TBpony414

I was just at Kennywood 10 days ago. There is no elevator section and the attraction is absolutely a lawsuit waiting to happen. You just walk in and the madness begins. There are no signs out front that we saw saying caution and the attraction is not for anyone but an extremely healthy person with full mobility and no issues with disorienting experiences. The floors vibrate, rock, tilt, shake, they have those rolling barrels with spinning spirals over walkways that you have to run across, and there are no signs until the very end that someone may have a seizure or struggle. If someone was in a walking boot, for example, they wouldn't be able to get across the multiple shaking floors because those things are seriously shaking. I'm prone to motion sickness and get easily disoriented so ended up doing half the darn thing with my hands over my eyes like racing horse blinker because my brain honestly did not know what planet I was on. That being said, the very last part was the best decorated area.

I absolutely LOVE the All Wheels Extreme stunt show! I can't tell you how many times I've seen it and I never get sick of it. They mix up the tricks a little bit too and the outfits/chase with the cell phone skit changed from last year which was fun. I don't recall the super tall trampoline tumbling dude in green being in last year's show but he is outstanding. There's so much to see and the music is fun that there are no lulls whatsoever. Even my boyfriend, who typically hates shows and isn't really into this sort of thing, was clapping and hollering at how much fun it was. GO SEE THE STUNT SHOW, PEOPLE!!! A lot of the performers are X games medalists and the best of the best. It's by Windseeker/Wicked Twister and I believe at 3, 5, and 7pm every day but Wednesdays.

Hey that's great! I was wondering how your trip went. I can't believe the lines were non-existent. The last time I went to HP on a super hot day like that the lines were all 2 hrs and it was miserable. Storm Runner is my favorite ride in the park by far and one of my fav. coasters in general. You nailed it with your summery that it's TTD + a short coaster. Congrats on a super successful visit with your young one - the first of many!

Oh, I was PISSED someone took my water! Who takes a water bottle out of the bushes? I mean really. But it was absolutely funny. Thankfully we were able to buy 2 new bottles shortly after so my hydration drought came to an end. No worries - you're not the only ones who have found my bewildered outrage about something so minimal extremely hilarious! It happens all the time. I most certainly have my little quirks and those around me who can put up with them benefit from it in the form of laughter and stuff I'll never live down LOL!! Feel free to bring it up repeatedly for the rest of my life We would be thrilled to hit up some more parks with you! Even after Monster stopped and Bert and I were unloading, your car was still spinning! The look on your faces was priceless. I'll be going to Dollywood July 31 and Aug 1 for the first time so can scout it! Hopefully LR will be running and I can sing its praises enough that you're pretty much forced to plan a trip there Of course, I'd have to join in to show you around the park haha. Carowinds isn't too far away from DW and Fury325 is worth the trip alone. If you're at all into flyers, Carowinds has some fantastic ones and they encourage snapping!!! Never been to SDC or HW but those would be fun as well!

Plastic cups, printed ride photos and stupid crap like that goes in a free eco friendly plant ocker-lay Thanks for that Boldikus. Bill I'm glad I'm not the only one on here who admittedly uses the eco friendly plant ocker-lays!!

Awesome that you were able to locate and upgrade your camera on such short notice! I'm a Nikon fan myself although I admit that my DSLR is a dinosaur at this point. In its day it was THE camera to have but it's big and heavy, and with having an iPhone it's so much easier so I sadly rarely use the Nikon anymore. I do miss having my actual camera though so should probably upgrade to something decent yet still portable, like what you got. Completely agree about MF although for me, Storm Runner, El Toro and Fury are the top contenders. Millennium Force is just pure fun! The setting is unbeatable and every single train hoots and hollers and claps at the end - which sticks it solidly at the top of my list!

Mom and I had a fantastic time at the park with you and Bill. Thanks for spending the day with us! It was a pleasure to hang out with two fun fellas and you're both more than welcome for the on-ride pics. The more photos I put on the pass the better so it makes it worth the cost. I have a Six Flags photo pass too. I do think Bill ought to make his Woodstock Express pic his avatar and I vote for you changing the mermaid to the Cedar Downs crotch shot! Regarding CM: Was it mandatory to check in at 6:30/7am or was the check-in area open for several more hours? Were you randomly assigned times for lunch and the cruise? Or were you able to request certain time slots? On Monster when we sat down a bunch of change from my pocket came out from the super deep seats and I completely forgot that we basically just met and without thinking, shoved my hand under your butt to grab my coins back LOL. You were like “why HELLO THERE!!” Haha sorry Bert! We had a great ride but poor mom and Bill, even when the ride was over they just kept spinning and spinning! It was hilarious to watch though. The (stolen) Fiji bottle incident - just to be clear so everyone here doesn’t think I’m a completely crazy person, I put it on ride platforms when available but I didn’t know I could set it down on Woodstock Express. It’s a very small bottle about half the size of a regular bottle of water but doesn't quite fit in my pocket securely enough for most rides. I take hydration very seriously and we were on the dang ride for less than 2 minutes - hats off to whatever employee took it for doing a great job of cleaning up, but I promise I’m not a litterbug!! I’m actually really into recycling and pick up trash I find on the ground! This is probably making things worse so I'll just stop haha. I love the pic of the 4 of us at the bridge waiting in the queue for Maverick to come back up. I remember us standing in the shade about 3 feet to our left and had to move into the sun for the photo, and you set your bottle down in the middle of the queue and strongly stated that NOBODY better take your spot in the shade!! That cracked me up and was sadly needed since those kids kept invading our space more and more. They didn't move though! Between the breakdowns, that comment, and them ratcheting the restraints for what seemed like 250 cycles it was a memorable way to spend 90 minutes. Skyhawk is my favorite flat ride anywhere but it’s also the only ride I’ve ever been on that scares the absolute pants off of me. As soon as it gets going I immediately regret my decision to ride it and then the second it’s over I’m bouncing around with excitement at how awesome it was. But yes, to anyone riding it with me you’d think that I’m being tortured and held against my will because I sound miserable on it LOL. Any other ride is hands up and “yeah! yippee! woohoo!!” and Skyhawk is white knuckled “OH GOD…. ugh…. whaaaaatisthisinsanity!!! ahhhhhh… WHHHHEEWWWW…. AHHH! ohhhhh god!” Too bad they don't have on-ride photos for that! I’m disappointed you guys didn’t ride Power Tower. PT: Up is a blast. Ha, literally! The pic I took of you at the petting zoo is with mini donks, not mini horses. Either way they’re cute! I could have easily spent 30 mins walking around petting all the animals but the lines were so short, it felt like a sin to spend time in the zoo. The ride op on MaXair was sincerely sorry about crushing your berries with the OTSR, whereas the ops on the mine train actively tried to castrate you when they slammed the lap bar down. That was rather unfortunate for you. What was that one dessert that I thought sounded good at Brews and BBQs? Banana bread pudding maybe? Something like that. Did you ever end up trying that and if so, how was it?

I've never seen any of the shows at SFA although stumbled upon the great band in Mardi Gras a couple weeks ago. What's EFX and where is it? Is the stunt show the same thing as the pirate show I was hearing about a few pages back?

I watched this video and looked for your two previous processing-in vids. Really nicely done! It's fascinating to me to hear about the inner workings of parks and that includes the employees as well as the rides. What sort of camera and stabilization setup did you use for the most recent two videos? It's extremely clear and steady.

Many thanks, your post is exactly what I was looking for and I really appreciate it! When we travel to go skiing we have to drive with the window half way down for my dog in the back seat. The worst was when it was 3 deg. F outside and we were freezing our asses off but it's the only thing that keeps him from hurling all over the place. What's so funny is he's a black sable German shepherd but I swear to you his face turns an actual shade of green once we hit mountain parts which is when the window gets opened and he's then totally fine. Absolutely loves car rides and can't wait to be seat belted in. I can usually stay ok if I take some dramamine and do the driving, but as a passenger... forget it! My window's open too in that case LOL.

^ 1. Excellent drawing in paint. No really, I'm being serious - track predictions don't have to be done in a sophisticated computer program to be effective. 2. I'd be happy with something similar to what you drew for the first part of the ride!

Have a blast at Carowinds! Don't forget to ride the flyers there. Can you let me know what route(s) you end up taking there and back, how long they took you and if it was super mountain-y? We'll be making the trip from DC to Dollywood to Carowinds this summer for the first time. I'm not a good car rider (and neither is my dog who travels with us) so I like to learn about the various routes and what to expect ahead of time before he or I suddenly turn green LOL

I was waiting for pics of the view from your room (which is fab) and when I saw the Ferris wheel headboards I burst out laughing. So much for "Oh yeah, we also have coasters above our beds! I think it's Magnum." haha!! The Ferris wheel is prettier than our headboard which I don't have a pic of on this phone but will locate and post later. I'm ejoying reading the report immensely. And yes, I will be joining Club TPR so I can officially become one of the gang and am looking forward to participating in some of the neato CM activities next year

I have to clarify!! I LOVE sky rides but hadn't been on the one at CP because I usually go with my boyfriend who never wants to wait for it. Thankfully he was at home caring for my menagerie this trip so I could have fun with Bert and Bill... and my mom, who took an incredible (accidental) shot of Bert featuring his crotch while he was riding Cedar Downs!

Not a Kennywood pro by any means but I was there this past Saturday and the place was PACKED! I'm guessing it'll be the same in August for you. We got the single ride $25 VIP pass for the 6 coasters and it was well worth it. For $7 you can add a single ride on either Black Widow, Aero360 or something else. If you want to purchase the VIP pass online it must be done 48 hrs or more in advance, otherwise you're risking them selling out. We drove from Cedar Point to KW and got there at 1:45pm. There were only 18 of the single ride VIP passes left and we snagged two of them.

You're a good mom! Fingers crossed they can get a ride on it

Long drive, have a great time and be sure to post about it!

Those are some seriously fantastic photos Andy! I can't believe you didn't reveal what your new camera is... so tell us, what did you get?! Everyone loves a new toy! I was at CP on Thursday and Friday but not partaking in the Coastermania events for various reasons - next year I will be, though. Still got to make a bunch of new friends who were attending the CM events (Bert, Bill, and some folks at MF on Fri night who I emailed ride photos to) which was nice. I've never been to any park anywhere that has walk-on or station only waits for basically the entire day. I thought the Thursday crowds were low but Friday it was a ghost town. Yippee! Can't believe you missed the best flat ride in the park though - SkyHawk. Next time you need to get on it! ETA - It makes me super happy to hear that Millennium Force is still a favorite of so many other people. While other rides may be bigger, faster, newer, or have more maneuvers, there's just nothing else like it.

I just had my first visit to SFMM in March after more than 15 years. I'm surprised you liked Full Throttle so much! It's a nice little ride but maybe my expectations for it were too high. I thought it was fun but short and the launches didn't seem as forceful as I was expecting. Twisted Colossus kicked all sorts of ass, however, and easily was my favorite ride of the day. I also enjoyed X2 and LOVED Tatsu.

I can't even imagine standing around for 2-4 hours (or more!) for a water slide, and not even being able to wait for others in the meantime. That's just insanity. However, the place looks really amazing - great TR!

Thanks Bert, we had an absolute blast spending basically the entire day with you and Bill! I'm still laughing at some of our hilarious rides together and park experiences that day. And crying about the painful breakdowns at Maverick. My face dropped after waiting out the breakdowns and we were 2nd to load and I realized the ride op wasn't joking when he said they weren't actually loading the ride yet, but instead they were ratcheting the restraints for what felt like 400 more cycles. We weren't going to budge from the line, though! Mom wants to do CM next year so hopefully we can meet up again then... hint, hint!

I enthusiastically support these ride choices! Must have been practically empty to get so many rides in. Glad you had a great day!

The wheel pics are pretty cool, thanks for sharing!

In order to get to Superman and Batwing you have to walk through Whistle-kiddieville due to the star flyer construction. Not sure if it's marked on the map but you need to go to the left through the kidsville. We weren't paying attention so missed their pathetic signage and accidentally walked allllllllll the way back towards Superman only to be met with a construction wall telling us to turn around and go allllllllll the way back around.

Just typed a reply and the site ate it. 100% agree with Bill - Fury is fantastic and if you're into flyers then Carowinds has some of the best flyers out there and they encourage snapping! However, Carowinds is a small park and depending on what type of rides you're into and if you like to re-ride things then you may be done with it in half or 3/4 of the day. Kings Dominion is significantly bigger and has a much larger coaster collection both tall and small, they have more flat rides, a great log flume, decent shows and the Eiffel Tower which is always fun to go up in. Volcano is my absolute favorite ride at KD. With RMC Hurler opening in 2018, if you're only able to go to one park this summer then go to Carowinds now and Kings Dominion next year. If you can swing going to both parks this year but only one park next year, do Kings Dominion now before the entire DC area lets out of school and go to Carowinds later on in the year. Then hit up KD again in 2018. HTH, have a great time and of course take pics to post here when you're back!