YoshiFan

Nice pictures, I agree 100% about the Wild Mouse loading rule. Combined with the seatbelts, it makes the capacity ridiculous. RCDB lists it at 900 an hour but according to some people on Dorney Online, it can only get 40% of that and that's at optimal capacity. Nice to see Thunder Creek Mountain running, it was closed opening day and last Friday.

I agree that with the parks that have water parks included in admission, it hurts seperate gate waterparks. I think small waterparks in tourist areas (like ones at the beach) can survive but in general I think more and more not in those type of areas will close.

If you don't care about the waterpark, Dorney can be done in 1/2 a day easily and I would go later in the day (after 5 p.m. on 10 p.m. closings) and get the starlight admission for a little under $20.

My marketing book had a picture and comment about the Magic Kingdom in WDW. My management operations book had a picture of the Imagination Pavillion in Epcot and talked about how Disney manages lines. In the school bookstore, I saw a physics book with a SLC on the cover.

Unless things changed, they usually run all coasters in the rain except Laser but close them down during lightning. I was there during a thunderstorm last year and they even ran the Whip and Music Express in the lightning. The power went out while I was on the Whip and when it came back on (a few seconds later), they shut down both rides at that point. Steel Force in the rain really hurts

The problem I have with the high gas prices is not so much the increase in the price of gas but the effects it has on other items. Costs of merchandise for stores increase due to higher delivery costs which hurts everything. As for the boycott, I won't be filling up on the 15th because I just filled up tonight across from Dorney. $0.25 less a gallon ($2.79) compared to the gas stations in my area and it's in the same state.

That helix before the drop on the last model looks cool. I overall like the first one the best but they all look great

Suburban Philadelphia, $2.99, across the street from Dorney, $2.79. It's crazy that it's a $0.20 difference in the same state.

Hershey is my favorite park because of the great variety of coasters and other fun rides and I think Dorney and Hershey provide an overall better experience even though Great Adventure probably has the strongest collection of coasters of the 3 parks (bad operations, high prices and long lines at Great Adventure). Regardless, if you go to Dorney and don't care about Wildwater Kingdom I would try to do the starlight plan as 5 hours is easily enough time to get on all the coasters and major flats at Dorney. I usually spend 3 - 4 hours at the park and average about 6 rides an hour including walking through the park and through the usually empty queues.

Sonic Rush for the DS. On world 4.

I can't say I am surprised considering how strict CF is with heights. Thunderhawk is 48" (and I'm guessing all CF wooden coasters are), Comet at Hershey is 42" with adult, Rolling Thunder at GADV is 44" with adult Sooperdooperlooper is 42" with adult, Laser is 48" Even the Arrow Mine trains, Hershey is 36" with adult, Great Adventure is 44" with adult but at CF parks it's 48" They also raised the height limit on the Wild Mouse at Dorney this year from 42" with an adult to 44" with an adult which although not a huge increase will also annoy people.

Horizons at WDW, if it has to be a coaster then City Jet at Gillian's Wonderland Pier

GASM isn't that rough if you ride in the front row. It's amazing how different the ride can be depending on where you sit. When I was in the last row, it was so violent my neck and head hurt for a few minutes after the ride but in the front, I found it almost smooth.

Was the comment about soda machine taking a $5 bill and not giving change a joke or did it really not give you change back? That's horrible if it didn't and seems like a scam especially if it didn't mention no change would be given

I just wish parks would be less strict about photography in general. I understand not taking pictures on coasters but at Dorney for example, they say photography is prohibited on all rides, even slow rides like the 2 trains, merry go round etc. You could get some different angled shots of Talon from the train ride if they allowed it.

I don't think that's a valid excuse for the park, if they already made the commitment to get the ride in the first place, they should make sure they are doing things correctly since it appears to be a very low capacity ride with only 1 train and I'm sure it doesn't make the park look good to have a long, slow moving line for their newest coaster

I was there during Christmas week this past December and it's crazy how crowded it can get. Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom filled to capacity almost every day that week and MGM was even filled to capacity one day. The problem with that is that everyone goes to the open park(s), which is usually Epcot and that fills up (210 minute wait for Soarin). With fastpass and if you get to the park early when the waits aren't that bad it's possible to get a lot of rides in but you have to have a plan of what you want to do ahead of time and not just randomly go from ride to ride.

Medusa at SFGADV on Wednesday

Looks great so far, just like the real park

Yeah I hate that arcades are a thing of the past. There are 7 malls within a 30 minute radius of my house. At one point all of them had arcades, now 2 have arcades (1 of which is just a small room with 2 DDR machines and 4 other games). I'm glad almost every park has an arcade in it so when I go to a park I can have access to my 2 favorite hobbies, coasters and video games.

I like going to the arcade and playing DDR. There are no arcades close to me (except for a few that have horrible games) so when I am at a park I get the chance to play DDR and other games I don't have access to normally

Yeah and it's still popular because it has a 36" minimum height so it's very family friendly. Plus it got new restraints that are much better in 2003.

Seeing those pictures makes me question even more why they can't have coasters open for Christmas Candylane. Comet looked like it had a long line (though is there a time it never has a line?) and I think that and SDL should be opened and they would have riders. Based on your TR last year for Easter, I had been planning for months to go yesterday since I had gone last year on the Saturday where it was too crowded to be fun but the weather didn't work out this year.

Nice photos, I hope it is just as empty the whole week since I plan to go either tomorrow or Wednesday and hope to have tons of walk ons.

I noticed they took off the 2 hour wait from this point sign at the entrance to Sidewinder. I guess with it no longer being the star attraction in the park, it will never get a full queue again.