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Had a great visit to the park this past Friday night (July 8th) and Sunday July 10th. I worked at the park from 1986-1990 playing piano in 5 different shows and then returning in 2000 to music direct a few shows as well. The park was beautiful and clean, and even though it was peak summer time, I still managed to get 2 rides on Steel Vengeance, 2 on Millennium Force, and rides on Gemini, Valravn, and more. But the highlight was re-creating a picture I had taken in 1972 with my brothers and sisters. 50 years later! Enjoy the photos! The original picture taken in 1972. Right on the main midway. You can see the Dodgem behind us. 50 years later, and we were all able to meet up to re-create the shot! Still great as ever. Iron Gwazi is good, but it's not Steel Vengeance! Whee! Where it all began! My first show "Ain't We Got Fun!" in 1986 and 1987. And I just went back to Disney after my 2 1/2 year furlough to continue my 23 years as a professional musician with the company. Come see me play piano at the Hoop-Dee-Doo Revue! The new Farmhouse Restaurant is GREAT! We split the platter both times and it was plenty of food. Highly recommend the steak and potatoes. The chili was also very good. When in Sandusky, eat at Berardis which used to provide Cedar Point french fries for decades. A fun ride with an awesome view especially at night. Hope it comes back next summer.

Sorry, couldn't resist. The word for today is "nostalgia".

Hard to come up with suggestions for kids that young, but the Aquarium and Wonderworks are probably nice. Branson Landing is pleasant too, with lots of things like the arcade, bowling alley, and other little attractions, but that's a lot of walking. The Promised Land zoo has a mix of drive through and walking zoo areas. Our big thing that's also cheap is the fish hatchery at the Table Rock Lake dam. Bring some quarters and your kids will have a good time without much effort or expense on your part.

You're not wrong but Hersheypark is located near a bunch of corn and cow shit and they're bursting at the seams so Six Flags does need to come up with a way to spin that one.

When are you planning to go? I personally don't like SDC as much in high summer (with the admission I don't tolerate extreme heat very well so YMMV). There's a good amount of stuff for kids that age to do but there's not a lot of ways to cool off, couple that with a lot of walking including some pretty substantial hills that can be daunting. I asked Mrs Phane if she'd like walking while pregnant up Hugo's Hill Street and she had some rather impolite words for me, my goodness.

Those hand crafted, artisanal bulbs really do make all the difference. Glass sourced from genuine Sahara Desert sand, Filaments formed by an obscure order of monks who spend most of their days staring at the sun, worshiping light itself. You can really feel the craftsmanship when the smiley face portion of the routine comes up.

Deep in Africa: Adventure Trail opens! Phantasialand's new for 2022 attraction opened today. The new interactive family walkthrough attraction has been built in and through the layout of Black Mamba and the African area's jungle. Quite a remarkable feat to so seamlessly squeeze in a substantial adventure trail 16 years after Mamba first opened and the area was considered 'full'/too small for any other attraction. The website page confirms minimum restrictions as 90cm and 3 years old when accompanied, 1,20cm alone. Also confirmation it will be open in Wintertraum as well. Seems beside the exit of the Trail (which ends with a big roller slide) a new hut as been built for Kroka (the African area dragon) meet and greets too. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6QndTvsuOM https://www.phantasialand.de/de/themenpark/einzigartige-attraktionen/adventure-trail/ There already are a few different videos online showing more of the obstacles inside the trail.

Yes. The lights are currently being refurbished by one in-house maintenance guy with a folding ladder and some 70 watt high efficiency warm-light bulbs. The project started in 2016. Should be done any year now. They are also closing the ride temporarily for a few seasons, because they have to sand and stain the queue deck. The park works slowly with woodwork, but it will be perfect for a month when it's finished.

Oh, it's definitely more than that. If you visit this link to the Hersheypark Rides page, it has the appropriate seasons filter turned on to show all the rides that will be operating during the event. It appears that all the major coasters will still be open during the event, obviously excluding Wildcat. I might end up checking it out on a Friday or Sunday when prices and crowds are expected to be lower.

Spending a couple days in Lake George and threw in a few hours at Great Escape while in town. I had never been before despite driving by a ton of times. Unfortunately the forecast looked ugly today, but upon heading out from the hotel at 10:45 the sun was peeking out and the storms were still out near Syracuse so I figured that would be more than enough time to lap the park. Upon arrival I headed back to Comet and after the long walk back, someone walked down from the station and said it was down for maintenance. So I decided to go back up past the unsurprisingly closed Bobsleds and ride the pieces of sh*t up front. Hit Flashback first which had no line but also a laughably slow crew. After it stops in the station, they wait for the catch car to attach to the train, THEN they let everyone into the station to line up for rows, THEN they open the gates. I sat somewhere in the middle and it ended up being one of the smoother Boomerangs I've ever ridden. I usually don't mind these as long as they're not super rough, so this was a pleasant surprise. Then when it stops there is no automatic unlocking mechanism (WTF?!?) so they had to go around and unlock each car one by one. Apparently Great Escape doesn't own a hose. Skull Mountain? Headed up to the Western ghost town next (although the whole park was a ghost town so who could even tell?) and rode Canyon Blaster first. This this is probably the biggest piece of sh*t mine trains I've ever ridden as there is absolutely nothing redeeming about the layout and it's rough as hell. Burn this thing to the ground. Went around to a walk on Condor which was awesome to see operating. I had only ridden the Hershey edition many moons ago and it was a fun ride as usual. Next door, ADK Outlaw had maybe 12 people in line but it took a while as they were loading 2 people into each car for some reason. But once on it, just a super awesome ride with great upside down views of the mountains. While at the top I noted that Comet was finally running, and even more of a miracle, BOBSLED WAS OPEN! Before making my way to the alpiney goodness, I had to get my Steamin Demon credit (more like steamin pile of sh*t, god does this thing suck) before heading back. One and done on that thing. This hill has 2 coasters, 2 flat rides, and a closed log flume and thank god for the flat rides or it would be even more of a ghost town. At least it looks nice? Upon arrival at the Bobsled, there was an open pathway where the closed sign was supposed to be, but also unsurprisingly a car stuck on the brakes above the entrance with maintenance up on the platform. I stood there and they got it moving, then the maintenance lady who saw me standing there yelled to me "come on in, its open!". After a 2 car wait I got into the rather tight and uncomfortable seats and waited for the inevitable breakdown, but surprisingly we got the all clear and we were off. This thing is way more wild than I expected. It really moves around side to side and gets some good speed. It hits some of the brake runs kind of hard which causes you to slam your knees but otherwise what a fun ride. Wasn't expecting to ride it at all, so I was very glad to fit this into my day. Do you believe in miracles? Headed back to Comet next and thanks to absolutely NOBODY being back there I rode three consecutive times in front and once in back without leaving. This thing is fantastically smooth, has some light airtime, and has the worlds fastest chain lift on a woodie (unconfirmed, but it feels like it) and, while it won't break into anyone's top 10, it's definitely a gem and worth stopping in for alone. After my mini marathon, Supernova was waiting for a rider so I hopped on. After Giant Frisbees have popped up everywhere, riding a mini Frisbee is a nice chance of pace. Fun ride. Started my way back up and passed a few more flats with ops just standing there hoping one of the 14 people in the place would come ride their ride. I headed over to Blizzard which looked absolutely deserted but had no closed sign either. Without any idea if it was actually open, I got in the non existant line and thankfully heard music blaring from inside. The door popped open and I was treated to a much better indoor scrambler experience than at Funtown last week. While this doesn't have the lights and projections, it makes up for it by being the most insane scrambler I've ever ridden and the cycle was easily 4 minutes. Not sure if abandoned or its just a Tuesday at Great Escape. Once I was out of there it was starting to sprinkle and thunder was audible off in the mountains. Everything was still operating and I wanted to hit Sasquatch on the way out but I didn't want to get caught in a downpour so I headed out. Keep in mind I did all this in about 2.5 hours. Great day for getting some rides in but it's sad how empty the place was. I could see the wave pool from Comet and it had 5 people in it. Never seen anything like that at another park. Fun day and despite the mostly terrible coaster lineup, I would definitely pop in here again.

We ate there before our first day at Cedar Point in 2017. So good, Such nice people. Had us seated within minutes, even if they were overcrowded with a family meeting, but helped us because outside was pouring rain and we were already soaked. Love them.

I love that we're seeing Schwarzkopf coasters from the late 70's still operating and getting refurbed while at the same time we're seeing enthusiasts whine that B&M coasters from the 90s are old and decrepit.

@pianojohnNice! I love seeing those "old photo recreations."

Let's make the T-Rex happen. It's time. Mostly, I want to see the inevitable locker system that will come along with it, causing enthusiasts to lose their minds.

Wondy is back open as of Sat!

I saw on FB it was open over the weekend.

Went to Tivoli for first time in my family's scandinavian trip. Both Grona Lund and Tivoli showed me what you can do with limited space, and still create great atmospheric, themed parks. I thought Tivoli was just gorgeous: lush landscaping, well-themed, well-maintained, and just exuded old school charm. If the story is true, I can see how Walt Disney got inspiration from this park. The park is much more than the rides, but we have a blast on the rides, especially Alpengast(?) coaster (and it's history) and the also really enjoyed Demon (I can't remember any of the names). Completely charming.

Visited Grona for first time last Friday. Holy cow, what a fun, surprisingly well-themed little park, with really fun coasters! I loved it! Monster had a great themed line, efficient two-train operations, and the ride packed a punch! Loved it's pacing, the foot choppers, and the final little airtime moment (which I never experienced on an inverted before). The great gray color and cool supports only added to it. The sleeper hit for me was Jet Liner. Wow: super fun Schwarzkopft, with great pacing, smooth as can be, and easy old -school lap bar train. Extremely re-rideable. Twister was reallly fun in the back and well-placed. oVerall, extremely well done, fun, and far exceeded expectations (because I entered into it with virtually none!)

Not sure about either of those, but given that it's SFStL, you can count on a few years to "refurbish" it.

Sorry for the double post, but this is actually big news. Nick Universe is now letting you pay per ride, which is great news for everyone who wants to go back and ride the 2-3 coasters that were broken on their last visit but doesn't want to pay full admission again! They call it a "Points Pass" but basically it's just a pay-per-ride system. The only thing that's weird is that it works with wristband and not a card or actual tickets so it seems like everyone needs their own points pass. Kids rides start at $6.99. Adult rides and coasters (if you can find any that aren't broken) start at $9.99 but realistically nobody is going to pay that much for a kids ride and the more points you buy, the price per point drops as you would expect. All rides are either 3 points or 6 points. This is apparently not valid on Saturdays or Holidays. Also, note that every adult coaster except for the spinner is currently broken per usual so don't go rushing out there. Oh, and points expire after 90 days. Link

^One would hope they are indeed completely dismantling, sandblasting, and rebuilding it. That would signal a long term investment that should be praised!

The screenshot I posted is my screenshot so yes I've seen both this and the Insta post with my own eyes. Official RMC account.

I regret that you have regrets about posting. We tend to "textually" joust but that can seem uninviting to some. From a long time resident of the forum: I hope you continue to post despite our banter. @prozach626 is a good guy, he didn't mean to be overt.

Based on a conversation with some operators the other day, heat is an issue. They run 2 trains until it gets hot and then pull one to slow the cycle time so stuff has more time to cool down. Thursday it had a stop during launch (stopped at the bottom of the hill again) while was I line that I think was heat related. That was around 5:30 pm I think. It was back and fine until lighting shut everything down. it was also 1hr late opening Friday. Couldn't get any indication why. After ~30 min they started test trains. Did about 5 before they let us on. It was running 2 trains then. Then the weather went to crap for most of the day.

According to "Queue Times" the Bat has reopened!!! Yeah

So excited for this and Parc Asterix's new Intamin. I feel like we're in another golden age of coasters at the moment with so many manufacturers at the absolute top of their game.

New entrance? Trams are a bit further away and people complain about the parking everyday. And they continue to remove history and cut down trees on their way to building a much, much bigger park.

I am hearing the Boomerang at this park is getting the new vest restraints. If that is true I will say the gm of this park needs to become ceo of Six because this park is doing the right things

Sir... I think you've had too much cinnamon bread. You're drunk.