Bob O

Im going to visit Dorney/Hershey and Kennywood parks the first week of August and im looking for any info that might be helpful. Ive never been to these parks so any plan of attack so i can ride all the coasters, good places to eat in the parks or any other information you have would be appreciated . Also any discounts available and how do these parks handle carry-ins, ie snacks/water bottles etc.

Does anyone know how long of a drive it is from the area of Hershey Park to Dorney Park or from the Philadelphia area to Dorney Park???

Nice pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I went to gay days at wdw along time ago, at least 8 yrs ago, so i cant say how it is now at the parks. But when i did go(unknown to me and my family wife and young son/daughter that is was gay day)during gay days i found some of the behavior not suitable for a public place, and it wouldnt have mattered if they were gay or straight, though this time is was primarily gay people. In the beginning of the day we had no problems at all but as it got later in the day IMHO there were certain people that were ass grabbing/dry humping etc in a over the top manner so as to draw attention to themselves from family's who had kids in tow. And this i think is wrong gay or straight and theme parks shouldnt be used just to make a point which i felt was done by some people. I hope everyone enjoys themselves at the park, but i dont care if you are gay or straight you should leave your sexual dersires for a more private place than a theme park.

Where are the photo's???

Thanks for the heads up Robb!!

Robb, for those who ordered via paypal, did the orders go thru or should we re-order via the honor system??? I ordered on 5/13/05 and was wondering if it worked??

I was at the park on 05/16/05 and it was run in a substandard manner. Of course Dejavu didnt operate at all, Whizzer started at least 1 hr late and i made one complete circuit of the park between 10am and noon and the ONLY non-roller coaster rides operating were Giant Drop and Sky Tower, every other flat ride was CLOSED. ALot of them seemed to open sometime after 100pm/200pm, but then closed early on a day the park was only open till 600pm. So for the first several hours we counted only about 12-14 rides open in the whole park and for anyone under 48inches there was very little to do as only a couple of attractions were open in the kids area's.

Does anyone here use the FireFox web browser ??? If so, how is it and is it better than netscape/internet explorer?? Do you have less problems with virus's with the web browser?? I have heard this is a good browser and was wondering what other people thought of it.

Thanks for the link Robb!!!!!!!!!!!

Im also a member of ACE and have been a member for about 5 yrs. I have enjoyed the couiple of events i have been too, but have found it to be very much like a clique and if you are new that they dont as a group/club to go out of there way to make new members feel part of the group and arent kid/family friendly. But i do enjoy RC magizene and some of the benefits of membership ie-discounts etc. PS-Any one have info on ecc or first drop magizene???

Raging Bull is a great ride, but painful in the rain!!!! Wish i could have been there and would have if not for work!!

I have never been to SFNE so i dont know how that park is run, but every SF park i have been too i have seen some rides that are part of fastlane not run at full capacity from the opening bell or open at the start of the day. As for SF making a profit, they lost over 400 million last year so maybe if they concerned themselves with improving the guest experience of all guests rather than trying to fleece them of as much money as possible maybe there corporate bottom line wouldnt be so awful.

mulchpuppy, One difference between disney and universal and SF parks is that from my experience at these parks is the SF intentionally runs there rides at less than full capacity in a attempt to force the public to buy a skip the lines pass. And at USF when it is the busy time of the year they limit how often you can use your hotel card to bypass lines during the busier times of the day.

I have no problem at all with parks that offer free fastpass type system like those at wdw/USF. They are free to use by all guests of the park. But i dont like and wouldnt use a system like fastlane that is used at SF parks because these parks often run there rides(intentionally imo) at less than full capacity to force many people to pay extra. Now if parks that charged extra ran all there rides at full capacity from the minute a park opens(and have the rides operational before they drop the opening rope for the mad dash)it wouldnt be so bad.

Maybe i missed it,. but is there any way to get a printable version of a threads on these boards??? Ive tryed to print out posts that had info that i wanted to save as i plan a vacation this summer but i think due to the different colors used its not working out right. And ideas or help on ths would be greatly appreciated!!

I think PKI this a very nice park. I havent visited since the new water park was built but i have always had a very good time at the park. The only negative i find is the lack of excellant steel coasters. But if you have smaller children the park has imho the best kids area of regional theme parks and when my kids were smaller they always had a very good time and enoyed the variety of rides and the nick characters!!

Im glad too see the improvements at SFGAm. Now if they run both sides of American Eagle from the opening bell as well as 3 trains on Raging Bull and get deJaVue to run on a consistent manner and also do so when the park opens it will help the lines alot Now if they could increase the quality of the food and lower the pirces on food/soda it would also help them. But they do need to become much more family friendly, and a big help in that direction would be the addition of a decent interactive dark ride, something similiar to the one st SF STL(ala scooby do)but with different theming.

Im planning on visiting these parks in the lst week of August()on weekdays). How busy should they be then and plans of attack to avoid long lines??? Is hershey park doable in 1 day or are 2 days needed??

I will be visiting my local park SFGAM and also going to Wisc. Dells too Mt. Olympus. Also planning a trip to PA in early August and will go to Hershey Park, Dorney Park but not certain if i should hit Knoebbels/Kennywood or qany other park inthe state. Will also visit historic sites like Gettsyburg etc while in the state for 9 days.

I havent been too SFOT, but of all the SF parks i have been too i would vote for SFGAM. It has the best combination of being clean, having a friendly staff(not that standards are that high with SF), landscaping, While it doesnt have3 the moutains in the distance that SFMM has, it is better in every other respect and offers a much safer enviroment IMHO.

What do you all get for the priorty pass for $89/$49???

O would agree that you cant compare wdw/USF with other theme parks in regards to food. I would say that BGW has the best overall seasonal theme park food of all the parks i have visited. The food is very good, they offer alot of different foods and you get very good service IMHO.

What roller coaster/theme park web sites do you visit for info/rumors or that you just enjoy??)(besides here and westcoaster). Which ones do you think are the best??

I would also be interested!!