Andrew.NZ88

Great to see this park making multiple improvements. I'd be fascinated to try a shuttle loop in the dark.

^ Yeah, I heard it was more of an ornament now - what a shame. I'm sure it requires a bit of expense, but if Kennywood can renovate theirs and keep it open...

Kennywood was a great day. I sure am glad we got to ride Pittfall before it was sold. Phantoms Revenge would be in my top 5 steel coasters.

Thanks Gary! We went to Disneyland Resort at the very end of our trip and went on Mickey's Fun Wheel which was even crazier than Deno's Wonder Wheel but not as old and creaky which I thought somehow made the ride scarier. Definitely a unique experience!

That Yoyo was unexpectedly fun. I don't remember the one at Indiana Beach being as good. I felt like I was going to be thrown out of my chair at times!

Yay, the TR has begun! Robb and Elissa put on an amazing trip and the photos will show that.

^ We had a great time at Cedar Point. Have fun Laura! It is a 'must-do' park. After our three-day stay at Cedar Point we drove down to Kings Island, staying across the road at the Kings Island Resort Center. We used our Club TPR membership to get the early entry - wondering what the crowds would be like...but the park was dead all day long! What a contrast to Cedar Point! And what a relief! It enabled us to take it a bit easier while also managing to get loads of rides in. Making for a really fun day. Kings Island wasn't quite what we expected. It's a very manageable park, easy to get around, but with a huge selection of rides. It has a similar vibe to Six Flags Great America, built in the 70s, with a lot of its original charm, but also a certain corporate feel to it. The ride line-up is awesome. Our first coaster was Diamondback, which felt very tame until we tried a seat toward the front - and were blown away! The air time was fantastic. Back row was great too, but there is a strange rattle going on, as Jake pointed out in his TR. Oh, well. Beast was very disappointing, even though we'd heard about the changes made to the ride over the years. We just didn't realise there'd be so many trim brakes! There were on every hill! Cedar Fair: How about fixing your woodies instead of trimming them? Next up were another two favourite coasters of the day: Firehawk and Flight of Fear. Both excellent rides, especially with no queues. Firehawk, despite its odd seating arrangement, was surprisingly smooth, intense and exciting. Other favourite rides for us were Flight Deck, tucked away well off the beaten track, the awesome Intamin gyro drop tower (I had been fearing this ride more than any other on our trip - but I loved it!), Vortex, which was our favourite Arrow looper and provided a few grey out moments, and the old classic woodie Racer. We have really fond memories of Kings Island. I realise the park gets a bit of flack but for us - as a destination park - we felt it was well worth a visit, and we'd love to go back! We took the scenic route to the park... Definitely going in the right direction. Yay! We made it! Err, is the park open today? Kings Island's famous 1/3 scale Eiffel Tower. Must go up there for photos later... Our first coaster was Diamondback. The first drop is amazing. But you MUST sit near the front or the very back or you may be disappointed... Preferred seating not guaranteed? We were glad to be there on a quiet day... Gotta love those queues! Reason for the loose article policy. We loved this ride! I could've gone on it all day long. The splashdown was fun too! The park did not get busy all day long. We wandered over to 'Fort Kinzel' for two of our favourite rides - Firehawk and Flight of Fear. Both were really good! (This is Firehawk from the Eiffel Tower.) Original 70s section. Home of Racer. The ride that started the 70s re-birth of coaster building has aged a wee bit... But was great fun! Entering a more corporate area of the park. Home of Delerium. We enjoyed this at Cedar Point and gave it a spin. It's not as intimidating as it looks! Gulp! That's freakin' high. I have a fear of falling... But thanks to the Intamin gods I think I may have conquered it! Invertigo was down at first but soon opened up. Definitely an improvement on the Boomerang - and so tall! Flight Deck was another favourite Arrow of ours. It was a long way off the midway... Cool ride, nice and fast, love the ride design. This was a good mine train too - good themeing (pictures of the ride not included I'm afraid!). We took loads of pic at the top of the Eiffel Tower. Nothing to see here, move along... The beautiful Diamondback stretching out into the trees. The absolutely awesome Arrow coaster Vortex! Wow. Great first drop, intense inversions, lots of fun. Be prepared to grey out in the loops if you sit in the back row! Ground level shot of Vortex doing it's thing. I love that it doesn't just drop straight into a loop but does other 'stuff'. This coaster wasn't so hot. But it was a credit! Now this was a fun junior coaster. Rather hard to photograph. Backlot Stunt Coaster was worth a spin or two but definitely felt a bit lacklustre. Anyone know what used to be here? Back on the ground and we lined up for the newly named Woodstock Express. Cute trains. We rode Surf Dog. Tame fun, quite different to your average Disko ride. Matt felt a bit dodgy taking photos of the kiddie rides... But now we have photos like these! Matt 'log flume enthusiast' Mawkes dragged me on the log flume. I got soaked. Yeah. Time for a drink! Matt turned very brown in America. I got freckles I didn't even know I had. This was a quiet area of the park. We haven't forgotten about Beast, and made sure we went on it several times. We were a little obsessed by the ride with it's long history and once great reputation. It still has awesome potential. Perhaps one day it will ride great again. Quick shot of Vortex from Beast's queue. Off she goes into the sunset. We sure got our timing right with Kings Island. Great park - great day! Thanks for reading!

TPR spent another hot Mid-Western summer's day at Indiana Beach, which had a very different vibe from all the parks we'd visited thus far. Crowds were light and the park had a carnival atmosphere with a great setting on the lakeside. (Matt and I would love to come back and experience the park at night.) I wish I could say we loved the place but on this visit there were some things we found a little annoying. The only thing we'll point out - because it particularly annoyed us - was the policy on Cornball Express that meant you couldn't choose your seat. We quickly found out during early morning ERT (which was great of the park to give us - since Steel Hawg's opening was delayed) that the front of the train gave the best ride. Riding later in the day when the park was completely dead we found we couldn't wait for the next train to get the front seat even though there was no one else in line! Of course the park can set any policy they want to, but that struck us as kinda pointless. Oh, well! Cornball Express really was an awesome coaster - again, all the rumours we'd heard were true. Hoosier Hurricane was fun - not quite as good as it looks perhaps. Steel Hawg was odd and in all the right ways. Insane first drop, outward banking turns, crazy twisty bits and bizarre hang time - all making for a surprisingly enjoyable ride experience. Lost Coaster of Superstition Mountain was even odder and I really liked it! It must be experienced backwards! Other highlights for us were the random flat rides, the shows on the lake and Frankenstein's Castle, a really cool walk-through attraction. The rock-out room was our favourite part. We were excited to experience a traditional-style American amusement park. We had absolutely perfect weather today. Matt almost wanted to go for a swim, weren't it for the man-eating fish. Morning ERT on Lost Coaster of Superstition Mountain was appreciated as the ride was down for most of the day. We found it fun, with some great, unexpected drops and not rough at all. Ride backwards and brace yourself! We rode the Galaxi, one of the park's carnival-style coasters. This ride type was our first-ever coaster and this one was very good. Air time on a Galaxi? Believe it or not, yes! Matt had always wanted to ride a Jet Star so was looking forward to Tig'rr Coaster. Tiny trains! Schwarzkopf obviously improved on this ride design but I guess it led to rides like Whizzer. For which we should all be thankful! Steel Hawg doing it's thing. Fun ride. A whole group of us did Frankenstein's Castle. It was awesome. And very funny at some parts too! A very good falling star. A very good chair swings. This one unnerved us a little - swinging out over the lake and rocking forwards and backwards. We hadn't been on one quite like this before. Every park in the US MUST have one of these! The park doesn't have a lot of room for expansion, but they managed to squish in a splash battle. To round out this short TR, here's some pics of the park's awesome entertainment on the lake! These guys were pretty daring. Fire = excitement! Not too many photos from Indiana Beach from us, but we hope you enjoyed them!

Wow, great TR. Me and my partner are looking forward to going to Holiday World in August. What a lovely park!

Nice photo TR, me and my partner are looking forward to going there later in the year. The Eiffel tower obviously gives some wonderful views!