MartinU

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!

I made my first trip to Kings Dominion last Friday (Labor Day weekend). I knew what rides I was looking forward to riding, but little about the park other than that. I had been to Kings Island, so I knew there would be similarities between the two. I'm also used to going to Cedar Point, so all of these played into my impression of the park. One theme I noticed that plays into the whole day, KD expects their guests to be smart. At CP there are people everywhere reminding and telling guests what they can and cannot do. Partly it's crowd control, partly just dumb guests being dumb. I'll explain more later... Starters: I arrived in the parking lot around 10:30am (Park opened at 11). The parking lot expects you to understand how to park your car. Meaning, there were no attendants in vests and whistles telling me where to go. This was surprise #1 of the day. I got a close parking spot and walked toward the entrance. There were no signs, and because of all the TREES I could not see the entrance. "Where could it be? Oh, maybe toward the giant Eiffel Tower?!" Again, expecting their guests to be smart. I got in line for the park to open. They have really nice TVs with info on them above each line. I thought these were a nice way to communicate to the guests. Once inside the beautiful park entrance with the fountains, music and TREES, I walked over to Dominator. It surprised me that no one (maybe a few I didn't see) ran. Surprise #2 My biggest surprise and at times irritation was the lack of staff running the rides. They may have had 2 checking restraints and on some only 1 staffer was checking restraints. It was not uncommon for a one train to cycle and be waiting before #2 would dispatch. One dispatch took 4 minutes as the guy on the platform leisurely checked restraints, gates and slowly walked to give the thumbs up. I only ever saw 3 rides Twisted Timbers, Flight of Fear and Intimidator with staff at the front of the queue. Mostly making sure no loose articles went through. But on multiple occasions I saw kids sit in the coaster, and then asked to stand up and get measured to make sure they were tall enough. Yes, this slowed things down, but they usually gave the child a wristband for their height preventing this from happening again. Also, no station sorters. Once you got to the station it was crowd in as much as you want, and lots of open seats. I saw one TT train go with 6 empty single rider seats. THIS, This paragraph is my only complaints about the park. (Again, guests need to be smart and know how tall they need to be, what they can/cannot bring, and what seats to use. There was also almost never a "schpiel" about 'welcome oncoming riders...") Even though it was a holiday weekend, the park never seemed busy. Most roller coasters I was able to enter the station before I had to wait (Racer, Dominator and Flight of Fear are the only exceptions). The longest wait of the day was for the log ride, about 20 minutes. I love how easy the park is to get around, and that rides are clustered together. You can enter and exit 2-4 rides all within a close distance. I was talking to one couple and they asked me about Cedar Point, I told them great rides, but you have to walk a lot. Grizzly was so fun! I sat in the back and you float the whole way down the first drop! It's smooth where it needs to be and bumpy fun in places. Such a fun woodie. (I also found it funny that the exit line is a longer walk than the entrance. Anyone know of other rides where this is the case). White Water Canyon is probably the best river raft ride I've been on (Granted, I've only ridden like 6). It was fast, long, and the smaller 6-person raft allows for more rocking and swaying. It also surprised me they dispatched 3 rafts at one! If you've not ridden it, DO! There are no waterfalls to soak you, just good splashes from the rapids. TT was excellent! I love the 3 airtime hills and the final roll. Intimidator was POWERFUL. That first turn, I know the stories and the redesign of it. I grayed out, and my last time riding it (#5) I blacked out and came back coming down the second hill. I knew that was enough for one day Dominator rocks. I rode it years ago when it was at Six Flags Ohio/Geauga Lake. Still runs great. Great layout and pretty smooth (just a little rattle here and there). My last surprise... NO DOWNTIME! Not once throughout the entire day did I experience down time on any ride. Every ride I went to or rode was open and running. Not a single breakdown. Going to Cedar Point, that's just part of the experience "Do we wait it out or leave." Great job maintenance crews! I loved going to KD and cannot wait to come back for Haunts or Christmas events later this year. It's a beautiful park, lots of trees and character throughout. I guess, Virginia is for lovers and those who can appreciate a park at a more leisurely pace.

So, something I was musing about this morning... TTD 2.0's capacity. The park announced it had a theoretical capacity of 1,500 RPH. Actual reports I could find online put it at 1,000 and others would argue less. That's a full circuit, everything running great coaster. Now if it's a swing launch, or a multi-launch of any type I cannot help but think it will have a much lower RPH. Does anyone know of a swing or multi-launch that really racks up some riders? Hagrids... - 1,700 (wiki) Toutatis - 1,260 riders per hour (wiki) Steel Taipan - 820 riders per hour (wiki) I know these are all on a different scale then what is expected/predicted from this "reimagining." Does anyone have a better idea of what it might look like? 8.1.23 is coming, and I'm excited. However they get you to the top of the top hat will be great, because the drop/270 degree spin is always amazing! I'm also excited for the ride to last longer than 18 seconds.

So, I'm excited as the next guy about TTD 2.0 or whatever #PHP means... And I love seeing pictures coming in. One question I have, HOW IN THE WORLD are there so many drone pictures/videos out there? From CP's FAQ page https://www.cedarpoint.com/frequently-asked-questions about drones During Steel Vengeance construction they seemed more strict about drones and photos, and TPR even prohibited pictures that were not from CP official channels. I know people are not reposting here, but does anyone know why CP has seemed to turn a public blind eye? (Maybe they are doing stuff behind the scenes that the GP are not privy to) With all that being said... When do you think something more than Tony Clark's Twitter will be released about the ride? They usually do their "Next-Year" announcements in August/September, right? What a great way to promote their Gold and Platinum passes, "Be the first to ride the new.... in 2024!"

I was also happy the smoke from the Canadian forrest fires never interfered with our trip. The winds pushed it southwest of us, so we were good. A little hazy, but you never smelled smoke or noticed anything.

My wife and I just got back from a 2 day trip to Cedar Point (Wednesday and Thursday). We have gold passes, and we were at the front gate around 9:15. We were "close" to the front, but by 9:50 when they started letting us in, the line stretched almost all the way back to the metal detectors. We made our way to Millennium Force. Even with the park open to resort guess and platinum passholders, the line was only at the base of the ramp. We rode it twice and then grabbed some Panda Express using the all-day meal pass. Side note- my wife and I buy one all-day meal pass and split a meal every 90 minutes (or so). It's a good way to keep going through the day and it pays for itself in 2 meals. In total we used it 9 times over the 2 days we were there. The new Grand Pavilion has some AMAZING food, like Funnel cake shrimp, and Turkey Pesto sandwiches. Backbeat BBQ is always good. Miss Keat's Cookout (CP's Chipotle knockoff) was really disappointing this year. Not bad, but just not great (I know, I know, what do I expect for CP food?"). All in all, food was really good and never had to wait more than 10 minutes at any location. Back to rides- Operations on MF was slow all day. SV was killing it, with the team sprinting to "push up push up on those lap bars." In the morning it had a 45min wait. The highest I saw it get was 90. But, both nights, the last 2 hours the line was less than 30 minutes, as the line was past the merge point! We experienced breakdowns on Maverick, and MF. We sat down on MF, got the "all clear" but then we had to exit the ride. They brought the jump packs to get us off. They cycled the lift a few times with no train, then cycled all three trains around 4 times each. We got the announcement they were reopening, opened the silver handrails, sat down, checked, "All clear" and again it broke down. This time they closed the ride and security cleared the queue and the station. I was a little upset at the way management handled this. Because of the brake down, one train was left on the final brake run full of rides. They evac-ed them. As they were doing this management was talking to a ride host right beside us, and handed the host a stack of "skip the line" pass for those being evac-ed. 60 minutes later, when we (who had sat down twice) were being escorted out by security, were given nothing. The couple in line beside us became irritated and asked the host if WE would get passes. Nope. The host went into the booth, came back and said they didn't have any, and that we could go to guest services and give them a report... All in all, not thrilled. Dollywood and BG Williamsburg were a much better experience. DW gave everyone in the station skip the line, and getting stuck at BGW we got skip the line and meal passes. I know they are different parks and companies. I would have been more pleased if the management/team lead could have talked to us and not just dismissed. Not acting entitled, but asking for respect. The rest of the park was nice. Things are still opening up, and a few food options were still not open. Something we tried on the second day... We used the right side of the parking booth, that put us in the lot near Gatekeeper. We then walked the boardwalk, which is LOVELY that early in the morning. Joggers, moms with strollers, people with Starbucks... lovely. We walked all the way down to Magnum and then made our way to the CP Shores waterpark gate. We walked up, scanned our Gold pass at 9:40 and were in! No "rope drop" no mad rush, we were in. It was so nice to head to the back of the park that way and to be in earlier than the mass run from the front gate. We will have to try this again. Last thing, I know it's early June, but some of the ride ops already seem "done" with their jobs. haha. "How was your ride" CHEERS "great..." bored and unenthused. Again, shout out to the SV, Maverick, Raptor, Gemini and Rougarou teams for just being great! They kept things moving and looked like they were having fun. We'll be back in August.

Thanks everyone! Flying Turns is one ride I'm really excited to ride. I remember watching the long long building process and mods to it. It and Phoenix, Fascination and a few other classic rides have me so excited to visit!

Hey everyone! I need advice. I'm going to Knoebels for the first time this summer! I'm so excited. My wife and I love rides, and plan to be there from opening to closing. Is there a recommended order to hit the coasters to avoid long lines? Or, advice on low capacity rides that are in high demand? Also... we were thinking of going Memorial Day. Is this stupid and defeat my "avoid the crowds" idea? Lastly, what are the "Must eats" of this park? I know everyone has their favorites. Like I said, I'm excited to go for the first time. We actually chose this park over Hershey and King's Dominion this year. We're wanting the most our of this highly ranked historic park. Any help is appreciated!

Does anyone know where the steel for Wildcat's Revenge is being fabricated? Does RMC fabricate everything in Idaho and ship it to the site? I live in western Maryland and could guarantee I saw 3 pieces of WR track headed east on I-68. I got really excited and my wife just looked at me like I was crazy. We were headed west, so I could not get a picture.

I got the screen shot today! The crew is adding track right now! Photo Credit: Cedar Point webcam.

Random question-- Ocean Motion? It's in a totally random spot by the front. It looks nice with the water and rock work. However, I never ride it because it's an after thought and out of the way. It would have been nice for CP to relocate it to the new boardwalk section. How many riders does it actually get in its current location?

It looks like Wild Mouse foundation frame is down, and maybe even some track has been attached. I pulled up the webcam, saw it, came here to see if anyone had mentioned anything about it, went back and the cameras had all moved. So, no pic. I would not be surprised if the steel went up fast for this guy and had a full - circuit by January. Then, maybe electrical work gets completed in the early spring? Or, do you think they will just get everything done ASAP? Either way, it's always cool to see these rides get built... especially as we wait to hear about TTD 2.0.

Wait for the RMC trucks to start rolling in. Their first steel refurb! Everyone else is spouting wild and crazy ideas, thought I'd put on my tinfoil (top) hat and watch too.

^ They are slowly absorbing Cedar Point's launch coasters. CP loses one, and at DW another one rises.

I've wondered how much does it cost to dispatch a train. I'm not counting the man power, hourly wage, but the electrical and mechanical cost every time they dispatch a train on TTD or Maverick, or the late great WT? Anyone have an answer? This is just a curiosity thing.

My wife, foster youth (his first time) and I all went to CP this last week, Wednesday-Friday afternoon. Wednesday crowds were light, Thursday was quite busy with lighter crowds again on Friday. We have gold passes, so we also enjoyed Cedar Shores (first time for all of us). Nice park. Don't know if I would travel 2hrs to just do that, but staying for an extra day would be ok. Not a lot of variety of slides. We DID appriciate the heated pools on all their slides. However, the lazy river... freezing! Haha. Because it was only June the lines were nonexistent in the waterpark. THAT I liked the most. Back in the park things were running well. A little annoyed that Maverick never opened before 10, even though it was listed as ERT. Raptor kept having fits the whole time. Fortunately, every time we wanted to ride it it was open. But it was down a lot... like Mavrick lot lol. We introduced our boy to Cedar Downs. OH MAN! Wildest ride ever. We ended up being stuck on it for 15 minutes! "Stuck on Cedar Downs? How is that possible," you may ask. We start the ride, normal. The ride op announces to sit up and obey the rules spiel... 30 seconds later... "please remain seated as the ride is temporarily stopping." It slows, stops and we hear "please remain seated." 5 minutes later a man who looks like a Hollywood Hogan knock off Halloween costume that was the row in front of us gets off his horse, grabs his 6 yo daughter and begins to exit. "PLEASE STAY ON YOUR... SIR, YOU CAN'T LEAVE. STAY ON YOUR HORSE, SIR..." The man ignores her and goes through the first exit door. The second is magnetically locked. Panic hits this man's large mustached face. He picks up his daughter over the locked gate and then jumps over it himself. BUT WAIT! He left his 8 yo son behind!!! Yeah, boy #2 still is on his horse. Within 5 minutes security is there, Purple polo employ shows up (supervisor?) And Hollywood runs away. He went to the bathroom, hid, took off his dew rag and then hid under some trees. This was about 10 minutes in. After a change in ride ops( she was pretty shook up) the ride restarted and we got a full cycle. When we exit, boy and girl are crying with their non-riding mom while dad watches from about 100 yards away. His "Don't tred on me" shirt seemed to take on a new meaning that day. So, that happened! I will never not love Cedar Downs and that last ride prooved it all the more. In all seriousness, well done park team. You were keeping everyone safe and following the policies in place. Thank you. Last thing, food. Great experiences all around. We opt for the day meal plan. Food every 90 minutes, can't beat it. Backbeat BBQ is so good, along with the shrimp skewers at Crystal Rock in Cedar Shores. We wanted less than 10 minutes for any food. All in all, a good trip.

I can't brag enough about our trip on Friday the 29th. This was our first trip in 3 years. It was overcast and a light sprinkle all day. We were there at 9:45, walked in and were on the first train of MF of the day. Despite the slight rain ALL the coasters (except Gemini) were open all day. They only ran one train, but everything ran all day. We got to SV around 10:45 and it was still testing. Around 11:15 it opened and it was walk on. We rode in 3x, walk on, with only ONE TRAIN! Cedar Point surprised me. Ride ops who said they have worked there for 5 seasons told us they had never seen the park that dead before. In the first 90 minutes of us being in the park we had ridden MF 2x, Maverick 3x and SV 3x. It was awesome. The same ride op also told us they will run one train in the rain as long as it's not too hard. The one train prevents them from "bumping" if one slid through the brakes. Maverick was running 4 trains, so a "double" but they would not dispatch until all trains had stacked. Even with that, every line kept moving. Our longest wait was at the end of the day for MF, and that was about 30 minutes. Saturday the park was running 2-3 trains. SV was running all 3. Again, the ride ops were AMAZING, they were sprinting to get fast dispatch times at SV to keep the 3 trains rolling. I can't say enough how great the entire park felt, looked, and the experience we had. Well done CP! It was great to come back after 3 years and have one of my best ever visits to the park.

My wife and I are breaking in our 2021-2022 Gold passes tomorrow. Let's hope the rain and crowds are light. I looked back over the posts, but any MUST haunts? We've gone to the park for years, but first time at Halloweekend.

If my memory serves me correctly, MF had a 54" requirement when it opened. And it was changed a few years after. I remember because I was too short in 2000 for the 54" but in 2001 I was 54" but they lowered it to 48"

Happy Opening day! Anyone going today, have fun! I'm sitting by my computer this morning watching the live cam on the side. Does anyone else wish that there was a really good microphone on these cams to hear the B&M roars and seagulls? Just me? Planning to get out there in August this year. So, until then... #rideon