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Photo TR: A quick trip to Kings Island, Memorial Day Weekend 2022. This year I decided to forgo my normal Wildwood MDW excursion and instead headed to Kings Island for Sunday and Monday. After my long 9 hour drive to the park and checking in to my hotel, I headed over, arriving at around 6:30 PM. Looking nice around the entryway and International Street for the 50th! I of course immediately headed for The Beast to check out the new renovations. I won't repost my review from a few posts back, but yeah, it's still awesome. 15 minute wait with FL for the front, 12 minute wait for the back. 11/10. See Kings Dominion, this is how you light up a scrambler! I then hopped on Racer; one train wait for the blue side, row 2. Still smooth with the recent retracking working, and t he new paint job looks nice, but is already starting to get affected by grease coming off the wheels. 8/10. They also had this cool poster out front: Making my way up into Action Zone, I snapped these pictures of the "50th Anniversary VIP Zone," which was just as populated as the one at Cedar Point last year (read: not at all). And the Slingshot is in fact gone: The dedicated Squishmallows store is no more, but you can buy them in most other shops. I ducked out for a quick smoke break, and on my way back in headed to Rivertown, noting that KI has implemented their own "win a skip the line pass" game: Hopped on to Mystic Timbers (one train wait for back row), and after running all day in the 80 degree heat, she was absolutely flying. Probably the best ride I've ever had on it. 11/10. After that, it was around 8:45, and I was dead tired from my long drive out, so I just went back to the hotel and crashed until the next morning. I got back to the park at opening, and hopped on Woodstock Express as part of the early entry (walk on for back row, 6/10) and then made my way over to Racer (one train wait for front row, red side, 8/10), and then backtracked over to Diamondback for a half-train wait on row 2, 7/10. Along the way, I snapped this picture of this big open area which is just screaming for a ride: I then hopped on Flying Ace Aerial Chase (half-train wait for back row) against my better judgement. 1/10. I did realize why Freedom Flyer at Fun Spot Orlando is so much better than this: These cars don't swing at all and are hard-mounted to the bogies. The new paint looks nice at least. Then I took another lap on The Beast (two-train wait for back row); still awesome. Still nothing going on with the Vortex site: I then jumped on Backlot Stunt Coaster (two train wait for back row, helicopter did not move nor did blades spin, but everything else seemed to be working, 6/10) and Bat (19 minutes for row 4, 7/10). I then ducked over to the water park for a bit; man was it packed. This was the line to get in at around 2:00: After about two hours in the water park, I took the train back to see the "revamped" scenes. Meh, just looks like they gave everything a solid power washing and maybe a fresh coat of paint: And here's a video that I shot later in the day: VID_20220530_205021116.mp4 After that, I ducked back to my hotel to take a shower and quick nap, and went back to the park around 7:00. Hopped on Flight of Fear (15 minute wait for front row, 5/10), Orion (two train wait for back row, left edge, 8/10). It is growing on me, but I still doubt it'll ever be a top 10 steel coaster for me. Banshee was next (two train wait for back row, left edge). Still as incredible as always, despite a slight rattle. 9/10. Camped out behind the Miami River Brew House for a little break, and caught this awesome video of Diamondback's splashdown. Rainbow anyone? VID_20220530_201038738.mp4 I then grabbed another ride on Mystic Timbers (2 train wait for front row). Finally got the Tree Monster ending, which I hadn't seen since some of my first rides on it back in 2017. I then basically did laps on the train waiting for it to get dark, snapping a few cool pics along the way: Still had a bit of time before it was dark enough, so I snagged another ride on Mystic Timbers (half-train wait for back row), and finally it was time for my night ride on The Beast. Got in line around 9:25 and saw two trains go out before they closed for fireworks, yadda yadda, didn't get the front. Total wait of about an hour and a half, including fireworks shutdown, for row 2. Not as awesome as the front, but still awesome. And that about wrapped up this trip. Back to the hotel and into bed, for my long drive home the next day. So long, Kings Island! Thanks for reading; my next planned trip is a rather large road trip including my first ever visits to Idlewild, Camden Park, Kentucky Kingdom, Holiday World, and (fingers crossed) Stricker's Grove.

My wife, foster youth (his first time) and I all went to CP this last week, Wednesday-Friday afternoon. Wednesday crowds were light, Thursday was quite busy with lighter crowds again on Friday. We have gold passes, so we also enjoyed Cedar Shores (first time for all of us). Nice park. Don't know if I would travel 2hrs to just do that, but staying for an extra day would be ok. Not a lot of variety of slides. We DID appriciate the heated pools on all their slides. However, the lazy river... freezing! Haha. Because it was only June the lines were nonexistent in the waterpark. THAT I liked the most. Back in the park things were running well. A little annoyed that Maverick never opened before 10, even though it was listed as ERT. Raptor kept having fits the whole time. Fortunately, every time we wanted to ride it it was open. But it was down a lot... like Mavrick lot lol. We introduced our boy to Cedar Downs. OH MAN! Wildest ride ever. We ended up being stuck on it for 15 minutes! "Stuck on Cedar Downs? How is that possible," you may ask. We start the ride, normal. The ride op announces to sit up and obey the rules spiel... 30 seconds later... "please remain seated as the ride is temporarily stopping." It slows, stops and we hear "please remain seated." 5 minutes later a man who looks like a Hollywood Hogan knock off Halloween costume that was the row in front of us gets off his horse, grabs his 6 yo daughter and begins to exit. "PLEASE STAY ON YOUR... SIR, YOU CAN'T LEAVE. STAY ON YOUR HORSE, SIR..." The man ignores her and goes through the first exit door. The second is magnetically locked. Panic hits this man's large mustached face. He picks up his daughter over the locked gate and then jumps over it himself. BUT WAIT! He left his 8 yo son behind!!! Yeah, boy #2 still is on his horse. Within 5 minutes security is there, Purple polo employ shows up (supervisor?) And Hollywood runs away. He went to the bathroom, hid, took off his dew rag and then hid under some trees. This was about 10 minutes in. After a change in ride ops( she was pretty shook up) the ride restarted and we got a full cycle. When we exit, boy and girl are crying with their non-riding mom while dad watches from about 100 yards away. His "Don't tred on me" shirt seemed to take on a new meaning that day. So, that happened! I will never not love Cedar Downs and that last ride prooved it all the more. In all seriousness, well done park team. You were keeping everyone safe and following the policies in place. Thank you. Last thing, food. Great experiences all around. We opt for the day meal plan. Food every 90 minutes, can't beat it. Backbeat BBQ is so good, along with the shrimp skewers at Crystal Rock in Cedar Shores. We wanted less than 10 minutes for any food. All in all, a good trip.

so Day 2, we got up and were eager to get to the park. not because we were super excited about what was on morning ERT (Banshee, Delirium, Drop Tower, Adventure Express, and the Bat) - although I was determined to do Delirium, since i had skipped it last year) - but because today we had Fast Lane + and was looking forwards to way more riding on Mystic Timbers! so we ate a light breakfast downstairs at the hotel (sending "proof of life" home to my Spouse) and we headed out to the park. FINALLY remembered to have my phone out to snap a pic of the KI sign - which just happened to be advertising Berlin, one of my favorite bands, as part of the Summer Concert series. huh. .it was super windy, but Drop Tower was running (confirmed with the ops, once we got there, they had opened it up just for Coasterstock ERT hour, but it would be up and down thruout the day - same true of Windseeker, and the Tower - due to wind & rain). Sadly, never made it up on the tower this visit, as the wind shut it down early, then the heavy storms moved in. . . Invertigo wasnt' showing any signs of life, and wasn't on ERT this year. . but it did eventually start to run at some point on Saturday. I rode it last year tho, so we didn't make the effort this time. once in the gates, we went directly to Delirium, so I could get my ride in. I really did enjoy it - it's not as intense as MaxAir was (the reason I skipped it last year), and although it was 1 and done? I did like it. by the time we got off, Danielle had joined us, and we headed over to Drop Tower for a ride. Still among my favorite drop towers (this one and the one at KD) followed by another ride on the Drop Tower when Tom met up with us (because we were expecting the wind to take it down as soon as ERT was over) We didn't head over to the Bat, as had ridden it yesterday, but did take a ride on front row of Banshee. (Danielle preferred to ride in back row, hence she's not in this pic) Kim doesn't do any Spinny or twisty rides. . so she mainly sat at a table and watched stuff for all of us, while we rode things in this section. We all skipped the "behind the scenes" at Banshee tour, as had done it last year. . but just before ERT finished up at 10, we headed over for one final ride on Drop Tower, before a quick ride on Adventure Express just before it opened to the public. we had a mission you see. . yes, we needed to pick up our FL+, but 10am was scheduled for "Enjoy first rides of the day on the refurbished Grand Carousel" - and for Carousel freaks like Danielle and myself? yeah. .a must do: here we are with Kings Island's own Don Helbig (also a big Carousel fan) and one with myself and Kings Islands Chad Showalter ! ooo. . who else did we see in queue for the Carousel? why Stacy Gretchen! (and John of the organizing of the Giant Chicken Dance on Day 1 - tho I cut him off in the pic. . sorry!) yeah . love me some carousel! especially refurbished ones. the refurbed organ sounds amazing too! so glad I got to get some pics of it in the daytime. And the Coasterstock folks really came out for the Carousel event. . I think it took more than 3 full cycles to go thru everyone in line once. we had a couple of hours before the next scheduled event on the Itinerary (Behinds the scenes tour of Racer & Orion), so we made use of that time to go pick up our FL+, ride Adventure Express and Racer (only Red was running, again, although they were working on getting Blue up), and then headed to Orion for multiple rides, before it was time to meet up in the plaza outside FoF for the backstage tour of Racer/Orion. Kim and I made sure to hydrate. . as tho it had gotten windy, it had also gotten very humid. hmm. . wasn't *supposed* to rain today. it was starting to look a bit overcast, but Windseeker had started operating, so that was a good sign. and then they opened the gates, and let Coasterstock attendees back behind the scenes for these coasters. still only red. . but a great angle for some pictures. oh wait.. here's Blue. But it's empty. Still, testing is a good sign. further down the access road, another spot for some good pictures of the "return" tho as we were on the "Blue" side, it was the empty train. . LOL still, in this area? able to take some amazing shots of Orion that one can't get from inside the park. here's Blue again. . but wait! with a Ride Op on it. . . perhaps it's about to open! I love that he waved to us. . LOL and here it comes again. . with a different Ride Op, so they were cycling both trains - a great sign. we really got to go way back, to the turnarounds for Racer. . . so Windseeker from the other side. and a little hard to see in this pic - I just wasn't fast enough - but an adorable, tiny baby deer, was hiding in this group of trees, and seemed terrified of all these people here. yeah, the noisy coasters didn't bother it, but the crowds of people seemed to have it very concerned. Got to wonder if momma was hiding out withing this batch of trees/shrubs here, where it disappeared into. very cool tho (we also spotted a skunk wandering the Racer Midway the prior night, as we were headed to Orion ERT. . so lots of animals on the KI grounds) one really does get awful close to Orion on this particular backstage tour. . and I recommend it if you ever go to Coasterstock. pretty close to Racer too perhaps my favorite picture from this day. . showing off my favorite element on Orion: the wave turn at the top of the hill after the first drop. It's awesome. what's this? YAY. . full Red & Blue racing again! we spent probably a good hour back here wandering around (tour was scheduled for 1 & 1/2), before we headed out to catch a ride on Windseeker, since it was operating (and had been down most of the day prior). And we knew it runs a really good cycle. Thank goodness for Fast Lane + as it got us on it really quickly (and some rain started falling during our cycle, and they shut it down pretty quickly after). . . we also made use of FL to take a ride on Kings Mills Antique Autos - as they did a spectacular job recreating a classic here. Yeah, it's just electric vehicles, but they did SUCH a beautiful job with the layout, and atmosphere. . well worth a ride. I was driving Miss Danielle while Joel drove Kim in the car in front of us See? look how lovely this is! Lunch was being served at 2:30, and tho we had to get across the park, of course we stopped for a ride on Beast as we passed by in front of it. Again, it's riding incredible (waited for Front Row this time, as they were honoring requests from FL+, and Kim was kind enough to snap pics for me) and then the rain started to come down a bit more than just a "drizzle".. so we headed over to the Picnic Pavilions, where thankfully they opened up a little early for us - as the moment we got under the pavilion cover? the sky just opened up, and it absolutely POURED. it was ok tho, as we had a meal - which was very good.. . actually better than the one the prior day. seriously, this park has WAY upped it's food game. Everything was delicious! i hadn't expected much when were told it was "Tex-Mex". .but this Texan was quite pleasantly surprised by the Enchiladas, the Burn Ends, and even the slightly spicy sausage. desert was cupcakes and cookies. . . and everyone was really a captive audience for the speakers (not that they weren't interesting), as it poured for at least an hour, and everything in the park shut down. I mean, it was serious rain. we discussed it, and by 4:30 pm, Kim asked if I were interested in heading back to the hotel for a bit. Danielle and Jan had already done so a while ago, while we waited to see if the rain would slow down. now, I hate leaving parks during a visit - even if I'm exhausted, I power thru. . .but the fact of the matter was: it was still raining (tho it had slowed down), radar showed more waves coming, we were leaving in the morning to head back to St Louis (after a stop at Kentucky Kingdom). . so I was ok with the suggestion, as it would give me a chance to pack. and we could stop at the front gate store and pick up the shirts/magnet I had scoped out the prior day and wanted so we headed back to the hotel around 4:45, and hung out there for a few hours. I packed, and Joel convinced me to come into their room and play Jackbox games on the tv (yeah, the techie loved that he could hook everything up to the Television so easily . . Tru is targeted at a younger crowd), and I even took a 40 minute nap. peeking out the window ~7:45, I saw drop tower running. . . so pinged Kim, and we decided to head back to the park. the rain had passed, although everything was a bit "moist". . and the crowd had thinned out considerably - what had been at least 40 buses in the lot earlier, was now 3. but EVERYTHING had opened back up. . we probably should have come back about an hour earlier, but oh well. .is what it is. with everything open, and no crowds? we headed straight over to Diamondback. Stopping first to look at all the geese babies that were going for the bugs that had been brought out by the heavy rain. (as I said, this park has a lot of Wildlife roaming around) We did several rides on Diamondback, and several also on Mystic Timbers (hey, the FL+ still cut out much of the queue, so my ankle was happy for the less walking) Kim was in the mood to eat something later, in particular she wanted Tom & Chee (right in front of Diamondback). . .so she asked them how late they serve? The response was right until park close, although I could tell from the way the counter lady said it, she wasn't thrilled someone was asking. So I spoke up and said: "we promise, we wont' come back at 10 till 10 and order. . we'll come back by ~9:40 so y'all won't get stuck late! (and the guy at the grill mouthed to us "thank you". so around 9:35, we finished our multiple rides on MT, and headed back over to Tom & Chee to get some Grilled Cheese Sandwiches. We wanted to grab one more ride on Diamondback before the park closed - even tho tonight's ERT was going to be Diamondback, Beast, Mystic Timbers, Orion, and Flight of Fear). . but we were just so thrilled that Diamondback was even open! - oh, I forgot to mention.. during that major storm a few hours earlier? Diamondback actually took a lightning strike. No. really. on the Coasterstock FB group, Don was even telling folks he wasn't sure if Diamondback would be available for ERT tonight. But when we got back to the park it was running. KUDOS to KI maintenance, and Safety folks, that they got this coaster back up and running, only a few hours after a lightning strike! anyways, that's why we were so excited to get another ride on it before the park closed to the GP. Kim's idea for Tom and Chee (Tomato & Cheese) was a good one, and everyone in our group ordered one (Danielle, Jan, Kim, me, Tom, Joel) before we headed onto Diamondback - leaving Kim to pick up everyone's orders. . . LOL and of course, even tho we had kept *our* promise and ordered at least 20 minutes before park close? they had a steady line of people ordering right up to - and slightly after - 10pm. I felt bad for them, but again, both the counter lady, and the guy on the grill told us they appreciated us trying to get them out at a decent time. another KI photo op, this one by Mystic Timbers. we used the 1/2 hour between park close and ERT to eat our food, browse the Diamondback gift shop, and eventually line up for the ERT. Since it was on the 4 big coasters, most were either Starting at Diamondback and working their way around, or starting at Orion and working the other way. so it was pretty busy for the 1st ride we got, but we decided we'd do two rides on each, then head on to the next, so we could get rides on all the ERT coasters. by the 2nd ride, the line had thinned, and Mystic Timbers was basically a walk on by the time we got there. it was so empty there, we did three rides on MT, before heading onto the Beast. Tom wanted to wait for front row, but Danielle, Kim, Jan, Joel and I just went for any open row - so I ended up in Row 2 to get on with a single rider, and I think Joel/Kim were in row 17 with a 1 train wait. while I was on my ride, I noticed lightning, and I commented on it. The person sitting next to me said "oh no, that's the camera from Mystic Timbers" . . so I thought, ok. But as we were pulling in the station, I saw it again. . .and my seat mate said, "well, that one is the camera from Diamondback" well, we got into the station, and Tom was still waiting for front row - getting in the train I exited. And I said to him.. I see what I think is lightning, and got "shhhhhh" from several folks in line. (whatever, right? like the operators won't know there's lightning?). but I got off, and walked around to get back in queue, and as I was walking up the queue to the station? sky opened up and it started POURING. like, heavy, heavy rain. Kim and Joel had just gotten off the train after me, so they quickly got under the arcade overhang, but I figured, at least we were covered in the station. . tho Tom got soaked on his ride, with the rain hitting while they were on the helix. we waited about 10 minutes to see if it would slow down (it did NOT slow down. . at all.. we're talking Noah and the flood level of rain), and they made an announcement that they were shutting everything down for the night, sorry. (which I get, it was 11:30 by this point.. would make no sense to try to get Beast back up even if it stopped raining - which it clearly wasn't going to). . . BUT. . everyone had to leave the station. what? yeah. . they made everyone vacate the station, into the pouring rain/lightning (including those who had been sheltering under the overhang by the front ride entrance - were a very apologetic employee told Joel and Kim he was sorry, but everyone had to leave the ride area). so me.. forgetting I had a poncho in my pocket (believe it or not, it's NOT the first time I've done that).. sprinted - as well as I could with my ankle on slippery wood - down thru the Beast queue, and across to the arcade overhang where Danielle, Joel, Kim, and Jan were sheltering. Tom joined us shortly after, completely soaked as well. here we are, all happy, tho stranded in what was a massive downpour. at least by that point, i remembered I had a poncho. . so by the time it hit 11:50 and the rain was not stopping? I got to put on my "fashion" for the walk out to the car: a picture of what the night decided to do, that shut down ERT and ended Coaserstock: tho not quite, as they *DID* do the closing ceremonies, and handed out awards, under the covered front gate area. We saw that online later, as we were wet and ready to get back to the hotel and dry off. so Saturday was kinda a dud, BUT. . still had and incredibly wonderful time, had some really good food (the Grilled Cheese was fantastic too), and got to spend time with some great people. . so overall, was a very successful trip to Kings Island for Coasterstock! and I'm totally down to do it again next year. here are some random ride pics from our rides on Diamondback & Mystic Timbers after we got back in the park ~7:45 pm. LOL. . once I realized that Tom is one of those folks that likes to do different poses for the cameras, I tried not to sit directly next to him. . LOL

Well, here's a park you don't hear too much about on this site... ...Dutch Wonderland, in Lancaster, PA! Truth be told, aside from the obvious credit hunting, I also needed to go this park to process my Palace/Parques Reunidos platinum pass for my trips later this year to Kennywood, Idlewild, and their northeast parks. My parents brought me here once as a small child (probably around 6 or 7 years old), and my only memory of the park is being scared to death of the animatronic crocodiles that popped out of the water on the lagoon boat ride. I don't think they ever brought me back after that, and I can't recall if I ever rode the Sky Princess (what they called their wooden coaster back then). Despite a solid woodie and the original Mad House, this is decidedly a kiddie park that adults won't find much to do at. Anyway, on to the park! That big purple dragon is Duke, the park's mascot, and heavily featured throughout the park. I absolutely love their height grading system. Just beyond their simple main gate... ...lies the first ride you come across, a miniature train that dates to 1963. Unfortunately gas powered, but what are you gonna do. They've got a classic skyride... ...kiddie whip... ..and mini-rotojets. This was one of the many, many show venues that the park has. They've also got a Chance Yo-Yo. And this! The Dutch Wonderhouse; it is an in-house built Mad House from the 1960s, similar to the modern-day Houdini's Great Escape at the Six Flags parks. As you can see, it is super, super tiny. This was probably my most anticipated ride of the trip, but unfortunately was out of commission both today and when I swung by the park on my way home the next day. Major bummer. Moving right along, they've got a tilt-a-whirl themed to turtles. A surprising find a kiddie park, a bar. Standard amusement park beer prices (no beer jail!), and some food offerings. I later had the cinnamon dessert pretzel, which while good, wasn't quite $10 good (with season pass discount). Back to more kid's rides... They've also got bumper cars, which are... ...legit Lusse Scooters! Sadly not run anywhere near as fast as those at Knoebel's, but it's the thought that counts, right? One of their more recent additions is the Exploration Island section... ...which has some drive-'em cars and a on-rails boat ride... ..a digging pit... ..and some tiny Dinosaurs Alive-esque walk through. Here's the other end of the Sky Ride... ...a modern kid's spin-and-bounce... ...and finally a roller coaster! This was Joust, a mid-90's normal Chance kiddie coaster. Adults can ride without kids. Got 2 laps, but nothing to note (no air or laterals). Always fun, though, when coasters are just sitting on concrete... Next up was the Sky Princess!...er, Kingdom Coaster. I swear the old name was so much better. This is a 1992 CCI which runs PTC junior trains with buzz bars, though unfortunately also seat dividers and seat belts and clamp brakes. I got two rides, one front and one back. The back row has a surprising amount of laterals and 2 or 3 good pops of airtime. The front row has about 6 pops of air and even better laterals than the back. A solid ride! 7/10. Amusingly, they don't do any kind of "all clear, dispatch!" spiel at any of the coasters here; once the restraints are checked, the trains just kinda roll out. They've also got a small 1977 Arrow log flume, which was skipped due to time (this was the only ride in the park with a substantial line), though it didn't seem like people got too wet. Yet another two show venues... ..some more kids' rides... ...including a rare Chance Trabant.... ...an animatronic scene of Amish life... ..and then it was finally time for their last credit, Merlin's Mayhem. Apparently, the storyline is that Merlin has lost Mayhem, his pet of some sort, and you're on a quest to find it? I don't know, and the on-board audio didn't help (it seems to have cut out after the first main drop). Anyway, this is a S&S family invert, and was quite mediocre. I had a 7 minute wait for back row, and it was quite short, and it felt like the wheels were octagons. Honestly the best part was the queue and the station. 5/10. Here's some photos of the queue line and station: The back side of the queue doors, with a cool in-house opening mechanism. Nerd shot? Nerd shot. The obligatory carousel... ...yet another show venue... ..and some kiddie hand cars wrap out the list of rides here. They also have a monorail that runs the perimeter of the park. Anyway, after hitting the three coasters, I hung around for a while hoping they would get the Dutch Wonderhouse operational, but it was not to be, and I continued on to Hersheypark. Like I said at the start, this is a quaint little children's park with not a whole lot for adults to do. I can't recommend stopping here unless you've got a Palace Platinum Pass, especially when the daily ticket price at the gate for an adult is $65(!). I leave you with some pictures of the gift shop at the exit, with plenty of costume items for you little Knights and Princesses! Sadly nothing adult sized. Up next, Hersheypark!

HAHAHAH. . not at Six Flags, but too good not to share again, since it also happened at CP. this reminds me of the time in 2017 when @Nrthwnd and I went to Coastermania! at Cedar Point, and we were staying at Breakers, so were hanging outside at the bar/firepits getting our buzz on after a full day at the park. and this VERY drunk young man was in hysterics about some girl breaking up with him, crying and shrieking. . . . and Bill - who had had a number of cocktails himself - took it upon himself to try and go comfort the guy. Telling him things like, "you're young, you'll find someone, and it will be the right person". . .etc. And Bill then attempted to use himself as an example of how he'd experienced being dumped, but had been with his husband for decades now, because when it's right, it's right. I was watching this across the firepits, very amused, because intoxicated people are loud. . and the guy squinted at Bill, and said "How old ARE you?" and Bill told him. and the guy exclaimed at the top of his lungs: "MY GAWD, YOU'RE OLDER THAN BLUE STREAK" (hysterical). . . . .

^ I had a similar experience on Millennium Force a few years ago, Kim. Had eaten lunch and the belt was a little tighter that afternoon. When I got it buckled, I gave a little sigh of relief. The teenager next in line asked if I was nervous and I said no, I had been riding it since the year it opened. He just looked at me and said, "You're old." I could only laugh and agree.

Only 1 year behind ya!!! Although when I was there last week and caught the ride on Eagle a little girl (maybe 8 or 9) was in row 2 right behind me with her Mom and asked if I was all by myself. I said yes and she said "that's so sad", lol. I told her it was ok, I'd been on the ride a lot and remembered when it opened, then she just kind of stared at me like I must be 100.

And with those parks being so close, traffic should not be an issue.

Thanks everyone! Quick update to this... Delta changed our flight by 2 hours, giving me the opportunity to switch the days for free so now we're there Friday through Monday instead of Saturday through Tuesday. We now have two nights for Halloween events but now Oogie Boogie Bash is a possibility with the new days so HHN got cut anyway. We're doing Scary Farm one night and Oogie Boogie Bash another night. I'm pretty thrilled with this new plan.

I would never pose for a ride pic but I did do my best this year to counteract last year's pics where I had resting bitch face in almost everyone of them! Oh, and on the issue of the grilled cheese.......actually the boys all went and rode DB while the girls all waited to collect the food. How very 1950's of us But who cares because we got the greatest grilled cheese that ever was or will be!!!

I prefer well-seasoned... 55 and still riding coasters.

Easy... The Roller Skater!

That’s the most Cedar Point thing ever to hold riders hostage on a ride for 15 minutes when all anyone has to do is hop off their horse, and then to call security on a guy who has the common sense to just hop off This, coming from someone who worked there for 5 summers

lol.... as a ride op I always loved the parents who said they would "sign a waiver" when their kids were way too short. I swear someone would say that at least once a week. Ok sir, sounds great! Let me get a pen for you...

Not surprised by either announcement tbh. Also, this is the same thing happened to Xcel in 2017/2018, and the same thing that happened to Hangtime last year. Knott's really needs to figure out a way to stock some more replacement pieces rather than having rides be down for months on end because they need stuff shipped from Intamin/Gerstlauer.

I once got stuck at the top for a good 30 minutes or so. The lift mechanism had already disengaged, and it was the magnets holding us in place. Superman launched a few times before they shut the whole tower down to try and get us back to ground level. Really awful experience.