Philrad71

Haha...yes, I remember those old restraints! I also remember an awful lot of airtime and the coaster was actually pretty smooth despite ending up in your partners lap when you rounded the bend! When I was a young teen (and weighed a lot less) this was the scariest ride in the park because it just seemed so out of control. I remember feeling at one point that I was literally standing up (not intentionally, of course) while going over some of those hills! I guess I could see why they added the seat-belts/lap bars and took out the old buzz bars, but unfortunately...that took away a lot of it's thrill factor and old-school charm.

^Thanks once again, guys. That is okay about the Halloween event. While it would be great to see, and as much as I would love to ride Silver Star and Blue Fire after dark...I will be most happy just to have been there and experience the atmosphere during the day. All I can hope for is decent weather on the day we visit!

My thoughts exactly! I was also thinking Gerstlauer or Maurer Sohne, or something very compact. This looks like it will be a great addition for the park and warrant another visit for me next year! Awesome news!

Doesn't he know they're fake??

Thanks again for all the help, guys! I think that what we might do is to try and book a rental car out of Munich and then drive over to Europa Park for the day. Everyone has mentioned that this is by far the better park in Germany, and it certainly looks like it in the various trip reports I have viewed (especially with the addition of Blue Fire). Do you think that they will have the water rides open in late September/early October? I am going to guess that temps might not be all that warm, but I would certainly like to get on these during my visit! I also would have preferred staying at the Colosseo resort next door as it looks amazing, but we already have our hotel room booked in Munich for the entire five nights we are in Germany. It is going to be a very rushed trip to do Europa in one day, but I guess as long as the park is only open until 6:00 PM, that gives us plenty of time to drive back. I definitely have to visit at least one theme park while I am in Germany!!!

Unless you go to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, you could probably skip it and head to Cedar Point from Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh has some neat tourist attractions that offer great views of the city. Take the Duquesne incline railway up Mt. Washington for some really awesome views above the skyline. Once at the bottom, you can hop right over to Station Square for a trip on the duck boats that will take you right into the rivers and through downtown for some really neat views of the city and sports arenas. Of course, if you hit those places, Kennywood isn't too far away and is a great nostalgic amusement park! There isn't a whole lot to do near Cedar Point (except for a lot of indoor water parks), but Put-In Bay on the Lake Erie Islands would definitely be worth an afternoon if you have the time. You can hop on a ferry from Sandusky to this neat little island. Once you get there you can rent bikes, golf carts and ride around. There is the Perry Monument that you can take an elevator up for some great views of Lake Erie and the surrounding islands. Although, it is a seasonal type place and it can get quite crowded with rowdy college kids clogging up the bars/restaurants. Kelley's Island is a bit bigger, but a little more secluded and can also be reached by ferry in Sandusky. I have never been there, but have heard it is quite nice if you are into peace/quiet and hiking/nature. Hope you have a great visit!

^ My partners sister just called to tell me she saw it on the nightly news so I did a quick poke on Google....hope the rescue efforts are 100% successful and no one gets hurt. Link

George/James: Thank you both very much for your expert opinions! I think that we will try to rent a car so we can get to some of the other sites around the Bavaria region (besides, we can't sit and drink beer at Oktoberfest the entire time we are there!). I really would like to also get to Heide Park, Holiday Park or Phantasialand, but I just don't think that we will have the time to drive the long distances. Any other tips, or advice on things to do in Southern Germany would be most appreciated (although I don't want to hijack this thread).

Wow...thanks for posting! I will be heading to Germany in a little over a month to hit up Oktoberfest in Munich and (hopefully) Europa Park...I can't wait! Forgive me for sounding like the naive tourist, but we are concerned about getting to Europa Park from Munich but definitely want to visit. What would be the best method of transportation for a day trip? Bus, car rental, or train? Thanks!

Glad to see someone else is giving Thunderhawk some love - I had a great ride on it in the front seat! It was definitely the surprise of the park for me...

Nice reports! Pennsylvania does have one kick-butt selection of amusement parks, don't they? I still have not been to Knoebels - we were planning on going, but they were forecasting heavy rains. We opted for Idlewild instead which is yet another neat little park! Can't wait for Labor Day and another trip to Hershey. I just hope that the weather will hold for us - it is been an amazingly rainy summer here in the Northeast!

There were several businesses located on the same road advertising parking for $10, but it looked like it would be a bit longer of a walk than from the main lot. I am not sure if you would be allowed to leave the private lot's to go eat somewhere, get a hotel, etc...and be allowed to come back without paying another $10. If you keep your parking receipt, you can get back in the SFNE lot without having to pay again. We actually turned around and left the parking lot as soon as we got there to go back to a local Mobil station about 1/2 mile down the road. I asked the parking attendant if admission price was kiddie price (rumor I heard), but she said that you needed to purchase at Mobile, Dunkin' Donuts, or have a Coke can. I believe all those places may advertise the same deal, but you might want to double check. Tix were $31.99 at the Mobile station. Like I stated earlier, you are probably better to pay the $13 ($14 in the water park) for the all day lock-er rental. You have to walk up and down stairs over the road to catch the trolley just to get back to the parking lot. Even with the trolley rides, it is still a long haul back to your car. Kinda silly that the water park is about as far from the parking lot as you can get. But from a business perspective...I guess it's a good strategy to have people rent their lock-ers over an easy walk back to the car.

I was there on Tuesday and almost wished we would have gotten the Flashpass - we got on about six rides in seven hours. The lines on the major rides seemed brutally slow (stacking trains every time on most coasters). We waited an hour for Dark Knight and I kept wondering why a four seater B&M could have such a slow line? When we got up into the station building, I realized it was because they were letting the trains fill up close to 75% for Flashpass and 25% general public. If the park looks crowded, I would definitely spring for the Flashpass to avoid these slow, long lines. Our first three rides also suffered some down time (Bizarro, Dark Knight and Blizzard River). I was surprised to see them shut down Blizzard River for unbeknownst reasons and when a lot of the people exited the line, the tech came over and simply changed a seat belt and it was running again within ten minutes! Luckily, we stayed in line and got in a good ride. Give yourself time to do the water park and get an all-day locker early. That will save you a loooong walk and tram ride back to the parking lot to get your swimsuit and towels. Hurricane Harbor was amazingly crowded when we were there, but they seemed to have a lot of slides and water attractions to disperse the big crowds. We got over there a little too late in the day and only got on a couple of slides, but it looked like a great water park! Overall, it is a pretty nice place. Very clean and well lanscaped, albeit with somewhat of a quirky lay-out. Ride op's and park staff were so-so. They could have been more efficient and friendly in loading trains on the major coasters, but with it being so busy and hot that day, I think they were trying their best just to keep things rolling. One big plus is that they were enforcing line-jumping on Bizarro! Have a fun visit!

Definitely the Star Flyers. Those itty-bitty chains and small plastic seats flinging you around 200+ feet in the air just ain't right!

Great report! I remember going by Adventureland every summer as a kid when we would drive to Las Vegas (we had relatives in Omaha/Council Bluffs/LV). I always wanted to do this park and begged my parents to stop, but we never seemed to have enough time. Nice to see it getting some love - looks like a really nice park!

I apologize if my remarks seemed aimed towards your TR as it was geared more for the people that continually bash CP. I also try to blend in a lot of general sarcasm in my reports....that's what makes them fun! Anyone can feel free to call me a fanboy (or fanman?) I suppose, but I am not ashamed to call it my favorite amusement park. This park carries a lot of great cherished memories for me as a child, teen and now as an adult. The GT Awards have nothing to do with my personal opinion of the park. I certainly did not intend any negativity towards you and really enjoyed your pictures and the report - especially the museum photos! You had some great "extras" that not a lot of CP trip reports offer. Thanks for sharing!

The Golden Ticket Awards don't mean too much to me, but some people do seem to get excited by them. It does seem that they latch onto one park and one coaster and ride the wave for years. I visited SFNE on Tuesday and contrary to the GT award for Bizarro/S: ROS being the #1 steel coaster in the world for four years, I did not agree with this distinction. Top ten (maybe), but certainly not #1.... But then again, that is only my opinion and I am sure there are plenty of people on this site that would debate my claim!

^ Agreed...you ever notice that a lot of the people that bash the park are people that don't live anywhere near it or base their opinion on one visit? People whine about not enough trees, too many garbage cans, long lines, forceless/rough coasters, lack of flats, no Q-bot, stupid ride names, not enough kid-friendly attractions, etc, etc...bottom line - it is simply ranting because CP is ranked #1 year after year and it doesn't seem fair in their eyes. Rule of thumb - when anything is ranked #1 there are always going to be people that find something to b#tch about and point out faults as to why it shouldn't be #1.

Glad you had a good time! Yes, the weather patterns in the NorthEast (and Great Lakes in particular) have been pounding us with rain and storms this summer. Most seem to be intermittant and can pop up just about anywhere at any time. It is just enough to where you either don't make plans, or do like you did and just say WTF and go anyway - that's what we have been doing here in Western NY too!

Agreed...living in Western New York, we do not see many tornado's so it's a big deal when one passes through our area. The last big one I remember coming through was back in the early to mid-eighties when it crossed the road about a mile from my house. It cut quite the swath of destruction with all of the trees we have around here and leveled quite a few houses. There was also a small one that touched down about thirty minutes from my house in a town called Onoville yesterday. I guess it did some damage to some boats on Kinzua Lake, but no injuries that I know of. I was actually out golfing both days but the severe weather stayed away from us other than a few showers and some high winds that kept changing directions every five minutes. Very weird weather here in WNY...not to mention all the sucky rain - how the hell can you hit a decent golf shot in mud???

'Cept Lazer Snake Horse on Fire. Seriously...this is terrible news, but I can certainly understand the reasoning. When I went there in June, I rode it thinking that it could be my last time as there were already rumors that he could be in his final year. A great ride with great theming and the drop and swing-out over the river is one of the best elements on a coaster - ever. I will never forget how pissed I was when I rode Iron Dragon the first year they put it in at CP. After seeing the commercials for Big Bad Wolf on tv, I was expecting some really great ride but instead exited the coaster feeling like a used tramp. I'm thinking fast, over-banked turns over water, but all I got was herky-jerky slow transitions through mist...uggghhh! So let's all look at the bright side here folks, if BBW was a maintenance nightmare, can Iron Dragon really be all that far behind???

Please don't tell me they replaced Brown Beaver Bear with that goofy looking sign!! Rarrrrrrr!!!!!!!!

^ Edit - computer has failed with the double post...sorry. Mehh...crappy coaster at a crappy park - makes sense to me. Maybe there is a method to their madness - they'll take Vampyre out and move it to Great Escape!

Fail.

I am still sticking with a bigger version of Pilgrim's Plunge - it will be the world's tallest water ride in 2010 and would be billed as the replacement to White Water Landing. In looking at PP with the elevator vertical lift, it would be perfect for that area and for CP. I do not think that they would have to remove CCMR in order to build something like this...