Philrad71 Posted May 31, 2011 Posted May 31, 2011 (edited) Hi folks, Just a quickie from our excursion to Waldameer yesterday. As it was supposed to be in the mid to upper eighties, we decided to head here versus trying to golf in the sloppy, wet ground after setting records for rainfall in April & May. Mowing the lawn was also out of the question, as even today I (so unluckily found out) got the mower stuck in mud! What else to do other than head to the nearest water and amusement park & just relax? Park review: Ravine Flyer: Still screams! I did notice however, that there is a sudden left jolt after the first Peninsula Drive flyover going into the turn-around. The first time, I had my arms in the air and gave Michael a nice, unintentional elbow to the head, so for the second ride, I held on and still ended up elbowing him in the ribs. We rode in the fourth and sixth seats and they were only running the blue train. Red train looked like it may have been getting some maintenance in the repair shed. My only hope is that this coaster does not continue to get more and more rough as it ages & that they keep up with that proper maintenance. I'd much rather wait longer for one train while they PM the other than deal with concussions or broken ribs! Crowds: For Memorial Day we were expecting huge crowds, but for some reason it was pretty dead until about 4:00 when the crowd just exploded for the fireworks at dusk. I believe that this day & Labor Day are the only two Mondays that the park is open during the summer, although we usually leave before the fireworks and this year was no exception. New North End; Very nice and I commend Waldameer for the nice job they did with squeezing three flats into such a small area. I'm normally not a big fan of swing rides, but 'Flyine Swings' (intentional miss-spell - I think they should have named it this) was very relaxing and offered some great views. Didn't ride 'Wendy's Tea Cups' or 'SS Wally's Rock-N-Tug'...although, I love the name! Water World; The real reason (besides RF2) we were here. Endless River was very cold, but enjoyable in the 85 degree heat. I wish they could expand over the road and put in a wave pool and more slides, but it's sufficient for cooling off for when we get that one week of hot weather here in Western PA/NY. Operations; This ain't Cedar Point or Disney in terms of overly-friendly ride op's and never will be. But they are efficient, although I felt some of them were simply going through the motion of checking people's restaints while they were shootin' the poop with their co-workers. Line Jumping: Wow...& I mean WOW! Definitely the worst I have EVER seen in a park. We only rode about ten rides in the park and had attempted line jumping in at least eight of those ten rides. Notice I said "attempted" because neither my Dad, Michael and I will allow anyone to cut in front of us in line, unless A). They have friends right in front of us & just got in line B). They are teaming up with a single rider (we do ask) C). They are getting a soda in one of the lines (machines @ the bigger parks). Being that Michael was a teacher, he is going to make sure to inquire & make sure no one is breaking the rules unnecessarily...so he will put his arm up and question them before they go anywhere. I certainly think we are being fair in that regard and if someone says they have to meet their friends, then we tell them to have their friends wait for them and let everyone else go through. We have seen kids do this in line before and have even commended them on it. Both times while in line for RF2, we had people try and jump and both times, I thought there was going to be trouble because we wouldn't let them pass by us. I don't expect a park the size of Waldameer to have line security, so we took it upon ourselves to keep it from happening. We weren't the only one's as a mother behind us in line put her foot down on someone trying to cut in front of her & her young son on Thunder River. It's amazing how some of these younger kids can be so disrespectful of everyone in line, including their elders. When we wouldn't let a a threesome cut in front of us, one proceeded to call Michael a fat- ass, which I'm glad I never heard because I might have said something that I know I would have regretted later. I don't care who you are, you don't disrespect anyone that is 50+!!!! I think they should make a law that if anyone does, that older person can then smack the punk upside the head! And while I certainly am not one to discriminate by any means, we all thought it was a strange coincidence that it was one type of person in particular that thought it was okay to jump in front of everyone in line on every occasion we encountered. I won't mention race, age, creed or gender as there is absolutely no need, but it was definitely strange as there were many diverse cultures in the park yesterday. Call it dumb luck, I suppose. Regardless, it got to the point of ridiculousness and we ended up finally calling it a day around 7:00. Okay, sorry about my rant & beating a dead horse as I know there are line-jumpers at every park and it is a common occurrence...I just have never seen it so rampant as it was here today. I didnt want to summon park management because I know that ride-op's can't baby-sit, but I am tempted to write them anyway just to let them know. They claim that anyone ruining the family environment would be ejected, so perhaps it was our fault for not telling an employee and singling some folks out? Usually by the time we are ready to board a ride, we have cooled down a bit and just want to enjoy the ride versus starting more trouble at the loading station (tattling). And there usually isn't a park employee or security guard waiting at the ride exit. While I certainly am no novice to visiting amusement parks, I never know how I should approach this subject with parks if I notice it seems totally out of control (which is rare). What's the best approach, fellow enthusiasts??? Food:: We brought leftover grilled chicken and pasta salad that I had made over the weekend, so no food reports..although they both turned out really good! Beer: Waldameer is an alcohol free park and they were checking all coolers at the front gate for booze. But with all of the line-jumping, it was probably a good thing to not allow booze of any kind as tempers may have really gotten out of hand! Now...onto the pics! ADMIN EDIT: I went ahead and updated the title to include the "Photo TR:" notation. Thanks for sharing this with us! The middle slide used to be one of my favorites, but it was kind of painful on the back today. Upskirt shot of two tube slides - I prefer the black & yellow one...very fun! They should rename the slide on the right Mega-Wedgie, although they would probably get sued by SF for the name. Perhaps Plus-Sized Wedgie? Steel Dragon car. I just love this spinner..especially riding backwards up the lift hill! Twisted track of metal over the flooded cement pad. Scream was also taken for this, so they settled for Steel Dragon, but without the 2000. Noted! No wait, make that...recognized, documented and stored away in the data storage bank within my warped mind. Tilt-A-Whirl seemed much tiltier than last year. Shadrach-A-Meshach...yep, this one's for the B-Boys! Spider gave me one of the most insane rides ever! Almost as good as the Octopus, but not quite. We headed for the ferris wheel for some shots (pictures, that is - remember, no booze!) Sea Dragon and some new statuary. Shpiffy! One of the best drops on a coaster, IMHO. Presque Isle with some RF2 love thrown in for good measure. Compact North End area w/SS Wally's Rock-N-Tug. Sorry for the poor quality, but hey...at least you get to see Wally rockin-n-tuggin! I would love it if they would let us slap disrespectful guests & throw them out of the park ourselves! Thanks for reading! Edited June 1, 2011 by jedimaster1227
eddie200330 Posted May 31, 2011 Posted May 31, 2011 Philrad = awesome TR's, and this is just as great. Totally agree with the whole line jumping issue, damn near had a few fights in the past also. Nice pics, and 1 question.....how hard would this be to make a day from Western MD through Kennywood to Waldameer??
kidcoaster 2 Posted May 31, 2011 Posted May 31, 2011 I was there yesterday as well and it was pretty bad but it seemed like people were more behaved yesterday compared to some of my other visits, probably had to do with the large security force they had keeping everyone in check and nobody letting line jumpers by I even seen some 10 year olds yell at some guy for trying to pass them inline for Ravine Flyer 2.
Blind Idiot God Posted June 1, 2011 Posted June 1, 2011 Damn near had to wreck a little bitch the last time I went to SFNE. Bunch of band and chorus kids from all the local schools were mobbing the place, and one of them tried to cut in front of me in the Pandemonium line. Told him to get back to the start of the line; he got mouthy and started asking me if I was going to do something about it. Then he noticed that I was roughly 4-5 inches taller than he was and quite a bit bulkier, and after I said "Yeah, I'll ****ing do something about it if you don't get your ass back to where you were right mother****ing now", he left the line. Didn't have any trouble after that.
Philrad71 Posted June 1, 2011 Author Posted June 1, 2011 Philrad = awesome TR's, and this is just as great. Totally agree with the whole line jumping issue, damn near had a few fights in the past also. Nice pics, and 1 question.....how hard would this be to make a day from Western MD through Kennywood to Waldameer?? Thanks for the nice comments! One problem we have is that we're older guys and we're definitely not into fighting and we want to follow all park rules... yet what do you do when someone gets obligerant with you and tries to line jump? Michael tried to block the way with his arm and this kid tried to push out of the way and then grabbed HIS arm & then said, "Don't you touch me, mister!" We're not the type that's going to back down and just let people barge on through like they own the place, but what does one do? As far as your trip, I don't think it would be too hard to swing a trip from Pittsburgh if you're already planning on being at Kennywood, but I would plan on most of a full day at Kennywood and at least a half a day at Waldameer, full day at Waldameer if you want to do the water park. So with that said...I would plan on most of two days at least to do both parks. Just hop on I-79 North and you'll be in Erie in less than a couple of hours. Follow I-79 all the way to the end and then get on 12th St. and follow the signs (be aware that they're small!) to Presque Isle and Waldameer....very easy commute! ^ Edit to Blind Idiot God - I definitely do not want to get into that type of confrontation...especially if there are kids and families in line. I've seen people confront like that before, but we respect the rules and do not want foul-mouthed confrontations escalating into fights. Unfortunately, when you get some disrespectful teens in groups without parents, that type of thing may happen....that is what makes it awkward is that some kids will start swearing and making a scene. Most are respectful and will back down from us old farts, but I'm sure there will come a day when some might not...and that worries me.
beatle11 Posted June 1, 2011 Posted June 1, 2011 I was hoping no one else had the same problem over the weekend. I went to CW on Saturday, and it was the same situation. Every freaking queue there were some brat kids/teenagers trying to join the Canadian line jumping team. Nice report though. Good to see the new additions.
Jerrykoala2112 Posted June 1, 2011 Posted June 1, 2011 Great PTR! Even if the line cutters were getting out of hand, what you did was a good thing. I went to SF Great Adventure on a hot, July 2009 sumer afternoon and my mom and I were in line for the rapids. They actually had SECURITY standing above the line, and people were always being sent to the end of the line because they attempted to cut, and I have never been more proud of a park. But like you said, I wouldn't expect a family sized park like Waldameer to have line security... I really don't attempt to stop line cutters unless I'm with a bigger group of people, because if you don't have a big group, you lose that intimidating factor. Thanks for the pictures as well, Ravine Flyer II looks really fun!
ajfelice Posted June 1, 2011 Posted June 1, 2011 As an employee, I can assure you that Waldameer wasn't feeling the same due to guest behavior on Memorial Day. Kids were rude beyond belief by line jumping and their obscene language. Parents didn't seem to care how they acted. I have never seen as much spitting from the Skyride as yesterday (I got hit twice in two hours). It was hard to walk away with a smile after that, but as the crowds dwindled after the fireworks, Waldameer regained its charm. The remaining guests seemed controlled yet having fun. Waldameer from an employee perspective has only gotten better. There is a very good family atmoshpere, but Memerial Day was shadowed by some rowdy guests.
BeemerBoy Posted June 1, 2011 Posted June 1, 2011 I don't care who you are, you don't disrespect anyone that is 50+!!!! I think they should make a law that if anyone does, that older person can then smack the punk upside the head! 50? Nah, make it 37 and I'm with ya! Great report!
Philrad71 Posted June 2, 2011 Author Posted June 2, 2011 ^^Okay...I'm with ya! I agree that this is the first and only time that I have ever seen that much bad behavior at a park and I knew it wasn't the park's fault. It was like the place was overrun with rowdy people that didn't seem to have much respect for the park or other guests. I still love the park and will definitely be returning for more RF2 this summer! 50? Nah, make it 37 and I'm with ya! Great report! I was actually going to say something like 35+ or 40+, but I didn't! I think a lot of us enthusiasts in the under 40 range still tend to get pretty feisty over things like disobeying park rules...but boy, you want to royally piss someone off, watch a teen try line-jumping in front of an enthusiast over 50 that has been standing in 80 degree plus heat for over twenty minutes to ride a ride - not a very good idea!
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