Sam Gets Her First-Ever Season Pass
Kicking off the month, on October 1, Sam and I went up to Hersheypark to pick up her first-ever season pass. She picked Hersheypark because it is her favorite amusement park and one where she has many fond memories. From riding her first true “big” coaster in Great Bear, to all the visits we had during the summer, it’s easy to see why she loves the park so much.
When Sam bought her pass, she elected to do the version that would allow her to visit the park for the remainder of the 2020 season in addition to all of 2021. This is why we decided to hit up Hersheypark in the Dark before the event comes to a close. We are also planning on visiting for Christmas Candylane a handful of times. The park is practically open every day at the end of November and throughout December.
Coaster Collection Series Kicked Off
The Coaster Collection Series kicked off, featuring Chance Knight from the YouTube channel, Cheapthusiast. Knight’s collection of magnets was showcased along with a background detailing how and why he began collecting them. He also gave some tips on how to begin your collection from a budgetary perspective. Be sure to give “Coaster Collectibles – Chance Knight: Magnets” a read if you have yet to do so.
Next up in this series will be We Were Inverted’s own Greg Lane and his collection of ride photo keychains. Be on the lookout for that in November. If you have a collection themed around roller coasters or amusement parks, and would like to be featured, let me know by emailing me through the site’s Contact page.
My Own Pin Collection Continues to Grow
Speaking of collectibles, my pin collection gained 21 new pins during October. Most of the additions came from eBay purchases, including a couple of Volcano The Blast Coaster pins that I have long cherished. I also grabbed a couple Loch Ness Monster buttons, which I normally don’t collect. They were just so old and neat looking to pass up.
One of the biggest reasons for having so many new pins added to my collection was the arrival seven pins from Joseph Fell’s Theme Park Collection Series 2. If you recall, back in August, I published the blog, “Kickstarter – Fells’ Theme Park Collection, Series 2 Pins,” where I showcased his newest project and Etsy store, called Theme Park Collection. Well, those pins have now made it into my collection and his art is top notch. I love these pins and how detailed the designs truly are. Be sure to give his store a look if you like these designs. You can also get them in prints, shirts, and much more.
Sam & I Join the American Coaster Enthusiasts
I have always told myself that I should join the American Coaster Enthusiasts (ACE), but just never did. Over and over I would think about it while out at the parks, but I’d come home and forget all about it. Well, I finally did it. I signed up both Sam and myself. Sam’s was an early Christmas gift, which she loved. We now join Greg, who has been a member for about a year now. We already made use of our membership during our visit to Knoebels, which you can read about down below.
Read the following blog for more details, “Joining the American Coaster Enthusiasts (ACE)… Finally.”
Loch Ness Monsters Gets Cut
In the “CAG Report – August 2020” blog I mentioned that I commissioned a woodcut of The Loch Ness Monster logo from Dave Taylor of Dave Taylor’s 3D Wood Art. Knowing it would take him some time to get to my project, I have been eagerly awaiting to see what he was able to do with the artwork I sent over. Well, at the end of October I got a nice surprise when he shared the Instagram post above. it showed all the pieces cut and placed. This project is already looking amazing! I can’t wait to see how good it looks painted. This is going to be a nice show piece to hang on the wall.
Be sure to check out Taylor’s work by visiting the following social media accounts:
Coasting Through October
The We Were Inverted Flight Crew didn’t do much in the way of park trips to start out October, but boy did we ever finish strong. Sam and Greg were able to sweep up on some new credits. Here is a brief overview of each of those visits. Be sure to click on the corresponding links for each park trip if you want the full rundown of the day.
Adventure Park USA & Knoebels
This turned out not to be much of a park visit, in all honesty. We were on our way to Knoebels and decided to stop at Adventure Park USA (APUSA) on the way to help pad Greg’s credit list. It was our goal for him to be able to claim Phoenix as his 75th credit later in the day. Having been to the park previously, Greg had already rode Wildcat, but still needed to ride Wild West Express and Tumbleweed. Sadly, Wild West Express was not running when the park opened and we couldn’t afford to wait to see if it would. We had quite the drive ahead of us to get to Knoebels.
Read the following blog for more details, “Adventure Park USA – Greg Goes for a Tumble.”
Knoebels
Man, oh man was Knoebels busy! I have honestly never seen this park as busy as it was on this day – Greg’s first-ever visit and Sam’s second. Still, our planned idea to have Greg make Phoenix his 75th credit and Sam’s 50th worked out like a champ. Sure, the lines were longer than normal, but the Knoebels staff handled things like a champ. It’s always a good day whenever I visit Knoebels.
This visit to Knoebels also allowed for the three of us to take advantage of a ticket combo deal being offered to ACE members. For the same price as the ride all day wristband, we got a wristband, two slices of pizza, one soft drink, one haunted mansion ticket (not included with wristbands), and a free game voucher.
There was also a scheduled swap meet and some exclusive ride time (ERT) on Phoenix prior to the park’s opening. Sadly, we were unable to attend due to our plan to have Greg and Sam earn their 75th and 50th credits on the ride. Both had to ride some of the park’s other offerings first to make that work. Oh well, hopefully next time because those events sure sounded fun!
Read the following blog for more details, “Knoebels – Wait For It…“
Six Flags America
This park stop was totally unplanned, but resulted in a fun time for the brief time that Sam and I were there. Getting out of class on Mondays around 3 p.m., I asked Sam if she wanted to run up to Six Flags America (SFA) to see if she could secure her missing credits from the park. They were open until 7 p.m. and I had a bring a friend pass that would get her in for free. It was a rainy day too, so we figured the park would be empty. We were 100 percent correct and nabbed all but one of Sam’s missing credits.
Read the following blog for more details, “Six Flags America – Riding in the Rain.”
Busch Gardens Williamsburg
A return trip for a second round of rides during the park’s sold out Halloween Harvest event. The reason we went back to the park again so soon with their 1,000 guest and four hour time restrictions? Well, they opened up the coasters Sam needed to complete the park’s active credit list (not counting Pantheon).
Sure, there would be no Alpengeist or Griffon, two of the hits from our September visit, but we were looking forward to riding Apollo’s Chariot, Grover’s Alpine Express, Loch Ness Monster, Tempesto, and Verbolten, which was down back in September.
Read the following blog for more details, “Busch Gardens Williamsburg – Completing the Credits.”
Hersheypark
Since Sam bought herself a 2021 season pass to Hersheypark with the option to come to the park for the rest of 2020, we wanted to be sure to visit the park a time or two during Hersheypark in the Dark. The original plan was to visit back-to-back days on both Saturday, October 24 and Sunday, October 25. The more we thought about it, however, we decided to change things up and go to Six Flags Great Adventure (SFGAdv) on Sunday instead.
Those plans didn’t stick. While at BGW on Thursday, I found out that Sam had off on Friday. I asked her if she wanted to go to Hersheypark for their 5-9 p.m. shift. She said, “Hell yeah!”
Long story short, our plans got all fumbled around for the weekend, but we did make it to the Friday shift of Hersheypark. Sam got in her last two remaining credits in Sidewinder and Fahrenheit… well, not counting Storm Runner, but that’s been down all season.
Read the following blog for more details, “Hersheypark – Oh, You’re Off? Wanna Go To Hersheypark?“
Now it's November
Now that it’s November, the parks that I and the Flight Crew have been attending during 2020, will be winding down operations, or offering limited holiday themed events. Aside from some visits to Hersheypark for Christmas Candylane, I’m not really sure how many park reports you will be seeing in November and the months that follow.
Instead, I hope to bring some other types of blogs to the site. Regular installments in the Coaster Collection series should make their way into the mix. I’m also hoping to arrange a few interviews with fellow enthusiasts and introduce a few other series that I can keep coming back over and over again with new installments.
