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So despite the weather forecasts suggesting a 50/50 chance of thunderstorms, I still decided to make the 2-hr trek to Knoebel's today. I was pretty close to calling it off and going to Great Adventure instead since Jersey had less of a storm risk, and the plus of possibly seeing Jersey Devil test runs. But knowing that Knoebel's runs most stuff in the rain barring lightning, I figured I would have better luck with them regarding weather policy than risking SF closing down a park at the sight of a raindrop. It was a typical early June light weekday crowd, but with less school kids since most schools aren't doing year-end field trips this year. Definitely campers being the main source of guests today. Even with a chunk of attractions not operating, the park still felt more than open and waiting to provide customer service, with most of the major food stands and shops open and ready for business; even little kiosks like the Dippin' Dots near Haunted Mansion were open, which you know would be shuttered on a weekday at a big chain park. Best of all was the sight of the familiar friendly long-time staff that you always see doing their designated roles. I feel bad because I'm horrible at remembering names but you always know the Knoebel's season is well underway when you see the familiar faces. I opted to not get a wristband out of fear the day would be rained out at any instance, but sure enough other than one 30-minute pour it just ended up being a cloudy day and I exceeded the wristband cost in tickets. Oh well. Got 6 rides on Phoenix, and it was hauling ass the whole time. I'm used to it slowly making the first turn-around but right from the get-go it was ripping around that turn; it's as if it got a little magic from Twister in regards to aggressiveness. I remember previously being underwhelmed until the final bunny hills and now the airtime is popping from (almost) start to finish. 4 rides on Twister and it's treating riders even more so like a rag doll, but in a good way (except for one teen boy who hurled afterwards at the exit gate on one ride). Got a ride each on Impulse (still underrated) and Kozmo's Kurves (I'd enjoy the airtime more if it didn't whack my knees into the bars when trying to eject me). Flying Turns still shuttered but the track work looks finished and the trains look ready to go, and Black Diamond was also closed too. As for non-coasters, while I was saddened I couldn't experience the Flyers I was happy to see the maintenance crew putting the pieces back together, a sign that it'll hopefully re-open soon. Fandango is still waiting for parts, and the Wipeout is still visible in pieces. Got a couple rides on the Grand Carousel and one each on Haunted Mansion and Skooters, because of course a trip isn't complete without them. Also got a surprisingly long ride on the Paratrooper, and hit up the Pioneer Train too. Skipped the log flume this time around (Skloosh is still closed) and the Skyway was also closed; not one for drop towers but Stratos-fear was open for anyone who loves that Larson tower. Also the Tornado being installed has an extremely sharp dark blue and green scheme which I totally prefer over the standard carnival ones. Didn't go as crazy on food as I thought I would but got some Loaded Tri-tators and Sicilian and White Broccoli slices from Cesari's. All hit the spot as usual. And when it did rain for 30 minutes, it was perfect timing for enjoying several rounds of Fascination. All in all for a day that could've very well been a bust I'd say it went about as well as could be expected. Everything was a walk-on and while not everything is open just yet there's still plenty to do to keep one occupied for several hours. Between Fascination and the museums and covered attractions like the Carousel, there's plenty of options to stay dry, more so than your average park. And of course it's still the same charm and awesome service you would expect from Knoebel's.

... and everyone in the parade will be making $20 an hour so I expect about 2 floats.

Hey guys, I'm sure there's at least two people on here that care about this topic. Basically, on Flying Scooter rides, you can "snap" the cables, allowing for a more extreme ride. Some parks allow this, some don't, and I definitely don't want to intentionally break park rules. I've made a list of all flyers where it is possible and the park policies on it. Bisch-Rocco permanent models Flyer, Knoebels: Very operator dependent, some won't allow it at all while some will nearly let you tear the ride apart(plz dont). This is the fastest flyer in the world and the only one run on gas!! Rowdy Roosters, Canobie Lake Park: While this is a snapable model, chains limit the movement of the sails, making it very difficult/impossible. Hurricane, Lakeside Amusement Park: Unknown Flying Aces, Lagoon Amusement Park: Conflicting information so probably operator dependant. Flying Eagles, Kings Dominion: Operator dependent, but in general the strictest of all of them. They say "CONTROL YOUR BIRDS" ha. Pretty sure this runs with the original motor, making it one of the fastest still in operation. American Flyers, Lake Compounce: Officially not allowed, but operator dependent. Mountain Gliders, Carowinds: Allowed and Encouraged. However, the cycle time is very short, the speed is low and the movement of the sails very limited. Premier Model - Flying Aces, Idlewild Park: "Snapping is not permitted as it damages the ride" Thunderbirds, Eldridge Park: Operator dependent, in general much more allowed than Knoebels, especially if there is no one on the ride with you. Bisch-Rocco portable models(difficult to snap, but not impossible) Section will be updated in Summer of 2023. Incomplete as is Eagles Flight, Holiday World: Allowed Seabreeze Flyers, Seabreeze: Apparently impossible but I will try myself in 2022. Rubber stops were installed to prevent snapping but these have proved ineffective on other flyers such as Mountain Gliders. Larson Models(significantly harder to snap, if not listed it's likely allowed but very difficult, most are run at low speed) Frontier Flyers, Hersheypark(high speed): Not allowed Mission Mascaw, Columbus Zoo(high speed): unknown Screaming Eagle, Fun Spot Kissimmee(high speed): Allowed, watch TPR do it! Most Six Flags parks: Allowed, however turning the car 180 degrees is not allowed. Cedar Point: Not Allowed Air Crow, Indiana Beach: Officially not allowed but operator dependent. Easier than most models due to location on the lake. Dorney Park, Cedar Creek Flyers: Allowed Flying Scooters, Camden Park: Allowed Woodstock Gliders, Worlds of Fun: Allowed Flying Eagles, Valleyfair: Allowed. Feel free to correct me or share your experiences, especially on the "unknown" ones.

Is this a Halloween event or a drag show?

SeaWorld Orlando has announced that they will debut their own Howl-O-Scream event https://seaworld.com/orlando/events/howl-o-scream/ HOWL-O-SCREAM TERRIFIES SEAWORLD ORLANDO FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER A new terror has surfaced, and there’s nowhere to hide. Howl-O-Scream has washed ashore at SeaWorld Orlando, and this time, the fear is everywhere. Evade angry haunts as they rampage through scare zones. Seek shelter indoors, only to find you’ve entered a house of horrors. Deepen the thrill with a nighttime coaster ride. Quench your thirst for fear at a fiendishly interactive bar. Feel the monstrous electricity of a live show. Above all, try to resist the haunting song of the one who has emerged from the lake. Evil is calling—with a howl and a scream. Experience 27 nights of fully immersive fear this fall, only at SeaWorld Orlando. Howl-O-Scream is intended for a mature audience. This event contains intense adult content such as violence, gore, and blood. Howl-O-Scream 2021 is a separately-ticketed night event. No costumes are allowed. *Event dates and details subject to change and/or cancellation without prior notice. EVENT DATES September 10th - October 31st EVENT HOURS Fridays & Saturdays - 7:00 PM - 2:00 AM Thursdays & Sundays - 7:00 PM - 12:00 AM HAUNTED HOUSES Hear every bloodcurdling shriek. Feel every spine-tingling terror. Get ready for the haunted houses of SeaWorld’s Howl-O-Scream. There’s no turning back as you brave dark passageways and round dimly lit corners, hoping you can avoid what’s lurking in the depths. The legends are true, the fear is real, and the only way out is through. SCARE ZONES & ROAMING HAUNTS There are no safe zones. There are no places to hide. The scares are everywhere, and the roaming haunts never weaken. Get ready for immersive terror at every turn during SeaWorld’s Howl-O-Scream. Stay alert and be prepared for anything, because you never know what’s waiting up ahead (or creeping up behind you). TERRIFYING SHOWS Even amid so much mayhem, the show must go on. Duck inside and be mesmerized by a raucous, high-energy musical dance show. Or witness the outdoor spectacle as the ominous story of the one who has emerged from lake unfolds before you. You’ll also find DJs and party zones that are perfect for a dance break between frights. RIDES & EXPERIENCES Have you ever ridden your favorite attraction in the dark? It wouldn’t be a SeaWorld visit without a ride or two, but it wouldn’t be Howl-O-Scream without a dose of nighttime terror. Meanwhile, sinister interactive surprises await at your favorite bar haunts. After nightfall, every moment of fun comes with a splash of fear. Keep watching to see how this once-peaceful park transforms with fear after nightfall.

NEWS: Dollywood announces new resort as part of $500 million expansion https://wreg.com/news/dollywood-announces-new-resort-as-part-of-500-million-expansion/ https://www.dollywood.com/heartsong PIGEON FORGE, Tenn. (WATE) — Dolly Parton announced the construction of the HeartSong Lodge & Resort on Thursday, the first project in a half-billion dollar investment campaign by the Dollywood Parks & Resorts group over the next decade. The HeartSong Lodge & Resort, scheduled to open in 2023 in Pigeon Forge, is a five-story, 302-room lodge featuring a sprawling indoor/ outdoor pool complex and 26,000-square-foot indoor and outdoor event space. Located next to Dollywood’s DreamMore Resort and Spa, its the first expansion of the park since the $37 million Wildwood Grove in 2019 and the first new resort since the DreamMore opened in 2015. “I’m always dreaming and coming up with new ideas and things I want our guests to experience,” Parton said in the official announcement. “We wanted to talk about this last year, but with everything going on, we knew we needed to pause because it just wasn’t the right time to do it. Things are looking brighter and with the popularity of the Smokies soaring, there are more people than ever wanting to visit our area.” -- “I’m so proud of this place that we’ve been able to build here in the Smokies,” Parton said. “I always dreamed of accomplishing two things with Dollywood. I wanted to give jobs to the folks who live here, and I wanted to give visitors another reason to come and experience the beauty of the Smoky Mountains. We celebrated our 35th season last year, so I think it is fair to say we’ve been able to do that. I’m so happy with what we are doing to make sure our guests have a great season this year, and being able to announce the new HeartSong Lodge and Resort is just one more way we’re going to be able to help families reconnect, explore and discover together. I truly believe the natural beauty of the Smokies and the warmth of this special place will inspire every guest to nurture the ‘heartsong’ within them.”

Sounds like they've got a test train/dummies out on Storm Runner and have been rolling it through the launch track.

I can't wait to check out this event from the top of Rip Ride Rockit ... in all seriousness, this is exciting. I feel like it has high suck-potential because they're clearly positioning it as the cheap option and selling the combo ticket for this and BGT for the same price as one night at HHN but more competition has to be a good thing for HHN and every time I've gone to the BGT event I've really enjoyed it. I think there's a chance that every animal thing will be closed and it will just be rides, pop up bars, mazes and scare zones but please make Clyde & Seamore's high school slaughterhouse of death (or something like that) happen. Then I would buy a ticket immediately.

The parks aren't dead, but in 2019 if I would have told you that Magic Kingdom was at capacity you probably wouldn't have expected to wait only 35 minutes for Peter Pan, 25 minutes for Haunted Mansion, 40 minutes for Space Mountain and less than an hour for Mine Train (the current wait times with the park at capacity). I know fastpass isn't a thing, but there's no way that these parks are anywhere near their real capacity. I'm not saying that this is even bad, I'm just saying that it's weird.

Hahahahahahaha this is just hilarious. Hey WoF, I do smile when I picture myself at SFStL! Joke’s on you!

So is anyone else kind of confused as to what Disney is doing right now? While most parks including Universal are using Virtual lines less often and bumping up capacity to at-or-near 100%, Disney is doing... well... this... (The only park available on any yellow day this month is Epcot) The next day that all parks are available for day-guests is July 31st. Also, Bob Chapek stated on a recent conference call that virtual queues and park reservations are here to stay. It seems like this may go beyond just being overly cautious with covid and they may actually be trying to make some major changes to the guest experience going forward. I guess park passes aren't really anything new as day tickets were always dated so that may just be a new thing for APs, but does it seem strange to anyone else that they're still limiting capacity this much?

I think “small gem” ship sailed a year or so ago. It’s still a unique product, but they definitely have their eyes on a bigger prize these days.

Speaking on the one at Canobie, their's is impossible to snap. They have metal chains limiting the motion of the fin. It also isn't a super fast one. Kong at Morey's is another one with a strict no snapping rule. That one is located on top of a building, so I suspect it can be snapped if you get a good wind. Eagles Flight at Holiday World is a hard one to snap, but the park allows it. American Flyers at Lake Compounce is a slow one, but they're very snappable. In the past, they allowed snapping, but there was one operator this year who took issue with it. Flying Scooters at Camden Park allows snapping, but the cycle is super short so you barely have enough time to snap them.

What was up with this? Did I miss something? Did you see SDC's response? Spent like 45 minutes catching up on the posts here. Haven't visited the park in like over two years and really have no desire to go back any time soon. Just got back from spending a week in Branson, 4 days of which we visited SDC and it is just a much nicer, much friendlier park. Not to dog on SFSTL anymore than usually occurs on this thread. ProZach we still need to meetup in the neighborhood someday, sorry to hear about your work related injury and hope all else is well, can't believe you're little one is already a toddler. They grow up so quick. Yes HWFan is really missed around here. I know someone here was in contact with his parents here. I hope they know how fondly he was thought of here. Also miss the old SFSTL.net those were good ole days. Anyway end of my 2:30 AM ramble. Carry on!

Eiffel Tower tower is closed if you consider that a ride. Rides are being operated normally. Crowds at parks this year have been so different for obvious reason so I don't think it's worth making a guess on that, but crowds have never been much of an issue for me at KD except on Saturdays.

Hope I can hang on for the next ten years, to see what Dolly and her staff have in store for everybody. The new to-be Resort Hotel looks very nice. And very 'woodsy'.

^ maybe that’s it… but what an odd choice. I wouldn’t think Disney of all companies would want to show off their new attraction in such a state. The launching animatronic Spider-Man outside the ride seems to be the highlight of the area

VARNING - ATTENZIONE This post will contain a huge amount of random photos from the opening of Liseberg today Finally time to open The park is ready for guest for the first time since winter 2019 First some information about the news in the park: two new restaurants and a dark ride called Underlandet The Liseberg rabbits tried their best to support the technical description of the new dark ride... Then it was time to ride the new attraction Then it was time to pen the park fro the public Then it was time to ride some rollercoasters Valkyria is really close to the new hotel And now on to random photos of the park:

If I ran a park that operated for 9 1/2 months out of the year in a place where it snows and I was adding another hotel but a lot of the draw is already indoor shows I would just go on an indoor-ride-building-binge and then go year-round like BGW.

Wow the coaster gods took mercy on me today! When I left it was like 75-80+% chance of rain and thunderstorms. I arrived at KW at noon and it was light drizzle on and off, eventually stopping. Got the perfect combo of dry AND crowds kept away! Went to Steel Curtain first, (since I was there an hour in figured the Exterminator line was already screwed) and the line wasn't that bad physically but took about 30 mins due to the 1 train ops. It was not the crew, they seemed to be moving and were quite efficient. It was simply the 1 train. Did 2 rides, once 2nd row once towards to rear, fun ride but weirdly underwhelming. It has it all: speed, elements, a unique layout, airtime but it was just a bit...well I guess forceless. Air was good. Guess I thought it'd have a little more oomph esp the 2nd half. Over the Phantom's which was a walk on, literally. Forgot how sick that ride is, especially in back! Knocked out Sky Rocket which was better than expected (granted expectations were low). Honestly I really liked the first half, I got back row and those drops had some (brief) pops of pretty nasty air and it was a speedy little ride. It did peter out hard after the 2nd barrel roll, the twisty part and final hills etc were pretty lame. That said running 2 trains and ops were fast, so this was also a walk on. Jack Rabbit I lucked out hard and got cut off next to board. This was great as naturally I took back row, and it also had 2 trains so the wait was like a minute. This was better than expected. I had the vibe its "eh" with the sick double down but I got some pretty good air on a couple other drops! Also by a year this now takes record for oldest coaster I have ridden. Racer was also better than expected, which again wasn't much but it wasn't too bad in back. Line was again short, only 2 cycles ahead of me, though it did move pretty slow. IDK if this is common but ONE person was doing both trains, felt bad for that woman. But yeah solid little ride. Perhaps unpopular opinion(?) but I like Thunderbolt least of the 3 classic woodies there. Exterminator's line was indeed looooooong and I know how slow it goes, by this point I was getting tired and Phantom's again was empty. I count creds but not a cred whore, so I made the choice to not wait. I love a spinner too but long wait for that or 3 rides in less time on Phantom's? Which I did, it was wild 3 walk ons, right to the train in one case it timed perfectly that I barely broke stride and jumped onto the loading train. Maybe it warmed up by this point but felt even wilder. What a ride truly. All in all this experience was the polar opposite of my last (hot as hell, crowded as hell, few rides closed/down) and in a better mood, it wasn't a bad park. I did kinda like the more forested parts and the whole fountain area by the splash boats was wonderful. Now that redemption has been had not sure I'll make a case to stop here at least for a while but considering I got near all I wanted done, (even snuck a ride on Swingshot) in 3 hours and it was not the total washout I feared, not too shabby!

No. https://www.carowinds.com/scheduled-ride-closures

but Dolly's selling the park to her partners and wants nothing to do it anymore. the dippin dots guy told a facilities/cleaning guy, who told the clerk at the stand selling the airbrushed t-shirts - and someone overheard while walking by on the way to buy Cinnamon Bread. so this CAN'T be true !!!

My birthday isn't for a few months but I just wanted to let the forum know that this would be a great gag gift for me.

Small foot. It is a wonderful animation. Always arouses the child in me

The quad down at night coming back into a park lit up with Christmas lights is one of the best times for LR.