Blind Idiot God

It could also take the place of Flashback, I guess.

Broken Hope - Wolf Among Sheep

Arkaik - Skin Graft Hieroglyphics

There you go. There's no crappy log flume. You "missed out". Actually, it looks like most of the good flat rides are gone too. Huh. Double Trouble and Chaos ran pretty weak programs and Twister was absolutely terrible. I still miss Nightwing, Time Warp, and Catapult, however. They may have been maintenance nightmares, but they were fun rides that were always worth a go even if Nightwing and Catapult weren't the most comfortable rides for taller men.

There's nothing in CT within a stone's throw of SFNE worth seeing. Maybe there is if you want to go prowling around back roads, but realistically, there's more than enough fun to be had in the Five College area of MA. Northampton alone can easily fill up a whole day with stuff to do.

Considering that I've had about five separate friends who have been robbed in Hartford (not to mention the time that someone tried to jump another friend of mine out front at the Webster) and have had nothing but bad experiences with the parts of the state not named Bristol, yes, I have something against Hartford and CT in general. I've seen absolutely nothing that would contradict the notion that it's nothing but suburban sprawl, rural deprivation, and borderline Rust Belt levels of urban decay.

Tomahawk's always worth a ride because the line will invariably be wicked short, and Buzzsaw is cool as well. I guess there's also Kontiki, which runs an okay (if not unspectacular) program... and yeah, that's pretty much it. It's amazing how this place used to have one of the best flat selections and now has one of the worst. At least they finally got rid of Twister, which ran a terrible program and was only worth riding if you were killing time while waiting for the Bizarro line to let up a little. As for stuff outside of SFNE, definitely venture up to Amherst and Northampton, as they're awesome little cities with lots to see and do. The area surrounding them (Hadley, Sunderland, Leverett, Easthampton, etc.) is also nice to drive through for sightseeing purposes. I guess there's also the Yankee Candle outlet in Deerfield, but it's wicked tourist trap-y. Avoid Springfield, Holyoke, and Chicopee like the plague, however; they're nasty, dangerous cities, and your safety cannot be guaranteed in them after dark. Greenfield's also not very nice, but some of the center isn't bad (the rest of the city is a dump, however; rural Western Mass postindustrial deprivation at its worst). If you wanna head really far (>1 hour) north, Brattleboro, Vermont is also pretty cool for the most part, and said city is also right next to the NH border for ample cheap liquor stockup opportunities. Lastly, don't set foot in CT for anything other than Lake Compounce, as it's a terrible state and basically any part of Hartford that's more than five minutes from a highway exit will have you running for the hills.

Deeds of Flesh - Empyrean

It's not bad if you're tall, but if you're not, it won't treat you too well.

If you're looking for good places to eat in the vicinity of the park, your best bet is to make the journey up into Northampton if you want anything other than chain restaurants, as there isn't much in Agawam and you just don't enter Springfield or Holyoke period unless you have a death wish.

King Diamond - At the Graves

The Kennedy Veil - Disciples of Dead Aeons

Dying Fetus - Second Skin

Immolation - Reluctant Messiah

Pharaoh - In the Violet Fire

If you're going during the week, you may actually be able to get away with not purchasing a Flash Pass. Unless there's more than a couple church youth groups or outreach programs having outings, the crowds will be quite sparse. Also, if you're driving from Boston, there WILL be tolls if you want to get there in a timely fashion. You can take back roads to avoid them, but it'll add a fairly significant amount of time onto the drive.

Seems so. It was hauling when I last rode it to the point of being reasonably comparable to its S:RoS days, but it was always full and on a fairly hot day.

Never used the bus to get there, so I couldn't tell you. Peter Pan is much better than Greyhound, however. As for the crowds, Sundays are hit-or-miss (though usually miss; some of the most ridiculous crowds that I've encountered have been on Sundays), but Mondays are pretty much always completely barren. Definitely go on the 13th if you can.

Internal Bleeding - The Visitant

Morbid Angel - Thy Kingdom Come

Desecravity - Pandemonium

Fourth of July weekend? Yeah, going there and hoping that it won't be slammed is about as realistic as jumping into a tank of sharks with an open wound and hoping that you won't be devoured. I mean, you could pony up for a Flash Pass, but it's still going to be so absurdly crowded that you're better off just waiting to go another day.

Bio-Cancer - Bulletproof

Cannibal Corpse - Kill or Become

Dark Sermon/Archspire/Fit for an Autopsy/Aborted. Dark Sermon surprised me overall; they sounded much better live than on record and really knew how to work the crowd, and their drummer was incredible. Plenty of room for improvement, though; their live show was way too Watain-esque for my liking, and one of their songs had an Ulcerate/Swallow the Sun-style subdued portion that started off cool but really started to wear out its welcome by the second or third minute. Archspire was lame; they put on a decent show, but their music actively annoys me and their vocalist needs to quit with the retarded, unfunny jokes. I only gave them a chance because Sven from Aborted persuaded me to do so and I was as disappointed as I thought I would be. Fit for an Autopsy also put on a good show but had way too many breakdowns for my liking and were just way too bro-y in general. Finally, Aborted gave me more than my money's worth with an incredibly intense and energetic show that was totally worth almost getting my glasses smashed by stagedivers.