coneyislandchris

I like the rumor of the tunnel getting readded to Thunderhawk. I'd like it even better if they added bumper cars back on top as well.

Uh... *looks at calendar* ...apparently Dorney Park for the second time this year. I don't know what's wrong with me. Then next weekend we've got a trip out to the Poconos for Camelback Mountain, Camelbeach, and Aquatopia across a three day jaunt. Should be fun, it's our first time visiting that resort. (I dunno if you can consider it a park but whatever.) And then in early August we're renting an AirBNB and spending four days down at Wildwood to hit Morey's Piers, their waterparks, the boardwalk, and all that good stuff. Really looking forward to that one! It's been too long since we've been down that way.

^^ You can do it!

^ I think whatever ride op is working that day just kind of makes up those rules on the fly. Last time I was there, they wouldn't let anyone in the back row until all the rows in front of it were filled. And of course they wouldn't let you wait either. I've learned to just accept it and it doesn't affect me much being local.

^ Yeah, if you're going on a Monday, park in the MCU lot (right next to the baseball stadium). Monday through Fridays parking is $11 and it's better than running back to feed the meter or taking a chance that your vehicle won't get towed. Then from there, it's your choice if you want to take a stroll down the boardwalk or walk down Surf Ave to stop at Nathan's. Not sure if you're into this or not, Zach, but if you have more time to kill and want to check something out, I'd recommend stopping in at the New York Aquarium. It's just past the Cyclone, and they have a pretty good shark exhibit that just opened up recently. It's not a huge place so you can easily get through everything in two hours or less, but definitely worth a stop.

Damn. I was hoping to head up there with the family yesterday, but got sidelined by an unexpected stomach illness. From the sounds of the operations, it may have been for the best. Hopefully I'll be able to try again some upcoming weekend. Now, keep in mind I haven't been there for a couple years now, since before Six Flags started this whole tiered membership charade... do they still do the staggered early entry for season passholders and members? IE, let everyone "into" the park early but rope off Rockville / Thunderbolt & DC / Crackaxle, then let passholders in 10-15 minutes before the actual start? Or has that gone the way of the dodo now? Also, does anyone have any thoughts on the waterpark portion of the park? Does it usually get super crowded and mindnumbing? Any can't-miss slides?

^ Yes, you get the FLP at the price of a regular Fast Lane wristband. You have to ask for it in the park, this doesn't work online AFAIK.

305 in the pouring rain. What a stupid move. Felt like I was getting my face tattooed.

Assuming everything holds up, and we don't get sick, the family and I have had a trip to Hersheypark in the books scheduled since March. Once my son gets out of school on Wednesday's early dismissal, we're hitting the road, and staying until Saturday morning. We picked up the two-day "everyone pays kids price" tickets back in February before the season started, so we're planning on doing the preview night on Wednesday, then one day in the waterpark and one day for the rest of the rides (depending upon which day the weather looks best). With any luck, and maybe some Miracle Gro, this should end up being his first rides on Skyrush, Fahrenheit, Great Bear, and Storm Runner. On top of that, my 4-year-old daughter will be getting her first rides on Comet, Laff Trakk, and Sooperdooperlooper. Fingers crossed!

I'm ready. I'm so ready for this. I probably won't be able to get out there until Phantom Fright Nights but I may forego the entire rest of the park and just ride this as much as humanly possible.

That's what I'm hoping at least. It was surprisingly easy to book a hotel room (and considerably cheaper than it was for this weekend, no less). Keeping those fingers crossed though.

Well, don't have to worry about that^ now -- 3 out of 4 of us falling ill has caused us to postpone our plans for this weekend. So I guess the KingsFest crowd won't have to be a factor in our plans for when we visit. That being said, the only other time we have free in our upcoming schedule is across the 4th of July break, so it looks like we get to brave the crowds from the 3rd to the 5th (before driving back up north for a close friend's wedding on Saturday, the 6th). So I guess we're just trading in on one set of craziness for another. Where's that dang Fast Lane money I've set aside...

If you don't mind trucking on into Wildwater Kingdom, the Tidal Wave Cafe inside WWK actually has some pretty damned good meals. You get your choice of entree and a side, and the pulled pork + mac & cheese combo is pretty good, but they've got a big variety to choose from. My family and I tried it out for the first time last weekend when we were out there and everyone was pleasantly surprised with how good it was compared to the average theme park food we've gotten from other stands. Other than that, I'd say stick to either the create-your-own burrito, Subway sandwiches, or get a cheesesteak from the Chickies & Pete's next to Sea Dragon. Don't get a burger or pizza anywhere. ~~~~ So yeah, as I mentioned above, my family and I checked out Wildwater Kingdom last weekend. We haven't been to the wet side of the park... well, them, in ever, and in my case more like since I was about 15 or 16. It might as well have been all new to me because I didn't remember anything about it. It was a pretty good day overall. My daughter didn't make height for more than a couple of slides. There was Aqua Racer, which was her first racing mat slide, and she absolutely loved it and ended up doing it three times in a row. She also tried the body slides called Jumpin' Jack Splash, and promptly got stuck on one of the open-air ones (probably the orange one). She fared a little bit better with speed down the enclosed blue slide there, but after that getting-stuck experience, didn't really want anything to do with those slides for the rest of the day. Which is okay, because Mom and her ended up hanging out all over their numerous kiddie splash zones while the big kiddo and I headed off to do other slides. We actually started off by checking out the Runaway River, which had a little bit of slow spots at the beginning but really picked up speed and splash once we turned a couple corners. Unfortunately for the kiddo, he got splashed off his inner tube, then proceeded to scrape his heel against the wall and drew a little bit of blood, so it was off to the first aid van for a quick band-aid and complimentary drinking water. This didn't deter him from his plans of getting on as many slides as he could, though. We ended up doing one apiece at Patriot's Plunge, their trio of red, white, and blue tube slides. He took red, I took white, and we met down at the finish line. Passed on seconds as the line was starting to build up over there, so we made our way around for the body slides which were posting no waits... and my charming son decided to shout "See you later, suckers!" as we made our way up the shared staircases for those. The yellow one of those was pretty good, nice speed and some good whipping going on. We caught up with the girls after trying out the raft tube ride, Aquablast, in which I ended up backwards the entire time. Fun stuff. By this point, my little girl was all worn out from splashing all day long, so the big kiddo and I split off again leaving the ladies to rest and relax in the sun. We made our last few stops of the day over at the Snake Pit complex, which had some tube slides ("Boa Blasters") -- I love these ones that have those translucent cutouts that makes it seem like you're traveling through a warp zone. Really cool stuff. I also ended up doing the red drop slide ("Python Plummet"), and it was pretty rewarding for me after a bad first experience on one of these drop slides down at Aquatica. The kiddo, however, he kept trying to psych himself up to do it, but he made the cardinal mistake of looking down when he was about to step into the drop tube. The ride op was very patient (considering he must see some variation on this countless times a day), and eventually we stepped aside so he could see some other people do it. Ultimately though he just couldn't get himself in the right frame of mind. No worries, there's always next time! Outside of the waterpark, we didn't do too much; the kids and Mom ended up doing a lap on the carousel near the front gate, while the kids and I did one round on Kaleidoscope. No dice on either of the 54" coasters for the kiddo this time around, he's literally still just a hair shy of measuring up -- but hopefully by the time we get back he'll be able to take his first rides on Talon & Hydra. All in all, a pretty fun day, capped off with a stop at the nearby Yocco's on Hamilton Blvd for some great cheesesteaks and pierogies for the ride home!

This looks amazing and definitely what I was hoping for. Since it's only running until the 7th, the family and I booked a trip down there for this upcoming weekend, since we have prior commitments next weekend and the following as well-- only to find out that it's the same weekend as KingsFest (not again!?!). Here's hoping it's not too crazy and crowded like the last time I was there on KingsFest weekend...

Wasn't aware of that. Was under the impression that they pretty much worked exclusively in house for their own attractions. I'll do some more research, but as far as slides on a Disney property go, I'd feel much more comfortable riding that one. (And yes I know how insane I sound right now, sorry.)

Regarding the lack of theming, is it a possibility that they had the hard date for this coaster to be up and running by, and they simply didn't allocate themselves enough time to do everything that they wanted to do? Is it possible that somewhere down the line they can end up adding more stuff inside the building? Or is it for all intents and purposes complete as is?

Not sure if intentional, but it certainly paints a mental picture. And yeah. I've only really been getting back into waterparks over the past year or so after a long absence... but basically everything I've ever heard about the entire situation in KC has left me with zero desire to visit one of those parks. If all their slides with built by the same team with the same care and loving attention to detail that went into Verruckt, then frankly, I don't intend to visit regardless of who currently owns the park.

> acquires the two Texas waterparks for $261 million > option to acquire the KC one for $6 million > still thinking about it I mean, it seems like a bargain basement price and may well be worth it for the land alone, but yeah, too much bad blood over there to keep it as a waterpark even under new management.

Quick question for anyone who's been there this season... is the main arcade on the midway still operating? I remember hearing that they were auctioning off a lot of their old school games a while back, and not sure what came of it. I see it still listed on the park map so I'm confused if they just cleared out a lot of space in there, replaced them with newer ones, or shut it down entirely. Thanks in advance.

For what it's worth, was down there this past weekend, and literally zero of those new rides were open as of yet. Looked as if Centrifuge was still under construction, Mermaid Parade was mostly disassembled with parts strewn all over the pier, Elephant Express was assembled but covered and unoperated, and no sign of Crazy Cabs anywhere. The carousel still hasn't been moved from the arcade across the street, either, not even covered up... just a bungee cord around the gate to it with a "NO ENTRY" sign affixed to it. The rides? Hydrus is really still stupidly fun, way more than it has any right to be for such a tiny and short rollercoaster. The ride ops were super infectiously happy and positive, and more than willing to let you stay on if nobody else was in line. My wife tried out the two coasters that my daughter was tall enough to ride on, and they got a number of rides together on Hot Tamales. Wifey was done with Pirate's Hideaway after the first ride though, the hairpin turns and harsh trims got the best of her and she wanted nothing to do with it after that. Big hit of the day for the kids ended up being the funhouse/obstacle course Pirate's Island, which they both managed to turn into their own personal American Ninja Warrior course, complete with them pretending that a rope net was actually the "warped wall" and hitting a pretend buzzer every time they got to the top of it. Aside from that, we had a lot of fun doing the other NYers-down-the-beach touristy bullsh*t, like boardwalk games, mini golf, and arcades before heading out to our hotel for the evening. We came back on Sunday to check out their waterpark, Breakwater Beach, for the first time. Since there were some mildly strong winds in the 15-20 mph range, it wasn't too crowded for almost our entire stay. None of the major slides had any wait whatsoever. This might have the laziest lazy river ever, it felt like it took almost 15 minutes to complete a single lap (including several dead spots in the water where we had to paddle our way out). The kiddie play structure was one of the larger ones I've seen, and if I remember correctly, it had 10 slides branching off of it, but three of them (the bigger ones) ended up being closed due to staffing. My son has been dying to try a drop slide for ages, but when he climbed the tower and witnessed it in person, he made the tactical decision to take the non-drop tube slide down instead. I can't say I blame him... those drop slides still get me every time(but I like this style a lot more, the open air ones that don't try to suffocate and drown you once that trapdoor opens). My daughter was right on the edge of 42" in bare feet, and although the slide attendants were more than willing to give her a shot, she wasn't able to try out the Bulletbowl or Topsy-Turvy slides. Why? The double rafts they used for those two were larger than usual, and the handle placement meant she wasn't able to lay down and hold on at the same time. Although she was a little disappointed, being able to go on the Minuteman Express double raft slides was more than enough of a consolation prize for her. Last but not least... when the hell did they put a Shake Shack on the Garden State? It was a surprise to see but pretty much everyone decided that was the place to eat on our way back to NY. Even more surprising they had a full menu, none of that selected items only BS that they have at CitiField.

Awesome reports as usual, Bill. I still can't believe that sh*t about the stadium but it's hilariously how quick everyone jumped on gaming the system for cheaper parking. I really enjoyed both the SF Texas parks when I was down there last year, and I'm hoping I can get the rest of the family on a plane down sometime in a cooler season so they can check them out for themselves. Didn't get a chance to make it out to Galveston but after your report that's a must-do next time we're down that way as well.

This is great. Welcome to the forums, Brit. More, please!

Well, for what it's worth, the wife was seriously considering it after watching Robb's POVs and looking up factoids about the two of them, but ultimately, she declined to board both Phoenix and Twister. She did get on Flying Turns again however (and continues to love it), and she also tried out the new Tumbling Timbers ride which completely wrecked her. It started off gentle enough, then got progressively faster and spinnier, and then by the time it went in reverse she just couldn't handle it any longer. It made her feel so dizzy that she even passed on a end-of-the-day ride on the carousel (and she's a HUGE carousel fan). In any case, my daughter ended up getting her first rides on Phoenix (back-to-back thanks to an empty station!), Twister (her favorite of all the rides there), Flying Turns (which she thought was never going to end thanks to the three lift hills), and Black Diamond (or as she called it the "spooky halloween coaster"). She definitely enjoyed herself, so in that respect, mission accomplished! Although they are open for daily operation, yesterday was apparently a "pre-season" day, which meant that for a slightly reduced rate on the handstamps, certain rides, attractions, and buildings were closed throughout the day. Just from memory, those included the Scenic Skyway, Kiddie Turnpike, Sky Slide, Ball Pit, Ole Smokey train ride, Lazer Command, and probably about 30% of the food stands. A fair tradeoff even though the kids were disappointed that some of their favorites weren't operating. Even with those closures, we still didn't get to do everything else we wanted to or could have done in the span of the 8 hours they were open. No Cosmotron, no teacups, no Paratrooper, no Playland arcade, not even a game of Fascination! This park just has just that much to do! We'll definitely be back later in the season if not for Phunfest on my birthday weekend, then for just some more potato cake cravings whenever they hit, and we'll definitely be hitting up all the stuff we passed on yesterday. (And maybe by that point my wife will conquer her mental stumbling blocks. I wouldn't put money on it though.)

Believe it or not, I think Twister is going to be the harder sell, since it visibly towers over everything else in its area (and her biggest fear is that of heights). I will try to talk her into the middle seats, but I won't force it upon her. For reference, though, she's done maybe about 20-25 coasters, most of them wild mice, bobsled style (yes, including Flying Turns, which she loved), or alpine coasters. Her favorite so far is Oscar's Wacky Taxi, which has a fair amount of airtime, but also the wings on the side of the seats that kind of box her in so she doesn't realize how high up she is, as well as a really secure restraint. Maybe I should just hold off on trying to get her on a classic wooden coaster until we go back to Hersheypark... Comet would probably be a much tamer experience for her.

Well, I apologize in advance for a question that's going to be considered sacrilegious around here, but... ...what seats on Phoenix offer the LEAST amount of airtime? I'm hoping to coerce my wife into taking a ride on this with me and the kids on Tuesday, but I know she's going to be shook to begin with thanks to the aforementioned lack of seatbelts. I'm not sure of the best way to sell it to her.