AmyUD06

Colossos in Germany was closed for almost 3 full years (2016 to 2019) for "extensive refurb," but that''s the only issue that I could find. It was also the first installation.

I would get there an hour before the posted opening time to be safe. The only place for an adult to ride Woodstock Express is the back. Adventure express, I prefer a middle-row (non-wheel seat) to wards the front, but it really doesn't matter. Flying Ace...if I'm riding it, which I rarely do, it's in the back.

With FL+, you can kinda do whatever you want in any order. But if you have interest in Bat or Woodstock Express, I'd hit those early since neither is on FL.

LOL. Two years (by the time any possible deal is settled, based on the timeline you suggested) is a very long time, and I think it's a bit premature to speculate on what this might mean for SF's licensing deals. Besides, we're not talking about Disney parks here. SF, if they lose the Warner/DC licensing, could very easily and cheaply strip off the "theming" from just about every one of their rides (except maybe the Justice League dark rides) and call it a day. No one would even notice.

That's what it says on their website. Which makes it more insane, since if you come in during the day with your "large" bag, you don't need to leave with it before Haunt.

Photo TR: Haunt Friday, September 16th, My busy schedule this fall only allowed me one trip to Dorney Park this Halloween Season, and it was on the opening night of Haunt. I arrived shortly after park opening at 6:00. My first stop was the security checkpoint. As I mentioned above, Dorney Park (along with KD, KI, and probably a bunch of other CF parks) have instituted a bag restriction policy this year: Nothing bigger than 6.5" x 4.5" x 2" is permitted inside the park. Ladies, I don't need to tell you how absolutely impossible it is to find any kind of bag that is that small. This closest I could find was this, with dimensions of 6.8" by 4.5." Surely they wouldn't be measuring, and this extremely slight overage would be allowed, right? Nope, not at all. They have a wooden box that is sized to the allowed dimensions, and if the bag doesn't fit, it's not allowed. The person checking bags asked two other people for confirmation, and the decision was "You've gotta return it to your car." Seriously, if you wanted a "no bags allowed period" policy, just state that. If anyone has any suggestions of a small purse that meets these inane requirements, please let me know for future trips to CF parks. That out of the way, I made my way inside, and redeemed my season Fast Lane pass, which (as it did last year), also includes Fright Lane. Grabbed a quick ride on Talon (two train wait for row 7). I said it last year, and its more true this year: This thing needs a paint job. I double-backed up to the gift shop, to see if they sold any bags that comply with their policy - of course they don't - and grabbed a pretzel from Auntie Anne's. After a quick photo of one of the bars... ...I was back in the Hydra plaza area to catch the beginning of the Illuminightmares show, which despite its name, is really just drummers playing over some backing tracks with some dancers. Meh. At least they reused the stage from last year's opening ceremony show. I made my way down through the CarnEvil scare zone, which is a little tired by this point, but I did find the bubble machine to be a nice change from the ever-present fog machines. I hopped on Demon Drop (walk on, solo ride); I always forget how intense these first-gen Intamin towers are. Then it was time for my first haunted maze of the 2022 season: Roadside Stop and Chop. Yes, they've finally stopped calling it Cornstalkers! This maze mixes up a few different themes, to good effect. You start in the above pictured building, which is done up to represent a hillbilly rest stop on a highway, then proceed into a small section of corn maze. You then alternate between butcher-shop style areas, corn mazes, and other "redneck" themed areas, until you get the end. There was even a human petting zoo! Very well done, and a ton of actors (at least 30). I don't have any idea what this says, but thought it looked cool, so here's a picture. Tell me this isn't supposed to be Oogie Boogie from The Nightmare Before Christmas. Pretty sure that's a Disney property, CF. Thunderhawk's lights are still running in a steady-burn, as opposed to the chaser pattern of years past. My next haunted area was The Lair, which is kinda a cross between a maze and a scare zone, in that there's only one way in but there's no queue or grouping. Well done, again with a ton of actors. Towards the back of the park, I took in Trick or Treat, which seems better in terms of artistry from years passed, but still too many unadorned black hallways. In contrast to the previous mazes, there were only 10-15 actors in this one. I also grabbed a walk through Necropolis, which is a graveyard setup in the field next to the old Dinosaurs Alive walkway. Marked improvement from last year (the path was much more clearly marked). Decent amount of actors here. Yes, there is still no activity at the old Laser/Stinger site. Next up it was time for Enigma... ...which, just like last year (noticing a pattern here?) was a good concept with okay execution. Not a lot of actors in here either (only counted 7), but I guess it doesn't need them since most of the point is the disorienting visuals. Another of the bars... ...and a picture of the menu. Only what was listed is available; no custom cocktails here. I blame Pennsylvania's weird alcohol rules. After a quick ride on Possessed (1 cycle wait for row 12, of course no holding brake), I took in the Skeleton Crew show after a reccomendation from an employee who said it was "all new this year." It was not. The show is comprised of four different acts: and aerialist, a hoop-roller, a fire-twirler, and the trademark "guys falling off the building and bouncing." Good enough I guess, but not anything I hadn't seen before. The pirate area is very well done though. As is the Hollow, with all of the jack-o-lanterns. I guess maybe that wasn't Oogie Boogie before, since they had a few more of those things set up elsewhere without trademarked characters. The next maze up was Tourist Trap, which by this time (around 8:45), the mazes had started to develop some lines. I found this pretty well done, the maze was very long with a lot of actors and great artistry. That said, this house has been around for a long, long time, and it might be time for a re-theme. Next up was Blood on the Bayou, which from the barker and beads all over the front, you might think had been modified to be a Mardi Gras theme.... ...but alas, was pretty much unaffected from last year. Notably, this one had a 7 minute wait with Fright Lane due to the merge point. This one was very good, as it usually is, with over 40 actors and a ton of different well done scenes. Blackout, the pitch-black maze, was not open tonight, so that about wrapped up my activities. I took a walk through the Dystopia scare zone, which I had thought would be better at night than it was... ...and grabbed some pictures of the Dorney Park Haunt staples... ...and made my way out and started my drive home. Overall, I'm glad I started my Halloween-in-parks season here rather than closing it out with this park like I did last year, since things can only get better. Seriously though, it wasn't bad by any stretch of the imagination...it's just very samey with very few differences compared to previous years. And that bag policy needs serious work. Next Stop: Kings Dominion next weekend.

So I'm at Dorney for the opening night of Haunt tonight, and let me tell you they are super strict about the bag policy. They have a wooden box sized to the limit, and if your bag does not fit, it can't come in. Male-identified individuals have no idea how impossible it is to find a crossbody bag that is smaller than 6.5x4.5. In preparation, I managed to find one that was 6.75,hoping that they'd just let it go... But nope. Absolutely nuts, Cedar Fair. Poor showing.

I believe at most parks the Q-Bot wristband/watch is still an option.

I've never been, so maybe locals can correct me, but this seems like a place along the lines of Conneaut that it would better off just letting it die. They did let a Schwarzkopf Shuttle Loop rot in a field for 12 years, y'know. Let Knoebel's buy the Roll-o-Plane and Whip for spares parts for their rides, and maybe the Rock-o-Plane and Trabant to add to the park, and call it a day.

New ice cream flavor? It sounds delicious. So long as there's no pumpkin in it.

This man speaks the truth.

Yep, even on the nights they only open at night, if last year is anything to go by.

Try hitting up @Kyndmusic. He doesn't post much, but was a big help when I made my inaugural trip there last fall.

This! Everything about Dragster made it the better ride than Ka, who cares about 8mph and 45 feet? In addition to all of the things you listed, what really pushed Dragster over the top for me is the "all force at once" launch, as opposed to the "okay, lets go....now lets go a little faster....now lets go full speed" launch of Ka. Dragster also kept its smoothness through its entire life, as opposed to Ka which got horribly rattle-y after the first few years. And since we're wildly speculating with ideas that will never ever happen, I would not be upset if they put a vertical loop on top of the spike to reclaim the height record.

This is the first I've heard of this "theory." How exactly are they going to do a swing launch without constructing a massive rear spike for the train to "swing" onto?

If only they would follow through.... Shorter lines for the rest of us.

My faith lies in the "as you know it" phrase, but I hope for all that is good in the world that they do not do to it what they're doing to Montezooma. Everything Kumbak makes can die in a fire.

It was my first time in Vermont. Coming from the NJ/PA area, where things are open quite late and rest areas are everywhere, it was quite a shock. I get that. I really did enjoy it; it was probably my favorite park overall of this trip. Damnation, so I did miss one. I'm already planning a trip back up to Canobie Lake next year so I'll have to swing by Palace Playland and Funtown again for night rides on Excalibur. How is that beach town? Anything like Wildwood or Ocean City MD?

So after my long day trekking through most of the New England States, I arrived at what was easily the largest Best Western branded hotel I'd ever seen. 6 Stories tall with two restaurants, a bar, conference and event rooms, it played host to some sort of teenage hockey tournament as well as a Quinceanera party, so yeah I thought it wouldn't be all that quiet. Thankfully, I was adequately separated from all the crowds and was able to get a solid night's sleep. The next morning I was on the road for my second trip ever to... Six Flags New England, Agawam MA As pretty much everyone has been here multiple times, and my goal today was just to get the credits I missed on my 2017 trip I didn't take any photos worth posting, My rides here were: -Pandemonium, two-train wait. Plenty of spinning but the course made it better, much more so than a spinning mouse. Still, 6/10. -Gotham City Gauntlet, walk-on. Whatever, it's a mouse; no rating. -Catwoman (no-apostrophe-S) Whip, walk on for row 16. Same ride as Rudy's Rapid Transit at Santa's Village and Harley Blackbeard's Lost Crazy Treasure Train at SFGAdv; no rating. -Riddler (no-apostrophe-S) Revenge, 6 minutes for front row. It has the new vest restraints, which are nice, but still not quite as smooth as as Great Nor'Easter. 6/10. -Joker, 10 minute wait for back row. One and a half flips. I still don't really like these, but due to the limited flipping, 4/10. -The Great Escape, walk on for back row. One pop of air in the back row, but otherwise it's a kiddie coaster; no rating. -Flashback, 4 minutes for front row. Possibly the worst boomerang I'd ever been on to that point. 0/10. I also grabbed a front row ride on Superman (30 minute wait) and can safely say that his has dropped to the bottom of my Top 10 steel coasters, entirely due to the restraints. Wicked Cyclone was posting a 60 minute wait, and it looked it, and Thunderbolt's line was way too long, so I beat feet out of there and was on the road to my next credit-makeup stop... Lake Compounce, Bristol CT Wildcat was down for refurbishment during my 2017 trip, and I had skipped Zoomerang then too, so I had these two to make up. First up was Wildcat. A nice homage to the past... And the ride sure is photogenic.... Don't mind the half-a-brake (look close; it's missing one of the pads). New wood right where it matters most. (/s) The little black cat prop was the best part of this ride. So what did I think of this 1927 classic? After a 40 (yes, 40!) minute wait for the front row, for a while there (the lift through the second turn), I thought, "Hey, this might not be so bad." Then the pain began. The restraints just clamped super hard (Millennium Flyers did not help this coaster) and the train just jackhammered all over the place. To quote my notes video, "Absolutely horrible, burn it to the fucking ground. Horrible, horrible ride." Negative-Infinity/10 Oh, wait, there was actually an awesome part of this, but it happened in the queue. The ride op at the panel was on their game when it came to catching line cutters. So many people would use the old "joining up with the rest of their party" trick, and if the ride op didn't call them out while they were doing it and send them back, they waited until they lined up at a gate and told them "You're not riding, walk on through. If you sit down, I'm not dispatching the train and I'm calling security." It was absolutely beautiful. I also rode Zoomerang here, a 6 minute wait for row 5. It was slightly better than the Boomerang at SFNE, but not by much. 1/10. At least the new paint job looks nice. And that about did it for this park. I thought about taking a lap on Boulder Dash (it is in my Top 10 woodies, after all), but having read recent reports and not wanting to sully my memory of it, I skipped it. That about wraps up my two-day blitz through almost every park New England has to offer; I only skipped Quassy due to nothing new since my 2017 trip, and Edaville, since they never reopened post-COVID. If I had to do it again, I'd definitely budget more days into the trip, and spend a lot more time at Canobie Lake Park, which was easily the star of this trip despite only having one solid coaster. I do have a question if there's any Vermont natives on here: Why is there only one actual rest area on I-91, and why does it close at 7 PM? Seriously it's a three hour ride from the MA border to Canada and there is just that one place on the highway with a bathroom. Those stupid "parking areas" with no facilities do not count. But wait, there's more! After fighting my way through the Cross Bronx Expressway and GW Bridge back into NJ, I decided to try to hit two Jersey boardwalk parks where I missed credits during my 2021 quest to get them all. The first stop was in Keansburg, to be greeted by a still-closed Looping Star and a Sea Serpent kiddie coaster that I was told adults couldn't ride. At least I could take in their classic haunted walk-through, right? Sadly, no. When I walked by it, it was open, but after I bought tickets and went back, a chain was across the entrance and there was no staff in sight. So back in my car I got, and down to Seaside Heights I went, for Xola Loco, that had opened since my last trip. Unfortunately, the flipping hamster-wheel cars line was about 10 times the length of the spinning cars line, so I just rode in a spinner after a one train wait, but hey, it's a credit. I also tried unsuccessfully for a ride on their indoor scrambler, Centrifuge, but was denied - No Single Riders, for some stupid reason. I grabbed a slice of Three Brothers Pizza, and made my way back home to Delaware. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed reading. This about gets me caught up on TRs from this summer...my next trips won't be until the Haunt events start at the CF Parks in a few weeks. Take care!

Yeah, as @michaellynn4said, cute theory. Not going to happen. What would their motivation be for removal of the arena? It's a bowl in a mound of dirt, there's no infrastructure to fall apart.

To wrap out day one of this trip, I made it to my next destination at just after 7 PM for a 10 o'clock closing. And honestly, I'm glad I didn't spend more time at other parks earlier in the trip since I truly did love... Canobie Lake Park, Salem NH (Massively underexposed picture of the main gate purposefully not show). I don't know what it was, but this park had a ton of charm, and I really wish I had more time to spend here, in the daylight, when I wasn't tired from visiting 3 other parks earlier in the day and driving a total of almost 300 miles. That said, I did get on the two coasters and the dark ride, and took pictures of pretty much everything else. Of course, since those pictures are mostly at night, my phone probably did a shitty job of them, so apologies in advance. On with the photos! I noticed this at a lot New England parks....you guys sure do love your misnamed funnel cake. Awesome theme on this Matterhorn. Getting ready for Halloween. And onto the first coaster here...Yankee Cannonball! Yes, this is where the queue line started. They were only running one train, so I had a massive 51 minute wait for the back row. Ouch! That said, it was more than worth it! PTC with buzz bars and skid brakes? Awesome. It was very smooth with a couple of nice pops of air, better than decent laterals, overall a very quality ride. 9/10. Just put on that second train when the park is packed! It's not every day you see one of these left in an amusement park...a Pinball Parlor! Back outside, continuing my lap in search of some soft preztels (I hadn't eaten anything since breakfast around 13 hours ago)... Finally, I found some, and then it was time for the only other real roller coaster here, Untamed. Warning: Nerd Shots. On this, I had a 23 minute wait for the front row, left edge. It's a Eurofighter but with shoulder restraints, and in my notes video I commented "like Hyrdus, but worse" and I think that about sums it up. 4/10. Moving along.... I laughed at the "Ages 3 and Up Only" sign on the kiddie whip...so can full grown adults ride this? I didn't try. Some more pre-Halloween setup. An actual Chance Rotor! Nice. The water park was closed by the time I arrived. An arcade with non-redemption games? Gasp! Cool looking log flume that was skipped for time and non-desire for wetness. But what I did ride in the back part of the park was the Mine of Lost Souls dark ride. Complete walk-on, and had some very nice animatronics and scenes. Very nice. 8/10. Sadly all my photos came out way too blurry to post. The Ferris Wheel lighting package could use some work (this was not in the middle of a pattern). "I'm not paying that much for popcorn from Popcorn Stall 2!" Seriously, I had never seen an actual popcorn-shaped popcorn stall outside of Roller Coaster Tycoon. And I'll end this part of the report with a shot of Ice Jet at night. I swung back by Yankee Cannonball hoping for a second ride, but the queue was long and I'd been awake for a long, long time, and still had an hour drive to my hotel, so I decided to take off. I will be back here for a more proper day next year, that's for sure. And that about does it for new parks for me on this trip. For anyone considering a similar blitz credit run through these four parks in a single day like I did...it's doable, but it's kinda a miserable day. Stay tuned, there's more to come!

Moving right along, my next stop on this rapid tour was.... Funtown Splashtown USA, Saco ME This was a much more balanced park, but had a decidedly "permanent-carnival" feel. In addition to the rides section, they also have a small waterpark and a go-kart track. Just check out the park map: The first ride you come across is their Asian-themed drop dower, Dragon's Descent. Really this hut and the area beyond it were the only Asian-themed things in this "area," a trend which will appear later. There's also a small picnic area right near the entrance as well. On to the rest of the park... A cool name for the bumper cars. Does every New England park have one of these rock-panning things? So I had heard lots of awesome things about the Astrosphere...unfortunately, if I wanted to make it to Canobie Lake Park with adequate time, with this line, it had to skipped. The first coaster of two here, a standard portable Maurer Wild Mouse. I had an 18 minute wait and that's about all there is to say about it; it's a Wild Mouse. They were running more than one car on the course at a time though, so I guess it's better than Dorney's? They too had one of those flat canoe rides. And then we come to.... Seriously, was there supposed to be more on the other side of this bridge, in the "Camelot" section? The only things that exist are Excalibur and a gift shop. Anyway, onto Excalibur itself. A cute little warning sign. In theory, this is absolutely ingenious...extend the front and back row lines back as far as possible. Unfortunately, what this resulted in was people in the big pre-separated line just crowding up the middle path for "all other rows," leading to plenty of empty rows happening while the front and back rows were absolutely massive. Given that this coaster only has one train, it's kinda a problem. That said, I love the theming on this. Though I don't understand why Galahad is ahead of Lancelot 25 minute wait for row 2. This was easily the best ride of the trip so far. Quite a few pops of air time, great laterals, but a little janky around the corners. Not a top-10 quality ride, but very good. 7/10. It's also worth noting that this ride is at the very back of the park, which is shaped like a U, with no path to make it a full loop, so I had to walk back through everything else to exit. Which I did, and hit the road for what was possibly the best park of the trip...

The next stop on my agenda for Saturday was.... Story Land, Intervale NH This is another family-focused park, with not too much for adult thrill seekers (besides Roar-O-Saurus). Thankfully, this place was included on my Palace Entertainment Platinum Pass, but I did find a lot of the kids stuff to be super cute. On with the report! First, the very bare-bones entrance plaza... ...and some sorely missed corporate sponsorship. So the first thing you come across here (if you go to the right, anyway), is life-size recreations of all of your favorite fairy tales. Here in the "kingdom" themed area, you have a few more classic examples... Including a pumpkin coach ride to... ...Cinderella's castle, complete with meet-n'-greets and photo ops. They also had this cool "assisted dress up" where staff would help your kid become a princess, knight, or whatever. There was a very small pirate themed area.... ...with a riverboat ride... ...and climbing structure (identical to one that used to be at an elementary school near my parent's house in Central NJ)... ...and a pretend jail. There was a "tales from around the world" section. This was apparently some sort of dark ride or walk through experience, but was closed. And finally, we come across the first coaster...Polar Coaster. Sadly not air conditioned on this very hot day. Anyway, this is a Hopkins/Morgan family coaster. About a 20 minute wait for the back row. Some decent forces throughout, especially on the final helix...kinda surprising for an obvious kiddie coaster. Some of the rest of the park.... ...including a splash battle... ...and their own version of a flying shoe ride. They even have a ball pit, sort of! Finally, it was time for the crown jewel of this park (or was it?), Roar-O-Saurus. It definitely is photogenic. 28 minute wait for the back row. It had a couple of nice pops of air, but it suffers from the same problem that Mine Blower does - on any kind of a turn, it jackhammers and shuffles around like its the trains job, slamming you every which way. Not fun. 3/10. Rounding out this park, here are some of the final pictures. And I'll close this par of the report with a truth-telling bag seen in the gift shop, featuring an insightful quote from a true legend.

On the weekend of August 19th through the 21st, 2022, I decided to do a blitz trip of almost all of the New England parks. Most of these were first-time visits, and the trip also included return trips to SFNE and Lake Compounce to grab the credits that I had missed during my initial trip to these parks in 2017. So I had worked midnight shift the night before this trip began, getting off of work at 7 AM. I was home and in bed by 8, grabbed a couple hours of sleep, and was on the road by 2:00 PM. My destination? An overnight stay in White River Junction, VT, to get a proper start on the trip the next day. This drive should have taken me only around 7 hours, but due to ever-present NY traffic, it took closer to 9, and I got into town and checked in to the Hotel Coolidge around 10:30. And let me tell you, this is small town America at its core - absolutely nothing was open. The hotel was very cute and boutique-y and was on a quintessential main street though, so it had that going for it. It was also right across the street from the "Center For Cartoon Studies", which apparently offers college-level degrees in cartoons. Yep, I'm in New England all right. The room, however, was extremely tiny for the cost (around $130): When I woke up, I grabbed breakfast at a classic small-town diner, and on my way back to the hotel noticed that nearby was a restored steam locomotive. Non-train-fanatics can skip ahead to the next text. I checked out, and was on the road to my first park stop of this trip... Santa's Village, Jefferson NH This was a quaint little family park, themed around Christmas of course, featuring two coasters and a pretty cool shooting dark ride. This place was surprisingly busy, which I guess makes sense being the only park in a 2 hour radius. On with the photos! The entry way. Once inside, you're greeted with very cutely decorated architecture from some period which I can't name. ...and a ride. Sorry, I know it's hard to tell due to the blurriness, but all of the "horses" on this carousel are reindeer. And we come to the first ride I rode, The Great Humbug Adventure. This is a shooting dark ride where you are trying to exterminate "humbugs," which apparent look like this: ...and stop them from stealing the Christmas spirit, or something? I don't know. The ride was fun, though, with plenty of animatronics inside on the course. I had an 18 minute wait. The queue was quite well done as well, including this animatronic guy explaining the premise. And here's a shot of the ride vehicles. Moving along... They had a log flume that was laid into the ground for the most park, and was very difficult to take other pictures of, and (from the sight of exiting guests) got you soaked. Pass. ...Which brings me to my next ride... Poogee Penguin's Spin Out Coaster, a SBF Visa spinner with a longer double-figure-8 layout. Okay, so I didn't ride this until I was about to leave, because it kept going in and out of operation, but when I did, I had a 21 minute wait and a not-very-spinny 3 lap ride, which was nice for me. Yes, this is the same ride that seriously injured a 51-year-old ride op a week later. Moving right along....there was some sort of kids show in here. Well-hidden bumper cars. They did have park-style swings everywhere. And they served beer! Guess they had to have something for the adults to do. They also have a small petting zoo. And this comically-named tube-down-a-hill slide. Going by the signage, this is apparently open in the winter, and is probably a bit more fun then. There were also these little elf dudes all around the park, each named for a different letter of the alphabet, and kids could put cards into the white boxes and pull the lever and it would punch a hole in their card. If you collect all of the elf-hole-punches, you get some sort of special prize, which I did not figure out what it was and the website doesn't say. For how well themed most of the park was, these plain buildings really stood out. Amusingly I did not spontaneously combust while taking this picture (yes, I made the same joke at Holiday World, sue me). Even in a park clearly marketed at families....C'mon, Cedar Fair! This was all this ride was. Get in the boat at one end, and let the current bring you to the other. Weird. Some vintage fire engines, for those into that sort of thing... ...right next to the kinda-out-of-place firefighting ride. Which finally brings me to the last coaster, Rudy's Rapid Transit. This is the same model of Zierer as is at SFNE and SFGAdv, and was a walk-on for back row. This is kinda in a dead end of the park, the only thing beyond it being a small water park, so I guess that explains the lack of crowds. It was fun for what it was, despite sitting in the station for 10 minutes while the ride ops figured out if they wanted to start the ride or wait for more passengers. Honestly, I only hit this park for the credits, figuring my chances of ever being this far north again were pretty slim. I'd like to say this report will get more interesting soon, but it probably won't for a while. Hang on though, because it does get good, I promise!

Honestly I think all it needs are the new Vekoma vest-restraint trains and it'll be perfectly fine.