Well, the final month of 2020 came to an end. As always, it’s time to do a little recap of the month’s events in my monthly CAG Report. A number of memorable trips took place with some new credits obtained. That wasn’t all, however. A few items of note also took place as far as the site itself is concerned, both with features and the crew. Let’s take a few minutes and recap December 2020.
Influential Coasters of My Childhood Debuts Along w/ Modern Takes
I have to admit, I was excited to debut the all-new series, “Influential Coasters of My Childhood” on We Were Inverted. Once I sat down and started writing the first installment, however, so many fond memories came rushing back. Memories with family members, memories with friends, and of course, memories of my favorite coaster at the time, Kings Dominion’s Anaconda. I figured starting with this coaster would be one to turn some heads because of how unpopular this ride is today. For 12 year old me, however, there was nothing better. Writing this first piece made me long to ride it again too.
While writing the first installment an idea surfaced in my head. Why not do a portion at the end of the blog where I talk about my modern day feelings for these rides? I thought it would be a nice way to wrap up the blog, but as I began writing it, I noticed that it began to take on a life of its own. It was becoming longer that I had anticipated. That’s when I made the call to take that section and make it its own blog entry as well. So not only will you get the “Influential Coasters of My Childhood” entries, you will also get the “Modern Take on Influential Coasters of My Childhood” follow ups as well. This should make writing each one of the entries twice as fun for me.
Flight Crew Promotions
Sam - Captain
On our Thursday, December 3, 2020 stop at Funland of Fredericksburg (FoF), while we were on our way down to Busch Gardens Williamsburg (BGW), Sam earned her 15th rank point, promoting her to the rank of Captain. Before the end of the month, she earned her 16th rank point with our visit to Storybook Land. Only two more points to tie Mindy and four more to join James as the only other Flight Crew member to reach the Admiral rank (20 rank points or higher).
Greg - Commander
Only a few days before Christmas, on Tuesday, December 22, 2020, Greg earned his 10th rank point, promoting him to the rank of Commander. One week later, with our visit to Six Flags Great Adventure (SFGAdv), Greg reached his 11th rank point, leaving him just two points shy of Elaina, at 13.
Getting Creative for Greg's Christmas Gift
After meeting Greg and visiting a few parks together, I came up with the idea to put my graphic design skills to use. Since Greg collects ride photo keychains, I thought it would be fun to design Greg a few keychains for roller coasters that don’t offer ride photos. I went online, ordered some of the empty keychain shells, and got to work. I wanted these done before our Hersheypark visit during the week of Christmas.
The keychains I ended up creating for Greg included the three you see above, along with two others. The Python Pit keychain was a must and was my favorite of all my designs. Tumbleweed’s wanted poster look was fun. Twist-n-Shout certainly turned out to be quite eye-catching with all the colors and checkered flag pattern. Each one of these featured a specialized back to commemorate each trip. As for the other two, one featured both Sam and Greg sitting on the Phoenix train outside the station. How Knoebels doesn’t have a ride photo booth for one of the most iconic rides in the world is beyond me. So, I thought it was only right to mark the day when Greg earned his 75th credit and Sam, her 50th, on the same ride. The final keychain was a group photo featuring Greg, Sam, Chris D., and myself from BGW. On the back, a calendar of every trip he did in 2020 with the site’s fellow crew members was listed.
To learn more about Greg’s keychain collection, read “Coaster Collectibles – Greg Lane: Ride Photo Keychains.”
Visiting the Parks One Last Time... Maybe Two
Busch Gardens Williamsburg - Christmas Celebration
Originally, Sam, Greg, and I didn’t have any plans to go back to BGW for 2020. After a friend reached out to me, showing interest in going, I made plans for her and I to go. I asked Sam if she’d like to come too and she said yes. As the trip approached, however, my friend had to cancel plans, so Greg stepped in and the three of us met back up with Chris D. and Carrie for some more great rides on Alpengeist, InvadR, and Verbolten.
Funland of Fredericksburg
This was a super quick stop to grab Sam and Greg credits on Twist-n-Shout. We would have liked to have stayed and experience some of the amazing offerings of the establishment, but time was limited with plans to visit BGW an hour later. We would already be arriving late and didn’t want to cut our five hour shift at BGW too short.
Hersheypark - Christmas Candylane (2)
Our two visits to Christmas Candylane in 2020 weren’t what we had hoped for as coaster enthusiasts. Most coasters on both days were closed. Candymonium didn’t run either day, neither did Wildcat – the two biggest coasters listed for the event. We managed some rides on Cocoa Cruiser, Laff Trakk (first visit), Wild Mouse (second visit), and Sidewinder (second visit). Between the weather and some Covid restrictions, I know the park did the best they could. Both trips turned out to be mostly flat ride filled days.
Six Flags Great Adventure - Holiday in the Park (2, Should Have Been 3)
During the final two weeks of 2020, I had two amazing visits to SFGAdv – the first of which was with Sam and the second was with both Sam and Greg. As for the headline, I did stop by one evening after my first visit to Storybook Land and found the park closed. That was a little annoying, but the last two visits of the year more than made up for it.
On both visits, the park was pretty empty and lines were small, if they existed at all. We all the coasters and even some of the flat rides between the two visits. The most notable event, which took place during both of our visits was doing 10 rides in a row on Nitro. We also rode it two more times separately on both visits meaning Sam and I rode it 24 times between the two visits.
Storybook Land (2)
For my first trip to Storybook Land, I went solo. I met up with a few fellow American Coaster Enthusiast (ACE) members for some exclusive ride time (ERT) on Bubbles the Coaster and Tick-Tock Drop. Oddly enough, I was mesmerized by the park’s old school charm and focused mostly on walking around the park before it got dark. Sure, I got in some rides on Bubbles and Tick Tock, but the setting and charm stole the show. It stole it so much that both Sam and my dad expressed how much they’d like to go. So a second trip was in order.
Since Storybook Land had all of its reservations booked during the week of Christmas, the three of us would have to visit the week after. We picked Monday and had a wonderful time. Although going to any park and getting Sam new credits is always a great time, this visit was made extra special since I got to go with my dad. He was really looking forward to seeing this park after my initial visit. He loved seeing all the nursery rhyme and fairy tale themed attractions. It took him back to his visits to Maryland’s Enchanted Forest, just like it did with me. I’m glad he was able to come. He even rode Bubbles the Coaster and Tick-Tock Drop too.
Plans for January 2021 & Beyond
The way 2020 was and finished up, who knows what this new year will hold. It would be nice to see parks go back to some normalcy, but I think that may take a bit more time yet. There are new coasters, as well as parks, that I’d like to visit and there are some parks I’d really like to see some of the crew members experience too. Most of that is months away, I’m guessing, although I did see today that BGW is going to be open all 2021 with some limited capacity events. That probably bodes well for Sam getting in some more rides on Alpengeist.
Until those new trips take place, I will be looking for some new content to bring to this blog, along with the site’s social media pages. I have some interview ideas I’m working on and also have the series I’ve already launched to keep things fresh here on the site.
Thanks for the support during We Were Inverted’s first year online. I’ve met so many great people out here – some of which have even become part of the crew. I hope to continue that trend moving forward and seeing this site take off like a launch coaster. I almost said an Intamin launch, but that might be problematic. Whomp, whomp! Sorry, corny joke, I know. Thanks for support everyone.
