Canobie Coaster

Even on a Friday I had lines at Dorney this year. Talon, Hydra, and Steel Force had 20 minute waits. Those rides are worth the wait, but it's still shocking to have to wait at Dorney since I'm spoiled by that park's operations. Even though they could get away with one train operations most summer days (talking pre-covid), they'll still run their rides at max capacity with fast dispatches.

I just used it last Sunday. Everything was a walk-on with Fast Lane including Orion and there were no restrictions on rerides. For comparison, standby queues were posted at 60-90 minutes for the major rides. Plus FastLane tended to get first choice for seat selection. I originally planned to visit on a Saturday, but they had sold out of Fast Lane when I checked earlier that week on a Wednesday. If you know what day you're going, you should lock it in. I don't know when it sold out the Sunday I visited, but it was no longer available the day of when I checked out of curiosity. The only issue I had with FastLane was that Boo Blasters had no employee at the merge point and that was a very awkward merge since the main queue looked to be an hour.

RIP Dick Rock Falls

Unless I'm missing it, I am sad to report Dick Rock Falls may be gone.

I went on a Saturday last month and Boulder Dash had a full queue that took roughly an hour. I've heard lines have been much better on non-weekends when the park has hit capacity a few times. The park does take seating requests so I strongly recommend the front. That's the best seat on the ride by far (most airtime & smoothest). Wildcat got rougher after the retrack and it has an even worse capacity than Boulder Dash. And then you have the flume which has a similar capacity to Wildcat. Just make sure to check the ride status page on the park website since they update it regularly.

Shouldn't Lake Compounce buy that? It would allow them to have multi-log operations on their log flume.

I've heard two possible reasons, but neither are confirmed by the park and just heresay. One, a wild snapping ride can scare potential customers away from riding. I personally have seen people get out of line after a snap-heavy ride. To someone unaware what snapping is, I understand their viewpoint that it does look like the ride is breaking/malfunctioning because of how wild and jerky the movements are. The other I've heard is that some tubs were damaged in the past from snap-heavy rides and it's to help maintenance out. The park has always been against riders whipping the sails and that is one method to get snapping (not the best one, but the easiest for a newcomer).

Yankee Cannonball at Canobie Lake Park

Having been to Dollywood this year and in past years, the ride experience was similar and the atmosphere felt as good as usual. Since I only had one day, I chose to skip the shows so I don't know how different those may be.

The ones at Lagoon have similar speed and movement to the Knoebels ones. The ones at Carowinds have similar range/movement, but not as much speed.

^ Interesting. One of the biggest benefits of the hotels seem to be the hour of early entry and letting everyone in sort of devalues that. But it sounds like it was a walk on so it probably didn't matter for Monday.

As much as I love snapping, I've stopped doing it at Knoebels since I learned the park's official stance is that it isn't allowed and the ride is still enjoyable without it. How an op enforces that is random (some care, some don't care). I feel lot more comfortable snapping at Lagoon and Carowinds where the operators openly encourage it.

^ The first hour is just hotel guests and season passholders, correct?

^ I agree. Dutch Wonderland is an excellent kids park except for one thing. Kingdom Coaster has a higher height requirement than the woodies at Knoebels or Comet at Hershey.

It's annoying Six Flags New England most likley won't open this year, but the parks in New Hampshire and Connecticut are doing a great job creating a safe, fun environment so at least New Englanders have those within driving distance.

Great review! I agree with your assessment of Candymonium. The first half feels like Mako, but it finishes stronger.

Thanks! It seems like the biggest risk with this approach is if Steel Vengeance doesn't open with the park.

^ Thanks, that makes sense. Since I'm staying at Breakers, I'd have the advantage of the hotel gate to try and beat the crowd back there. I figured Steel Vengeance's access passes would run out quickly, but I didn't realize they'd be gone in 20-25 minutes.

It's really not. I had great success using the following system each day both during my July trip and the one I just got back from: 1. Be there for gate opening, 10:00. This requires arrival at the park at 9:30-9:45 to allow time to go through the temperature screening. 2. Casually stroll back to Steel Vengeance. Even without running, you should be within the first 50 people in line for an Access Pass (hereafter referred to as AP). This Sunday and Monday I was in the 6th group and 1st group respectively, and believe me I was definitely strolling, and stopped for a bathroom break each day. 3. At 11:00 (or slightly before, as I noticed), collect your SV AP...it will definitely be for the noon-1:00 timeslot. 4. Casually stroll to Millennium Force. 5. By the time you arrive, the line should be shorter than it was at 11:00. When you get to the front, show them your Noon SV AP and they should give you a 1:00-2:00 AP for Millennium. From here, it depends whether your visiting on a Saturday or Sunday/weekday. If it's a Sunday or weekday, 6A. Loop around to Dragster, and show them your two previously acquired APs to get one for 2:00-3:00. 7A. Make you way back up to Maverick, and show them your three previously acquired APs to get one for 3:00-4:00. 8A. By this time, it should be around 11:45, and you're right back up near SV to get in line for the Noon AP group. 9A. From there, go about your day as you see fit. If it's a Saturday: 6B. Decide which is more important to you, Maverick or Dragster, and go there and get a pass, again showing your previously acquired passes. 7B. Try to go to the other one and get a pass. Note that they may be all out, in which case you'll need to carefully plan the rest of your day to be back in the area of that ride around 2:45 (when the lines start forming for the 3:30 distribution). Using that system, you're guaranteed a ride on each AP-coaster per day. It works, and really isn't that much of a hassle at all. Depending on other lines, you can try to squeeze some other rides in between your pass times, or just focus on being there at the time for the pass and then do other stuff at the park afterwards. Note that on this past Sunday, Dragster did not have enough of a crowd at some points to require AP use - they were still handing them out, but at both 11:00 and around 1:00 they were not requiring passes to get in line. EDIT: I see now that you're the guy who but doesn't believe a trip to Kennywood is worth it because Steel Curtain isn't operating, and have made similar other "debbie downer" posts, so there probably isn't any changing your mind. Just curious, would it make sense to line up at 10 to instead be the first riders of the day for Steel Vengeance when it opens at 11 rather than queue up for the access pass? I figure I could grab a Steel Vengeance pass afterwards or if they run out that quickly, get one at 3:30.

^ Is it like Kings Island where the last access pass is from 6-7 so the queues reopen to standby during the last hour?

^ Make sure you ride Boulder Dash up front. The airtime is the best up there and it's the smoothest seat by far. The park is assigning rows, but you are allowed to request and wait for a specific row.

I intentionally skipped Fast and the Furious on my recent visits since I was underwhelmed by the Hollywood version and I heard the Florida one was somehow worse.

^ Yes. There's a ride status page atop the website. It lists rides temporarily closed (supposedly day-to-day) and things closed for the season. They have been good about updating it daily and even list if a ride is supposed to open late on a specific day. https://www.lakecompounce.com/Ride-Status

Roughly how long have the waits been on Saturdays this year at Kennywood? I'm planning on visiting Cedar Point the Friday before (I want to avoid Cedar Point on a Saturday with FastLane unavailable). And is Kennywood offering the skip the line pass this year?

Fyi to anyone planning an upcoming Lake Compounce trip, but Boulder Dash is currently closed. A few trees fell during the tropical storm. The damage doesn't appear significant. The park just needs time to clear the track and replace a few handrails per Facebook.