coasterbill

Nice to see some love for the Wingrider coasters. Personally I love them, though I'm yet to ride X Flight. Great report and photos.

There's no need to carry cash. Virtually every point of sale in the park accepts cards.

Same... it's a great shortcut.

A Paintball experience? Hmmm, sounds a lot like this: R.I.P. Shoot the Freak, 2000 - 2010 That's what I thought of too... klassy.

Best: Tatsu (Honorable Mention to Monty, Ninja, Batman and Apocalypse) Worst: Green Lantern (Honorable Mention to X2) Then again I actually kind of liked Pony Express and the Santa Monica West Coaster on our most recent trip to California so take my opinion with a grain of salt.

An important thing to remember about the Safari (if you decide to ride it) is that the animals are much more active in the morning than they are in the afternoon so I actually think doing that first is a great idea as the experience will be much better.

In my opinion all of the coasters are worth riding except Mind Eraser which is a horrendous piece of crap with no redeeming qualities at all. Goliath is iffy though... If you want to ride Goliath I wouldn't ride it until you ride Bizarro though. Since you're afraid of heights Goliath is probably the worst coaster you could ever ride. The back spike hangs you on the restraints facing the ground for a long time and you're forced to have complete confidence in the restraint as all of your weight is pushing on it straight towards the ground. It's terrifying if you have any fear of heights. I'm concerned that if you ride Goliath you won't even consider riding Bizarro as Bizarro is taller, but in reality Bizarro's drop isn't nearly as scary as you're facing upright, aren't hanging on the restraint and aren't forced to look down for a long period of time. I'm sure if you ride Bizarro you'll love it and be over your fear. Goliath will probably have the opposite effect. Bizarro is also an amazing ride while Goliath is a complete piece of crap now that they ruined it with the new trains. If you're going to ride something that will scare the hell out of you it should at least be a good ride. Goliath is a bad ride now. The only good parts of the ride are the spikes because of the hanging aspect of them. It might be worth a ride but ride Bizarro first or it might turn you off to tall coasters as you already have a fear of heights. As far as Cyclone you should absolutely ride that. It's a pretty good ride and it's very smooth thanks to the topper track it has from RMC (not as smooth as Thunderbolt but still pretty smooth). The ride is nothing amazing but you should ride it as it's a piece of New England history and you'll never have the chance to ride it again. We're actually going this weekend to get a few last rides in. Pandemonium is a lot of fun too especially if one side has a lot more weight than the other side so if it has a long line it's still worth waiting in. I'd skip the mouse or Flashback before I'd skip Pandemonium. Batman, Bizarro, Cyclone and Thunderbolt (did I mention how much I love this ride?) are all must rides. PS: You should ride Tomohawk because it's awesome. That's all.

I was under the impression that they changed those this year. If not then ignore that comment. I live about the same distance from Dorney, Great Adventure and SFNE and I never cared much for Rolling Thunder but I get where you're coming from and do kind of miss it as it was a nice break from the crazy thrill rides. Thankfully SFNE which loves ruining great rides (Bizarro / Goliath) and removing other great rides (Flume, Colossus, Time Warp, Shipwreck Falls) has taken great care of Thunderbolt and I feel very fortunate that I live so close to that coaster.

I also prefer Hydra to Steel Force. This sounds crazy at this point but they have a potentially great wood coaster capable of delivering ejector OMFG airtime in the front car on multiple hills (especially the top of the turnaround). Unfortunately they don't feel like taking care of it so now it has terrible lap bars and headrests, trims everywhere and it tracks terribly. Thunderhawk is absolutely 100% capable of being the best coaster in the entire park if they remove the brakes and invest some money in it. I know this sounds stupid because it's a brutal ride at this point but anyone who has ridden it after it was re-tracked when the brakes were off will probably agree with me... especially if they sat near the front of the train. If they can't take care of 1 wood coaster the last thing they need is another one.

I just got an email from the park about new attractions which included Fright Fest in July and a new Paint Ball experience. If they do either of these (especially the first one) I give up on this park... it seems like management is just clueless. They need to take care of what they already have not add more crap that's going to bring in trashy crowds.

B&M: Green Lantern Intamin: Green Lantern GCI: Wildcat (Hershey) The moral of the story is... don't name your coaster Green Lantern.

The more I look at the layout of the mine train it's really very good. It reminds me a bit of the one at Great Adventure which I'm sure isn't a coincidence but that's a good thing. One thought I had is that the Skyride stations should really have little shops under them (like the one at Cedar Point). When you walk in the main gate you'll be greeted with a large red building with nothing in it until you walk all the way around.. A little shop or something built into the existing structure would be a lot more inviting.

I didn't think Europe in the Air was that bad. It was far from great but if it had a 10 minute wait or less I'd ride it again.

Talon and Patriot have similar layouts but they're not the same. I agree that a similar ride would be a good fit though.

I never though Windseeker's had that short of a ride cycle honestly. If you want a short ride cycle you should check out the New England Sky Screamer.

How can a ride with no over the shoulder restraints have head banging? There's nothing to bang your head into. Personally I think Flight of Fear at Kings Dominion is an amazingly smooth and awesome ride. The one at Kings Island throws you around a lot more but I enjoy that ride also.

That's now 2 reports of train C being fixed so I'll give it a try next time I'm at the park. If so, kudos to Six Flags.

SFNE runs pretty much everything in the rain though Goliath may close. They're not quite as crazy as you guys though. I've never seen a park less interested in what the weather is doing than Great Adventure... it's awesome.

I agree that Steel Force is unbelievably dull, though I do think it's considerably better in the front seat. I kind of feel like with the exception of Talon every coaster at Dorney is a bit lacking. In my opinion the only stand out things at Dorney are Talon, Thunder Creek Mountain, Demon Drop and Chickie and Pete's.

Some tips for riding everything in a day can be found on the last few pages but you shouldn't have a problem. As far as can't miss flats... Tomohawk and Buzzsaw are probably the best flats in the park besides NESS. Houdini's Great Escape is really good too though the theming isn't nearly as good as it is on the Great Adventure version (on the ride or the pre-show). Scream also runs in combo mode occasionally which is rare to find on an S&S tower but keep in mind that in true SFNE fashion there is no choice of seat or tower so you may have to keep re-riding it if only one tower is running in combo mode as any polite requests for a specific tower will be met with an angry response. I think the best food in the park by far can be found in Crackaxle Canyon. JB's is a great place for lunch or dinner and the kettle corn is awesome and makes for a great snack. Have fun! PS: You don't need a kid to ride any of the family / kids coasters

They're just staring into the abyss... that's what people do when they've had their Minds Erased.

Great pictures. Thanks for sharing!

I don't think I've ever heard anyone refer to the Comet at Hershey as rough before. I've always found that ride to be very smooth and enjoyable.

Holy crap... something relevant an interesting in the Darien Lake thread (A photo trip report)! I never thought this day would come.

I'd suggest riding Firehawk, Flight of Fear and Backlot Stunt Coaster first as they get huge lines and have awful capacity. Banshee and Bat get shorter lines as the day goes on. Ride the Beast at night... get in line no later than 9:25 - 9:30 to guarantee a front seat ride.