Roger Williams Park Zoo.... because, well, Red Panda!

Well, Roger Williams Park Zoo... just because I've already done posts from the Franklin Park Zoo, Stone Zoo, and the New England Aquarium... Might as well toss in a little Rhode Island love to add to my New England animal adventures.... I hadn't been to Roger Williams in some four years anyways... So I needed to change that. While visiting my family for Christmas we drove down for a weekend adventure of fun in Providence. Anyways, animals... woo

WELCOME!
(We look closed, but were open, kinda.)

Maptastic map.
Letting us know about all the animals we wont be seeing today!

As soon as you walk in you find lots of construction... and not a lot of animals.
But that could have been the fact it was in the low 30's :\

But..............
Mr. Red Panda was out, and fairly active. We must have been the first (only) people to walk up to him today.
:D red panda :D

Aww, it was sleepy sleepy time for the Asian black bear :3

And it was swim time for the quack quack ducks! :V
yaayyy!

Miss Penguin was not having it.

Moo

Scary green snake :\

And... the Masai Giraffe.
It was extremely cold.. You know, being New England in December and all... It seemed like most of the animals were no-shows... or were just doing a really good job hiding from us. Oh well, I can always go back in the summer some time. Woo... animals!
And at some point I'll post more amusement park related stuffs for this blog.. as it is named Amusement Park Stuff after all.... Someday

(mmhmmmm)

Ponce de Leon Inlet Light and stuff

Uh, yeah, blog post #2 about a Lighthouse? lets go! Ponce de Leon Inlet Light and stuff.... The Inlet Light is the tallest lighthouse in Florida and a National Historic Landmark, so we drove out to Daytona and climbed to the top, woo.

 THRILLING! Here I am... at the Ponce Inlet Lighthouse MUSEUM!

And if you didn't know... Its in the US, in Florida, and a Lighthouse

(I wouldn't have known had it not been for the three flags)

in 1998 it became a National Historic Landmark. 

One of only ten lighthouses to earn this designation.

And before we climb......

T3h LAW

Also.....this was slightly unsettling in a oh by the way kinda way....

Lets get climbing! 

Damn... 175 feet to go!

Yeah....

And once at the top....

You find out that over 125 years ago an earthquake hit... 

175 feet above the Inlet... here's...... the ocean?

 And Daytona Beach to the north.

Annddd the view looking down over the handrail :D

and part of the museum grounds and the gift shop

I CAN SEE MY CAR FROM HERE!!!

And for all you lighthouse nerds....

THE LENS!

a 1904 Barbier Benard et Turenne rotating third order Fresnel lens

((whatever that means))

Well, duh....

Yay Lighthouse #2 Adventure!!!! 

I'll have a few more ride related updates soon... Like... tomorrow.. woo 

Mitch Hawker vs My Awful Tastes!

Well, the Mitch Hawker 2012 Internet Wooden Tracked Roller Coaster Poll results are now in so lets get the bitching and moaning started... Outside of the now typical trip swaying aside I'll say I do agree with the overall results and can say I'm happy where most of my top coasters stand. 

Here's what I placed as my top 15 coasters in the 2012 wood coaster poll. With both Boulder Dash and El Toro being my "#1" (and yes, I can have two favorite coasters :P)

Boulder Dash Lake Compounce CT,y,n,1

El Toro SFGAd NJ,y,n,1

Lost Coaster of SM Indiana Beach IN,y,n,2

Cornball Express Indiana Beach IN,y,n,3 

Thundercoaster Tusenfryd NO,y,n,4

Troy Toverland NL,y,n,5

 (((((I DONT HAVE A 

PHOTO OF RENEGADE 

ON MY FLICKR YET 

.......SORRY!)))))

Renegade Valleyfair! MN,y,n,6

Kentucky Rumbler Beech Bend KY,y,n,7

Dania Bch Hurr (S) Dania Beach FL,y,n,8

Ozark Wildcat(SBNO) Celebration City MO,y,n,9

Yankee Cannonball Canobie Lake Park NH,y,y,10 

Cyclone (SBNO) Williams Grove PA,y,n,11

 Comet Great Escape NY,y,n,12

Hell Cat Clementon Lake NJ,y,n,13 

Silver Comet Martin's Fantasy Is. NY,y,n,14

Ravine Flyer II Waldameer PA,y,n,15

And here we have the top 15 placed wood coasters of 2012 overall.

1 El Toro SFGAd NJ 297 167 0 0 1.0000 

2 T Express Everland KR 19 164 1 1 0.9910 

3 The Voyage Holiday World IN 202 164 3 0 0.9820 57 

4 Boulder Dash Lake Compounce CT 174 164 3 0 0.9820 52 

5 Phoenix Knoebel's PA 242 163 4 0 0.9760 

6 Balder Liseberg SE 86 160 5 1 0.9669 

7 Ravine Flyer II Waldameer PA 145 158 8 1 0.9491 

8 Dauling Dragon-L Happy Valley CN 11 154 7 4 0.9455 

9 Dauling Dragon-R Happy Valley CN 11 154 8 3 0.9424 

10 Colossos Heide Park DE 122 156 9 2 0.9401

11 Fireball Happy Valley Song CN 18 155 10 1 0.9367

12 El Toro Freizeitpark Plohn DE 35 153 11 1 0.9303

13 Troy Toverland NL 120 154 12 0 0.9277

14 Wood Coaster Knight Valley CN 11 146 7 10 0.9264

15 Thunderhead Dollywood TN 184 152 14 1 0.913

Of the top 15 wooden coasters I've been on 7 of them (in italics), damn you China! 

My top 15 placed in order of the overall results would list as so....  Bold being where they fell in order and the italicized number on the right being where I placed it.

1 El Toro SFGAd NJ 297 167 0 0 1.0000 (1) 

4 Boulder Dash Lake Compounce CT 174 164 3 0 0.9820 52 (1)   

7 Ravine Flyer II Waldameer PA 145 158 8 1 0.9491 (15)

13 Troy Toverland NL 120 154 12 0 0.9277 (5)

19 Renegade Valleyfair! MN 78 147 20 0 0.8802 (6) 

20 Ozark Wildcat(SBNO) Celebration City MO 38 162 19 4 0.8865 (9)

27 Kentucky Rumbler Beech Bend KY 89 141 24 2 0.8503 (7) 

34 Comet Great Escape NY 110 133 32 2 0.8024 (12) 

42 Cornball Express Indiana Beach IN 129 126 40 1 0.7575 (3)

45 Thundercoaster Tusenfryd NO 57 121 44 1 0.7319 (4)

45 Dania Bch Hurr (S) Dania Beach FL 58 139 41 3 0.7678 (8) 

48 Silver Comet Martin's Fantasy Is. NY 69 120 47 0 0.7186 (14)

64 Yankee Cannonball Canobie Lake Park NH 77 101 64 2 0.6108 (10)

78 Hell Cat Clementon Lake NJ 64 86 75 6 0.5329 (13)

88 Lost Coaster of SM Indiana Beach IN 116 80 84 3 0.4880 (2) 

156 Cyclone (SBNO) Williams Grove PA 34 30 148 6 0.1793 (11)

three of them being SBNO and therefore being omitted from the overall results would have placed as such... 20 Ozark Wildcat(SBNO) Celebration City MO, 45 Dania Bch Hurr (S) Dania Beach FL, and 156 Cyclone (SBNO) Williams Grove PA... So I added them myself.

 I'm glad both El Toro and Boulder Dash fall where they do, both truly deserve to be there. Ravine Flyer made it into my top 15, not surprised its in the top 10. Troy, Renegade ,Ozark Wildcat ,Kentucky Rumbler all being GCI's and in the overall top 30 make me happy... even with GCI's BIG CLUNKY LAPBAR! Yankee Cannonball placing 64th overall makes me happy... I'm glad a ride turning 83 this year and a personal favorite of mine is still well liked. As far as my bottom three top 15 rides... Well, I know I have odd tastes in coasters and I know I'm one of the few who really likes Hell Cat (J2) (but I also rode it before most of it's re-tracking and before all of its heavy trimming... So I placed it based off memory lane) Lost Coaster? Don't ask... I just really like how different it is from pretty much, anything.. and then we come to Williams Grove Cyclone which at 156th would have placed 12th to last in the world.....had it not been SBNO! (I put it as 11th BEST) and I used to be questioned on it often before falling off the face of mainstream coaster enthusiasm. Reasons behind my placement would be, there is NO OTHER ride like it, there never will be, ever! It truly made me feel like I was dieing and yet I kept getting back in line again and again. and it was one of the extremely few rides (honestly) to scare me, ever. ((honestly))
 

And based off the results, the top 15 I've ridden would list as this... Bold being where they placed in the over all results, the number next to the bold number is what my top 15 now becomes

1 1 El Toro SFGAd NJ

4 2 Boulder Dash Lake Compounce CT

5 3 Phoenix Knoebel's PA

6 4 Balder Liseberg SE

7 5 Ravine Flyer II Waldameer PA

13 6 Troy Toverland NL

15 7 Thunderhead Dollywood TN

17 8 Prowler Worlds of Fun MO

19 9 Renegade Valleyfair! MN

23 10tWooden Warrior Quassy CT

23 10tRaven Holiday World IN

25 11 Shivering Timbers Michigan's Adventure MI

26 12 Zippin Pippin Bay Beach WI

27 13 Kentucky Rumbler Beech Bend KY

29 14 Hades Mount Olympus WI

30 15 HellCat Timber Falls WI

Outside of say..... Raven and Prowler (and maybe Timbers) I'd be OK with that as my 15 and really only Raven bugs me being so high up there, I place it near the bottom of my real coaster rankings. ew.

So yeah, 2012 Wood Coaster Poll, woo! I wonder if there will even be a steel poll for 2012, I don't think it ever even happened in 2011... in fact, the 2011 wood poll ended up being so late I never even got to send in my ballot... that was only semi-completed anyways. 

 

 Very exciting stuff, I know! The full results of the 2012 wood coaster poll can be seen here - http://www.ushsho.com/detailedwoodrollercoasterpollresults2012.htm 

with even more info here - http://www.ushsho.com/bestrollercoasterpoll.htm 

and a bunch of my wood coaster photos can be seen here -  

http://www.flickr.com/photos/canobiefan/sets/72157602671205902/

((First update of 2013?!))

ok, bye 

Canon EOS 60D 18-135mm IS Lens 18.0 MP Digital SLR 4460B004 (Google Affiliate Ad)

Canon EOS Rebel T3i 18 Megapixel Body Only Digital SLR 5169B001 (Google Affiliate Ad) 

Canon PowerShot A2300 16MP 5X Optical Zoom Black Digital Camera (Google Affiliate Ad) 

Fun with Flickr - 2012 in a photo or 50

Yeah..... Year end review via my Project365 on Flickr

Looking back at some of the 360 photos I'd taken of myself over the past year so far and doing a "what I did this year" blog post.. Wooooo... so here we go..

((editor note: by years end it'll be 366 photos... but there's still a week to go.. so yeah... numbers are slightly off, who cares lets go))

Yeah, like it was gonna be hard to guess the year started off at Diznee World.

Rode the amazing new Zamperla Happy Swing at Funspot... (creepy!)

RING TAILED LEMURS!

Yeah, contender for absolute best part of 2012

Video here via YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPzZk5kO8wQ

Went to the "new" World of Coke on one of my 8 or so ATL trips 

this year...whhuuutttt

 Yaayyy, Mr.Mondial Shake! 

(likely my favorite flatride at the moment)

((But that changes a lot... I guess its the mood I'm in... either way... its in my top 5))  

Video via YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzNGJTsKmnI

Yaayyy! I also got to ride Strates Shows TOPSPIN after years of trying....!

And because Jeff and I heckled the op, he gave us a triple cycle about as good as you can get without running it manual!

 (guess that made up for the fact soon after a massive storm blew in and closed the fair for the night)

 Cake cake cake cake cake cake cake cake

Believe it or not, I had a birthday in 2012 :O

And I jumped up and down like a fool at the Magic Kingdom on leap year...day

(after having worked till 5am and before working till 5am, again)

Got to ride Wade's Huss SDC Pirate for the first time ever :D

I believe it hadn't been used for a few years or maybe it just didn't play any of the spots I visited

SPACE ROLLER RETURNED!!!

(and went MIA again shortly after :'()

((Why cant we just keep GOOD rides in the States?)) 

(((Oh, and I went to the  Strawberry Festival for the first time)))

There was a Monorail at one point! Who knew... just one...one.

Lue Gardens turned 50, and I visited for the first time?

Fort Matanzas National Monument? How 1740... 

but pretty cool to see more of what I call "Real Florida"

Orange Blossom Cannonball.... The train set a brush fire while we were riding it!

(really)

The Florida State Capitol, in Tallahassee, Florida!

a minor goal of mine since moving here in 2009

 Big Kahuna's Water Park: OR, "how I went down a waterslide with my ATM card in my pocket...and lost it." yaayyy!

Ugh, Dixie Landin' Family Theme Park in Baton Rouge, Louisiana... Sooo not worth the drive from Orlando.... (you know, 700 miles......each way)

BUT, Blue Bayou Water Park was worth it.

Alabama's most southern Zoo!

I got to hold a baby Kangaroo... in a bag!

Cheetah Hunt, aww its not even Florida's newest coaster anymore....

Visited Sun Splash! for the first time 

(and my first time in the south west part of FL.... I'm coming for you KEY WEST... now the only part of the state I haven't explored)

Dirty dirty... but +1... and most south-west-Floridian coaster?

King Richard's Park...thing

EPIC, Clingmans Dome! 

The highest point in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the highest point in Tennessee.

Might also be in the top 5 moments of 2012

Ehhhhh

Much better.

 Dollywood's Splash Country is pretty fantastic

! New Year's resolution.... COMPLETE :D

Video via YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJ8MYOKI85Q

Lets just pretend this trip didn't happen

(although Rattler was pretty great IMO as was the rest of Six Flags Fiesta Texas)

Steel Eel at Sea World San Antoine!... only one more US Morgan to go

(I've got my eye on you Quicksilver Express.....)

The Alamo, one of America's most misunderstood places?

Also one of the few places I can think of with a large piece of American History that has a 

Ripley's Believe It or Not! and a Wax Museum across the street....ehh

Oh hey, and Deka saved me from the airport 

(missed connection for the last flight of the night) 

(and she took me to Six Flags Over Georgia)

And.... I ended up back there about a week later.

Because of the DCI Southeastern Championship MONOVENTURE to see Nolan do his thing

Stone Mountain, for some good old fashion Southern Racism

(had to wear my Massachusetts shirt cause, well, yeah..)

 Oh hey, you're a way better roller coaster than the one that looks like you 10 photos ago...

Yaayyy Six Flags Great America!

   Cha-Ching... But not really. Little Amerricka was worth the effort in visiting... 

and gave me a reason to go to Madison, WI.. and its zoo as well.

Unlike this hellhole, Mt.O, with its one still AMAZING CCI, Cyclops. 

Even WITH Hades360... I doubt I'll be back anytime soon...

Ok now... this is either reallllly cool, or really lame.

So I'm in Green Bay, WI with the new Zippin Pippin at Bay Beach while holding my shirt from the old Zippin Pippin in Memphis, TN at Libertyland

 You'd better believe there were ducks in 2012! and yes, I held a few :D

Memory Lane was visited too, in the form of Pirate's Fun Park

 in Salisbury Beach, MA

(or whats left of it)

 Six Flags New England finally got something worthwhile, even if its used, 

Goliath is lovely.

So I made a visit after skipping a chance to go in 2011 

(and both 'new' rides at SFNE since my last visit were things I'd ridden in their former locations...)

 My love

(the PARK not the coaster.....)

Magic Kingdom... this one photo had been planned out some nine months earlier.

 ((just so I could make the next 'photo of the day'....))

This

California Screamin' at California Adventure became my 700th roller coaster.... 

damn

800 seems so far away

Oh hey, and I rode the new for 2012 Manta at SeaWorld San Diego!

(and in turn visited all 3 SeaWorld parks in one season without even trying)

 And this...thing... too. Green Lantern: First Flight. Although LEX was the real reason I was at Magic Mountain... It ended up being closed the first nine hours of the day... so I couldn't make it my photo. 

 Woo, Volusia County Fair! After noting getting a chance to go last year this is still one of the best county fairs in Florida

 Some of the best news to come out of 2012?

 2013's gonna be pretty fantastic in Orlando.

And its within walking distance of my house, don't hate

Oh right, and Test Track closed at Epcot and months and months later reopened as... Test Track.

And I never really seemed to care either way?

 My second Massachusetts visit of the year also ended up being a trip down Memory Lane, although Edaville is still open, thankfully. Meeemmmoooooriieeessssssss

Ugh, and it snowed my last day on the way to the airport

Merry SHAMU Christmas

The End

 Yup, so that's about it... in the end I visited Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin. AL, LA, MS, and TX all being new states for me (also part of my New Year's resolution, along with visiting a new Zoo (CHECK), Bungee Jumping (CHECK!(sorry mom)), and riding a 'new for 2012' coaster (check check check) ended up riding 42 new for me coasters, 7 of them being new for 2012 additions and 3 being ones I'd ridden in their previous homes. And for what its worth... I visited 8 animal attractions / Zoo's, 8 new for me Water Parks, and went to 5 State Capitals, 3 new for me) :D 

Oh, and if you wanna see the whole Project365 gallery its here via Flickr - http://www.flickr.com/photos/canobiefan/sets/72157628690298479/

BRING ON 2013!

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