Jodon

If you ride the front row you will miss the air on the first drop. You will be very sad. And so will I. Actually, I found there was "uplift forces" (as much air time as you can get being synched and stapled to the hard plastic seat) in the front seat on the first drop. Do yourself a favor and ride front and back. A friend advised me to check out the front, at night, last year... one of the better rides I've had on Goliath. My favorite spots are the first turn and the dive loop through the mountain of wood. One more recommendation: When ever you are upside down, look up (i.e. look towards the ground), Seeing the wooden structure when you are upside down in the dive loop is pretty spectacular.

I have always been a back seat guy over front, but I have heard Goliath is better in the back from others. I have ridden it in the very back seat and it was awesome, but not the front. The first drop is amazing in the back. Both the front and back are solid! If I can, I try to get front row rides first to "see" the coaster for the first time. With that said, I prefer Goliath in the back.

If I remember/learned correctly, SFGAm announced that Whizzer was closing, as parks do so patrons can get their last rides in, and the public went nuts via newspapers and other avenues, so the park decided to keep Whizzer.

FYI, Twister was not operating yesterday when I was at Lakemont which was a scosh disappointing. But Leap the Dips was worth it. Really enjoyed the ride and got two insane bits of air time.

You get bugs on Raptor, TTD, and Gatekeeper, but not Maverick.

Basically everything at Dorney is always a walk-on (especially Talon and Hydra) so you'll probably have time to add on Posessed and Demon Drop, which are the 2 most intense rides in the park by far. Yeah Posessed is a clone... but it's always a walk on and it's a good ride, plus the holding brake works. None of these rides will have a line except maybe Steel Force... but when I say "line" I mean a 5 minute wait. If time allows ride this in the front seat because it's pretty lame everywhere else but Knoebels is more important so if the wait is significantly longer just sit wherever and try not to fall asleep during the ride. I get that you're short on time and that's cool so I won't suggest everything in the park like I usually do BUT you can't go to Knoebels and not at least ride the Skooters and the Flyers. Add those 2 to the must-ride list and if time allows add Black Diamond (coaster credit if you care, but even if you don't it's very good) and the Haunted Mansion (cut this first if you have to cut something). If you only have time for one of these, ride the Skooters. I'd almost cut Flying Turns if I had to to ride the Skooters. After going to Dorney on Tuesday and Knoebels yesterday, I would make every effort to do everything at Knoebels the Coasterbill has recommended. Skip out of Dorney as fast as possible and ride all that you can at Knoebels. Every ride I went on caused me to have a huge smile. I also really enjoyed Flying Turns. It just has terrible capacity otherwise I would have ridden it more. I would also add the Carousel to the list of must rides of it isn't on there already. It's a ton of fun in the outer horses trying to grab the brass ring.

I'm heading to the park for the first time tomorrow. I have purchased any of the VIP coaster passes, but not opposed to it if necessary. What should my plan of attack be first thing in the morning? What time should I get to the park?

1. Yes. If you have a Gold season pass or Discover card, you can enter the park around 9:30. If not, you can enter around 10:00 am, but there will be a larger group in that entrance so you will likely want to get there before 9:30 anyway. 2. East, or Left at the Carousel. If you are there before opening at the times mentioned above, security will walk the whole group back to Goliath at 10 am. Be prepared for the walk to suck with people jockeying for position in very small spaces. 3. Yes they do. Very small cups. You can also bring a water bottle into the park and fill it up at drinking fountains. 4. I like JB's BBQ in Southwest Territory or the Go Fresh Cafe in the front of the park in between the Carousel and the bumper cars. Both of them seem to not have much of a line in the early afternoon and have pretty decent food for Great America. If I were you, I'd avoid the food court by X-Flight like it's the plague. That place is crazy busy and has horrendous operations.

I'm at the park now and this perfectly depicts my thoughts about the wrist band. Plus I'm pretty sure that I have already ridden over $46 worth of rides and still have 3 1/2 hours to go. I just didn't want the question of "worth" prevent me from riding something. For example, I've ridden the carousel 4 times and have loved every ride (I got the brass ring on my second ride!!!!), but if I was laying by ride, there would be no way I would have ridden it that much.

I was at the park last Sunday and was very happy I had a platinum flash pass. The double rides on El Toro and Kingda Ka made it worthwhile. I think I got 43 total rides throughout the day due to the flash pass.

^ I second that Boldikus. I would actually like those restraints on Skyrush as well.

Does Dorney have a no reride policy? I was just on Talon for early entry and had a solo ride in the front row. When we returned to the station, there were 2 people waiting for the back row and no one else in the station. The op unbuckled my restraint and said that I had to exit and walk around if I wanted to reride. Is that normal here? If so, that's really lame.

Is Kennywood backpack friendly in the stations? Or do you need to get lo ckers?

I'm hitting up Knoebels on Wednesday. Are Knoebels stations backpack friendly, or would I need to get a lo cker?

I'm heading to Dorney tomorrow and was wondering if their ride stations are back pack friendly or will I need to get a loker?

Just rode all 3 Intamins! All 3 are really good rides, but felt that Farenheit was the weakest of the three, but the most re-rideable. Skyrush was ridiculous. The only other ride that I've been on that tries to throw you out of your seat so much is Outlaw Run, my current #1. Storm Runner was a lot of fun. Good mix of speed, cool inversions, and some decent air time. Really solid collection of coasters here at Hersheypark. I've got a full day here tomorrow, and don't need the Laff Trakk credit, where should I start? Any places I should eat in the park? Any shows worth watching?

Thanks! Really looking forward to visiting the park and riding their three Intamins!

I'm going to Hershey tonight and tomorrow. Does Hershey have bins or cubbies for bags at their coasters or do you have get a loker?

I don't have a picture of it, but Rougarou has been added to the wall.

Welp...I'm heading out tomorrow on my trip. Itinerary is decently set with some room for flexibility depending on the weather. I will probably try to put a trip report together at some point, but I will be live tweeting my adventure, so feel free to follow @jon_winters or search #CoastOrBust15 Tomorrow-Michigan's Adventure Thursday-CP Friday-Drive day with early entry at CP and preview night at Hershey Saturday-Hershey Sunday-Day in Philly Monday-SFGAdv Tuesday-Dorney Wednesday-Knoebels Thursday-Delgrosso's, Lakemont Park, and Idlewild Friday-Kennywood Saturday-Conneaut Lake Park and Waldameer and then drive home

I took the same survey but Six Flags asked about the season long Flash Pass for $350. At $150 it could be a really good value, at $350 it is not, unless its for unlimited Platinum passes.

I'm planning on hitting up Kennywood on Friday, July 31st. How busy does the park typically get on a Friday in July? Does it make sense to purchase the VIP Coaster Tours? Can you purchase the Front Row and Back Row VIP Coaster Tours, or can you only purchase one?

I think you may have better luck if you go on Monday for 5 hours, but if you go on Friday, you can get quite a bit done in that 90 minutes if you get to the park early enough to get on Goliath right away. I used Superman's SRL and it worked really well. Goliath's SRL on the other hand is spotty at best. They have lanyards that they give out, but they don't always hand them out, particularly in the morning when the line is just starting. If you are able to use the SRL it can be a great time saver, but don't count on it. Unfortunately, Condor has not operated at all this season. Orbit has been down earlier this season, but it was operating when I was at the park last Friday. SFGAm does have early entry for Gold Pass members, but it isn't like Cedar Point's early entry. At SFGAm, you go through the metal detectors and turnstiles at around 9:30 before the main queues enter at 10, but are held by security at the carousel to be walked back by security to Goliath around 10 am (which is new this season and it's awful). X-Flight does not have a SRL, but if you go on Friday and can get on Goliath within the first few trains, X-FLight's line will be really short. If Whizzer is really important to you, I may start with that over Goliath and try your luck at the SRL on Goliath as Whizzer's line in the morning can get really long. If you don't care that much about Whizzer, and you participate in the walk back for Goliath before 10 am, I don't think you will have any problems riding in order: Goliath, Fiddler's Fling, Revolution, X-Flight, Orbit, Triple Play, possibly Whizzer, and then finish with Superman SRL before you leave the park.

Given Alan Schilke's and RMC's quasi connection to S&S, I would think that an air compressed launch could be a real possibility if RMC were to make a launched woodie.

I second Space Mountain at Magic Kingdom. I'm 6'3" and I actually hit my finger on a support and it wasn't a wonderful feeling. When I got off, I asked the ride op at the exit if it was normal and he acted like it happens frequently.