The East Coast Rocks!!!

[Nitro X 230]

I enjoyed Storm Runner, but I found it to be overrated. I still think that it was because I rode it just a few days after 7 TTD rides. It's a fun ride, and it's top 10, but I would take Kingda Ka over it.

[ParkTrips]

See that just sounds like a preference issue. I'd guess that speed and height can "do it for you" whereas I'd like a bit more than just that. The "added spice" of Storm Runner makes it a kick ass ride, and also my favorite launched coaster. But that's just my preference.

[robbalvey]

^ Exactly. Personally, I take Storm Runner over TTD, and all the other Intamin rockets. I'm much more into rides that do more than just go up and come back down.

 

--Robb

[Nitro X 230]

See, I'm not one of those people who are like "OMFG I LYKE LOVE HEIGHT AND SPEED AND MILLENIUM FORCE PWNS RoS BECAUSE IT'S BIGGER AND FASTER!!!!". I'm not about that stuff. Millie might not even make my top 5.

 

Storm Runner's launch just felt like a LIM launch to me. I didn't get the force of it, the tophat was good, I much prefer that straight drop the stratas' 270 degree one but I didn't much care for the loop or the second half of the snake dive. It just didn't give me that "spice". I'm not saying that it's not a great ride, it's in my top 10, but it just didn't meet the expectations that I had for it.

 

I didn't feel that rush I get on TTD and KK (WAY better than TTD) when I rode Storm Runner

[robbalvey]

^ So, like we were both saying...it's a preferance thing!

 

--Robb "Would rather ride Balder anyway" Alvey

[BiCoastal Kid]

^So, Robb... the big question.

 

Balder or Journey@TDS?

[robbalvey]

^ Oh, Balder, no question.

 

You can't compare them.

 

--Robb

[Meteornotes]

Like others have said, Knoebel's and Hershey are really full day parks. Knoebel's has so much to offer besides three coasters. All the unique flat rides, the haunted house, and all the crazy food. Plus, the park is so cool at night, it just has an amazing atmosphere that you really need to spend the day to really experience it.

 

Hersheypark is usually busy enough that you'll need to spend a full day there to ride all the major attractions. Add in a visit to Chocolate World and some time spent just walking around the place (it's huge!), and you can easily spend a day there.

 

Dorney is really a half-day park at the most, unless you're doing the waterpark. You can bang out the coasters pretty quickly, and they don't have a lot of unusual attractions. Their waterpark is one of the best anywhere, though, and like Derek said, you can get a lot more rides if you wait to visit until later afternoon.

 

No way would I do Hershey in Kennywood in the same day. It's a minimum of four hours between the two (can be longer depending on the number of traffic cones on the PA turnpike), plus Kennywood is another place that you'll really want to spend a full day at. It's another park that is really unique and different from anywhere else, and really takes on a different character at night.

 

That's just my thoughts on a PA park visit, as someone that lived in PA for 26 years. While I'm not a fan of the state in general, it does have some kickass parks...

 

dt

[tngdiablo]

Wow, so much response, I feel as though I've run the original thread's topic off the tracks. Hurry up with those pictures Gregg and steal some of my thunder back.

[YoshiFan]

That's just my thoughts on a PA park visit, as someone that lived in PA for 26 years. While I'm not a fan of the state in general, it does have some kickass parks...

 

That's exactly how I feel about PA. Other than the parks, it's a boring state (at least in the eastern part).

[Sir Clinksalot]

Just to clarify a few things about our trip:

 

We didn't rush through any park this weekend. We just caught the parks on a good weekend that wasn't busy at all. We hadn't planned on doing SFGADV at all, but took our passes with us "Just in Case".

 

We were at Hershey from 12-9. The park was DEAD. We didn't wait for anything. In fact the longest wait of the night was Trailblazer because we waited for the front.

 

As for Knoebels, again, the park was dead. We did everything we wanted to do multiple times. The longest wait of the day was the Bumper Cars at about 10 minutes. We rode Phoenix as much as we wanted, we rode Twister only once but that was enough. We did alot of the flats, but not all of them. It was honestly a very last minute decision to leave early and do Dorney that night.

 

When we got to Dorney at 6:00 I didn't think there was any way we would do the park by the closing time of 7:30. We walked in and all we saw was Knott's. We didn't rush through the park at all. We walked on EVERYTHING. Even the mouse. We walked on the back row of Talon. Walked on the front row of Hydra. Walked on Steel Force twice. Walked on the woodie and walked on Laser, which was good, but is my least favorite Schwartzkopf.

 

It was only at this point we decided to do SFGADV because honestly, we couldn't see spending much more time at Dorney on Sunday.

 

The only park I can honestly say we rushed through was SFGADV since it really was just a "Credit Run" park. But it was our bonus park so it was no biggie.

 

If we had caught the parks on a "Typical" weekend there is no way we would have been able to do all that we did. Fortunately for us, we caught the parks on an unusually empty weekend.

 

Gregg "We are still working on the pictures" C.

[robbalvey]

Just to clarify a few things about our trip:

We didn't rush through any park this weekend. As for Knoebels, again, the park was dead. We did everything we wanted to do multiple times. The longest wait of the day was the Bumper Cars at about 10 minutes. We rode Phoenix as much as we wanted, we rode Twister only once but that was enough. We did alot of the flats, but not all of them. It was honestly a very last minute decision to leave early and do Dorney that night.

Gregg "We are still working on the pictures" C.

Personally, and this is just my opinion, I can't see how you really saw the park in 3-4 hours. At least not the same way that someone like Elissa or I would want to see the park.

 

I mean, I used to be a local and a short day for me would be a 5 hour day, and I'd usually still leave not having ridden everything. Only riding Twister once is kind of a shame, but if it's not your kind of ride, then I understand.

 

But like you said, you did everything YOU wanted, and that's what matters.

 

--Robb "Sounds like what YOU wanted to do is hit as many coasters you could in as short of a time as possible, which I can respect that." Alvey

[Sir Clinksalot]

^ That wasn't the point at all.

 

We did Phoenix multiple times. Correct, Twister didn't do it for us, but it's still a fun ride. We did the Sky Ride, Haunted Mansion, Bumper Cars, Flyers, Log Flume, Carousel, Train, Fandango, Power Surge, Ferris-wheel, High Speed Thrill Coaster, and a couple other rides that I don't remember the names on. We also spent ALOT of time eating. Perogies, Pizza, etc.

 

The only thing I wanted to do that we didn't do was the new loop flat ride thing.

 

The ONLY park we didn't ride anything but coasters was Dorney because honestly, everything else that was there I could do at Knott's.

 

If Dorney's waterpark had been open on Sunday we would have loved to have gone there.

 

To be honest, I think a big reason we left Hershey and Knoebels early was because of the kids. Everywhere we looked we could see that Amanda and Josh would love both parks and we were kind of regretting not taking them. I know that might sound weird to some, but we were really missing the kids not being with us at those two parks.