Canobie Coaster

^ I missed the Eejanaika one. Assuming they get a normal amount of crowds, that may mean you have like 5-10 minutes to get into Eejanaika's line before they close it off.

Blizzard Beach And on this dark day when Tom Brady announces he's leaving the Patriots, let's drown my sorrows away at Blizzard Beach. 70 degrees can mean a lot of different things- an acute angle, the max angle of descent on Balder, or the point at which Floridians reach for their winter coats. But I come from a land where Patriots fans go bare chested in sub-freezing conditions to show off their beer bellies and stupidity. So naturally, I reached for my bathing suit. Finding a suitable water park was an issue. Typhoon Lagoon was closed for refurbishment. Aquatica was closed due to weather. Volcano Bay was open…but the water coaster was closed. So that left Blizzard Beach, which was also closed…but only on two of my three days. So I visited on the third day. And it was a Ghost Town. I felt at home with the snow. Calling Blizzard Beach a ghost town would have been an understatement. My first and only visit to Blizzard Beach had been back in 2008. And I remember being blown away by the park. I never thought I’d find a better water park. And that was true for 11 years until I went to Dubai. For one, it has a charming ski resort theme. I felt at home walking past the snowmen, icicles, and glaciers. But it also had an extremely strong slide lineup. Would that hold true? Winter's a good time to stay in and cuddle. But put me in summer and I'll be a — happy snowman! I’ll start with the signature slide in Summit Plummet, one of the most iconic water slides in the world. That ski jump atop Mount Gushmore is the definition of picturesque. Summit Plummet feels wildly out-of-place at a Disney park. It’s an -est. For the longest time, it was the tallest body slide. And you can feel every bit of that height as you are eye-level with Tower of Terror. One of the tallest peaks in all of Florida. If being at eye level with Tower of Terror before going down a water slide doesn't make you crap your pants, nothing will. A lot of newer body slides have the drop pods, but there’s definitely something extra unnerving having to propel yourself down the near vertical slide. And for a split second, you feel yourself lift off the slide. The biggest pitfall with these body slides is a rough landing, but I’m happy to say Summit Plummet is smooth. Maybe too smooth though since it knows how to rip bikini tops off women faster than a horny fraternity guy. 9 out of 10 Still one of the best water slides in the world. At Mt. Olympus, you'd actually go off the ski jump. That's a long way down! Unfortunately Slush Gusher was closed, so I spent the next hour sampling the parks tube slides. The trickiest one to ride was Teamboat Springs. Most people on this site try to solicit families to borrow their kids to ride kiddie coasters. I just want to ride the dang family raft slide! The hardest part was waiting for 3 other victims people to trek up the mountain. But eventually a group of 3 arrived and I joined them on their journey. Teamboat Springs is relatively slow, but it really climbs those walls and it has a few surprise dips at the end. 7 out of 10 The others were no issue as a single rider. Runoff Rapids- This one is in a lonely back corner of the park, but it holds its speed better than most conventional tube slides. 7 out of 10 Downhill Double Dipper- This is a simple slide, but it has two sizable drops with some good zip. And as a bonus, I won both races…against no one. 8 out of 10 Toboggan Racers- This is your average mat racing slide. I also came in first place…out of exactly 1 person. 6 out of 10 Snow Stormers- I remembered this being bad back in 2008, but I couldn’t remember why. Now I remember, I felt like I was going to stall at several points on the ride. 3 out of 10 Checking out the lay of the land. But they're all bunny slopes compared to Summit Plummet. Last but not least, I took a one-way trip atop Mount Gushmore on the Chairlift. If you want to maximize your slide time, I recommend walking. But if you want some nice views, take the Chairlift. 5 out of 10 And you don't have to walk to the top of the hill to slide back down. I love the Chairlift! I spent roughly 1.5 hours at Blizzard Beach and lost count of how many slides I rode. As I said at the start, the park was a ghost town. Blizzard Beach may no longer be the world’s best water park, but it’s still arguably the best in the United States.

^ Since Do-dodonpa is only open 11:30 to 3 and Fuji-Q closes lines early, that pretty much means you only have between 11:30-1 to get in line for it.

^ I think the most shocking thing is that Hershey is closed the first two weekends in October?

^^ When I've gone on weekdays, it's not uncommon to find them rotating ride ops due to being short staffed.

^ The most surprising thing is how long it took for them to decide to close down based on every other park.

^^ That's true. Gatorland is still open too.

Fun Spot was already in contention, but I think they sealed it. They officially have the best hours/operating calendar of any park by not closing through this.

^ That was my first thought when this closure was announced since it lets the park hash out the bugs without needing to take the ride down for an official rehab. Hagrid's better do the same.

Before Holiday in the Park, the Northeast had no parks from the end of October to early April, or a 5 month gap. Adding Holiday in the Park in November and December reduced that gap down to only 3 months without parks in this region. If we lose 1-2 months off the start of the year, I guess it's the same length off-season I used to have. If 1-2 months of no parks is what's needed for this virus to spill over and keep everyone healthy, I'm all for it.

^ Massachusetts just dropped the hammer banning gatherings of more than 25 people and no dining in until mid-April. I don't see how Six Flags New England opens on April 10 as originally scheduled, considering this ban will even impact the Holy Week masses that would occur that weekend for Easter.

Thanks! I had no issue getting up early since I could comfortably be in the park to go for a boarding pass and be at the front of Slinky's queue. I'm hoping Rise is on standby the next time I visit so I'm not limited to just one ride per day.

So I went through and made a list of parks still open as of yesterday. I have no doubt this will change, but the US options are: - Alpine/Mountain Coasters at most locations - Belmont Park - Castles n Coasters - Fun Spot America - Glenwood Caverns - Galveston Island Pleasure Pier - Joyland - Kemah Boardwalk - Las Vegas (Adventuredome, Stratosphere, Manhattan Express) - Nickelodeon Universe (Mall of America) - Pacific Park - Park at OWA - Scandia (Sacramento) - Western Playland - Wildlife World I personally am going to wait until this calms down, but I was intrigued which places hadn't closed.

Dang it, you're right!

Great report! Thank you for allowing me to relive the El Paso Special in all its irreverent glory. As for the rapids ride, did it still have the Ferris Wheel lift and drop in your first visit? I was fascinated to learn it used to have those elements before being removed.

Here are some daytime shots of Emperor. I believe I missed it testing by just a day or two.

Below are some construction shots from Sidewinder Safari shot last weekend. I couldn't see any vertical construction yet, but these models can go up quite quickly. Also when did the Pacific Rim 5D attraction close? Didn't that just open a few years ago? The pathway leading up to it was blocked off and I can't see the ride on the website. I also couldn't help but laugh that the out-of-service sign on Joker's second train was literally placed over his face like a sleeping mask.

^ That's a bummer GhostRider closed for maintenance, but Knott's Berry Farm still has a nice steel coaster collection. Glad you enjoyed it!

Also to everyone who has recommended Maria and Enzo's over the years, it was excellent. I highly recommend the restaurant.

To all those who said this mall would close just a few months after opening, you were right.

I forgot they even had animatronics on Desperado Plunge since it's usually closed when I'm there.

Some notes from the ACE Great Nor'Easter: - Adirondack Outlaw will be located in the open space next to Steamin' Demon and Condor, so I believe that would be the below location. The ride will have a 50" height requirement and a 1.5 minute long cycle. - Raging River is getting a new lift chain. - Desperado Plunge is having the animatronics updated along with some work to the through, lifts, and pumps. - Comet is getting some minor trackwork in spots. - Blizzard's dome is being painted.

Some updates on Canobie Lake Park from the ACE Great Nor'Easter event: - The Yankee Cannonball is receiving an on-ride photo and shaded queue line for 2020. The park was asked if there were plans to add a second train to the Yankee Cannonball, but they said that isn't in their immediate future since they'd prefer to have invest money into new rides. - There are no immediate plans to remove the Corkscrew. The markings spotted by the ride in past years were to evaluate a spot for the relocated train station that ultimately went behind the park's second kids area on the water. - Rowdy Roosters is being fixed for 2020, but they're unsure if it will be ready for opening day. - The park is looking into adding a sixth haunt. Neither the theme nor location is known at this time. - Tribute to Bruno is being replaced by Tribute to the Jonas Brothers. - The park was asked why they don't currently have a Christmas event and they said they'd love to have one someday, but they first need to upgrade the park's infrastructure and utilities that aren't designed for winter. Any new addition they make will take that into consideration if they one day do have a winter event.

Some interesting tidbits were revealed at the ACE Great Nor'Easter event: - Excalibur is having some track work done by Gravity Group on the two roughest parts of the ride. The bottom of the first drop is being smoothed and the fourth turn (after turnaround 1) is being reprofiled to have increased banking. - The park is running a promotion where one lucky guest will win a free season pass and get the chance to rename one of the cars on Excalibur. You must enter by the end of March. https://woobox.com/iwg4a9 - The park is replacing their gas-powered bumper boats with electric ones. These boats will also be equipped with water guns as well. - The park is having a Coasting for Kids event on June 6, which is the same day Story Land plans to hold their Coasting for Kids as well. I sort of wish these were on different days so I could support both parks. Edit- I just saw Funtown changed it to June 7! https://www.funtownsplashtownusa.com/coasting-for-kids/

At the ACE Great Nor'Easter event, Lake Compounce shared a few interesting tidbits for the 2020 season. - They hope to have two trains running on Boulder Dash this year. As for track work, the park said they added some new steel bracing on the far turn, but most of the track work was focused on Wildcat instead. - The park gradually wants to start adding theming to their older rides. They plan to start with the Saw Mill Plunge log flume. - The mirror room on Ghost Hunt is having targets added. There previously were none on this part of the ride. - The new Venus Vortex water slide will have 3 person tubes. Do any other slides out there have 3 person tubes? I was wondering how those may look. - They're adding the Main Gate Creamery, a lactose-free "creamery" by the main entrance.