swampfox

Hey there all! This is my first photo TR, so please bear with me. This was my first trip in which I have gone to more than two parks. This trip included Kennywood, Hersheypark, Cedar Point, and Kings Island, in that order. Of those parks, I had only been to Hersheypark before, back in 1997 and 2003, so the bulk of the trip was new for me. A word of warning about my style of park visiting. I'm not a marathon coaster rider, but go for the full experience. I love parks at night, and night rides so I always stay until closing, I ride a lot of flats, and I try to take my time just people watching and soaking up all the atmosphere. Me and my dad drove up to the Uniontown area of Pennsylvania on Friday the 18th, as we were staying at a the house of a friend of mine who was also joining us. It was a long six hour drive from southern Virginia to that area, so we pretty much just went to bed after we got there. Saturday was a free day as we didn't want to go to any park on a Saturday. We went and saw Dark Knight instead and rested up for tomorrow. On Sunday we hit Kennywood. We were surprised to see that we had chosen the day of Kennycon, about five company picnics and Thunderbolt's 40th birthday! I suppose this means the crowds were more than usual for a Sunday, but we still had no problems with long lines. First off, after my friend got a locker for his stuff, (the lockers were really cheap, by the way!), we headed to the new Ghostwood Estates. There was no line as it was opening time, and we walked right to the preshow. I liked that aspect. It was very Busch Gardens quality. In fact, the whole ride was. I had trouble seeing the end of my laser from the gun sometimes though. I only rode this once, because I didn't feel it was worth waiting in line for. I'm just not much for these new shooting rides. The first coaster of the day was Exterminator, which was my first spinning mouse ride. I loved it, and tried to get as much spinning in as we could by positioning ourselves in the cars from heaviest to least heavy. It worked I think. Definitely a 5 star ride to me, and one of the most fun on the trip. The rooms were so dark you couldn't see when the turns or hills were coming. We rode the ride two times during the day. After that we headed for the whip, which was an okay ride, and then to Swingshot, which was pretty cool, but too short. Then we noticed that Phantom's Revenge was finally cycling and walked to that. We had a thirty minute wait as they stopped to add the second train and the ride had a bit of a line. There were lots of ACErs there after all. This was only my second hypercoaster, as the only one I had ridden to this point was Apollo's Chariot. I'd say that Phantom's Revenge was about equal to that ride, but offers a completely different experience. Much more ejector air on this one as opposed to floater, and also much more forceful. A five star ride yet again. I noticed locals still called it the Steel Phantom, and the ACErs called it Phantom's Revenge. To not seem like either group, I just called it The Phantom. By the way, I loved the lapbars. After that we headed to Thunderbolt, which was celebrating its 40th birthday that day, which was why ACE was there apparently. To be honest, I was rather disappointed with my first ride on this classic. I found it to be pretty forceless other than the bowl area's laterals. I think it would have been better with trees around it somewhere. I believe there used to be. However, the night ride I got on it was pretty awesome. Sat in the back seat that time and got some insane air. The darkness in the ravine section was pretty sweet as well. The coaster seems to be aging well. Between a four and five star ride. After that we headed to Noah's Ark, which was probably my favorite dark ride ever. Loved the moving floor sections, which were in pitch black darkness on my first walk through. Second time though they were lit. Rode a few flats then walked over to The Racer, which honestly was my favorite coaster at the park. It may not be very forceful, but man is it fun. There was handslapping on the turnarounds, and the crew was probably the most efficient of the park. We rode this ride three times, including one night ride, which was great. When i selected a souvenir shirt from the park, it was a Racer shirt. Five star coaster. Then, as the storm clouds were building up, we rode Jack Rabbit. We rode near the back for our first ride, and got pretty good air on the double dip. It started to rain as our ride started, so it was an interesting experience. After we got off it started thundering and downpouring. After it turned to a steady rain we left to get lunch. It stopped raining after about an hour. Since I don't want this post to be too long, here's some comments about the rest of the day. - King Kahuna has the worst ride program ever. Three consecutive flips, and then the ride stops. Is it due to the accident a few weeks ago? - Garfield's Nightmare kinda sucks, but we only waited fifteen minutes. - I felt ashamed riding Auto Race as I was the only adult without a kid in line. - Pittsburg Plunge is not an acceptable amount of wetness. - The park at night is an experience not to be missed. I have enclosed some night pictures in this TR. - I have decided that people should ask people to marry them on the benches in front of the Racer's marquee by the lake at night. Just a great spot. Odd comment, yeah, but I'm odd myself. I will post day 2, Hersheypark sometime tomorrow.

I doubt it's the old KD Spider parts on site, because that ride was taken down over 20 years ago.

Well, Hersheypark is supposed to be family oriented anyhow. I don't think they cater to thrillseekers like Six Flags used to or how Cedar Fair does. At least that's how they did things before Storm Runner. I haven't been there since that opened. I will next week though.

This sounds great to me, as I love flats, and KD has precious few of those. However, I don't think all those rides can fit in Hypersonic's old footprint. I can see the old El Dorado (Magic Carpet) there, as it fits the 50s restaurant over there. That's a huge ferris wheel too. Does this mean more trees cut down from the Grizzly area? I just hope one day they take down that old waste of space Xtreme Skyflyer. I'm not betting on it though, as it makes them money. Maybe they'll take down Shockwave and put Americana and the Spider there?

And that is exactly what Hershey did this year... True, but taking out two rides the next year for simple attractions (I don't count wave pools and lazy rivers as rides) sort of negates that. I had forgotten all about Howler though.

Just curious, is it possible that you disliked Cedar Point early on due to lack of sleep or something? I know when I'm tired I'm hard to impressed. Weather can also do such things.

I'm going to Cedar Point for the first time next week, but from pictures I've seen, it looks like the park has more trees than Kings Dominion, Carowinds, or SFA. Do the people who say there are no trees not go to the back side of the park or something? I think I'm the only board member that doesn't like Coke and loves Pepsi. Yeah, I like being a heathen that way.

Hopefully if they do split the parks into it's own company, it works better than when Paramount handed over the reigns to CBS. I still feel this is not good news, but it doesn't necessarily mean it's bad news either.

I agree. It seems flats are out of vogue everywhere now. It's easy to see why though, as they don't bring in people. However, I will never get why when building a coaster, a park can't also buy a relatively cheap flat ride as well to round things out. Hersheypark has a lot of little nooks and crannies for flats. In fact, those spaces are about all Hersheypark has left in its current configuration.

I'm actually more sad that their Trabant, Rodeo, is going. I guess it's too old for them though. It does have low ridership after all.

I just wish they'd go ahead and get some flats. There are no Screamin' Swings down this way, nor any Delerium type rides. When Cedar Fair bought the park, I remember them being surprised by the amount of land that they had available, but they have yet to use really any land that was not already used. Seriously, Carowinds is stuck in 2001, as no ride there was patented after that. No new thrills.

I'm one of the few who likes boomerangs, so yay. Though I have to admit, Carowinds gets shafted so much. 8PM closings except weekends, used coasters, only 4 or 5 adult flats rides... You'd think they'd do more with Dollywood and Hard Rock Park both now apparently better destinations than Carowinds.

I'm going to guess that this news about a lawyer is why Batman was closed on Monday until the ride was investigated by a gov. group. Standard procedure in these cases, but it does help bolster the park's argument if sued. I'm guessing a settlement.

I'm glad I decided against going that day.

I really hate their lack of planning when it comes to this waterpark. My guess is that the only way to fix this problem they are gonna have with removing stuff is by making Midway America a part of Boardwalk. Since both coasters are wooden coasters, they would do good in a boardwalk setting, as would Wild Mouse and Musik Express and the Fun Slides. It'd be more like an old fashioned boardwalk than a modern one. Ever seen some of the old Our Gang shorts? Some take place on boardwalks with some pretty big wooden coasters. It's just such a shame that waterparks trump amusement parks these days. In my mind no water park should ever be built on theme park property. It causes problems like people walking around in swim clothes throughout the rest of the park and less flat ride building to focus on more water activities. Water rides like Canyon River Rapids do just fine.

The question is, will they close Canyon River Rapids and Rodeo during this season, or will they wait 'til the season ends?

^^I don't know of any 17 year olds who have their myspace monitered by their parents. Of course, most 17 year olds would not be willing to jump in front of an oncoming coaster Timothy Bottoms-style either. (Timothy Bottoms had more sense though.)

Nice photos! This makes me even more excited for my first trip to the park which takes place in less than 3 weeks.

I'm still not gonna judge. He deserved a slap in the head, but maybe not THAT hard. That's as close to tasteless joke that I get.

I hear ya. I'm starting to think enthusiast should be replaced with elitist. You hear "burn it down" as much as "I love this ride" now. But it's like that with all groups. Ever tried to love movies on internet movie database? Anyways, I don't get the hype about Volcano at KD. Yeah, it's in a big hollow mountain, but really it's so short and required the removal of three better rides to build it.

I'm surprised you got that many rides in on a Saturday, even if it was afternoon. Is Cedar Point's attendance down this year or something? I'm going for my first time for two weekdays in about three weeks. Good TR.

Wow. I think this is the first "meh" TR I've seen of Kennywood. I'm going for my first time in a few weeks. I too think Phantom's Revenge doesn't look too great. I guess I'll have to see for myself. Did you get to ride Cosmic Chaos? Also, has Wildcat at Hersheypark gotten that bad since I went last in 2003, or do I just have a high tolerance for pain? Everyone seems to not like it as much now.

I do agree, the family should not sue. In these cases it's common for there to be a sort of settlement even if the family does not sue though, I think. Sort of a "Please don't sue us, and here's a little gift." The family shouldn't get that, I mean after all, the park already gave them condolences, which to some is obviously more than enough. However, I think the park should put higher fences or barbed wire at the top of them now, just to make it so it doesn't happen again.

^Um, how many teens actually pay attention to their parents? Really, we have no idea what kind of parents the kid had. Heck most kids don't see the parents most of the day anymore, and are effectively raised by their peers, which in my opinion is why most older teenagers are idiots.

^^Actually, if he was with a group of teens, someone could have dared him to do it. In my adolescent psych class, we talked about this thing called the invincibility myth. Believe me, some teens think they are invincible. I'm gonna stand by my opinion and say that nobody, no matter how stupid deserves to die and I don't blame the parents, or anyone else besides the teen that did the act.