Most of us, I imagine, do not want to spend any more time thinking about 2020 than is absolutely necessary. It was a year marked by collective human suffering on a scale not often felt in the modern industrialized world. A great many of us showed our true colors, both for better and for worse. While New Year's Day will not magically erase the adversities we have faced, I believe that we should be optimistic that we will again find our way.
My professional life is still in suspended animation, as a freelance musician and music educator. I am fortunate to still have steady work in my fields, but it looks nothing like it did ten short months ago. In my personal life, I have found renewed strength in a number of friendships. In all, 2020 for me as an individual was not difficult or taxing, and I have tried to pay it forward to those who have faced hardships. The raison d'etre for this blog, though, was almost entirely wiped out.
It is almost hilarious to look back at my posts from February and March, before I understood the devastating extent of the emerging COVID-19 pandemic. I do not actually regret the missed opportunities, as I was able to focus on other aspects of life and find both enjoyment and meaning as I navigated the year with my friends and family. In the end, I was also able to make a few trips, and by taking a defensive approach to safety precautions, I minimized my exposure risk and the risk of those around me. A few points:
- I live by myself, in a "container" of one. These trips were followed by de facto quarantines of at least 7 days. If I had a roommate, spouse, or family, this would not have been possible and I would not have made three out of these five trips.
- In the fall, when COVID-19 case rates ballooned, I declined a few opportunities to visit amusement parks. While the outdoor setting and precautionary measures made amusement parks a surprisingly safe activity, I did not want to incur even a marginal added risk as hospital capacity in my region was stretched thin.
- One element of my defensive strategy was to leave when parks appeared to develop crowds that could overwhelm their safety measures. While this may seem like a poor use of a ticket, it is a strategy I will carry into 2021, and would advise other park-goers to adopt as well.
- Because of my profession, I spent more time than most laymen studying academic literature on COVID-19 transmission. It is important not to chase any one measure or buzzword as the "key" to stopping the pandemic, but ventilation was largely undersold as a transmission factor until late summer. I avoided indoor shops and enclosed rides all year.
With all of these thoughts out of the way, I wanted to reflect on my 2020 park experiences.
2020 New Credits, Ranked
8. Flight of Fear at Kings Island
I enjoyed myself on this Premier launched coaster, but there were some undeniable flaws that detracted from the experience. After the exhilarating launch and opening inversion, the ride sustains a mix of positive vertical and lateral G-forces. The lateral forces cause riders to sway side-to-side. While the Kings Island version of the ride has lap bars instead of over-the-shoulder restraints, I found that I swayed enough to torque my hips. This was just as uncomfortable as headbanging. Furthermore, the pace slows to a crawl around the midcourse brake run. The final corkscrew, though, was a surprisingly intense highlight.
7. Tig'rr Coaster at Indiana Beach
On my trip to Indiana Beach, I experienced four of the five roller coasters, opting to stay away from Lost Coaster of Superstition Mountain. All four rides deliver a solid, entertaining experience. Tig'rr Coaster is a Schwarzkopf gem, one of the few remaining Jet Star models in operation. Though it is loud to the point of annoying rounding its low-to-the-ground turns, I appreciated the length and variety that Tig'rr Coaster offered on such a compact footprint. Its location also cannot be beat - surrounded by Cornball Express, situated atop concession shops, and overlooking the water. How much Americana can you pack into one scene?
6. Hoosier Hurricane at Indiana Beach
Hoosier Hurricane gets a bad rap from well-traveled enthusiasts. While my credit count is low, I have no problem believing that this is among the blandest rides that Custom Coasters International ever built. Prior to 2019, it also had a reputation for roughness, but it saw significant trackwork in the 2019-20 offseason. (I do not know if this was initiated by Apex or by Gene Staples.) I got two laps on my trip, one from each end of the train. I only felt two moments of light jackhammering from the back, and my front-row ride was glass-smooth. Furthermore, while the forces were mild and sparse, the layout includes a mix of various hill shapes and sizes. The waterfront location adds a lot of character to this coaster, and there is a great handchopper moment as the ride dives under a footbridge along the water. Of the new credits I gained this year, I actually think Hoosier Hurricane was the most marathon-friendly. In safer times, I hope to do just that.
5. Steel Hawg at Indiana Beach
Steel Hawg was my first ride of 2020, and it started things off with a bang. The El Loco model should be ten times as abundant as it is, serving as the extreme evolution of the wild mouse coaster. While Steel Hawg felt one element short of a complete ride, not an inch of track was wasted. The turns were unfathomably tight, the inversions offered impressive hangtime, and the layout found a perfect equilibrium of chaos and grace.
4. Cornball Express at Indiana Beach
CCI bestowed three attractions upon Indiana Beach before its demise, and I truly think that all three are perfect for the location. (I should perhaps reserve judgment on Lost Coaster before actually riding it.) Cornball Express, though, would be perfect for any location. The ride offers a whirlwind of thrills that seem impossible for its size. It weaves effortlessly in and around its own structure, Tig'rr Coaster, and even the support structure for Hoosier Hurricane. Rocky Mountain Construction did some track work on the ride about a decade ago, and something tells me they had a hand in the sharp profile of the ride's airtime hills.
3. Valravn at Cedar Point
A big, graceful dive machine that ticks all the boxes. The ride often receives sharp criticism compared to the other B&M coasters at Cedar Point, and while it perhaps feels generic, I could not find anything negative to say about the ride experience. The view from the top of the lift hill is also downright majestic.
2. The Beast at Kings Island
This amusement icon delivered as promised, even though I only got to experience it in bright, sunlit conditions. I cannot wait to get a fabled night ride in the future. The layout mostly hugs the terrain, meaning there are few sharp changes in slope. Unlike other enthusiasts, though, I do not place a premium on airtime, and the things that seem to draw me to a ride are variety and use of location. On the latter, The Beast is second to none. The ride is undeniably rough, but for me it found the perfect, razor-thin margin between chaotic and uncomfortable.
1. Orion at Kings Island
Far and away the best new experience for me in 2020, Orion exceeded all of my expectations. A sizable portion of the enthusiast community derided it for not chasing any statistical superlatives, but I defy anybody to notice a tangible difference between Orion's 300-foot drop and any other giga coaster drop. As stated above, I also believe that a good coaster is made by more than quantity of airtime, so I view Orion's positive- and speed-focused elements to be a plus. The airtime addicts among us will also find three incredible moments on Orion's blistering course - the drop, especially taken from the back; the speed hill that rises only 60 feet off the ground, coming off a 200-foot element; and the bizarre dip before the brake run.
2020 Park Trips, Ranked
5. Cedar Point, Saturday, September 12
I had visited Cedar Point twice in the early part of its shortened 2020 season, and like the whole Cedar Fair chain, they were running a tight ship. On this, the first weekend of their altered Halloween season, operations were an utter disaster. It seemed like they were asking a reduced staff to maintain full park operations, and had all but given up on maintaining their stringent COVID-19 safety protocols. The weather was gorgeous, which did not help matters with crowds. In July, mask enforcement and compliance were over 90%. On this day, compliance was much lower, and I did not once see a park employee correct a patron with an improperly-worn mask. There were exactly two highlights - the best lap on Steel Vengeance I have ever had, and a surprisingly strong lap on Rougarou. Otherwise, I found a park catering to their worst-behaved clientele in hopes of a quick cash boost. I heard that fall behavior was much stronger at Kings Island, and I would be curious to investigate data on mask usage and attitudes between the Cincinnati region and the Sandusky/Cleveland/Akron region as a whole.
4. Indiana Beach, Monday, June 28
When looking through the lens of COVID-19 safety, Indiana Beach got off to a problematic start, hosting an opening weekend with ceremonies that encouraged close crowding, making safety protocols gentle suggestions instead of outright requirements, and taking advantage of Indiana's wait-and-see approach to operate with no capacity limit after its opening week. I stayed for only two hours on this morning, because even among the couple dozen visitors, the majority had no mask on. As soon as I noticed an appreciable crowd entering the park, I left. In the meantime though, I was encouraged with the environment that Gene Staples is building for a post-pandemic world, as the park had been thoroughly revitalized, the rides were in good running order, and staff were friendly and prepared.
3. Cedar Point, Monday, July 20
This was a brief solo trip to scout park conditions for a group trip ten days later. As I mentioned above, Cedar Point began the season with an aggressive and comforting approach to COVID-19 safety. Attempts were made to mitigate spread through all known transmission vectors - the park was covered in decals to establish social distancing, masks were required and enforced, covered areas of the park were altered to increase airflow, and bathrooms and queue lines were adorned with extra soap and hand sanitizer. Through it all, ride operations were also impressively fast. I was able to ride GateKeeper three times (although operations were uncharacteristically slow on my last ride of the day), Magnum XL-200, Raptor, Valravn, and Cedar Creek Mine Ride, all in a span of about three hours. As the park was still assembling its staff, Rougarou, Gemini, Corkscrew, and Blue Streak were not yet open.
2. Kings Island, Tuesday, July 7
I think I have come to prefer Kings Island to Cedar Point, and it is a pity that Mason is a farther drive by over an hour. My two trips thus far have been solo excursions for specific attractions, and it is getting hard to justify nine hours of car time for a grown man to go to an amusement park by himself. This day marked the best experience I had with regard to COVID-minded practices, both from park operations and visitors. I had a FastLane Plus wristband from the Presidents' Day sale, and at this point, the park was not selling additional bands. This led to a riding rate that I may never again match. In just over four hours I got three laps on Orion, two on The Beast, three on Diamondback, and one each on Mystic Timbers, The Bat, Banshee, Invertigo, Flight of Fear, The Racer, and Adventure Express. It was a hot day, and trains were running at half-capacity due to spacing requirements. This led to many rough rides - in particular, Banshee was shockingly painful. However, I took three laps on Orion, my 2020 highlight, and I was blown away by Invertigo, of all things. Kings Island recently announced Camp Cedar, which I fully intend to patronize in 2021 for a long weekend with my girlfriend.
1. Cedar Point, Thursday, July 30
I do not know if it is a blessing or an eccentricity that I am able to chase off on a long car trip by myself, to visit an amusement park by myself, and have a great day. However, like most things in life, roller coasters are better with friends, and the highlight of my summer (and possibly 2020) was a double-date to Cedar Point. Both couples quarantined for over a week leading up to this (since I do not live with my girlfriend, we each quarantined separately). We had planned the trip through the spring, pending COVID data and park response. I took a solo trip to scout the park (July 20 trip above), and the week of the trip, we noticed a lull in new case rates, so we opted to go. We were glad we did. It was an overcast day, always threatening rain but never delivering. Crowds were mostly thin. We were able to board every major roller coaster except for Rougarou, Top Thrill Dragster, and Steel Vengeance. Top Thrill Dragster was unreliable all day, Steel Vengeance was closed until they quietly opened for general access in the final hour (which I learned after we left), and my girlfriend just intensely disliked Rougarou from our 2019 experience. I noticed that I did not get many "typical" rides - that is, nearly everything was substantially better or worse than on other visits. Better: Cedar Creek Mine Ride, Raptor, Maverick, Iron Dragon, Wicked Twister, Corkscrew; Worse: Gemini, Millennium Force, GateKeeper, Blue Streak. When it is firing on all cylinders, Cedar Point is probably still the greatest thrill destination on the continent. If it could match the consistency of Kings Island, I would never long for any other park.
PMV's Top 10 Coasters, 2020 Edition
Of my 52 current credits, these are my 10 favorites:
10. Incredible Hulk, Universal Studios Islands of Adventure
9. Mystic Timbers, Kings Island
8. Maverick, Cedar Point
7. Magnum XL-200, Cedar Point
6. Raptor, Cedar Point
5. Vortex, Kings Island
4. Phantom's Revenge, Kennywood
3. Millennium Force, Cedar Point
2. Orion, Kings Island
1. Steel Vengeance, Cedar Point
