medic738

Just had my first rides on Intimidator this weekend while at the ACE event there. While I think I305 is a better ride, I found the Carowinds Intimidator to be a really fun ride with lots of air time. It was a great ride. Carowinds had a very nice selection of rides - more of a variety in coasters than in flats. I had a great time there.

I think its great that people from all over the country came together to support this small park that ran into some hard times. What's wrong with giving them another chance to survive? I think its great that they got so much support from all over the country (and possibly the world). I for one would support the efforts of any small park that could use the help even though I may be very far away and not a local visitor. While I agree that this little park is pretty ghetto (at least right now), this may give them a boost to clean up some more of the park and make a go of it. We were up there during ACE Coaster Con. The front part of the park is pretty nice, some of the midway around the kiddie land definitely seen better days, and the back part extending towards the lake really needs major work (no thanks to the local firebug). The atmosphere around this park leaves great potential. The lake is beautiful, the beach club looks like it would be a fantastic palce to enjoy a summer night. My opinion - they have a bunch of historical and one-of-a-kind rides that give this park an appeal to the enthusiast. The repair of Blue Streak just continues this. They will need to make some major changes to attract new, non-enthusiast visitors because the nearby competition is pretty tight (Kennywood, Waldameer and even Cedar Point). But as folks who regularly follow a site dedicated not only to roller coasters but to the entire theme park industry, we need to do whatever we can to help preserve the historic small time, family run parks that are left out there. I don't know about everyone else, but even though they offer the "super" rides, a world full of only Cedar Faire and Six Flags would be pretty boring IMHO. I can't wait to get back up to ride Blue Streak and you lucky riders this weekend better post some cool TR's!

Speaking from my experience last year (though we did make an August trip there), most lines were relatively short with exception of the bobsled coaster (Alpine Bobsled?) and mine train. When we saw the wait for the Bobsled, we tried to get a flash pass and found them all sold out. It seems they have a limited number and they went fast that day. I don't think they use the q-b ot system like Great Adventure or SFNE. With there system, you get five rides for $15 (or 11 rides for $25). These can be 5 rides on a single ride or 5 different rides. The price is pretty cheap and I hate to stand in lines so I would spring for the pass and use them to make the most of your time. Even if it frees up some time to hit the water park for a bit. On the day we went it was pretty hot and the water park was packed. Because of this, I didn't get a good look at how much it offered but it looked good from outside. This park has a lot for younger kids. I think there were animals to pet and a miniature village to play in. Don't remember seeing Alice In Wonderland though. There was a castle and some kind of carriage ride that looked like Cinderella's pumpkin. The swan boats and train ride would be great for a small rider. Their kids area looked cool (though I think we were denied a kiddie coaster credit there being too tall - but pathetic enough to even try!). My son was 15 and we enjoyed the park - Comet was outstanding. The other coasters are ok. Not our favorite SF park but good never the less. Hope you enjoy your day!

Here's the link to the local TV station coverage - just an article, sorry no video (we are so backwoods as far as news is concerned, people are more interested by when the parking meters go in effect at the beach than they are anything else!). http://www.wboc.com/Global/story.asp?S=12857760 Its all second hand but I heard none of the injuries were very serious. I tend to believe that based on the fact that 2 of them were taken to the local hospital at Berlin. OC doesn't have enough year-round population to sustain their own hospital. The closest is Atlantic General in Berlin. As a medic who works locally, I can tell you, we would never take any serious injuries there. The next nearest hospital is in Salisbury MD and received 1 patient. They can handle more serious injuries but probably received the patient from the coaster solely because Berlin would be severly "overwhelmed" after receving 2 patients. ACE Midatlantic has an event coming up at Trimpers this coming weekend. We'll see if the Whirlwind is up and running by then. Trimpers is a very respectible, family run park. Even though some of their rides are a bit old, they are well maintained. I haven't ridden Tidalwave this year yet, but always found it ran as well as could be expected for one of those God forsaken Boomerangs!

While attending Coaster Con, we got a ride on Sky Rocket last night. What a fun ride! While not the tallest or fastest, I think it makes a great addition to an fantastic park that already has such a great variety of rides for just about everyone's interests. It's been about 10 years since my last visit to Kennywood and they've made a lot of changes. They really manage to keep the feeling of a small family park despite being one of the "big guys" in the business in my opinion. I particularly loved Ghostwood Estates. We got a lights on walk-through tour the other night and I never realized all that I'm missing while focusing on shooting targets! I really enjoy Kennywood and loved the ride on Sky Rocket. Can't wait to come back and get a few more rides in.

Thanks for the great TR - sounds like a fun day even with the crappy weather. SFA is my home park and I ride Superman - ROS frequently. My son and I made a weeklong roadtrip last summer through NY, Conn and Mass hitting about 11 parks including Darien Lake. Ride of Steel really freaked us out. It is almost an exact replica of our ride except it's a mirror image. After coming down the first hill, the SFA version turns to the right, Darien Lakes' turns to the left. It was really creepy for us riding it. Almost like a ride out of the bizarro universe - but enough of that or SF will re-paint, add fire effects and call it a new ride! I liked the Darien Lake ride just a bit better because if I recall, most of the track rode above the water. That was kind of cool. Thanks again for the TR and allowing me to relive memories of a great trip to some decent coasters!

Just got home from 3 days at KD (celebrating my son's 16th birthday!)- Intimidator was awesome! Agree with most everyone's comments. Front seat definitely the best. Ride ops were engaging, entertaining and efficient. Bizarro (SF NE) was my number one before I305 but this easily blows the competition away. I think its best summed up by a comment from a fellow rider in line - I305 is a rider's ride. KD is one of my favorite parks. The past 3 days were not up to par however. While I305 was putting the riders through quickly and efficiently, most of the other rides left a lot to be desired. Most were running one train only and even though lines were short, the wait times were almost unbearably long. I keep a good thought about KD though. I think that staffing was down due to being early in the season and they may have been surprised by the crowds. The weather was summer-like already. I've been to openings later in April where we're wearing jackets. This week we roasted in shorts! I can't wait to get back for some Intimidator night-time rides!

Check out the coupon book you received with your season pass for some great food deals. I know past years had a pretty good family meal deal at Papa John's - pizza, salad, breadsticks, a pitcher of soda and I think some slushies for around 30 bucks (fed 4 of us easily). Personally, I like the Panda express the best. Also, back in the old west section near Mind Eraser is the Saloon. They have some decent food as well. Use the Flash Pass system if the crowds are heavy. Its different from the Q-bots at Great Adventure, SF New England and others. For around 10 bucks you get 5 or 10 passes (I think) that you can use to enter certain rides from the exits saving waits. Since most of SF America's waits are short, you should be able to get on all the coasters by just buying one set of passes. I've only ever waited extended periods for Batwing - I've never seen them use both sides of the station and the loading takes so long it's very inefficient and slow. It's worth one ride but unless I can get there early or for an event with ERT, I usually skip it. And don't worry about the safety stuff people have been bringing up. Just exercise normal caution and enjoy yourself. This park gets a bad rap based on things that happened years ago. Personally I feel much safer there than when the buses from NYC invade Great Adventure! Have fun - SF America is a very nice park and VERY under-rated.

Something else to consider with 4 in your party. The 2-person gold flash pass is something like $120. If you split that cost between the four of you, all you'll need to do is kick in 30 bucks each. Then take turns using it (2 of you ride - as soon as you get up to the flash pass entrance and they scan you, the flash pass can be reset again). Many times on slow to moderately busy days, I've done this and had my flash pass alerting that I can ride again, even before I get off the first ride. So you could get off, give the pass over to your two other friends, and they could ride almost immediately. Keep resetting this as soon as possible each time and you'll get plenty of rides on even the busiest coasters.

My son and I were there in August. Thankfully I'm short enough not to worry! From what I saw, the only time an issue arose was when someone couldn't secure the restraints properly. After the ride ops tried to assist, I did see people removed from the ride if they still could not secure. IMHO though, it appeared that most issues arose from excess "girth" rather than excess height. I did see an attendent posted at the entrance - maybe he or she ID'ed tall riders before they even made it to the que. Hope you get to ride - we LOVED it!

You guys are making me homesick for the park - especially for all the food!

We were there late last week and the only thing down was the Boomerang. Everything else running wonderfully.

Hydra - Dorney Park - Saturday, August 15 We loved this ride (and Possessed was pretty cool too!)

Thanks for a great TR with some decent pictures! My son and I may have been visiting there the same day - we were there the day of the Brad Paisley concert. When we got there it was packed - I didn't know there was a concert that night - but lines were not too bad. I agree with most of your ride comments. I was pretty disappointed with Predator (but we rode Boulder Dash earlier in the week and I think that spoiled us and made almost everything else that week pale in comparison). Out local park - Six Flags America has a Mind Eraser (plus we rode one at SF New England) an I think Darien Lake's is the best of the three we've ridden. Ride of Steel was kind of creepy for us. We have the Superman Ride of Steel at SF America (and it's our favorite ride there). The creepy thing is that Darien Lake's ride is a MIRROR image of our local ride. So it was really weird riding this one - almost like something out of the Bizarro world! I think I put Darien Lake's ride a bit above ours. I liked how most of the ride was over water - gave some cool effects while diving down hills and through helixes. etc. I really like Darien Lake - probably not my absolute favorite - but had a great selection of rides. I wouldn't mind getting back someday. Thanks for the photo memories!

belou There are two types of flashpass at SF GA and SF NE - regular ang gold. They both work about the smae way. It is a small pager sized unit that allows you to select a ride (most of the larger rides/coasters are included). With the regular FP, once you select a ride, the pager will alert you when you can ride. The time you wait is equal to what the line length is at that time. Ex - if the line for Bizarro is 45 minutes long, you will be able to ride 45 minutes after you select it on the FP. Once the pager goes off, you just walk up the FP entrance - usually takes you up to the loading platform. A ride op will then clear your FP and let you into the loading area (and at this time you can select your next ride while you have your short wait for the current ride). The gold FP cuts this wait down extensively - again, if Bizarro was 45 minutes when you selected it, your wait may be only something like 15 minutes (I think they quote a 70% shorter time). The gold is quite a bit more expensive than the regular. (I was at SF NE last week and got a reg FP for something like $40 - $10 off since I had a season pass to Six Flags). I believe the gold was running arounf $90. (this was for 2 people). I usually visit Great Adventure a couple of times a year and sort of wiegh out the crowd to see which if any FP would work for that day. I have had days where, with the gold FP, my ride time is up before I get off the ride! You can pre-purchase on-line. I'm not sure how people feel about this. I know the number of FPs are limited and I'm not sure how many times they run out. Suggestion - go online for all the parks you want to visit. Check out any specials. I also visitied Lake Compounce last week and saved a few bucks (and gate time) getting my passes online beforehand. Also, do you have a SF season pass? It is good at ALL SF parks so it would work at New England AND Great Adventure. My son and I just got back from a tour in the area you're heading. We did Seabreeze, Darien Lake, Sylvan Beach, Quassy, Lake Compounce, Dorney Park, SF Great Escape, SF New England, Rye Playland and Coney Island. It was a blast and I'm sure you'll have the same!

I visited Dorney this past Saturday - hadn't been there since high school (let's just say a few years ago!). My initial impression was not so good - the traffic jam getting into the park was the worse I've eve seen. I think we ended up parking in the lot in New Jersey so the walk into the ticket booth was a killer. Then there was the 30 minnute wait to buy tickets (definitely go on-line and make your purchase - you'll save some money too!). After buying a ticket we then were shoved through the throng of humanity to get into the gates! However, once inside, things were no worse than any Six Flags park. For a Saturday we had very minimal wait times as most rides were run very efficiently (kudos to their staff!). The only horrible wait was for the Wild Mouse. I was warned about this but needed the credit. I think we ended up with a 45 minute wait or so for a ride that we walked on at most other parks we visited. Possessed went out of service briefly and my son and I hung out in the area and were in the right spot to grab two back to back rides as soon as it re-opened. We also did a walk on for Timberwolf and Steel Force (x2). We grabbed a couple of rides on Hydra (don't miss it) and one ride on Talon. Plus we rode the two train rides. So despite the fact of a crowded Saturday, we got in a bunch of rides and ended up leaving around 5 pm. You should do just as well on a Friday. Comments about the water park were absolutely dead-on. from what I could see it was wall to wall people in every pool and line. I think this helped eased the load on the rides. Despite the first impression, we ended up having a great time and found it to be one of our favorite parks of our trip.

I worked there through high school, college, paramedic school and even went back and worked as a medic in the park before I moved out of the area years ago so maybe I'm knd of partial. This is absolutely my favorite park outside of Disney. Give yourself a bunch of time to just walk around and take in the atmosphere. The beautiful woods, the fantastic smells and the sight of this park at night make it a classic. I agree with all the ride recomendations made by others - my personal favorites are the coasters (Phoenix and Twister - haven't ridden Kosmos Kurves yet though my son liked it) and the Haunted Mansion. Cesari's Pizza is great, the Alamo is a nice place to sit for a while in the a/c or they also do an outside meal (BBQ chicken or spaghetti). Also, the french fries over by the Alamo are the bomb. Make sure you leave room for some ice cream from the old mill by the Mansion. Plus carmel corn, carmel apples and cotton candy are among the best I've had at any park. (You'll need to walk the park to burn off the calories). Take a look at their websight to see the cost per ride. Since lines are usually short, you can get many walk-ons so repeat riding of favorites is always possible. Some rides like the motor boats are lower capacity and very popular causing probalby the longest wait in the park. During weekdays, the cost of a book of tickets is discounted (I think a $10 book for $9 or something like that but don't quote me). The alternative is the all day plan - very cheap even with the coaster option added. On your way into the park, stop in Elysburg at the intersection there is a Turkey Hill quickie mart. Usually you can pick up some discount coupons here (at least for use during the week). I don't think they run the all day deals on weekends until the end of the season. They also do an after dark special and bargain nights Wed and Fri nights. I just returned from visiting about 12 parks in CT, Mass and NY and still find Knoebels to be my favorite. I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

Yes I considered Martins. Its a maybe so far. the only problem is that after leaving Darien Lake, I plan to drive south to Bingamton NY to spend the night and going to Martins would add another hour to that trip.

Thanks for all the info. We're approaching our departure date (Sunday) and I think I've finalized our plans for the week: Sunday Aug 9 Coney Island - cyclone, wonder wheel, spook-a-rama and may be any kiddie coaster credits we're allowed to ride Rye Playland Monday Aug 10 - Quassy and lake Compounce Tuesday Aug 11 - SF New England Wednesday Aug 12 - SF Great Escape Thursday Aug 13 - Sylvan Beach Park and Seabreeze Friday Aug 14 - Darien lake Saturday Aug 15 - stop at Dorney Park on way home if there's any money left! I'm anxiously counting the minutes till departure.

On the Science channel Sunday they ran a marathon of the "Colossal COnstruction" series. One episode covered the construction of Hard Rock Park especially the Led Zepplen coaster and Maximum RPM. It was a great episode especially for construction geeks. Thank goodness for my DVR!

Thanks Wood Dragon - certainly a lot to consider. I have started to look at some of the smaller parks about the area. My son's 15 so kiddie rides are out unless there's a coaster for credit! I've been to a lot of PA parks (though not very recently). Knoebel's is my favorite (I worked there from age 13 up through my 30's!). Just thought about getting to Dorney for some newer rides (but I'll probaboy miss the stuff of my childhood like the Wacky Shack and Journey to the Center of the Earth). Looking at everything - I was really looking forward most to Lake Compounce and from your comments I don't think I'll be disappointed. Thanks so much for your input.

Wow - it looked so nice on the web site! Thanks for the heads up. Maybe we'll spend extra time at SF NE (or see if there is somewhere else we can add to the trip!). Thanks again

Hi everybody! My son and I are planning a trip to NY/CT/Mass sometime in late July. Here's my draft plan (driving north from Delaware): Day 1 - depart and drive north - stop in early afternoon at Coney Island Cylone and Wonder Wheel (are there any other operating coasters or dark rides at Coney Island?). Leave Coney Island with next stop at Quassy park in CT to ride the monster coaster. First question - after Quassy, I was thinking of heading to Lake Compounce and doing the after 5 admission. Do you think this gives me enough time for a couple of rides on their coasters and dark ride ( I was planning on this day being a Sunday or other day they are open till 10 to get the most hours possible). Or, do you think I should call it a day and plan on devoting more of a full day there? Also, any local sources for discount admission coupons etc? Day 2 and 3 - Six Flags New England Day 4 and 5 - Six Flags Great Escape Possibly Day 6 and 7 - Dorney Park on trip home What's everyone's thoughts? Are there any other decent stops along or near this route that I might be missing - primarily interested in dark rides and roller coasters. I'd love to hear from you guys and gals who have probably made similar trips. Thanks so much!

Hi all! I've been a park fan for years - now having a great time getting around and riding some coasters with my son. Live in Southern Delaware - closest rides are in Ocean City MD but nothing to write home about. Closest Six Flags over in MD (but again not much to talk about). Have a SF Season Pass and end up at Great Adventure more. Grew up working at Knoebels from the time I was 13 (ticket taker), through high school and college (operator - Haunted Mansion and Jet Star (anyone remember that Swartzkopf?)) and later as a park medic. Knoebels probably remains my favorite park with Kennywood very close second. Just love looking at all your trip photos and dreaming to have a chace to tour and ride like you guys. Great web site, photos and travelogues - keep up the good stuff!