HPCrazy

Saturday is always crowded for this event. Sundays are usually light and Fridays aren't usually that bad either. My friend Alex and I usually head up on a Sunday because of the light crowds.

Onto Nickelodeon Universe. I'm happy we got to see this area before Snoopy invades the park next year. It will be nice to see what Cedar Fair plans to do with the Peanuts characters in this area, as well as the other former Paramount parks, considering these areas are considerably larger than Planet Snoopy at Cedar Point. Spongebob! We managed to get our pic taken with a statue of Patrick. Little Bill's Giggle Coaster I love how Plankton's Plunge looks verus the generic Frog Hopper rides. I wonder what they'll do to this ride when Snoopy comes in. We did manage to ride the Runaway Reptar. This is an excellent example of what a family coaster is all about and I hope Cedar Fair keeps the ride for the benefit of parents and children riding it together. I didn't ride this on my last visit before the Wild Thornberry's layover was applied. I thought it was a nice, lengthy ride. Thanks to the elephant, the ride had a nice cool ending, which was needed on a hot day. Looks like Dora decided to hang out with us for a little bit. I thought Blue's Skidoo was very colorful. And who can't forget the blue ice cream! I remembered this entrance arch from my last visit. I hope the park does what it can to make Coney Mall look nicer. It seems like the back end near the Vortex is somewhat isolated. Perhaps a few new flats could go in back there. Delirium is exactly like Cedar Point's maXair. Just showing some captions of it swinging in action. Kings Island's train reminds me alot of Walt Disney World's trains. It's probably one of my favorite railroads that can be found at a theme park other than Disney. I thought this place looked rather cool! As the saying goes, "always save the best for last". And that's exactly what I did. If you look to the right, you will see me (wearing the bright orange t-shirt) getting ready to board Firehawk, which would be my last ride of the trip. This was my very first flying coaster experience and let me say, it was incredible. That's really the best way I can say it in words - incredible!!!! The seats were comfortable and the extreme force against your body is amazing! Overall, I rate this ride 11/10 with 10 being the ultimate. I look forward to riding more flying coasters in the near future. And I end this PTR with a nice view of the royal fountains. Since the park closed at 8:00 that day, we left about seven. After grabbing a quick meal at Wendy's, we relaxed back at our hotel for the rest of the evening. The next morning, we woke up early, had a delicious continental breakfast at the hotel, and then it was time to hit the road for home. New coaster credits accomplished for me at Kings Island during this trip: -Diamondback -Firehawk -Racer (red side for this trip) -Backlot Stunt Coaster -Vortex -Runaway Reptar -Flight Deck These add onto my Adventure Express, Racer (forward back then, blue side now), and the Beast credits from 1999. Including the coasters I have ridden in my last trips to these parks, I have ridden a total of about 17 or 18 coasters during this vacation. Overall, I had a really great time and this probably was one of the best trips ever, besides all of the Disney World trips I have taken over the years. Our next major vacation will be Walt Disney World in September of next year.

From the looks of the many pictures I have seen of this ride (even back during the Italian Job days), I thought this was going to be a bummer. Boy was I wrong. While it wasn't the most intense launched coaster I've ridden, the ride did pack quite a punch. I was impressed with the ups and downs, and the zig-zagging through the ride props, which were pretty much all running the day we were there. Unlike Iron Dragon, Flight Deck was a really thrilling ride. I enjoyed the various points through the ride where the cars flew almost sideways. The force was definitely felt. IMO, overall, this can be compared to Big Bad Wolf which I also really enjoyed when I rode it back in 2005. Just a few random shots. Racer started off the day with the Red side running, then eventually went to both sides. By the time I had the chance to ride it, they went back to only running the Red side again, which was beneficial to me since I rode the Blue side on my last trip (would have been the forward side back then) so now I have both sides of the coaster under my credits. I forgot how good this coaster is. I compare to the Comet at Hershey. They both deliver just about the same amount of thrill. Speed and lots of airtime! Here are some Eiffel Tower pix thrown in for good measure: International Street and the main entrance gate. Diamondback and Rivertown Backlot Stunt Coaster Vortex and the Beast Firehawk, the Racer, and Coney Mall Action Zone Nickelodeon Universe Boomerang Bay It's too bad Son of Beast was shut down for the rest of the season. The fate of this ride is currently unknown. The last set of pics and T/R will be up shortly!

We're on the road at approximately 5:15 in morning, leaving Breaker's Express for Cincinatti. Our TripTik directions had us going some scenic way through small towns down to Columbus. On the way there, we stopped at a convenience store for coffee/hot chocolate. The only snarl was hitting the morning work traffic through Columbus, but even that went pretty smoothly. We arrived at our hotel, the Comfort Inn on Fields Ertel Rd at about 9:30, checked in and received our discounted park tickets. We arrived at the park at approximately a quarter till 10 and had an excellent spot not far from the park's main entrance. We managed to be there for the opening, something I didn't think was going to happen. Once we made our way back through the park, I immediately went back to Firehawk, which was temporarily closed. Because of this, my father and I made our way over to Diamondback, which turned out to be the first ride of the day. Cresting the lift. Heading towards the helix and splashdown. Going through the splashdown, which was spectacular to watch. Going through the helix. I was really impressed on how Cedar Fair really spruced up Rivertown with the addition of this ride. These Diamondback banners were a nice touch. I was really impressed with this ride! I rode in the front right seat and the view was just incredible. The experience of looking right down to the bottom of the first drop was amazing and I also loved the amount of airtime throughout the ride. Overall, this ride can be compared to Apollo's Chariot, IMO. After Alex and my mom finally met back up with us, we walked back to the Beast. I really enjoyed this round on my favorite wooden roller coaster this time than during my last trip in 1999. I guess as the coaster enthusiast took its toll on me, my opinion has changed on previously-ridden coasters that I've done prior to now. The speed, ride time, and the fact that your back in the woods, is what really makes this ride. I loved Vortex! This ride was way better than Corkscrew at Cedar Point. IMO, the ride was smooth and very intense through the inversions. No jerking, as of the roughness in Corkscrew's first drop and vertical loop. I think it even surpassed Anaconda at Kings Dominion, which was slightly shorter. More Kings Island pix and T/R coming up shortly!

Even though I didn't have the chance to ride it, Top Thrill Dragster is as impressive looking as it would probably be to ride. 0-120 mph in a matter of seconds! Going up.... Cresting the top.... Going down....way down! Raptor was one of the best B&M inverted coasters I've ever ridden! This ride tops up with Talon and Montu, with Great Bear trailing behind. This was also the second invert that I've ridden with a cobra roll element (the other was Alpengist at Busch Gardens Williamsburg). The ride had some great intensity, especially with the helix at the end of the ride. Also for a nominal charge, they sell on-ride videos (thanks to mounted cameras hidden on each row, including the front row) of your experience. Make for a nifty souvenir too! Overall, I'd definitely ride this one again! These are the many flat rides that Cedar Point has to offer. Some Sky Ride pix (with the latter taken from the ride). I did manage to snap these few pics of Mean Streak. Unfortunately, I didn't have the chance to ride it. This turned out to be one of my favorite Cedar Point pictures from the trip. Corkscrew was very short, but the ride did pack quite a punch. The first drop was a little rough and intense. To put it this way, I thought Vortex at Kings Island was alot smoother than this coaster. It was still fun though. And a stroll through Planet Snoopy wouldn't be complete without a pic with a statue of the famous Beagle himself! I thought this came out very colorful. Towards the later part of the afternoon, we ate dinner at the Midway Market. The food was good but was very pricy, having just missed the cheaper lunch pricing which made us frustrated. A nice shot of Cedar Point at sunset brings Part One of our Ohio vacation to a close. Overall, this trip to the Point was well worth it, way better than my last. With 17 coasters and al those rides, it was impossible to do most of it in one day but we made the most of it and managed to get alot accomplished. We left the park around 7 pm and went to bed early to prepare for the 3 1/2 hr drive to Cincinatti early the next morning. New coaster credits accomplished for me at Cedar Point during this trip: -Maverick -Millennium Force -Raptor -Gemini -Magnum XL-200 -Wildcat -Iron Dragon -Corkscrew These add onto my Blue Streak and Cedar Creek Mine Ride credits from 1998. Check back shortly for "Part Two" of my Ohio Vacation when we venture to Kings Island!

The next coaster was Millennium Force. We managed to get the second seat. I thought experience was intense and lots of airtime. I also enjoyed the smoothness of the ride, as well as finale where you smoothly go from 65 - 0 mph in a matter of seconds! I would definitely ride this coaster again and I can't wait to hear people's reviews of Intimitator 305 (when it opens in the spring) and the comparison between the two. After I managed to get these two coasters into my credits, it was time for the park to open to everyone else. By this time, we just did what we wanted to for the remainder of the day. Even though I am not a fan of stand-up coasters, I thought Mantis was really impressive to just watch (this even goes from when I was at the park back in 1998). I guess I enjoy the thrill of watching riders having fun (since I've become a "major" enthusiast since that time, even when I'm not on the ride itself. Iron Dragon was fun and "tamer" compared to Big Bad Wolf and Flight Deck. It can be considered more of a "family coaster". I hope the park keeps it so that families can enjoy riding it together. I really enjoyed Magnum alot, although it was alot rougher than Steel Force. I think the roughness is what really added to the ride, besides all the airtime on the hills throughout the ride. I put this one towards the top of my list. We rode both sides of Gemini. This was a really, really, great ride, sort of reminded me of the Comet at Hershey, just racing with another train, plus a little smoother. This is thanks to the steel rails on the wooden structure. There were also some great "head-chopper" effects as the ride went back under the main structure, which really added to the experience. Overall, it turned out to be a great ride! The Junior Gemini. The Space Spiral can be considered the "double decker" version of Hershey's Kissing Tower. The ride offers some commanding views of the entire park, as well as Lake Erie and Sandusky Bay. The only downside to this ride is, they don't offer you as many revolutions as the Kissing Tower, making it a slightly shorter ride. As you can see from these pics that I took from the Space Spiral, Cedar Point "is" the world's largest amusement park. Everything is spread out everywhere you look. This placed opted for a great photo op, so I couldn't resist! We bumped into Charlie Brown along the way. The last time I was here (1998) was the final season for the Berenstein Bears. I think the Peanuts characters are a better touch for the park. It was nice seeing some of them at Dorney Park several years ago when during my last visit there. maXair is the park's Huss Frisbee ride. Wildcat may look aged and "very dated" but when you ride it, the ride itself does pack quite a punch. The last part of "Part One" or the Cedar Point part, of my Ohio vacation is coming up shortly!

I finally have the chance to get my Cedar Point and Kings Island pics. I really enjoyed this vacation, rode lots of coasters (most being new credits, a few some repeat rides since my 1998/99 trips to these parks). Overall it was a great vacation, with excellent weather and just alot of fun! First off was Cedar Point. We arrived at the Breaker's Express Saturday (8/15) and got a nice third floor room right by the elevators, making it for very easy access to and from the parking lot. Since we were staying with the Cedar Point resorts. we were eligible for the 9 am early entry into the park Sunday morning. More onto that then. The main sign along Cleveland Rd at the entrance to Cedar Point Drive. Breaker's Express was nice and simple. The rooms were really nice and clean (at least where we stayed). After an excellent meal at Cracker Barrel, we made our way over to Battery Park, along Lake Erie to take in the excellent, commanding views of Cedar Point. It was nice to see the park from over there and the rides running. The weather was gorgeous, the waves were crashing against the rocks by the marina. Overall, it almost reminded me of being at the shore, only 100% better! That's the reason why I'm here! A boater making their way across Lake Erie. Coastermatt and Coaster Al can't get enough of one of the sweetest skylines around! The next morning we ate breakfast at McDonald's across the street and were at the park early, claiming a very good parking spot by the main entrance gate. We were in promptly at nine and dad and I headed straight for Maverick, the first ride of the trip. Unfortunately since we were immediately going to Millennium Force afterward, I was unable to get pics, and we never made it back to this area of the park again for me to do so later. Overall, Maverick really packs a punch! Some nice airtime, an excellent launch through the tunnel, and some sweet tight turns round out for a very good ride. My comparison of this ride to Fahrenheit is pretty close, although I am more impressed with Fahrenheit's tall and steeper first drop. Other than that, I rate both rides around the same place on my favorite coaster list. We stopped and got a pic by this sign located at the entrance to the Causeway I had to snap a pic of the ride restriction signs as these were pretty cool looking. The main entrance to the park. More trip report and lots more pictures to come shortly!

Great pics! I need to get back to that park again. I think their Wild Mouse was one of the best (an excellent first drop and quite lengthy) and surpassed Hershey's. Seems like Cedar Fair has been doing a great job with the place since I last went in 2004. I can't wait to compare King's Island now when I go next month as to when I last went under Paramount's ownership ten years ago.

Great KD T/R! hopefully I'll get back to this park sometime in the near future. My last visit was in 2004 and it was my best time I ever had there.

Another good T/R! Too bad it had to rain....again. How frustrating!

100 mins for a weekday? Doesn't make sense. I was there on June 7th and Fahrenheit's line wasn't that long, it didn't even fill up the main queue when I walked by it. Of course I rode it first thing so it was a walk on then. Great pics by the way!

Very nice pictures there! Too bad it was rainy. They really would have looked nice with blue skies. Lots of great landscaping. Great job!

Now I know why that when I put "l o c k e r" in my Hersheypark 6/7/09 PTR why it said that instead. I originally thought some people were just messing with me at first.

As always, good T/R! Too bad it rained again. When would be the first park you would attend that the sun would be out? Talon ws indeed my favorite B&M invert I've ever been on. Completely intense throughout. I'm excited to compare Raptor with it when I'm out at Cedar Point this August. Can't wait for the next part of this whole trip! Perhaps you should make a website about it or something. I enjoy reading every ounce of your reports!

I know Hershey takes pretty good care of their rides. I've taken lots of pictures from their tower (including this year if you see my PTR) and yeah, it's easy to get some great shots from up there. Does anyone have some good pics from the one at Knotts? I knew they had one.

My thoughts exactly. You're captions are fantasticly fun. I love seeing great trip reports of parks I'll be visiting later in the season. Thank you! I agree with what you said! I've been following various Cedar Point and Kings Island TR's and PTR's from this season to give me some ideas on my upcoming trip this August. And to "The Bebes", can't wait to see those Dorney pics coming up! I was last there in 2006 and I thought Talon was one of the best B&M inverts I've ever ridden. This even surpassed Great Bear and Montu, which are my other favorite B&M inverts, and I'm anxious to compare all of those to Cedar Point's Raptor when I finally add that one to my list of credits coming up in August. Enough about that, again, I'm looking forward to the Dorney pics!

Aww, thanks for sharing your Prairie Dog photos! It's good to know that someone is at least spotting them! I don't remmeber when it was that I last saw them with a trip to the zoo. I know what you mean about rides shutting down and all. Can be very frustrating at times, especially if it's a credit you want to do especially and are unable to, because of a current closure. Can't wait to see more of your T/R's! You're doing a fantastic job so far. I'll definitely be following this thread all the way!

Just read your Hershey T/R and again, nice work! Sorry you guys didn't like Wild Mouse, I actually think it's one of the best out there, with the lack of trims. I never see those Prairie Dogs out when I'm over at ZooAmerica, so great shot there! I totally agree with you guys on Sidewinder, I wish the park would remove it. I've heard too much similar to what you guys have said about that thing and that's why I've never ridden it to this day. I'm sorry it was sprinkling for you, but hey, it's better than a trential downpour (if I had to pick one). At least you got your Fahrenheit credit in. Excellent coaster IMO. I rode it again in the front seat last Sunday and the experience is the best up there. I'm not a back seat person when it comes to coasters. You'll usually find me up front (or the second/third row), that's pretty much it. Glad you had a swell time!

For me, it would pretty much be most of Hersheypark's coaster which would be: Comet, Great Bear, Lightning Racer, Wildcat, and sooperdooperLooper, followed by Wild Mouse and Trailblazer. Sometimes on my visits to the park, I don't always get down to Trailblazer to ride it. The next ones up would be Space Mountain and Big Thunder Mtn at WDW, followed by Rock'n Rollercoaster and Exposition Everest. Even though I've been to WDW twice since I first rode Rock'n Rollercoaster, the second time I was there since my first ride (2007), RR was shut down for rehab, so I added Everest to my credits during that trip tying them both up for one.

I'm really enjoying the T/R's so far! Great job with each! I'm especially excited now that you are to the Hershey section. I was to Knoebels for my very first time last year. Nice family-oriented park with two great wooden coasters that I was able to add to my credits. I'm sorry it was raining for you guys at Kennywood and Knoebels. Hopefully, the rest of the trip went well for you!

Awesome collection you have there! Too bad I never experienced the place, but I do have lots of maps going back to about ten or eleven years ago that they mailed to me.

What do you mean your photos weren't really that good? I thought they were! I loved that Racer shot looking up underneath the track through the structure. That was really interesting. I also enjoyed the X-Base night pic. Great PTR and pics! Can't wait until August!

Thanks, can't wait to see your historical pictures someday!

Thanks for the comments guys! I never really thought I would get this much of a response on these older pictures! To deguy123, I'd love to see your old Hershey photos sometime! The park's history just fascinates me so very much! Did you also see my 6/7 PTR from this past Sunday? That may give you a little preview on what to expect with the SEA-qual.

If you go to my "Hersheypark - June 7th, 2009" update that I just posted here yesterday, you will see an aerial photo that I took that shows the SEA-qual, as well as Midway. I think it's cool to compare the two shots to see how much has changed. Thanks all for the wonderful comments! I thought I would post some of these older pics to see what you all would think and since we've been seeing alot of recent pics lately, I thought it would be cool to step back in time and reflect back on the rides, attractions and surroundings that we all fondly remember the park by. I've studied the history of the park so much within the last ten years or so, and it's so interesting to see how it grew from a small public park to a world-class amusement park!