MartinU

Yeah, the up and running is kinda important

Carowind peeps, I need your advise: Spring Break question. We have the MVP pass and want to try to get as much milage out of it this year before Six Flags implodes (joking... not joking). ANWAYS... My wife and I have not been to Great Adventure of Carowinds (about the same distance from us). So, for a fun two-day trip should we go to Great Adventure or Carowinds during their April spring break? (cross posted in the SFGAdv.)

Spring Break question. We have the MVP pass and want to try to get as much milage out of it this year before Six Flags implodes (joking... not joking). ANWAYS... My wife and I have not been to Great Adventure of Carowinds (about the same distance from us). So, for a fun two-day trip should we go to Great Adventure or Carowinds during their April spring break?

Saw this shared elsewhere online, but not here yet. https://www.cedarpoint.com/events/halloweekends/nighttime-frights To access the mazes this year during Halloweekend will be an additional fee! $10-30 depending on the date you go. Three thoughts: Wonder if each person who buys this will get a wristband or lanyard-type identifier? Wonder what this will do to maze lines/crowds? Wonder if all Six Flag parks will implement this up-charge this year? This post sponsored by "Snickering"

I did have to laugh, I made my post and within an hour I saw the online posts about Batwing! Haha, classic! On another note, I have a friend that lives 10 minutes from the park and he and his kids love the waterpark! They love it, and are going to miss their "community pool" when it closes this year. I'm a little surprised (also not surprised at all) that Six Flags is closing the entirety of this park. Speaking again of Six Flags Ohio/Geauga Lake, they closed that park in phases. First, animal (Sea World) side, then the dry park, they condensed the waterpark and then eventually closed that too. The dry park closed in 2007 and the waterpark in 2016. I guess everyone learned a lesson and are simply selling everything to build houses over a theme park... again.

Well, I'm doing it! June 18th, just bought my Memorial Day sale ticket. It'll be my first (and last) trip. I haven't been to a Six Flags since visiting the extinct one in Ohio ?. So... how low should I set my expectations? ?

We decided not to go, and then saw the announcement around 4:30... We would have been 2 hours into our drive. SO glad we didn't go last night.

Just discovered there is no school this Friday, and my wife also has the day off! What should I do? GO TO KINGS DOMINION! But, checking the weather (which I know it can change) there is a 40% chance of light rain. I have a 3 hours drive. My concern is they don't open the park. Or, they don't run the coasters in light rain. Regulars... should I risk it? Really wanting to do the haunts (I know the outdoor ones might be closed if it's raining), and get on the coasters. Should I risk it? Wait until Friday? Have my wife relentlessly refreshing X to see if the park announces they are not opening as we are driving down? Also... any haunt suggestions for this year?

Just got back from a little getaway, and Dorney Park was one of our stops. It was sandwiched between Knobles (first time visit) and Hershey. Unpopular opinion... Dorney was our favorite! Why? Small crowds, great line up, fun waterpark, and just a really "fun" experience. Things to note: Talon is an underrated B&M invert! Thunderhawk winter refurb was AWESOME! We rode it last year and it was rough, one and done. Gave it another chance this year for it's 100th, and very glad we did! Sure it feels like a woodie, but no longer a pot-hole-filled journey to the chiropractor. Hydra is funky and fun. For a B&M floorless, it's still quite smooth and still so fun to ride. Steel Force is so much fun. The fact that this was a walk-on our entire time there blows me away! This thing is fast, smooth and pulls some serious G's in the turnaround. Now, what about Iron Menace? We rode it twice... and I was good. It has a LOT of vibration! That was the biggest surprise to me. So much that it really took away from the "fun" factor of the ride. The first drop is great, and then after that... it does stuff I guess? I will say riding on the LEFT side is a smoother ride, especially that final transition into the break run (you've probably seen that video floating around of that transition). On a positive note: The theming, lights, music and the whole atmosphere in that section of the park is great! I wished the park as open later than 8pm so we could have seen it in all it's beauty. If Dorney repainted Possessed that whole area would feel really cohesive. The new food option at Iron Mill Grill and Bar is great! The flatbread pizzas and pirogies are fantastic. The desserts looks good too. This was our third time visiting this park in the last year. Because there are other bigger, flashier parks less than 2 hours away I feel Dorney gets overlooked. We loved it. Great rides, good ops, good variety, and just a fun park to be in. We may be back there for Halloween again, we'll see

Planning on making our first Winterfest trip. I've not seen many reviews. How crazy are the crowds for this event? Any tips for those who have gone? The pictures look great that KD has put out. I love Christmas lights, and would love to get on a few coasters. I cannot wait to see it all up close.

I'm not seeing any seatbelts... will they be added later or not at all? No way they get away without having them... right? (Oh how no seatbelts would speed up the dispatch times).

I was out walking my dog when WHAT DO I SEE? Two trucks with some new track! I snapped a pic as quick as I could. These appear to be brake run sections. Many of the fins were already in place. This was in western Maryland on I-68. So, if you're between here and Allentown, keep an eye out. Only 3.5 hours away!

Tiny pseudo trip report, I went to Dorney Park for the first time this weekend and it was GREAT! Thank you @AmyUD06 for your help. I'm terrible at taking pictures while in the park, so nothing to share that way, but our impressions were: Smooth Coasters! Talon is amazing! so smooth, great transitions and no line the whole time! Great, great, GREAT ride. (We like Raptor at CP a lot, but this one is just so much more fun. Less intense, but more fun!). Hydra is a blast, and the back is so fun floating down the first hill. Steel Force is a great classic Arrow Hyper! So smooth, good airtime, and the g-force in the turn around is perfect. Just a great ride (Again, sorry Magnum, SF is more re-ridable than you). Possessed, that launch and back row!! IYKYK. The only weak coaster was Thunderhawk, the parks woodie. And weak does not mean bad, just weak, and could use some love. Yes, it's almost 95 years old, but it feels... rough in sports. Not painful... IDK, just not great. Again, we loved the coasters. Oh, and did we mention NO LINES on Friday (6-11pm) or Sat. (we left Sat. at 2). Our longest wait the entire weekend was for the Wild Mouse which was 15 minutes. Even the haunts, longest wait was less than 10 minutes. The Haunts were all pretty good. We went to Busch Gardens Williamsburg a few years ago and the haunts all felt the same, show buildings and rooms with black curtains. HOWEVER, Dorney had houses and environments. Best house by far was their new one, Ghost in the Machine! So much detail, lots of actors and variety of rooms with a few cool surprises. Stop and Chop was probably my next favorite. It's outside, so make sure it's dark before you start this maze. Black Out was nice for those who don't like jump scares. It's mostly pitch black and only a few actors made any noise. There may have been more, but we didn't "see" them. I laughed because as I'm groping in the dark, I blindly grabbed the chest of one actor. I didn't see him, but I felt him. haha. Tourist Trap and Blood on the Bayou were both good. (Both had nice surprise endings. That's all I'll say. Trick-or-Treat was ok. Felt sort and only a few witches Necropolis- Meh. We laughed in this one the most. One actor was totally phoning it in, "I want your brains" in the most highschooler-I'm-too-cool-be-here voice ever. Again, first time in the park, it's a great one day park. Small enough to be done in one day, easy to navigate, and all the rides are close so you don't have to hike to get to the next thing. Staffing was great. Friendly people everywhere and lots of management around making sure everything was running smoothly and that guests were being good. Bags- I was warned about this, however, when we were there on Friday Night, I saw bags of all sizes coming in. So, not sure what's up with that. We are looking forward to going again this summer and hitting up the waterpark. LAST THING - Food outside the park, look up Lazeez Grill. It's real Mediterranean food made from scratch. It's only 5 minutes from the park. Show them some love and stop in for the best Shawarma I've ever had, the the Namoora (A type of coconut, almond flavored cake) was so good! The owner is so friendly and helpful, he loves what he does.

Thanks for the update, especially about the bags. I've been seeing a few people comment how the new bag policy at a few CF parks has been confusing or caused people to walk back to their cars. As for as a day and a half, Friday we really want to hit the haunts and a few night rides on coasters. Hopefully it's not too busy. We've been to CP on Halloweekends once, and got really lucky with weather and the park was dead (pun intended). Thanks again!

Making my first trip to Dorney Park this weekend. Going Friday and Saturday. How are the Haunts this year? I watched some videos from LAST year, and saw a couple that look pretty good. Any First-timer tips? We will be there rope drop to close on Friday and ropedrop on Saturday (We'll leave early afternoon Sat. to drive home). Looking forward to Hydra and Talon, and Magnum's lil' brother. Thanks as always!