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I went to Carowinds yesterday with my daughter and dad for Father's Day and it wasn't crowded at all. We were there for rope drop and left around three. I don't think I saw a line for any coaster over 10 minutes or so all day. My 73YO dad hadn't ridden a coaster since 1990 and chose Fury to dip his toe back in the water. He loved it!

TPR trips are back! Today we pre-games a bit before the real trip starts at Jardin d'Acclimatation and hung out in Paris, France! We are posting daily updates to our Instagram and Facebook Stories so be sure to follow along there! IMG_5444.MOV IMG_5451.MOV IMG_5453.MOV IMG_5459.MOV IMG_5466.MOV

ProZach- We have a mutual friend that confirmed that he is .. indeed.. still there and working on the Horses, Did I not connect with the joke? Anyway- have a great day and late Happy Father's day!

Great report and pictures. I used to visit Dutch Wonderland once every few years when I was a kid. It's interesting to see what rides are still there or changed like the antique cars that used to be towards the front of the park near the monorail station. The $65 price is really surprising. I know it's going to be more expensive compared to when I used to go there but it's really gone up a lot since then. I remember they used to offer a wrist band for unlimited rides or a gate price of around $10 and you got some punch card listed with all the rides listed. You got 5 rides included and then after that, there was a charge per ride, most under $1, some like Sky Princess were a little more and then you turned in the card at the exit and paid for anything past the 5 rides.

Mr Freeze valleyed Friday

@grsupercityMaybe that was the difference? Either way, I'm glad you had an enjoyable ride haha! @redfoot12I'm a nearly-40 individual and was male-presenting; I didn't experience any kinda feelings like that, but I can see where you're coming from. That sucks. @bert425It's an easy park to miss (just like Delgrosso's). I live less than an hour away and haven't been there since I was a little kid. The Sky Princess/Kingdom Coaster is definitely worth it, and I'd imagine the flats you mentioned and the Wonderhouse are as well, but yeah the daily price is just insane for an adult. I'm not sure how many platinum pass sales they get; the next closest park in the chain is Idlewild which is a solid 3 hours away, but yeah the platinum pass is the only way to make this worth it (if and only if you're also hitting a bunch of other Palace parks the same year). Finally, thank you so much to @robbalveyand/or @SharkTums for featuring this report on the main page of the site. I don't think anything I've posted has ever been featured before, and it's an honor. Thank you again!

After our time at Dollywood we rushed over to The Island at Pigeon Forge to experience a little more kitsch, a little more moonshine. It would be our last evening in town and the following morning we'd have just a little bit more time before we'd have to drive back to Knoxville for our flight. An anchor attraction in The Island at Pigeon Forge, SkyFly Soar America is kind of like Soarin' but focused entirely on American destinations. The experience lasts 20-30 minutes and includes several pre-shows that add to the steampunk-ish story that bookends the soaring-over-America portion of the experience. I appreciate the nods to the World's Fairs of the past. This pre-show was a clever way to pulse groups before the main show. You take a "tram" that bullets you across rails to the station where dirigible in which you'll be flying over America is found. Pardon my finger. The experience has a fun set of hosts, a father and his daughter who are your hosts for the journey. There's a classic Soarin'-style preshow... Complete with a "Nice job, pal!" nod. The experience is familiar but different to Soarin'. Unlike Soarin' where the riders are raised up into the screen, in this attraction, the platform that holds the seats rotates to a vertical position, moving the front row to the bottom portion of the screen, mid-to-mid and the third row to the top of the screen. The film itself was fine--about 6-7 minutes in length with some real footage shot with drones and some CGI elements. My main complaint is that the visuals, whether real or CGI did not seem to be made for large-scale use. This was 720p-1080p footage at best stretched onto a massive screen where inevitably, the pixels would be easily seen. It was probably relatively cheap to produce but it makes this somewhat-new attraction feel dated because it looks less clear than the 2001 film-based attraction it was inspired by did when it debuted. The majority experience is derivative for those that have been on Soarin', from the safety video to the ending where you soar over the attraction's home (in this case The Island at Pigeon Forge, poorly animated in CGI) into the sky, only to be met by CGI fireworks that actually pop in the same formation as Mickey ears. You can get a better idea of how the platform moves from this angle. I needed a drink after that experience... And as fate would have it, I could sample a bunch of Ole Smokey Tennessee Moonshine for $5 across the way. The good stuff. They had amaretto too and it was bliss! They had some small flat rides and a spinning coaster here but I didn't feel the need to bother with any of them. They have a giant ropes course here that even had two of those glider tracks that we used to see at IAAPA. A brave soul takes the plunge at the end of the ropes course! I don't often find that cities with a giant wheel merit the need or have a view that would make it worthwhile, but in this mountain setting, I think it would be worth it for some visitors. Not something we felt compelled to try but I understand the appeal. The Island at Pigeon Forge is filled with shops, experiences and restaurants and features a really nice fountain show out front. Nothing Bellagio or World of Color-level but still a nice plus in the evening. That night we went back to the Rocky Top Mountain Coaster and the Smoky Mountain Alpine Coaster for night rides on each. While daytime rides are fun, you need to experience these at night thanks to the unique lighting! The next morning we woke up to a beautiful day, loaded up the car and drove back to Gatlinburg for a few final stops... It had been closed due to the rain two days before, so we were intent on trying to get back to Hillbilly Mini Golf if we could before we headed home. We were among the first golfers of the day, so we took the inclined railway up... Which is a unique experience in and of itself. You arrive at the top of the incline railway where you can choose to play one of two 18 hole courses. While the holes are a little more standard from a mini golf standpoint, there are some neat added options along the courses to throw in a little more fun. To their credit though, the setting is super unique. We had a great time roaming the course and it should be noted that the employees working here were the nicest out of anyone we encountered the entire trip, and that includes at Dollywood. Feels like I have to share this. With our flight just a few hours away, we made the quick call to drive from Hillbilly Mini Golf to the Moonshine Mountain Coaster for one more run. This was the first alpine coaster we had done on our trip and the one that set us off to go ride as many as we could throughout the weekend. One more time would be appropriate. And with that it was time to head home. One last drive through the Smoky Mountain National Park. We waved farewell to one of the greatest of Pigeon Forge's attractions and saw Jurassic Jungle Boat Ride next to it. I really wrestled with whether or not we should pay the insane price to go experience Paula Deen's Lumberjack Fued, if only to try the zipline coaster. Maybe next time... But probably not. Country roads, take me home... Oh, and I might have brought a loaf of Dollywood Cinnamon Bread home with us.

The operating system was upgraded during the off season. The issue is the trains needed new parts for the new operating system and so unfortunately right now, only one train is able to operate. They are waiting on parts for the other trains. Mamba is running the best it has run in a long time. There are bins at almost all the rides, no need for a locker. Cotton Blossom is BBQ, its good for a theme park, the new set up at Coasters is good. The pot roast is really good. Cyclone Sams allows single riders.

Onto everyone's favorite candy-themed amusement park, Hersheypark! I got to the park around 5:40 PM for my "preview night," just enough time to get 2 of my 3 missing credits from this park. While in line for the Wild Mouse, I noticed that Wildcat has a new(-er) sign than I remember: As for the Wild Mouse, I had an 18 minute wait for the back row, car to myself. There were ZERO brake application during the initial back-and-forth part, leading to some insane laterals, and the final brakes didn't try to throw you out of the car. There were also like 5 cars out on the course at a time; this is how you run a Wild Mouse, Kings Dominion! Anyway, probably the best wild mouse I've ever been on, but still a wild mouse...6/10. Up next was Laff Trakk, which I had skipped on my previous visits in 2020 and 2017, as at the time I didn't do spinning coasters at all. Now that I've realized they're not so bad, I had a credit to grab! Cute little cutout in the queue line... As for the ride itself, meh. Had a 40 minute wait to start backwards. Still not a big fan of most spinning coasters, but this one was made better by getting paired with a 30-something year old woman who wouldn't stop screaming the entire ride. 4/10. I got off Laff Trakk at like 6:56 (for a 7:00 closing), and tried to make my way over to Fahrenheit to get in a lap on my 2nd favorite coaster here before close, but it was not to be. I arrived back at the park at around 10:40 for a 11:00 opening, and found this awaiting me: Eeesh. Anyway, upon entry I bypassed Candymonium (I wasn't very impressed back when I first rode it in 2020), and made my way to my last missing credit from this park: Cocoa Cruiser! Yes, the kiddie coaster. I had a two cycle wait for the back row. Whatever, it's a kiddie coaster - nothing that notable. 4/10. I then hopped on Fahrenheit, with a 15 minute for the back row. Awesome ride as always (greyed out a little bit on the pretzel loop!), but starting to get a little rattle-y, and despite running only two trains, still stacked upon return for the station (this would be the theme of the day). 8/10. Obligatory nerd shot: Next on the agenda was Lightning Racer (one train wait for back row on Thunder side, won the race). Good enough, but has definitely started to develop Wildcat/Apocalypse syndrome and is getting a bit rough. 6/10. Honestly hoping for it to be torn down in favor of a massive water park expansion, which this park desperately needs. I took a detour through the Boardwalk, which was dead on this cool, overcast day, and noted that the lazy river has been added to Fast Track. About damned time (cue my detractors who think I only care about the skip-the-line experience at parks. ;)) Made my way over to the "new" area with the two Jolly Rancher rides: Mix'd Flavored by Jolly Rancher and Jolly Rancher Remix. Yes, these are the actual names of the rides. Having been on plenty of boomerangs before, including this one, I skipped it, but I did wait 10 minutes for the Zamperla NebulaZ. This was my first time on one of these. A Zamperla ride with uncomfortable seats, you don't say? Meh...didn't really do anything for me; couple of nice bits of floater air at the top of the rotations, and a decently long enough cycle, but one-and-done. 6/10. Next up was Storm Runner, which had been closed during my 2020 trip. 20 minute wait for the front row; I really forgot how awesome this ride is. It's no Top Thrill Dragster, sure, but neither is that ride anymore being closed indefinitely. 9/10. While in the station, I noticed something on Trailblazer (which is closed and sectioned off): Is that possibly a magnetic brake? One can only hope. Anyway, I grabbed a side of mac & cheese from the smokehouse (delicious) and hiked up the hill to Great Bear. 35 minute wait for back row, left edge. Great ride, but once again stacked on the brake run for 5 minutes. 8/10. Afterwards, I made my back down the hill and into The Hollow, to be greeted by this at Comet: ..and this at Super Dooper Looper: Both were showing 60 minute waits in the app, which I had noticed was optimistic on previous rides. SkyRush was closed for rain, so I wandered over to a smoking zone (thank you, Hersheypark, for still providing these!) while I waited out the "storm." I also grabbed this cool shot of the Wave Swinger, almost completely dismantled: After the mild rain had ceased, SkyRush opened back up and I got in line. Had a 12 minute wait for the back row, left wing. Such an awesome awesome ride, trying to kill you at every opportunity. On my way up the lift hill, it started to rain again (they would shut down after I got off again), and the feeling of being pelted with raindrops while having your torso realigned was insane. 11/10. SDL's line had died down a bit, so I hopped on (30 minute wait for front row). Not sure when this happened, but all of the trim brakes along the course were either off or gone, leading to an awesomely fast ride. See, Magic Mountain, it is possible to run a Schwarzkopf without being trimmed to death! 9/10. Swinging past Comet again, finding a 45 minute wait, I started to make my way out of the park and grabbed a pretzel from the place by the carousel (also delicious), and then headed out and headed home. All in all, it was a great day. Hersheypark operations definitely leave something to be desired though. It certainly wasn't a lack of staff (each coaster had one or two greeters and one or two groupers, in addition to station personnel), but for some reason every single coaster stacked on the brake run for anywhere from one to five minutes. But still, despite this, it was a good day. This really is a very nice park, with a good collection of top-tier coasters and a decently selection of mid-grade rides, and tons of shade, and I don't know why I don't come here more frequently. Thanks for reading!