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Cedar Point has announced Siren’s Curse, a new record-breaking tilt coaster will open at the park in 2025! https://www.cedarpoint.com/blog/media-center/record-breaking-sirens-curse-tilt-coaster-to-lure-cedar-point-thrill-seekers-in-2025 Cedar Point, The Roller Coaster Capital of the World®, will add fathoms of thrills to its world-renowned and record-breaking collection of scream machines with the 2025 debut of Siren’s Curse – the tallest, fastest and longest “tilt” roller coaster in North America. Siren’s Curse hearkens to the legend and lore of mysterious creatures living beneath the surface of Lake Erie; often spoken of – but never spotted. The sirens of the lake who lured sailors to their underwater demise with their sweet, seductive songs will finally rise to land and attempt to entrap guests in a sinister two-minute fate of non-stop roller coaster innovation. Riders will hear the echo of the siren’s chilling melodies as they ascend an old 160-foot-tall Lake Erie shipping crane tower, the sounds growing more sinister as riders reach the top. Their fate will hang in the balance as they encounter the roller coaster’s signature moment: a dead stop on a “broken off” section of track. The creaking platform holding the train of riders will slowly tilt the entire train into a 90-degree vertical position, forcing riders to peer straight down with the hope their train will connect to the twisted track below. As the track locks into place, riders will flee from the beckoning call of the siren and plunge into the abyss, speeding through 2,966 feet of track at a top speed of 58 mph. The ride will feature 13 weightless airtime moments, two 360-degree, zero-gravity barrel rolls and a high-speed “triple-down” element with twisted and overbanked track. Adding to the immersive experience, the two, 24-passenger trains on Siren’s Curse will feature integrated audio and signature LED lighting on each car. Located across from the Iron Dragon suspended coaster and near the Cedar Point Marina, the ride’s tangled and compact layout will provide the high-thrill experience Cedar Point guests have come to know from America’s Roller Coast®. Guests must be 48” tall to ride Siren’s Curse. “Record-breaking thrills have always been at the heart of Cedar Point’s roller coaster lineup, and Siren’s Curse lives up to that standard,” said Carrie Boldman, vice president and general manager of Cedar Point. “The entire ride is an experience filled with non-stop action, but that first precarious tilted position where you’re hanging on – looking straight down – and waiting for the track to connect will be a signature moment our fans will love. It’s a first-of-its kind for Cedar Point and we’re thrilled to bring it to our guests.” With the addition of Siren’s Curse, Cedar Point will be home to an impressive lineup of 19 roller coasters, including fan favorites like Millennium Force®, Steel Vengeance®, Maverick® and more. As previously announced, the record-breaking triple-launch strata coaster Top Thrill 2® is scheduled to reopen in 2025. Guests can dive into season-long access to Siren’s Curse and the park’s 67 additional attractions with a 2025 Gold Pass. It includes Cedar Point and HalloWeekends® admission in 2024 and all of 2025, free parking, Cedar Point Shores® Waterpark admission, in-park discounts, bring-a-friend tickets and more. Right now, the 2025 Gold Pass is on sale for $125 or 10 payments of $10 after initial payment of $25. Guests can purchase online now at cedarpoint.com. Siren’s Curse is scheduled to open in early summer of 2025. For more information on Siren’s Curse, construction updates and more, follow Cedar Point on Facebook, Instagram, X and YouTube or visit cedarpoint.com. https://www.cedarpoint.com/new-in-2025 Siren's Curse The tallest, longest, fastest tilt coaster in North America The legend and lore of mysterious creatures living beneath the surface of Lake Erie comes to life with Siren's Curse, North America’s TALLEST, LONGEST & FASTEST tilt coaster. Often spoken of – but never spotted, the sirens of the lake who lured sailors to their underwater demise with their sweet, seductive songs will finally rise to the land above Cedar Point and attempt to entrap you in a sinister two-minute fate of non-stop roller coaster innovation. Located across from Iron Dragon and near the Cedar Point Marina, Siren's Curse is set to lure its riders in 2025. Will you answer the siren's call? HEIGHT - 160 FT SPEED - 58 MPH DURATION - 2 MIN The Siren's Call You’ll hear the echo of the siren's chilling melodies as you ascend an old 160-foot-tall Lake Erie shipping crane tower, the sounds growing more sinister as you reach the top. Your fate will hang in the balance as you encounter the roller coaster’s signature moment: a dead stop on a “broken off” section of track. The creaking platform holding your train will slowly tilt into a 90-degree vertical position, forcing you to peer straight down with the hope your train will connect to the twisted track below. Evade Her Grip As the track locks into place, you’ll flee from the beckoning call of the siren and plunge into the abyss, speeding through 2,966 feet of track at a top speed of 58 mph. Come face-to-face with 13 weightless airtime moments, two 360-degree, zero-gravity barrel rolls and a high-speed “triple-down” element with twisted and overbanked track. Guest must be 48” tall to ride Siren's Curse. Lore Brought to Life The legend is real – and you’ll hear and see it! The ride’s trains feature an over-the-shoulder lap bar with flexible vest restraint. The vehicles also feature two firsts for Cedar Point: on-board audio, allowing the sound of the siren to envelop you as you escape her grasp; and high-tech LED lighting on the exterior of each car, mimicking the silky motion and eerie nature of the mythical creature, from the top of the tower to the adrenaline-pumping journey below.

Hey I actually remembered my password to log in! I think there's less 'buzz' because a lot of fans had pre set expectations about Five Nights at Freddy's or bust, Quiet Place confused people, and Insidious is a very hot/cold franchise. How is it this year? Another great HHN! The tribute store has a post apocalyptical NY vibe and lots of hints about Batricia - maybe she will get her own house next year. Food and bev - Lots of fun tasty snacks. The Eggs In The Further, Red Door savory hand pie, rocks from hell (cheesy jalapeno dough bites), and the stay puft smores are all great. Some lines are just too long to tolerate so I haven't eaten there too much. Mixed drinks are prevalent and made to order for the most part. I think Ghoul Juice is still pre mixed. There's a great Oktoberfest on draft. Nightmare Fuel is one again an elite show. The Dead Coco Club in city walk has awesome 80s vibes. Go on Fri/Sat to see talent and actors in the crowd! Sinister and Surreal are interesting characters - The Blumhouse scare zone is pretty weak. I'm shocked there's not a dance stage for Megan. It's mostly all a fun photo op. The medieval zone has the most going on with the stage and many 'vendors'. Quiet Place - Absolutely loved it and I'm not a big fan of the movies. The monsters are massive and the sets are elaborate as you'd expect. The use of bodies of water in this one freaks me out. One of the best HHN mazes personally. Monstrous - I believe a copy of USH's and it's great. Honestly this one was the goriest/creepiest in my opinion, especially when you take the time to read about what the monsters are. Insidious - Not a fan of the movies, but lives up to the hype as one of the scariest HHN mazes. It's dark. It's long. You get up close to the demons in tight quarters. Soooo good. Triplets - Only have had one run through it and thought it was fine. Kinda like the Strangers. Ghostbusters - Fun, some really cool use of technology, but I only had one run on a preview night when all of the key monsters were missing. Need to go through again to give a proper review. Major Sweets - Excellent, packed with talent, lots of moving parts in scenes and some interactive buttons you can press. Definitely one of the most fun and goofy while also being pretty gross haha. This one seems to have the most downtime, I believe due to lots of moving pieces in the house. Goblins - This is a new tent in the newer cul-de-sac behind MIB next to Bloodlines. This is another fun goofy house and you will see persnickity goblins of all shapes and sizes. I feel like this house really plays with scale up and down. Some really cool set pieces! But not my favorite. Bloodlines - This one reminds me of Exorcist last year in how it relies on attacking guests with 2 or 3 monsters at a time, so it is often you may miss some key scares. It's a very good house when you get to see everything but you also may get unlucky. Slaughterhouse - Ridiculously fun and it feels like it goes on forever despite in the smaller tent. There's stripper mummies in this house and we need more stripper mummies in our life LOL Museum - Nothing too outstanding, but I do think the glowing lava like rock throughout the house is really coool. It's all about the Rotting Stone corrupting every area of a natural museum so you will see historic locations and different monsters correlating with them. We've got a lot of original houses this year and I feel like express lines haven't been as long as they were last year. Wait times haven't been too crazy but we're just getting to the middle of September. Stay and scream is free and the best way to get a big jump on crowds - we did Major Sweets at 5:45pm open, waited 20 minutes for museum, and then hit Goblins/Bloodlines with minimal waits. See you in the fog!

I was at Knoebel's a little over a month ago on Friday, August 2nd. It was a surprise stop that we didn't tell my son and his friend about before their day at Hershey the next day for my son's 14th birthday. Despite noticing the signs and knowing we must have been close to the park, they didn't put two and two together until we pulled into to park which was pretty funny. I won't do a full trip report like I have been because I didn't do much. I got the two credits I didn't get on our first visit due to covid closures in Flying Turns and Black Diamond. I also got a couple rides on Phoenix, but otherwise we were only there a few hours in the on and off rain and I wandered around seeing the sights with my pregnant wife. We wanted to do the gondola, but it understandably never opened due to the weather. We found a museum, got some reasonably priced food and later a milkshake to split, did some shopping, and watched an abbreviated kids' costume show that was adorable before a downpour abruptly ended it. As for the coasters, the two new ones both exceeded my expectations. Flying Turns isn't super thrilling or anything, but a couple moments of banking high on those walls are pretty wild in a unique way. I think this is my favorite of the bobsled style coasters I have done now. Black Diamond is dated and campy as hell, but I love that and a few of the effects like the spinning tunnel really still worked on me despite their age. It is also barely a coaster. My (first trimester) pregnant wife could have easily ridden it safely, but she didn't want to when I mentioned it. I also didn't realize until I was boarding that I didn't even know what the ride was in there and I am glad that was the case. As for Phoenix, it wasn't running as insanely as it was on our first visit which was a hot, hot summer day versus this cooler, rainy one. I still loved it. I just laugh hysterically the entire ride on that thing. What a classic. I had enough tickets for three rides, catching two in the magic third row and one in the front. All were great. I am at 273 credits and still have Phoenix in my top ten favorites.

We took a spontaneous visit up to La Ronde yesterday. It is actually the closest park to me as I live pretty near the NY-Quebec border, but I had never taken my coaster buddy, my 14 year old son, up there because... well... La Ronde. This was my first time in nearly 15 years too since no coasters had been built. The last time I went in was the year the SLC was moved there. This means that this was also my first time with Google Maps to lead the way. I remember being somewhat stressed out driving through the city and trying to navigate routes in French on a paper map, but this time it was a breeze. The only thing I found even a little confusing on the day was parking, but we figured that out fairly quickly and were in for rope drop on Sunday forecasted to be dry and in the mid 60s. Vampire - One of my strongest memories of La Ronde was how fast their Batman clone was running the last time we were there. I figured this wouldn't be the case when we hit it cold. We should have had the front seat, but as we went to kick off our crocs on the other side, a few others filtered in behind us and stole our spots. No one's fault, really. The station was empty other than us and we were on the other side of the train. They didn't come up until we had crossed over to kick our loose shoes off and couldn't have had any idea what row we had taken. Oh well. We moved to the back and HOLY BATMAN it was already hauling. I've ridden a bunch of these and never experienced one that moves like this one. We hadn't experienced anything yet, either. The very last thing we did before leaving at the end of the day was circling back to get our front row ride now that the thing was warmed up. After just waiting for a couple trains thanks to the light crowds and four wide, two train ops on this one, we did just that. Wow. Wow, wow, wow. That was one of the most aggressive rides on anything I have ever experienced. It was an absolute blast, but it was also incredibly painful! I have never had blood run to my feet with that intensity. I kept having to rub them together and move them around because they felt like they were going to straight up explode. Incredibly forceful. I do not know what La Ronde does or, maybe more likely given the rest of the place, doesn't do to their common Batman, but that thing is nuts. I couldn't have possibly gotten back on immediately. Just crazy. Toboggan Nordique - This Zamperla wild mouse had a pretty short line that we end up waiting 50 minutes in due to its horrendous capacity made a thousand times worse by the sleepwalking, low effort operations. It is a bad ride too. We had just ridden the same model earlier this summer at Morey's Piers and I am almost falling asleep trying to even write about it. I should have just waited on a bench and let my son go get the credit. These aren't painful or anything, just incredibly... nothing. Boring, I guess. Monstre - Oh boy. I actually had fond memories of this one. It was just so darn weird that I thought it was funny. Kind of like how a bad movie can be so bad that it becomes good, Monstre does so little with its enormous, two track frame that I remembered being entertained by the weirdness. That was a long time ago now, though, so I was curious to say the least. I let my son just the "parcours" (side), and he chose Parcours 2 while I got to make terrible dad jokes about how the line being a parkour course seemed a little unnecessary. A word that I would equally attach to my ride. It isn't that this thing is consistently rough, and yes the bizarre layout is still kind of amusing and still very dumb, but there are now a few serious lateral jolts that are hard to predict and don't agree with my back to say the least. We got off the ride and as I was about to send him to ride the other side by himself (both were operating with one train, but the lines were short), he announced it wasn't worth the credit and that he didn't want anything to do with it. Okay then. Goliath - This is why I finally came back. For all the faults of La Ronde, I have extremely great memories of this B&M not quite hyper. I truly loved this thing. It holds up too. After a marathon walk through the long, empty queue, we got a station wait accompanied by the "entertainment" of watching a trio of young, teenage boys keep trying to sneak back onto empty seats of each train while we waited. Two of them succeeded twice, but the third grabbed the seat of someone who was just off putting their stuff in the bin on accident, caused a scene, and got tossed. His buddies bailed with him when he couldn't try anymore after their last ride. Anyway, Goliath lived up to my memory. We ended up dubbing this thing "The Phoenix of Floater". It is a simple layout. Airtime hill, airtime hill, airtime hill, airtime hill, etc, with a turnaround in there in the middle. They all hit too. From our backseat, with me on the outside, I floated up and over every single hill, often for extended sequences too. Really great. If you like floater, you will love this B&M. If you want something more to your layout, you might be bored. I love floater and in fact really only ride for airtime at all, so this is in my sweetspot. Great ride. After our first ride, we grabbed some poutine next door, which was better than I would expect from Six Flags, and jumped right back into the backseat after. I was in the middle this time and did notice I got a little less sustained floater, while my son said the ride was much better on the outside too, but I still thought it was great. I could marathon Goliath forever. Dragon - I got a little lucky here, navigationally speaking. While my son was still eating, before we got back on Goliath, I decided to go check some nearby signs to see where Dragon was. It wasn't on the sign, so I figured somewhere else, but I did see a sign for some restrooms which I needed. I went back to my son, told him I would be a few minutes in the bathroom, and went to use them. I quickly found them attached to Dragon. Okay then. As for Dragon, my first takeway is maybe take a broom to all the immense cobwebs in the queue. Jeez. Second. after maybe a twenty minute wait, we lucked into the front seat by being the last ones held out of the station from the previous train. I didn't really remember this one and now I know why, but it is kind of cute, I guess. It is a powered coaster that drives you through a few indoor helixes and turns around a couple light up dragon statues, through a dragon's mouth, and back to the station accompanied by loud audio of dragons roaring and shooting fire. It is dated, but I often find that charming. I wouldn't wait very long for this, but with a short queue and my son needing the credit, I am glad we did. Also worth noting, the roaring is very loud even out in the queue. My two youngest, at least until my wife gives birth, are two year old twins. Not that they are tall enough anyway, but I could never get them on this thing as they stand now because they would be scared of the noise. It is a pretty aggressive sound for what ultimately is a kiddie coaster, which is interesting. Le Boomerang - I told my son I would not be riding the SLC after Monstre bothered my back a bit and tried to get him to just go get the credit, but he hates those things and refused without me. We weren't going to bother with the kiddie coaster and had already written off Monstre side one, so the Boomerang was all that remained. After another short wait that wasn't as short as it should have been due to slow operations, we boarded. This is one of the weirder ones for me. First, it barely even has a station. What is that thing? Second, I was scared of headbanging due to it still having the old, original, and terrible Vekoma boomerang trains. Put the vests on all of them, please. I am happy to report my fears were unfounded and I did not bang my head once. Unfortunately, they put on the goold old triangle wheels on this thing. It tracked terribly and was downright rough. I'll take that over the headbanging anyday and the ride wasn't absolutely awful or anything, but it was definitely the roughest Boomerang I have ridden from a wheels bouncing on the track perspective. Still fun though and as intense as always. After Le Boomerang, we circled back for our aforementioned front row Vampire ride and then exited the park for the slightly under two hour ride home. All in all, La Ronde wasn't too bad and we only needed about five hours to do what we wanted. Goliath and Vampire are great. Nothing else is really remarkable, but the crowds were light and the food we had was good. I don't speak French, but I generally find it easy now to navigate places not in a language I understand as I have done it a lot over the years many times now. Plus, even though they often seem to lack confidence and try to avoid using English, most everyone in the Montreal does speak it well enough if you need to address someone in English. I did have some issues staying connected to the GPS satellites on the way home for some reason, but we were lucky in the sense that it kept happening in long stretches of staying on the same road. Plus, once we crossed back into NY, we were literally on the road we live on anyway. 45 minutes down it through a few towns with a bunch of turns, but you can just follow the road number signs at that point. I recommend a visit to La Ronde if you have never been, but you probably won't want to go back just to go back. I'll be back when they finally break their drought someday (RMC MONSTRE PLEASE), or if/when my younger kids start credit whoring like us and need them. Until then, even though we go to Montreal from time to time, au revoir La Ronde. You might not be a very good park, but you're also not as bad as many make you out to be. One final caveat: My two previous trips, again over a decade ago, were full of the worst crowd behaviour I had ever seen at a park. It was more amusing than offensive to me as someone largely unbothered by what other people do, but if people cutting in line or in general being rude bothers you, you would not have enjoyed those trips to say the least. I don't think much as changed, sadly, based on other reports I have read or watched on Youtube over the years since then, but we had such surprisingly light Sunday crowds that we had no problems and only saw the things mentioned above.

Check out F&F coaster construction progress as of today! They seem to be working on it almost all day and night. more and more track going in and progress on the dual load station.

TT2 is reverting back to TTD. They realized they hired the wrong company and Intamin won't play their games any longer.

Last time I went to Thorpe Pak was in 2010 and it was a hot summers day and everything was a walk on. It's a long drive for us, (200+ miles) so it takes a bit of planning and co-ordination with others so we don't get to go as often as we'd like, Towers is much closer and is usually easier to sync up with others since it's you only need a day and don't have to mess around with accommodations etc.. This time it wasn't as sunny but as a consolation price there were two new credits to collect, Swarm (actually my first wing coaster, too!) and Hyperia. Gutted that the Slammer is no more, I really enjoyed that as a flat ride it was probably my favourite flat there, I'd say my new favourite is probably Rush and it was operating on a better cycle than last time, I believe last time it was 3 full swings and this time it was 5 (I counted). I heard that they are removing the remnants of Slammer in the closed season and it's intriguing thinking what will replace it with it being close to Hyperia and if it will be tied in to the Find Your Fearless [loose] theme. We did Swarm first as Hyperia and a few others were not open till around 11.30am. This was a new credit for me and my first wing coaster. I gotta say, I really enjoyed it. Always thought the wing over drop looked crazy on and off ride when I've watched POV's and was excited to try it out and see how it would feel and I loved it, it offers a great moment of hangtime and is a great build up of anticipation for the start of the ride, kind of like Oblivion but with an actual layout after it and not just a brake run after the drop (Don't get me wrong though, I still love Blivvy) Then onto Stealth, my previous TP #1. It still rides great considering its age (only 4y between it and Colossus), some people say it has a wobble/rattle now but idk, I didn't really feel it. Brilliant, punchy, intense hydraulic launch and airtime over the top hat and then ejector at the end since you slam into that airtime hill before the brakes. If that cup of coffee you just had didn't wake you up, Stealth certainly does the trick. Onto Rush since it's there anyway, barely a 5 minute queue we were on the next one and when we were just about to board noticed the app said Hyperia had opened so after our nice ride on Rush we headed over to Fearless Valley. The area looks great, I know people have said there is a lack of theming or whatever but IMO it doesn't take away from the area and the atmosphere was great. The ride is imposing and very fun to watch dispatching and going around the layout. The app was showing 60 minutes but we queued for single rider (just the two of us but we didn't mind riding separately) but the queue moved very slowly, I'm not sure if there was just a lot of groups of 2's/4's riding or it was how it was being batched etc but it took around 60 minutes anyways idk if it might have actually been quicker to just join the main queue with never having ridden it before didn't have any way to gauge the main queue to know how long it would take from any given point. There was only one member of staff at the merge point and I heard that could make it slower since they can get overwhelmed since 4 queues merge at that point, idk though. First ride on Hyperia I ended up in row 7 on the inside and my sister was in row 5 on the outside. The ride was amazing, I didn't even know what to expect but whatever I was expecting it exceeded it. Wow, what a machine. After just one ride the whole thing was just a blur, like some of the elements you don't even remember taking them you're trying to think how it felt but it's just all so fast and all you know is that it felt awesome. Since we're talking about Hyperia I'll just add my thoughts on our second ride here too. We rode again at around 3.45pm, the queue was showing as 45 minutes so we just decided to get in the main queue since it would probs be our last ride of the day and didn't know if the single rider line would be moving slow again so we just decided we'd do it together this time. We got row 3, I sat on the outside this time which makes the outer bank after dispatch way more fun! Wanted to try and concentrate here for all the elements to try and recall afterwards lol, hands up for the first drop and absolutely ejected out of your seat all the way down, it's SUCH a good first drop. Probably the best, for me. The outer bank element that rolls over into an inverted drop as well, between that and the first drop are my 2 favourite elements. Loved the Stall too, sooo much hangtime. New UK #1 right there. (Sorry, Nemmy) In between those two rides on Hyperia we did SAW and Colossus - I had read about people saying these two (particularly SAW) were very rough and since when I went in 2010 SAW was only 1 year old so I couldn't relate, it wasn't rough then lol, I thought people were overreacting about Colossus too I never thought it was that bad in 2010 but I gotta say, I totally get that now, it's not aged well; let's put it that way. It could do with some new trains, the ones that SIK uses would be great. I heard it might be getting some track work done, idk about that though. After those two we jumped on Nemesis Inferno, which was great (as B&M inverts usually are!) Was an amazing day, and even a blowout on the Motorway on the way home the next day it was still totally worth it. Already wanting to go back again and lap Hyperia. It definitely won't be 10+ years till my next visit and thinking of staying on site next time and doing 2 days.

Day 2 (part 2): Thorpe Park! We also went and did the "Ghost Train" - which I knew nothing about, but had been recommended by several park employees I had talked to. It's not really a "ride" but rather an experience - an interactive show, with some brilliant special effects and a set that "moves". . so it feels like you trapped on a train that's moving as crazy things happen. It was very cool and I loved it so much I bought multiple Magnets from it. . and was looking to buy a shirt for it (but they didn't have anything I really loved). for some strange reason, I don't have ANY pictures of this ride - I'm shocked myself. I know I was incredibly distracted (or as my friends call it "dickstracted") by a cute bear couple that was in the queue with us - which would explain why I have no pics of the outside of the ride. And you couldn't take pics during the experience. but still. . I'm truly surprised I don't have any pics. . LOL I think it was around this time, that (*I think) we got a message from Robb asking who wanted to ride the Tidal Wave as a group, and if so, meet by the ride. So a whole bunch of TPR folks got together, and our park guild got them to set aside a boat for TPR (plus one family who were added to the back row not realizing a completely full TPR boat was gonna be heavy and get a bigger splash) and off we went. COMPLETELY soaked. . like being dipped into a bathtub. . and I loved it. the following pics are all from either Robb or Andy, I believe: the aftermath. . posing in front of the next boat's splash. with time in the day running out, several of us headed to the last section of the park - seemed to be themed to a lost Jungle/ruins, to ride the flats over there: a giant swing, an Enterprise, a Flying Carpet, and a "claw" the swing was ok, but kind of underwhelming to me because a) the cycle was so short, and b) I've been on the tallest one at SWSA here in Texas. it was fun, but not exciting, if that makes sense. loved the theming over here tho. . .very, very green and "overgrown" looking, but with rides just popping up in the center of it. Zodiac is the Enterprise. the Flying Carpet went down while we were in queue for the Enterprise (had to wait for next cycle), so didn't get to ride that - think it was just too close to end of day for Maintenance to mess with it today . . but it framed Swarm very nicely for a picture I thought and the claw was also over here. see? I LOVE Enterprises (Robb just asked about who loves them on the TPR Facebook page) . . . this one didn't run a great cycle. . and it was really quick considering how long it took the one operator to get it loaded. . but any Enterprise is a fun Enterprise. it was so close to the end of night, that Stacey and I hit a store for shopping before heading back to the Pavilion to meet up with the group. no, I didn't buy this. . but I was VERY tempted. LOL.. if it hadn't been at the start of the trip and I was already worrying about suitcase space, prolly would have grabbed it. as we waited for the park to clear (and more importantly the Hyperia line to clear thru), we headed over to Swarm for our 1st ERT. apparently the theming is an alien invasion. . tho Thorpe park does seem to have a thing for wrecked planes (there were several of them thruout the park as theming. . LOL). but I loved this. and I was actually sorry I hadn't gone over here during the daytime, as I absolutely LOVED this B&M Flyer. my favorite ride in the park, and I think I rode every cycle of our ERT. glass smooth with an amazing diving first drop, and an inversion over/thru the station - which is themed to a bombed out Church. the inversion I mentioned, from inside the station the design of the trains is SO good. . this is the back of the row in front of us! Pic courtesy of Elissa, I believe (or possibly Robb) following pics courtesy of Elissa, Robb, or Andy: whee. . . front row! after 25 minutes or so at Swarm (and I think 9 rides), we headed as a group over to Hyperia. HAHAHAHAHA. . and I actually *did* get a pic of the front of Ghost Train as we walked past it. so good on me. . tho all closed up, doesn't look too exciting. and here is the main course. . ERT on Hyperia. after it had warmed up and was running amazing. Edit: D'oh!!! that's Kristen with her Dad (Robb) in the seats behind me in this pic! She looks so much like her Mom! So this pic must be courtesy of Elissa. I couldn't ride Hyperia over and over, as by the end of the day, it was a wee bit too intense for me (I kept having to tuck my shirt back in after riding)! . . . so I didn't do every cycle, but I did ride 2, then rest, then 2 then rest, then 2 - including last ride. so I THINK I got six rides on it at end of night during our ERT? but some in the group ride every dispatch. . . more power to em! and they look like they are having a blast! end of night pic with our park guides, and the crew. . thank you to Thorpe Park for an amazing day! Pic by Robb and then it was time to head back to the bus for the ride back to the hotel. I *believe* this stunning pic of Stealth during sunset is from Brad. and back on the bus. .everyone is happy. . . except for Robb's plushie. getting back to the hotel, several of us headed back over to WagaMama for dinner. . . not really recalling what this is, but I think Firecracker chicken & pasta? and Gyoza. . so good. and after filling up on Wagamama? back to the room to shower, and crash. we had another busy day tomorrow - checking out of Hotel and off to the next hotel. but along the way? Suprise Park! we were gonna visit LegoLand Windsor for a few hours, and ride their brand new "mini figure speedway" dueling coaster. hopefully won't take me a month for that next update!

Well done. I like GeisterWölf (Ghost Wolf). Basically the return of Big Bad Wolf from the dead.

I'll use Hersheypark terms in here so that it's still "on topic". There should be no shame in riding Cocoa Cruiser if it's fun to them. You can still have good clean fun as an adult while still acting maturely, such as not hogging the front from some kids who waited a long time, waiting one ride if a group gets split up because of you, not being loud and yelling things like "they ruined our ride, they turned the trim on!", not filming anywhere near the ride, etc. I typically don't ride family coasters because I don't find them fun, but my younger brother who is also an adult likes to ride them for the credits, and I will shamelessly ride with him! Don't be embarrassed to enjoy life! Doing enjoyable things helps reduce stress and increases self-esteem. One could question the creepiness of an adult at Hersheypark as a whole. After all, people might consider it a "children's candy park", but that shouldn't matter. Heck, Disney is even more of a place geared toward children and many adults go there because it is fun to them. Even if they are judged because of it, who cares? I think that it is more mature to be able to face the criticism and not let it ruin a way of having clean, G rated fun that does not harm anybody or break the law. Why should "adult" fun have to be R rated behavior that can be considered morally questionable and has the potential to harm yourself or others? Even the legal way of having "adult" fun is boring! Amusement parks are way more exciting than watching the news, discussing politics and the stock market, or betting money on football teams only to have it go to waste! I do agree, there are people that are creepy, and it's unfortunate that they ruin it for people who are not looking to cause trouble, but that still shouldn't stop you from having fun at an amusement park. We all end up the same way eventually, and 100 years from now nobody will think we're a creep for riding family coasters.

Yeah. I'm way good with that. Most junior coasters are specifically designed for children. The exception is an adult with their child/relative. It's on the level of seeing a grown man by himself on the playground. Being on a junior roller coaster and having the mindset of, "Yeah, this is kind of fucked up, but I'm going to do it anyway" is way different and more understanding than "Yeah, this is totally normal." If you're going to do it, own it. At least the OP understands this. Don't talk shit on my car naps...

Ok, Boomer as my son would say. Of course I mean that as attitude not literally since I am older than you. I'm 56 and I don't need car naps. Just did 14 theme parks in 14 days in Europe without a nap. And you feeling like an adult on a kiddie coaster is cringe says way more about you than them. Just like the old guy that scowled at me for riding my cart down the parking lot at Target yesterday, lol. I mean it was a perfect grade of downhill all the way to the car why not have a little fun. Why is every old man at the end of every episode of Scooby Doo against having fun?!

We were at Hershey Park a month ago now, August 3rd. Rain was forecast and it came. Basically we had from 10-2 and then from 8-10 with the middle of the day being a complete washout. Oh well, we did with it what we could. Wildcat's Revenge - We followed the running of the bulls, so to speak, to gate drop the new RMC for our first rides. My son and the friend we brought for his birthday weekend rode together in the back row and I waited for the same row in the train after them. This was an amazing ride, even cold right at open. It is violent in all the best RMC ways. I hit it again later after the rain finally ended at dark and got two more amazing rides. The best ride of the three was my first night ride in the front, so maybe this is a front row RMC? Storm Runner - This was my third trip to Hershey. The first was when Storm Runner was new and the second was during its extended Covid breakdown, so it had been a minute to say the least. The launch was just as punchy as I remembered. The ride was also just as short as I remembered. Forceful, fun, and brief. It is probably shakier than it was way back then, but it isn't bad and otherwise was as I remembered. We tried to hit the rethemed Boomerang right after, but it broke down while we were next in line and we never came back. Sky Rush - At this point, the boys ditched me. My son needed Lightning Racer, I did not, and we knew our window to ride would be short. They went off to the back of the park while I hit up Sky Rush to try the new restraints. The line looked long, but it moved quickly and I got in in probably a half hour. The new restraints improve my experience and I moved it up into the 30s in my top 50, but I am still left confused as to why people love or hate this so much. It is intense and short, I guess, but after that amazing drop it doesn't do a lot with the little track it has to work with. Good ride, but not one I get the passion about. I ended up getting another ride at the end of the night in the front which was good too. From here, I went and found my pregnant wife who had wandered to ZooAmerica and then caught a sea lion show. We met at the monorail and took a ride before walking to Chocolate World to get lunch and beat the rain. We had tacos which were good, did the free Chocolate Tour ride which is cute, and then decided to kill some more time waiting for the teenagers by doing the train 4D movie that I can't remember the name of. That was fun and well done, though not worth the steep price probably. While we were doing the movie, the skies opened up to a torrential downpour with no signs of letting up for hours according to the forecast. Chocolate World filled up to the point that it was difficult to take a step in any direction. Not wanting to brave the rain for the car, we decided to wait in the epic Chocolate Tour line that was flowing out chaotically into the general area so the boys, who ran through the epic downpour and had found us, could do it. What else was there to do at that point? It took a while, but we made it through. By then, it was after 3 and the rain had slowed to a drizzle. We had 6 PM Chocolatier reservations. The boys decided to go brave the park and see what they could ride. My wife and I opted for car naps. When it was time, we met in the restaurant and ate. I had the salmon and it was really good, much better than I expected from what I had read. After, we all ordered one of the ridiculous milkshakes, ending up with a photo op with all four flavors on the table. Stuffed, we wandered back into the park. Candymonium - While walking to Candymonium, a woman leaving handed my son and his friend two flash passes that they didn't need anymore. They didn't end up working, for some reason, but the ride op at Candymonium took it as a glitch and they got to skip one line out of them at least. We were separated again by that and the two of them rode quickly. I waited in a line that would have been 20 minutes probably, but right before my train the weather struck again. I ended up sitting in the station for almost an hour. I was at least rewarded with two rides, however, as there was a weird delay between restarting the ride and reopening the queue. When we got back from our first ride, people were just trickling into the station and they sent us on a second lap. I really like Candymonium. I really like all B&M hypers and I think Candymonium is a good one. The ending is a little subpar and one of the two rides had the trims hit hard, but I get tons of floater and the trims almost completely ignored us on the second ride which made for a wilder ending. From there, I ran to the back for those night rides on Wildcat's Revenge (where I saw some of ElToroRyan's crew if you guys watch any coaster Youtube stuff) before deciding that I wanted to try to get on Great Bear and SuperDooperLooper with the under an hour I had left. There was basically no one left in the park, so it was just a matter of closing the distance power walking. But then, an opportunity presented itself... Cocoa Cruiser - In the dark alone, I took a wrong turn and there it was. The one credit I did not have at Hershey Park by this point. The kiddy coaster. I sheepishly walked up to the empty station and asked the ops if I could ride without a kid. They said yes, so I had a zen ride in the dark on the kiddy coaster. I am approaching 300 and this is my most shameless credit, I think. One lap would have been fine, but it does three and I rode them. SuperDooperLooper - What a fun ride in the dark! I remembered the old Schwarzkopf as a really fun inversion followed by aimless meandering and this is exactly what it was, but the wandering is more fun in the dark, unsurprisingly. Unfortunately, while I remembered that much correctly, I did not remember where Great Bear's station was. With minutes to go before the park closed, I did not have time to get over there and instead jumped in the front row line for the previously mentioned front row ride of SkyRush. I did not have to wait long as a trio boarded and they yelled for a single rider. That's all I got in, but it was everything that I made a priority at least. It would have been nice to get in things like Fahrenheit, Comet, Laff Trak, etc, but the day was what it was with the miserable weather. We all still enjoyed our day. It ended with sitting in the parking lot listening to the blaringly loud New Kids on the Block concert while we waited for the boys to find us. Their music isn't for me, but it was still fun to eavesdrop while waiting. All in all, it was a good day despite the weather.

Was there Saturday night, great scare zone! Honestly ValleyScare was really impressive this year - I’ve never seen the park this busy, and the mazes had great sets and scares! We had such a blast.

So sad, Ghostrider closed all day Monday but not on the closed list. Boardwalk BBQ still great and here comes my ride SoCal has nice weather for many months I was able to get a first row, middle row and back row before they had an employee assigning people to lines. One of the gifts of Prestige Pass of getting throught the lines early. It looks nice from Sky Cabin Poor old Ghostrider was broken all day I did get BBQ - health fruit and salad options Berry and chicken salads I ended up with a half-chicken with mashed potatoes and boysenberry beer. The food was on the meal plan but not the beer

Park management has discussed their plans a bit with regulars at the park and events. Nothing is official until it happens, but the plans included moving the burrito place to a new building (nearly done), redo P305 theme, possibly an animal theme, to fit the area, and an International street refurb. Pizza place will move to the current burrito stand front of park. New ride and section on the right near Dinos. Dominator is being repainted with same colors this fall. Intimidator painting has started. Racer repaint next year. Sure this is always the case, but current management would like to go year round in the coming years. Rapterra looks cool. They have a nice display with the POV running all day at the front and near the ride showing it off to visitors. Looks really good in that area.

A small teaser: New Efteling attraction Danse Macabre comes to life! (youtube.com) and making off have been released: Efteling making-of: Danse Macabre ep. 7 (youtube.com) opening 31st of October 2024.

Well... this was unexpected! I admit I have been out of the loop this year, (took a park hiatus), but I still see stuff on the socials and catch wind and was there any rumor about this? Seems like it legit surprised everyone. But yeah would not have ever guessed "tilt coaster" coming to CP. Looks awesome! Its not just a gimmick seems like a good ride. My 25 trip to the point is going to be even better now! EDIT: I do assume TTD2 will be fixed for next season lol

We were at the park last Sat for the annual ACE event. Unfortunately, I utterly failed at my intention to find out anything about the current progress of the carousel. I just never got a chance to ask, every time someone of authority was around they were being bombarded by people and I just never got a chance. Not that they necessarily would have told me anything and certainly it wouldn't have had any affect on the answer but I was hoping to get some info. They did auction off some legs from horses that could not be used and gave away eyes from carousel horses, which was a bit creepy but appropriate for a Halloween event I guess, lol. Let's not argue about it, it's pointless and exhausting. It will take as long as it takes and I am fine with that in the end. Anyway, I did get confirmation, which is probably obvious, that the funhouse part of Joker will not be open until next year. We had ert on Eagle and RR before the park opened and they did open up Joker for us the last 20 min of that but it promptly went down after a few cycles. It did come back up over the next couple hours. All in all everything else was running well other than the obvious closures of the water rides. Eagle is still running so well after all these years! But for the first time I regretted getting on Boss. I've never minded rough woodies that much and they usually don't hurt me, even at age 56, but it wasn't an enjoyable ride. I know it's late in the season, it was hot, etc, etc.........but they definitely need to re-track/do the conversion/something. Full disclosure I've been butt hurt ever since they removal of the helix. The park gave us a few nice perks; scare characters at lunch (there was also another big company group eating so that probably helped), free haunt wristbands, and we got to ride on the train with the freaks when they make their entrance for the night. I've done that before but it's actually pretty fun. There were about 100 people there and so it was a packed train. As far as FF goes, having the same 4 houses and not very well staffed scare zones as the last few years does make it a bit anti-climatic. Don't get me wrong I LOVE Halloween events and I still had a good time, but it's definitely a bit stale. To be fair it was the first weekend and the employee giving us the behind the scenes tour of Eagle did say that the new GM (we are actually still sharing a President with Chicago) is well aware and very motivated to improve things. As we all know there has been a lot of infrastructure work, which despite what the naysayers will complain about had to be done and they have done a tremendous job engaging and updating on social media. I would actually say that improving FF should be on the same level with new rides. That might be controversial but like it or not FF has always been the biggest money maker event for the park. They really need to put their heads together and try to figure out a way to improve staffing (don't get me wrong all the staff were putting in the effort, they just need way more) and get some new houses. Just my 2 cents, I won't drone on. Funny story to end on: As we exited the Jingle Mangle house which comes out where the entrance to the cars used to be, I see a skunk run out of the log flume queue and toward the entrance to AT. Of course a group of teens (looked to be in the 16-18 age range) see it and start surrounding the poor thing trying to get selfies I tried to warn them to just leave it be, but no of course they didn't listen and cornered it against the fence. Yep. They paid the price. My son and I laughed our asses off, the skunk escaped under the fence INTO Jingle Mangle and the teens probably had some splaining to do when they got home......and based on my experience for several days when they went back to school on Monday.

What I find exciting about this coaster is that yeah, the tilt is cool and unique and probably terrifying, but the rest of the layout actually looks REALLY good. It's not just a one trick pony. Some crazy transitions and rolls and airtime pops in there that should be excellent. And we know it will be glossy smooth too. Yay Vekoma!!!

Lol orrrrrrrr they could get real six flags-y and announce a couple more "2025" attractions that don't open until 2026....just to keep the ball rollin lol

We arrived in Rome at roughly 12:30 AM and immediately took the shuttle to the airport hotel to get some sleep. Just a few hours later, we returned to the airport to catch the shuttle to Civitavecchia for our cruise. The Disney Dream is the cruise ship on which I've sailed the most times, not just with Disney but with any cruise line. Getting greeted onboard by Captain Mickey is always the best way to start off a cruise! The design of the atrium will always be one of my favorite elements of this ship! Feels like home to me. First lunch of the cruise at Cabanas means all you can enjoy snow crab! Adults have an opportunity to explore the youth activity spaces onboard during Open House periods and there are many fun places to visit! The Disney Infinity space in Oceaneer's Lab is neat. The online elements of the game has been out of service for a few years but the offline gameplay and the figures are still fun to enjoy. If you bring home a Oceaneer's Band from the cruise (the MagicBands given to kids onboard for Oceaneer's Club and Oceaneer's Lab access) and place it on the RFID scanner for Disney Infinity, you can receive an exclusive digital DCL ship toy in the game. Now that's what I call podracing! One of my favorite spaces found on the way to Vibe, the teen club onboard, is a nod to the lighted hallways of EPCOT Center's past... Journey into Imagination's ImageWorks and Horizons are echoed here. Vibe really is a neat plae for the teens to hang out. And they have their own sun deck with loungers and jacuzzis! Our stateroom for the next 11 nights! The Sailing Away deck party is always a fun way to kick off a cruise! Roaming the ship you can find hidden Disney details that span over a century's worth of film and TV. Each time I sail I find something new, like this! Disney Victrophonics was a new experience to us, performing in the atrium on multiple evenings throughout the cruise. It isn't uncommon to see Disney friends roaming the ship. Disney Cruise Line offers beverage tastings of various types depending on the length of the cruise. My first of this cruise was the "World of Old Fashioned" tasting. For $100 per person, we were treated to four Old Fashioneds, handmade and curated by an informed bartender who talked us through all of the drinks and their base alcohols. The experience also included two chocolate truffles. Coming back to our stateroom at the end of our first night onboard, we were greeted by tthis cute towel animal. We woke up the next morning to a view of Greece outside of our verandah. We would be pulling into Chania later in the afternoon so we had time onboard for some early-day activities. Are you even sailing with DCL if you're not eating Mickey Waffles for breakfast? Yes, it is the morning and we're having champagne... Another new-to-us experience was the Champgagne Tasting. We were toured through five different champagnes (plus one macaron) by an expert somelier who informed us of the differences in style, preparation and history between each bubbly we tasted. We easily got our $60 per person out of this experience and I can't recommend it enough if you enjoy champagne. Once docked in Chania, Greece we boarded a motorcoach for our Port Adventure, starting with a stop at the ruins of ancient Aptera. The site is continually being excavated. Most notably, this theater in one of the more well-recovered elements of the site. Next we visited Kournas Lake for a quick dip... Our final stop of the excursion was a family-style lunch in the really wonderful setting of the mountain-side village of Argyroupolis. Fresh tzatziki, traditional Greek salad, empanada-like apps and my favorite, rice-stuffed fried squash blossoms were an amazing start to our Crete-style meal. Spit-roasted chicken and fresh fries rounded out the meal. There's nothing quite like walking back to a ship on which you love to be sailing. Spa water upon arrival? Don't mind if I do! Really? Mine too! The Golden Mickeys was our first of three broadway-style shows in the Walt Disney Theater. Crush joined us for our first night in Animator's Palate. One does not simply dine at Animator's Palate without consuming quantities of pasta pursettes. Our stateroom door would progressively become more decorated as the cruise went on. On this night I experienced the Premium Reserve Whiskey Tasting and I was very pleased! And a new towel animal welcomed us to bed!

It's pretty wild riding it too. Positive Gs at the bottom of every swing. Great sense of the speed as it swings too. And the airtime when it's really moving is great. It's big boy Spinsanity. There's even a fog effect they activate for the final few big swings (that I'm sure will not be maintained for more than a couple years).

I really need to make it down to this non-Six Flags park sometime.

Day 2 (part 1): Thorpe Park! First off, apologies that it's been so long since the Day1 update from Chessington. Life got in the way, and have been so dang busy! (I'm rewarding myself for doing two things I *had* to get done this weekend - completed, so came to update day 2). so, I didn't know very much about Thorpe Park. I mean, once there, I was familiar with one or two rides, but I had never really paid much attention to it, as it was in the UK and I'd probably never go there. and I prefer to be "surprised" so when going on a TPR trip, I almost never do a lot of research on the parks themselves. But I was very much aware about Hyperia, as folks had been talking about it for months, and I was keeping fingers crossed it would behave for us, as it had been having a lot of down time since it had officially opened. a fairly short bus trip later, and we were parking at Thorpe park and spotting Hyperia immediately from the entrance bridge across the lake to the park. the main entrance over the lake, is quite lovely: we were walked back to what would be our "basecamp" for the day - back at the events pavilion that's under those white tent-like building behind the water rides. that coaster there is "the Swarm" - which I recognized the name and hadn't realized was in THIS park. it was testing as we walked by, but we were there slightly before park open, so many of the rides still stood silent. better view of Swarm from our basecamp pavilion patio. . and that white coaster back there is Stealth - but that one seemed like it was down today, as folks were working on it. just before the park opened, our hosts were very kind and walked us back to Hyperia. . . we weren't getting ERT on it until after park close, but everyone was excited to be over there and near the front of the line when it opened. it's a lovely park, and walking thru, I simply had not realized this is a major thrill park. . with many "extreme" rides. just looking on RCBD, of the 8 roller coasters at this park, SIX of them are ranked "Extreme". the other is the kiddie coaster, and an indoor coaster. and the flats are pretty crazy too. . so this is really a park going for the adrenaline junkies. . . we were held in front of the queue, and when the park opened, the opened up the queue and we all headed thru the back and forths and then it tested once (or twice) and. .stopped. the line, which had already gotten a bit long was held just before entry into the actual ride queue. (which is beautiful by the way) we hung out in the line about 20 minutes, reasoning if it does open soon, it's still going to be a shorter line than any other time today. but the other coasters nearby started cycling with guests. this is Colossus. *(and you can see the full rows of queue behind us already) the park announced they weren't quite ready to open yet, and had no established time to open Hyperia. since this was a new park to many of us, most decided to call it (we were supposed to ride later anyways with ERT) and we headed to the closest coaster, Colossus. over the shoulder restraints? uh oh. . this is the 10 inversion coaster! it's pretty. . but yeah, it beat the crap out of me. . .so one and done. luckily I had aspirin with me and popped on right away. while we were on Colossus, Hyperia started testing. . but the train was full of water dummies (we know they were water dummies, because some of the lids weren't closed tightly and in some inversions the sprays of water were as impressive as fireworks. it was pretty funny. water dummies are a good sign, but also means it wasn't opening right away yet. anyways, we were over here by Samurai (the Top Scan at the lower bottom) and Saw: the Ride (on the left there) I don't quite remember, but I'm pretty sure we had fast pass at this park (only ride it wasn't good on was Hyperia). . so the line was short enough we got in it for Samurai it ran a pretty good cycle too. . .again, this seemed to be a park geared to the extreme thrillseekers. Watching Saw cycle next door while waiting for our ride. and then we headed under the bridge and past Colossus towards the custom Gerstlauer Eurofighter NOT a fan of Eurofighters, but I was loving the theming (you drop undeneath spinning sawblades). . .so we got in line. it moved fairly slow - capacity, I guess, or maybe someone that couldn't fit in the seats? but eventually we made it up to the platform. and there is some nice theming in the queue line. Stacey and I finally at the station! how was it. . . um. . pretty rough I thought. but I've been on worse Eurofighters. This one did have some headbang - I recall we sat in the front row. but others who rode it said it wasn't that bad. so maybe we just had a janky car? anyways. . 1 and done. Hyperia seemed to be cycling now. . so we headed back over to be faced with a pretty massive line. lunch was fairly soon, and we didn't want to miss that, so instead we stopped into the bathrooms over there (themed and Neon). . kewl. the closest I got to Hyperia this morning and then headed over to a section we hadn't been in yet - which was sorta on the way back to the Pavilion. ooo.. .the "Hyperia Fairies" were out and about - I didn't realize that these folks are part of the show that gets put on near the entrance (more pics of that coming up soon). . but they were happy to pose for pics. this guy was the Choreographer of the show, from what I understand. but they were all charming. Mr Monkeys Banana Ride!! what amazing theming for a swinging ship ride. . LOL yeah, baby!!! we headed back to the pavilion for a very decent lunch served to us by the park: and then our hosts surprised us by giving each of us a one time pass for Hyperia to use the quick queue line. . .so many of us - myself included - headed over to Hyperia to have a ride. here's the aforementioned show that takes place several times a day at the stage near the ride entrance. without even asking, Stacey and I got assigned to Front Row !! we took the advantage - mainly because it meant that later during ERT we wouldn't have to ride in the front, and could leave that open for those folks who love the front row. ya'll. . it's SO good. yes, it's a little short, but so what. . that extended stall is incredible. LOVED it after our ride, we headed back over to the section we had just peeked our head into on the way to lunch, and continued into it. . . our next ride was going to "Nemesis Inferno" - a B&M suspended themed in (and around) a volcano. the view from the Nemesis Inferno queue: entrance to the river rapids ride, which was closed this morning, but seemed to be cycling empty rafts, Stealth - still no life in it, but the maintenance folks who had been working on it earlier were now gone, Swarm in the background, and next to it Tidal Wave, the parks' Chute the Shoots ride - that seemed to be VERY wet. a look at the Chute the Shoots. . that drop is a bit steep! the drop tower on the right (behind Nemesis track) was not open today. Nemesis Inferno Queue. . with "active" volcano in the queue this compact B&M has some real kick. . I loved this. . and ended up being my 3rd favorite coaster in the park - behind Swarm & Hyperia. really rather intense, and it mostly stays pretty close to the ground. when we got off Nemesis Inferno, we noticed the rafts were now running with People in them. . .so several of us (minus Stacey - who didn't want to get wet) hopped in the completely empty queue for a walk on (remember, it had JUST opened, and I don't think word had gotten out yet) it was a fun little raft ride, that was more "spritz" than "soaked". . but it helped cool down what had turned into a warm day. most importantly tho? Stealth - the Intamin Launch coaster - had started testing while we were on the rafts! unlike the rafts, the whole park could see that Stealth was testing so there were quite a few folks milling around the entrance. but it had not opened yet. so after giving it a few minutes, we headed over to the other coasters we hadn't hit yet: Flying Fish - a Mack powered coaster, and took a spin on that (tho I don't seem to have taken any other pictures of it) by the time we got off our ride - and I think he sent us around 4 times, so it was a good long ride - Stealth *had* opened, and was cycling with riders. so we headed back over that way. even with the quick queue the line had gotten pretty decent, quickly. again, it's capacity, even tho this has a longer train than things like TTD or Xcellerator still. . .So worth it. . it's an amazing ride! even if it only lasts, 12 seconds or something like that. and yes! lucked out again with front row. the only other coaster we hadn't done yet (besides Swarm, which I had forgotten about, but we had some ERT on it later anyways) was the indoor coaster. . .now themed to the Walking Dead. hmmmmmmmm. . . . . most of it was long, dark, corridors - that go on for a long time - as part of the queue. The theme is that you are being "cleared" to enter Terminus. . so they are putting you thru the pens, and testing (the queue) and then put you on the train (the coaster itself) to take you there. it's a fun little indoor coaster, and we ended up riding this twice since we liked it enough - once later in the day, and that time there were lots of "live" zombies in the exit portion of the queue, chasing after you. to be continued. . .

Busch Gardens Williamsburg has announced a new family inverted coaster coming to the park in 2025, inspired by and continuing the story of the former Big Bad Wolf coaster. The title of this new coaster has not been finalized and the park is looking for a popular vote between three possible names... https://buschgardens.com/williamsburg/vote2025/ New Attraction - Coming 2025 In 2025, riders become the beast on Busch Gardens' all-new family-friendly inverted roller coaster. Long ago, a wolf swept through a Bavarian town, turning townsfolk to werewolves and destroying the village. Forty years later, it’s time to honor the past during the annual Festival of the Silent Bells. The area is quiet at first, but strange noises are soon heard… footsteps and growling, then bright red eyes appear. The wolf has returned. An exhilarating adventure across the German countryside awaits guests in 2025 when riders become the beast on Busch Gardens’ all-new family-friendly inverted roller coaster. As the sound of screams and the echo of a howling wolf creates chaos in the familiar town, riders will experience over 2,500 feet of track traveling up to 40 miles per hour while bolting through the streets of an abandoned Bavarian village. Busch Gardens is giving guests the rare opportunity to help pick the name of this new immersive coaster. Now through September 25, guests can select their favorite name from three options: WölfSturm meaning Wolf Storm WölfsReign meaning Wolf's Reign GeisterWölf meaning Ghost Wolf

This weekend I had a chance to stop into SeaWorld Orlando for the first time in a while, both to experience this year's SeaWorld Spooktacular fun with my family but also to ride Penguin Trek for the first time. SeaWorld Spooktacular is the park's daytime Halloween event, offering trick or treating, characters and some light entertainment offerings to supplement the normal day at the park before it closes to turn over the operation to Howl-O-Scream Orlando, which is a more mature, separately ticketed event. Penguin Trek took over the former Antarctica: Empire of the Penguin dark ride, but also manages to take up a significant portion of the land outside of the former ride's show building. It is hard to understand just how creative they got with plugging this coaster into the building until you're walking through it all... Sometimes for better and sometimes for worse. The queue is improved for its (expanded) of the former interior space--it makes you wonder just how much space the short, short-lived dark ride actually took up inside. The path to the station has you going upstairs and downstairs, at levels that the previous attraction never utilized, making you realize how tall these buildings were for no prior experiential reason. Where it gets a little wonky is the exit path from the ride, which ultimately leads you back to the existing penguin exhibit, crossing through the ride's entrance queue and stopping at the exit of the exhibit which now has a SeaWorld team member pulsing guests between doors that must be opened and closed in order to minimize the loss of cold air in the exhibit. This wasn't a challenge in the space before (as the exit used a revolving door) so I'm not sure why this change was made but it makes for a strange bottleneck in a space where Guests may not want to be stuck for an extended time due to the cold. On to the photos! This cute billboard marks the start of the SeaWorld Spooktacular treat trail. That's about as spooky at this gets. You can meet a mermaid here... The trick or treating starts at 11:00 AM and the initial rush can be a little surprising but it dies down later in the afternoon. Keep in mind, to participate in the trick or treating (at least to the full extent) you must buy a SeaWorld bucket or bag from the park. I've seen other people use other bags and in some cases be turned away, in others, be given less candy than those with one of the park-sold bags. I love Haribo candies, so this was right up my alley. Portions of the park are decorated for the event. A look at all of this year's sponsors/candy providers. Some more character meet and greets along the way. Behind the dogfish and catfish is a space where story time takes place during scheduled portions of the day. For the parents there are drinks and bites to get you through the Halloween day. You bring your bag up to a station and the SeaWorld team member drops the candy through the chute. My son's favorite part of the event... Is it even a Halloween event if you don't walk through a giant pumpkin head? New this year is the Harvest Maze, a cute little maze that is backstage near Journey to Atlantis. A cute little diversion. This was my candy haul at the end of one lap. We could go back as many times as we wanted to but with the heat being what it was, this was plenty for us. There is a DJ booth over by Journey to Atlantis which marks the end of the treat trail. Why I really was here today... Portions of the former Antartica queue are still intact but the building was definitely updated to accommodate the new coaster. I went through the Quick Queue line so I didn't have the chance to experience the standby queue during this visit. I had no where in the existing building I was at this point of the queue. This does feel radically different than what was here before. The train does look pretty sleek. I was pleased to find that despite this being a two-train operation with two-across seats, the operation moved abnormally fast (by SeaWorld standards). The coaster exits from the same station as you load, but dumps you out to an expanded window which used to be where the Antarctica ride vehicle would look into the exhibit before returning to the station. Perhaps the reason it is called Penguin Trek is because of the hike you have to make back to the exit. My sense of where this was in the former attraction is so lost. Next thing you know you're walking through the old interior queue--this was where the "mild" or "wild" experience used to be split up. And then you end up back in one of the pods that led to the exhibit. You're dumped out into the exhibit but walking along a path created by having walled off the former Antarctica: Empire of the Penguin ride exit station. You can still see the penguins up close. But now you have to wait to be pulsed between exit doors... Not sure what went into this decision making process but I'd argue that it is the one misstep I spotted with Penguin Trek over its predecessor. After leading you back out into the existing two-story viewing area of the exhibit, you finally exit into the newly-built, enclosed gift shop. Queue logistics aside, Penguin Trek is a really solid coaster. The launches aren't as aggressive as you'll find on other launch coasters but the track is B&M smooth and the maneuvers are fun to experience. Plus it is a pretty fun coaster to watch from the ground! My favorite elements of the coaster are these two twisty hills. Just a really solid addition to the park. Over at Wild Arctic, work continues on whatever is replacing the former simulators. Here's hoping we'll find out more soon. And obviously the most important update of the day is the addition of a new boba bar at The Waterfront.

OMFG stop lecturing me. No one said shit about anyone's rights being impeded upon. Take your teacher hat off. You're not going to "save" me from my right to make cautious judgements about certain behavior. You and I do not, nor likely will not, ever see eye to eye. But, that's not good enough for you, which says something about you as well. I don't share all of your values. I'm entitled to that. We're probably both good contributing people who go about life in completely different ways based on the experiences and exposure we have had in our lives. The majority of the world outgrows riding children's rides and shopping carts at some point in time. People outgrew Legos, Ninja Turtles, and Flintstone vitamins. It's not about caring what other people think... It's about your interests following the natural progression of maturing past our childhood desires. It's why you're getting weird looks. If you think this isn't what the majority of parents are thinking then you can't read the room. I'll address the naps, only because you're hyper focused on that topic. Swing shifts, getting up at 5-6am to exercise before parks during trips, and diagnosed legit problems as a result of the former are why I benefit from a ten minute nap. Try alternating between 6a-6p and 6p-6a shifts sometimes multiple times within a few weeks while still having self discipline to wake up early and workout. I haven't had a consistent 9-5 in 13 years, and it slowly exhausts you over time. I hope that explanation is sufficient enough for you.

“If you tear it down, they will come.” is not a sound business model.

We never rode it before the change but we rode it over the weekend. The ride is incredible. Is it safe? I don't know... but it's incredible and we've all got to go sometime so we rode it a ton even though we didn't expect to going in.

Pete dropped a huge announcement at the end of this interview about 2025 and 2026! The last 4:15 of the interview. Enjoy!!! https://youtu.be/Vw5rMO83N0g?si=7rJ9S5mxseHL9Dcu 2025 - New Parking area and a New restaurant in wilderness pass and a 40th-anniversary show. 2026 will feature a brand new 50 million dollar attraction and a refurbishment of a legacy attraction!!!! 2026 will be a phase three in Wildwood groove construction and a phase 4 is planned.

for National Roller Coaster Day this past weekend, my Friend Matt Hughey (VP of Park Operations at Circuit of the Americas), invited my other friends, the Quirky Coaster Couple (Nick and Kelly) to come out and take a tour of the COTA-land site. . . where they have quietly been doing a TON of work. the Quirkies were able to turn it into an event of sorts, inviting 20 or so others to come along, ride the Schwarzkopf Texas Wildcat (that's been open for a while), and take laps on the go-karts as well as have a site tour. Sadly, I was unable to attend, as I was *LITERALLY* a mile a way at the Austin airport for my flight to Vegas at the time of the event - hey, it all worked out, I had a great time, and so did they at COTA. With the Quirkies' kind permission that it was ok to share their pics? here are some updates - and I think you're gonna be a little surprised. yes, yes. . the big "news" that came out of it, is that they are still hoping for a 2025 opening, but that there HAVE been delays (mostly related to Covid, and how things work nowadays), but they will give a planned update at an event in January, if 2025 is still in the cards. BUT. . all track for all coasters is on site, and all the flats are on site. ok. .here come the pics: Palindrome is complete! (not sure when it's going to start testing, as I wasn't able to attend, so not sure if they covered that): Circuit Breaker - the 2nd Tilt Coaster in existence has gone vertical - the support for the "tilt" portion is up! and finally, here are the Quirkies (Nick and Kelly- lower right in yellow), with Matt at the COTA site (along with the lucky folks who were able to join them)!

It was smooth and tracking well when it had Morgan trains. The PTC trains are awful on that coaster. If RMC put their hands on Le Monstre it would be such a marketing feat. It has so much potential. The structure is massive. They would have a lot to play with. La Ronde was really on the map in the 80's with such inovative rides; 2nd Boomerang to open, Le monstre (was really something back in 85!) etc... It's deceiving now that SF doesn't put money anymore into new rides or coasters. So again, I think one way to revitalyse the image of the park without losing space would be to revamp Le Monstre with RMC and making it an outstanding attraction. They need a new major roller coaster.

Is this the coaster Energylandia was getting before they lost funding? Perhaps SF got got a good deal last minute.

Those are just the 2025 announcements for the 2024 additions that never opened.

People will make a lot of money on this, regardless if it ever opens or not. Like whoever got the prime demolition contract.

Knotts is dead during the week in most of September and October during the day. Fridays can be busier, and don't go on Saturday or Sunday. Keep an eye out for ride rehabs during the offseason but they will try to keep Ghostrider and the logride open during peak haunt. The daytime ride staff may be short handed so operations will likely be slow but he lack of crowds and hopefully lack of heat will make it better than a weekend or the summer. Hopefully by then, all of these fires will be out. I haven't been in a few weeks since it has been really hot out here. I am trying to go back but have been busy lately. If I can find out what is going on with Silver Bullet, I will for you.

Holy shit! I actually see some real food at a park! The chicken looks good, and it doesn't even seem like it's slathered in that much artificial shit. Scrape whatever chemical mix that is off of the beef and that looks somewhat healthy, too. Nice. Thank God for Coke being the equalizer for guests, though. They probably had to install twice as many of those diabetes dispensers to offset nutrition offered elsewhere in the park.

Hey all, hoping for some advice from the west coast locals on here. We recently moved from Orlando to Colorado for a change of pace and would love to take advantage of the short flights from Denver to LA for a quick getaway to Knott’s. I have only visited once and that was back in 2015 while Ghostrider was under its major refurb and will be my hubbys first time. Are crowds typically pretty light on weekdays in October assuming you avoid Scary Farm? I recall it being dead last time we were there in November but it was almost a decade ago. We’d love to ride Xcellerator while we still can and while all signs look good there for the time being, I noticed Silver Bullet is closed with no reopening date. Any intel on what’s going on there?

It's even more wild when you look across the pathway.

News channels were on the Joker today - park officially said it'll open tomorrow (Friday 9/13). Wild how long that took for a flat ride.

Nice update, I always have a good time at their Spooktacular festival with my kids when they were younger and overall it still looks like a pretty solid way to spend a day.

Thanks for motivating me to keep our daughter in private school.

This is so good to hear. Can't wait to get back up there sometime and ride it again without the shoulder harnesses.

You should laugh

Patriot was great! Sit up straight and brace yourself. Not a hands-up ride (and it's a rule, too, I found out).

For my last visit to The Fair (and it's Closing Day), I decided to bus to the Playland Gate, get my last (for this season) $1 popcorn, then work my way up through all - those - food trucks, get ribs from the other spot that was selling them (called what else? Truckin' BBQ!), and then make a real total 'tour' through the entire Market building. Easy! And I even bought something(s) there, too. Back at my 'usual' Playland Entry Gate Doesn't look too crowded, here... ...But the queue for Coaster must have been 2-3 hours' wait, since they still were using only one train. Eek. And I didn't even bother, to check on ThuderVOLT's queue, knowing it only runs one train, too. All in all, it was a VERY CROWDED (slammed?) day, there. So I was very glad I wasn't doing a lot of stuff. Whew! Both towers operating against a cloud covered sky. Last look at the midway, before it closes up, not to re-open till 2025. The Last $1 One for this season. It's still a great deal after all these years of having and using this bucket.. Up it goes! Up it goes #2. Up it tilts! Last look at the Amphitheatre site, from this angle. Not to be seen again, from here, till next year's Fair. An Arcade Prize winner's stuffie. I would not enjoy carting this around The Fair. Nope. Still not for me. Here we are. And I ordered a half-rack. With a side of coleslaw. Then got my last beer in Festival Park. And it was just as good as the other ribs we had. And I enjoyed the creamy coleslaw as well. While consuming my ribs, this big-ass band was playing on the "Music In the Park" stage. And they were great! And now ... Another great clothing stall. More Bling. Something for the kids to do. I see Princess Peaches and the Mario Brothers. And it's got a short line up, so that's good. For those with a passion for musical bowls, etc. Ooooooooo. These were the first 'variety' of candy apples I'd seen at The Fair. But... THIS Is what I wanted. And I picked up a slice of Black Forest fudge. Chocolate w/cherries. Yum! Dogs on Socks. Many many pairs of socks. But they did have a (pitiful) section for cats, too. Hats of all styles, shapes, colours, etc. It was basically an All-Leather Clothing stall. We glanced at this booth, last Thursday. But I wanted to see more of it. So I came back. These are LEGO Figures. And Lots - Of - Keychains! And .... and .... Mystery Boxes. That tempted me, and I bought one. A Pikachu Terrarium collection box. Of six. These are all for grating garlic cloves. Pretty. Back to where we started last Thursday. Sign says ADULTS ONLY. And then I headed for the Exit. I think it was a Well Fair. But with so much themed exhibits left out this season (and a LOT of food trucks), I wonder how many will return to next year's fair, knowing the Amphitheatre still won't finished until '26. Here's what $15 Cdn got me. #5 of the collection - with Kimori, a tree stump, and some weeds, lol. Bit of a better look at Kimori. So, I will go to next year's Fair, regardless of what's less and what's more, there.

This will sound like a total "park" response, but the Bayern Kurve really is a work-in-progress. There have been some setbacks (that I cant really talk about), but there has also been a lot of progress as well (that is not necessarily visible atm). I do expect this to be ready to go for opening day 2025.

This past Thursday was our annual PNE visit, me and David. After having gone there a few times already, I told him what to miss and what we should look into .... and the BBQ RIBS meal, of course. So this visit took only a few hours. The ribs were great, the drag show was a repeat (for myself) but David really got a kick out of it, and started thinking back to when we used to do shows at a very well known Vancouver Drag/Show bar called BJ's ! (Now that's another story thread, heh.) I enjoyed this show, just as well as the first time. And then we just went for it, and bought a six-pack box of .... cannolis! a raspberry pair, a lemon pair, and an 'original' pair, being vanilla and chocolate bits. And that was it for us! David spent a good 1/2 hour in The Market, I took a few photos inside, but planned to go there again, tomorrow. Maybe there will be a "PNE Final Day Sale" for me to check out...... Back to the front of The Fair, again. And where we immediately went to - for a five o'clock meal of RIBS! We looked at the portion of ribs, and thought we were getting more than the 1/2 rack we ordered. V But then, I had this photo from last year's Fair, I showed it around and most of the staff freaked! V This is that photo. And this is Steve. I made a joke about "Santa working part time in the off-season", lol. Unfortunately, he wasn't there this year. But I hope some of the staff let him know, he was missed. So we figured we got some 'extra ribs' due to us showing that photo of Steve. Or not, lol. This rack of ribs was really nice and juicy. I might buy it again (1/3 rack) tomorrow. Hmmmm. Almost finished. We didn't pack any leftovers for home. Corn bread and coleslaw were both great, too. I find this fascinating, don't know why. After eating, we headed over to the last show of the day, of .... Would have liked to see and hear the pianos. but it never happened. Maybe next year if they're here again. Not for this show. It's used for the Rollerland Building's (that is it's name) weekend skating, there. This is 'Joan Jett'. And here's 'Jon Bon Jovi'. Definitely having a great time, here. This a fuzzy 'Pat Benatar'. At least 'Prince' wore a different coat for this show. First time I saw 'him,' it was all blue spangles. The 'Heart' sisters, Ann and Nancy. Inside The Market. What we first see. Vibrating ...thing-a-ma-jigs. Lots of different clothing stalls. Bling. This was all for kids, but I have to check exactly what there was there. I need some close-ups here! YOU WANT WOODEN ANYTHING? WE HAVE WOODEN EVERYTHING! We have enough "wooden things" at home, so we passed on this. Big open space. Very rare for the annual Market. Maybe the rental space costs too much for some, since covid? Where a lot of us 'elders' ended up. Back massage, comfy chair .... mmmmm, Happy old people. So much stuff in this set up. I know nothing, about any of it. I thought of buying a 'mystery bag' for the heck of it. But ... I didn't. Of all of these display towers at this stall, this is the one I liked the best. Not sure why. Maybe it has to do with alllll those mushrooms. Hmmm. After leaving The Market, we wanted some kind of dessert. Then we saw this. It was a good decision. We ate the Original Cannoli there, and took the other four home. Two lemon, two raspberry, and my Original, yet to be eaten. Cost $40 Cdn. for all six. And our visit ended, for the day.

Hi Everyone! Wow...and I thought my homepark's thread was quiet! I'll have to liven it up a little bit! When it came to planning my NorCal trip I knew I wanted to hit CGA, and since I had a rental car and a Six Flags pass I decided I should do SFDK. When looking for what else to do in the area, and being a fan of independent parks in general, I decided to throw in the Boardwalk as a nice bonus. I figured it would be a nice way to kill a few hours before heading to the airport or after spending most of my day at CGA. I man did I regret planning it that way cause was I blown away by this place! I'll kick this off by saying: Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk is the best park in Northern California. The whole place made me think of Knoebels, but at the beach! Which to me was like a perfect match! I love the old school feel of Knoebels, and the beach added a whole different atmosphere. I wish it was a little bigger, but the crazy multi-level-ness really added to both the unique-ness and the ride lineup. The star of the show is of course Giant Dipper. Now you here "Giant Dipper" and you think old wooden coaster (with Morgan trains), like REALLY old. And old wooden coasters are hit or miss. Some are fun, some are rough, some are just plain boring. To me though, Giant Dipper is hand's down the best coaster in NorCal and easily the best classic wooden roller coaster I've ridden. It beats out Phoenix, Racer, The Beast, Judge Roy, and Flying Turns for me. The best way for me to some it up is "They don't build 'em like that anymore...". It was totally out of control feeling from the minute we went into the tunnel to hitting the final breaks. I'm pretty sure that if I wanted too I could smack one of the support trusses at 40 mph those tolerances are so tight, and your just flying every which way in your seat. I would not call this ride "smooth" nor "rough", more like I don't know..."smough". It felt like a well cared for old school wooden coaster, lovingly cared for but still having the many engineering and construction imperfections of a ride built at that time and operating for so long. Some might find it uncomfortable, and I unfortunately ran out of time before I could grab a non-back row ride, but for what I like this is what I want in a wooden coaster like this! Oh yeah, they have a Maurer spinner called...uhhh...Underflow? (Check's rcdb) Undertow! Pretty standard family spinner, but my vote for best of it's type. I liked it better than Pandemonium or Sierra Sidewinder. On top of having an awesome wooden coaster, the Boardwalk has not one (but two!) awesome classic dark rides! Cave Train Adventure is a hilarious journey under the boardwalk into a black light filled city of cave men. I got a lot of laughs from this one! The Haunted Castle was a fun old-school haunted house, again on par with Knoebels. I think this one has a few more modern effects than the one at Knoebels, but same kinda of scary but also fun experience. I wanted to ride Logger's Revenge, since I'm a sucker for log flumes, but the long line and my limited time prevented me. I got some custard from a stand next to Haunted Castle (I think) and enjoyed that while watching the ocean. I know most of the vendors here are third party, but dang that was some good custard! And after a few hours my time was up... I really wish I had planned a full day for this park, or even had skipped SFDK and just come down to Santa Cruz for a night. There seemed like so much to do on the Boardwalk and the near by warf. I really REALLY liked this park, and it's probably the only one in NorCal that I legit want to go back to soon. It is a little spendy, but it's also in a resort area and I think it could have been much more expansive. But that's really it's only con in my book. Otherwise, Knoebels on the Beach? SIGN ME UP!!! And that concludes my little trip to NorCal, and my 2023 TR's! I don't have much planned other than a Florida trip this summer, so we'll have to see where I end up this year. See you guys all next time!