coasterbill

They already have this convenient little path to nowhere between the Scrambler and the New England Skyway that heads towards the general direction of the coaster... just saying. The only problem is that this solution won't require them to remove any rides which I know they love to do... so maybe they can build an entrance where Scrambler is and then leave this path untouched for "future expansion" or a smoking area. (And yes I'm joking... kind of)

If Dorney does not get a major addition to the dry side attendance will continue to dwindle until the park finally shuts down or is sold. They can't survive against the competition never adding anything new, and CF knows it. To say that Dorney will never get another new coaster is not only bullsh*t it's also extremely irritating to those who call it their home park. I didn't say they wouldn't get a new coaster... I said I don't see them getting an expensive new coaster.

Cedar Fair is probably not going to make a major investment in the ride side of Dorney Park. They tried that in the early to mid 2000's with Talon and Hydra and it didn't help them at all. The rides are not a major draw for them, their big draw is the waterpark which they're actively investing in. I would expect them to make small investments in the park side and occasionally build a smaller coaster or a relocated coaster but I don't see them doing anything major over there.

Boulder Dash will be open today!

WW and TT are complete crap. All they do is take up valuable space in your object list that should be used for custom objects that are much better. The Double Decker carousel was literally the only good thing in either expansion pack. To each his own though.

I'm sorry if I misunderstand you, but what does Knoebels new coaster have to do with Thunderbolt? As far as I know, the coaster at Knoebels is going to be a Zierer (Like Wicked at Lagoon), while Thunderbolt is a Zamperla. While I like the fact of Zamperla stepping it u a notch with building a bigger coaster, I do have to say that to me Thunderbolt doesn't look comfortable at all (Judging from the POV) I was responding to the post immediately before mine.

Only enthusiasts care about that though... as far as Six Flags and 99.9% of park guests are concerned it was a major new addition (even though it's a terrible ride).

Great report so far! Pennsylvania really has some great parks, hopefully we'll get out to Kennywood soon as that's the only one we haven't visited.

You're right, but the important difference is that Cyclone was moving from the base, rather than staying anchored at the base and swaying at the higher points of the structure. I've seen coasters sway all the time but never seen them sway and lift up at the base. That's not normal... I'm not saying it was technically unsafe as it was allowed to operate, but it's still not normal.

With Zumanjaro being such a high profile ride this year I could see them getting something small next year and then a bigger investment in 2016 (Wing Coaster Maybe?). Ideally I'd love to see some general improvements next year like some additional theming / general cleanup of the less appealing parts of the park (the old Rolling Thunder area, Camp Aventura and Movie Town) and maybe the re-opening of the path that connects the now separate parts of the Golden Kingdom. Some new lights in Golden Kingdom are really necessary too though they may be working on that this year with Zumanjaro on the way. Personally if they just did that and maybe re-tracked the valley before El Toro's turnaround and fixed Nitro's train C I'd be happy... I wouldn't even care if they added a new ride (they will though as they've decided every park needs something every year... hopefully it's another flat ride with mass appeal like Skyscreamer was, personally I'd love to see a Frisbee).

Great report! I need to make a mental note of that Haunted House as we're planning to visit Niagara Falls in the next few years. I absolutely love cheesy tourist traps.

The park announced today that the log flume will be closed for approximately 2 weeks... terrible timing in the middle of the summer. Boulder Dash was closed today also.

As long as the coaster doesn't do this anymore I'll be happy. SFNE Cyclone I know the ride is safe and all that and supports are designed to sway but there is no way that's normal.

I would never even consider staying at Hotel Breakers just because of their price point in relation to the price points of other hotels in the area but a lot of that has to do with how I visit parks. If you're the type of person that likes to take breaks from the park and hang out by the pool for awhile then Breakers is great. We usually get to the park for Early Entry and don't leave until about 11:00 since we usually get in line for something with a long line right before closing. When we get to the hotel all we do is shower and go to sleep. In the morning we get up, grab a few things from the continental breakfast and go. Because of that we always stay at Super 8 Milan / Sandusky near the Ohio Turnpike. It's clean, the beds are comfortable and since all we do in the room is sleep we don't need anything more than that... because of how affordable hotels are in the area it's $43 a night (2 adults 1 room) on Kayak. Hotel Breakers is $250 a night for the same room with no lake view and it's not like it's a luxury hotel either. That's over $200 more per night and over the course of a 3 day weekend when we normally go ($129 versus $750... are you kidding me?) A 15 minute drive isn't that big of an inconvenience. When we go to parks we're always exhausted afterwards. Because of that my only requirement with hotels is that they're clean and that you can get a good night's sleep.

Those Dragster pictures are outstanding. I agree with you about the main midway too, the Sky Ride adds an incredible amount of character and life to it and it makes for a really nice area.

Well I hate to break it to you but they did remove the original first drop... in 2001. The old track is still there... it can clearly be seen in this picture... Courtesy of SFNE Online. I would love to see them do what they did with Iron Rattler and restore the first drop to it's former glory.

^^^I suppose we don't know that for sure but if it is topper track they're going to do topper track with a whole new layout. I think Iron Horse is a reasonable assumption based on what Six Flags has done in the past. The coaster already has a ton of topper track... after the first drop every section of the ride that is taken at any significant speed has topper track and it's really smoothed out the ride. Since they're marketing the closing of the ride the way they are I think the ride will be unrecognizable next year. That could mean topper track but since they've never dramatically changed a coaster layout with topper track before I think Iron Horse track is much more likely.

This was just released on NE. I'll leave a detailed review once I get to view it in-game but from the overview it looks great.

Let's ride the new coaster at Knoebels before bashing it... since it's at Knoebels it's probably going to be great. Plus you can't fault them for going with a coaster they knew would be good. Because of Zamperla's unique position this park isn't just a revenue generator for them but also an opportunity to try new things and get the attention of park owners without trying to convince them to build a prototype ride from a company that has never proven that they could build anything that ambitious. Nobody knew what to expect from this ride until it opened. Knoebels is making a big investment and they didn't want to take a big risk on that investment... who could blame them?

Great pictures! Thanks for sharing.

How do you even know this? i'm getting tired of coaster enthusiasts crying "RMC!!!!" when a wooden roller is even hinted at closing even several years off... This coaster is absolutely getting iron horsed. This page does a good job at putting all of the evidence they have in one place. Testing new colors for the station and the cut marks and numbers on the track are the big ones for me though. Anyway I'll say this... thanks to the topper track Cyclone has gone from a ride we (meaning my GF and I since we always go to the park together) always ignored to a ride we started to enjoy in the last few years. It's nothing special but in a way it's a shame that it's being removed now that we're finally starting to appreciate it a little more. Luckily the park has a great classic wood coaster right across the park that has always put Cyclone to shame and they just did an extensive rehab project on it (not that it needed it from a ride standpoint because it was running really well anyway). I'm really excited for Iron Cyclone but the event on the 20th to celebrate this version of Cyclone (which I guess is really the second version of the ride) should be a lot of fun. The ride is pretty mediocre and I won't pretend otherwise just because it's closing... but it's not a bad ride in it's current form and we're excited for the opportunity to get a few last rides in.

We'll absolutely be there on the 20th. Is anyone else going?

Oh okay, I didn't participate so I didn't know that. Do we have reason to believe that it's going to be a ride or could it just be an interactive game / seating area or something to that effect?