King of Ka

One which has been bugging me recently is people who don't understand that being closer to the coaster train doesn't necessarily mean you're going to get on the ride faster. This happens to me all the time in crowded stations: every row line is overflowing and running into each other and generally a mess, so I wait at the entrance of the station to let the ride to cycle once and clear things up. Inevitably though, at least one group of impatient people will push their way past me, so that they can go stand in a line that would have still been there if they had just waited 30 seconds. Boulder Dash probably has this problem the worst: the queue gets split into front and back halves of the train a bit outside the station, and the front line almost always extends up to or past the merge point. Even if the back line is coming out of the station and is nearly as long as the front line, people seem to have no problem walking past four or five groups near the split to get into it. And for what? Genuinely nothing, there is no gain to be had by doing it. It's like a double whammy of obnoxiousness: it's inconsiderate AND it's stupid. Gah!

Looking at your most recent itinerary, my instinct is to replace the last Hershey / Harrisburg day with a day trip to hit Quassy and Compounce. Doing both in one day shouldn't be a major problem if you get a hotel near Knoebels or en route, and I think you'd regret missing out on Boulder Dash if you didn't. Of course, I'm sure some people would say the same about Bizarro, but as you said adding SFNE adds at least another day to the trip, if not more. It depends mostly on whether you've ever ridden them and how much you value riding top coasters, I suppose. Based off my experiences though they could potentially be the best rides of the trip. And personally I would dissuade you from visiting Niagara because, as spectacular as the falls are, the city is — and this is just my opinion — a horrible tourist trap garbage hole. Either way, I hope this trip works out for you, it sounds like a heck of a tour to me!

This is a pretty small addition to Larry's very smart post, but there's a small shortcut to get to El Toro (and maybe Kingda Ka?), in case you're at rope drop and want to be on one of the first trains of the day. Go left from the fountain, and then go to the right of the carousel (the path leads to its left, which is the way most people go) and through the back door of the arcade near the teacups. Go out the other side and you should be close to the path which leads to ET. Have fun!

I'm thinking of going to Knoebels next Sunday (Memorial Day weekend), does anybody think that's like a horrible idea? I've been there on very crowded days before and it hasn't been a big problem, but I just wanted to see if anybody has had different experiences or thinks that Memorial Day weekend crowds would be large enough to actually put a damper on the day. Thanks in advance!

For the past few years I've been using a very detailed spreadsheet which I downloaded from somebody on a forum (probably this one). It's probably not ideal for people who have been on 100+ rides, but it's a pretty impressive piece of work and gives some cool info. I'll attach it for anybody who wants to give it a try -- this is the one I'm currently using, which is a little bit broken down after years of ignored macros and workarounds (notably the counts for visits to a particular park and total rides in a park visit are both broken, you have to manually update them). It still works well though, and it shouldn't be too hard to pick it up for yourself, especially for those of you who are closer to the beginning of your coaster riding career. Also, if anybody happens to know where I found this spreadsheet and can point me to it I'd love to get a copy of the original again! Coaster SpreadSheet Good (1).xls Ride Tracking Spreadsheet

I personally haven't bought a Fast Pass in a while, and I'm not sure how well Hershey's works, but I will say that my personal experiences at Hershey have been that long lines make the day much less enjoyable, and that long lines at Hershey are almost unavoidable. I definitely think it's smart to go and feel things out, but if there was one park I would recommend a Fast Pass for it would probably be Hershey. Also on the topic of Knoebels, I went once on the first Saturday in August (not a wristband day). The overflow parking lot was basically full by the time we got there, and it might have been the busiest day of their year, but the line for Phoenix still never took more than 25 minutes. I haven't worried about lines at Knoebels since. Have fun, this should be a great trip!

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Not that I disagree with you, but does being illegal necessarily make it morally wrong? Were the Jim Crow laws "right" simply because they were law? I think using legal and right interchangeably is placing far too much faith in the status quo; nobody would argue that piracy isn't illegal, but it's not "pointless" to question whether there are times it can be morally acceptable. How about a hypothetical situation: if I were to buy a song from Amazon .mp3 or any other legal service, is it wrong for me to then download that song illegally? Would the same apply to games? IMO, when you buy a movie or song you aren't really buying that specific copy- if that was true, it would illegal for me to make copies of those songs to put on my phone or to back up my original copy. Really, what you're purchasing is a licence to that media for personal use, and with that licence comes a right to download that media, whether for quality, restoration, or simply because you feel like it. Ultimately, there IS a middle ground with piracy- I think there are times when it's perfectly acceptable to download a song, movie, or game; the fact that it's a black-or-white issue in the face of the law is part of what makes filesharing discussion-worthy.

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I'm very pleasantly surprised with this year's top billings. I personally have Boulder Dash and El Toro switched, but both kick all sorts of ass and I can't blame anyone for putting El Toro ahead. And having four of the top five wooden coasters within a day's drive is endlessly cool.

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