I experienced linear induction propulsion for the first time last summer. This year I bought a season pass 
It was King’s Dominion’s Flight of Fear which runs in the dark on a tightly coiled track inside a small creepy-looking building.
I screamed like a little girl 
The shockwave is a stand-up coaster, the one that somebody died on last year IIRC. Certainly not for kiddies. The only kiddie cosater at KD is the Scooby-Doo.
Ruh-Roh!
And the Grizzly is quite good. It gives the impression that it’s just one or two rides away from collapsing into a pile of timbers. I think they should put a smashed-up old set of cars on the ground at the end of a set of fake busted-up track. Of course you wouldn’t be able to see this until you’re already stuck on that long anxiety-filled ride to the top of the first peak.
Ah, but the ultimate is the Grizzly at night. Can’t see a goddamn thing, no lighting, through the woods, rattling everywhere.
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
But for tallish persons like me (6’2"), knee pads are a good thing. You’re not locked in like you are on steel coasters, and the banging about gets pretty serious.
Ooooooh, how could I forget the indoor “Aerosmith Rock-n-Roller Coaster” - MGM Studios.
24 passenger ‘super-stretch-limo’, and loud Aerosmith in your ear. Propelled launch into a long dark tunnel and right into a full loop. Heck, you don’t see any sort of illumination until about 10 seconds into the ride, and most of that is neon/fluorescent highway signs that you swear are a liiiiiiiiiiittle too close to the track. Listen carefully and you’ll hear the sound of screeching tires while you blast through a ‘stop sign’ – ya see, you are late for a an Aerosmith concert, and the band is nice enough to supply one for you.
Not to mention the fact that the whole building is decorated so well. First you walk past old and antique recording equipment (whoever wrote up the info cards was really into bad puns - read 'em carefully). Then you walk into a back alley to get to the car. Gotta admit, Disney does a great job with theme and set design. Really adds to the experience.
Kick-ass coaster. Gotta ride it, even if it can be a two hour wait in high season.
Steel: Millennium Force. Nothing beats it, nothing comes close.
Wooden: Shivering Timbers. I’m not much of a wooden coaster fan, but this is one that I can appreciate. Mean Streak hurts too much.
Well, I have to admit I am partial to wood for that sort of “out of control” feeling it gives. And while I like airtime, I prefer a coaster that has some variety and is intense. So, my favorite is the Legend at Holiday World in Santa Claus, Indiana.
From the first drop to the only brake on the track right before the station, it is non-stop intensity.
If you are ever in the area of Southern Indiana, you should visit Holiday World. It doesn’t have a great number of rides, but has two excellent wooden coasters, a nice water park, and is clean and friendly. Admission is less than $30 and includes parking, tube rentals, unlimited soft drinks, and starting this year unlimited sunscreen. (No, I don’t work for the park, I just really enjoy it.)
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Right after Thanksgiving when I was three, my parents and grandparents drove me to Santa Claus from Terre Haute to visit the jolly old elf at Santa Claus Land. They played Christmas carols all the way and got me all excited with that “Hey, we’re gonna see Santa!!” stuff parents do. I was so excited I was about to vibrate out of my skin.
When we got there, the place was closed. Santa Claus Land was undergoing its transition to HolidayWorld. It felt just like the scene in Vacation where the family arrives to find the empty amusement park parking lot. We got out and read the big sign about the park renovation. I turned to my grandpa and said, in a tearful, quavering three-year-old voice, said “Gramps, this is the saddest day of my life.” He almost cried, too, and then he kicked the big fiberglass Santa and couldn’t drive us home.
Sure it’s a funny story now, but I will never darken HolidayWorld’s door, what with it destroying my entire childhood and all.
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I’ve been on Millenium Force once. It was the only time in my life my instinctive physical response to something was to scream “OH MY GOD!!!” as loud as I could. I walked off the thing unable to stop grinning. Wow. Such a good coaster.
Mantis and Raptor were also a helluva lotta fun. God, I love Cedar Point.
Oh, I know that it’s a stand up coaster, I just always have thought that it was weak. Well, except for the spiral about three quarters of the way through.
As for the person dying on the Shockwave the ride operators were cleared of negligence and no mechanical failure was detected. However about a month later a thirteen y.o. boy got out of the harness and jumped from the ride before it left the station. From personal experience I can tell you that as a full grown adult I have also gotten out of the locked harness on that ride, but only after the cart was in the station and the ride was over. Which says to me the guy who died was probably screwing around and caused his own death. So in other words the ride is safe unless you’re stupid. I have mixed feelings on that.
A friend of mine once came up with an idea for a wooden coaster that looked like a decaying piece of shit. As the ride would go on you’d see random boards falling from the track, gaps would open in the track only to close right when you’d get to them, the coaster would go on to one set of wheels on tight turns. I still think that’s a great idea.