Taylor Finn

Just reporting back here. Visited the park for the first time on Wednesday. Got let through front gates at 9:30 and walked to Guardian first. Was an interesting little ride, though it could use a few more screens. Worked our way clockwise. Some quick reviews. Guardian: Yeah, this was interesting in concept. Seems like they need a few more screens to beef the ride up a bit. The drop at the end was nice. 5/10 for creativity Behemoth: This was solid. Just an abundance of decently forceful airtime. A little too much speed cut at the brake run, but the ride is really solid. Definitely up there with Nitro as my favorite, though Nitro wins for the forcefulness of the helix. 8.5/10 Backlot Stunt Coaster: They don't even attempt to fix the show scene, instead removing the brakes and just pushing you right through it. 5/10 Flight Deck: Just much worse than I remember these ever being. Talked to someone later who really enjoyed it, so I just don't know. 1/10 Time Warp: not quite as bad, but I was bracing myself the whole time. Girl next to me told her friend the ride didn't flip you, it just went slow. 2/10 Mighty Canadian Minebuster: I don't really understand this ride. Has the layout been neutered over the years. Seems like all the hills have been flattened to remove all possible airtime. The part before the helix where your train is on an angle for a couple seconds in preparation for the turn are just bizarre. Not rough, just incredibly pointless. 4/10 Leviathan: rode this twice. it really really shines in the front. The feeling of the wind in your face at that speed is just something else. The ride does feel a bit short, but I understand and don't mind so much. Line moved really fast. 8.51/10 (I'm giving it the slightest nudge on Behemoth) Dragon Fire: Yeah, this is basic. But riding in the second to last row seemed to make this ride pretty alright. Honestly better than a lot of the stuff here. 6/10 Wild Beast: Not memorable enough for me to really know if I liked it more than the other full size woodie. 4/10 The Bat: Boo, this was not for me. Really wasn't that rough, but I tend to not do too well when I go backwards through inversions. Vortex: I'm a huge sucker for these rides. They are so incredibly pleasant and easy to re-ride. Nice little touch that it heads up the mountain. 7/10 Thunder Run: Not technically a coaster, still interesting. Scenery seemed awfully dark. Noticed VR experience for season pass holders? No one was using it when we were there. 4/10 The Fly: Eh. 4/10 Silver Streak: 4/10 (baby death); I've always loved how Kings Island had such a great kiddy land. Same is true here. Ghoaster Coaster: 5/10, best wooden coaster in the park. Other notes: Canadian exchange rate certainly helped us out on tickets and food. I can't imagine paying for the food if the exchange rate were closer to 1:1. We ate at Backlot Cafe and paid $30 for two meals and a drink. It was average. Games being $5 each cannot encourage people to play. Especially with 4 person minimums to play. This park must be absolutely horrible on a nice weekend day. There were significant crowds mid day before it rained everyone out of the park. The park would benefit from a train and log flume. PRO TIP: The Tim Horton's in the park on main street is priced comparably to the other locations. They don't serve breakfast sandwiches, but they do have donuts for $1.19, frozen lemonade for $2.50, bagels with cream cheese, etc. So if you don't mind filling up on donuts all day, you could get by pretty cheap. The park is nice for what it is. I feel that Cedar Point has a significantly better collection of coasters, but to each his/her own. A thought that struck me is how many coasters at this park are no longer being produced. Makes me wonder what park's lineups will look like in 30 years once most of these types of coasters are extinct. Looking at what parks are generally adding to parks, they've been honing in on the few coaster styles that are most popular. I dunno, just a ramblinlg. Thanks for reading!

Hey Jeremy, thanks for the response. I will definitely knock those few out first. Since I'm rolling solo, I don't think it'll be too much a problem to make my way around the park quick. When I return, I'll just be able to re-ride my favorites and hit up the water park a little bit. Any other advice from others is much appreciated!

Hey guys. First time visitor to the park this Wednesday. Work only affords me one day at the park. Couple questions. 1. Best strategy for tackling as many coasters in one day? Plan to arrive around 930 or so to park (prepaid) and get in right at opening. I really don't intend to get a flash pass. Will probably return at a later date. 2. What's the 'best value' for food? Snacks of any kind strictly kept out? 3. Good late night food options near park? 4. Other must rides besides the coasters? Any other tips are much appreciated! Thanks in advance for your help.

Great report so far! The food looks wonderful and it seems like each day is jam packed with neat activities. One day I think I will try to go on one of these trips. Obviously, you pay a premium when you do Disney anything, but do you think the value is still strong for what you're paying? I know it's early in the trip.

Where do you follow these posts at, exactly? And that's good about the discount days attracting a lot of people. But I guess if people enter the park, they may buy food, etc. and that helps. The water park has to be helping their case out a bit, too (same with the campground which appears to be improving,too).

Has anyone made it out there this season to check out how things are going? Seems to be a slight upward trajectory from what I'm reading. Looking for a few pictures, really. A few hundred thousand dollars being invested this year can do the park a lot of good. I know the rides have a long way toward looking really nice again, but if they keep sprucing the place up and continue the efforts on Blue Streak (they did work on that miserable first hill after the drop), it could be a nice place. And the water park being open 5 days a week all summer should be a good source of revenue.

This place looks great. I can definitely see the comparison to Knoebels in the way rides are run and the prices on food!

Hey, great set of pictures. Some day, I want to check off some more Cedar Fair parks. The place looks well kept, and certainly similar to some of the other parks in the chain, which isn't such a bad thing!

What do you guys think the odds are they keep the Toboggan? They said coasters, but I just don't know what to think. It is obviously a miserable experience, but there's only one other left in the US, and it was neat to have done once.

^No problem! I'm glad you enjoyed hearing about them. And yeah, that park looks like it has quite a few older flats and even a cool retro dark ride. I will certainly keep it on the radar!

So, my work took me out to the middle of nowhere northeast, PA. I had some free time for an afternoon/evening so I did some research and found out that 40 minutes from my hotel, a historic carousel existed at Eldridge Park. The park had been open since the late 1800's, before deteriorating in the 1980's. The carousel's original horses were sold off around this time. The park made a triumphant return in 2006, with the reopening of the carousel with all new horses. The original platform and ride mechanism still exist today and the ride is a beauty. With all this in mind, I made the trek up there. My first stop, however, was Woodlawn National Cemetery where a certain famous American Author is buried. I arrived at the South entrance of the Cemetery right around 5, and as soon as I parked, I was greeted with signage directing to me his grave. I guess they know people come specifically to see him, so they've made it quite easy to find. In fact, most of his family is also buried here. He married his wife Olivia here and spent most of his summers in the 1870's and 80's in Elmira, NY writing. After visiting his grave, I drove a mile or so and grabbed some great chinese takeout to eat on Elmira College's campus right outside of Mark Twain's summer study which is where he wrote most of his prolific work. The Chinese place did not give me a fork or chop sticks and so I ate my food with the lid from my drink. Disturbing. A few miles later, I arrived at Eldridge Park. I really did not know what to expect when I arrived here. I had done a small amount of research on the place, but I mostly just knew they had an old brass ring carousel that was recently restored. Old. The first thing I ran into was the Mark Twain Mini Golf course. I didn't play, but it was built in 2010 and looks quite nice. $5/game. A miniature train that kids can ride runs around the course and costs $1. Noted. Also noted. Said restroom facility (which happens to be a building restored from the parks prior days). As i understand it, everyone working at the park does so on a volunteer basis. They truly have the support of the town in making this park something special again. I hopped on my outside horse and we were off. The operator had a nice bell (with a plaque noting who donated it) to start the ride. Like I said, the original starting lever is still in place from the rides early days. It is an 1890's Loof model brought to the park in 1924 and is a marvel. Now, the only other brass ring carousel I have been on is Knoebels and they operate it a bit differently. There, every time you go around to grab a ring, there is a ring to grab. If you are lucky, you will get the brass ring, not the silver ones. When the ride is over, you try to toss them into the lion's mouth. This one (someone let me know what is more common/traditional) dispenses one ring at the ride attendant's discretion per ride. I wasn't totally prepared for this, so I attempted to grab at air the first few times, unsuccessfully before giving up. Another crap picture of the brass ring dispenser. This mural was unveiled a few seasons ago on the side of the restroom facility and captures what the park may have looked like back in its hey day. A much better picture, no doubt. They have unofficially claimed the title of the fastest operating carousel at around 18 mph. This thing hauls. One more cute detail. The older man operating the ride determined when the (long) ride cycle was over by turning an egglass timer over and waiting. As I understand it, this pavilion is also original, though nicely refurbished. I arrived at the ticket booth in the carousel pavilion and purchased my tickets for the carousel and thunderbirds. The prices were welcome and added to the appeal. The park is typically open just on the weekends, though they will open for holidays and other events. Here we are, the other major attraction at the park. A nice set of Flyers purchased from another park in Indiana (I believe) and restored here. They run real nice. Although I didn't get a 'snap' the sails had a nice amount of flexibility and I was able to have a really great ride. Probably my #3 behind Knoebels and Kings Dominion. They opened in 2012. I believe the cafe opened in 2009. Food was all reasonable. I know they have "Pokemon Go" Special, which is a hot dog, fries, and drink for $4.50. For a while, the park was infiltrated by a large number of people trying to catch 'em all, as it sits in a nicely wooded area near a natural lake. Inside the cafe was a "Museum" with some of the cars from various rides in the park. As I understand it, in 2014, they acquired a Tilt-A-Whirl from the now defunct Bushkill Park that is being restored. It will make a great addition to the park (hopefully next year)! They have one other car from the Speedway wooden coaster that operated here for a while. This is a really clever use. The arcade is new for last year, I believe. Again, for a park that is as reasonable as it is, they are doing a great job of making significant improvements each and every year. The other three rides in the park reside in Kiddieland and were all added in the last four years. I find the donors very interesting. And boats. Turtles! Ride one. They were all in very good condition and were put here specifically because similar rides were at the old Eldridge Park. I can appreciate the little details. So, another interesting tidbit. If you wanna read about a restoration project for a very important horse statue, go ahead. I think the monument is just about done and is sitting on display now. They also had these cute dragon paddle boats. Couldn't pay me to work that hard. And Jasper II, which I guess is a homage to an original motor boat the old park had. Really nice to be able to go around the lake for $2. I didn't have enough time to really do this, but it is a really beautiful area. There are baseball and soccer fields on both sides of the lake. New this year, also, is some picnic pavilions that were donated and put up recently. When I was there, people were fishing in the lake. All in all, a nice place to take the family for a few hours. Mister Dragon. Just a reminder of what they got here. Again, this trip popped up because I wasn't needed at work last minute, so I didn't do a whole lot of research or anything. But I drove a few miles to Harris Hill Amusements. They have go karts. And batting cages. And a driving range (off to the right). Sign. Sign 2 and a mini golf course (not quite as nice as Eldridge, but clearly this place has been around for a while). I really didn't find a whole lot of interest here, but nothing is really on here about this place, so I figured miles well take some pictures. Coke, pls. They had 5 or 6 kiddie rides here. A bit pricier here at $1.75/ride vs. $1 at Eldridge. They all appeared well maintained. Another one. Not my picture, but gives you an idea of how nice the park really looks. They restored the midway a few years after the carousel opened, a project in itself. I can truly see this place continuing to add every year for a while. A new ride every year and this park will quickly become even nicer. Now for a quick bonus stop. A nice little carousel. This arcade was truly out of a different time. Not too many games from the past 10-15 years. A nice little counter to order food. All in all, I spent 10 minutes here walking around. Part of me was hopeful I would find something neat here (a kiddie coaster or something), but it's just an old-fashioned family run entertainment center. I finished my day here, where I was able to score a beer flight of all 8 of their current taps for $6. They had a really nice blueberry ale, as well as bizarre chili beer, that tasted a little too much like heat for my liking. Thanks for reading and tolerating my pictures. I hope some of you guys can make it out to Eldridge and show this park some love if you're in the area. I dunno when I will be out there next, but I am quite excited to read about what they do next year.

Wild Bill passed away on Tuesday. I visited the place a few years back, after having followed this page for years. Though he wasn't there, we talked on the phone for a few minutes and he offered me a free bobble head of his likeness. It's sad that he'll never have realized the vision he set out on with the fun house and dark ride.I'm hopeful that the people he worked with can rally around his memory and work with his family to continue on the projects. The store truly is a gem of a place and is a direct representation of his personality. I still highly recommend anyone who passes within an hour of the area to check it out. This article does him more a lot more justice than I could ever. http://www.middletownpress.com/general-news/20170413/middletowns-pop-culture-icon-wild-bill-ziegler-dies-at-70

As for Knoebels, an option you have is to buy a wristband the first day and do lots of rerides on coasters and then maybe go with the tickets the second day. Weiss Market has $20 books for $16 and there are locations nearby. So your two choices for the same price is either the all day wristband or $60 in tickets. Or you can get $40 in tickets which should be plenty. Take a look at their pricing online. Most flats are $1.50-2, the only rides more than that are the coasters, train, and chairlift. There's something fun about using tickets and rationing them throughout the day.

Thanks for all the wonderful pictures! That's wonderful that you got such a steal on accommodations.

When I was a freshmen in high school, I posted on a forum here asking about the trips, basically saying that I was hoping to go on one as a bit of a senior gift when I graduated high school. Four years later, that dream became a reality and I attended the New Hotness 2012 tour. From the onset, things were so, so organized. We had a dedicated forum where Robb and Elissa answered questions and helped us all get to know each other better. They set the bar so high for what a trip could be. They even asked what our favorite snacks were and Elissa made one big trip to fill a giant garbage bag with them. They took pictures constantly (hundreds a day) and I still have the folders of them all on my desktop for easy reference. Just a few examples. The surprises were all welcomed and nothing went wrong that they could feasibly control. Even on the forums, I noticed quite a few people were asking a lot of questions that would frustrate me if I were in charge, but you always kept their cool and class. I had a great time on the trip, but yeah, I certainly remember some people who were just ungrateful or difficult to travel with. Everyone wants to bring their ego and privilege into things, but when you travel with a group, you give up some of your individuality. Everyone needs to be treated the same. And believe me, we were treated so well!

The thing that struck me was the extraordinary number of transport style rides Dutch Wonderland has. Like three separate boat rides, an antique cars, a train, a ski lift, and a monorail. That is good for families because you can just sit and enjoy yourself as a group. But it is kind of horrifying really. The ski lift had to be the very slowest I have ever been on. It was comical really. But yeah, the park really is quite nice for what it is. My only issues are that some of the rides (monorail, dragon boat ride in the front of the park for example) could use some good 'ol TLC. And maybe that the price is a bit steep.

Of course, I go to the park for the first time and shell out $35 for those two credits (oh and I whored around quite a bit for any other rides of note), and now they announce this and give me another reason to go back. Either way, this is exciting news. The park really is quite nice for what it is. I just think the price point is a bit high given the quality.

How did you guys care for the Chocolate Nitro Stout? My girlfriend and I went there a few months back and that was just a scratch beer at the time. I am glad to see it got such great reviews from people that they have pushed it to full-time status! It was one of our favorites!

I just discovered the Idora Park Experience today, as it was open this past weekend for two days (they appear to be allowed to open two weekends a year). They are getting a thousand or so guests a day when they do open which I'm sure provides a decent bit of capital to go after some new things here and again. From the videos I have seen and posts I've read on their Facebook page, things appear to be going quite well for them. If you want to get a really cool idea of what the place is all about, check out this video in particular. I have attached a few pictures from the museum.

Something I didn't post about before but I was riding The Flyers in a separate car as my girlfriend a month ago and I had thought my sail (or whatever it's called) had a smaller radius of motion than hers which could pretty much go almost 180 degrees.. On my way off the ride I compared hers to what I had and they were different. The design of my car was actually slightly altered in the area I attached below and it prevented a full range of motion. I was still able to get pretty close to snapping and I am not upset at all! I'm more so just curious if anyone has experienced this/give people something to look for next time!

This really does sound great! They posted, reporting that operations are up 29%. I mean, if you don't think the park has the potential in its current state, fair. But I don't know who would wish death upon a park. If it can be prosperous and make some solid improvements, I am all for it.

Thanks Robb for all the updates. I have followed along the whole trip. It is unlikely that I will ever do a trip this long, but for future planning purposes, what would you say was your favorite 7-10 day leg not including the Cruise and Italian parks? I am just curious for your opinion, really!

This truly does bum me out a lot. This is one of the little details I always include when ranting about how great Knoebels is to people. It has always been remarkable how quick operations were. Certainly, if they open the gates when the train comes to a stop, no damage done. The gates have served their purpose at that point. If they keep them closed until people leave, that will honestly slow things down a decent bit. We'll see! I knew it was only a matter of time.

I would say we could just pin your lengthy guide, CoasterBill, but I always love reading these kind of extensive responses people get when they ask about this wonderful park.

Hello again! I'm back! So our fourth day was another day spent mostly away from the Strip! We woke up and ate breakfast in our room again before heading to the MGM Grand pool. One of the things we had been looking for was this pool complex, mostly because there was a... LAZY RIVER! Which was closed. We ended up having a great time here. We are all students at Pitt, and the ACC men's tournament was going on at the time we were here. It just so happened that the Pac 12 tourney was being held at the MGM Grand so there were a lot of fans and students around and they had a pool party of sorts at the one pool, which was neat. We grabbed lunch at Wolfgang Puck at the hotel before catching an Uber for Old Vegas (around rush hour). Our driver actually worked as a volunteer at the Mob Museum, which was our next stop for the day. He had a lot of insights into Vegas for us. Another reason why we really prefer Lyft and Uber to cab drivers. We got some discount tickets with our student IDs and spent a few hours here. It was a really nice little find. If you have an interest in what Vegas used to be like when the Mobsters ran it and the whole US, it is certainly worth checking out. We were considering doing the Neon Museum but decided to put that off for the next time. After the Mob Museum, we went ahead and explored Fremont Street and saw the famous light show (really wasn't all that impressive, though it certainly doesn't detract from the experience of the whole place. We explored some of the old hotel casinos and my girlfriend and i split off for dinner at Le Thai, which turned out to be one of the best meals of the trip. From there, we continued exploring and eventually ended up Main Street Hotel and Casino which is a must-see stop if you are going to be stopping in Old Vegas. This place was totally different from the other hotels in the area. The casino hall was beautifully antique and well kept. The men's bathroom has a large chunk of the Berlin Wall behind the urinals and there is a pool table that Winston Churchill used here as well. They actually have a little handout you can take to explore all the antiques in the place. We spent a while in Old Vegas and headed back to our hotel late that night. Old Vegas is absolutely worth a stop if you can get down there. Sure, it's a little trashy, but the prices are much better, the casinos are looser and the Players's Clubs more generous. And with that, onto the pictures from our fourth day in Vegas! Enjoy. We shared our $50 resort credit for a nice lunch at Wolfgang Puck's restaurant. En route to Old Vegas we saw a ton of wedding chapels and Pawn Stars pawn shop. Not something we had atop our list, though there was no line! I thought it would've been ironic if The Mob had been a top contributor. Nonetheless, this museum is relatively new and it showed. If you have been to the Holocaust Museum in DC, it is very similar in its layout. Noted. Vegas Vic! My main man. I am honestly such a great photographer. The steps lead to a zipline that runs above the whole street. People probably try to time it to fly during the light show. They actually had a lower and higher line to fly on, with different prices, which I thought was rather stupid. The other side of Fremont Street. This side wasn't as popular toward the end, so we stopped once the crowds dissipated. But not before we stumbled upon this gem of a place! We ordered Pad Thai. And Korean Short Rib Fried Rice! Both were absolutely top notch and reasonable, to boot! A crappy picture of what was some of the best Thai Iced Tea we have ever had. Not as many people taking pictures in front of this sign. Main Street Casino! We've talked and would actually consider maybe staying a few nights here on our next trip (splitting up between here and the Strip might be annoying but it could be neat and cost effective). The hotels in Old Vegas don't generally have the giant resort fee ($30+/night) that the Strip Hotels have. We waited and waited and tried our hardest to find a chance for the ladies to enter the men's bathroom to get a peek at this wall. When we finally had a chance, a security guard noticed and told us he could've escorted them from the get-go. This is a common thing I guess. Either way, super neat that they have this here, and this seems like an appropriate residence. Some old antique slots! The players club here offered $5 free play if you played $5, which was a nice little incentive to gamble a bit. Also, you got a deck of used cards signed and dated by the dealer, which was cool, I guess. Better than mLife. The two biggest golden nuggets were at the Golden Nugget hotel. For the recent big winners, you could also invest in gold from a vending machine of sorts (seemed incredibly sketchy, though it continually updated the price of gold to the minute). The whole place is neat in that the facades are kind of all situated underneath the lights and along the same line, but the hotels are nestled behind. Binions! Here a bit too late, but they allow you to take pictures with a million bucks and keep the picture for free before a certain hour. A better panorama of our view from the hotel (quite beautiful)! Thanks for reading! I'll be back with our last day here soon! We'll return to the strip for a busy busy day!