Park Review
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Santa Claus, Indiana May 11, 2001 I finally feel that I have regained enough of my cognitive faculties to be able to form coherent sentences, so I will proceed with my trip report of the Stark Raven Mad event.
I was a little leery of going out into the middle of
southern Indiana for this event for two reasons: I met up with my buddy Greg at the Santa Claus lodge about 2pm, and we headed over to the park. We walked around for a while, and I noticed a whole bunch of kids there. Greg, who had been in the park all day, told me that there were several school groups there for the day. Anyway, we walked around the park for a while, and though it is very small, I would best describe the park as �quaint'. We went to the kiddie area and rode the Howler kiddie coaster. It was a cute little ride, and they sent us around twice. The ride op, who I was more inclined to call ma'am, was very kindly, especially to the little children. Enough with the cutesy stuff, it was time for the big boys. I told Greg that I wanted to ride Raven first. For some reason, I felt that Legend was going to be the better coaster, so I waited on that one. Greg said that some other �enthusiasts� broke him in on Raven earlier, and he would do the same for me - so it was straight to the back. Even though there were kids around, the lines were really short, so we only waited a train or two. I don�t really know what to say about this ride. It was really peppy and had a great surprise (fifth) drop. It was fun but, in my opinion, not any better than my current favorite woodies (Sonny, Viper at Six Flags Great America, Villain). But it was good enough that I wanted to ride again. So we hopped back in line and headed to the front seat. For some reason, I liked Raven more in the front. That's weird for two reasons: 1) the general sentiment is that Raven is better in the back, and 2) I'm generally a backseat fan. Oh well, there are exceptions to every rule. The real reason, though, is that I'm a laterals fan, and the laterals on Raven are more pronounced in the front. Speaking of laterals, by this time I was pumped and ready to challenge Legend. Now here my chronology may be off (the entire night is somewhat of a blur), but I believe it was right before my first ride that I ran into our own Adam Sandy (aka LONNOL, which I forgot to ask what that means..). I can�t remember if I saw him first in the Raven station or on the Legend platform. Actually, saw me more than anything. For my first Legend ride, I was ushered to the back seat. The ride was really good, not quite up to the hype I had heard, but really good. Again, my top three woodies were in no danger. We got right off and right back on, this time up front. Still good, not great. At this point (I think, my memory is still blown) Adam decided to check out some of the rest of the park before it closed, but Greg and I continued to ride the coasters. We went back on Raven a few times, then we checked out the shops that were around, noting several items that would never be found in a corporate themer, including a fake plastic switchblade knife and a paddle that read "the board of education". (My Grandma had one of these that she often applied to my "seat of knowlege" when I got outta� line =]) But I wanted to ride the Legend a little more, so we went back there. Now all this time we had been chatting with various enthusiasts. I met Jeff Tolotti (sfogviper) and saw James Draeger. There were others whose names I didn�t catch, as well. Anyway, we grabbed an unsuspecting seat in the back of the second to last car. Now here things get weird. We go up the lift, hear the recording "HOOOOWWWWLLL, DONT...LOOK...BACK!" and then all hell broke loose. It's almost like the Legend knew that I wasn't really feeling it and it wanted to make a believer out of me. It threw me from side to side like a dog and its chew toy. My mind started racing, thinking that this thing was going out of control. Then we hit the double up - oh my God! I was blasted straight into the sky and slammed back into the seat. But the Legend wasn�t done yet. It still wanted to have fun with me. Now, what is the Legend's idea of fun? Two words: double helix! We entered the right turning double helix, and I was plastered against the left side of the train the whole time. I tried to move towards the center, but it just wasn�t happening. There is the faintest let up of intensity in beginning the second time around. But that didn�t even last long enough for me to take a breath. Then, as we were exiting this massive element, I was thrown even harder against the left side. We proceed to tear through the rest of the course, tossed to the right, then left, airtime, toss right, airtime, toss left, and hit the brakes with enough speed to travel halfway to Kentucky! As we are sitting there on the brake run, I couldn�t breathe; my eyes were watering, and I was shaking. Excuse my frankness, but all I was thinking was, "What the f*** just happened?!?!" This was not the same coaster I had ridden only an hour or so before. I was confused and disoriented. Most all, I wanted to do it again...now!!! Well, since it was getting close to the time the park was closing, there was no line. I was able to get two additional rides in that magical seat, each seeming like the Legend was doing it's best to show off for me. It was phenomenal. Anyway, it was now time to go into the theater while they cleared the park. On the way in, I finally got to meet the Raven Maven herself - HW PR person par excellent, Paula Werne. She was so sweet, even to the point of mentioning that she thought my nickname shouldn�t be the hostyl one, but more like the cute one �cause of my beaming smile. If she had only known about my recent experience on the Legend, she would have known why I was sporting the Kool-Aid smile. Once in the theater, I spotted Adam again and grabbed a set behind him, noting to him that I was a recent Legend convert. Anyway, Will Koch (pronounced �cook�) came out and gave some updates, Ms. Pat Koch came out and gave her news (don�t forget the prayers people), they did The Legend Chours (to the tune of Handel's �Messiah�), and showed their new commercials. During this time, apparently, it had rained a little, only furthering the coasters into "insane mode". Me, Gregm and Adam dined together (the fudge was excellent), talked about various points of the industry, met Jeff Putz of coasterbuzz.com, then headed over to the Raven. I think Greg and I rode twice while Adam rolled over to Legend. I would not run into Adam again until my final ride of the night on Raven. Anyway, after a couple Raven laps, we hit the Banshee (falling star), which they stopped at the peak to allow for picture taking. Then we grabbed drinks and rode Legend a while (this thing kept getting more insane all night!). Anyway, we kept bouncing between the two, meeting more and more people, including some of my fellow Coaster Zombies, who I barely know, but will learn better. While in line for Raven I was again spotted by RCTalkers Josh and Nate K. Nate and I didn�t bicker too much, but there was some good conversation. We rode Raven and then headed over for drinks and a ride on the Legend. And that's when it happened: �The Great Bell Incident.�. I was fortunate enough to see the complete tumbl,e and it seemed in slow motion. Anyway, instead of going to the Raven, we propped up and watched the whole drama unfold then got our ride. We spent most of the rest of the night on the Raven, with occasional mind (and hip) numbing rides on the Legend (Nate, Josh, and, I suspect, Greg all favored Raven, even if only slightly). Oh yeah, we got two air-and-lat-filled rides on their incredibly intense falling star, Banshee. I also got two last car rides with Nate on Raven, and that fifth drop was just fantastic. Well, I'll wrap things up now. Both coasters are unruly jaunts in the woods. Either is worthy of high praise, but the Legend has absolutely everything that I want in a ride. I give it a ten, a ten, a freaking ten! #1 overall.
lata,
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