Episode 275 - Our April Queue Episode

The coaster (and slide) season is back and it's time to bring on the monthly "queue" episodes where we discuss what we did in the past month and what we plan for the upcoming.

We are going for 50 parks and a lot of rides and slides so check this out and let us know your thoughts for 2026.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:17

Hello, hello, hello. Welcome to the 125 Roller Coaster Challenge, Trimmed and Staple Podcast. I'm Paul, and guys, it's time for our April Q. Now, if you're new to the podcast, which we know there's a lot of new people, uh, especially with the advent of us adding this onto um YouTube, we do have a lot of new people. So let me explain what the cue is. So during the season, April through probably about October, November, in the first of the month, it's April 1st, April Fool's Day, but um we digress there. Um, we actually do what we like to call the Q episode. Now, what this is is we're gonna tell you everything that we did in the past month, all the trips, all the different uh filming that we did, and all that, and then we're gonna tell you what our plans are for the upcoming month. We're also gonna throw in some news items that are making their way around. Like uh last month we discussed the enchanted parks uh with the Six Flags parks and stuff like that. So that's what the queue is. Uh pretty much an update of what we're doing. Uh now this isn't said in stone, but we always go into every month with some goals, and this goal is pretty high this year. We are looking to get to 50 parks, and currently we are going on to three, going on to four. So I always uh do these a few days in advance. Never been a big guy to do the live feed uh aspect there. So um without further ado, we're gonna kick off the queue episode. But the first thing I want to talk about is the big news coming out of Six Flags Great Adventure, which is uh, hey, the Six Flags America rides are finding a home. Um basically they are revamping their boardwalk area, uh, which definitely needed an upgrade there. It was kind of uh when you went there, there's games, and that was about it. So updating this boardwalk section, they are they are actually adding five rides. And uh, not gonna lie to you, uh, most of these uh probably when I discuss each one of the rides real quick here, we're gonna see that you know some of these I thought were gonna be saved, so thought of some of them I'm shocked. And the first thing, and of course the big one, is the uh pretty much the uh Raging Cajun uh has a new home. And everybody thought when they were thinking about the different coasters and stuff that Raging Cajun was the one that was going to be saved, and they are 100% correct there. Um Raging Cajun is getting a paint job, it's going from green to blue, and it's gonna be called Barrels of Fun. Now, if you're familiar with this channel, uh especially YouTube channel, you know that Raging Cajun um has been a nemesis of ours. Uh we do get motion sickness, and the um ride that basically gives us the most trouble is Raging Cajun. Every time we have ridden this thing, it has spun uncontrollably. So if you love spinning coasters, you love spinning around fast and furious, um, Raging Cajun, now barrels of fun, is the ride for you. Uh, there's been so many times that once we hit the uh part of the track where it starts spinning, we would be in the brake run still spinning pretty fast. Like the attendant would have to wait for it to slow down so they could stop it. Uh so it's gonna be uh great to see Raging Cajun in a new location there, barrels of fun. And if you're a coaster count person, that does count as a new credit for us. So uh I know people are gonna be, but the ride hasn't changed, it's just a paint job. Let me explain one more time what we do when it's a we when we call it a new credit. So um for us to call it a new credit, it has to either be changed in trains. So if it goes from stand-up to floorless, kind of like apocalypse went changed from apocalypse to a firebird and became a floorless, that is a new coaster. If it gets relocated, it is a new coaster because that's a new experience, new sights, new sounds, and all that kind of stuff. That's the case here with Raging Caging becoming barrels of fun. Um they're changing that up there so that will count as a new thing. Now, the Bolton may or may not be a new credit because they are doing the Forbidden Forest aspect of it. It's re-theming, but do they change the track? If it's just a re-theme, I'm not counting it as a new credit. But if there is some new track work, which I'm not sure, I don't think there is, but if there is new track work, then we will call it a new one. Now you're going to say, but wait a second, with the new theming, uh, especially with Verbolton, it's going to have a new sights and sounds. Yes, I agree. It's not an exact science, but that's what we go with, and it's my game, not your game. So Verbolton, unless there's some track work uh that's being changed uh with the track, it will not be a new credit. Meanwhile, Barrels of Fun will be a new credit, could be a 400th at this point. Uh now the other rides that were saved, we knew Steamwaller was going to be saved. That was a brand new Zemperla uh mixing mix-up ride that uh they put in like two years ago over the Steam Town section there. So we knew that one was going to be saved. Uh, and that one has been saved, and it does have a new name, and that new name, and it's a very simple name that they decided to give it. It's uh you know, not like barrels of fun and stuff like that. It's actually called Hypno Twister, is gonna be the new name uh for Steam Whirler, uh, which is uh, like I said, that one I knew was gonna be saved. I was pretty sure that um Raging Cajun was gonna be saved, but the other three that they decided to save totally caught me out of uh the blue there. And one of them is the wave swinger. So if you're familiar with um Six Flags America, as soon as you walked in on your right-hand side, uh, when you got to the main area there where you could go left or right, right on your right-hand side was their wave swinger, uh, which is I think it was called the flying carousel. So that has been saved, uh, which is great. Uh another one is used to be um uh what was it? It was over in a bourbon, uh, right across from Raging Cajun. I think it was Frontier Flyers or uh Fiesta Flyers. It's the uh flying scooters, is what they're gonna be called now. They're basically the ones that you go around circles and you move the thing left and right, and you know, it blows you up, blows you down. You know, the biggest one I always remember about these is the one at Cnobles because you can kick the tree. And then the last one, I did not see this one being saved. It was all the way in the back of the park, right by Harley Quinn. It was called uh Riddler's um uh it was Riddler themed, uh Riddle Me This, I think it was called. It's not gonna be called Super Roundup. So those five rides are completely from Six Flags America, which I'm like I said, I am so happy that they were able to save these rides. Now, the one thing that I'm still curious about, there's also a ride that I always thought that was going to be saved or should be saved, and it was the water coaster over at the Hurricane Harbors, because that came in at the same time as Steam Boiler, and you would think, you know, it's a fairly new water coaster. So I'll be curious to see, since Great Adventure got all of those five rides, is that water coaster going to show up at Hurricane Harbor, New Jersey? Um, I'm I'm gonna say yes. I'm thinking that they it's something they need. They don't have a water coaster at that park. And like I said, it was brand new over at Six Flags America. It'll be horrible to get rid of that. But in the comment section, let us know what else do you think could be saved from uh Six Flags America? Do you think there's uh a coaster? You know, some people always talk about Joker's Jinx, maybe uh finding a new new life somewhere. Um, maybe the kitty coaster will pop up somewhere. Is there a coaster that will be saved? And is there any other attractions that you think can be saved from Six Flags America? Because at the end of the season, most of this stuff was working. Uh, and it's hard just to get rid of things. Now, you know, Superman's not going to be relocated. You know, um Wild One, even though we all wanted to be relocated, it won't be. We know um ROAR right now is probably firewood and stuff like that. But, you know, does Fi Fi does Firebird get another chance because they did invest in the uh the new trains? Or, you know, most people were complaining about it. Is that going to be saved or not? So let us know in the comment section what else you think can still be saved uh from Six Flags America. And even, you know, is Darien Lake going to get something? You know, is uh um King's Dominion, you know, one of the reasons why Six Flags America died was because King's Dominion kicks its butt. Is something gonna be saved there? Maybe that will be where the water coaster goes. Let us know in the comment section. But going back to the queue, what did we do in March? Well, it was cold, so there wasn't much that we did in March, but we did finally get out of our hibernation. Uh, first thing we did was we went to Chocolate World a few times, um, you know, updated people on the different candies. First, it was Valentine's Day uh in February, and then we did March uh with Easter and stuff like that. Now, is that going to be an uh occurrence that we're gonna do all the time? Probably not. There is a couple things I wouldn't mind shooting there. Um I did the Let's Eat, I did merch and stuff like that, but I wouldn't mind doing a showtime and sharing all the different um attractions that they have there. They have the Trolley Works, uh, they got the 4D theater and stuff like that. Uh, but yet again, like I said, as it gets warmer, that becomes less and less of a priority. Uh, so that was one thing there. Uh, we've gone to the Hershey Supply Company a few times here to check out the latest merch, which is always um, you know, fun for us. Uh, it's funny because we want to do a winter issue uh episode, a spring episode, summer and fall for a supply company. And I didn't expect to actually do the um spring one in March, but when I walked in there uh about a week ago from when we're doing this, uh I couldn't believe all the new stuff they had. So I felt like I needed to do that because it was just so many new things. Um maybe early June is when I do it again, uh, just because of the fact that I do want some time in between there. But man, Hershey is definitely going crazy with the new merch, uh, Trailblazer merchandise. Uh, they've got a couple new uh themes for the spring. Um Hershey is definitely upping their merchandise game there. Uh but then I ended up going to two water parks and a zoo, believe it or not. And uh first thing I want to talk about is a zoo because um I the the last episode I did was called uh the lost attraction at Hershey, and that is Zoo America. Because Zoo America to me has always kind of been I always joke that um the exhibits uh all they did was put a fence and the animals that were in the fence already are your exhibit, you know, the squirrel exhibit, the deer exhibit, and stuff like that. And the deer exhibit is a real thing, but they did do some changes. Uh there's no food there, which is really shocking. I guess I'm gonna wheel out some uh carts during the summer, but um I went there in March, and if I was hungry, there's nothing to eat uh except for a couple like thing, you know, Hershey bars and stuff in the gift shop. So that was uh kind of uh interesting. The gift shop is now where the food used to be, there's a security area and stuff like that. But I do want to do a walkthrough, and I might do that next uh this upcoming week, uh, just because of the fact that I want to do it in April doing the next walkthrough because in the summer it gets too crowded. But I think since it is open every day, uh if I go April on a Tuesday or a Wednesday and do a full walkthrough and stuff like that, uh it's still a little bit cold right now. Um yeah, you know, basically it's uh palm Sunday when I'm doing these. And um it's still a little brisk, but if it warms up to 60s, 70s, I'm definitely going to do for a walkthrough there. But we did that already, and we're looking to do that again. But the big thing we did was we launched the 125 water slide challenge, and uh with that, we start off at Sahara Sam's over uh in New Jersey, right near Clementon Park. Basically the sister park for Clementon Park. And uh it's an indoor water park, it's it's small, but uh we get a warm welcome there, and the slides are pretty good uh for an indoor small indoor park. Uh they've got um you know mat racers, uh, two of those. So they're not like the ones where you have six across or you go flying down. Uh these are more they intertwine, not really racers because they are two different types of track. Um they've got uh some uh raft slides that are pretty good. They have a big raft slide, which I didn't get on because you need friends, and I don't have any friends, but um that was always fun. And then they um they had a body slide there, the Nile Mile, and that one was really good. That was by far the best slide there, but they have a good lazy river, um, you know, snack bar is pretty basic. What was new was they had some new pizza flavors, so it wasn't anything really new from the summer, uh, except for the pizza. Uh they have a big arcade, so if you're in arcades, you can go there. This is a family fun center with water attractions. Uh, because you know, they got the birthday rooms, they've got um, you know, the arcade, uh, they got an outdoor area, which we showed last year. And like I said, all these videos you can find on the YouTube channel, uh, the 125 Roller Coaster Challenge uh YouTube channel. Uh, like and subscribe if you're new because uh we're trying to get to 10,000. That's our goal for this year. Uh doesn't really mean much because um it's always funny because people are like, oh, how many subscribers do you have? And you don't get paid by the subscribers, you get paid by the watch hours. And we are not a subscriber-based. You know, if you're watching uh Katie Coasters, yeah, Katie's the star. If you're watching Coaster Studios, you know, you got Taylor in them, even Chris with Airtime Thrills, uh and Molly and Legend, you know, they're more like me, where you see us briefly, but we're not the personality base, we are more of a reference tool. I've always said that. We are um basically first time go to the park, here's a walkthrough, uh visual map of you're hungry at the park. Hey, you know what? You want to know? It's funny, the most profitable video I looked at the other day that we've done has been Let's Eat on Liberty of the Seas, uh, the cruise. But it's not the walkthrough of the cruise, it's actually the food aspect of the cruise, all the restaurants, uh, which I find is amazing because, like I said, all we do is show people menus. But um, you know, people like that. So with that being said, um the subscriber number is more I just think if we get to 10,000, it's like we're a legit channel, you know. Saying over 10,000 means something, but we are closing in over two million views, and we're talking, I think I saw 75,000 watch hours since we started. That is amazing to me that 75,000 watch hours uh just people watching our videos. So but um yeah, so if you want to see Sahara Sam's, that's where you go. And then uh a couple days ago, I actually went to DreamWorks Water Park. Now we got five water slides over at um Sahara Sam's, which is great. But then uh going over to DreamWorks, we're up to 16 water slides, and wow, what an experience we had there. Uh, we're gonna go in more in depth in this a little bit later. Sorry about that. There's uh every once in a while you get pop-ups when you're uh filming. But um with that being said, um it was a great experience. Uh we're gonna go more in depth on that in an upcoming episode, but uh just know that it is pricey and know that um it it's a weird ticketing thing and stuff like that. But all in all, you know, great day at that park. Uh I got beat up pretty good. I uh I flipped around these uh uh water slides. Uh I'm I'm up there in age, so they're not as smooth and crisp as they once were. And uh I got my butt kicked pretty good, which was kind of neat. So that was what we did. We basically Sohara Sam's DreamWorks and then Chocolate World slash Zoo America. So we're at three, because I kind of count uh Chocolate World and Zoo America as one uh visit there. But before we dive into what we're planning on doing in April, um just want to let you guys know, remind you, today is April 1st, you know, but it is no joke. Tomorrow, April 2nd, will be the first day that we will not be dropping a video on YouTube. We are cutting back on a lot of different things on that end. Uh, what we did was since we started four or three and a half, four years ago, every day we would either drop a full length or a short. But we noticed over time that the shorts uh were getting less and less popular. Before we used to get 3,000, 4,000 views. Now we're lucky we get a thousand on the views. And I also think that might be something that might be overwhelming people who might be interested in our um YouTube channel where every day, bing, there's a new alert, bing, here's a new alert, bing, here's a new alert. So what we decided to do is we're gonna be cutting back on the shorts. We're still looking to do three, two to three full-length videos a week. Uh, some produced, some walkthroughs, you know, what we usually do. But shorts, we're gonna do one or two for the general public. So for most people, um, you know, they'll get, you know, a typical schedule, it might be a full-length video on Sunday, and then Tuesday might be a short, and then uh Thursday might be a full-length video, uh, and then Saturday might be a short, you know, something like that. However, if you like our shorts content, we are going to be dumping a lot of shorts on the membership area. And we're gonna be also having some exclusive content on the membership area. So um the memberships are$199. That's it,$1.99 a month. We are not, you know, going for$5,$10, whatever it is. We are just um wanting people that if they like shorts or if they want exclusive content, um, definitely make sure you check it out. Also, there's a lot more giveaways. We do giveaways for our members. So for$199, if you like the shorts, uh, that's where I would go there. Because they're probably going to drop, we're going to have two public, but we're probably going to drop two or three more on memberships uh every week. Exclusive there. Now you'll also be able to see those on Instagram and Tickety Talk and all that. But uh for YouTube, these will be exclusives just for members. And then of course, video-wise, uh, if it's a full-length video, we're getting ready to drop the um Coaster Clash, which is uh Nitro against um candemonium. Uh candemonium, sorry. Um that's gonna be coming soon. Sorry about that again. I don't know why that keeps doing that, but I have to shut that down. There we go. Uh gotta love it when uh uh emails keep popping through there. But um, yeah, so tomorrow will be the first day that we will not have anything dropping on there, and it's weird because I have stuff to do, but I just want to um make sure that we uh give you more quality than quantity at this point. Um now, what are we gonna be doing in April? What aren't we gonna be doing? So it might technically be March, but we are filming this now. But my goal is for tomorrow, which is the Monday, the last Monday in um um March. Basically, we are going to King's Dominion. We are gonna be driving out to King's Dominion. It's spring break for King's Dominion and Busch Gardens, and I'm off Monday and Tuesday, and I'm thinking Monday would be the day to go, and I'm going to head to King's Dominion. Now, when we go to King's Dominion, I have one major goal. Now, of course, we always want to do the what's new. You know, what's new is always important, showing people what's new at the park and stuff like that. But the other one is let's eat. So for the last couple years, we've been wanting to do a let's eat there, but we always had something else poking us, something else just wasn't hitting us up. Uh a lot of it had to do with the water park, because I kind of like doing the let's eat with the water park options in there because it the water park isn't like water country USA at Bush Gardens, it's actually in the same complex. It's it's it's basically right uh right in the heart of the park, kind of like Hershey Park is. So I always like to add those options, but at this point, I I just want to get let's eat out there. So many people like the let's eat videos that it just doesn't seem right that uh King's Dominion, which is a park we go to once, twice, three times a year, doesn't have a let's eat done. So we are going to do a let's eat video and we are going to uh probably do a um our park day. You know, we only we only want to do one or two a year, so uh we don't want to inundate everybody with our park days. Uh and then um basically do it what's new. That's gonna be the filming side there. But the neat thing is uh with the 125 roller coaster challenge, um we never got on Pantherian uh last year. Uh it was when we went, it wasn't open yet, and we couldn't get down there near the end of the year. So that would actually be a coaster credit for this year. Uh not a not a new credit, it's not gonna count as a new credit because all it is is you know it's got retracked, but it hasn't been redone. Um it's been repainted, but it hasn't been added. It's a theme. So it's not a new coaster credit, it won't be number 400, it'll be Pantherian, but uh it will count for the 125 roller coaster. And of course, I got to get in twisted timbers. Grizzly is a must-ride now. Dominator is always something I need to get on. Um, so yep, uh, that's what we're planning on doing on Monday. Now, I would love to kill two birds with one stone, but I don't know my schedule. So we may this week yet go to Busch Gardens Williamsburg uh and do the same thing. Let's eat is very important and what's new. But I may hold off on that because that park is one I always like it when it's prettier. Um and then also um, you know, I want to make sure Verbolton's ready to go. So we may or may not do Busch Gardens this week, but it is on the docket for April. Uh, once we start hearing more about when Verbolton is going to be launching, no pun intended, but pun intended, um, we will be hitting Busch Gardens. But other parks that we're planning on doing, well, of course, Hershey Park opens up uh this weekend. Now, I tend not to go uh during opening weekends. It gets mobbed and you know, it's hard to film and stuff like that. However, I have a couple people that I'm friends with, uh, Katie Coasters and uh a couple other people that uh are gonna be there, and it's always good to see other people who do what we do. Um, people like Katie Coasters and uh Coasters and Bruce. Uh we kind of started our channels around the same time, so it's you know, they got more uh subscribers than me, but we I've gotten, I think I'm more monetized than they are. It's kind of funny how uh we all went different directions. You know, those guys are more personality based. I am more a random voice in the background. Uh, but it makes sense with my demographic. Uh I'm older. I am much older. But um it'd be good to see there. So I may go opening weekend, but if not, I got the season pass this year. Got the meal plan. I'm curious to see if the meal plan starts here in April, or is it quote unquote the summer season? Because historically you had springtime in the park at Hershey Park, uh, which was this time of year, it'd be like two weeks, and then it'd have like two or three weeks off, and then they kick off the season. Well, it looks like they blended it all together now, so I don't know. Meal plan works or not now. I don't know if it's considered summer season now or not. So I'll be curious to see that. But Hershey Park is definitely there. And we're of course we're going to do a what's new, uh, which is the big thing there. And uh, you know, we'll see what else hits us. We might do a um a merch with the stores in Hershey Park because there is some new stores. I was told that. Um may need to update the let's eat, and depends on uh if a lot of things changed or not. But you know, that is what we're uh looking to do there at Hershey Park. Uh of course, Great Adventure. I almost went yesterday, but it was literally 30 degrees, maybe 40. And I was like, you know what? I don't want to walk around Great Adventure, uncomfortable. But when I do go there, um I really need to go for the Safari. I haven't done anything with the Safari yet. And the Safari is I want to do a walkthrough, the Safari, I want to do an unplugged if I'm able to, if they're not blaring Six Flags music, uh, do an unplugged. But a lot of the stuff at Great Adventure is, you know, I can't really do anything until the new boardwalk section opens up there. It's hard to do a what's new without the new thing. So it's in May, you know, if I go there, it might be for fun as opposed for um, you know, actually uh filming um core videos and stuff like that. So those are uh the big ones I would look into in April. But of course, there's a couple small ones there. Jenkinson's boardwalk has been open for a while. And um, I never did the aquarium, I never did I I did a walkthrough of the coasters, uh the pier, but I haven't done the other aspects of Jenkinson's boardwalk. And that might be a good, you know, you find a 60, 70 degree day in April, and uh just head out there to the beach and uh film, film, film uh everything we can with Jenkinson's boardwalk. And also those coasters would count for the uh 125. Um we had a poll on our YouTube channel, and the gray area was the uh water coasters because we did uh DreamWorks Dream Runner. Uh used to be two flits, but now it's called Dream Runner. We did that one um when we went to DreamWorks Water Park, and I was curious, is this a coaster? Is it a water slide? Is it neither? Where's a count? And actually, the majority of people thought uh that it would fit in the coasters. So technically, our first coaster of the year is DreamWorks Dream Runner. Um, if we go with what people are saying. Other people said keep the water together and keep the try together. And you can see the argument for both of those. So let us know in the comment section what you think uh would be good there. But Jenkinson's boardwalk is out there, Island Water Park, um, just for the one, two, five water slide challenge, uh get those extra ones there. We're at 16 right now, 17 if you count the water coaster. So that's off to a really good start. Not so much with the coasters, but our coaster season hasn't really started yet there. Um those would be the big ones there. Many, maybe Kennywood. I am getting that pass again. Maybe Dutch Wonderland. Just uh with those, there's not as much stuff to film. It's more what's new as opposed to uh what we had to do last year, where we had to get the big things there. Uh a lot of the big stuff that we're looking to do. Um, Carolyn's brand new park, never filmed it. Cedar Point, brand new park, never never filmed it. These are parks that I've been to before, but we never filmed them. So there's going to be a lot of larger parks. Canada's Wonderland's on our on our list. Uh, of course, we're going to be updating Six Flags, Darien Lake, and then Clementon and Niagara. So there's a lot coming down the pike, you know, flying out to Universal and uh finally getting on um you know Epic Universe and getting on those coasters, even though Stardust seems to be having some problems. On all, a lot of stuff going on here. April is very ambitious because there's less crowds, and um, that's what I like to film. However, the water elements are not available. So, on all, that is our cue for April. Our next episode is going to basically be reading the uh coaster clash between Nitro and um uh candemonium. But if you are want to see the video version, it will be dropping this week. And um, pretty much when you go there, um, it's a members only. It's our first exclusive members only, and there's gonna be one or two a month uh produced that are uh just members only. Um so like I said,$199 a month, definitely worth it. And guys, I can't wait to see you in the queue in twenty twenty six.