Does your home park lose its luster?

[bbomser]

With my "Home Park" being WDW, I don't think it ever loses it's luster. While we do things repeatedly, they are still fun. Combine that with the various festivals (Food & Wine, Flower & Garden, Star Wars Weekends, etc.) it's tough to get bored.

 

It also helps that my future in-laws live about 5 mins from WDW, so my Fiancée and I always have a place to stay!

[cfc]

I still visit Busch Gardens Williamsburg frequently, and the park has done a good job keeping passholders engaged, thanks to events such as Food & Wine, Howl-o-Scream, and Christmas Town.

 

When I first moved here in the 1980s, I visited twice a year, at best.

[Meteornotes]

The closest park to me is SFA. It lost its luster long, long ago, and I have zero desire to return.

 

I prefer to spend my time at Knoebel's which I am always entertained by. I could go up there and just walk around (and eat!) and not ride anything, and still have a great day. The atmosphere of that park is something that very, very few places in the world can even come close to.

 

dt

[Wingwright]

While I still love it, Disneyland is becoming a chore to visit due to the insane crowds. Even weekdays are crowded.

 

Knott's Berry Farm on the other hand has seen lots of improvements in recent years. It's a much nicer park than it was 10 years ago, IMO.

[RCjunkie]

My home park is VF and it has lost a little luster for me but what do you expect when I visit the place a dozen times in a year because I only live 15-20 minutes away. I still enjoy going but just cannot stay longer than 4-5 hours unless I am with a big group or someone who has never visited the park before. This is just due to my familiarity with the park. The good news is that because of this it makes you want to travel to other parks and see what they have to offer.

[Genx24]

Any place can lose its luster if you visit enough. That's why it's key to supplement visits to your home park with trips to other places. I visited Great Adventure 15+ times this past season, but to keep it from getting stale, my friends and I made day trips to Dorney Park, SFNE, and Lake Compounce. We also have the luxury of just hopping over to Brooklyn and jumping on the Cyclone when we get bored. That's what kept GAdv fresh.

[HowieP]

Before CF bough MIA, the jourdans added rides every year. It kept it exciting to go ride the new rides every year. Lately it seems like a rarity for them to add anything (regardless if its thrilling or big or lackluster).

 

I feel the same. When the Jourden family owned Michigan's Adventure, they were building it up. Before Cedar Fair bought the park, they even talked about adding a hyper coaster, but that never happened. Don't get me wrong, Cedar Fair did add rides here and there like Grand Rapids, Thunderhawk (Thank you, Geauga Lake), and the recent Lakeside Gliders, but they still don't give it the proper attention like their other parks. Heck, MiAd is the only park in the Cedar Fair chain (that isn't Gilroy Gardens) NOT to have either Camp Snoopy or Planet Snoopy! That being said, I still go to visit there because it convenient and gives me my coaster fill without going on a super long trip.

[historyfreak92]

Since Houston doesn't have a Real Amusement Park (not what I meant!), I do get tired of Kemah, & the Pleasure Pier just a little, when I'm stuck at home depressed!

[SaraAB87]

Home park has totally lost its luster, haven't paid to go to Darien Lake in years, went twice through a company picnic for free and wouldn't go again until they make some major improvements to ride operations, ride lineup and cleanliness of the park in certain areas. I am sure kids love it but it's clear parents and families and all other guests are miserable at the park. They only have 1-2 coasters worth riding and ride of steel was an over 2 hour wait both times I went due to one train operation on all coasters and the fact that there is only one good coaster in the park so the entire park lines up for ROS. The other coaster worth riding is motocoaster, but it really is a one and done thing. Their kids rides also operate on a rotating basis with sometimes a single op for several rides, so if you have small children they have to go in the order the one ride operator runs them in. They also promised 2 train ride operations last season and some kind of fun guarantee thing and skip the line of it's too long thing but they never seemed to deliver on any of those promises, especially when they sent out an email to some season pass holders that they would have 2 train operation on coasters and never even tried to have 2 train operations. Please do not implement something that you have no intention of promising.

 

However I have been to Waldameer, Martin's fantasy island and Seabreeze so I do have other choices. My closest is MFI but I don't think I will be going there unless they get some more rides because there just isn't enough for even half a day there for me. Last year's incidents at this park definitely make me want to avoid it. They also spent over a million dollars on a KMG speed type ride called over the falls that both did not go over very well with the public, had poor capacity and was down all the time. This year they are adding a music express which is what they should have spent the money on last year (it's a very family orientated park).... Can anyone say "I told you so"! Really you plop a high thrill ride into a family park, that already has a couple high thrill rides for the big kids and expect everyone to love it. I was confident that parks put a lot of research into what they buy but evidently that is not the case with this park, especially since it was a custom designed ride made for the park which meant it was more $$$ and was removed after only one season. I really don't want to sound like I am the type of person who knows what is best for this park (I obviously don't)but this was such an obviously bad decision that it is hard not to see the fault in it. As in any idiot would be able to tell you that placing a music express in this park is a much much better thing for the park then placing an expensive, custom KMG speed.

 

Waldameer is very good, I have been twice and there are still a few things I did not get to, they have a lot of rides, I am not sure if they actually have more rides than the other 2 parks I just mentioned but perhaps it just feels like they have more rides because I like every single ride they have (this is personal taste, Waldameer just seems to be a place where they plopped every single ride I like into one place.) I can't review Seabreeze yet because I haven't been there in a very long time but I plan on going soon.

[T-Rex]

First off I do agree with you on some of what you said. Darien has defintly lost luster. When Snyder owned the park it was an excellent ride line up of Huss park model rides, and the Arrow Huss coater (Viper). In the early 80's they were State of the art. After that, and The Giant Wheel the park kinda hovered until 1990 the park added The Preditor which was a decent Wooden coaster until it's lack of maintaince. The Addition of the Six Flags name brought many new editions. A Huss Top Spin, Superman (ros), Mind Eraser, and Boomerang. Since the CNL era. I know you will disagree with me. I call the Motocoster a overgrown kiddy coaster. I don't like it. I rode it once, and never care to go on it again. It to me was a boring ride. I do like Blast Off how ever (1) I think it should be taller, and (2) It should be multi S&S towers for higher capacity. Blast Off only seats 12. This year Rolling Thunder. Up until very recently a carnival ride. It is a very similar ride to The Ranger. Darien losses money hand over fist to parks like Cedar Point because parks like Darien Lake can't diversify, and utalize Space. How many kiddy areas does a park Dariens size need? I think it has 3 now. It also has over 1000 Camp sites. They let a Roller Coaster spoil in plain view. Park relations, and upkeep at DL are a joke. I only went once last season. I never seen such a busy day there. All coasters were running only 1 train. I didn't even bother to ride any of them. Screw that I'm not waiting 1 hour to ride a coaster that is running 1 train. Darien is dissapointing under CNL.

[SaraAB87]

First off I do agree with you on some of what you said. Darien has defintly lost luster. When Snyder owned the park it was an excellent ride line up of Huss park model rides, and the Arrow Huss coater (Viper). In the early 80's they were State of the art. After that, and The Giant Wheel the park kinda hovered until 1990 the park added The Preditor which was a decent Wooden coaster until it's lack of maintaince. The Addition of the Six Flags name brought many new editions. A Huss Top Spin, Superman (ros), Mind Eraser, and Boomerang. Since the CNL era. I know you will disagree with me. I call the Motocoster a overgrown kiddy coaster. I don't like it. I rode it once, and never care to go on it again. It to me was a boring ride. I do like Blast Off how ever (1) I think it should be taller, and (2) It should be multi S&S towers for higher capacity. Blast Off only seats 12. This year Rolling Thunder. Up until very recently a carnival ride. It is a very similar ride to The Ranger. Darien losses money hand over fist to parks like Cedar Point because parks like Darien Lake can't diversify, and utalize Space. How many kiddy areas does a park Dariens size need? I think it has 3 now. It also has over 1000 Camp sites. They let a Roller Coaster spoil in plain view. Park relations, and upkeep at DL are a joke. I only went once last season. I never seen such a busy day there. All coasters were running only 1 train. I didn't even bother to ride any of them. Screw that I'm not waiting 1 hour to ride a coaster that is running 1 train. Darien is dissapointing under CNL.

 

I did say motocoaster was one and done, so I definitely don't disagree. I don't like it either but I had to dig to find something good to say about a coaster there. I have been to Waldameer with no problems, I have to dig deep to find a complaint about ride operations or guest services there. I waited 15 min longest for ravine flyer 3 which was totally amazing. I even was able to wait for the front something I never do.

 

The whole park at DL needs a complete overhaul. As far as raging seas they literately had 2-3 boats operating on that thing, so they basically had no choice but to replace it. I don't care for ring of fire type rides so that addition won't bring me in. I don't do water parks. I don't even think it's worth driving there for me at this point since I won't even ride any of their coasters because I refuse to wait over 2 hours for one ride. Half of their flats are always broken down, and if a ride doesn't work at some point during the season, it will most likely be down for the rest. One ride down kills the lines in this park, because the park has so little to begin with. It's also full of expensive upcharge rides that no one cares about and that no one in the WNY area can afford. If you can afford a visit to DL with upcharge rides then you can definitely afford to go to CP.

 

It's a shame because they at one point had a really good collection of unique flat rides but they fall totally short in the coaster department. When I went I just rode the haymaker, silver bullet, the huss round up was down which I was severely disappointed by and I rode a couple other flats. Silver bullet is a killer ride for me and I also like the haymaker. Both have short waits so I just stayed by those 2 rides for like 2 hours and rode them over and over. I can't deny it, I did have fun but I question if it's worth an hour drive for like 2-5 things that I will actually go on.

 

I was looking up rates and it's probably only slightly more money for admission to CP, food prices are probably actually MORE at DL ($10 for a hot dog last I checked) and there is nothing to do around the park area other than the campgrounds. Food quality is stuff you would get out of the dollar tree or the cheapest Walmart food you can get, which is probably a step above what you will be served at the park. There isn't even a single restaurant in the area of the park unless you drive 30-40 min out.

 

Darien lake is also officially the most draconian park when it comes to weight limits. If you are over 200lbs, don't even go. They post weight limits right on the website, the top spin they have is 198lbs per seat and the wave swinger is 170lbs per seat. Some others are slightly more generous, like moose on the loose which is 220lbs per moose so unless you are very skinny you won't be able to go on the moose with your child. I have no idea how much this is enforced but these are just examples and they are posted by the rides; there is more. I dug on CP's website and the only official weight limit I could find was for the wave swinger which was 230lbs a far cry from DL's 170. I thought CP was the most draconian park for fat people, I guess I was wrong. Waldameer doesn't even have any weight limits posted ( and judging by the park clientele and what I saw on my visits weight is officially a non issue at Waldameer) neither does most other parks as I was trying to see if this was a common occurrence among parks but apparently it is not. If you can't go on a couple rides due to weight at this park then it will diminish your experience since there aren't that many rides there.

[coasterbill]

My home parks (that I actually visit) are Six Flags Great Adventure, Dorney and Six Flags New England. I don't feel that any of the parks have lost their luster and when we go we usually spend an entire day (though we drive by Dorney a lot on the way to other places so we've been known to make random spur of the moment stops for an hour or two where we usually only have time to ride our 4 favorite rides Talon, Hydra, Demon Drop and Thunder Creek Mountain (well okay... our 3 favorite rides plus Hydra because it's on the way).

 

When we spend a whole day at Dorney we always have a great time though and we do it quite a bit. The same goes for Great Adventure, there are so many great coasters and rides that it's hard to get tired of it.

 

I don't care for Six Flags New England but it's not because I've been there too much, it's just a terribly run park. They have some good rides but I just can't get over how awful the employees and policies are. Wicked Cyclone might change that unless operations are so bad that it becomes a once or twice a day ride (which is extremely likely) since I would never get a skip the line pass at my home park unless it was Fright Fest.

[Cmbgo12]

I currently live in North Carolina, but I'm from Lowell, MA so I consider Canobie Lake my home park... As it stands right now I go every year and as the park gets more famous the crowds get bigger, the lines longer, and the park gets less fun. It's still an amazing park, but the lines are getting ridiculous and when there are so many other parks within a few hours I don't understand why it gets so crowded. So as its going my home park is beginning to loose its luster, but if it stayed the same as it used to be then it would be the epitome of the perfect family park, and I would enjoy the 13 hour drive that I have to take to get there... But if the park doesn't fix its operations soon then it'll get harder for me to justify the drive.

[VF15]

Post deleted.

Edited June 24, 2016 by VF15

[Floydsheating]

I also have a couple of park's that I consider to be my home parks. I have even worked at 2 of them.

 

Living in Kentucky I live within an hour and a half of Holiday World, Kentucky Kingdom, and Beech Bend. I worked at holiday world for 1 year, and I have worked at Beech bend for 2 years.

 

Kentucky Kingdom I actually have not been to Kentucky Kingdom since it was reopened and I am not planning on going anytime soon either. Greezed Lightning was my favorite coaster there, and they replaced it with a ride that I know that I can not ride. (I have been told the restraints would not lock) I don't see any point in going for a kiddie coaster and a meh wooden coaster.

 

Holiday World I worked here for the 2012 season and I have been back at least once a year since then, It's ok but honestly I am tired of it. I will never wait more than 15 minutes for any of their coasters, they just are not worth it anymore to me. I went last year in the Halloweekends, (when I worked there it was dead), but last year it was CRAZY! Almost everything had an hour plus ride times, The line for the Voyage was two hours long and never went down! No coasters for me... Ride totals 2 rides on mayflower, and sparkler, 1 time on scrambler and frightful falls and I rode HallowSwings like 8 times...... I am glad I had free tickets!

 

The park is not the same without Dan and Pat. When I worked there you seen them both there and they were just as nice to the employees as the guests. It's not like it used to be...

 

Beech Bend Now this is is my favorite park. I do love it and I have worked there for several years. I would go in on my days off I would just walk around and ride any ride I felt like doing, and I like that I can really be relaxed and not have to worry about lines. I love the Kentucky Rumbler! It is my favorite wooden coaster, but I have rode it at least 150 times and no its not as fun as the first time but it is still a blast! Better than its bigger sister Thunderhead! Rounding out my favorite rides are the SeaDragon and the Wild Mouse.