AmyUD06

Even when the detector/locker system does work right, it still gums up the works. They need to go back to the under-seat pouches or the pre-queue dectector and locker system. The same goes for Twisted Timbers.

Maybe it was just that particular car on the train. Did you sit in the very back row? And you're lucky about the Wonder House. DW is less than an hour away so I plan on trying to get back up there to get on it before this pass expires at the end of the year.

Photo TR: A quick trip to Kings Island, Memorial Day Weekend 2022. This year I decided to forgo my normal Wildwood MDW excursion and instead headed to Kings Island for Sunday and Monday. After my long 9 hour drive to the park and checking in to my hotel, I headed over, arriving at around 6:30 PM. Looking nice around the entryway and International Street for the 50th! I of course immediately headed for The Beast to check out the new renovations. I won't repost my review from a few posts back, but yeah, it's still awesome. 15 minute wait with FL for the front, 12 minute wait for the back. 11/10. See Kings Dominion, this is how you light up a scrambler! I then hopped on Racer; one train wait for the blue side, row 2. Still smooth with the recent retracking working, and t he new paint job looks nice, but is already starting to get affected by grease coming off the wheels. 8/10. They also had this cool poster out front: Making my way up into Action Zone, I snapped these pictures of the "50th Anniversary VIP Zone," which was just as populated as the one at Cedar Point last year (read: not at all). And the Slingshot is in fact gone: The dedicated Squishmallows store is no more, but you can buy them in most other shops. I ducked out for a quick smoke break, and on my way back in headed to Rivertown, noting that KI has implemented their own "win a skip the line pass" game: Hopped on to Mystic Timbers (one train wait for back row), and after running all day in the 80 degree heat, she was absolutely flying. Probably the best ride I've ever had on it. 11/10. After that, it was around 8:45, and I was dead tired from my long drive out, so I just went back to the hotel and crashed until the next morning. I got back to the park at opening, and hopped on Woodstock Express as part of the early entry (walk on for back row, 6/10) and then made my way over to Racer (one train wait for front row, red side, 8/10), and then backtracked over to Diamondback for a half-train wait on row 2, 7/10. Along the way, I snapped this picture of this big open area which is just screaming for a ride: I then hopped on Flying Ace Aerial Chase (half-train wait for back row) against my better judgement. 1/10. I did realize why Freedom Flyer at Fun Spot Orlando is so much better than this: These cars don't swing at all and are hard-mounted to the bogies. The new paint looks nice at least. Then I took another lap on The Beast (two-train wait for back row); still awesome. Still nothing going on with the Vortex site: I then jumped on Backlot Stunt Coaster (two train wait for back row, helicopter did not move nor did blades spin, but everything else seemed to be working, 6/10) and Bat (19 minutes for row 4, 7/10). I then ducked over to the water park for a bit; man was it packed. This was the line to get in at around 2:00: After about two hours in the water park, I took the train back to see the "revamped" scenes. Meh, just looks like they gave everything a solid power washing and maybe a fresh coat of paint: And here's a video that I shot later in the day: VID_20220530_205021116.mp4 After that, I ducked back to my hotel to take a shower and quick nap, and went back to the park around 7:00. Hopped on Flight of Fear (15 minute wait for front row, 5/10), Orion (two train wait for back row, left edge, 8/10). It is growing on me, but I still doubt it'll ever be a top 10 steel coaster for me. Banshee was next (two train wait for back row, left edge). Still as incredible as always, despite a slight rattle. 9/10. Camped out behind the Miami River Brew House for a little break, and caught this awesome video of Diamondback's splashdown. Rainbow anyone? VID_20220530_201038738.mp4 I then grabbed another ride on Mystic Timbers (2 train wait for front row). Finally got the Tree Monster ending, which I hadn't seen since some of my first rides on it back in 2017. I then basically did laps on the train waiting for it to get dark, snapping a few cool pics along the way: Still had a bit of time before it was dark enough, so I snagged another ride on Mystic Timbers (half-train wait for back row), and finally it was time for my night ride on The Beast. Got in line around 9:25 and saw two trains go out before they closed for fireworks, yadda yadda, didn't get the front. Total wait of about an hour and a half, including fireworks shutdown, for row 2. Not as awesome as the front, but still awesome. And that about wrapped up this trip. Back to the hotel and into bed, for my long drive home the next day. So long, Kings Island! Thanks for reading; my next planned trip is a rather large road trip including my first ever visits to Idlewild, Camden Park, Kentucky Kingdom, Holiday World, and (fingers crossed) Stricker's Grove.

Onto everyone's favorite candy-themed amusement park, Hersheypark! I got to the park around 5:40 PM for my "preview night," just enough time to get 2 of my 3 missing credits from this park. While in line for the Wild Mouse, I noticed that Wildcat has a new(-er) sign than I remember: As for the Wild Mouse, I had an 18 minute wait for the back row, car to myself. There were ZERO brake application during the initial back-and-forth part, leading to some insane laterals, and the final brakes didn't try to throw you out of the car. There were also like 5 cars out on the course at a time; this is how you run a Wild Mouse, Kings Dominion! Anyway, probably the best wild mouse I've ever been on, but still a wild mouse...6/10. Up next was Laff Trakk, which I had skipped on my previous visits in 2020 and 2017, as at the time I didn't do spinning coasters at all. Now that I've realized they're not so bad, I had a credit to grab! Cute little cutout in the queue line... As for the ride itself, meh. Had a 40 minute wait to start backwards. Still not a big fan of most spinning coasters, but this one was made better by getting paired with a 30-something year old woman who wouldn't stop screaming the entire ride. 4/10. I got off Laff Trakk at like 6:56 (for a 7:00 closing), and tried to make my way over to Fahrenheit to get in a lap on my 2nd favorite coaster here before close, but it was not to be. I arrived back at the park at around 10:40 for a 11:00 opening, and found this awaiting me: Eeesh. Anyway, upon entry I bypassed Candymonium (I wasn't very impressed back when I first rode it in 2020), and made my way to my last missing credit from this park: Cocoa Cruiser! Yes, the kiddie coaster. I had a two cycle wait for the back row. Whatever, it's a kiddie coaster - nothing that notable. 4/10. I then hopped on Fahrenheit, with a 15 minute for the back row. Awesome ride as always (greyed out a little bit on the pretzel loop!), but starting to get a little rattle-y, and despite running only two trains, still stacked upon return for the station (this would be the theme of the day). 8/10. Obligatory nerd shot: Next on the agenda was Lightning Racer (one train wait for back row on Thunder side, won the race). Good enough, but has definitely started to develop Wildcat/Apocalypse syndrome and is getting a bit rough. 6/10. Honestly hoping for it to be torn down in favor of a massive water park expansion, which this park desperately needs. I took a detour through the Boardwalk, which was dead on this cool, overcast day, and noted that the lazy river has been added to Fast Track. About damned time (cue my detractors who think I only care about the skip-the-line experience at parks. ;)) Made my way over to the "new" area with the two Jolly Rancher rides: Mix'd Flavored by Jolly Rancher and Jolly Rancher Remix. Yes, these are the actual names of the rides. Having been on plenty of boomerangs before, including this one, I skipped it, but I did wait 10 minutes for the Zamperla NebulaZ. This was my first time on one of these. A Zamperla ride with uncomfortable seats, you don't say? Meh...didn't really do anything for me; couple of nice bits of floater air at the top of the rotations, and a decently long enough cycle, but one-and-done. 6/10. Next up was Storm Runner, which had been closed during my 2020 trip. 20 minute wait for the front row; I really forgot how awesome this ride is. It's no Top Thrill Dragster, sure, but neither is that ride anymore being closed indefinitely. 9/10. While in the station, I noticed something on Trailblazer (which is closed and sectioned off): Is that possibly a magnetic brake? One can only hope. Anyway, I grabbed a side of mac & cheese from the smokehouse (delicious) and hiked up the hill to Great Bear. 35 minute wait for back row, left edge. Great ride, but once again stacked on the brake run for 5 minutes. 8/10. Afterwards, I made my back down the hill and into The Hollow, to be greeted by this at Comet: ..and this at Super Dooper Looper: Both were showing 60 minute waits in the app, which I had noticed was optimistic on previous rides. SkyRush was closed for rain, so I wandered over to a smoking zone (thank you, Hersheypark, for still providing these!) while I waited out the "storm." I also grabbed this cool shot of the Wave Swinger, almost completely dismantled: After the mild rain had ceased, SkyRush opened back up and I got in line. Had a 12 minute wait for the back row, left wing. Such an awesome awesome ride, trying to kill you at every opportunity. On my way up the lift hill, it started to rain again (they would shut down after I got off again), and the feeling of being pelted with raindrops while having your torso realigned was insane. 11/10. SDL's line had died down a bit, so I hopped on (30 minute wait for front row). Not sure when this happened, but all of the trim brakes along the course were either off or gone, leading to an awesomely fast ride. See, Magic Mountain, it is possible to run a Schwarzkopf without being trimmed to death! 9/10. Swinging past Comet again, finding a 45 minute wait, I started to make my way out of the park and grabbed a pretzel from the place by the carousel (also delicious), and then headed out and headed home. All in all, it was a great day. Hersheypark operations definitely leave something to be desired though. It certainly wasn't a lack of staff (each coaster had one or two greeters and one or two groupers, in addition to station personnel), but for some reason every single coaster stacked on the brake run for anywhere from one to five minutes. But still, despite this, it was a good day. This really is a very nice park, with a good collection of top-tier coasters and a decently selection of mid-grade rides, and tons of shade, and I don't know why I don't come here more frequently. Thanks for reading!

Well, here's a park you don't hear too much about on this site... ...Dutch Wonderland, in Lancaster, PA! Truth be told, aside from the obvious credit hunting, I also needed to go this park to process my Palace/Parques Reunidos platinum pass for my trips later this year to Kennywood, Idlewild, and their northeast parks. My parents brought me here once as a small child (probably around 6 or 7 years old), and my only memory of the park is being scared to death of the animatronic crocodiles that popped out of the water on the lagoon boat ride. I don't think they ever brought me back after that, and I can't recall if I ever rode the Sky Princess (what they called their wooden coaster back then). Despite a solid woodie and the original Mad House, this is decidedly a kiddie park that adults won't find much to do at. Anyway, on to the park! That big purple dragon is Duke, the park's mascot, and heavily featured throughout the park. I absolutely love their height grading system. Just beyond their simple main gate... ...lies the first ride you come across, a miniature train that dates to 1963. Unfortunately gas powered, but what are you gonna do. They've got a classic skyride... ...kiddie whip... ..and mini-rotojets. This was one of the many, many show venues that the park has. They've also got a Chance Yo-Yo. And this! The Dutch Wonderhouse; it is an in-house built Mad House from the 1960s, similar to the modern-day Houdini's Great Escape at the Six Flags parks. As you can see, it is super, super tiny. This was probably my most anticipated ride of the trip, but unfortunately was out of commission both today and when I swung by the park on my way home the next day. Major bummer. Moving right along, they've got a tilt-a-whirl themed to turtles. A surprising find a kiddie park, a bar. Standard amusement park beer prices (no beer jail!), and some food offerings. I later had the cinnamon dessert pretzel, which while good, wasn't quite $10 good (with season pass discount). Back to more kid's rides... They've also got bumper cars, which are... ...legit Lusse Scooters! Sadly not run anywhere near as fast as those at Knoebel's, but it's the thought that counts, right? One of their more recent additions is the Exploration Island section... ...which has some drive-'em cars and a on-rails boat ride... ..a digging pit... ..and some tiny Dinosaurs Alive-esque walk through. Here's the other end of the Sky Ride... ...a modern kid's spin-and-bounce... ...and finally a roller coaster! This was Joust, a mid-90's normal Chance kiddie coaster. Adults can ride without kids. Got 2 laps, but nothing to note (no air or laterals). Always fun, though, when coasters are just sitting on concrete... Next up was the Sky Princess!...er, Kingdom Coaster. I swear the old name was so much better. This is a 1992 CCI which runs PTC junior trains with buzz bars, though unfortunately also seat dividers and seat belts and clamp brakes. I got two rides, one front and one back. The back row has a surprising amount of laterals and 2 or 3 good pops of airtime. The front row has about 6 pops of air and even better laterals than the back. A solid ride! 7/10. Amusingly, they don't do any kind of "all clear, dispatch!" spiel at any of the coasters here; once the restraints are checked, the trains just kinda roll out. They've also got a small 1977 Arrow log flume, which was skipped due to time (this was the only ride in the park with a substantial line), though it didn't seem like people got too wet. Yet another two show venues... ..some more kids' rides... ...including a rare Chance Trabant.... ...an animatronic scene of Amish life... ..and then it was finally time for their last credit, Merlin's Mayhem. Apparently, the storyline is that Merlin has lost Mayhem, his pet of some sort, and you're on a quest to find it? I don't know, and the on-board audio didn't help (it seems to have cut out after the first main drop). Anyway, this is a S&S family invert, and was quite mediocre. I had a 7 minute wait for back row, and it was quite short, and it felt like the wheels were octagons. Honestly the best part was the queue and the station. 5/10. Here's some photos of the queue line and station: The back side of the queue doors, with a cool in-house opening mechanism. Nerd shot? Nerd shot. The obligatory carousel... ...yet another show venue... ..and some kiddie hand cars wrap out the list of rides here. They also have a monorail that runs the perimeter of the park. Anyway, after hitting the three coasters, I hung around for a while hoping they would get the Dutch Wonderhouse operational, but it was not to be, and I continued on to Hersheypark. Like I said at the start, this is a quaint little children's park with not a whole lot for adults to do. I can't recommend stopping here unless you've got a Palace Platinum Pass, especially when the daily ticket price at the gate for an adult is $65(!). I leave you with some pictures of the gift shop at the exit, with plenty of costume items for you little Knights and Princesses! Sadly nothing adult sized. Up next, Hersheypark!

Ha ha ha. Way to completely misread that post.

Thanks for the tips Bert! I'm surprised a Dinn coaster is so well received. What do you think of Storm Chaser? My #150 (Steel Vengeance) and #200 (Twisted Cyclone) were both RMCs, and I was thinking of keeping that trend going.

So as it turns out, I'll be at KK when I hit my 250th coaster. Any suggestions for the best one at this park to bestow the honor upon?

Pretty much all coasters close if there's the slightest bit of rain, let alone thunderstorms.

This will never get old. I love it.

If that system works anywhere near as well as the ones at Steel Vengeance and Twisted Timbers, be prepared for a bunch of headaches and also Flash Pass merges before the locker system. They annoy me so much that I'll often use the regular, paid lockers instead.

Maybe it's a California thing? Like in NJ, how restaurants aren't allowed to give people straws unless the customer asks for one.

Might as well just quote the last time I posted this, when they spent almost all their money to make another payment... At least they made that one LOL.

Since we're going with 15ths for some reason, my prediction is November 15th at the absolutely earliest. This is SFMM we're talking about here. EDIT: Actually disregard that; my actual estimate is January 15th, so they can pull a SEAS-move to drive next year's pass sales.

Note that FL will not help on SV or MF if the natural lines are about 20-30 minutes or less, since that's about where the merge points are.

Who in their right mind would wait 2-3 hours for that?

Which lazy river was open? Please tell me it was the good one (the original) near the entrance to the park, not the smaller, weaker one in the back? I can third the fact that Dorney hasn't allowed multiple laps on either of their lazy rivers since at least when CF took over the park in the early '90s. I don't think they did before then either, but that might've just been my parents not wanting to do multiple laps LOL. That is great news!

So I'm back home; I'll get up a full report when I get a chance. But there's some notes I wanted to make for anyone shooting for a front-row night ride on Beast: 1. Operations at Beast just drag. The train inches its way forward upon arrival at the station until it is in the proper load/unload position; this takes a solid minute and then some. According to three of the restraint checkers, it's programmed to do that, and is not in the operator's control. 2. They shutdown for fireworks at 9:30 on the dot; I got in the FL queue at 9:25 and only saw two trains go out before they stopped loading guests. It also wasn't until after 10:40 that the ride got running again; the new fireworks/drone show for this year is a lot longer than the old one. 3. Finally, the worst news: a complete lack of honoring row requests after the fireworks shutdown. Maybe I just encountered some grumpy employees, but the grouper denied my front row request and the control panel op made an announcement that "row requests may not be honored." They weren't sending out trains less than full. Really hoping that it was just those employees, since row requests were being honored the rest of both days I was there. So, if you're dead set on getting a front-row night ride, you have to time it so you're lined up in a row in the station prior by 9:25 to be safe.

Quick update from Soak City at Kings Island. I arrived at around 4:30 after my drive from Delaware and checking in to my hotel. Place is packed, to be expected with the holiday weekend and perfect weather. 15 minute wait for the lazy river LOL, and they weren't letting people do multiple laps. Both wave pools now have Hersheypark-style controlled access. Rules pertaining to skinpiness of bikinis are not being enforced at all haha. More to come from my day and half at the park. Update: How the hell is their not a revised Beast review here yet? Full review to follow, but here are some bullet points: -Yes, the trims still hit. First drop and first hill are just as hard, but the old-MCBR-shed and drop into the helix trims have been softened. -It's hard to discern the increased drop angle on the first drop, but the pullout and first turn are infinitely smoother. I actually got some air in the back row coming down the first drop. -There is a little "hump" in the track right before the turn into the second tunnel, which provided a very minor pop of airtime with laterals in the back row. Very surprising. -It absolutely flies through the course after the shed trims. Instead of creeping into the second lift hill, you now go a third of the way up on momentum alone. -The helix. Holy shit. This was the best part of the ride before, and is even better now. You enter at a much more extreme bank, allowing the train to carry more speed through it, and it slowly levels out as it ends, leading to some insane laterals. All together I'm very, very impressed with the ride. My favorite woodie just cemented it's spot. Operations are another story but that can wait for my full report.

Fix'd that for you. Also, calling that Mind Eraser train "new" is a massive stretch of the definition of the word.

From the website: "Our webcam streams are currently down. It is undetermined at this time when they'll be back online." Things with technology happen, and it's not really anyone's business why. Parks aren't going to issue a statement unless it's a foreseen issue, and even then maybe not.

Because, as had been discussed previously, they hadn't planned on opening much if any of the amusement park initially.

My usual plan of action at this park if I'm trying to hit everything as quickly as possible is as follows: -Dominator and Berzerker during the pre-opening operation period. -Woodstock Express before the line of kids gets too long...this will never have beyond a 30 minute wait but I feel a little weird as a nearly-40 year old adult waiting for a "kids" ride. -Tumbili -Reptilian (it is on FL, but it has horrible capacity). -Anaconda -Racer 75 -Apple Zapple -Grizzly -Twisted Timbers (two laps to make the most of the locker situation) -Flight of Fear -Intimidator 305 Then I start on flats that I'm interested in that don't have FL, followed by flats that do have FL, followed by re-rides on coasters.

You can redeem your FL purchase at any store that sells it, but the easiest way if you get there at opening is to go to the upgrade center booth immediately to the right after entering the main gate. If the park has a posted opening time of 9:00, the main gates should open at 8:30, along with Dominator and Berzerker. Note that quite a few rides are not on Fast Lane at this park. For adult-rideable coasters, that's Anaconda, Apple Zapple, Tumbili, Racer 75, Woodstock Express, and Grizzly. If you're concerned about getting on any of these, I'd hit them first after the rest of the park opens at the posted opening time (especially Apple Zapple, Woodstock Express and Racer, in that order.).

43 years, actually. And yeah, those speculating about a "non-trimmed Beast," or even a "less trimmed Beast" ever having opened to the public are just plain wrong. You just feel it more since they switched to the magnetic trims, which slow the train down much quicker in a shorter period of time (to the same speed) compared to the old skid trims.