Rai Fox

It's not one of the big things that everyone will tell you that you have to have, but IMO the turkey sandwich at the Alamo is amazing. It's absolutely drenched in wonderful gravy ("sandwich" or not, you'll need a fork and knife to eat it) and it's just so, so good. Gelati is also good. Cheese on a stick is also very good. The fancy grilled cheese sandwiches on corn bread from the place that serves the gelati, also very very good. The fried chicken waffle sandwich with sour cream and spinach and maple syrup and all the stuff that sounds bizarre and horrible? It's beyond words, it's amazing. I swear, it really is. You need to trust Knoebels. Nonono, don't trust me, just trust Knoebels. ...I mean, really, it's Knoebels, close your eyes, spin in circles, open your eyes, whatever food you're looking at is going to be good. Honestly you can't go wrong. If you don't mind a little walk or a very short drive, try Nickel Plate 1/4 mile away too, it's the restaurant at the golf course owned by the park and it's also <3 <3 <3

Assholes who can't be bothered to care for anything that doesn't belong to them. I picked up an almost-new car (year old, 15k miles, perfect condition) car a week and a half ago. In that week and a half I've had someone hit the rear bumper in a parking lot and badly scratch it, hit it with a door or shopping cart or whatever and mark up a door, and now this morning I come out to find a deep gouge along one door, well into the metal; I don't even know how someone did that kind of damage. Now that's going to be an expensive repair I need to take care of ASAP before it starts to cause rust. A week and a half. Not one of them bothered to leave a note or in any way mention or take responsibility, of course.

Probably Rye Playland monday, since I'll be in the area and have the day off. The weekend after, probably going to hit Funtown in Maine and either Canobie or Water Country. Second weekend in September, Schlitterbahn New Braunfels and Six Flags Fiesta Texas. Then King's Island on columbus day weekend for Halloween stuff!

I wouldn't put it past them, at this point, to tease "planting some grass" as a new attraction. But I am hoping for a bit more than that. They so badly need something to make up for losing the mountain skyride.

Looks like LC is starting to tease something new. Wonder if "by the lake" means waterpark, which desperately needs new rides (or the return of the Lake Plunge slides) or actually something new, maybe up where the skyride was.

Thanks! I just looked and fortunately, it looks like I'll be there on the last day of waterpark operation; hopefully that'll keep people distracted. If not, we'll just have to go the flashpass route. No matter how it goes with weather or crowds, this is an extra trip I wasn't expecting and I'm not paying for, so I'm just going to enjoy it as much as I can!

I'd never call Kennywood anything like a dump, but I'll certainly agree on the ops. It never used to be that way but my last few trips there, most of the rides have had operations that made your average Six Flags look like Knoebels; ridiculously slow dispatch times, just ignoring line jumpers, or constantly mis-counting the number of people they can let onto a ride at once. It's really frustrating at what's otherwise such a fun place. That said, I've been there in rain several times, and except in one case where it was so bad it began flooding (and there were tornados very nearby as well), it's never closed.

I'd never really paid much attention to SFFT since none of my plans have ever taken me anywhere near it, but I'm apparently heading there and Schlitterbahn for something of a (really great) birthday present early next month. Now that I'm actually looking it up...I have to agree, how is that a Six Flags!? Those pictures look amazing. Actual scenery and themeing, and not half-assed at all... I really can not wait to see this place myself (and the rest of the TR!).

Still one of my absolute favorite rides. It's sad how hard it's getting to find them now. I did get on quite a few before they started to disappear though! I've ridden the ones at Rocky Point Park (park closed), Six Flags Great Adventure (now removed), Lake Compounce (removed), Hershey Park (removed), Kennywood, Cedar Point, and Fun Spot Orlando, plus the Giant Enterprise at Canada's Wonderland and Nightwing at Six Flags New England (Yeah, I actually managed to catch that for one of the few days or so it actually ran - it was pretty great, too.). I keep hoping to see one of the new G2 Enterprises at a park I can get to, but no luck so far. -edit- And Dorney Park, I knew I was forgetting one.

Oh, yeah, that much I get. I can manage a respectable speed on them. Just not anywhere near what my father manages, and it's even sillier that he could do it on a tube slide, where there's (to my knowledge) no real technique at all!

Not as good as a lot of the stories here, but I do have a few. One of my favorites; a few years back, at Kennywood, I get on Phantom's Revenge, after waiting a bit extra for the front row. I'm in the front right seat and get an absolutely awesome ride...to no one's surprise, if you've been on Phantom's Revenge. We come around to the station again and the restraints come up...all except mine. The ride ops try for a couple minutes to get mine to release, but nothing works. Finally one of them comes over, and looking horrified, tells me "We're going to have to cycle it again to get it around to the maintenance station. Are you going to be okay if we go around again?" They're acting like this is some horrible penalty, no matter how much I try to explain to them that yes, I am entirely fine with a second front seat ride on Phantom's Revenge. So they send me around again, and stop the train at the switch track before the station, where a maintenance guy is able to get my restraint released in a minute or two. One of the other ride ops comes over then and starts offering me coupons for free food, suggesting that if I go to guest services I might be able to get a refund on my park ticket, just absolutely ridiculous offers in exchange for the unthinkable crime of having to ride one of my favorite coasters a second time. I could barely convince them that I was fine and didn't need anything from them. I guess some people really are that eager to complain that they might have made a big deal out of something like that, but...it was a free ride, and they REALLY wanted to compensate me for it. No, I didn't take them up on any of it, I would have felt horrible. Other stories...further back, a lot further back, when I was still travelling with parents, we were at Six Flags Great Adventure and hit the teacups there... Now it's worth pointing out that my family does not 'ride' teacups. 'Ride' is a passive word. We all have a bit of a competitive side, and my father got it into my brother and I at an early age that teacups are a competitive sport. If someone else is spinning faster, that means we can do better. And SFGA that day, the ride ops were having fun and offering a free ride to whoever they saw spinning the fastest. The first ride, we definitely won, and the ride ops agreed and told us to stay on if we wanted. Of course we did. The second round was...more competitive. And just for the sake of imagery, I should try to give you some idea of what we look like here. It's my father, my brother, and I, in one of the green teacups. I take after my father in being a little bit on the taller side and very long limbed, making it very easy to get a good hold on the wheel in the middle of the cup despite being spun hard back against the seat. My brother takes after my mother, so he has to work at this. And he makes up for that in sheer determination. We've figured out that if we all try to spin the cup at the same time, our hands get in each others way, and we all get tired out too quickly, so once we're up to speed we take turn, spinning hard as we can then calling for the next person around to take their turn. And when it's my brother's turn, he's almost completely out of his seat, feet braced up against the other side of the cup, just so he can reach at the speeds we're spinning, like some kind of spider hanging on to the ride. It is very clear that all three of us take this far more seriously than anyone should ever take a ride. And we're loving it. So halfway through the ride, we're increasingly aware that a large number of people in line have started chanting for us, "Green! Green! Green!' So of course we're going at it even harder now. Then the ride comes to a stop and everyone starts to get off, except for one other cup near us. The ride operator tells them then have to get off, and one girl tells him "no we don't, we were spinning fastest." The op just shakes his head, pointing to us. "Nope. THEY WON." And half the people in line start cheering and clapping. Fortunately for us, before the next ride started, someone I assume was a supervisor came over and told the ride ops that they couldn't give free rides like that...because we were /dead/ and there was absolutely no way we were going to be able to win again! My family, and my father especially, being competitive on rides doesn't end with teacups. Racing waterslides are very much the same. I don't know anyone that's ever beaten him on one of those racing mat slides. I've never figured out how he does it; he's never even been that heavy for the extra momentum. So, years back, again, we were at Blizzard Beach at Disney World. (I'd actually been pretty sure this was on the toboggan racers, but looking at the pictures from the park now, I'm realizing it was Downhill Double Dippers; Toboggan Racers doesn't have a pool, just water brakes. The pool with the bumper is next to it on DDD, the inner tube version) We're in line for the slide and laughing a little at the big bright colored rubber bumper at the end of the pool. It seems so unnecessary. We're watching everyone hit the pool and stop, usually sinking, or make it maybe halfway across on their tubes...talk about unneeded safety precautions, no one is getting to that bumper. We keep watching all through the line and no one is even getting more than halfway across the pool. Then we get to the top, my brother and I first...my brother beats me to the bottom by a mile, as usual; I never win at these. We get off, and wait for our father to come down next, against whoever was behind us in line. And come down he does, like he has a rocket strapped to his inner tube...and hits the pool, and just skips like a stone. Skip, skip...slam right into the big yellow bumper at the end. The only person we saw the entire time make it anywhere near that, and he hit it hard enough to barely hold on to his tube. He gets out, and the lifeguard is just staring at him, "That was SO COOOOOOOL." It's probably been 15 years at this point, and I still don't know how he does it...

Great report, and nice pics, thank you for posting! I'll never get tired of reading about the good times people have here. There's nowhere like Knoebels. I think it's time to rent a cabin again next year.

A news channel in India is reporting that six people have been charged with negligent homicide already. While I wouldn't be surprised at all that there are people at fault for negligence here, I can't imagine how there's been any sort of proper investigation already. Apparently that six includes the ride operators, who I can't imagine had anything to do with a structural failure. Sounds far too much like just finding someone they can blame. https://www.ndtv.com/ahmedabad-news/6-charged-after-2-dead-27-injured-in-ahmedabad-amusement-park-accident-2069909

There's absolutely tons to do in Pittsburgh; just depends on what sorts of things you're interested in. If you're an animal person at all, they have a pretty fantastic zoo that has two tiny clouded leopard cubs now, and a world class aviary. If you're more into food, well...there's not much Pittsburgh doesn't have for food. Same for beer. Lots of museums. I'd very much recommend going up the Incline for views of the city at night, too, it's absolutely breathtaking from there. Then, events, you have...well, Picklesburgh coming up, maybe a bit of a niche thing, but...you don't go to a city because they do everything the same as everyone else, right?

I'll be there on the third, so...I guess I'll find out!

That sounds odd...wheels are swapped all the time, just standard maintenance. It's hard to think of a problem with wheels keeping the rides down for months, unless it's a safety issue with them...but the same rides at other parks are running without issue.

Right about this time next week, I'll be getting breakfast at the International Food Court at Knoebels. Then Kennywood a couple days after!

While I definitely agree in general, I'm not sure it's a deliberate cutting of corners or budget. The last time I spoke to the park's GM, he mentioned that the park's head of maintenance had retired, and they were struggling to find anyone in the area with the skills to replace him. Other people were filling in as well as they could, but they really didn't have anyone that they felt was up to being in charge. That was a couple years ago, but it seems like it's still the case. This being my home park on top of the oldest park in the country, it's such a shame to see it all falling apart like this. Their star new coaster being down for half the summer (at least) has to be hurting their bottom line, and the waterpark really can not afford to lose more slides; it doesn't have enough to support the crowds as is. According to the staff I've talked to, they still have nothing in the plans to replace the Sky Ride yet, either. There's just less and less reason to visit right now.

It really is looking pretty amazing. I know it's a bit of a joke with the constant delays and all, but I'm still hoping it turns out to have been worth the wait. Very much looking forward to checking it out...whenever it actually opens. A big indoor waterpark in reasonable driving distance for me will make winters a whole lot more bearable!

I remember discussion of Waldameer's Spider being down for major repairs, but there was no mention of it being in any danger of being removed though. It's still listed on their site this summer, so sounds like it'll probably still be around for a while.

Everything is better at Knoebels. Rides, food, doesn't matter; if it exists there and somewhere else, it's better at Knoebels.

I just want to give this a quick bump here; I was just testing this earlier tonight, and anyone here into amusement park simulations absolutely should be keeping an eye on this. It has so, /so/ much potential right now. We just did a short test in a park with a wooden roller coaster, go karts, and hang gliders; all of them are just so much fun to play around with. The graphics are far better than any of the other big amusement park games, the ride/vehicle physics are fantastic (apart form a few bugs with the go-karts so far!), the social bits like the voice chat and lip sync seem to work seamlessly. This really needs to have more people following it and helping spread interest; with some support this project could be something amazing.

FFS. Great, now they're one excuse closer to turning it into nice "sustainable" green space and condos.

From the article - "On the way in, there’s a robot and video explainer that sets Kaleidoscape in the realm of some kind of (doughnut-shaped) quantum multiverse situation. There’s something about a “cosmic egg” and “q-particles” that you can shoot with laser guns – it’s enough to set the stage, but I’ll leave it up to you to determine what the story is, exactly." Sounds like there's still a shooting element, though I don't really see one in the video.