Thursday, January 29, 2015

New Year's in Atlanta (PT.3)

Sweet, day three! Well, after moving around all my plans to work with the stupid weather I made it back to Six Flags (woo) and Deka was gonna be joining me for a few hours before she needed to go off to work. Originally this would have been our day at the wheel and then I would have gone to the zoo on my own... but because of rain, rain, rain, things got moved around.
yay
SIX FLAGS! SIX FLAGS!!!!
We pulled into the parking about 10 minutes before opening. As you can tell it was packed
Half the cars in the lot were ours.......
Having never really walked around the backside of the lot, we looked around at Batman.
It wasn't open for Holiday in the Park, but I still took a few photos of it.
We both also had no idea there was a picnic area at the far back of the lot!
Who knew?
Making our way back to the parks entrance we saw Goliath testing <3
And had to walk past an also non-operating Mind Bender :(
(Hopefully the park decides to run it in 2015 if they do Holiday in the Park again) 
But yaayyy! Holiday in the Park (around 2)
Over Georgia is now the only outdoor park not in Florida I've visited in January :D
Lines were absolutely out of control.
I hadn't ridden Georgia Cyclone since 2010 or 2011 because it hadn't been good since my 2004 rides but the ride had received a lot of track work in 2013....
Yeah, we had the train to ourselves....
And it was oddly fun. I mean, it was sllooowwww.... but 100% rideable, not rough at all? I guess all the work paid off and now I kinda wanna try it in the summer with a full train and see if its good again.
Georgia Scorcher decided it was gonna run today and I finally got my ride on it. Again, look at the lines!
 
Scorcher is probably my favorite of the Stand-Up's but most of the time I just get annoyed with the loading processes and skip it altogether.
Peppermint Plaza photo spot.
Merry Mistletoe garden tunnel, now in the daylight!
Guess the "no smoking" policy doesn't apply to snowmen....
Retro Christmas USA... the snow was less convincing in the daytime but the area still looked nice.
Dare Devil Dive, again
Oh man, claw machine filled with rubber ducks!
Horribly long lines in Goliath's station.
We ended up riding it three times in the back row and once in the front
No having to walk around, and once we even stayed in the same seats!
(not a coaster)
but new rides coming soon!
Unannounced for the lineup for Holiday in the Park....
Crime Wave was open for some reason... The walk down the (wet) steep hill into Gotham was awful and I would love to see what happens if it got colder.....
but it was nice to ride the Wave Swinger
(mmmhmmmm) 
I guess whatever happened to Monster Mansion 2 days earlier was pretty bad since the ride now had a sign in front saying it would be closed. There were no staff around and the audio was off as well.
(although part of me thinks they just gave up and had closed it for the season since the whole park would be done the very next day....)
Peaches.... but some of them kinda just look like butts.....
Ugly peach...tree... I mean, I get it and all... but still.
Its pretty ugly.
Oh hey, Dahlonega Mine Train, again.....
We took it for the courtesy ride...
Its still the second least ridden coaster in the park for me
(Canyon Blaster is my least)
Acrophobia was still closed.
I was pretty devastated.
(and I'm pretty sure the park had just given up on it as well for the year)
But Sky Buckets were randomly open!
I'd only ridden them here maybe 4 times... They seem to always be closed when I visit.
And... off we went.
Although it was running in a round-trip only fashion... it was kinda odd since the unused station was completely unthemed, as was the area surrounding the station. I mean, would it have killed them to put a few little trees and a wreath down here for consistency?
After our ride on the Sky Buckets Deka had to leave and head to work, it also started raining so I was about to call it a day myself and start my drive back to Orlando but I wanted to get a few last photos in first....
Nice little props around the park.
(See, why couldn't they just put this by the Sky Buckets?)
The bridge up to Candlelight Carousel was covered in this tree-branch tunnel complete with a few bird nests and fake birds. It looked really nice at night (none of my photos showed it well) but the clearance wasn't so good for me. Even walking down the center of the bridge I still hit my head on low hanging twigs. haha
And again, since the event had been more popular than expected (I guess on nice days) the park ended up opening the far back area of the park including Bumper Cars and Superman for Holiday in the Park.... Since this change happened after the event started, both rides were unlisted from the maps and guides and because of the last minute changes, the area was completely unthemed and almost abandoned looking 
But those who made the hike had the opportunity to ride Superman - Ultimate Flight
Ah, and the line today was much more manageable!
(in fact, I think my train only had like 6 people on it!)
While not really a good ride... its still fun when its a walk on... Although for some reason the station smelled terrible... like, as if someone had taken a dump in it somewhere and it never got cleaned up.
It was pretty gross....
During my Superman ride the rain picked up from a mistiness to just...rain-rain and I headed to the exit to drive home.
:( No Ninja for me.... :(
Santa Maria was running... but I didn't have anyone to ride it with me....
Wile E. Coyote Canyon Blaster was closed. I'm not sure if it was because of the rain (due to its lifts) or if it was closed the whole event... But it looked like crap. I don't think its been painted since being built in 2004. I've only ridden it once and while I visited the park three times its opening year it took until 2009 to get my ride. (during my stop at the park while moving to Florida!)
Random kinda fun decorations and stuff...
And a random photos of Cyclone... now with a semi-full train as I made my way to the exit.
Oh hey, its that guy... and stuff.
And right before driving back to Orlando I stopped to take a few photos of Goliath from the road.
Pretty pretty.
As I was leaving the park made an announcement stating that due to an approaching storm the park would be closing at 3pm. While I get that its mostly locals who were showing up to this event... its kinda shady that you would just close the entire park because of rain. I mean, I've been here +20 times and had a season pass so it wouldn't have been a big deal.. but if I had driven far and paid to get in I'd be kinda mad. (some days due to bad weather forecasts the park just didn't open at all!) But that being said... like I said in part 1, I think the event has a lot of potential and I hope the park keeps up with it and I'd gladly visit again this winter!

Uh... Bonus stuff via Twitter?

In Goliath's station with just 2 other people - Photo
Panorama of Goliath from the front entrance - Photo
Video of Georgia Scorcher via Vine - Video

(And now to go pack for my second adventure of the year.... )
((Hilton Head, South Carolina!))

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

New Year's in Atlanta (PT.2)

Woo, day two and stuffs. The plan was to go for a ride around the newly opened Atlanta Streetcar and take a ride on the SkyView Atlanta Ferris Wheel (since the weather outlook for tomorrow looked poor) and afterwards head off to Six Flags for Holiday in the Park. Well, because of rain and crap Six Flags made a post about closing early due to weather... Making us change our plans for the day all around... but in the end let me experience something amazing and unknown to me.
Woo

So... on December 30th Atlanta opened its all new Streetcar system, The Atlanta Streetcar / Downtown Loop. Deka had been there for the first public ride and now I'd be getting my ride, on its fourth day of operation.
The Streetcar! Woo.... a Siemens S70.
Inside, still all shiny and new. Super new!
The outside was shiny and new too!
(super new!)
A map showing the 12 stop loop.
Yaayyy, Siemens...
the same company that sponsors Epcot's fireworks!
For now its just a 3 mile loop around downtown Atlanta.
Signs like this were all over the place... So drivers don't just slam their cars into the trains I guess.
(Maybe SunRail should invest in these....)
Another interior shot.
During the "preview" week, the Streetcar was free.
The tracks loop from Centennial Olympic Park to the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site
With convenient connections to the MARTA!
Were having fun.
<3
(just ignore that Ferris Wheel)
Views from the streetcar, downtown.
And one last photo inside....
Look at me! I'm with the Streetcar!
Oh hey, and one of the HUB-ish stops is at the wheel!
SkyView Atlanta!
The tallest Ferris Wheel / Observation Wheel in Georgia.
With classy VIP cars that feature tinted windows and a glass bottom floor.
SkyView Atlanta actually started its life in Pensacola, FL as the 360 Pensacola Beach.
Yet now in Atlanta, its closer to Orlando... barely.
Things not to do on the wheel.
Nearly 200 feet off the ground at the top.
Rain rain rain.... but... we...
were having fun.
I was also amused at how my soon to be opening Orlando Wheel will be double the height! But with far less to look at from.
Views of Atlanta.
I'll have to come try it again on a nicer day.
Best advertisement ever!
It *almost* worked on me... But I needed to eat elsewhere later.
You could also see Ted Turner's ballin' penthouse.
More downtown views and the Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel
Ooh, and World of Coca-Cola
And the Georgia Aquarium too
Oh man, and the Streetcar
The Olympic Ring's splash-pad at Centennial Olympic Park
And... the SkyView's little Christmas display. yaayyy
With rain coming and going, we waked across the street to the CNN Center to grab some lunch (rather than eat at Six Flags) and plan out the rest of our day.
Woo, the CNN center.
Someday I'll ride that giant escalator.....
Also.... GIANT penguin!
CNN Center / Cartoon Network store / Hotel / Food Court. :D
THAT HAS A GREAT WRAPS!!! <3
As I was eating my supper yummy falafel-hummus wrap we discovered that Six Flags would be closing early for the day, before we even made it to the park... So with that out, I called Zoo Atlanta to make sure they were still gonna be open
(they were)
Woo, Zoo Atlanta!
Due to the rain, the zoo was pretty much empty of guests... but also because of the cold and rain we were warned that some animals would not be out at all and that others would have their backstage area doors open and may or may not be out on display.
The flamingos seemed pretty ok with the weather... maybe just a little cold.
The Zoo's rather upsetting Vulture display...
A cold and wet Black Rhino.
And a colder, wetter, Lioness
After walking around in the rain for a while we made our way into the Reptiles House... pretty much the only area of the Zoo we saw more than 2 people.
Not sure what kind of lizard this guy was, but he was pretty cool looking
:/ scary snake... and stuff
Komodo Dragon :D
I wonder what hes looking at?
Maybe its this amazing sleepy RED PANDA! :D :D
Ooooooh man! It's PANDA TIME!
The #1 reason to visit Zoo Atlanta!
GIANT PANDA!
!!!
No Pandas
:'(
Oh wait, they were inside staying dry!
AND BEING ADORABLE!
And also eating bamboo.... lots and lots of bamboo
:D
Shh... it was sleepy sleepy time for Mr. Pig
The poor Kangaroos seemed pretty miserable.
But it was getting increasingly crappy out, so I don't blame them
There were less than zero ducks in the duck pond :(
In fact, this was the only duck I saw the entire trip!
He was in a different enclosure, not at the pond.
This Elephant didn't seem to care about the rain, he was tearing it up with some greenery.
He might have been fine.. but Deka and I were both soaked by now and cold too... So we headed out of the Zoo and off to our next amazing destination. Lenox Square (mall)
Home of Macy's PINK PIG.
I had no idea what this was gonna be... but it ended up being amazing.
So it turns out... the Pink Pig is this bright pink pig themed train ride in the mall parking lot under a pink tent. wonderful.
The original Pink Pig from 1953
(it was a pig themed MONORAIL!)
Pink Pig related gift shop items...
Deka and I both ended up getting the "I rode the Pink Pig" ornaments.
The current pig is a Zamp Train... but with a pig headed lead car
And a pig butt with tail end car!
The train travels around different props and scenes of the Pig Family getting ready for Christmas.
And its all sorts of amazing.
And surprisingly long. You also get two laps for a single ride.
And some of the money gets donated to the Children's Healthcare of Atlanta
After an amazing pig ride... we ended up driving all around Atlanta and went back to Deka's place and watched almost the whole first season of Crimes of the Century.
Yup

Bonus stuffs... from Twitter.

CNN Center - Photo
PANDA TIME! - Photo
The Pink Pig! - Photo
Streetcar video via Vine - Video
Panda panda panda video via Vine - Video
The Pink Pig video via Vine - Video

Woo woo