2020 In Review

 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:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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

Ride Review 3: Orion at Kings Island

I am still a novice coaster enthusiast. Frankly, beyond the basic "requirement" of enjoying coasters, I do not intend to ever cross the financial barrier of traveling the continent and the world, pushing my credit count into the stratosphere. Fortunately, I live in the U.S. Midwest, putting me within a day's drive of many destination parks, and putting most of the world's giga coasters within reasonable grasp. When Orion was announced in August of 2019, I began eyeing a Kings Island excursion (expedited by the September announcement of Vortex's closure), enjoying the thrill of following a ride from announcement to opening for the first time. 

Without the benefit of foresight, I purchased a Cedar Fair Platinum Pass in the fall of 2019 and a FastLane Plus voucher during Kings Island's President's Day sale. This put me in a position of good luck that was downright absurd when I took a trip to Mason, Ohio in the park's first week of operation for the 2020 season. I can count myself among Orion's earliest riders, and thanks to my wristband, I was able to score three laps on a day where single-issue boarding passes were distributed to mitigate the crowds packing into Area 72, its themed area.

Trip Report 4: Kings Island - Tuesday, July 7, 2020

Just less than a week after Kings Island's much-anticipated 2020 opening, I couldn't help but make the trip there myself, to follow up on my first experience at the park in quiet Fall conditions. I am developing a knack for making solo trips, although I think that two is enough from my hometown to Mason, Ohio. The drive wears on one's soul eventually, so short of another massive coaster addition (or subtraction), I think any future Kings Island trip will be accompanied.

In some ways, this trip could not have been more different from my first. A forty-degree difference in temperature had a drastic effect on the crowds, the ride performance, and my mood. The coronavirus safety measures were one part minor nuisance and nine parts welcome reassurance, but suffice it to say that they changed the atmosphere around the park. For me personally, knowing my way around the park also emboldened me a little bit, as far as chasing impulses rather than trying to stick to an "itinerary," once my principal missions had been accomplished (more below).

Finally, the park has seen two immense changes in its coaster lineup in the last nine months. Vortex is no longer standing; she will be sorely missed. (For some of you, though not for me, pun fully intended.) What was just a brake run in October is now the world's seventh giga coaster, Orion. I was blown away, even driving down OH-63 a few miles northwest of the park, at just how gigantic a presence Orion holds. It is visible from just about anywhere in the park, yet somehow has a way of sneaking into the backdrop. When it catches one's notice, the ride's massive scope causes a pang of intimidation every time.

Ride Review 2: Steel Hawg at Indiana Beach

I hemmed, I hawed, and I took a deep inner look at my better judgment, but ultimately I decided to make a trip to Indiana Beach during its first full week of operations for the 2020 season. In 90 short minutes, I got to experience a classic Schwarzkopf, a pair of very good CCI woodies, and an Alan Schilke fever dream.

Trip Report 3: Indiana Beach - Monday, June 29, 2020

(Once upon a time, I had promised that my first trip report would be the only one with a preface. I did not foresee the circumstances under which we would be navigating day-to-day life, and this trip, to this park in particular, demands another preface.)

Indiana Beach received a sudden shock this winter when its owners, Apex Parks Group, announced the closure of the park without warning. Then, as suddenly as it was gone, it was back, thanks to the ambition of Chicago businessman Gene Staples. Wasting no time, Staples and team had the park up and running for a June 26 VIP event and a June 27 grand opening.

While the narrative mostly tells a redemption story for the park and for White County, Indiana, footage from the VIP event has already generated controversy from the unregulated guest behavior on display. The state of Indiana has been among the least-restrictive in the region as far as business closures, but heading into Friday's event, new COVID-19 case rates remained on an overall decline. Nevertheless, an event like this, which brought many travelers from out-of-state, posed an outbreak risk if infected individuals came into the park and behaved carelessly.

Trip Plans: 2020 Season, Revised

When I began this blog in the Winter, I was simply collecting my past coaster experiences in written form, to have a body of content for if I ever "launched" it. I was not, and still am not, genuinely seeking readership, and those posts were mostly to give me some inertia, to increase my chances of following through with this blog. I laid out plans for my first summer season as a practicing coaster enthusiast, but I do not think that any of us had a Spring 2020 that went according to plan. The COVID-19 pandemic will likely factor into nearly everything I post in 2020, but I want to first take a moment to touch on an issue that may not. 

A Hiatus? Already? (Early Spring Content Plans)

This is basically a placeholder post. I had a nice rhythm of putting a post up every Saturday morning for the first month of this blog's existence. I have done nothing to promote or link it to this point, so to my knowledge, nobody has actually read it yet, but just on the off chance that somebody stumbled here, and on the even-more-off chance that they enjoyed the content, I just wanted to explain that there won't be posts for a little while.

That rhythm was basically so that I could get some content down as a groundwork. Think of it like a pilot episode for the blog. I was afraid of making just a single post, then getting bored, and not keeping up with it; my hope is that with this initial "investment," I will be more consistent once coaster season arrives. However, I have never really taken photos at parks before, and so there isn't really anything else useful or interesting that I could post at the moment.

Trip Plans: 2020 Season

This year marks my first as a Cedar Fair Platinum Passholder. I will be striking a balance all year between maximizing the value of the pass and adhering to a prudent budget. However, we are only young once, and so it will take only the flimsiest of excuses to send me further afield than I would previously have gone for coasters. The following plans are all loose, and I may post follow-ups when I have more concrete itineraries:

Trip Report 2: Cedar Point - Saturday, July 13, 2019

Last summer, I took a road trip with my girlfriend to Sandusky on a sweltering July Saturday, for her first experience at Cedar Point. We met her best friend, and her best friend's soon-to-be fiancée, making this an ambitious first double date.

The park was congested. I was surprised to find the causeway running much more slowly than it had on my previous visits, and it took us a solid 45 minutes to make it from the causeway to a parking spot, and then another ten minutes to walk to the security line. After our time in a car, the walk was honestly welcome.

Give credit where credit is due - to the park, for providing enough charming sights that we never focused on our sticky discomfort in the heat, and to the other patrons, who were generally polite and amiable despite lines spilling out from most attractions. As this was my girlfriend's first trip, I tried to play the role of tour guide and strike a balance between hitting flagship rides and maximizing ride time (and minimizing line time). Her only must-ride was Millennium Force, which she had heard about since childhood. Not knowing about Top Thrill Dragster's chronic maintenance issues last season, I suggested skipping it, probably a mistake. However, she seemed to enjoy the day, so hopefully I did my job.

Ride Review 1: Vortex at Kings Island

In October 2019, I took advantage of a free day between two busy spells of work to sneak down to Kings Island in response to the announced closure of Vortex. It breaks my heart that this review will be written in the past tense.

The ride generally yielded strong opinions from riders, both positive and negative, and the negative seemed to outweigh the positive. So it goes with Arrow loopers: daring, innovative rides that have not always aged with grace. Cincinnati is generally not a reasonable day trip destination for me, and so I am surprised as I am pleased to declare that my journey was worth it for this retired masterpiece.

Trip Report 1: Kings Island - Sunday, October 06, 2019

(This report was originally posted to /r/rollercoasters. I have revised it to improve the writing, reflect my current ride rankings, and match my new ride cataloging format. Most reports will not have a Preface; this trip was in response to the closure of Vortex.)

Preface

I am brand-new to the coaster enthusiast community. I have always been fascinated by roller coasters, but only recently did it occur to me to delve into their history and learn how to accurately describe what makes them so special.

As I reflect on my past experiences, I have realized that Arrow Dynamics played a role in some rites of passage, both in coasters and in life. My first view of a roller coaster as a child was of Shockwave dominating the skyline of Six Flags Great America. My neck craned, my jaw agape, Shockwave set off a morbid fascination. I feared and admired extreme coasters in equal measure.

A few years later, when I'd somewhat confronted my neurotic love-fear, my first inversion (and hi-five with a "big kid") came on Demon. Sadly, I never made it back to ride Shockwave. My tenth credit was Corkscrew at Cedar Point, and as I rolled over the midway, I learned to appreciate coasters not just as amusement, but as art.

My first theme park date began and ended with rides on Phantom's Revenge - a Morgan ride, but the feel of its Arrow predecessor is undeniably still there. In the summer of 2019, I shared a kiss under Cedar Point's Corkscrew with a girl who might be The One.

My point is that Arrow loopers are what come to mind first when I think, "roller coaster." My mental image is always of some massive, Shockwave-esque ride. Arrow coasters, with their bright colors, stark contrasts, and sinister sci-fi names, epitomize for me the aesthetic and zeitgeist of late-80s and early-90s consumer culture, for which I constantly feel a bizarre, nostalgic longing.

I was just acclimating myself to the idea of spending serious money on coasters as a travel and leisure expense, when Kings Island announced the closure of Vortex. Having missed out on Shockwave and Great American Scream Machine, and doubting that I will ever make it out to ride Viper barring a surprise work event, I immediately planned a destination trip specifically for Vortex. For reasons I have yet to understand, it meant a lot to me personally to hop on a big, mean Arrow mega looper. It is through that paradigm that I consider the trip - 10 hours of car time for 5 hours of park time - a complete success.