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Spent this past Saturday out at Knoebels with the family. I'll try my best to keep it short and sweet! Got there early for the Hallo-Fun family activities, so the kids decorated some cookies and trick-or-treat bags, then we all played a few rounds of bingo using corn kernels as bingo chips. They were giving away $20 and $40 books of tickets as prizes. The kids came pretty close, but no dice unfortunately. Rides started opening at 2 PM. Picked up a few of the discount vouchers at the Weis Markets in Catawissa beforehand, and was told at the ticket window that they wouldn't be able to redeem them because they were missing security features on the backs of the vouchers. Thankfully, kept my receipt, and a call from guest services over to the Weis confirmed that they were having issues with their printer, so they were able to redeem them after all and threw in an extra book of $20 as an apology for the trouble. A number of flats were closed throughout the day, so unfortunately no Flyers, no Looper, no Tornado, no Satellite, etc. Our first ride of the day was Flying Turns and IDK what they were doing this year, but from starting outside of the main ride entrance, we were on the ride in about 20 minutes. They were definitely operating at peak efficiency! Ride is still absolutely insane and one of my wife's top three coasters. After Flying Turns, we did Cosmotron (soundtrack: "My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light Em Up)" by Fall Out Boy), made a brief pitstop to grab some food (hot dogs, cheese steaks, pizza, and pierogies galore), then headed over to the Haunted Mansion. It feels like they've kept a lot of the classic bits but shuffled them around, as it kept me guessing throughout. Always a great ride, one of the best classic dark rides IMO. After that, kids headed over for a bit of fun on the Panther Cars, then we hopped on the Grand Carousel. Wait for an edge seat was pretty backed up so we just hopped in line for middle seats, still a great time. Then after that, my wife completed her Knoebels coaster "collection" by finally riding Impulse. She had done her first vertical lift with Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit last month, so we talked her into it, and surprisingly she didn't hate it! Still not a fan of that style of lift but everything else was fine. Her words. By this point, the sun was starting to set, so we headed off to beat the line for the Haunted Pioneer Train. We waited about 25 minutes for this, and got a round trip just as the sun had disappeared behind the Pennsylvania mountainside. This was our first time doing this during the Halloween season and it was great to see all the creativity and variety they put into their skeleton sets out in the wilderness! When we got off the Pioneer Train, darkness had settled in, and we decided to try and hit the Haunted Antique Cars before the line got really unreasonable. We still ended up waiting about 50 minutes, and right as we got on and started driving through, the car two in front of us ran out of gas. So we ended up waiting a little bit longer for them to get it going again. They filled the area inside and around Phoenix with an absolute ton of sets and displays. While there weren't any live scare actors jumping out from behind the walls this year, it wasn't needed because there was always a new gag or scene coming up. Our last ride of the night was Phoenix, and while my wife sat it out this time, the rest of us had an absolute blast with a fully lights-out ride going at full speed. Still far and away my daughter's favorite coaster! I think I need to get back on the weight loss train though, not gonna lie, I struggled a bit to fit inside the seat divider. Airtime motivation! We wrapped up our visit with a $20 bag of tokens split four ways over at the Fascination building, and although we weren't able to hit any bingos in the morning, my son rolled two lines to send him home happy! Apparently our next home improvement project is going to be building some Fascination cabinets from scratch and putting them in our garage. (I'm not holding my breath.) Picked up some potato cakes and kettle corn for the road, and we were off on our way home! Although it sounds like we didn't do much overall, we felt like we had an absolutely wonderful time from start to finish. Even with the long lines, we managed to keep ourselves entertained. The only downside is the creeping inflation; although we had $120 worth of tickets, they ran out by the end of the night; when coasters are $4 apiece and the haunted rides are $5 per person, it adds up quickly. Still, compared to anywhere else in the world, it's a fantastic deal and I can't fault them for raising prices when everything else is going up everywhere else as well. Can't wait to go back next season!

Some thoughts from my visit to Kennywood this past Friday evening (10/28): - Finally got my first rides on Steel Curtain. I seem to recall mixed reviews on this ride, but I absolutely loved it. Aside from the Steelers theme, Steel Curtain delivers just about everything I like about coasters these days. The view from the top of the lift was incredible, the first inversion into the initial drop was very Drachen Fire-like, the airtime hills delivered every time and just being flung upside-down so many times was awesome. The ride seemed smooth to me, the seats were comfortable (loved the fact that it was lap bar only), and it seemed to maintain its speed quite well. If I have one negative thing to say about the ride, it would be the rather rude delivery of the "no loose items" policy by the ride op. I understand that people these days need to be beaten over the head with things because they don't think rules apply to them, but it's rather excessive being threatened with park removal and how everyone is watching you on the ride including "people you can't see over in the End Zone building". I'll let it slide since I was in a good mood and because I enjoyed the ride so much! - Exterminator was running in "Lights Out" mode. Oh. My. God. This was bonkers. I had no idea where I was at any point during the ride and I had a hard time walking straight after the ride was over. That was awesome! - Phantom's Revenge is still crazy after all these years. I rode in the last row and it seems like the ride is trying its hardest to pitch you into the ravine. And with as dark as the park is at night, night rides are truly outrageous. With there only being about a 3 train wait, repeat rides were required! - Jack Rabbit may not be a great overall coaster, but the legendary double down still offers the most terrifying airtime moment of any coaster I have been on. I also liked the fog and colored lights they had set up in the tunnel. It's a small thing, but it adds tremendously to the ride experience when it is dark out. - The two scare zones I went through (Hellbilly Hollow and Fear Fest) were awful. The scare actors didn't seem motivated (with one exception of a clown literally chasing a terrified child around!) and the dude with the harmonica in Hellbilly Hollow was more annoying than scary. Now to be fair, the park's entrance tunnel was so full of fog it was impossible to see in front of you, which was cool. But again, the scare actors seemed more interested in talking to each other than scaring folks. - And finally, there's the "new" Kangaroo. While the ride doesn't quite seem as intense as it used to be when you launch off the ramp, and the ride cycle time is painfully short, I haven't laughed this hard on a ride in ages. I had no idea about the "boing" sound effect that goes off every time a car goes over the ramp. That little addition made me literally lol the whole ride. Well done Kennywood. Well done! Security was pretty much everywhere including on bikes and police were posted along the edge of the park as well, so I did feel safe. I was surprised how dark the park was though. Some of the walkways were scarier than the scare zones just because they were so dark! I also enjoyed the new touches the park made for their 125th Anniversary. Kennywood looked the best it has in years. Looking forward to Holiday Lights in the coming weeks!

Wrapped up night 1 of HHN last night. Really good time overall, was able to get through every house (and two we did twice) without express. Crowds were quite manageable for a HHN, surprisingly enough. The main houses peaked at 120-130 minute, but died down late and most others stuck between 30-45 most of the time between surges. As usual, wait times are typically inflated and end up 10-15 shorter than posted. Our max wait was Halloween at the very end of the night at 40 minutes (85 posted), but otherwise longest was 30-35 prior to that. Of course, Stay and Scream allowed us to get half the houses done in the first hour and a half, so that is always a must. Overall, my biggest complaint is having to hear the Weekend non-stop everywhere. Like seriously, it's horrible. The house is also OK at very best (same with Hollywood), but to play his music everywhere in the park is maximum level annoyance. Keep it in the specific house queue, sheesh. I must have heard Save Your Tears a solid dozen times or more. Anywayyyyyy. My three top houses were Descendants, Pier and Chupacabras. Bottom was Halloween and (first half) of Blumhouse. Rehashing of Halloween over and over does nothing for me and the house itself was very meh. The Black Phone portion of Blumhouse was really good, though. Should have been it's own full house. Zones are weak again this year. Not really much to say there. Love the food options, spent some time trying a few items and they were all quite good. Planning on more stuff tonight we didn't get to try yet. Back tonight for the final night and hoping crowds are like last night, or better!

They're allowed to exit upon a negative test. Seems like the overwhelming majority will be let out very soon if not already. I can think of worse places to get stuck.

It looks like SeaWorld has improved Howl-o-Scream this year. When I went last year, I thought they did a great job with the themed bars and that the houses and Terror-tories were "hit or miss." The voodoo zone was the best, while the two best houses were the pirate ship and a creepy waterfront hotel. They were really pushing the Jello-shot syringes.

Went to the park Saturday night. I've never seen it that crowded. I knew when the forecast was good and it being this close to Halloween, it was going to be packed. A lot of the FL+ queues seemed to be getting pretty close to the standby queues. Diamondback has always been the worst at this. The FL+ queue was out to the entrance. Orion was close. Even on summer weekends, FL+ is not the golden ticket it used to be. Kings Island is just so much more popular now. It has a lot more appealing attractions where people don't want to chance missing out on, and/or just want to ride them without waiting. Our Beast FL+ line was almost all the way down the exit ramp that used to go over the old lake area. There was a while it didn't move. We waited almost an hour. Just eyeballing the standby queue, I think we actually waited longer. Fright Lane is still worth it. We never waited. I'm not trying to talk shit, but I have no idea why someone would wait in those insane lines to walk through those houses. It looked miserable. There were 6 of us, which muted the fun. We ended up playing, "who needs a beer?" and "who's turn is to take a piss"" more than we did riding. That's a little more streamlined when it's just the two of us. That, and in the adult world, there's that underlying feeling "who's going to be the first to imply they want to leave" after 10pm. There were a lot of scare actors. Scenery was cool. Last year, Kill Mart seemed really bare on the scenery, but I think it had a lot more little props this year. It's still my favorite for the cheese factor. We saw plenty of terrified toddlers and young kids there late at night. Some of them screaming and unable to be consoled. Their parents were selfishly having a great time. One even had an infant. Let's see how that turns out. Sorry kids. You're screwed. Sad. All of the rides were running really well. Operations were great. The Banshee scream was back this trip. Sadly, all of the arms were working on Adventure Express. Did all of Racer get retracked? The return track was pretty jarring. The Beast is a lot more smooth. It flew through the helix to the point where it actually made me nervous in a good way... I never remember it feeling that fast. We accomplished our important secondary objective of cold draft Yuengling and wings at BC Roosters, but my ride count was lower than ever. It was due to equal parts of the group and queue length. Orion - 1 day / 1 night Racer - 1 day Adventure Express - 1 day Banshee - 1 day Mystic Timbers - 1 day / 1 night Diamondback - 1 day Beast - 1 night Beer count - a lot I'm not someone who cares about high ride counts, or marathoning coasters, but a few more rides would have been nice. We only hit single digits with FL+. We hit 5 out of 6 of the Haunts. We left a little after 11. Although... I just had a hazy memory of riding 3 adults deep, guys vs. girls, on the antique cars. Turns out... the tires squeal if you jam the brakes hard enough, while cutting the wheel... (was not driving) Next year Emily wants to go somewhere else for The Haunt. I suggested Howl-O-Scream. We'll leave the group behind. We have more fun when it's just the two of us (when we can't make 3). Personal side note: It was a pretty tame year for us. A couple hours at SFSTL with our Daughter in June. 2 days at CP/Breakers in June. 1 day at SDC with our Daughter in July. 1 day at KI in October. Pretty sparse compared to three years ago. Our best trip was SDC with her, even despite a 3 hour nap break in the middle of the day. Aside from that, I noticed that not constantly going on coasters absolutely makes them more exciting. I got cold chills a few times, that I hadn't gotten in as long as I can remember. That, and flying toward the tunnel entrance on The Beast legitimately made me nervous.

Superbowl Sunday was a great time to visit 2 years ago. Had the park to myself and basically everything was open. Sat on everything as long as I wanted.

I think this is awesome. Updated theming on Adventure Express alone is great news, but also bringing in two rides similar to ones that were once at the park (Skylab and Der Spinnen Keggers) is icing on the cake. Looking forward to seeing this in person next year!

Any park not located in Siberia should do a full Halloween event. This park is dumb, get creative. I don't even care if you open nothing but coasters and mazes like BGT does. Pay $30 an hour if you have to. It will still absolutely print money. It's not like the mazes have to be good to get hordes of people to show up, Six Flags has proven that time and time again...

Rumor is Cornball and Hurricane (in dire need) are slated for Gravity Group work. Long overdo, hope it happens. The current owners inherited a mess, they're working on getting everything together. Let's give em props.

Congrats on being one of the enthusiasts that give us all a bad name and make us hesitant to identify ourselves at parks.

People have been locked inside of Shanghai Disneyland due to China's zero Corona policy. Source