bert425

ah. . that I don't know (didn't even consider that Penn likely has toll roads!). as noted the difference is about $350, so really. . typing it out helps me think. . and I think we likely will go w/ #3. still doing 1 way car rental, and just paying the cost, but starting in Pittsburgh (with evening and next day at Kennywood), and then hitting: Hersheypark/Hershey (2days), Knoebel's (1 1/2 days), Dorney (1 day) and Philly (2 days).

nope, the airfare (reasonable) is the same if we do round trip from Philly, or 1-way into Philly out of Pittsburgh. the only savings is in Car Rental.

it wasn't one and done, but it's rough (nowhere near Manhattan Express rough tho) we did one time in Front, and one time in Back. I MUCH preferred the front, it was smoother to me.

yeah, I was going to say, Deperado (at Bill's) seems to only operate on Sat/Sunday with Regularity -- or if they happen to have a busy weekday, but they don't guarantee it. last time we were there, they also had a drop tower, and a flume ride (but both those were closed, as was Desperado, since we were there on a Wednesday). I'd recommend looking into doing a "bus tour" from Vegas Strip. (*they are typically free or very cheap, and include lunch too). They will take you to Hoover Dam, EthelM Chocolate Factory, and out to Bill's for a good 5 hour chunk. Bill's is right next door to a shopping mall, and the casino actually has a movie theatre in it (our friends who aren't gamblers saw "the Avengers" when we last went). so there's stuff to do if you don't want to play. So yeah, email the casino and ask them to recommend a tour that will take you out there for free. If I'm recalling, we booked ours thru the TixTonight stands on the strip. (as to Adventuredome? CanyonBlaster is great, and the new ElLoco looks like fun)

sorry to bump again. . but another question/opinion needed. The intention (as I posted) was to fly into Philly, rent car, and then return/fly back out of Pittsburgh. my Travel guy is telling me the 1-way car rental is going to be ~$700 vs ~$340 if we rent and return in Philly. that leaves us really three options for the trip: 1) fly into Philly, rent car, then spend ~5 hours driving to Pittsburgh. Check into Hotel and start next day at Kennywood, and just work my itinerary backwards, ending up back at Philly for car return/flight back. PRO: it's cheaper. CON: It's 5 hours of driving after we spent the morning flying. . so it results in a whole day of JUST traveling). 2) keep plan as is, and just accept the cost of 1 way rental. (we can afford it). PRO: It means we fly in, check into Hotel in Philly, and have whole day to explore the city, not getting up and gong to Dorney until the next morning. CON: It's more expensive to rent the car 1-way. or: 3) Flip the itinerary, and fly into Pittsburgh, and spend that evening + next day at Kennywood as the first park, and end the trip in Philadelphia, giving us the full day of exploring I had planned for Pittsburgh, to Philly, tho adding 1 day to the trip. PRO: It would put us at Hershey mid-week instead of weekend (weekend would be Knoebel's then), and there is more to do as a tourist in Philly than Pittsburgh (at least I believe there is). CON: The cost is higher, as it's still expensive to rent the care 1-way, and by doing it this way, we're really adding an extra night hotel (in Philly tho) to the trip. Honestly?. . I'm leaning heavily towards #3 right now. . . .as I said, we can afford the trip, it's a 10th Anniversary trip, so I'm not worried about cost. but what do y'all think?

Credits were never my thing. I guess that's why I leave my banner from Club TPR blank for coaster counts (I've just never kept track)

that's kinda like going to DisneyLand and only doing Thunder and Space Mountain. Schlitterbahn in New Braunfels is the original (Mama) park. You really SHOULD take the time to enjoy the whole park (and like I said it's HUGE). Fiesta has a waterpark too (included in the admission, tho I don't know if they are open yet for the season in April, I think it's usually late May). But yeah, skip that one even if open, as you said, you can do it at a Six Flags park. but Schlitterbahn is NOT a Six Flags park. You're missing out, if you don't spend the full day there. again, just my 2cents. and funny that you're coming from Illinois to Texas that weekend, while I'm going from Texas to Illinois (Chicago for C2E2).

Not so much advice but something to keep in mind. April isn't usually too busy of a time for the parks, especially with you going two days you will be fine. However, late April usually begins the band festival invasion. Pretty much band/orchestra/choir kids compete in a competition at a nearby school and apart of the competition you get to go to Six Flags. It's just an excuse for a band trip. haha. So keep in mind the park might be swarming with middle/high school kids. If you drive into parking and see a bunch of charter buses/school buses on the right side, your in for an interesting time. Hopefully it shouldn't be too bad and I hope you have a fun trip with good weather! Be sure to see the 2 shows as well! I'm doing 1/2 days on both. Sea World/Six Flags on the 25th and Schlitterbahn/Six Flags on the 26th just my 2cents? but that's a mistake. you ABSOLUTELY should plan full day for Schlitterbahn. It's a huge place, with lots and lots of slides (and on a busy day?. . lots of standing in lines). Sea World is very spread out in San Antonio, but you can very likely do that and Fiesta in the same day, particularly if Fiesta isn't very crowded.

Fantastic trip report. and a real shame you passed up Dick's Last Resort just because of the way the do the seating! that place (we have one in Dallas that we ALWAYS make a stop at when we're in the area) is a true *experience* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick%27s_Last_Resort Atmosphere Dick's Last Resort teaches its servers to be obnoxious.[2] In addition to the staff, the decor is considered to be "wacky".[6] Patrons of Dick's are expected to be insulted, or placed in uncomfortable situations. Adult bibs and large, hand-made, paper hats are given to diners to wear during their stay.[7] There are no napkins on the tables: they are generally thrown at the customers by the serving staff.[ they have one of the best websites out there too http://www.dickslastresort.com/ check out the DickTV section. . you can see what you missed at the Gatlinburg location!

we have to stay away from beer/bars, unfortunately, as my Partner is NOT allowed to drink (it's a major trigger for a re-occurance of the type of cancer he is currently beating). We know he's an alcoholic, so after going cold-turkey during the radiation/chemo, we just stay away from drinking type things to simply avoid the temptation. (hence me going to C2E2 in Chicago and Dragon*con in Atlanta by myself -- that way I don't drink around him and tempt him).

we're both huge (in size and sweet tooth ) chocolate fans, so planning on doing the tasting experience, and any other fun "chocolatey" thing offered. But definitely want to spend Friday doing rides (even if he wont' do most of them with me). and if we get tired of the park itself? yeah, exploring the city is gonna happen too! thanks for the hotel suggestions, I asked my Travel agent about booking the flights/hotels and car for us, so I'll see what option he comes back with for Hershey

I don't love the idea of being at Hershey park on Friday/Saturday. . but I guess we'll do the main park on Friday, and do all the "chocolate" stuff on Saturday, so we won't worry about rides too much

ok. .looks like our "locked" plan is going to be: -- flying out on 6/9, from Austin to Philadelphia. -- Renting a car at Philadelphia airport, and keeping it for the trip. Hotel in Philadelphia overnight (6/9) so we can sight-see a little bit. -- Getting up next morning, 6/10, and drive to Allentown, and going to Dorney Park (6/10) staying in hotel overnight -- Getting up next morning 6/11, and drive to Elysberg to spend two days at Knoebel’s (staying in hotel 6/11 & 6/12) -- Getting up morning of 6/13, and driving to Hershey and spending two days at Hershey Park and surrounding city (staying in hotel on site? 6/13-6/14) -- Getting up morning of 6/15 (Sunday), and headed towards Pittsburgh (free day driving/sightseeing/deciding if we want to side-trip to Idlewild). -- Check into Pittsburgh hotel on afternoon of 6/15 and stay two night (6/15, 6/16). We’ll spend 6/16 at Kennywood. -- Get up 6/17 and go to Pittsburgh airport to fly back on Tuesday 6/17. that gives us an 9 day, 8 night trip, with I THINK enough time to do everything

looks awesome! so the Linq is where the alley used to be between Flamingo and O'Sheas? (where in the world are they gonna park the paddy wagon now?. . . LOL)

1st pic of NPH as "Hedwig"

the ride looks great, and the report is fantastic! Thanks for posting it.

aw. . I like General Public [youtu_be]http://youtu.be/nmoHQ2DC3zo[/youtu_be] tho Ranking Roger and Dave were better as part of the English Beat (and I can't believe so many posts without SOMEONE posting this )

HA! I love how *all* the signs state the "Six must ride" and the boats will be filled. and then every one you have a pic of has only Four (or less!) riders. made me laugh

yep.. . would be a perfect kind of ride for Disney!

It IS stupid but it is really cool!! I think that this is something that would work well at other parks just to make rides more immersive and interactive. "Stupid Awesome" is a compliment so yeah, I liked it a lot!

They just put this little guy in the coaster each morning and let er rip! [youtu_be] [/youtu_be]

I feel like I would want to do so much of the other things that you can do at Disney World (and only at Disney world) That I would want at least a few extra days. I also like water parks, I would probably spend a day each at just the water parks at Disney World. I think a week is reasonable. 10 days is pushing it, but I could see how you'd want to do that. I could easily spend 10 days at Disney World. I LOVE it there. I stayed for 7 once and still did not do everything. us too. we stayed 7, and did not get to visit EITHER WaterPark, and we still could have spent more time at both EPCOT and Animal Kingdom. I wouldn't have minded more than 1 night in Downtown Disney either (even tho Pleasure Island held no draw for us). But we DID see "La Nouba" I would do 10 days easy. . heck, you can spend just 5 at EPCOT if you do everything in each pavilion, and each shop/attraction/film in world showcase.

that is a STUPID AWESOME idea! love it! even if the volume of the scream doesn't really tie to how fast one goes, it's still a fantastic interactive idea to make the coaster more fun. not only the scream, and the mix of launch, chain lift, and tires, but the way it interacts with the suspended ride AND the boats? I'm absolutely loving this. I'm kinda scared to hope it caches on -- I mean. . can you IMAGINE the "Faart" coaster in Germany on the next TPR tour? (talk about a "bag o crap")

oh, but if you aren't familiar with them -- Lordi is "foreign GWAR" as I call them. but I must admit, I think Lordi's music is better: [youtu_be] [/youtu_be]

yep. . I had a denim vest that I always wore to GWAR shows. They came thru Austin a LOT, and I always saw them in Atlanta at Dragon*con. anyways. . the thing was so caked with "fluids" that it eventually started cracking apart, and I had to throw it away. funny thing: I never wore my "total slavery" fan club shirt to a show, when the whole point of the shirt (a white shirt) WAS to wear it to a show and get it stained as I said in the Mega-Dead Celebrity thread, I think the band is done. They could survive members leaving (sniff, I still miss Slymnestra Hymen), and even replacing members who passed. but I don't know how they could replace Oderus.