AmyUD06

For Trip A, that should be doable in 10 days. SFA and Dorney can be done in the same day, a day for Hershey Park, a day for Knoebels, a day for SFNE, and a day for SFGAdv (on your way back, it makes more sense this way). Great Escape seems to be a bit of way-out-of-the-way for a rather mediocre lineup with nothing really unique (unless you REALLY like Intamin Bobsleds). I'd recommend scrapping it and build in stops at Rye Playland, Quassy, and Lake Compounce, all of which are kind of "on the way" from Knoebels to SFNE. For Trip B, I think you're spreading yourself too thin if you're only limited to 9-10 days. Cedar Point is a two, if not three, day park and most people will recommend 2 days for Kings Island as well (though I've been extraordinarily lucky with my trips there this year and in 2008). I'd cut out Holiday World and Kentucky Kingdom and instead build some more time in for recovery periods. Edit: You asked for orders. Trip A: Day 1: Drive north, hitting SFA and Dorney on the way. Stay near Allentown. Day 2: All day Hershey Park. Stay near Hershey. Day 3: All day Knoebels. Stay near there. Day 4: Drive east, hitting Rye Playland, Quassy, and Lake Compounce, arriving near SFNE. Stay there. Day 5: All day at SFNE. Stay there. Day 6: Drive south, spend the rest of the day at SFGAdv. Stay in the area. Day 7: All day at SFGAdv. Day 8: Drive south to Wildwood, go to Morey's and drink. Stay in Wildwood. Day 9: Drive south, taking the scenic route of the Cape May Lewes Ferry and Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, home. (Alternative Day 8: Drive home the boring route through Delaware and the Baltimore/DC region). Trip B: Day 1: Travel day only. Drive north, stay near Kennywood. Day 2: All day at Kennywood. Day 3: Drive north, go to Waldameer, then head west for Cedar Point. Check into hotel, do whatever you can at Cedar Point. Day 4: All day Cedar Point Day 5: All day Cedar Point Day 6: CP in the morning, drive to Mason Ohio, check into hotel, KI in the evening. Day 7: All day Kings Island Day 8: All day Kings Island Day 9: Drive home

Coming soon, OSTRs on all log flumes. Bill, your life is over.

LINK15 story 96 degree drop". 15 stories is 150 feet. Technically, it does "drop" from a peak height of 150 feet. Whether that drop is interrupted by a holding brake is irrelevant. Picking nits about that would be like saying "well, it says "15 story 96 degree drop, so I expect to drop at 96 degrees for 150 feet" completely ignoring the pullout and drop-in curvature of the track.

Tada: http://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/Bay-Are-mom-arrested-for-using-stun-gun-on-12327800.php I was referring to the alleged Dorney Park incident, but thanks.

I second the motion for Ocean City over Virginia Beach. Seacrets is awesome. I'd be wary of the route suggested above; US-301 is under pretty major construction right now in Delaware which will probably not be done by the time of your trip.

So, basically the Dippin' Dots Guy. Cool. I'll wait until the press reports it.

And this has what to do with Theme Parks?

Funny you bring Dorney into this...... a guest actually pulled a gun on an actor in one of the haunts a few weeks ago. Source? TASER-branded devices (the type that actually shoot out the probes) are probably 90% plastic and wouldn't set off a metal detector that was set low enough to not activate at pocket change, as most theme parks' are.

At KD now and it's absolutely insane. I305s line is all the way out to Safari Village, Dominator is showing 2 hours on the App, all of the haunts are well outside their designated queues, hell ev n Anaconda was out the gate. Glad I got on everything I wanted to last night and this morning. I had budgeted for Fast lane but am just gonna go back and chill in the hotel, maybe try going back after 10. Anaconda line at around 6:15 Line to pay for parking at 6:50.

I went last year on closing-weekend-Saturday and crowds did get nuts by like 1:00. I'll be going this Saturday as well, and have fully budgeted for FL+ and Fright Lane.

Great review so far. I love to hear from an actual European that BGWs themeing sucks and is nothing like actual Europe, especially given how much praise it generally receives around here.

After you click on the polygon tool, you just keep clicking where you want corners, only clicking back at the first point when you're done.

Thanks. Bummer about the Safari but I'll live.

So I might be headed to the park on Saturday November 4th (the first weekend after Fright Fest). Any idea on crowds? I know its bring-a-friend-for-$10 but was hoping it'd be pretty calm.

I skipped Blackout, Cornstalkers, and Grave Walkers (which is apparently a maze with a line now?), but found all of the others to be up to par for a Cedar Pair Haunt - IE great artistry but no actual scares. Of course, I made it a point to be at the rear of every group I was in for the sole purpose of laughing at those who did get scared. I actually quite enjoyed all the work that went into Chamber of Horrors; it was tough telling a few of the wax statues from actual people. Blood on the Bayou was new to me and not all that impressive, but I definitely enjoyed Tourist Trap, Trick or Treat, and Urgent Scare.

Double post

It was closed and dried out on the 8th when I was there, if you're referring to the log flume.

I'm sorry but WTF does that even mean? Well, my entire experience of New York encompasses: -A few day trips into NYC for the Auto Show or Broadway shows. -An overnight trip into Brooklyn for a wedding. -An overnight trip to SUNY Albany to visit a girl I was dating at the time. None impressed me.

Well that's a damn shame then. If I ever find my way back up there (sadly unlikely), I'll have to give it a try. Maybe I just had a bad ride/seat, but this most certainly was not "glass smooth" nor were the trains very well padded. You're probably right on the restraints on Thunderbolt. Like I said, the trip was almost 3 months ago and I've forgotten a lot of the details. Thanks for the positive commentary though!

Disclaimer: Okay, this one is going to be mostly photos with very little commentary, since this was back in July and I honestly forgot most of the details. So, my work found it suitable for me to attend a conference in Providence, RI at the end of July, and much like my Milwaukee trip earlier in the year I figured I'd hit a bunch of parks I hadn't yet. On this list: Playland Park in Rye, NY; Quassy; Lake Compounce; and Six Flags New England. On with the show...first up was Rye Playland. Got here before opening, so walked around and killed some time...nice area, especially for New York. Now this park has an interesting pricing scheme for those looking to go on rides: Option A: Buy a "Spectator" pass for $10, then ride tickets. Option B: Buy a "Ride All Day" pass for like $36. However, if you're going to go on more than one ride, it makes more fiscal sense to buy the Ride All Day pass. Makes no sense. Oh well, on to the reason I'm here... Okay, so their Derby Racer is the 2nd reason I'm here, but still worthwhile. Personally I didn't see what all the fuss was about...this was running just a tad faster than Cedar Point's, and certainly not "throw you off your seat if you don't hold on" fast as was reported on these forums. Anyway, on to the REAL reason I'm here... Somewhat disappointed...the trains they run on this are godawful. Still, a classic that's operated with brake levers? Scores points with me. 7/10. Then I did some Dark Rides, which were "meh" from an entertainment factor but a "wow!" from a historical, "they-keep-them-up" factor. Note I did not do their boat dark ride since I didn't feel like getting wet with 300 miles and 2 other parks ahead of me, given all of the signs that said "You will get wet." So, with a little time to spare, I decided to try something new: A Zamperla Volare, their flying coaster. Ow. Horrible, horrible machine, may they all burn to scrap. 1/10. From there, it was on to Quassy Amusement Park, for the sole purpose of Wooden Warrior. Got in to the park, paid my $5 for ride tickets, and off I went. One-train ops led to about a 20 minute wait, but wow was it worth it. For such a short-height and short-length coaster, this was something special. They need to build more of these. 8/10. I didn't spend much time at Quassy, though I did grab a burger at what appeared to be the only food place there for a reasonable price. If I had more time in the schedule I would've liked to spend more time here "just taking it in" since overall the park had a great ambiance. On to Lake Compounce... So there were two reasons I was here. Boulder Dash and Wildcat. Sadly Wildcat was still down for it's major refurb (is it still?), but Bolder Dash was running stunningly pre-collision. Spectacular, spectacular ride. This was my first time on it, and I was blown away. New Top 4 wooden coaster. 10/10. Decided to wander around a bit and tried their flyers...which were okay... ...and finally Phobia. The launches were cool, but overall I was quite unimpressed. 5/10. This is another park I wish I could've spent more time at, but the schedule just wasn't allowing it, so on I went to check in to my hotel near Six Flags New England. I had booked two nights at this hotel, and would get to the park on night 1 and accomplish everything I wanted. Day 2 rained, and Day 3 (check out day) I just went in for some re-rides on Superman and Wicked Cyclone. But, on with the report: First up was their classic, Thunderbolt. Great classic woodie, very impressive of Six Flags to keep it in the condition they have (skid brakes, buzz-bar trains). 8/10. Next up was Goliath, my first Vekoma GIB. Meh. Heard some chatter in line (single rider line FTW) about Row 7 being the "magic seat" so I went for that, and I guess the ride was alright? Didn't rattle me to death, and the vertical spikes were a cool twist on the classic Boomerang formula, but overall meh I guess. 6/10. Walked over to Wicked Cyclone...which was down. Walked over to Superman: The Ride...which was down. Walked over to Batman: The Dark Knight (a B&M floorless)...which was running! Decent enough ride...some of that B&M rattle but overall pretty good. 7/10. Back to Superman, which was now open. I find it hilarious that the queue actually runs through the room with the lockers; only a matter of time before they're mandatory like at Ka/Toro at Great Adventure I'm sure. Anyway, got on the front row and was not disappointed. A new top 7 steel coaster. 9/10. And now, onto the other reason I was here, Wicked Cyclone: Got on the front row, and boy did it not disappoint. The overbanks, counter-banks, low-to-the-groud inline twist...everything just made this an awesome coaster. Just a tad below Goliath at SFGAm, but still easily my Top 2 Hybrid. 10/10. With the park about to close, and me being right there, I had to try Sky Screamer. This was my first time on one of these...I've been on plenty of Windseekers, but something about only chains holding you up, and at 400 feet none the less...I'm normally not nervous on rides but I was on this, I can tell you. Overall, a good time, and a great way to see the skyline of the park at night. Like I said, Day 2 was rained out and Day 3 was just some rerides, and then I made my way up to Providence for the work conference. I'll leave you with some photos of their "Water Fire" event which the host agency made a big deal of but I personally didn't get it. Maybe some locals can chime in and enlighten me? Next time...Dorney Park for Halloween Haunt!

Fixed that for you.

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And result in face-to-face hits, which would be better?

Could have said "first Polercoaster anywhere," since the initial one in Florida is no closer to beginning construction than it was when it was announced 3 years ago.

Is everyone forgetting that there is a RMC "themed" to Joker already? Not outside the range of possibility for SF to do it again.