Twisted Timbers Media Day 3/23/18
The kids and I were invited to Media Day at Kings Dominion for the Grand opening of the new RMC coaster Twisted Timbers. The event was delayed by a day due to weather. The original event was scheduled for 8 hours. With the new date, the event was only 3 hours long. After a long off season and a 5 1/2 month in between coaster rides my kids were eager to open our 2018 coaster season.
We left the house bright and early at 3:30am. This would be my kids first ever experience at a Media Day of any sort. I did get the pleasure of attending Gatekeeper Media Day at Cedar Point in 2013, so I tried to fill them in on the way down. We arrived at 9:15 for a 10:00am opening ceremonies. We elected to get in line, and socialize with some friends, instead of viewing the ceremony. At 10:30 they let us in, and the kids boarded the very back seat and I took the second row from back for the very first train put out of the station. Now up to this point I have ridden 5 coasters by RMC and all are in my top 15 all time favorite coasters, so I'm a huge fan. Our first ride was very slow and underwhelming, but each ride got better and better as the event went on.
The ride itself has a roll over first drop similar to Storm Chaser. Then comes a series of air time hills similar to El Toro. The ending reminded me of Wicked Cyclone's ending. All in all the air time is excellent, with extreme floating air time, which was starting to turn ejector type towards the end of the event. The laterals are very good as well, but not as extreme as I was expecting. The inversions are more slower hanging than forceful. I was expecting a more extreme version of Storm Chaser, but that wasn't the case. It's a milder RMC coaster that will appeal to die hard adrenaline junkies like myself, and the general public, so it should be extremely popular. All in all this is still a very extreme roller coaster, but just not Lightning Rod/ Storm Chaser extreme. The trains look great, and are the first RMC trains I've seen with retraceable seat belts. It was coaster #443 for me, and #386 for the kids. All in all it made my top 10 favorite steel coasters list at #10, but I do believe it will climb higher than that, when we ride it again later in the summer, being our rides did greatly improve as it warmed up.
All in all the event was awesome. My daughter and I got 8 rides on it, in various rows, with the front seat being my favorite. My daughter and I spent a lot of time socializing with fellow enthusiasts that I haven't seen in quite a while, or that I have only had interactions with through social media. My son approached it in a different way, where he tried to get as many rides as possible, and ended up with 11 rides. I think both kids preferred the front seat as well. It was a bitter sweet experience in a sense. In 2010 Hurler was my daughter's first ever "big coaster." But now we get to ride something so much better and more enjoyable.
Other highlights of the event was the excellent food Kings Dominion provided us with, for free I may add, and the very cool free souvenirs and memorabilia. We all got a free onride photo, a lanyard, and a numbered ticket in a glass case; which is extremely cool. Many professional photographers at the event, so I have some really great photos of my kids and I riding it, because they were eager to share their work with me with me after the event. There are even YouTube videos with my kids and I on them by Coaster Force, and In the Loop. The best highlight for me was meeting the designer Alan Schilke, having a brief conversation with him, and getting a photo with him. IMO, he will go down as one the best coaster designers ever. He stood in line like everyone else, was very sociable, very approachable, and extremely intelligent. It was truly an honor to meet him, and a moment I will remember for the rest of my life.
At 1:00pm the event ended and we actually headed up to Mount Vernon, The home of George Washington, and we thoroughly enjoyed that visit, but that's another story. One more thing I want to emphasize is how much I enjoyed the social interaction with fellow enthusiasts at the event. I have met many of you from this site, in years past. Since our friend beastmaster passed away, I've been reluctant to engage in the social aspect of the hobby, except with a select few people. Mike, aka beastmaster, and I became such good friends, that it was difficult to enjoy the social aspect. I still have not brought myself to visiting Six Flags Great Adventure, since his passing, but I think that will change in the near future. So in closing I want to thank all of you. Whether we have met at parks or just had conversations through social media, thank you for making this hobby much more enjoyable. It's not the things we do in life, but who we share them with.
Thanks for reading,
Ken
* This post was modified at 4/2/18 2:03:37 AM *