coastersandhockey

I am beyond thrilled with this addition. Looks absolutely fantastic.

Quick little report from our visit on Saturday. As I said earlier in the thread this was my first every visit. We got SUPER lucky and the park announced on Thursday that Alpenfury would actually be open on Saturday. We had planned on visiting Friday to avoid such huge Saturday crowds but decided to change so we could get on Alpenfury, and that we did! We got to the park around 3pm after visiting some family in the Toronto area. By this point obviously Alpenfury had a huuuuuuge line. Heard reports of around 5 hours? My girlfriend has a disability pass so we waited in the ADA line and got on in about 30 minutes. WOW what a ride! I haven't been left speechless by many rides but Alpenfury did it. Absolutely bonkers crazy from start to finish. Even the first launch and airtime hill hit before all hell breaks loose. Top 10 potentially? Only rode it once so I'll have a better idea after I ride it some more next weekend. Some other thoughts: -Minebuster retrack is great. Can't wait for them to do the whole thing -Wilde Beast was my 100th wooden coaster credit. It sucked. -Behemoth... meh. -Leviathian is fantastic! Reminded me more of Millennium than it does the other B&M gigas. Great ride. -Yukon Striker is also GREAT. Way smoother than Valravn. Great pacing. First drop seems to go forever. -Lots of tweens and teens causing a ruckus. Is there no chaperone policy at this park? Saw multiple brutal bloody fights. There was also an incident at Leviathan at the end of the night where a weapon was allegedly seen and caused a panic. I will say though that Wonderland security was FANTASTIC and always very quick to the scene when there was an issue, and in large number. -Last thought, wow this park is PRETTY. The vibe and look of the park is fantastic and every employee we encountered was very nice. Not quite Dollywood level but better than almost all regional parks. Easily one of my top parks now. Here's some pictures for y'all:

I would say Labor Day has gotten quite a bit more crowded over the years but I think you're right in saying it clears out in the evening... But maybe not as early as you'd think. August 25th will likely be less busy overall but less of a drop in crowd as the evening goes on.

Hi everyone! I am going to sound like a complete idiot here but I am heading to Canada's Wonderland for the first time the weekend of July 11th and Canada in general for the first time since I was 4 and we did Niagara Falls. We will stay near the Falls and do the Falls Thursday night, Friday or Saturday, and Sunday morning with Canada's Wonderland either Friday or Saturday. Some questions for those of you who have visited from the states.... What was the border crossing like? We are coming from Cleveland on a Thursday evening after work. (Here comes the idiot part) Do I need to do anything special for cell service and using my Mastercard debit card? Or should all work pretty seamlessly? Okay and for you CW locals, tips and tricks? Best way to attack the park? Is there early entry available for passholders (It seems there is but their website doesn't really show on what rides?) Will it be hopelessly busy regardless of which day we go (can choose between Friday or Saturday)? Best food on the dining plan? Any rumblings of Alpenfury being open by then? Thanks in advance. Super stoked for this trip!

Hi all, Visiting the park this coming Friday on our way down to Florida. Hoping to stop in for a few rides. I'm seeing that the weather is pretty cold by Georgia standards at 45 degrees. Is it still fair to expect the coasters that are scheduled to open, to indeed be open? Hoping some locals have experience with colder weather at Six Flags and also Fun Spot (I posted in that thread as well) Thanks in advance!!

Hi all, visiting for the first time this coming Friday. Seeing the weather it looks dry. But pretty cold, only a high of 45. Does anyone know if Arie tends to or to not operate in colder weather? We're driving to Orlando and want to stop in and get a couple rides in on the new hotness! Thanks in advance!

Montu has been taken off the list of closed rides on the website. Not sure if it's open at the moment or not. They're not posting wait times for that or a few other rides right now. Iron Gwazi has also reopened after being down a couple days because it valleyed. Just thought I'd update for anybody else also making a trip soon!

I've seen that Montu has been down for a little over a week and is now listed in the Temporary closures on their website. Any locals heard or know what's going on? I'll be there 12/30 and I'm really hoping my favorite invert will be open

Wildcat's Revenge. By 400th credit and new number 1!

Does Kennywood still do an "after 5" admission? I can't find anything on the website other than that it's available only at the gate. Nothing about price. I tried calling the park and couldn't get through. If they're still available does anybody know the price? Thanks!

Well it's not the weekend anymore. So we'll see if the status of Wildcat changes. I'm making a trip to the park this coming weekend. It's my second trip this year and I rode Wildcat plenty the first trip. However, I'm bringing my mother this time and would feel terrible if Wildcat is closed after telling her over and over again how amazing it is. Fingers crossed!

My guess is Carowinds and B&M are ready to roll. It's probably mostly waiting on the "third party"/state inspectors to make their way to the park and give it their all clear. I'm so happy with how Carowinds has handled this. From the press releases to the actual replacement. A+ grade.

I haven't ridden Thunderhead since before any of the trackwork so I'm very excited as I already liked it. As far as the vest restraints, the vests used to lock in place when the ride left the station, meaning you couldn't really move around much. They had absolutely zero give. Gatekeeper did the same it's opening year. So the above post is wonderful news. Thanks!

Thanks for the insight. My girlfriend is about 5'5 or 5'6. So she may have more head banging and less shoulder issues by the sound of it. I've been to Dollywood probably 5 times and I think everytime Mystery Mine was a different level of rough ranging from not at all to absolutely brutal. So we shall see.

Absolutely. And Dollywood is definitely the type of park to suddenly give event attendees a little something extra. Couple questions for those who have been to Dollywood this year. Do the vests on Wild Eagle still lock like all the wing riders originally did or did they remove that finally? Also, how is Mystery Mine running? I love that ride no matter what but it'll be my girlfriend's first time and she's pretty sensitive to rides that smack her head around. So I want to prepare her appropriately. Any other tips about Dollywood would be helpful. I haven't been since 2019 so really looking forward to getting back!

I've been watching that pain in the a$$ of a ride pretty religiously the last week or so also for Con reasons and while it hasn't been perfect it's been running consistently enough that I feel comfortable about getting at least a ride or two each day on it. Fingers crossed!

Dude. Expand your horizons a bit. Some of the food the park has put in the lady few years has been fabulous. The steak and potatoes at Farmhouse is better than a lot of the stuff even Dollywood and Busch Gardens offer.

-I would hit GK and (Wild Mouse if you are interested) and then camp at your favorite ride. Seems this will be a super easy way of getting on MIllennium and Maverick. I am willing to bet there will still be a solid contingent of people who go wait at SV right at 9am though. -Last season the park got back to closing rides at park closing time. No more closing rides 30 minutes before closing if there is a 30 minute wait. However I would not expect them to keep lines open late like they used to in the past. Everything should close on at 10pm (or whatever time closing is) on the dot. -Yep exactly that. I stayed there for my first time during opening weekend of haunt last year and didn't touch my car once. It was nice. -I would avoid leaving the property. Perkins is reasonable if not the same price as their other locations. As others have said there is also a walk up counter for grab and go type stuff. There is also a starbucks inside of Breakers and one at the front of the park that I believe both serve all the typical Starbucks breakfast food. -Fastlane is available at a number of giftshops in the park. The ones that come to mind are the main giftshop at the front of the park, "Point Plaza" and also the General Store that you pass approaching Maverick. I believe you can also redeem at all ticket booths at any entrance to the park. There is also a fastlane specific walkup stand to the right immediately as you come through the main entrance. -Lockers are easier than you've been led to believe. It really is a seemless process. Especially mid season when the ride ops have good control of the situation down there. But yes you'll wait in FL+ queue, drop stuff in lockers, go through metal detectors, wait about 10 minutes if not less, then get on the ride. -I'm not sure about your monitor. You might be safer getting an ADA pass for this situation specifically. Go to Guest Services and explain your situation and they will take care of you accordingly. If I had to guess, they'll give you a pass in which a member of your group waits in the FL+ line and you wait near the ride exit. When the rest of your group makes it into the station, you go up the exit and you will drop your monitor in a ADA pass specific loose article bin, ride immediately with your group, then get your monitor back right away. If you are alone, they will give you a pass where you go to a ride, get immeidate boarding, and then are given a wait time in accordance with the ride you rode that will signify the next time you may ride a ride using the ADA pass. So for example, you go ride SV right at 10am and it has a 30 minute wait already. You will get on SV right at 10am with ADA pass, and then they will write on your pass 10:30am. So then at 10:30am you can go to any other ride at get immediate boarding and then get another wait time and the cycle continues. All in all, I seriously doubt they'll allow you to take your monitor on the ride, but the ADA pass will allow you to spend minimal time without it. Hope all this helped!

To an extent yes, but it's definitely gotten much worse in the last year or two.

I am not sure if this policy will or won't work. But after visiting the park on opening day, all I can say is that it is very much needed. In the evening the park went from "pretty crowded" to absolutely mobbed and with that came a huge increase of giant groups of teenagers. I'm talking 30+ kids standing in a group taking up entire midways. And to others points in this thread, it wasn't just 15 year old and under. It was 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, all of the above year olds. It seemed as the evening wore on these groups just kept appearing. And these kids, they aren't there to ride or eat or anything. They seem to just go to the park to "hang out" like its a mall. I can't understand why that is a cool fun thing to do. We went to eat at Coney BBQ (great food btw) and a group of, and I am not exaggerating here, at least 35 kids were just standing around and blocking the entrance. Security was trying their best to force these kids to disperse. Anyways, those are my observations. Other than that, props to Kings Island for really an awesome opening weekend. Lines moved quick, rides that were scheduled to open were mostly open all day, and the park looked great. Special shoutout to the Brew House crew. We ate lunch there and waited in a line out the door, around the corner, and to the edge of the building and I think it only took 20 minutes totaly from getting in line to getting our food.

Not sure of the reasoning behind it, but it either just hasn't been built yet or straight up not even delivered yet. I recall Cedar Fair going across Europe looking for old flat rides to buy, refurb, and rebuild. Carowinds was the main beneficiary of this before so I wonder if this is a ride that they've had in storage for a few years and hit a snag when rebuilding. Especially being that this is the only new ride the park got this season that to my knowledge isn't a Zamperla

I just got done reading through all the updates. You're such a wonderful trip reporter. I enjoyed every minute of reading. It has gotten me really thinking about making my own trip. I did Poland last summer, time to expand a bit. And I am so so so sorry about your husband. You clearly have so much love for him. He was blessed to have you. I hope these writings have been therapeutic for you. Much love and I can't wait for the next update!

The official wording from the park is that is "indefinitely on hold". So, take that for what you will. I also think a haunt would be super cool in there. Straight up dimented Night at the Museum. Would make for an awesome haunt theme

All the political stuff aside (which I agree, I am glad to see "Hate Chicken" go) its hard to believe they kept CFA around this long because of them being closed on Sundays. In recent years Sunday crowds have been just as bad as Saturday, so to be down a restaurant no matter the time of year or staffing level is just not good practice.

To be fair, Mac Shack was probably the worst of the ones I have tried. As long as Kings Island keeps doing theirs during Winterfest I'll be happy. Also agree on CFA.