YoshiFan

It looks like not many 10:00 closings on weekdays during the summer and more 6:00 closings on weekdays in May and the beginning June. Being open on Veterans Day is also a new addition. Election Day looks like it was removed. I still think it's great they even open on those weekdays late in the season and being able to ride coasters on a Thursday in the beginning of November.

There was new theming for 2019 at Skull Mountain today. A bat flying in the station and inside the ride area.

sooperdooperLooper

Great report, I was there yesterday as well from around 2 - 7:30. It seemed like coaster got crowded around 3:30 and then around 6:30 and later or so were better except Justice League and the Skyway. Around 3:30, the line went from being on the stairs at Nitro to past where the 30 minute sign was in just a few minutes. I got my last Nitro ride at around 7:15 and it was a station wait. I would avoid being in line for Justice League when everyone exits the Showcase theater if possible . The line was just out of the building and I was expecting around 15 minutes to get to the single rider line entrance based on past trips. After the line moving normally, it almost stopped about 5 minutes in line. With so many people going from the show to the ride, the Flash Pass line was past the statues and almost outside which caused the regular line to barely move. I left and came back later but I guess it is because anyone with Flash Pass not needing to reserve a ride time with the wrist bands (like Cedar Fair parks), so many people went to ride at the same time.

Not so far this year, although this is only the 2nd day of the event. Last night the outdoor coasters were closed since it under 40 degrees, Wild Mouse did open in the later part of the afternoon, the rest were closed all day (at least according to the app). Last year I was there on a day when it was just above 40 degrees from opening until after it got dark and they were open. Definitely, I'm going to get to HITP at least once.

It's 45 degrees in Hershey and all the outdoor coasters are listed as closed in the app. I hope the minimum temperature to run the coasters wasn't raised for this year. Last year it was around 38 degrees before the coasters stopped running.

Thunderhawk at Dorney on Sunday.

Storm Runner

It was low crowds last year when there was bring a friend free. I checked my trip report from Thursday last year ( http://www.greatadventurehistory.com/Forums/index.php?/topic/5387-11917/ ) and only Justice League and The Dark Knight were more than 15 minutes. I got 24 rides in around 6 hours that day.

Definitely: Great Adventure Dorney Park Hersheypark Knoebels Possibly: Six Flags New England Playland's Castaway Cove

There isn't Fright Fest, just regular operations. On the weekdays, Frontier Adventures will possibly be closed, almost everything else is open including all the other coasters. They are open because NJ schools are closed. I have gone on Thursday or Friday the last 3 years in a row and it's very low crowds.

It's fun to check Queue Times on a Saturday in October. Justice League and Green Lantern, 2 1/2 hours each. Nitro, Kingda Ka, Superman and Bizarro all 1 hour 40 minutes.  I can't wait to see the wait times next Saturday since that is usually the most crowded day of the year.

I had a really good visit at the park tonight. From opening to closing I got 17 rides in. Getting there at opening showed me why the new entrance is needed. The line to get in was to where the tram circle is near the ticket counter. It took 15 minutes to get in and this was a low crowd night. On a busy day at opening, I can't imagine how bad it gets. It also doesn't help there is no rope drop like at Great Adventure and the gates don't open until park opening time. Lines were short except for the rides that were running 1 train. That included Great Bear, Storm Runner, Wildcat and each track of Lightning Racer. At one point the app was showing a 45 minute wait for Great Bear and Wildcat supposedly had a 5 minute wait but the line was far down the ramp and it was probably closer to a 30 minute wait. Besides some kids rides closed, the sky ride, whip, Reese's Tower and Coal Cracker were all closed. I expected Coal Cracker to be closed on a Friday night but last year I went to Hersheypark in the Dark 2 different weeks on Sunday and it was closed then as well even though it was warm enough to run the ride. It will be interesting to see if it is open on Saturday since it's supposed to be around 60 degrees.

Pictures like that are why I will never visit the park on a Saturday (or Sunday) this time of year. Even with Flash Pass, that looks like it would be miserable just walking around, plus the wait to get through security and traffic exiting the park.

Yeah that's understandable avoiding Fright Fest, I used to only go to the park that time of year on Friday nights when crowds were reasonable. Now when some of the coasters are getting hour waits even on a Friday night in September, I won't visit again until next month.

I thought there is Fright Fest today? The park used to be open until 8 on Columbus Day and they changed it to 10 a few years ago. When I would go the park that day, I would wait until around 5 to get there when crowds weren't bad getting in and with people going to the mazes. Ride lines were usually not bad later in the day. 10+ years ago the park also used to make Columbus Day bring a friend free day combined with some groups visiting the park and there were 2 hour lines.

Today was probably the most crowded I have ever seen the park. I knew it was going to be crowded based on wait times on the app the last Saturday and the Saturday before that but wanted to get 1 trip in before Hersheypark in the Dark begins. Walking around difficult where food lines were going to the walkways. Comet, Great Bear, sooperdooperlooper, Laff Trakk all had lines that were overflowing onto the walkways. Fahrenheit, Lightning Racer, Wildcat and Wild Mouse had almost full queues. The most surprising wait times on the app were Lightning Racer and Trailblazer and 75 minutes although I don't think that was accurate. When I rode Lightning Racer later it was a 45 minute wait on the app and took just over 15 minutes. Crowds were more reasonable after 8 although some rides like Fahrenheit and Laff Trakk had really bad lines even later in the day. Coal Cracker was closed all day. The app had a 45 minute posted wait time for Great Bear. It was at least double that. sooperdooperlooper's line was also out of the queue.

I was at the park for a few hours on Saturday. I wanted to go to Knoebels but with the Bloomsburg Fair likely causing horrible traffic on the way to the park and Knoebels having a buy 1 handstamp, get 1 for free next May, I thought it would be very crowded. The park was crowded (for Dorney) with some of the coasters besides Wild Mouse actually having 15 - 20 minute waits. There is a new coaster where Stinger used to be, unfortunately for anyone hoping for a new ride, this one is made out of pumpkins. Thunder Creek Mountain was closed. I was hoping it might be open, at least during the day. Cedar Creek Flyers was already the worst flying scooters in the area because of the slow speed and short ride cycle that was under 2 minutes. They actually made it worse. The ride starts to slow down less than 50 seconds after it starts moving and from start to complete stop is barely over a minute. While riding Thunderhawk, I heard someone said that it was a better ride than Phoenix because Thunderhawk's trains have better padding. The person riding next to them agreed with that. I walked through the main gift shop on the way out of the park. In the middle of the store there was a display of Phillies hats for 80% off. It seemed really random for Phillies merchandise to be sold there but since it's Dorney I can't say I'm that surprised. Chickie's and Pete's had the longest line in the park. There were at least 20 people waiting to order and the line to the pickup window was past the bar area and the total wait time from getting in line to order and actually getting the food was probably close to 45 minutes. The coaster in Stinger's spot. I know it's not a great picture but the only way to see the whole display well is to ride Steel Force. The lighter pumpkins on the right are supposed to be a coaster train. There were a lot of people, both kids and adults with these necklaces.

You know it's crowded when sooperdooperlooper is showing a 90 minute wait time on the app. I guess a September Saturday is worse for ride lines that a July or August Saturday when the water park open to take away some of the crowds.

I'd probably go once a year for Winterfest. Seeing the ride lineups at other Cedar Fair parks makes me think maybe just Wild Mouse and 1 of the B&M coasters would be running if only the top section of the park was open. I went to the event last year for the first time in 10 years and thought it was great. Cheap admission (around $25) almost all the flat rides are open including the drop towers and 5 coasters (6 with the kiddie coaster) are running.

Columbus Day weekend is one of the worst of the year to go to the park, maybe the 2nd most crowded after the weekend before Halloween. Friday night and Columbus Day itself aren't that bad.

Friday and Sunday usually are the low crowd days. Saturday during Hersheypark in the Dark usually has horrible crowds. Last year I remember looking at the app and it was showing a 60 minute wait for Trailblazer and sooperdooperlooper. I usually try to go on a Sunday when everything except Laff Trakk is 5 - 10 minutes.

It's that really small drop right before you go under lift hill that seems to always get me soaked. If there isn't going to be anything on the ride side added next year (or nothing major), I hope there is at least a new addition to Wildwater Kingdom. Next year will be 5 years since Snake Pit was added and it would be nice to see something else to help spread out crowds more. Yesterday was the most crowded I have seen the water park all season (for a weekday). Many of the slides had lines to the bottom of the stairs. Aquablast looked like it had over an hour wait.

All Flash Pass entrances merge at the station except The Dark Knight and Runaway Mine Train,. Kingda Ka is further back but they usually don't let the line go much past the station so it's usually a station wait. Justice League does have a single rider line but it's toward the end of the line and can take a while just to get to the area where the line splits if it is crowded. Zumanjaro's single rider line works better with the split before the covered part of the line.

Unfortunately it was removed sometime between mid April and late May. It is now the Fast Track line (Fast Track used to go through the exit).