jonskinny12

I often go with budget motels when traveling alone, but like a few others have said, the recent negative reviews are very important to read. To throw another one out there, last summer I got a really good deal at the Econo Lodge across the street from the Thirsty Pony and had a good experience there. The location was about as good as you can get off the peninsula but for that quality of a motel I wouldn't pay their listed usual price. There are some cheap motels that are acceptable but unless you're careful you can really regret it, and I don't blame those of you who stay away from them.

Whoops... Apparently I skimmed Bill's edit a little too quickly and didn't notice he already mentioned that the front seat is life changing. Lol but yeah, what everyone else said. As long as you have time. And if you have 2 1/2 days, you have time.

Also, if you have the time and patience, wait for the front of TTD. Because it's amazing and everyone should do it once.

How much are the discount tickets from local/Philadelphia stores? I see that Giant Food Stores, Chick-Fil-A, CVS, and Dairy Queen all have discount tickets but I don't see how much of a discount they provide. I decided to take my kids for two days instead of one so I'm looking to compare with the discount I'll get buying a 2-day ticket.

Thank you! I'm not afraid of leaving my stuff in bins on the platform at most parks, but I'm also going with a bunch of family and I'm sure they'll be asking me.

Very accurate when we went a couple of weeks ago, on a Thursday. Thank you for this! I've asked questions about this park a few times over the past 6 months or so and you've all been really helpful. Another question - what about loose articles on rides? Reading through the FAQs on Hersheypark's site I see that they have daily lockers for $15 as well as complimentary lockers for Skyrush, SDL, and Reese's Xtreme Cup Challenge. I also read that loose articles are not permitted on rides, but do they enforce any policies here? I assume larger items like backpacks aren't allowed on any rides, but do they have bins in any of the stations or is it just the daily lockers in the locations listed in their FAQ and the complimentary lockers at those three rides? I read some posts from a week ago that said there are small storage bins in Skyrush's station for small items like phones, so I'm curious about the rest of the park. Thanks everyone!

How accurate are the wait times in the Hersheypark app? I'm going there with a bunch of family in a couple weeks (Thursday the 28th) and the app would be nice if it's at least somewhat accurate.

Well I was planning to be productive today. Thanks for killing that. I'm loving watching camera 1.

Thanks for the info! That's what I was hoping for. Hopefully I can get down there in May.

I know that the park is pretty dead on weekdays right now. When do weekdays start to get more crowded? I'm considering going sometime in the next few weeks (probably on a Wednesday/Thursday) but would like to go while the crowds are still very light.

A storm for Storm Chaser's debut? Sounds about perfect to me!

Fixed that for you.

I want to re-iterate this. I've been to Cedar Point on 4 separate multi-day trips, and they've all been weekdays in late May and early June. I've only been once since FL+ was introduced (last year) and I didn't get it. For the most part, I haven't run into long lines other than a few rides (MF was longer in 2001, TTD was longer in 2005, Maverick was longer in 2007, Rougarou was longer last year). If I hadn't spent so much time there last year I would be wishing I had spent the extra for FL+ for sure. I rode Maverick almost exclusively during early entry and got lucky with the timing on TTD a couple times so I ended up riding Maverick 11 times and TTD 10 times, but I'll always wish I had more rides on Maverick.

Great report! The pictures are great and this place looks so awesome. Talon is one of the coolest looking coasters I've seen in a while. Wish I was heading overseas that way sometime soon...

Are they close to running out of parking? I could be wrong but based on what I recall reading the limited parking is only a problem a few times a year (I've only visited the park in late May/early June so I have to speak from memory of what I've read, not actual experience). Until that becomes a bigger problem or they actually run out of space to build rides, I can't imagine Cedar Point considering spending the money to move the parking anywhere off the peninsula.

Yeah I had decided against a large trip this summer that included Kentucky Kingdom and Dollywood. Might need to figure out how to fit that trip back into my wallet for this year now...

That blog got me excited because the first paragraph sounded like maybe they were going to rethink the name selections. But I guess not. Oh well. I'm sure it will affect the ride so much.

I actually enjoy Riddler's Revenge, but that's partly because using the single rider line you never have to wait more than a couple trains. You do have to ride it defensively but it's the best of the 4 standups I've been on (Riddler, Vortex - CGA, Mantis, Shockwave - KD). I can't think of a particular place in the train that I like best. It doesn't matter anyway because you shouldn't ever go on it without using the single rider line, and then you just take what you can get.

I did the same thing when this came on the radio a couple months ago.

^ Good question. I'm not sure how much testing they need to do but I'm sure it's not nearly as much as a brand new coaster because, as far as we know, it's just the track that's changing. No brand new control panel to test thoroughly and work out the kinks or anything like that. Either way it seems like they need to start laying track soon on the drop if they're going to have a chance at it being open when the park opens.

Interesting. Ha, I knew someone would mention this. If you look at the thread I was responding to he clearly didn't consider Green Lantern as a "new" ride. There are arguments as to whether it is more of a glorified flat ride than a roller coaster, but the spirit of the conversation was about the addition of full featured 'best in class style' rollercoasters. Like Tatsu. Honestly I think it's a bit unfair given how new TC really is, and YOLOcoaster, but I was trying to address the conversation on his terms. No doubt GL was a new ride and TC and FT are great rides. But like we both said, it feels like it has been ages since they've done something brand new that I feel is truly extraordinary like Tatsu. However, I will gladly take all of the things you mentioned in your other post because it makes the park better as a whole.

Last year was my first visit to Holiday World. I rode The Voyage with and without the MCBR. It is faster, wilder, and more fun with it off but it's also more brutal. I really enjoyed it both ways and was glad it was off most of the time because if it wasn't, I don't know that I could have ridden it 27 times in two days. But this is still an argument that many people are going to beat into the ground well after it has already been beaten into the ground time and time again.

I get what you're saying, and it would help occasionally, but I think most of the riders causing problems are in groups and would be much less likely to be paying attention to the video. I could be wrong, though. I just don't think it'd help much and I really don't see the park investing in that anyway. I've been to the park once since Twisted Colossus opened and I went on it twice (didn't even come close to dueling either time). The second time I was actually the cause of the train being delayed. My lap bar would not come down and it took the ride op a good 30 seconds to get it unstuck. And I couldn't agree more with what you said about Apocalypse and X2. Although when I last went on X2 (August 2014 - it was having issues when I was there a few weeks ago) the loading times were so long that it wouldn't have made any different whatsoever if they had two trains unless they still utilized the unloading area. And I think they stopped doing that years ago. It does seem like the park is headed in a positive direction in a lot of different areas. It just feels like it has been a long time since they've done something really extraordinary. I do think Twisted Colossus is extraordinary, but let me explain. TC is great and is a completely different experience from Colossus, but it wasn't a new ride from the ground up. Almost felt like "Hey, since we can't take care of our coasters, we'll just chop the track off this one and make something cooler out of the structure because we're too lazy to maintain this AND build a brand new coaster." Then this year they're doing some work on Revolution, which is great but just upgrading an existing ride. Before that it was Full Throttle which is awesome but was cut way too short and should've been so much more. Before that it was Green Lantern. Enough said about that. But when you go back before 2010, the last two coaster additions were Apocalypse and Tatsu. Apocalypse has aged poorly but Tatsu is still a fantastic ride every time. So I guess you could say I'm waiting to be really, really impressed by the park again like I was and continue to be with Tatsu. Anyway, I really enjoyed reading your report/thoughts!

I think my favorite part of March is watching the leaves change color. Awesome picture! Next weekend we're going leaf-peeping. I hope I'm not disappointed. That picture set the bar really high for March foliage.