Philrad71

I was at Dorney Park about a week and a half ago for the first time and did not have any problems at all. We went on a Sunday night and got a Starlite pass and still got most of the coasters in once or twice. The staff was about as friendly as any other park that I have been too - some were better than others. There were no issues with the GP either - don't worry, you'll be fine. My only suggestion is that you make sure you ride ThunderHawk in the very front seat for some great ejector air on the hills!!!! This was the highlight of the visit for me!

Wow - I guess you could say that you would be "lucky" to even get a ride on Kingda Fail this year. I was there on the 17th and 19th and it was closed both days. I am now 0-3 with KK during my visits in the last three years, but doesn't sound like I am missing much! On a good note, El Toro was a walk-on last night. I did it three times in a twenty minute span - once in the front, once in the middle and once in the back. If Voyage is better than ET, I need to get my butt out to Holiday World...and soon! Nice reports!

Great trip report! I may have to try and include a visit to Walibi World when I visit Germany and the Netherlands this fall - Goliath looks verrry impressive!

Wait...isn't CP like the trash can, cement capital of the amusement industry with a bunch of over-hyped coasters? Any real coaster enthusiast knows Cedar Point is lame - let alone their water park with their outdated slides!!!!

18/20...wow, maybe I really AM a nerd!

Awesome flyers/pics! I personally like the 'Viper - Sponsored by L.A. Gear'!!

^ I just wonder how the park will do during the regular season months. With a big classic car show and it also being Memorial Day weekend when we were there, I anticipated it being quite crowded - and luckily, it was. I think that if Conneaut can continue to have events like this (concerts, flea markets, car shows, motorcycle rallies, etc) I would think that it would draw even more revenue for the park. Hopefully, enough to get Blue Streak refurbished and opened next season!

Thanks...I wondered if anyone would get 'The Shining' reference!

Yeah, I am not absolutely positive that they scraped all the gum as I did not ride it to get the extreme close-up, but from far away it certainly looked a lot "cleaner" than it did last year. I would imagine that it won't be long before it is all gummed up again! Thanks for the nice comments so far...glad you all liked the report! It was fun to go down there and check things out and spend some money to help support the park and the area. Judging from the amount of people there, other's certainly felt the same way...it's good to have it open again!

Michael and I decided to have a "staycation" for the Memorial Day holiday weekend. Normally, we go road trippin' but being that we are heading to Virginia in a couple of weeks, we decided to stay local this year. I had read in here that CLP was open to the public again, so yesterday we decided to head down and check it out. The place was very busy - which was nice to see after the downright depressing visit I had last year. Overall, the place looked good. Still a lot of areas that need a little TLC, but I was very impressed at how quickly they were able to resurrect most of the rides to working condition! I am sure that most of you will be anxiously awaiting the return of the Blue Streak next year. Now...on to the pics! No caption needed. Waldameer coming soon. Bye Skydiver - see ya soon! I see what the big draw is here at the beach! The Beach House and beach were really crowded! No phones = no escape! HAHAHA!!! ALL WORK AND NO PLAY MAKES JACK A DULL BOY. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Lobby of the Hotel Conneaut. My first car was a Malibu this same color, but without the black racing stripes. I guess the frame busted in half about a month after I sold it. They had a nice varierty of really kick-ass cars! Oh, I see...it is a motorcycle enthusiast round-up! Those clever lil' devils at CLP! Hey, where's the Round-Up? There was a Doo-Wop 50's show with an antique car show by the hotel. The Chance Toboggan wasn't seeing any action today. Old school Bumper Cars...no full car-style seat belts here! And a Roll-O-Plane!!! Hey Mom look...we now have a Trabant in our back yard! Turtle - another classic ride for the kids. Antique cars. Not quite as creepy as the clowns, but close! CREDIIIIIT! Get your ice cold whorish credit here!!! But 'Tot Gun' was open and was a big hit! Take note Cedar Fair - who needs to come up a new, original name? Just add in a different consonant or vowel and hope the lawyers don't come knockin'! Crayola - The Ride was closed today. Something to do with copyright infringement, I guess. They changed it to Crayolas Crayons in hopes of getting out of the lawsuit, but it's still tied up in court. If you think Connie's hot, you otter see 'er sister! I will not cry, I will not cry! Mommy? Kiddieland entrance - creeping people out since 1918! Now...with more eye of newt! And who doesn't love them some Witch's Stew? Devil's Den was getting lot's of lovin'. It looked like they may have scraped off the gum wall in hopes of starting a new one! Vulgar giraffe seems to be taunting all the CLP non-believers. It was still sad to see Blue Streak looking so decrepid. Next year, I will (hopefully) ride you! Minds out of the gutter, please... CLP will never fail again as long as they have cheese on a stick! Midway's back in action with food & games of chance. Gotta give some love to the Tumble Bug! Even the mini-golf looked to have new astro-turf! As were the paratroopers! Flying Scooters is back in action - YAY! Hmmm...mature and experienced riders - I like it! Bahhh on the single rider's only though. Michael thought this thing looked like evil death, so we passed on it. New for '09 - Skydiver!!! We most certainly will pardon! Welcome to Conneaut Lake Park! Yeah, I suppose they could use a new sign. Grand Finale...thx for reading! Just after our kick-ass night time ride on the front seat of RF2, the fireworks started...great timing! Some lovin' for the dark ride enthusiasts out there. Didn't have time for the Tilt-A-Whirl - next time for sure as this is one of my favorite old school flats! But first we have to get a ride on Steel Dragon. This is my favorite mouse-type coaster. Very disorienting with little pops of air! Night is falling...gotta get back over to the back of the park for my night-time ride on RF2! They had some very nice landscaping and bronze statues of kids playing. I don't care what anyone says, these are just plain fun! New for '09 - Mega Vortex! Hmmm...what is this I spy at the turnaround of the SkyRide? Scrambler - classic flat in case no one has ever seen one from this angle. Paratrooper - Not only can you kick the sky on this thing, you could probably kick a tree if you tried hard enough. They are currently building a clone of Europa Park's Euro-Mir...Erie-Mir! New for 2010! Ali Baba and the 40 thieves! Ali Baba and the 40 thieves! SkyRide over Kiddieland. Nice view of Presque Isle. Twisted 90 degree goodness below! Overview of the park. Got some pics of and on the ferris wheel. Sea Dragon from RF2 queue. Finally got my night-time ride! All I can say is that this is now my #2 wooden coaster. It was running insanely fast on this evening. #1 reason we are here... Yep...still has the wristband and the massive splooge of a hand stamp!

Great photo's! I love to look at people's expressions...priceless!

I am thinking about doing both Waldameer and CLP today. Not sure if Mother Nature will have anything to say about it though - looks like some showers and t-storms moving into the area. I am very curious to see how CLP looks after seeing what a depressed state it was in this time last year. I am soooo glad to hear that they have re-opened the park, although I also wish that I could get a ride on Blue Streak! Maybe next year though... Waldameer is open till 10:00 tonight with fireworks which would be nice...but my main goal is to ride RF2 at night! Have fun on your trip!

Wow...very nice pics of CP with little extra's of the flats that usually don't make it into the TR's. Great job! I fully agree with your assessment of Maverick. Not sure why the year it opened, I did not have any problem with headbanging and being jolted around. Last year, it was quite painful and I gave it multiple chances in the front, back and middle. Also agree with MF. It is still ranked my #1 steel and it is always a must-do ride in the front seat (left side) at night during every visit. Then, of course...follow that up with an ice cold beer at Lusty Lil's/Red Garter Saloon! Sure wish they would run Mean Streak for just one season without the trims. I would like to experience it at least one more time where you really felt like the trains were out of control. Glad I got to ride it back in the day when it was a little more "mean".

If you get to hit Conneaut Lake Park, you may also want to head up I-79 to Erie and hit up Waldameer...it is only about 20-30 minute drive. Well worth it to ride a great woodie! Have fun! ^Edit - Just saw the finalized plans above....ooops!

I went on Memorial Day when Griffon was new and the wait was about twenty minutes. For the most part, the coaster lines were really short (or walk-on's) so you shouldn't have a problem. Longest wait was DarKastle and that was about a half hour/forty minutes. I will be heading down that way the second week of June. We will most likely be going to BGE on Saturday, June 13th so I am a little leary of the potentially large crowds. We will be going with Michael's son and wife and taking the grandkids to the new Sesame Street area. Saturday is the only day available for them to go because of work schedules and school so I'll keep my fingers crossed that the lines aren't too bad!

Too cool! Congratulations to you both!

Wow - thanks, Ed...these are great! Brings back a lot of good memories of my childhood. One thing that I really wish they would have never removed was the Skyride to and from Frontier Town. It was a lot easier on the feet when one got tired of walking the entire Frontier Trail to the Midway. Even though some of the coasters are in the path, I think they could have kept it with some minor modifications. I also liked the ferris wheel by the entrance of the Frontier Trail better than where it is now...

I fully agree. I rode Magnum in in it's inaugural year in 1989 and have ridden it about every year since. I must say as we were climbing that first lift, it was quite menacing! Once you got over the queasiness of climbing the slow lift to the top, it was like the most exhilarating drop on Earth! No other coaster came close to that feeling back in '89-94! Desperado was my second mega-coaster experience, but I still did not think that it was better than Magnum at the time. Have you ridden it in the last couple of years? I always had a soft spot for Gemini too - with the first hill and the awesome head chopper. But last year, I thought that the helix at the end was going to rearrange my spine - ouch! Yep - Magnum ALWAYS had the longest line at the park for six years until '94 when Raptor came to town. Even after Raptor and Mantis, it was still common for a one hour wait. Notice I made no mention of Mean Streak even though it did kick-ass for it's inaugural year. It was never any match for Magnum. I think that one of the reasons they never had a permanent sign was because they always had to move the queue entrance depending on how busy it was. I remember a 1-3/4 hour wait with temporary queue switchbacks running behind the bathrooms and all the way back to Corkscrew! The crowd used to get into the DJ and they would have the mist machines going and beach balls flying - half the fun was waiting in line sometimes! I do remember a Storm-Trooper looking dude with a sign for the height requirement at the entrance, but do not have a pic of it. So in a nutshell, Magnum is not what it used to be. I find it rough and painful now, but will always take a ride in the back if there is no line. I don't quite see it as an over-rated ride as it seems to have quietly slipped in people's rankings over the years...other than lame Travel Channel and Discovery specials that might re-run similar or the same specials every year and praise it's awesomeness. It is not really fair for people to compare El Toro, SROS, Apollo's Chariot and other newer, smoother coasters to Magnum. While it might not rank in my top 10 coaster list, it was a great coaster back in the day that gave one hell of a good ride in the back seat (especially at night)! PS - Best TPR quote I have seen in a while: Classic stuff, man!!! Classic!!!!

Ride Warriors....when I hear this, all I can think of is Dokken. "We're the Ride Warriorrrrs!!!"

HAHA! Good catch, Chuck! Sometime's I fail even when I proof-read my statements! Interesting that they still have not been able to determine if this kid actually has swine flu. Guess they'll leave him and his family in quarantine till they know for sure. I was even more amazed to hear that a plane was diverted from Washington to Boston (from Munich) because someone complained of a runny nose? Anyone know why they would have diverted the plane to Boston?

Why the lack of love for Ohio? Yeah, it's flat and bland, but there are plenty of things to do there.... * If it's a nice day, take the high speed ferry to Put-In Bay or one of the Lake Erie Islands. * Spend a night at Geneva-On-The-Lake between Cleveland and Erie. It is a town that makes you feel like you stepped back into the 60's/70's right on the shores of Lake Erie. * Water parks - Cowabunga Bay, Rain, Castaways, Splash Lagoon, Great Wolf Lodge, Soak City, Geauga Lake. Indoor/outdoor...if you like water parks, there are plenty to choose from in the area! * Two words - Wine Trails (for the adults, of course) * Let's not forget Waldameer is only a couple hours away on Lake Erie in Erie, PA. RF2 is worth the two hour drive from the Point, not to mention Presque Isle! *Zoos - If you are into them, Ohio has some of the best in the nation (Toledo, Columbus and Cleveland). As far as the initial debate...don't get me wrong, I do like Great Adventure (and plan on going this year), but I think that CP has a bit of slight edge with it's coasters, flats, and resort options. It has been an interesting read to see bashing and sucking up to both parks...not that it hasn't been done a hundred times before, mind you. Look at it this way...if you have never been to either park, you will not walk away disappointed. But enough of the Ohio bashing already! I love that flat, Conservative Republican, sucky pro football team lovin' state, dammit! And (most of) their coasters kick ass!!!!

They closed my alma mater today and tomorrow because one person got the flu. It has not been positively identified as Swine flu...but they are not taking any precautions. It's a rural school in Western NY where the closest town literally consists of about 200 people. We could be at serious risk because I bet there are a lot of farmers and one of them could have recently adopted new piglets from Mexico. I'll bet that's how that student caught it....yep.

Ahem (steps onto platform).... * Rev. Phelps has to come out with something soon saying, "It's the gay's fault for having love relations with pigs!" (Don't worry, I'm gay...I know it's coming eventually if I watch enough Fox news). * This is simply something to try and send people into a panic to make them forget about the rest of the government's failures. Like Jon Stewart said, "Pull the Tamiflu off the shelves and give it to AIG and their families!" * Why are more people not freaking out about the stupid, mother-f#$%in as--oles that had the "brainstorm" of flying Air Force One over the Manhattan skyline this week at a cost of $350,000+ only to scare the crap out of everyone??? Everyone has been asking about....Photoshop? * When you have the Government in Washington and the media doing things this retarded, do you think they will save us from a potential pandemic/epidemic? * Maybe they will summon Smith-Glaxo-Kline or Pfizer to save us all with @ $200 per vaccine??? I heard they are hurting for money now that Wal-Mart and Wegmans are offering $10 generic drug prescriptions. If they don't get this cash, figure on the drug companies asking for a Federal bail-out at the taxpayers expense. Have fun with this one, folks!!!!

Great report! I agree in that when we visited Vegas days before WCB, it did not seem like there was an economic depression at all - the place was hopping and it was during the mid-week. Granted St. Patrick's Day figured to be a party when we were there, but days before and after that it was still pretty crowded in the streets. Venetian was awesome to explore, but we cheaped out and stayed at the Tropicana (four nights) and Stratosphere (one night). We did manage to get in Speed, but only looked and marveled at the pure and utter failure that is Adventuredome and Manhattan Express. It's also fun to try to find the last of the decent restaurants that have the cheap(er) meals. We found a good lobster dinner at the Trop for $18.95 and my Dad and Uncle found a surf and turf w/lobster tail for like $8.95 at some ghetto casino in North Las Vegas.

Didn't know too much about this guy and was a bit surprised when I heard they drafted a center and a DB in the 1st and 2nd! Then I heard that they are going to move Wood to guard and Byrd to safety. I wonder if Maybin is going to be used as more of a pass rushing linebacker? I hear that Wood is a monster on the field and has somewhat of a nasty streak. I like the idea of having a lineman like that who just mashes people to the ground! Also heard that he is a pretty smart guy off the field which is what we need to keep some of the "troublemakers" (IE: Lynch, Simpson, and Whitner) in line! If you talk to him, please let him know that we are excited to have him here in Buffalo. I know he will be impressed with the fan rabidness at the Ralph!