Taylor Finn

Glad to see you had a nice day at the park. I visited this past week and did have a nice time. The four missing flats left a pretty decent gap in the day for me. The Kangaroo and Bayern Kurve were my two favorite flats in the park. Dip Cone is the way to go, for sure!

I realize he bought the park pretty last minute to fix this place up entirely. But it certainly seems like he could've gotten the mini golf up and running, as well as the Flyers, Tilt-A-Whirl, etc. Putting in these VERY temporary looking rides just seems pretty short-sighted. Clearly not somebody who has any experience running a park. May not have an interest in doing so beyond this year. Ain't no way in the world he will put his own money toward fixing the Blue Streak if he can't be bothered to put the $$ into fixing the flats they still have left. I'd love for the park to succeed. Blue Streak, the Carousel, and Devil's Den are worth keeping around (as were the Turtles).

Thanks for the report! I personally am not a fan of them closing the Canada movie... it’s recently refreshed and to me, it’s an opportunity to replace something that’s “free” with an additional “pay” option. Not a huge deal but that’s just my view. I’m missing some of these tasty bites right about now!

Planning a visit on August 13th to do the after 3 ticket. A few questions. 1. Assume we will pay parking as usual? 2. Possible to ride all coasters, plus Log Flume, maybe rapids, and train in the 4 hours before park closes at 7? We'll probably ignore water park. 3. Any other tips, things we should not miss? 4. Anything been closed ride wise recently? Been years since I've been there. Since before Laser closed!

Planning a visit on August 14th/15th. Plan to do the evening preview Saturday night from 5-7. A few questions: 1. Can I expect to ride a few coasters Saturday evening? Or will crowds still be really rough? 2. Parking at Hershey World is free for 3 hours. Short walk to park from there, right? 3. Best strategy for first few hours Sunday? Need to get on Laff Track and Candymonium, also obviously want to ride just about every other coaster of interest. Any other tips?

Hello! We’re planning to visit on Saturday August 7th. Two of us are from PA, but my friends are from Cincinnati. I know there had been a time where certain folks just across the Ohio border didn’t qualify for the out of state passes. Is that true or would they be eligible? Also, how have the crowds been on Saturdays? We really won’t have the luxury to go another day. We can obviously rope drop the park and head to Lightning Run. But will coaster lines generally be 0-30, 30-60 or 60+ minutes as the day goes on? Water park lines on nice Saturday? Any other tips appreciated!

Well, that's a bummer. I'm not a huge huge craft guy, but it was a nice way to spend some time on the Friday before the evening Phall Phunfest and throughout the weekend.

Thanks for the help here! Wondering what crowds might be like early October on a Sunday? Is it possible to manage rides on all of the rides that are worth riding from your list above? How likely is it that closing time will be pushed back past 6:00? VirtualLine seems like something we definitely want to take advantage of. How many of the six rides offered do you think we could actually get reserved times for during the day? The trouble is that we are flying into Frankfurt Saturday AM and they are flying into Basel Friday evening. They planned to stay (and we may end up following) in Freiburg im Breisgau because Saturday we planned to explore that town. To stay on property, we would need to either store our luggage somewhere in Freiburg and pick it up Saturday once we're done exploring and bring it up to the on property resort. Or we can just stay in Freiburg and drop our stuff off, sleep there that night and then leave it with them Sunday morning to pick back up on way back from Europa park (looks like my public transit down to Basel needs to go through Freiburg anyway). I would love to have time to do a couple days but we just have a lot on the schedule and amusement parks are definitely primarily a "me" thing. Know we will be there from open to close and will make the most of the one day we have. Any tips or tricks on strategy are much appreciated. VirtualLine? Thanks!

Hello all! Visiting Europa Park on a Sunday in early October. Still on fence about staying on property, but issue is that my sister and her husband will be joining us and they don't want to stay on property, so we'd be by ourselves for first hour and the three rides that we want to ride that open early (Blue Fire, Pirates in Batavia, and Alpene Express)... they'll likely want to enjoy later on in day anyway. So, our plan is to have one day in the park (I wish we could have more, just the way the trip is shaping up). I looked through all of the attractions and bolded the ones I would consider must-rides and left un-bolded the rides that would be nice to experience, as well. Looking for opinions on this plan, whether it's feasible to enjoy these rides. Suggested strategies are much appreciated. We can move quickly in the AM and try to knock out some of the big hitters if that makes sense and then retrace our steps and hopefully hit up most of the major areas. Adventure Land – · Jungle Rafts /African Queen (pick one if at all) Germany – · Jim Button Journey · Voletarium · Elf Ride / Puppet Boat Ride (do one, if at all) England – France – · Eurosat (with / without VR) - ride if not long wait · Madame Freudenreich Curiosites · Tower · Silver Star Greece – · Poseidon Coaster · Atlantis Adventure · Pegasus - ride if short wait · Cassandra’s Curse Grimm’s Fairy Tale Forest – · Walkthrough area, no rides Netherlands – · Pirates in Batavia Ireland – · Ba ba Express Iceland – · Wodan · Blue Fire Italy – · Ghost Castle - · Piccolo Monod – dark ride · Volo da Vinci – pedal monorail Minimoys Kingdom – · Arthur Luxembourg - Austria – · Log Flume · Alpine Coaster Enzian · Vienna Wave Swing Portugal – · Atlantica Water Coaster - if not long line Russia · Euro Mir · Sleigh Ride Snowflake – dark ride ; if walk on Switzerland – · Swiss Bob Run · Matterhorn Blitz Scandinavia – · Fjord – Rafting · Snorri Touren – dark ride Spain – · Jolumbusjolle

Wonderful report! It's been years since I was here. Someday I will head back!

I'm checking the website now and they have 25 rides closed at the moment? I understand staffing issues, but that seems like a substantial portion of the park is closed during the week. May need to do some more to entice folks to work for you.

We went to Dollywood for the first since November 2019 Friday and Monday. Some thoughts! On Friday, they were still requiring masks in lines and on rides and were actually doing a solid job of enforcing their own policies. We are fully vaxxxxed and felt comfortable at the park, overall. By Monday, the policy had been relaxed and masks were significantly less present. All Staff still wear. Thunderhead is running really great. The last 1/4 of the ride is just amazingly smooth right now and the first bit as well. We really loved it. Mystery Mine's new bit is fine. It's certainly smooth at the moment which is good. Lightning Rod does feel *slightly* slower over the first hill and throughout the whole course. It is most noticeable on the first element after the big drop. Still hauls and is an awesome ride. Shut down on us Monday before we could get on it (our mistake for waiting till 6:30). Oddly enough, on Friday the line was at 100 minutes midday. We walked right on at park close twice. Food and Flower Festival Thoughts: $28 for 5 foods ($30 without season pass) is actually really solid. Food item prices ranged from $5 for fruity drinks to $11 for fish and chips, without the pass. We got a lanyard each day we were there to share and ate well for $14 each. Some of the menu items (value is based on the lanyard not the actual sell price, which was often way too high). Fish and Chips ($11): one decent sized piece of fish with some thin steak fries. Pretty solid (value decent) Lobster Roll ($10): some pretty tasty, cool lobster salad in an untoasted split top roll with a whole bag of salt and vinegar chips. Tasty and refreshing, but small portion. Beef Bulgogi Nachos ($11): Large portion, honestly awesome but needed to ask for extra of the two sauces. Mountain Paella ($7): Meh portion, meh flavor, skippable. They also had some tasty dessert items! Overall, a solid visit and crowds were overall manageable if you avoid riding coasters between like 11:30 and 3:30 (we tend to do shows, eat, and ride train in this window).

I always enjoy seeing pictures of this place. I'll make it out there someday! Thanks.

Love seeing Phantasialand... I’ll make my way out there soon enough. Shame I couldn’t check out Coney Island. Hopefully I can make it out to Stricker’s Grove someday.

We bought season passes in November 2019 to run through 2020 season. Didn't visit last year. Got our first Vaccine shot last week, so we plan to visit before our passes expire on June 15th. I pretty much expected compliance to be very very poor at Dollywood. The demographics are so different. Not only are you in a different part of the country, you have a large portion of the guests coming NOT for thrills (ie- older). I'm sure we'll be a bit unhappy at the lack of compliance, but I'll be at ease because I'll still be doing the right thing and have my immunity. It just wasn't something I felt like I could handle without having the vaccine, but acknowledge everyone's situation / tolerance is different.

Doing a 2021 Season Update on this: (Prices 2001, 2005, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020, 2021 via Wayback Machine); Inflation is $1 in 2001 = $1.50 today. Phoenix: $1.50 $2, $2, $2.50, $3, $3, $3.50 Flyers: $0.80, $1, $1.20, $1.50, $1.75, $2.50, $2.50 Carousel: $0.70 $0.80 $0.90, $1, $1.50, $1.75, $2 Red Baron: $0.60, $0.70 $0.80, $1, $1.25, $1.50, $1.75 Adult Wristband w/ Coasters: (not available), $31, $37, $39.50, $47, $50, Not Available Yet Other notes- Black Diamond is $3, Phoenix, Twister, Impulse - $3.50, Flying Turns - $4. Haunted Mansion increased from $2.50 to $3. All flats are $2-2.50, Ferris Wheel = $3. Kiddie rides are $1.50-2 (Kozmo's Kurves = $2.50) None of this will stop me from visiting. But I do think I'm likely to get a wristband, not tickets this year. I'm sure they're hurting a bit from a mostly lost season.

I'm just not sure what to make of the updates I am seeing in the various Facebook groups I am a part of. Certainly making some headway getting rid of some stuff. Clearly the Midway was in disrepair and it was hard to see a scenario where it would be lively and attractive. So I get taking it out. It leaves significantly less *park.* They removed Witches Stew and the Kiddie Carousel. If the park keeps the Blue Streak, Devil's Den, Carousel, and Tumble Bug, plus Kiddieland, I would be happy. The other rides are obviously replaceable, though I'm not sure that the intent is to do that. As for Blue Streak, I've enjoyed my rides on it recently. But, no doubt, it is sketchy. And the trains need work or replaced. The park has one thing going for it; there are devoted folks who want to see it succeed. That doesn't mean that there are the crowds at the moment to support that mission. But, if the new owner is smart, he would at least let those folks keep things clean on a volunteer basis.

Still have a Season Pass until like June 15th. Hoping to get vaccinated and get out there before then. Looking forward to hearing folks report on what Lightning Rod is *actually* like. And also what Craftsman Alley is like. I'm going to miss the little ceramics shop, but alas. Also, my guess is Cinnamon bread is $10/loaf now.

I am shocked that I haven’t been to Hershey since TPR New Hotness 2012, despite living 4 hours away. Really need to revisit Skyrush, among other things. I know I liked it but am always floored by its ranking.

Pleased to see my love of Pyrenees isn't out of nowhere. Just behind Nemesis for #1 invert. Was without a doubt my favorite coaster in Japan and SO grateful we managed to sneak a few rides in on a rainy, rainy day. I would return to that park before returning to Fuji-Q (probably not before Nagashima, though... need to get on Hakugei).

The tough thing is if someone comes in with a higher bid with the intentions of building condos or something else, that is what would happen. I don't feel super confident in the end game for this, but let's wait and see.

I liked the pottery shop... that's a bummer, really. I've actually grabbed a few things from there.

How can Kennywood justify closing FOUR rides (two great, one alright, one meh) and Lake Compounce gets away losing just one meh one? I know Kennywood has more to begin with, but still.

I mean, Kenny the Kangaroo is like... a mascot for the park? I totally understand Volcano being removed. Kangaroo and Paratrooper are directly adjacent. Bayern Kurve is on the perimeter and just sort of plopped down on the asphalt, so it will certainly be an eye sore but not going to require much in the way of extra work after removal. Clearly they're flailing from a financial standpoint, because to remove four rides in one year with no immediate replacements for any seems awfully stupid. Four empty parcels in the park? I am so very sad to see my home park continue down this path. It is remarkably sad to see the balance of old and new permanently shift for the worse. I am understanding of the need for change. If they had said they were closing the Volcano and Bayern Kurve, I would've totally understood and just crossed my fingers that Knoebels would pick up the latter. But to remove Kangaroo and the Paratrooper seems like a really heavy blow to the family lineup. They were both very popular. I wish there was a wealthy Pittsburgher who could just swipe the place up and press pause on the radical changes we're seeing to this park. Truly tragic.

I would recommend reading some other folks thoughts on here as well as on trip advisor. Especially of recent, because crowds seem to have ticked up. Also you need to make a reservation, they’ve been filling up most days.