sscamatt

Anyone have an idea if Two-Face will open this season?

In the Malibu Beach Party show, the radio station has two DJ's whose names start with "T" and "A". It is often refered to the "T and A" show, so the sexual references are plentyful

I didn't even notice this until you pointed it out. I bet there are a bunch of other references like this in the park.

It was bike week in the area, so a majority of visitors were there to attend the bike related events and not any amusements. I'm tossed up to whether or not this had any effect on attendance. I would say it is too early to tell how well the park will do.

Headed to Hard Rock Park on Sunday, May 25, 2008. We had originally planned to visit on Tue 5/27, but the park removed some days last minute. Luckily we were able to reverse part of our trip so we could visit. Park admission is $50 + tax with parking being $10. We arrived around 9:40 for 10am opening and were one of the first cars. Before we bought our tickets, we were informed that Maximum RPM and Slippery When Wet would not open today. I know Maximum RPM is not ready yet. An employee working near Slippery When Wet said that she thought the closure had something to do with the brakes being very abrupt and people complaining. The overall atmosphere of the park is very laid back. The employees seem to be having a genuinely great time and that seems to rub off on the guests. Now onto the pictures: The park didn't get much busier as the day went on: A good warning sign before you get into the park: The park looks great, with a lot of attention to detail that had visually paid off: The airport is nearby, planes fly really close by: The morning walk to Led Zepplin was one of the most civilized morning walks to a morning ride I've seen. We weren't even being led by an employee and nobody ran! A world of difference compared to SFoG where the running off the bulls for Goliath takes place. Led Zepplin was first. The pre-show is alright, but the ride is awesome. The zero-g roll is probably one of the best I've been on. The speakers on the train complete the ride. The water guitar that places music: The queuing pre-show queuing area, surprisingly everyone stays on their number and even goes to the correct row boarding the train: Aww: British Invasion (This land seems to have a lot to do with drugs): Maximum RPM is still not open, but they did seem to be working on it even though it was Sunday: The Roadies show was pretty good: Complete with the Bear Metal Family: There is this awesome ball game that everyone seemed to enjoy: Moody Blues - The Trip, is just that, a trip. Words cannot describe how messed up this ride is, its a virtual acid trip: Shake Rattle and Rollercoaster was really good. We got stuck at the top of the lift hill for about 10 minutes: Eagles Life in The Fast Lane: The already famous urinals: There was a country ice show in this theater, it was high quality: and of course the squirting cow: One of the street shows was with bike tricks: Haha: Stickers like these were on all the electrical transformers: Slippery when wet was closed for the day:

I almost got wallyworld'd out of Hard Rock Park this week. We had plans to visit during out roadtrip on Tuesday May 27th for a few months now. I just re-checked the schedule a week ago and found out that they were now closed. Luckily I was able to reverse a part of the trip in order to visit today. A hotel was almost impossible to find because of the big bike weekend that was being held. If it's such a soft opening, they shouldn't advertise it so heavily on all of the billboards on the way in. There is even one that states "Now open daily".

Our first stop on the road trip (we don't count Pedroland Park at South of the Border because the coaster has been SBNO for a long time). It's black bike week in Myrtle Beach this weekend. There were an estimated 350,000 bikers in attendance last year, so traffic was horrible. It took over an hour to move 5 miles on US501. We arrived at the park around 7pm. The park had been open since around 1pm and when we got there it was pretty empty. All of the traffic and bikers may have scared away any families from attending. As you can see, it was still early and there were a ton of bikers already: Here is the price list, we got a POP bracelet for $22.75 plus tax. Speedy Gonzalez has a maximum height limit of 50". Asking the operators if we could ride got us a very stern "NO". This credit is nearly impossible to get: Swamp Fox from across the "swamp". The ride was really fun and I can see why it once ranked really highly. It looks like there has been some retracking done on the first two dips. I would suggest front seat on this ride: They have a Hopkins log flume with an "airtime" hill: If you eat at Friendly's, this can be your view from the window next to your table. While we ate, we saw a girl put her hand in the trough, scoop some water out, and then drink it. They also re-rode and did it again. I can't imagine what the motivation to do this would be. We rode the Sally dark ride. Very low scores compared to others I have been on. The targets are really hard to hit/many don't work. The launch tower. The launch is awesome...followed by an ok drop: Their new advertising campaign jabs at Hard Rock Park: And some night shots of myrtle: If you visit, I would suggest the POP bracelet even if you only want to ride Swamp Fox. It is a very enjoyable and re-ridable coaster.

I was taking a trip from back from Maryland to upstate NY, so of course there were some amusement parks to visit along the way. First stop was Dutch Wonderland in Lancaster, PA. It's a small park, very clean, and VERY family oriented. My car was one of the few in the lot that wasn't a van or SUV. Park was somewhat busy, but it was early, so most things were walk on. Kingdom coaster was first. I think this was CCI's first coaster. Not really any airtime, but probably the smoothest junior wooden coaster I've been on. (I thought I had more pictures of the coaster than this, but apparently not) Joust was next, pretty lame, even for a junior steel. A lot of the rides in the park are made of adult sized components, but tamed down for smaller children, making it a good place for families to enjoy the rides together: Kind of dangerous if you ask me: More like “boat food”: They have two C.P. Huntington's in the same station: I just got my credits and left shortly after. There aren't a ton of rides for adults, but a great park for families: Knoebels is ~2 hour drive north of Dutch Wonderland. It was around 11:30 now, so Knoebels would be the perfect place to grab some lunch and ride a few rides. A visit to central PA is not complete without a visit to Wawa (it's like a nicer 711): Knoebels is pretty much in the middle of nowhere. Most GPS devices don't recognize it's location, so have to go old school and whip out the paper directions. It was pretty busy today (compared to the last time I visited in 2007). They were running the tram. The tram is quite the ride, makes you feel like you've time warped to the 1950's or something: It's still too cold for the crystal pool: Twister was running a bit smoother than in 2007. I think there was some track work done on some of the valleys. They were running one train, it was about a 3-4 train wait: Knoebels in one of the few parks that allows you to bring a pet dog with you. It's a really nice and homey kind of place: Flying turns is still not open, it looks like they are still experimenting with different train configurations: Other than the trains, the ride seems to be complete: Phoenix was next, the ride had a bit of a line (out to the entrance). About a 7-8 train wait for middle rows. (also running one train): The new for 2008 ride is located near Phoenix. It was not yet open, but they definitely got it second hand: One of the best haunted houses in the country. (It's actually scary): Got some awesome lunch from the food court. The variety and wholesomeness of the food at this park is ridiculous. It's no wonder they win the best park food golden ticket. View from the top of the sky ride: Are these the Knoebels moonshine tanks? Headed out after ~2 hours at the park. Knoebels is a great park to spend a few hours in since parking is free, admission is free, and the ride prices are reasonable. I'm not in any way saying your can't spent a whole day here though.

Out in LA this week, First stop was Six Flags Magic Mountain. Being from the Northeast, I guess 65 is not shorts/tshirt weather in California as we were the only ones wearing them. Arrived at the park around 9:40am with not many cars in the parking lot: Rode the tram in beause it was waiting at the drop when we arrived. The tram car itself was a dump. A little refurb would be nice on them. Smelling gas the whole ride isn't exactly enjoyable. (I don't have a pic) First stop was security. Kudos to magic mountain for having people going through security way before you get to the ticket gate. It gets things moving quicker once the gate actually opens. First stop was season pass processing. I got my season pass here since it was my first six flags of the year and I found it really cheap online ($45). I like how they make the guest type in their info into the computers instead of writing it on paper and the employee doing it. We got to bypass this because we had our info entered in the online system when we bought our passes. My season pass also came with a flashpass for X2 in June. If anyone wants it and is really going to use it, I can mail it to you. Just send me a message. Now onto the rides! Headed up the left side up the park and rode Viper: There was advertising for X2 all over the park: Tatsu was next, this is my new favorite flying coaster and now in my top 10 steel: Deja Vu was closed all day I'm now 0 for 2 on Inverted Boomerangs. (SFoGA was the first miss) Rode Riddler's revenge next: Headed over to Gotham City to ride: Ate some lunch then headed over to Gold Rusher for a ride on a classic mine ride. After Gold Rusher, went over to ride Ninja, but found it closed. Superman: The Escape was next. Only the right side was running. Although it was a fun ride, the launch is pretty tame if you have ridden TTD and Kingda Ka. But, considering it's a bit older than them, it's still pretty cool. Anyone know why the ride is so loud? This picture was on the door before you got on the ride. It might be a little bit sexist? Revolution was next. In the world of steel coasters, this is a classic. Headed over to kiddie land to ride canyon blaster and saw this on the way. Cage: the ride? Time to ride Canyon Blaster: Goliath next: Colossus was only running the left track (or right if you are on the ride in the station). The closed side's track was rusty in the station. While on the ride, you could see retracking being done on the second big turn around. The closed side: Scream! was next. They should rename it "Parking lot: The Ride" From the entrance stairs of Scream!, you can see the nice arsenal of fire extinguishers back stage: Back over to Ninja to see if it was open, it was! One last ride on Tatsu before calling it a day

I definitely had a good time. It's always a lot easier to find the bad things about a park than the good ones. I try to be critical in my TR's as having a good time is given at an AMUSEment park.

Was headed to Buffalo to pick up a friend and then go to Canada so we stopped at Darien Lake on the way. We arrived at 3pm and spent about 2 hours at the park. The park is having a special called "Fall Family Fun Fest" where there is free admission, rides can be ridden with individual tickets and you can get a POP wristband for $15. Pretty sweet deal if you ask me. The has free family activities including a hay maze, pumpkin patch, and a small haunted house. Parking was $7 and my Six Flags season pass allowed me to get a POP wristband. I like the park's logo: First up was Predator. The ride was running very poorly. It has a very loud squeak for the entire ride and felt like the wheels weren't even spinning. The ride itself isn't that rough but it seems like some major work is needed. Next up was Superman....I mean "Ride of Steel". All the GP at the park still calls it Superman, it will take a while for the name to go away. Compared to SFNE's, obviously the layout isn't as good, but this one seems to be running a lot smoother than SFNE's. There isn't that whole ride "rattle" effect. They had an interesting way of removing the Superman from the exit gate: Signs were placed at each ride with the amount of tickets needed for that ride. Tickets were sold at any gift shop location: 5 gallon water jugs were used for the employees to put tickets in. They also doubled as a sweet drum for the employee taking tickets: Next up was the Boomerang. Pretty much the standard here: Little did I know you could make a whole queue line with these awful things! Seems they are getting rid of the Vekoma railings and putting in a nice wooden one with spindles. Viper was next. Nothing special here. The loops and corkscrew were very smooth, but the transitions between them weren't. SLC was next. Standard headbanging included: Some other pics from the day: On a side note, while leaving the park, I was offered a hand stamp. Why would I need a hand stamp if there is free admission and/or I have a wristband? Overall, the park was enjoyable. It was clean and the the employees were very safe. Efficiency was a little lacking, but its the end of the season so it's somewhat expected. Ride Count: Ride of Steel: 2 Predator: 1 Viper: 1 Boomerang: 1 Mind Eraser: 1

Do you have a picture of the entire Ravine Flyer 2 sign?

Fun Fore All is located in Cranberry Township, PA. They have a Zampera Mini Mouse coaster. They have crazy hours (9am-11pm daily) so its a perfect place to stop during your travels. We arrived around 9:30am and were the only 2 customers there. It took about 5 minutes for someone to get to the front desk. There were about 5 people working (2 ride attendants outside, 2 managers, and a arcade games attendant). It costs $2 to ride and they send you around 3 times. For being such a small park, they even have a map!:

We took Cedar Point Drive into the park. This is the main way that traffic is routed. It brings you over a bridge sort-of. It really isn't a bridge, more of a bunch of dirt dumped into the water until they could build a road. The first night, we took a back exit out of the parking lot and we ended up taking Cedar Point Rd. I would suggest not taking this way because it is a small road and somewhat out of the way. As long as you are within a few miles of the park, there will be plenty of signs directing you in the right direction, I wouldn't worry about it too much. Here is a pic of the "bridge" on Cedar Point Dr:

Arrived at the park around 3pm. It was a long drive from Dollywood. Kennywood has a Ski Lift to move people to and from the upper parking lot: The entrance area looks fantastic: Once you enter the gates, you must get to the actual park which is across the street. There is a tunnel that you must go through to get there: They even have some awesome paintings on the wall: First ride we saw was the turnpike. We didn't ride, but I snapped some photo's. It's rare to see this body style of antique car that runs on an electric track: Kennywood is full of rare rides that no longer exist anywhere else. One of these is the Kangaroo: First up was the Jack Rabbit. I would suggest riding the back car for the most airtime on this coaster: There are no gates in the station, actually there aren't even any rails at all in the station. The park is very trusting of their guests: Next up was the Racer. The line was somewhat long, but the ride ops were racing it properly: The Auto Race is a must ride if you visit this park. The cars go very fast through the track, it looks as you are watching something in fast forward: The Gold Rusher was next. This is a dark ride that is pretty short and has some old theming. The loading station is outside(where it is very bright) and the inside is very dark. This transition makes it seem even darker inside because your eyes take a while to adjust. It adds a nice effect: Kennywood has a "Potato Patch". They serve fresh cut fries here. I would suggest getting cheese on them: Phantom's Revenge is next. This coaster is unique in that the second drop is actually larger than the first. This is because it drop down into a big ditch. There are a lot of pops of airtime during the second half. The ride is somewhat short, but the way the restraints are designed make it very thrilling: Next up was the Exterminator. It is a nicely themed spinning coaster. This coaster spins a lot!. The line for this was long and moved slow as the coaster has somewhat poor capacity: The S&S Screamin Swing was only running one arm. These things are turning out to be maintenance nightmares: The disk-o (Cosmic Chaos) here is themed to aliens. It looks really nice at night. This disk-o is unique because it has the small disk on the larger track: King Kahuna was next. They weren't running the best program, but it still was a lot of fun. You can see some of the purple paint coming through from when it used to be at Lake Compounce: Thunderbolt was next. This is the best woodie here, and for its age, gives a very good ride. There is no seat divider and there are some strong laterals so they don't allow single riders in a seat: Noah's Ark is a very interesting walk through, another must see if you visit Kennywood. This attraction has a long line and low capacity: Another Kennywood classic is the Turtle: Garfield's Nightmare is a 6 minute boat ride with 3-D effects. This reverse waterwheel is powered by an electric motor and the paddles are what moves the water in the ride: Some other pics from the day: Kennywood really lights up at night: For larger versions of the photos here and for some extra pics: http://www.pbase.com/sscamatt/2007_07_29_kennywood

Its theming, but it is done really well. I would highly suggest getting the Q2Q. We went on a Sunday and the park was packed. It is $10 for the first person and $5 for each additional person plus tax. You can use it to your advantage by queuing up a ride, waiting in line for another, then the second they scan you, queue up the next ride that you want to ride as you are entering the ride. This allows you to wait in line for the next ride while you are riding. You don't actually pull yourself up, if you pull on the rope, a motor pulls you up, but you have to bring in the rope for you to continue upward. I've seen this ride at other parks, but not themed like this. I can't remember off hand where.

What B&M ones have you ridden? I have ridden Superman Ultimate Flight at both SFGdv and SFoG. I was talking more about the awkwardness of the restraints rather than the track layout itself.

Yes it does, you can see my TR here: http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=37759

I was going by the layout that rcdb states. This could be just for the layout which is different than the standard SLC. Either way, it still gives a very rough ride.

Handicap parking is right next to the front gate, but so is the regular parking if you get there early.

The lights were on for both the gravitron and tilt a whirl, but I'm not sure if they were operating.

How was flying turns coming along?

This place is about 15 minutes away from Dollywood and is open 2 hours later than Dollywood. They have a bunch of go-kart tracks and I would have liked to try them out if I had more time. The Speedway Draft is a Zierer kiddie coaster. The operator sent us around 5 times which is the most I've seen done on a kiddie coaster.

We arrived at the park around 11:45am. The park opened at 9am and we would have liked to get to the park at open, but we were dead tired from the day before and it was a little bit of a drive from Holiday World. These pot people are all over the park: We opted to get the Q2Q, this is Dollywood's version of the Q-bot. It is a much better implementation than the Six Flags system. First off, its cheap, for 2 people, it cost us $16.40 total, that's $8.20 a person. The system lets you reserve one ride and one show at a time. Unlike the Six Flags system, you don't have to go to the ride to reserve a ride, they are all on the little handheld device and you can pick where you want to go and the earliest time it will allow. The time that is given is the earliest you can go, but once that time has passed, you will continue to be able to board that ride whenever you want. In other worlds, you can't be late for the ride. In the eyes of Dollywood, as long as you waited your time, you can go to the ride whenever. This is awesome and other parks with some sort of Q-bot should take note. The Q2Q system made the very enjoyable: We reserved Mystery Mine and then rode the Rockin' Roadway: We got off Rockin' Roadway and Mystery Mine was ready for us. It is located in the newest section of the park, timber canyon. Thunderhead, the Timber Tower and Mystery Mine are all located in this area. It is going to connect with the craftsman area of the park for 2008. Mystery Mine was a lot of fun. The coaster itself isn't anything amazing, but the theming around it makes it. The two vertical lift hills are unique and the ride is surely a hit with the general public. If this dark ride/roller coaster combo is the route that new rides are taking, that is fine by me: Next up was Thunderhead. I rank it in my top 5, but some other woodies I've ridden give better rides. Maybe I rode it on an off day: They cook some good food at Dollywood: We queued up the Disk-O on our Q2Q and rode the train, it is a real train unlike what most parks have and takes a nice scenic ride through the woods. It goes around a tour of the 2008 expansion. From the looks of it, the new ride is going to be huge. The pictures I took didn't come out very good because trees block most of the view. Dollywood has interesting flyers: And these giant vegetables: We rode the Veggietales coaster. It is really short and only goes around once. The longest we waited for anything all day. Next up was the Disk-O. It was having some trouble running because of the rain when we got there. The maintenance guy kept wiping something off, he would run it, and it wouldn't make it all the way up. Another maintenance technician came and rode it and all was fine. We got on the first ride after it re-opened. This is the standard run of the mill disk-o and isn't anything special. The one at Kennywood runs a lot better because it has the larger track: Blazing Fury was next. This ride is very interesting to say the least as it was built in house late 70's. They run 3 trains so dispatches are quick: Next up was the Tennessee Tornado. This is probably one of the best Arrow looping coasters ever built, but then again, it is one of the newest so it should be. It is very smooth: Next up was Daredevil Falls, an awesome splash down ride: There is a poncho machine out front: And of course we rode Mountain Sidewinder. Probably the most interesting water ride in a park every built: If you have a basketball, they deflate it before you ride: Then they weigh you on a scale. The boats hold 5 people, but total weight of the boat must be between 400 and 750 pounds. Our boat of 4 was 743 pounds, 7 pounds under the weight limit, so it sure was an interesting ride. The boats are made of some weird foam material. This ride is in the park, but you get soaked! The turns inside are amazing and you feel like you are going to fall out. If your going to Dollywood, this is a must see attraction: We rode the Timber Tower then got re-rides on Thunderhead and Mystery Mine. Your feet will get wet if your in the right place at the right time: The beavers come out, but they weren't spraying water today: Some other photos:

Well in shear number of rides, Kentucky Kingdom has more, but the rides they have aren't anything special. Holiday World on the other hand has 3 awesome woodies, great guest service, and free soda.