Queens Zoo :3

Because... Animals.
(and the fact none of the area coasters I came to ride were open yet)

Woo, The Queens Zoo!
Uh, my first NYC Zoo?

The Zoo is a pretty small, basically being a ring along one main pathway with the petting zoo being across the street. uh, pathway.

Flowers.. and stuff.

The Zoo had some surprisingly nice landscaping, almost like a garden that featured animals.

And even a misting area to cool off at.
Oh.. and um, also... animals.

Like this herd of American Bison

And this Sassy Bird

Sea Lions and their pool.

Sleepy sleepy time for Mr. Sea Lion

Worlds Fair leftover.

The Scarlet Macaw

O Rly?

Roosevelt Elk

And um.. Lady Elk? maybe?

Miss Puma didn't seem to happy to see me...
(she probably wanted to eat me)

 'Murica

Oh, its like I'm back home.. Only they aren't just in the parking lot for Magic Kingdom...
(Nah, Disney removes them before they get that big... most of the time)

Oh man! A Sandhill Crane!!!
<3
(Also, I don't think I've ever seen one.. uh.. sitting before)

AKA, doing the 'butt thing' :D

<3 quack... quack.. quack :V :V

Andean Bear!
I had no idea they even had a bear here until I saw the map :D

Coyote

King Goat?

llallamamas... and stuff.

Moo?! Moo indeed!

See, some Texas Long-Moo's

Woo

No Mark, it's not named after the beer!

Fantasy Forest at the Flushing Meadows Carousel

A leftover from the 1964 New York World's Fair and the fifth oldest park in the state of New York. (and semi-Disney affiliated)

Woo, Fantasy Forest

I got myself enough tickets for two rides, since most of them were meant for little kids... And I had two more stops to make that day.
(and since Yatpay overslept, he didn't get the joy of watching me ride things here... haha)

Making an extremely short lap around the park, I saw their S&S Frog Hopper.

The Queens Himalaya

Zamp built Queens Motor Speedway

The Corona Choo Choo Zamp built train....
......and the reason I was here

Ahh... the Corona Cobra Coaster
(No Mark, it's not named after the beer)

+1, woo woo!

Opened here in 2013, the ride was relocated from a now closed Jeepers in Southfield, Michigan.

Ha, I was the first rider of the day and pretty much the only person in the park, but the op cycled the train once so I could get a photo of it running. Before heading to the only other ride I rode here.

The Fantasy Forest Carousel / Flushing Meadows Carousel

Built for the 1964 Worlds Fair by combining two historic carousels located in Coney Island

Yaayyy, historical Carousels

And don't forget to check out my AMAZING Vine video.... Video

Woo

The Turbulence following a Hurricane.

Ah, Adventureland Long Island... One of the nicest, tiniest parks I've visited. Located in Farmingdale, NY about one third of the way down the Long Island and home to one of the 32 new for 2015 built coasters in the US. This would be my third time making the trek out to the park... and this time, I'd be dragging Yatpay along for the ride! Since I only had a day in NYC (and the Metro area) I had to make the most of it.. Zoo's, Parks, History, and Friends. haha. My first visit to the park was back in 2005 where I rode their at the time current Hurricane coaster, my 200th roller coaster (aww, and to think, since that day I've ridden some 600 more.). Hurricane was retired after the 2014 season and replaced with a custom Mack built spinning coaster that opened in May, Turbulence.
(And with an odd-twist... Hurricane ended up being relocated to Florida, where its now running in Panama Beach City at Race City (where I also happen to be visiting in the next few days!))

So, uh, since someone overslept and missed out on going to the Queens Zoo with me.. I waited in the parking lot after doing my thing for Yatpay to show up from the MTA so we could head down to Long Island.
Just over a half hour later we were pulling into an extremely full Adventureland parking lot... where their were no less than 9,000 school buses parked....Oh, joy.
Adventureland is free to walk around and guests can either get a pay-one-price rate or buy tickets for each ride. Since this was gonna be a One-and-Done stop, I opted for tickets and handed over my $7.50 for a single ride on their new coaster.
Had I planned on spending time here, I would have gotten the day pass like I have on previous visits. Turbulence alone would be worth a re-ride. (and the Frisbee in the park is one of the best I've ridden)
Since Yatpay isn't really into going on coasters (or spinning for that matter) he sat out and took photos while I did my thing, plus he knew I'd be making him ride at least one other coaster later in the day.

Woo, Turbulence!

My second time encountering a Mack spinner 

ZzZzz, the line was pretty long.. Although thanks to two train operations and quick ops, it moved rather quick. (and while lines might not be fun.. it shows the park that the ride was worth installing)

An overview of most of the layout.
The coaster even has its own soundtrack that plays as the train travels up the lift.

And for just $5,000,000 you could have a Turbulence of your own!

Some of the smaller hills even manage to provide a bit of airtime.

The somewhat clunky looking train, although it doesn't take away from the rides quality.

While it was added at the loss of the parks Hurricane coaster, Turbulence is a worthy replacement.

And I'd be fine with more parks around the country adding them

Yaayyy!

Turbulence!

After my single ride on the coaster, I took a few photos and we made our way out of the park and down the street to get some lunch at a Chipotle Mexican Grill before getting stuck in some hellacious traffic heading back towards Brooklyn and the Coney Island area, yaayyy.

And for fun... a POV from CoasterForce.

 Its super fun.

 

Twitter stuffers...
Turbulence photo - Photo
Turbulence video (via Vine) - Video

Woo

Great Escape Lodge and White Water Bay!

Filling in with some backlogged photos from last year......

This time around its from my first time staying at the Six Flags Great Escape Lodge and White Water Bay indoor water park in Queensbury, New York (Lake George)

Great Escape used to be a yearly pilgrimage for me up until 2009 when I moved to Orlando and I'd been itching to get back ever since... Even getting almost annoyed when the rest of my family had gone back in the years since.... So my dad and I came up with a plan that would allow me to visit the park again, have family time, spend the day at the water park and surprise my mom all at the same time. I got my dad to book the hotel for a weekend trip at the end of September knowing my mom would sort-of boast to me about how they/she was gonna be going to the park and staying at the hotel and that I was gonna be "stuck" in Orlando and such having no idea I was flying up and meeting them. Ok, blah blah blah onto the photos and stuff.

Woo, so after leaving Melrose at 5am and driving out to Lake George we arrived at the lodge.

The Six Flags Great Escape Lodge opened in 2006 and while we had all walked around inside, this would be our first time staying here (we used to stay elsewhere in the area when visiting.) The lodge was Six Flags' first and only water park resort built to date and now the only hotel owned by the chain (having sold off Darien Lake)

The lobby was all set for Halloween and Fright Fest.

 A bear!!!

And... a big spider.

The room was surprisingly large with two queens and pull-out sofa (where of course, I ended up...)

The room was nice but felt a bit dated for something not even 10 years old. It wasn't bad but it could use a refresh.
Although the main reason for booking the hotel is for the indoor water park.

White Water Bay

er..... Fright Water Bay

White Water Bay features a nice sized lazy river, 3 major water slides, a splash fort, kid area, and a Flow Rider within the 38,000-square-foot building.

Tak-it-Eesi-Creek, the best of the four indoor lazy rivers I've experienced.

 Water jets near one of the rivers entrance.

One of the pool areas that branch off the river itself with some jets and waterfalls, Lott-A-Watta-Bay.

Another bear! In the kiddie area, Tip-A-Kanu-Beach.

Due to limited space within the water park there are at least three different levels and all three major water slides take place outside of the building itself.

Tall Timbers Treehouse is on the third level and mostly built over Lott-A-Watta-Bay and the lazy river.

It also featured some theming for Halloween

At the top of the stairs is where the three major slides start. Avalanche, Glacier Run, and Snow Shoe Falls. On the far left you can see what used to be the lift for the massive tubes used on Avalanche. When it first opened the slide used the standard circle raft used on most family slide but at some point the park switched over to using the ProSlide Cloverleaf tube that doesn't seem to fit and now guest have to drag the massive tube up stairs on their own (as seen on the right)

Avalanche as seen from outside.

The exit for Glacier Run and Snow Shoe Falls and a little more Halloween theming.

And.... the same slides as seen from outside.

And lastly, Boogie Bear! Bear themed Flow Rider? 

I just couldn't bring myself to try it front of my family

(I've already embarrassed myself on one in Destin, FL)

yaayyy! Six Flags Great Escape Lodge and White Water Bay, a great way to spend a few hours on a chilly fall morning after driving some 5 hours to upstate New York from Boston and waiting for Great Escape (park) to open at noon so I can ride COMET! <3

woo