April 2022 featured a mix of everything here on We Were Inverted. While I wouldn’t classify it as an overly busy month, I enjoyed working on a few different projects over the course of April. It wasn’t heavy on any one particular thing which helped keep everything a bit more interesting. Here’s a recap what took place throughout April along with several teasers for what’s coming up for May and beyond.
Fabio Fools Quite a Few
As April 1 drew near I was having trouble figuring out a topic for 2022’s April Fools’ Day satire piece. In 2021 I published, “Six Flags Rebranding 6 Coasters for 2021,” and it was the hit. It caused a bunch of laughs and even fooled a handful of people. I was looking for something similar, but I might have went even more over with 2022’s, “Fabio Invited to Ride Pantheon.”
If you haven’t had a chance to read this spoof piece, check it out when you’re done with the CAG Report. Obviously you’ll go into the article knowing it fake, but hey, at least it’s not clickbait or straight up exaggeration, right? It’s nothing like what’s being published about Hersheypark’s Skyrush and Aerie Force One at FunSpot Atlanta. Isn’t that right Cheapthusiast? I digress and apologize for the mini-rant. And no, I don’t want to mention the site’s name here as they get enough clicks with the phony headlines they use.
A Journey with Cris the Girl
April saw another fellow content creator take part in an interview. Cris from the channel, Cris the Girl, was kind enough to give us a look into her background as an amusement park enthusiast and how her channel came to be. The two of us have been talking about this interview for months and I was so happy to finally make it a reality. Cris is so casual, a bit nerdy, and someone who just has fun with life. Her videos are always a fun watch. Be sure to check them out and read through her interviews below:
- (04.22.2022) – Q&A: Cris the Girl, Pt. 2 – The Creator
- (04.15.2022) – Q&A: Cris the Girl, Pt. 1 – The Enthusiast
Season Pass Sadness!
At the end of April I was considering visiting Hersheypark for their Pass Holder Preview event. When I logged into the app I noticed my King-Size Pass was listed as expired. I thought something was wrong with the app. When I logged into my account on the PC, sure enough, it was expired!
Needless to say, I was confused. Sam and I were both on speaker phone months ago renewing our passes together. We were taking advantage of their lowest renewal rate deal. I renewed the pass, along with the dining plan, and put it on the payment plan. Or so I thought. Looking through my bank statements, I was never billed. Now I’m stuck having to renew for a higher price and having to pay all at once.
I’m not upset with Hersheypark, but something didn’t take on my end. Sam had no issues though. Guess I’ll just have to renew sometime before I head up to get some rides on the likes of Skyrush, Great Bear, Comet, and of course, the all new Jolly Rancher Remix and Mix’d.
Speaking of Fabio...
The last couple of months I have slowed down a bit on the number of pins coming into my collection. Truth be told, sometimes you have to be an adult and use money for more important things. That being said, I still managed to land a few.
A huge thank you to James, who many of you know as the unofficial Mayor of Busch Gardens Williamsburg (BGW). He was able to locate the Alpengeist license plate pin I needed to complete the mystery box series. Well, at least Series 1. They just announced Series 2 the day after my last visit. James was also nice enough to send over one of his Park Adventurers buttons. Be sure to check out Park Adventurers on both Facebook and YouTube. He’s a really nice guy and if you see him at the park, be sure to say hey.
As you can see, all of the pins obtained in April are either from the two Busch Gardens parks, or have ties to them. In addition to James’ button and the Alpengeist plate, I added three large lead car pins featuring Pantheon and Iron Gwazi. I also was able to nab the pink Gwazi shirt pin. The last remaining pin is one I’ve been chasing down for a while now though and it features none other than Fabio. I picked this up from Patti Lapel and it arriving the same month as the April Fools’ Day piece was perfect. Poor fella!
April's Trips
Last month I was able to find time to run out two BGW twice and Six Flags America (SFA) once. Hersheypark might have been in this mix had it not have been for my season pass issue. Oh well, the three trips I was able to make were ones I thoroughly enjoyed. My most recent trip to BGW focused on shooting content and I got a ton of it. More on that down below. The remaining trips allowed for me to catch up on some ride time with friends that was long overdue. I was able to hit BGW with Mindy and Renee and Chance at SFA.
Here’s the links to April’s trips if you haven’t had a chance to look them over yet. And don’t forget, all the photos shown in each trip report are also added to that park’s gallery in the Galleries section. Please check those out for lots of great photos from dozens of different parks.
- (04.12.2022) – Busch Gardens Williamsburg – New Paint & More Pantheon
- (04.24.2022) – Six Flags America – ‘Chasing’ Down Chance the Cheapthusiast
- (04.29.2022) – Busch Gardens Williamsburg – Busch Gardens – Filming Followed by Fun
We Were Inverted's Future
I am excited for We Were Inverted’s future. I want to delve a little deeper into some existing items I’ve done on the site and try to improve on some others, including its social media outlets. That leads me to the first thing on May’s “To Do List.” We Were Inverted’s YouTube channel.
New YouTube Content
Throughout April I did a little bit of research and asking around about microphones. Until now I have only talked on videos through vlogs, but I am looking to change that. I filmed a bunch of off-ride and on-ride content that I want to use in some review-type videos. I’m still debating on how I want to tackle these as I don’t want to mimic what someone like Mike from Canobie Coaster does. His in depth reviews are some of the best around. What I’m thinking of doing will be more of a casual thing where I tell some stories about the ride, my history with it, and some notable details. I don’t foresee myself doing an element-by-element breakdown or anything along those lines.
Another thing I’m wanting to do is pick up an overhead ring light and start filming videos showcasing my pin collection. I’m thinking of doing multiple installments, each one focusing on a park or two. I think it will be neat to showcase my pins and talk about how I came to own some of them and talk about what ones are my favorites. My pin collection page is one that gets a fair share of views, so I think it’s something people would enjoy seeing.
Another Influential Coaster of My Childhood
With all the footage I shot of Loch Ness Monster at BGW recently, it’s time for that installment of the Influential Coasters of My Childhood series. This has been a series many of you have loved and is always one of the most-viewed whenever they’re released. I have a lot of fond memories of Nessie and some items to mention in the Modern Take follow up piece.
My Newspaper Days
When I first launched this site I made mention about my background as a journalist for a local newspaper. One of the articles I wrote during that time focused on the American Coaster Enthusiasts (ACE) and the coaster hobby in general. It was writing this article that pushed me into becoming more serious about the hobby.
Since the site’s launch I haven’t had much luck finding anything more than a tiny JPEG of the article’s cover design, which I also created. Well, last week I located the file on an old CD-ROM and my aim is to add it to the site. The article is from 2004 and was laid out in QuarkXpress on Mac pre-OSX days. I’m hoping Adobe InDesign on my PC here running Windows 10 will be able to convert the file. My plan is to repost the article here and include the page design as an image file.
I can’t wait to add this as well as what I mentioned above to the site. If there are any ideas of things you’d like to see, by all means, please reach out to me and let me know.
