TR: DelGrosso's and Lakemont, 6/10/07

[Jim S.]

Our main objective was Lakemont, but we decided to stop at DelGrosso's since it was there. Even though the park had been open for food for hours and advertised that rides opened at 11, it was closer to 11:30 til all of the major rides were up and running.

 

Wacky Worm: lets adults ride without kids, although my legs were almost too long to be comfortable. You get two laps of the track.

 

Crazy Mouse: seemed to be braked a lot, but was still fun. Going down the biggest drop backwards on one trip was more forceful than I expected from going down it forwards.

 

ex-Revolution: there were no signs of any construction. In fact, we only saw one piece of track on a trailer behind the sauce factory on our way out of the parking lot.

 

Tipton Railroad: lamest train ride ever.

 

Food: great. Get the potato salad.

 

Then we headed to Lakemont. We went to Leap-The-Dips first, but there were only two of us and they wanted to have at least three people in the car. Since the park didn't seem to have a lot of visitors, we decided not to wait just yet. We rode the Toboggan a few times. I had read that it could be rough and requires defensive riding, but I didn't have any problems, although I was glad that the lap bar was heavily padded. The scariest part was going up the lift on my back. Then we went to the Skyliner, and had to wait for a few more people there too but didn't have to wait too long. We were a little wary of this coaster, despite its size, because it resembled the Dorney Thunderhawk which was terribly rough. But Skyliner is newer, even though it doesn't look like it, and rode pretty well. With a well-loaded train there was airtime on the first hill in most seats, and on other hills in the front and back seats. It felt like the Hershey Comet, although not as long. The best part was that they let us re-ride as many times as we wanted as long as nobody was waiting for our seat, and if there was we just had to switch seats.

 

The kiddie coaster wasn't allowing adults to ride, but it's pretty lame anyway. The Wacky Worm has a more interesting layout.

 

Finally we made it to Leap-The-Dips and didn't have to wait too long for other riders to come by. This was the most comfortable seat I've ever had on a roller coaster. It ran faster than I expected, especially when we had four adults in the car. Even though it doesn't run a train, the back seat of the car seemed to land a lot harder on the two largest dips than the front, in fact with a heavily-loaded car I got a double bounce once. The coaster was a lot more fun than I thought it would be. Waiting for extra riders wasn't that bad because it led to a lot of interesting conversations when other enthusiasts showed up.

 

We rode the train ride at Lakemont too. It was a lot better than DelGrosso's. It isn't as long as Knoebels, but it goes along a stream and woods so there were a lot of animals hanging around. Speaking of animals, we walked over to the bridge to the water park and there were lots of paddle boat riders hanging out there feeding the fish. It was quite a sight seeing the huge carp fighting for food.

 

Lakemont impressed me a lot more than I thought it would for the size of it. The only advice I would give visitors is not to arrive too early or too late unless you have enough people in your group to ride the coasters. Also, don't miss the model train club exhibit in a building next to the entrance and gift shop.

[eddie200330]

I agree that Lakemont is a better park for the price and rides, but DelGrosso's is a nicer park, not as Ghettoed lol!! Only thing that sucks about Lakemont is they are closed on Monday and Tuesday and today happens to be a free day for me so we are taking the kids to DelGrossos with our discounts off of the spaghetti sauce jars. BTW, I checked RCDB again last night and the Corkscrew is still slated for a 2008 opening. Looks like all of the pieces including cars are across the street in the field near the warehouse/Go Kart track. Just wondering where they might be planning on installing it in a very small park such as that.

[Jeezus Juice]

LOL, I was at both parks yesterday too. Finally got my Leap the Dips ride. It's actually pretty damn fun. Totally buying an armband next time I go.

 

When did they remove the mouse coaster? I missed seeing that weird plywood mouse entrance.

 

 

Anyway, holla at your boy next time. I like meeting new peeps.

 

-Don

[Jim S.]

I agree that Lakemont is a better park for the price and rides, but DelGrosso's is a nicer park, not as Ghettoed lol!!

 

Actually, I thought DelGrosso's badly needed some landscaping around the water park. It looked like it could've just been put in this year with all the bare cement and metal.

 

I have no idea where they're going to put the new coaster, unless it's going in the back of the parking lot or something. I asked the girl running the mouse and she didn't know.

[eddie200330]

Just returned from the park,DelGrosso's, WOW, dead. Everything was walk on with usually a wait for a half full capacity. Crazy Mouse was 2 - 3 car wait!!!! Hey Jim S. the waterpark has been there for a few years, never had any landscape, doesn't appear to be getting any either. It would look a lot nicer with some trees and what not. I know on hot summer days you pretty much bake over there unless you are in the water the whole time. I looked around, and unless they put in the new coaster between the train tracks in the back corner, I would imagine it to be over in the field by the waterslides as there really is no room in the park proper for it. As for the mouse at Lakemont Jeezus Juice, I believe it was removed 2 years ago, not sure why, other than the fact it was like pure death for someone over 5 feet tall!!!!