ACE Coaster Landmark Favorites Results and September Poll

I think it is a testament to the quality of these ACE Coaster Landmarks that twenty-nine of the thirty-three coasters in the poll received at least one vote. In fact, out of these thirty-three coasters, three of them tied for being the favorite of the most in our community. These three great coasters often top the lists of many coaster lovers. The three most favorited coasters in the bunch were Phoenix, Magnum XL 200, and Thunderbolt. Arguably, each of these were some of the most important coaster installations for the industry. All three of these coasters garnered 13.5 percent of the vote.

Magnum has triggered a flurry of record breaking coasters since it was first built in 1989. When it was built in 1989, it was the tallest complete circuit coaster in the world at 200 feet, and the term "hypercoaster" was coined for coasters that meet or exceed the 200 foot threshold.

The Phoenix is not only the jewel of creations for the legendary Herbert Schmeck of PTC, it is also a coaster that was disassembled in Texas, transported to Knoebels, and rebuilt, at a relatively low cost, setting an example for parks like Wild World (Six Flags America) to relocate their Wild One roller coaster, Lakemont to relocate their Skyliner from New York, and many other smaller to mid-sized parks that relocated rides. Knoebels has flourished ever since the Phoenix was relocated, enabling recreations and relocations of rides from other parks.

The latest coaster to be awarded ACE Coaster Landmark status is the Kennywood Thunderbolt. This classic was originally built in 1924 as the Pippin. Come 1968, regional competition was heating up. It was already a packed immediate regional amusement park scene, with with many more parks in operation, but many larger suburban parks were being proposed and in progress, including Kings Island, and other further parks such as many of the Six Flags parks, Kings Dominion, and others. Additionally, the previously threatened Cedar Point, now an accessible park from the Pittsburgh area as a result of the improved highways, and Geauga Lake, were doubling down on their amusement rides. It was decided that Kennywood needed a new coaster to compete, so instead of tearing down the Pippin to build another ride, the park utilized a member of their staff, Andy Vettel, to greatly expand the then Pippin, through reconfiguring the ride and adding the spaghetti bowl set of helix drops.

Coming in fourth with ten percent of the vote was the Kings Island Beast. This is another coaster that set off a building spree. Being built in 1979 at the relatively new suburban mega-park, Kings Island, it utilizes the hillside and deeply forested setting of the park to traverse the woods. This coaster is still the longest wooden roller coaster in the world, and the third longest coaster overall. The 141 foot drop was the tallest in the world at the time.

Coming in fifth with nine percent of the vote is the Conneaut Lake Blue Streak. This legendary coaster is one of only two coasters remaining that were built by Ed Vettel, with the other being the Lakeside Cyclone. For those of you from the Pennsylvania that remember and loved the old Willow Grove Thunderbolt (a very similar coaster to the Lakeside Cyclone) or the old West View Dips, you should check out these two coasters. Blue Streak is a testament to dedication to preservation.

These thirty-three coasters with the ACE Coaster Landmark status are considered to be historically significant for one reason or another. Be sure to these coasters out, because they have all contributed to the preservation and advancement of the amusement parks that we love.

	Batman the Ride - Six Flags Great America; Gurnee, IL, USA; Operating
	Beast (The) - Kings Island; Kings Mills, OH, USA; Operating
	Big Dipper - Geauga Lake & Wildwater Kingdom; Aurora, OH, USA; SBNO
	Blue Streak - Conneaut Lake Park; Conneaut Lake, PA, USA; Operating
	Classic Coaster - Puyallup Fair and Events Center; Puyallup, WA, USA; Operating
	Comet (The) - The Great Escape & Splashwater Kingdom; Lake George, NY, USA; Operating
	Corkscrew - Silverwood Theme Park; Athol, ID, USA; Operating
	Cyclone - Lakeside Amusement Park; Denver, CO, USA; Operating
	Cyclone - Astroland; Brooklyn, NY, USA; Operating
	Dragon Coaster - Playland Park; Rye, NY, USA; Operating
	Giant Dipper - Belmont Park; San Diego, CA, USA; Operating
	Giant Dipper - Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk; Santa Cruz, CA, USA; Operating
	Jack Rabbit - Kennywood Park; West Mifflin, PA, USA; Operating
	Jack Rabbit - Seabreeze Amusement Park; Rochester, NY, USA; Operating
	Leap-the-Dips - Lakemont Park; Altoona, PA, USA; Operating
	Legend - Arnolds Park; Arnolds Park, IA, USA; Operating
	Loch Ness Monster - Busch Gardens Williamsburg; Williamsburg, VA, USA; Operating
	Magnum XL-200 - Cedar Point; Sandusky, OH, USA; Operating
	Matterhorn Bobsleds - Disneyland; Anaheim, CA, USA; Operating
	Mind Bender - Six Flags Over Georgia; Austell, GA, USA; Operating
	Phoenix - Knoebels Amusement Resort; Elysburg, PA, USA; Operating
	Playland Wooden Coaster - Playland at the PNE; Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; Operating
	Racer - Kennywood Park; West Mifflin, PA, USA; Operating
	Racer (The) - Kings Island; Kings Mills, OH, USA; Operating
	Rebel Yell - Kings Dominion; Doswell, VA, USA; Operating
	Revolution - Six Flags Magic Mountain; Valencia, CA, USA; Operating
	Roller Coaster - Lagoon; Farmington, UT, USA; Operating
	Runaway Mine Train - Six Flags Over Texas; Arlington, TX, USA; Operating
	Thunderbolt - Kennywood Park; West Mifflin, PA, USA; Operating
	Thunderbolt - Six Flags New England; Agawam, MA, USA; Operating
	Whizzer - Six Flags Great America; Gurnee, IL, USA; Operating
	Wildcat - Lake Compounce Theme Park; Bristol, CT, USA; Operating
	Yankee Cannonball - Canobie Lake Park; Salem, NH, USA; Operating

Updates!

With just over two days left of voting, we have the Phoenix, Magnum, and the Beast in a dead heat in our stacked "Favorite ACE Coaster Landmark" poll. Several others are not too far behind! Be sure to vote on the right-hand side of the page.

Additionally, we have added a new page with quizzes! The link is at the top of the page. Check back frequently for we will consistently add new quizzes. Test and improve your knowledge!

Dorney Park Hydra Construction 2005

The announcement of Fury 325 the other day reminds me of another project that captivated my mind. I was disappointed in the loss of Dorney's Hercules at this point a while ago, but was captivated by what could replace that giant. So today I found some stuff deep in my archive from my excitement about the building of Hydra. This was one of the first coaster projects with a more modern internet presence. There were continual construction updates online, along with the use of a webcam. The park also came out with a top notch POV video, utilizing the same program they still use for previews today. These are some photos that I saved from the park's postings.

I specifically labeled them too. This is the first glimpse we had of it testing! It is in the JoJo roll, the inversion right out of the station

First two train test.

The first look at the evening lights

These days I do not watch the webcams too much, but the novelty of it back then made it pretty exciting. Here is a view from the first ride for the park staff back then. It is hard to believe that we are approaching a decade since Hydra opened!

There was lots of excitement for the opening of the ride. The ride that it replaced, Hercules, was removed in 2003 and from the moment the ride closed, we were eagerly anticipating the replacement.

The park was very creative in the naming/mythology for the creation of Hydra. If you are familiar with Greek mythology, the great Hercules killed the seven headed monster, Hydra. In Dorney Park Mythology, they came up with the idea that Hydra came up from the dead and took out Hercules. The ride has seven inversions, one for each head of Hydra.

Here is a look back at Hercules, the ride that Hydra replaced. When it was built in 1989, it was the world's tallest wooden roller coaster. I spoke with the Weinstein's a while back, the family that owned Dorney Park throughout the 1980s. They sold the park to Cedar Fair in 1992. The Weinsteins had a large wooden roller coaster on their minds from the moment they were in control of the park. They hired Summers and Dinn to build Hercules. The coaster utilized a large hill to make the ride's then world record, 151 foot drop, while only having to be 95 feet tall. In my personal opinion, the drop right out of the station, the lift hill with a view of the drop, the turn at the top, the huge drop, the turn over the lake, and the drop under the station, were great. Other areas of the ride were slow paced and rough. It needed changes. Changes were made throughout the life of the coaster, but they were unable to improve the pacing of the coaster and the tearing up of the track. The coaster was quietly closed in September of 2003, and demolition started immediately to build Hydra. The following photos are from RCDB, for this was before I had my own camera. 

The following picture is not a perfect match with the vantage points seen above, but you can see how Hydra only utilizes the top of the hillside. Near the bottom of the Steel Force helix, and to the right, out of the view of the picture, is where the Thunder Creek Speedway Go-Karts ride. This has been closed. Additionally, the bottom of the Hill that Hercules utilized is relatively open. I would love to see something utilize the bottom of that hill again and perhaps use the support cutouts from the old Go-Kart track to get through the helixes. I doubt that this is possible, but it would be cool to see. Maybe a terrain Premier launching coaster, a Zamperla launched Moto-Coaster, or a terrain wood coaster? They could put the station near the trout pond. Another option could be to take out the White Water Landing water ride, seen standing near the middle of this picture. This ride is popular and photogenic, but it is aging and only gets utilized during the warmer times of the year. I would imagine this plan would have problems passing through the difficult local government, but it would be cool. This would be a great spot for another coaster, along with the areas on the other side of the property. Those are the more likely spots for new coasters.

This was a"deep cut" from my archive of photos. It is hard to believe that all of this is approaching ten years ago!

Short Conneaut Picture Update, August 17th, 2014

We really love Conneaut Lake and it is greatly improved each time we go! It seems like each time we go, another ride is operating again and the place looks a bit cleaner and more lively. Additionally, each time we go it seems that the Blue Streak is slightly better. It is in really good hands with the Adams and a project of this magnitude is no easy feat. I really hope that a solution can be come to, because I feel that if the park continues to improve at this clip and the debt burden is resolved, this park should thrive as a solid and affordable place to spend an afternoon or weekend. Conneaut is a park that has really grown on me. The weather today was exceptional as well. Here are write-ups from our other two visits this season: June Visit and July Visit.

I really did not have a penchant for centering my photos today, in case you haven't noticed!  

 We arrived at opening and were greeted by the Flying Scooters and the Paratrooper!

 Cannot wait to get some Blue Streak laps in!

 We saw the Roller Ball game open and had to stop. Brit won by about five feet.

 Our first stop was the Devil's Den gravity fed Darkride. Fun as always! I am very proud to have helped restore this. Lenny from Conneaut and Adams Amusements did even more work on it last offseason and it is pretty awesome.

Taking a look over at the recently repainted Kiddieland sign. Little did I know that was our friend Mike walking through there. We would end up chatting at the Blue Streak and taking a ride together. Today they even had the famous pony rides running! Whenever you talk with someone who grew up at the park, one of the first things that their memories go to is those pony rides. I hope that children of the future are able to make those same sorts of memories at the park. 

 Drop time! One of the coolest things about the Devil's Den Darkride is the fact that it is basically a roller coaster.

 Getting ready to drop again!

 We were about to hop on, so no photo of that car dropping.....Oh well!

Now onto the Blue Streak! We started off with a front seat ride, which was awesome as always. We ran into some of our friends, including Eric, as they were heading back from their excursion to Wildwood and the rest of Wildwood, NJ.

....And heading back on the next ride was our friend Mike and his crew! We would end up taking a backseat ride together. The backseat ejector airtime was especially fantastic today! I held my arms up as I always do, but this time the airtime was so intense that I quickly put my arms down and held on for dear life! It was absolutely awesome! Mike said that the coaster was easily one of the best he has ridden. I have to say that I agree with him! The coolest thing about roller coasters is the fact that there are just so many awesome choices out there. Blue Streak's intense ejector airtime today was easily among some of the strongest I have ever experienced. 

 After strolling the midway for a while and checking out the band down in the grove by the beach, we headed back to take in the turnaround on the coaster. They recently did work on this section of the ride and it really shows. Lots of fresh wood!

 With this work, that one twisted airtime hill transition thingy, my least favorite part of the ride before, was definitely improved. The quick lateral forces on it were pretty awesome.

We hope to be able to get back to the park for their Ghost Lake Halloween Event. That should be pretty awesome and we hope everything works out for it to go on again. 

As usual though, for us, we cannot make a stop at Conneaut without taking a slight trip west on Route 6, the Grand Army of the Republic Highway, the famous Route 6, and going to feed the fish and birds at the famous Linesville Pymatuning State Park Spillway! The sign says we are pretty far from Coney Island, where we were just last week! I would like to take a road trip sometime from end to end on both Route 6 and Route 30, but that will have to wait.

"Where the ducks walk on the fish"