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(OK, these pictures are no good but I had zero plans of writing a trip report or anything... but here we are) So we ended up going Monday instead of Saturday. Every Louisville native we met throughout the weekend gave us a puzzled look at best and a flat out stank eye at worst when they found out we were stopping there, but eh... we had fun. I knew the line-up was stacked with airtime, which is all I really enjoy honestly. I'll try and keep this brief but I tend to ramble on these things. FearFALL (X1) - I'd heard Larson drop towers were pretty good and this thing definitely delivered. I'm pretty much desensitized when it comes to 99.9% of rides at this point but this one had me a little on edge with the fairground aesthetic and feel haha. The tower felt taller than it should have and the drop was stomach-wrenching. I'd put this up there with Falcon's Fury and KI's drop tower as one of my favorites honestly. Lightning Run (X3) - Our first ride was in the front seat and my final 2 rides were in the very back (which I preferred overall). This thing was great... and it's hard to believe more of these were not built. Butter smooth but still wild as hell... it felt like a shrunken down Phantom's Revenge / RMC hybrid with legit ejector airtime. The home park is Carowinds and I'd take this coaster over anything there aside from Fury 325. The first drop in the back seat might be my favorite drop anywhere. Super fun ride. Unfortunately the wait took about an hour the first time because they were only running one train. They tried to add the 2nd, and after about 20 minutes of downtime they finally got the transfer track to move 4 inches to the left before they said "nah, it ain't happenin'" and the maintenance guys just gave up and walked off. Kentucky Flyer (X2) - Nice little family coaster with some legit airtime pops. I've had two somewhat recent hip surgeries this year and one of the hops had me in some pain because I flat out wasn't ready for it and my restraint was laughably loose, but we enjoyed it overall for what it was. T3 (X1) - LOL. I mean, I knew what I was getting into... but even then I feel like I wasn't truly prepared. My morbid curiosity got the best of me. Holy shit this thing is terrible. We waited for the front and the pre-recorded operator spiel said something like "the front row is the most extreme seat on this ride. Please make sure to ride with your back against the seat..." along with other defensive-riding instructions. I told the GF just to skip it when we were about to board because I didn't want to ruin her day. The ride op told me they'd been getting broken / bloody noses from people headbutting the metal handlebars on the restraint... and afterwards I was like "well that makes sense". Absurdly intense, and it felt like the wheels suddenly became square about halfway down the drop. My restraint also tightened so badly my legs were starting to go numb on the break run. Just a laughably terrible coaster all-around as expected, but hey... I did it! Thunder Run (X2) - Sleeper hit of the day by far. I'd heard it was underrated and we ended up loving it. Those PTC restraints were about 2-3 inches off my body and holy crap I was EJECTED every time on those first couple of hills. The track was smooth overall with just the right amount of ruggedness. They clearly take care of it. I guess this is sort of what Hurler was supposed to be. A legitimately good coaster I could ride all day. Storm Chaser (X4) - We got 3 rides in the very front and one in the back; I'm definitely more of a back seat guy but the front was better overall IMO. This was only my 2nd RMC and I knew it would be fairly wild but I was still surprised by just how powerful and violent it felt for it's size. I've had an 11 PM, trim-less, lubed-up ride on Steel Vengeance on a warm summer night and the ejector airtime on this was just as good if not better than that insane SV ride. The first half is freaking awesome in every way; unfortunately everything after the double up over the entrance is almost TOO wild and borderline painful with the absurd airtime, but I loved this coaster overall. And because it's in such a weird spot it was a walk-on all day (I'm sure this is usually the case). I know opinions vary all over on this but I could have (and probably should have) rode it all day. Someone on Reddit mentioned it as feeling "crazy broken intense" and that pretty much sums it up. It was absolutely hauling. Overall impressions - We had fun. The park was absolutely slammed and the layout is odd for sure. It truly does feel like a water park with some rides randomly sprinkled about... the general layout and ride placements felt like a poorly planned out Planet Coaster creation haha. The operations weren't great but I've seen worse. I do love how every single major coaster here has the same standard operating procedure... first drop followed by a stupidly powerful airtime hill that tries it's best to yeet you off of the ride. I'm here for it. I'd be shocked if we ever went again, but it's hard to beat that out-of-state 2-day deal for $40 and I'm intrigued to see what Herschend does with the park. We were glad we stopped by.

"The cart did not derail." - Six Flags "What happened then?" - World "The rear wheels came up off the track." - Six Flags "So, they derailed?" - World "No." - Six Flags

^Happy that our friendly neighbors to the north can finally get some parks in!

^Yeah. These rides are all a mess from not running normal for almost two years now. Add to that reduced staffing and other drama with shipping, parts availability, etc. and it's not the best summer for parks. We just have to try and be positive and hope that things are back to more normal by next year.

Vertigo quietly closed for good this past weekend. If you navigate to the ride's page on Tivoli's website, you will find the following: I rode Vertigo once back in 2019 and absolutely loved the ride. It was unbelievably intense. I couldn't believe how strong and sustained the Gs were. That being said, it had a painfully low capacity to begin with and on a lot of recent reports, the ride has only been running one arm.

2021 is the first year that Palace Entertainment started offering a Platinum Pass good at all their American parks. It is supposed to offer free admission and free parking at all their US properties. Since I live so close to several of them and not too much more expensive than my Lake Compounce season pass, it made a lot of sense for me to purchase one. While the entry process with season passes for other chains like SeaWorld, Cedar Fair, and Six Flags is straightforward, there has been zero consistency with how you enter a Palace Park. I wanted to make this forum to figure out how Platinum Pass holders go about entering their non-home Palace Park. Thus far, I have seen how Lake Compounce, Kennywood, Dutch Wonderland, and Idlewild handle it, but I would love to hear how the other parks are handling it. Dutch Wonderland- Parking is not included. Passholders can proceed directly to the turnstiles. Idlewild- Now you can go straight to the parking booth. Your home park used to have to call Idlewild to be added to a guest list. Lake Compounce was surprised Idlewild had this policy and is investigating how it can be streamlined in the future. If you're unfamiliar with Idlewild, the park is set up that you must purchase admission at the parking booth, which is why you can't just go to guest relations like the other parks. Kennywood- Go to guest relations. Passholders will receive a paper ticket that can be used to enter the park at the turnstiles. Lake Compounce- Proceed directly to the turnstiles. Noah's Ark- Go to guest relations. The pass does not scan at the standard turnstiles. The pass got me preferred parking for free.

It’s still closed. The barricades were there but no one was standing there.

Sometimes, according to the website.

You're definitely right about the weird layout. I'd like to see them add another crossing at the other end down by Lightning Run instead of just having the bridge and road cross walk up by the Enterprise ride area. My biggest thing with the park is the ops are always moving slowly no matter when you go. I agree about the area of Storm Chaser, it needs more developed b/c to me it's kind of a dead area considering it has one of the best coasters at the park. I'm really excited to see what Herschend will do. I think they will greatly improve everything as long as they can get along with the Fairboard.

Oh definitely Karla, there were queues of over 30 mins for each of the retro rides so must be taking good footfall away from the likes of Nemesis, Wickerman, and Smiler queues which is a good thing. It would be good if they kept them or replaced them with permanent themed flat rides.

Strange. My hunch is "routine maintenance" but that doesn't seem likely, given it's the middle of summer and the park just came out of a 14-month closure. Literally a zillion rides around the country have broken/derailed/got stuck/etc. the last couple weeks so I guess HangTime was feeling left out.

At the top portion of the log flume after the lift and some turns, there is a small drop of a few feet. I find that that drop usually causes a wave of water and gets me more soaked than the bigger drop. If you want to avoid that (or most of that part), sit towards the front of the log.

My son said that Fri - Mon was the busiest the park has been since "before times". If you can manage a non-holiday week Tues or Wed you should find much more manageable crowds. Mon and Fri still tend to be kind of busy due to people from all the surrounding small towns taking a long weekend to come in. I assume you meant Screaming Eagle (not American Scream), if you did head for that first thing. If you go straight to the back of the park first it will have almost no line. Everyone tends to go right to Thunder or Batman first.

^ What you and other police officer are going through is a bunch of b.s..... all I'll say is a few poor choices by a certain few does not represent the majority.

They've changed ALL of the old-school coaster restraints from when I was a kid. Blue Streak, Mine Ride, and Gemini were ONE seat for two people and one large belt over two people. They've made the seats individual which means less room, as well. If you are tall, it's going to suck!

Welcome to the new normal. Summer work nights have consisted of babysitting hundreds of people blocking the streets in our downtown bar district. Our goal is to prevent shootings. 8 guns seized. This past weekend we dodged fireworks shot/thrown at us, while listening to the gunshots a block away trying to add more intimidation. We were called everything in the book, while trying to work a traffic crash with injuries, which required cops from three surrounding agencies to keep the crowd from mobbing in after they tried to catch one of the cars on fire. There are some neighborhoods where it's unsafe for us to go in with less than 5-6 people, bare minimum. Keep in mind, the city in which I work has a population of only about 30k people. This is the worst I've ever seen in the general public, period. It's no wonder it translates into private businesses. The new Illinois anti-police legislation that went into effect July 1st doesn't help. There's your Tuesday pick-me-up.

Yeah, so it's apparently not doing it anymore. Problem solves I guess.

To no one's surprise, yes, it was slammed. A gorgeous sunny day outside, so of course the park is heavily attended today! I dropped by for an hour just to get two quick laps on Storm Chaser, and get a certain loaf to take home to family! Entered at noon. It felt like the majority of guests hit up the water park since it's pretty hot outside. I got my two laps on Storm Chaser with very short waits! Since I had just come in from out of town and had junk in my car's trunk, I couldn't stay long. So on my way out, I made a mandatory pit-stop to a newly opened building! A sample of sweet offerings from the new Bluegrass Bakery. And the moment we've all been waiting for. The coveted Herschend-style CINNAMON BREAD! It comes with either classic icing, apple glaze, or a bourbon glaze. I took my lidded loaf home, warmed it back up in the oven for a few minutes and enjoyed that suuuper sweet and soft bread! VERY worth getting! The portion is big enough to share or take home to save.

Lake Compounce was stunned that was Idlewild's policy, so I'm hoping they can raise the issue to streamline it going forwards. But Boulder Dash and Phantom's Revenge...

Life Hack: Streamline your experience and avoid all of these trips to guest relations at Palace Entertainment parks by not going.

So despite a laundry list of questionable choices and complaints about this park, we made the most of this 2 day visit. Absolutely BGT is a bucket list park with the legendary Kumba & Montu and they not only lived up to the hype but it's so great that they are SO SMOOTH! Riding Banshee 2 days ago it's laughable comparing old to new B&M. Kumba feels massive yet the stats have you thinking it's a smaller looper. What a beast. Not once did my head touch the OTSR, even on the cobra loop. Sheikra is my new favorite dive coaster. That backrow air is incredible! Cheetah Hunt is such a perfect family coaster. I love how the inversion is hidden way out in the Savannah and you could hear it take some guests by surprise. Loved the front row's airtime going up the tower and the back for the drop off. Falcon's Fury was life changing in a way I had only experienced similar to DoDoDonpa. What an insane, amazing, terrifyingly great ride. Gwazi was closed. Cobras Curse was closed. The safari up charge was 10000% worth it to hand feed giraffes! I'll post a more detailed trip report later, off to Orlando for Sea World and Universal for 4 days!