rumbler is a terrific wooden coaster and made our top ten list.

Joni with radio personality Scooter Davis at Kentucky Rumbler entrance (Photo by Shredley)

Kentucky Rumbler - coaster & cows (Photo by Shredley)

Continuing Northwest into Indiana, we headed for a repeat visit to Holiday World in Santa Claus, IN. The reason for this visit was to experience Voyage, their new hybrid wooden wonder. This ride also made our top ten list. For more details on Holiday World, see our August 2006 column, "Christmas in August?"

Voyage's gigantic first drop (Photo courtesy of Holiday World)

The next park on our schedule was Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom in Louisville. This park is home to seven roller coasters. One of their great rides is Chang, a giant steel stand-up looper with five inversions.

Chang's train negotiates one of its many huge loops (Photo by Shredley)

From Kentucky Kingdom, we drove back into Tennessee to visit Dollywood. See our November 2006 column "Hooray for Dollywood". This park is home to another one of our top ten favorites, namely Thunderhead.

Thunderhead's curvaceous first drop (Photo by Shredley)

Heading Southeast to Charlotte, North Carolina, we visited Paramount's Carowinds. Since this park has 12 coasters, we decided to spend two days. The newest acquisition is Borg Assimilator, a Vekoma flying coaster that was moved from its original home, Paramount's Great America, in Santa Clara, California.

Borg Assimilator - riders fly face down through hills and loops (Photo by Shredley)

Another great ride at the park is Top Gun: The Jet Coaster

Top Gun: The Jet Coaster is a spectacular inverted steel screamer (Photo by Shredley)

We completed the east-coast circuit by returning to Atlanta. We attended an Atlanta Braves game at Turner Field, and, the next day, hopped on a plane to Seattle, Washington. We were there to attend the nuptials of Joni's daughter Leslie and her soon to be husband, Dan Gates.

Mother of the bride, and the happy couple (Photo by Shredley)

Prior to the wedding, we visited Wild Waves and Enchanted Village, a Six Flags park located in Federal Way, Washington. Several members of our families convened at the park and we all made a day out of riding.

(front row) Zachary, Anna & Emi (back row) Leslie, Shredley, Joni, Bram, & Jon

Our target coaster at Enchanted Village was Timberhawk: Ride of Prey. This woodie was built in June of 2003 by S&S Power. It is smooth and thrilling.

Timberhawk: Ride of Prey plunges down the first drop (Photo by Shredley)

The day after the wedding, we returned to Hawaii. We were looking forward to our next coaster venture, which was to take place in August at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio. Our yearly trek to Cedar Point was made even more special by the addition of friends from Hawaii and family from the mainland joining us.
Our dear friends, Suzanne and Mitch Wright, startled us by their uncommon bravery and their willingness to ride the highest and fastest coasters in the park. Our favorite coaster, Millennium Force, was Suzy's first coaster experience.

Millennium Force - one heck of a fall (Photo by Shredley)

They got the cook's tour of Boneville, thanks to our good friend and evil scientist George Richmond, Animations Director of Cedar Point.

Suzy & Mitch with Lonely Larry, official greeter of Boneville (Photo by Shredley)

Later in the day, we came upon a trio of sore footed parkgoers, getting a much needed massage.

Three monkeys: hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil (Photo by Shredley)

Shredley's sister Joyce brought her daughter Kira and granddaughter Kaitlyn to the Point. This was Kaitlyn's first experience with serious steel roller coaster fun.

Joyce & Kaitlyn "race for the sky" on Top Thrill Dragster (Photo by Shredley)

Top Thrill Dragster - over the top at 420 feet (Photo by Shredley)

In August of 2007, we will be flying to Cleveland, Ohio. After our mandatory breakfast at Corky and Lenny's, (See our Oceanic column August 2005, "The Roller Coaster Trip of a Lifetime, Part 3"), we'll head East to Jackson, New Jersey to visit Six Flags Great Adventure. This mega park is home to the world's highest and fastest coaster, Kingda Ka. (See Our Oceanic column December 2004, "Thy Kingda Ka").

Kingda Ka: The extreme scream machine (Photo courtesy of Six Flags Great Adventure)

The next stop on our tour will be to ride the world famous Cyclone at Astroland Amusement Park in Brooklyn, New York. This wooden screamer has been terrorizing the general public since 1927, and is a yardstick for all twisting roller coasters. Charles Lindbergh once said that the Cyclone was more thrilling than his trans-Atlantic flight!

Cyclone - the ultimate classic (Photo by Joe Schwartz www.joyrides.com)

From New York, we'll head South down the Jersey shore to Morey's Piers in Wildwood. One of their six coasters is a wooden hybrid known as Great White.
It's the first shark coaster we will have encountered.

Great White - coaster on the beach (Photo by Joe Schwartz www.joyrides.com)

We will make one more stop in New Jersey to Clementon Amusement Park. Their hybrid wooden coaster, J2 (Jack Rabbit 2) has been operating since 2004, and has received great reviews.

J2 on its first descent (Photo by John Allen woodencoasterclub.tripod.com)

Driving Northwest to Pennsylvania, we'll return to Dorney Park in Allentown. See our Oceanic column April 2005, "Get Your Foot in the Dorney". Since our last visit, they have opened a new floorless steel looper called Hydra: The Revenge. We can't wait to try this one!

Hydra's ride ends with a tight loop (Photo by Gonchar www.coasterimage.com)

Our next stop will be a re-visit to Knoebels Amusement Resort in Elysburg, PA. Besides the award winning wooden coasters Phoenix and Twister, (See our Oceanic column October 2004, "Coasters and Booooos") Knoebels will be adding Flying Turns in 2007. This bobsled coaster will be a re-make of the famous Flying Turns that electrified people for many years at Euclid Beach Amusement Park in Ohio.

After Knoebels, we'll drive West to Sandusky and our yearly sojourn to Cedar Point. We will hopefully have even more friends and family join us there.

Millennium Force at Cedar Point- our first love (Photo by Shredley)

Next month, our column will be about Six Flags Over Georgia, a huge amusement park with many wonderful and exciting coasters.

Much Aloha!
-Joni and Shredley

Next Installment: Chapter XXXXII: The Parks; Six Flags Over Georgia, Austell, GA

Related Links:
www.sixflags.com
www.lakewinnie.com
www.beechbend.com
www.holidayworld.com
www.dollywood.com
www.cedarfair.com
woodencoasterclub.tripod.com
www.coasterimage.com
www.coastergallery.com
www.themeparkreview.com
www.joyrides.com
www.xtremecoastin.com
www.ultimaterollercoaster.com
www.rcdb.com
www.dafe.org
www.aceonline.org

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