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Visited LC today to check out Phobia. Crowds were much lighter than I was expecting but operations.... yikes! No bueno. This really caught me off guard as it's always been a well-run park during previous visits, even when extremely busy, e.g Haunt event. Boulder Dash was running well and Phobia is definitely a solid ride.

Front row is tolerable. Back row feels like your chiropractor is on crack.

That's pretty close to my plan, but I also plan on going responsibly crazy on the fine brews!

At the moment this little guy was my last new coaster, but that should change tomorrow and again next Sunday.

^^The event sounds awesome, so happy it coincided with a visit we planned awhile back, not knowing about it. 160 upscale and craft brews from 55 breweries, multiple dishes each from four regional BBQ styles. 15 tickets = $20. 3 tix = full beer or full plate of food, 1 tix = beer or food sample. Heck yea!! Thanks bluestreak, happy to hear its calendar is expanding. Means it must have gotten good feedback last year.

^^^AWesome, thanks!! ^ Yes on the tickets page you can select weekdays, so I believe we're good!

So I'm super excited for our Cedar Point trip, I've only been once before in 2014. Driving out 5 June, arriving probably around 7pm for a few hours of night rides. For Monday, we'll have early entry and are planning on FL+ and tons of riding. Early entry again Tuesday then probably hitting up the water park at opening, depending on the weather. Then a couple hours at Brew & BBQ before a few final evening rides. Wednesday, we might check out Sandusky a bit before hitting the road back home. I know it's still early but has anyone tried the Brew & BBQ event this year? Reviews / advice? Finally, we want to park at Soak City and either enter at Magnum entrance for Maverick or at Windseeker entrance for Millennium Force. I just want to make sure I have the path mapped out correctly to walk from Soak City lot to Magnum entrance, as it doesn't seem street view lets you walk that full continuous route. Is the following correct, with the entrance in the yellow circle? And this route is freely walk-able before the gates open? Are there any construction/complications/detours from whats shown on the map? ... I know that view is somewhat old. From here, the walk down the beach to Windseeker entrance is straightforward. TIA, CP gurus.

Had a really great day at Knoebels, the park was very dead, maybe 300-400 cars in the lot, and I packed in a ton of rides for the 6hrs they were open. It was cloudy and COLD but only rained for a few minutes in the mid-afternoon. Got there at 11:30, and since I was alone and it was BOGO deal, found an odd numbered group and offered my "get one" to them. Headed over to Phoenix and queued up third. Right at noon they fired her up, sent one test train, and opened the gates. Second row on the first train of the day put a huge smile on my face. Followed up with: Phoenix again Flyer (solo ride and he let me go for like 5min) Twister StratosFear Impulse Downdraft Power Surge Whipper The awesome pierogies Carousel (got 6 rings) Skooters ... no line Impulse x2 Skooters ... most amazing Skooters sesssion ever., so many hard hits... everyone started clapping after the ride Cheese on a stick Flyer Twister x2 StratosFear Phoenix x3 Gasoline Alley Phoenix x2 Flyer Paratrooper Impulse x3 Downdraft Carousel ... 7 rings! RotoJet Flyer.. epic snapping Haunted House Phoenix x3 Flying Turns was down for the weather. Really wanted to spend some time on Fascination but just ran out of time. Skloosh was running -hahaha - but I just couldn't bring myself to do it, was really thinking about it though. The updated Haunted House is great! Couldn't have had a better day, Knoebels operations blow me away every time. Incredible ride cycles, incredible atmoshpere. Even little things like letting dogs in the park gives it such a special feel. I'd forgotten how great their Paratrooper runs too. Could have happily spent another 6hrs doing another 35+ rides.

^Sweet! Three more days until I plan on visiting and I already can't sleep with excitement.

I'm going to Knoebels on Sunday!!

Finally got around to getting some pictures off my phone. Here's a few from my visit last weekend. Saw this sexy couple as I was driving in. Since you've NEVER seen this view before..... My first order of business. Uh oh: Clear skies but not a soul around! They had ice sculptures... Pleasantly surprised to see this, had no idea the event was going to be going on. Let's see what they had... In photography class, they told me never take photos looking into the sun. You're welcome. The sausage, fig, and goat cheese concoction was not pretty, but it was delicious, accompanied by a local cream ale. YUM! Shrimp and grits sounds fantastic, let's try that. Uhh, where's my grits? Four tokens for this? It tasted fine, but nothing spectacular. A spicy, peppery, fruity cheese ball? Let's do it! Okay, so more of a dip or spread. Another couple crackers would have been nice, but this was tasty. I could never make it past the first listing on the signs, they all sounded so good. The guy behind me was confused how you would eat this, thinking it was wrapped in plastic. Come to think of it ... what IS it wrapped in? Was delicious, as was the oatmeal stout. ... and ice sculptors. This poor guy was being heckled by an obnoxious drunken woman. Nighthawk was not running but had some nice curves to look at. It later opened but I missed my chance as it was soon down again for technical woes. Unsuccessfully trying to not look too disappointed. Intimidator has lovely lady humps. It was also down. Wait! What have I spotted? An empty train cresting one of the boobs! YESSSS!! Of course the entire park immediately descended upon her along with me. Until THIS happened! Woohooo, my Carowinds trip will be complete!! Intimidator looking great in the early evening. This was my first B&M with staggered seating; loved it. Coasters at sunset <3 Fury's lighting package is so stunning. I actually rode Hurler four times o_O .... once against my will.... weird story. Goodbye Fury, you were a blast. I'll catch up with you again someday.

I just noticed that 2016 hours have been posted for both the dry and waterpark. The saga, apparently, continues.

I also cannot WAIT to ride Skyhawk. Sooo excited. It's when the cables on the ride slacken and gravity takes over for a brief moment, and your ride vehicle falls and bounces around a bit instead of spinning smoothly with taught cables. Technical explanation: cable tension is proportional to centripetal force - (mv^2)/r .... with mass and velocity basically constant, as you swing up higher and further out, "r" (radius) increases, ergo cable tension decreases, with division doing its thing and all. Once tension is low enough, and gravity "wins", you snap. It's a lot of fun. The cables don't actually break, if that was the intent of the question. But it does stress the truss structure of the ride, so some parks discourage the effect. That is correct. Intermediate technique: Move the sail from one extreme position to the other very quickly, at just the right time. Practice, practice, practice.

The pulled pork spring roll was also a great option at 3 tokens and beautifully prepared. I had the same exact thoughts on the cheese "ball" and shrimp/grits. Needed a couple more crackers for the cheese too. Also tried the sausage/fig/goat cheese popover - ugly but de-lish. Cream ale and oatmeal stout were top notch.

I was actually planning on it, but as it turned out... they did get everything open a little after 7:00 as the winds had died way down. Everyone in the park swarmed to Intimidator and Fury so the queues got long quick. After waiting 45m for Intimidator, I decided to buy a Fast Lane Plus at like 8:00... The girl selling it was so confused LOL. Got in like 12 rides on Fury and a few more on Intimidator. Sooo worth it. Fury is just INCREDIBLE, so much better than I could have imagined. Thought it would feel basically like your standard B&M hyper, just a bit scaled up. It didn't - totally in a class by itself for them. The wacky overbank into sideways turn/hill before the tunnel was perhaps my favorite element. The pacing is mindblowing. My only wishlist adjustments would be a slightly less steep first drop, and little more speed through the final section. That trim towards the end hits pretty hard. Have to give props to the crews on both big B&Ms, they were absolutely flying. Great first trip to Carowinds.

Windy. Great airtime on the decent into Charlotte Douglas. Craziest turbulence I've ever felt.

Picked a bad day to fly down to Carowinds.... Fury, Intimidator, and Nighthawk are all down for the day.

My rankings basically reflect how badly, and for how many times, I want to re-ride. It really helps to have the opportunity to marathon with minimal crowds. There are coasters that are fun for 0, for 1, for 3, for 8 consecutive rides. They mostly all have a pretty specific point at which it's, "OK, next!" The ones that just keep getting better each ride, that I would want to ride for 10, 100, 1000 rides in a row .... those are the few at the very top. Eventually, I hope to have ridden enough coasters like that, that deciding between the top contenders is essentially meaningless. For now ranking is still fun. So I guess you could say I don't really have "Hot Buttons" for coasters with some particular trait to rank well. Who knows what really makes me want to keep re-riding one coaster over another? Probably some combination of just about everything mentioned in this thread. I will say ... an unusually good, single ride will also move a ride up in rankings. And ... yes, you read that right. 1000 consecutive laps on Skyrush, please.

The Seabreeze Log Flume is my favorite. Awesome, steep drop. And it looks fantastic.

We visited KD this weekend and had a really great time. I had been to this park twice before, visiting for two days each time, both in 2014. This was a 1.5 day visit. Left home at 4:00 Sat AM and hit Theme Park Way right at 10:30. There was a delicious Wawa breakfast in between and miscellaneous stops along the way. Easy drive. Light traffic, lots of rain. At the park it rained off and on all morning (perfect!) and Intimidator was closed 'till afternoon. FoF was also down our first time by. Hustled into the park and waited five cycles for a front row Volcano ride. Followed (roughly in order) with Avalanche, Backlot, Delirium, Rebel Yell, Blue Ridge Tollway (Antique Cars), Flying Eagles, I305 x3, FoF, Boob Lasters, Woodstock Express, Dominator x2, Grizzly, Dino Alive walkthru, Shendoah Lumber (logflume), Grizzly, Drop Zone, I305, Anaconda x2, Boob Lasters, Dominator. Spent an hour at the arcade too. As hoped, lines were minimal. We did pass on Ricochet and an afternoon Volcano reride after seeing moderate queues. Ate some fried chicken tenders, mashed taytos and macaroni &cheese. We had a slice of pizza later in the day and the lady in front of us bought two pies and drinks for five or six kids....$87.47. As always, Woodstock Express was the real standout here. I305 was hauling tail and as exhilarating as ever . The Flyers are a decent set, got them snapping a bit. I kind of enjoyed Dino Alive, but I'm pretty nerdy. Delirium triggered a pet peeve so I found it uncomfortable. Afternoon cleared up beautifully and the crowds never came. Did the night at King's Quarters which was not a great value but extremely convenient. Sunday was supposed to be wake up and drive home but we decided to swing in for a few last rides. It was WAY cold!! Flashed our passes for early entry and got in two quickies - back AND front - on Volcano before any wait formed. Frozen hands. Headed over to I305 to see it testing and groups being turned away. I was like "lets watch a ghost train on this beautiful machine" and next thing I know a group of four is walking through the entrance. They went to the back four seats and we got front row on the day's opening ride with no wait! Woohooo!! Just the six of us on the train. It was a weird experience. While still an incredibly fast ride, it was also very noticeably more sluggish than usual, which gave this odd slow-motion effect. For the first time ever I barely greyed out at all on the first turn. The place was basically empty so we ended up staying way later than we should have and rode Avalanche, FoF, Boob Lasters, Bad Apple (awesome hilarious operator), Rebel Yell, Ricochet x2, Grizzly, Flyers & Dominator. Ricochet's first turn then immediate "large" drop is fun. With no line, we both voted for a reride. Great quick day at the park. Left at 1:30 and dealt with a nightmarish I-95. Used both EZPass express corridors, hauled it thru NJ, didn't stop for dinner, and got back at 10pm. Bleh! Still, great weekend. Didn't take many pics but who can resist snapping a couple of Dom? Clear, crispy day. These look so different from each angle, they don't even appear to interlock here. Such majestic! I also happened to be wondering about the unused mounts

Riddler is one of my favorite B&M layouts. I did have to ride a little defensively, but that doesn't bother me too much.

Visited the park for "Allegra Opening Weekend" (LMAO) and had a great visit. 10min wait for Kingda Ka front row in the morning and station waits for everything all day. I don't know what they did to Batman but the hype is real, it is hauling @$$!! They were letting people leave bags in Toro's station - even making an announcement that loose articles should be left on the platform. Not sure if maybe the locke.rs were down or something, but it would be really great if this were a new policy. Oh, and I *finally* got a perfect score on the 3-across skee ball in the arcade by Batman.

Knott's is fully retracking Ghost Rider, and it was supposed to reopen in late May, but I just noticed a rumor that they are significantly behind schedule. I think you'd miss it, and no new "big thrill" attractions since your last visit, so skipping does seem reasonable in your case. I was happy to have a second day at MM when I visited, so nothing wrong with that! You could get away with one day at SFGAd if you FlashPass it. KD may be light enough on a Tues/Wed in mid June to cover comfortably in a day. Two days at CP and CW are definitely good ideas (haven't been to CW myself, but I do believe it is the highest attendance Cedar Fair park).

Looks like a great itinerary to me. Were it my trip, I'd consider: > trading the second day at SFMM for a visit to Knott's. > giving up the second day at KI to fit in a stop at Lake Compounce between SFNE and SFGAd. Boulder Dash is an exceptional ride. > BGW - CVG drive is significant, so I hope your flight to LAX isn't too early. You really want a full day at Busch. In any case, you're sure to have a really fun trip.

This ride is a bit over-the-top with the gaudiness.