YoshiFan

Those green trashcans at Great Adventure are for the parade route, before the parade starts they put up yellow chain links on the trashcans. Otherwise they normally don't have so many (most of them have been removed since the parade is done for the season)

I agree, it seems like a lot of parks are removing 1 and 2 inversion coasters. They are very important for people who are unsure about going upside down. My first looping coaster was Sooperdooperlooper which only has 1 loop. I convinced myself to try it by saying if I didn't like the loop, it was only 1 so I wouldn't have to go through more inversions. I might not have been willing to try a 3 - 7 inversion coaster for my first looping coaster.

I guess GASM is a love it or hate it type of ride. I try to ride it every time I am at the park, I barely have any headbanging. Superman always has a crazy line thanks to the slow dispatching and the popularity. I also agree with what you said about the flat rides being non existant. I guess that is a result of around 12 or so rides being removed in the past 3 seasons and with rumors of Fantasy Fling (Round Up) leaving this year, it makes all the coaster lines longer.

I find it interesting Comet is listed at 1500 riders an hour when the website says 830 an hour. Could the seat dividers and seatbelts reduce the capacity in half or is it that they really loaded the riders faster back then?

Was this Saturday or Sunday? If it was Sunday that makes it the 3rd day in a row the park closed early without warning or updating the website. Very fusturating.

I remember climbing that spiral staircase in the Statue of Liberty when I went on my 10th grade class trip, the stairs were steep and weren't big and it was very difficult to climb up them especially since it took about 45 minutes.

We were discussing that last night on another site. Last night some people were told they were closing the park due to attendance (I am guessing around 200 people were there at the most), others were told it was due to the weather and it wasn't even raining out at 7:30 when the park closed. Last night was a season pass night so as much as I hated the early closing, I could see why they did it since they had to have lost a ton of money since no one paid admission except for maybe a few who paid the $14.99 friend deal. Multiple people called, myself included last night and we were all told the park as open until 10:00 with no mention of a possible early closing. As I mentioned in my first post, I got plenty of rides in but others only got a handful of rides, and even some were stopped from entering the lot since the park was closing early. I would have been annoyed if I drove that far and the park was supposed to be open until 10 on a regular operating day and they closed 6 hours early if the weather was ok. Even worse I just checked the website and it still says they are open until 10:00 tonight! I know hours are subject to change without notice but you would expect them to change the website like they usually do like 3 weeks ago when they closed at 2:00 due to the horrible storm. What if someone checked the site at 5:00 and saw 10:00 and figured they had a few hours to go to the park only to find out it closed.

Someone on a Great Adventure site said they rode El Toro 23 times in a row just having to switch seats. It will probably be on the ligher side on Sunday but I don't think it will be as empty as it was tonight.

Yeah, only 1 train running, but it was going out about 40% full.

No photos but I wish I had brought a camera today to show how empty the parking lot and the actual park was. I have been looking forward to Family Fall Fun Night after the awesome time I had at Coasters After Dark in May where I had basically no waits. Since the park tonight was also only open to Premium SP holders, I expected the park to not be that crowded. The forecast for tonight was horrible all week with it saying 80 - 90% chance of rain as of yesterday. I decided to take the chance and go to the park because it wasn't raining and was only misting/drizzling on the way to the park. I got to the park a little after 5:00 and it almost looked like the place was closed. There couldn't have been more than 20 - 25 cars in the lot and rides weren't running, because they had no one riding! By the time I got to the entrance it was a little before 5:15 and the security guard told me the park might be closing at 6:00 or 7:00 so I knew I would have to move fast to get on a lot of the coasters today. I went to Nitro first since I wanted to power ride today and I missed it on my last trip. Unfortunately it was closed for minor technical difficulties and remained that way the entire night. Batman was closed when I first got to the park and was listed as closed on the rides board but I saw it running with people so I went there instead. 2 trains running, station was empty except for 2 people waiting for the front. I was going to go for a re-ride but they ended up taking a train off and I think it closed shortly after that for the rest of the night. The Dark Knight was empty but after I and 3 others went into the pre-show room, the op said they would start the pre-show in around 5 minutes after more people entered. I didn't want to waste close to 15 minutes (5 minutes waiting, 5 minutes pre-show, and a few minutes riding the coaster) so I left. I went to Skull Mountain next and the ops were standing around waiting for riders, I was the only one on the train. I took the sky ride to the other side of the park. Very few cars running but I was the only one in line so it didn't matter. From the sky ride, the park looked closed, I think I saw a total of 5 non employees walking around the park. Runaway Mine Train also had no one in the station, I got a solo ride in the front, and took a re-ride again in the front. 2 trains running. Medusa only had people waiting for the front. 2 trains running and I got 4 rides without leaving the train. The tigers were right up to the viewing windows in the Golden Kingdom which was cool but since Kingda Ka was closed, I went to the Boardwalk. Scream Machine had just the blue train running, another solo ride. I took a re-ride in the 3rd row and this time there were actually 4 other riders. Superman was also running 1 train but it was a 1 train wait for the front. I moved around to different seats to get 3 total rides but the train never has more than 3 - 4 rows with riders. On the way back to check Nitro, it was 6:50 and I heard the dreaded, the park is closing at 7:30 announcement (it was supposed to be closing at 10:00). Nitro was still closed so I went back to the Dark Knight where they were still letting people in the pre-show room even though the pre-show was almost over. The room was about 1/2 filled. About 2 minutes later I was boarding the ride and by the time I got to the end of the ride, there was no one waiting to ride so I stayed on for 2 more rides. It was 7:10 at this point and Nitro was still closed and I knew it wouldn't be opening tonight so I went back to Skull Mountain to finish the night. I got 6 more rides in only having to change seats once. Although it was dissapointing to have the park close 2 1/2 hours early, I guess they figured it wasn't worth it to keep the park open for around 200 people at most. Still, I got more rides (23) in those 2 1/4 hours than most people get during a full day in the park so it was well worth visiting, if only to see what it feels like to almost have the entire park to yourself. Ride Count: Batman The Ride, 1x Skull Mountain, 7x Skyway, 1x Runaway Mine Train, 2x Medusa, 4x Superman, 3x Scream Machine, 2x The Dark Knight, 3x

Yeah Saturday night was way more crowded than I expected. I only was able to ride Runaway Mine Train (10 minutes), Scream Machine (walk on) and Superman (a little over 20 minutes) because it was so crowded. I couldn't believe Nitro was into the switchbacks. As for The Dark Knight, I waited 30 minutes for it back in May, I refuse to wait more than 15 for it now. It's a fun ride but not worth more than a short wait. I think I saw that guy at Superman. He was looking down at his phone the entire time I watched him and wasn't checking to see if people entered the line with stuff not permitted to be left at the station.

I see you encountered the typical Dorney crowds, that's why I love the park. It may not have the greatest coasters in the area but you can almost always be sure you won't have waits to deal with. Now if they only allowed re-rides.

Very cool of Disney, I like the birthday fun card the option the best since unless you are there alone, if you use the fastpass and it's only for you to use, then you are going to be riding without your friends or family.

I remember reading Dorney gets over 1.5 million visitors a year. On the weekends the place gets packed, I think this summer the lot actually closed a few times because they ran out of room to park cars. Here is an example of how crowded the park can get: http://newsplusnotes.blogspot.com/2008/08/dorney-park-82308-update.html

If you get to the parks early and use fastpass it isn't horrible but can get crazy In 2006, I went to the Magic Kingdom the 26th and 28th, both days the park was filled to capacity. On the 28th, MGM and Animal Kingdom also filled to capacity. On the 27th I went to Epcot, Test Track standby was 180 minutes, Soarin was over 200 minutes. I thankfully rode both on the 23rd with 20 and 40 minute waits. On the 29th I went to Animal Kingdom, Everest was 85 minutes about an hour after opening, by mid day it was up to 2 hours (I rode it on the 24th with a 20 minute wait standby), the standby line for the safari had a completely full queue and the line was out into the midway, the sign said 150 minutes. It's crazy how the crowds can change that much in a few days, the 23rd - 25th were low to moderate crowds. On the 25th, I had a walk on for Tower of Terror in the middle of the day!

I don't think it will make lines much shorter. At Great Adventure people never lined up for the parade early like at Disney and even after it started there was plenty of room to see it and get right up to the chains that block you from the route.

I wish I would have seen those shirts when I was at Hershey, I would have picked up the Canyon River Rapids one. It is impossible to stay dry on Rollersoaker, I wore a poncho last time and still got drenched. At least you didn't have to wait for it, it usually has a crazy line that is one of the slowest moving around I guess because of the horrible capacity (I estimate it at around 240 an hour)

If the tickets can be used by different people, it would be cheaper for a group of 3 to buy the 3 pack than have each one buy a single ticket if they want to ride once. Or if they don't expire and you live locally and want to use them on different days.

Spinning since you never know how much you are going to spin where on a regular mouse, it is the same ride everytime

10 minute dispatches is very upsetting to hear when all season dispatches have been almost all very fast except at Rolling Thunder (where 5 minute dispatches see to be the norm). I hope that was just an isolated bad day and it isn't like that the rest of the season. Something else to consider though I don't know if non Great Adventure Premium SP holders can get in for is the 26th is Family Fun Night. The park is closed to the public and it is open from 5 - 10 for the passholders. If it is like Coasters after Dark crowds will be very light, but you would need to contact the park to find out if a non Great Adventure pass will allow you to get in since they really emphasize that you need a Premium season pass to get in and not a regular Great Adventure season pass.

The park is open until November 2nd so you are not going on closing weekend. So far September has received mixed crowds, I went on the 7th and had walk ons for almost all coasters but a TR posted yesterday said some rides had full queues. Since it a Saturday but not during Frightfest (begins October 4th), I think crowds will be moderate. The real closing weekend is miserable. Last year I read lines were 2 - 2 1/2 hours for the major coasters (I went to Dorney and had walk ons and some 5 - 10 minute waits). This hotel is under $100 a night: http://reservations.hotel-guides.us/hotel/10011670-10198414O.html?ses=f7e8b1f50184c63a9c97f56bf34d493f

Hard Rock Park was the first one that I thought of when I read the thread title. Also any of the sea shore parks in NJ since a lot of those areas are running out of room to build.

I'm surprised it was crowded, last Sunday it was dead. Walk ons for everything except The Dark Knight and Kingda Ka (5 minutes). How bad were the lines? And did you notice if the log flume was open?

Speaking of candy, would it kill the parks to give out candy to everyone and not just kids? I know Disney does but for other parks since candy companies sponsor the events, the park has to be getting it for free or close to free. The worst is when they have it by height like at the Six Flags parks. I remember reading a few years ago how some tall 7 year old kid wasn't allowed to get candy because she was over 54" while all her friends were allowed to and there was all this negative press about it.

I always had a lot of chances to get the Steel Pier credits but never got around to getting them. I guess I never wanted to spend the money for 2 rides in a park that I am a little unsure of (safety wise). Isn't the park closed tomorrow?