Zand

The last time I rode WC (a super hot and humid day in July 2019) it was running so slow that the Zero-G Rolls almost felt like JoJo Rolls. I had ridden Steel Vengeance and Twisted Timbers in the month before that and Wicked Cyclone was visibly running so slow in comparison that it literally looked like watching a YouTube video at 75% speed. It was almost comical. Still super fun to ride but felt so bizarre.

I wonder if the park will open ASAP. They've been doing employment drives knowing this day would (eventually) come plus they have a couple weeks heads up. May 10th is a Monday so I bet they open Friday the 14th or something.

Baker will announce today that amusement parks and bars can reopen. Restrictions will be in place until August 1st.

I'm vaccinated so I'm not at all worried about myself, just seems like a false sense of security for people who aren't vaccinated to read the FAQ on the website and then have none of it enforced in the park. Idk, maybe I just enjoyed the year of not having people breathing on me lol. Plus I live in the only state in the country that still thinks amusement parks are still unsafe regardless of Covid rules so I might be kind of jaded by the hysteria around here.

So in the past year I kind of made a rule for myself...no new parks during COVID. I broke that rule on Sunday and immediately wished I didn't. First off...for COVID protocols the park kinda talks a big game but doesn't enforce anything at all. In most of the lines they had an employee (usually a younger one) walking around with a sign that said something like "Please Social Distance, Masks Required in Line" but there was 0 personal space at all nevermind social distancing. Id say a good 25% of the people in the lines were just wearing the masks on their chin and some didn't have one at all. Occasionally the employees would say something, but then keep walking and the person would just laugh after they walked away. I'm not much of a worry wart about COVID. I've traveled numerous times in the past year on planes, trains, and buses. Been to quite a few parks, ski resorts, casinos, sports games etc. I've felt slightly uncomfortable a couple times (previous top 2 times were the boardwalk in Wildwood on a Sunday and a couple lines at Hershey), but Sunday at Lagoon blew all those away. My wife was trying to get me to leave after an hour or two because she was even more uncomfortable. I know it's Utah and I should've kind of expected it to be not great, especially on a 65 degree day in full sun, but damn. If you're nervous about social distancing and that kind of stuff, I'd say don't bother with Lagoon until this is over unless it's a dead rainy day or something. Anyway, onto the park review... At arrival I wanted to get the most anticipated ride out of the way first and headed right for Cannibal. The line stretched past the Ferris Wheel, but then I remembered that this park doesn't actually have queue lines for its rides for some reason. So the crazy looking line was only about 20 minutes and I scored the front row. I think I overanticipated this ride as it wasn't quite as great as I was expecting but it's still a really good coaster. It's extremely smooth and flowy, but not the most forceful coaster. The elevator lift and first drop were terrific. I wanted to ride Samurai as I've never ridden a a Top Scan before, but I walked by it as the line was very packed in and overflowing (this is one of the few rides that actually has a dedicated line). We walked past a few more rides and coasters and eventually came to the Log Flume. Not sure why, but they didn't allow single riders so I got put with another group. Layout reminded me of the old flume at SFNE with some low to the ground turns and one drop. Not a great flume but there's no such thing as a bad flume. After visiting the village and checking out a few barns and museums in the quiet back of the park, we headed back towards the madhouse front of the park, past a closed Wicked (which I was looking forward to but knew it was unlikely to be open) and got in line for Colossus. Running two trains and they run Knoebels style dispatches, so it wasn't even 10 minutes from the entrance to sitting down. Good classic Schwarzkopf with pretty forceful loops and good helixes. Wish there were more of these coasters around. Continued on to Spider which had a line out the entrance path and unfortunately this line crawled. Pretty good ride though with a long layout and decent amount of spinning. Very tight and uncomfortable legroom, and I'm only 5'8". Passed up the long line for the standard Wild Mouse, but couldn't pass up a ride on Rock-o-Plane. This thing was a mashup between a Skydiver and a Zipper and thankfully allowed single riders (although it was a tight squeeze for me) as my wife wouldn't go near the thing. I almost made myself hurl before it even started because it's super easy to get flipping and it can flip very fast. If i were still 15 I could've ridden this over and over but after 1 ride I was seeing stars. Loved it though, Knoebels should get one of these. Headed for Roller Coaster next which was running two trains and also had a very fast crew. Thought I scored by ending up with the back seat but they mandate two riders in the back so I had to switch with a pair in the middle of the train. This place is bizarre. Anyway, for a 100 year old coaster it is super smooth. Not a ton of airtime but a perfectly acceptable family classic. We stopped at the Biergarten for lunch which was very good, although it had me longing for BGW. Definitely one of the better park lunches I've ever had. Headed back in Cannibal's direction, past a broken down Samurai but got distracted when it started testing, so I got out of line to go wait by the entrance. Unfortunately after 15 minutes or so an op came down to tell the growing line that it wouldn't be opening. Big bummer that I missed this and Wicked as they were among the top things I was looking forward to. Finished up the day with the spinning car Ferris Wheel, which was unique for sure and had some great views. The line was over 20 minutes but they were only loading 8 cars out of 40+ which was kinda lousy. Had to pass up on the Jet Star as my wife didn't want to wait in any more lines and they don't allow single riders. Ended up passing up the family coasters as well and eventually just made our way out of the park. With the park doing 0 enforcement of their policies, we just didn't want to be there any more. Definitely mad at myself for breaking my own rule and putting a bad taste in my mouth at a park I've never been to before. But a little more enforcement on their behalf would go a long way. Looking forward to going back some day and getting a better experience.

I thought it was very bizarre that they incorporated it into the new logo yet closing it at the same time. Glad it's coming back, hopefully it will smell better. Not really a waterpark person anymore but that was always one of my favorites besides the typically long line and awful smell.

With the Cali parks announcing their opening days recently, I believe SFNE is the final park yet to announce an opening day. And, naturally, there isn't even a date where their phase of reopening might happen. Thankfully things finally seem to be moving a bit quicker on Beacon Hill so I think late April is possible and almost definitely by Memorial Day.

I think Dorney should buy it, put it right next to Demon Drop, and open some kind of f*cked up living Intamin Tower museum. That would get me to visit Dorney like once a week.

Finally getting to this park next month after last April's trip got cancelled. Always kinda been a bucket list park for me and combining that with some of the country's finest skiing will make for an awesome week. Does anyone know yet if any rides will be down for maintenance to start the season or is it too early to tell? I'll be there April 18th so hopefully any early season kinks will be worked out by then.

Yeah, April 2022. I dont understand how theme parks ever got lumped in with nightclubs in our reopening plan anyway. One of them involves hundreds of people packed into a small indoor space and one of them involves a limitable amount of people fully outdoors. Another way to look at it is ski areas have (thankfully) been fine (and very busy) but essentially the warm weather version of waiting in line, sitting in a chair, and flying around at various speeds is still a no no. I'm hopeful for mid spring also but I was hopeful for July last year and we're 7 months past that now.

The day I went, Shellraiser had so few customers that it didn't run for the first 20 minutes I was there. Legitimately thought it was closed. When I went up to the station the ride ops were just sitting there waiting for riders. So if you don't see something running from the balcony, don't let it scare you off lol.

Guess I didn't look closely enough at the Dinosaurs Alive sign to see Grizzly in the fine print lol. Good to know! Missing it probably allowed me two additional rides on I-305 so I wasn't all that sad.

I feel like Kings Island circa 2007 is the poster child for this thread. The best coaster (other than a Beast night ride) was either the Premier Clone or Vekoma Flying Dutchman. Insane how fat they've come in 13 years. My home park is SFNE and I think it kind of belongs on this list, but I think Canada's Wonderland takes the cake for current parks. Also, on the Grizzly topic...when I was at KD two years ago I wanted to ride it but couldn't find the damn entrance. I didn't dedicate more than 30 seconds to looking for it but I legitimately just gave up and went elsewhere. HELP?

If the governor gives up on the insane restrictions in MA, I'd love to see SFNE open in March with 2 feet of snow still on the ground. The place would still be mobbed. Maybe a SFA/BGW trip is in order this March, and I'll wave at Kings Dominion on the way by.

"Damn it, I told you to go to the park with the bigger and rustier Ferris wheel!"

May their pirate ship come back bigger and better! Glad to hear that it was contained to one building and that they have a contingency plan for this year. I know those boardwalk fires can get out of control, especially in the winter so nice job firefighters.

Is that the same building as the entrance arcade?

Spirit has $37 round trip flights between Hartford and Orlando almost all winter. And I've never had a problem bringing a normal sized backpack on a Spirit flight for free. At that rate I would even be willing to fly down to Orlando for the day just to go swimming and fly back.

I was amazed at how much Castaway Cove has crammed into so little space. I feel like the Pirate Ship swings within a foot of the Ferris Wheel.

Ah yes...Lights Out. Great waterslide but the inside of the lighthouse while waiting in line was the worst smelling thing ever built in a park.

Talladega: The Ride

I was there something like 2-3:30.

A few years ago I rode the Flume at Lake Compounce solo and they crammed four more people in with me. So awkward and uncomfortable. Even more awkward was when I was on a Ferris Wheel with my wife and they put a teenage couple in the same car with us...the guy ended up throwing his girlfriend's cell phone off the ride at one point. We just kind of sat there silent for the whole ride lol.

Firebird. I would like to erase that experience from my mind, although if the thing bashed my head any harder it would have done it for me. 14 new credits in 2020, 10 of which were in New Jersey in a year that I did not go to GADV or ride anything at Wildwood, so I guess that's an interesting stat. Thanks to the aforementioned Firebird, the Seaside Pirate Coaster was not my worst new credit of 2020.

Posted pics to the FB group, but figured I'd add my reviews to the park here. Spent about an hour and a half in the park on Friday. Obviously $62 is very steep for just an hour and a half, but it's right in line with my Jersey Shore pier experiences over the summer. Good news (for me, not the park) is that it was pretty dead and I had free reign the entire time I was there. Hit each coaster at least once as well as a couple flats. If I had time I would've loved to hit more of the flats and reride the coasters some more as they have a very good lineup. Here are my thoughts on what I rode... Sandy's Blasting Bronco was my first ride of the day...rode in back and it was a blast. Totally smooth, fun floating sensation through the immelmans and some good forces. Very strong launch, especially the unusual backwards launch. Rode it again later in the front. Definitely a different ride up there...thought the floating sensations were more prevalent in the back but more positive G's up front. Shredder was a solo ride for me and therefore I didn't spin a whole lot. Much longer layout than I expected and while there's nothing crazy in the layout, the ride is great for families and could get pretty intense if you can get a good spinning ride. Was surprised by its height as well. While I've definitely ridden spinners that give a wilder ride, the length of this one puts it right up there as well. Shellraiser was a love/hate ride for me. The layout is insane with a good powerful launch, that awesome drop with the holding break on top with the view of New York, and some great inversions. However, some spots got so rough that it was bordering on being brutal, especially at the bottom of the big drop. If they can do some work on those spots, this ride would be top 20 material for me, but I just can't put it there the way it is. BTW, the rest of the park patrons were avoiding this thing like the plague. I thought it was closed because I never saw it run the first 20 minutes I was there, but just turns out no one really wanted to ride it. Not sure if it's the buried entrance, the intimidating look, or if the word is out that you get pretty beat up, but it was a ghost town in that station the whole time I was there. Slime Streak had some pretty terrible trains (and I'm only 5'8") but the ride itself was actually really fun. You get some minor floater over the hills and this thing cruises along pretty good through the course. Also surprisingly tall with a big drop for what is intended to be the small family coaster. Timmy's Halfpipe Havoc was my first Halfpipe coaster because I've never wasted my time with Elitch Gardens. I was totally alone on the ride and it was really damn fun. Sandy's was my favorite coaster in the park, but this was my #2. Got some good spinning going and the airtime was a fun sensation. It feels like a glorified swinging ship but just a lot of fun. Unfortunately I was too short on time to hit many flats, but had to hit a couple of the unique ones. The S&S tower was a must ride and for some reason it was almost freaky the way it went up in its own shaft, which really added a sensation of height to the ride. Not sure what the actual height is, but between being way above the mall roof, having a long view of the NJ Turnpike, and being face to face with the NYC skyscrapers, it felt a million feet tall. It was running in combo mode and while the launch was pretty good, the drop sucked. But the uniqueness more than made up for the lame drop. Also, not sure what the name of it was but had to get a ride on that modern looper style ride. Instead of having to work a floor pedal to get the car flipping, you simply had to use the joystick to flip either forwards or backwards. Very easy to ride in "flying mode", stay upside down, or just flip the thing manically forwards or backwards. I don't get nauseous easily but I held the stick forward for like 7 or 8 consecutive flips and was almost ready to hurl. This stupid thing is insane lol. Wanted to get on the Air Race, Frisbee, and maybe some other stuff but had to hit the road. If you want to check this place out, right now is a great time to do so as crowds are very light and you'll get to just do whatever you want as much as you want. Just remember you can't re-enter once you leave so plan accordingly. Plenty of food and restrooms inside the park. Didn't encounter any unreasonable security (I was alone while my wife shopped) which was a positive. The free lockers were very easy to use with the same wristband you get when you enter the park. For me, skiing is my #1 passion (parks are #2) but I didn't end up checking out Big Snow as the real season is only a few weeks away. But I did see quite a few people heading in with equipment. Maybe next year in July I'll have to stop by if I'm in Jersey. For now, I'm still trying to get over the shock that this place is actually open and that I can do my two favorite things (neither of which ever involve a roof) under one roof.