froggypheebs

I'm not sure if you want to add water park additions, but Water Country USA is doing a 2-year expansion along with BGW to be announced this Saturday, September 18. Also, Morey's Piers is adding at least one slide to their Ocean Oasis water park, but I'm not sure when they are going to announce it.

Thanks for this in-depth report! I am considering doing a full blown Disney trip next year with the water parks included but I wasn't really sure what they entailed. All I really knew was the ski theming at BB and Summit Plummet. After this report, I am definitely doing the water parks add-on. Thanks again!

I have to agree with this. I made my first visit to Wet'n'Wild in June and was surprised that a park in Orlando would be that run-down. I also visited Aquatica on this trip so that may have led to me being disappointed in Wet'n'Wild as a comparison. Aquatica, while small, was extremely clean. Also there were many more bathrooms. At Wet'n'Wild, I think there were only three bathrooms there. In general, I love USF and IOA with IOA being my favorite park anywhere. All of the special effects did seem to be working in June when I was there and all of the employees were extremely friendly, maybe this was due to WWoHP just opening that week, I'm not sure. I do agree that there is just not enough to do and Hulk desperately needs a paint job. Just out of curiousity, is there any room either within the park or an expansion area where they could build new rides/attractions? I am unfamiliar with their land situation so I do not know if they are landlocked. I understand that it would not be anytime soon as they will ride the Harry Potter momentum for a while but I am just curious as to what their land situation is.

Yay!!! So happy that my favorite thread is back!

Thanks for this great thread. I enjoy looking at nostalgia stuff from parks almost as much as visiting them. I never made it to Geauga Lake and didn't get to CP till 2007 so all of the old brochures and pictures you have here are fascinating to me. I look forward to whatever else you have in store.

I was at GAdv on Saturday as well. They didn't just close El Toro but all the coasters and Ferris wheel around 4PM. The skyride wasn't running all day due to the winds. We were finished with all the coasters by then and were just going to try and get a re-ride on El Toro and stay for the tiger show, but once we found out most everything was closed we just got an early start home. Maybe next time I'm in the park, I will see one of you guys and say hello. I would have noticed Big Mike's gold T-shirt but must have never crossed paths. It would have been nice if the park had a few more flats to handle the crowds in a situation like this (or just a few more flats in general.)

I think the best log flumes not in Orlando are Zoom Phloom at Morey's Piers Thunder Creek Mountain at Dorney and one I haven't seen mentioned yet - Thunder River at Waldameer. I have a question above Jet Stream at SFMM. Is this basically just an older version of a flume using boats instead of 'logs'? I was told SFGAdv used to have one until a few years ago but I never knew it was there cause it was in the Looney Tunes Seaport kids section. I would have liked to ride it.

I'm going to GAdv tomorrow and this just made me all kinds of sad. I hope I get to ride the normal train without the horrible ad. If they had to put advertising on the coaster why didn't they go with something that would actually match? Something that has brown in it, not pink and blue!

42. The artist formerly known as Prince 43. Kermit

I would like to join, I just have a quick question. I would like to get tickets for SFGAdv. Is there a safari add-on available? I love seeing the animals when I go to that park. I don't think they get enough credit for how well they take care of them. I will be purchasing one for myself and my boyfriend. From reading this thread, it looks like I can add him as a family member.

Great TR! They were some great photos that got me really excited for my trip here on Memorial Day weekend. Sorry if this is a dumb question, but why would BGW keep all of those footers in place? I can only come up with either they were too expensive to remove or they are going to be used on whatever the new attraction is going to be.

Thank you for posting these shots. This is the Dorney I grew up with. Laser in it's original color format, the rocket ships, Journey to the Center of the Earth, and the Meteorite. Thanks for posting this, it brings back great childhood memories.

That looks great. Can't wait to see it come to fruition.

It is so sad to see this Stadium come down. I would have hoped the historic significance would have played a part in trying to save it. I know it was no longer suitable to handle game crowds but it would have been nice if they kept it as a museum or even just a section of it intact.

Thank you for posting that video of WWL. I first visited Cedar Point in 2007 and never got to ride WWL. I loved Maverick but I think I might have preferred to ride this instead. It looks like it was a very long ride and have great views of the lake. I can now live vicariously through this video. And ^ Dorney does have a great flume. I love how it is built into the mountain and isn't up on stilts. It is very picturesque.

I understand if they cannot build anything in that area if it is designated as a floodplain. It would be nice if they could just remove the slides even if they didn't put anything there other than maybe some landscaping. It would be more aesthetically pleasing.

I am impressed that SF is listening to their fans and already starting to make changes from a call just a few days ago. That shows they are really working hard to get the parks moving in the right direction. Also very excited that Houdini will be open this season. My second favorite ride in the whole park behind only El Toro.

I am excited that they are building a modern version of the Looper ride. The one at Knoebels is the only one of the older models that I know of. It is a very fun ride. It is exciting to see old rides that you never thought you'd see start popping up again.

If they are re-locating the Ferris Wheel, are they finally going to remove those old ugly slides that were behind it? It seems they will be more noticeable with the Ferris Wheel gone. I also really liked that Octupus ride. Sad to see it go. Is it going in storage or relocated or trashed?

I really appreciate his candidness and honesty. That can only lead to positive improvements within the chain. I know SF has been improving, but with this type of leadership imagine how good they will be in 4-5 years. I enjoyed my visit to SFA last year, the only thing that I noticed they needed was some fresh paint and some maintenance needed to be done on the coasters (seats blocked off). The park was clean, no trash on the ground. I am also glad he addressed the lack of flats at GAdv. That is my main problem with that park, including the SBNO flats. If they were open, it would help to spread out the crowds more.

These are great trip reports. Keep 'em comin!

My vote goes to Idlewild. It just has so much going for it. It is so much more than a kiddie park and has unique attractions such as the Caterpillar with canopy, Storybook Forest and the Mr. Rogers train ride. I could easily spend an entire day there.

Thanks for the trip report from Frontier City. I've never heard too much about that park which is kind of shocking to me since they have a Schwarzkopf! I hope I can get out there some day to ride Silver Bullet. It looks great! Those new Vekoma juniors actually look like the restraints work well and it would be a lot of fun to ride one of those! Do any other parks have these?

It pains me that this took this ride away from me. This was my first ever adult steel coaster and first looping coaster. I'm glad it has a new home (or traveling home, I guess) That paint job looks just gorgeous.

These are great trip reports! Thanks for the pics of Camden Park, I haven't seen many pics from there before. I was just in Williamsburg visiting BGW and Colonial Williamsburg and didn't run across that go-cart place. Great find and a rare credit! I find it incredible that a place like that would have a Disk-O to boot! As a side note, I absolutely LOVED BGW.