Photo TR: 27 Parks in 6 Weeks

rubysparkles · July 7, 2014

So I've been planning this 6 week trip for about a year to visit a bunch of theme parks. I started last Sunday and thought I would try and get this trip report up and running now, otherwise I'm not sure I would ever complete it! I've been rating the coasters, very imaginatively out of 10. Here's the list of parks I'll be visiting (hopefully, you never know what might happen):

Six Flags Great Adventure

Knoebels

Hersheypark

Dorney Park

Quassy

Lake Compounce

Six Flags New England

Rye Playland

Magic Kingdom

Epcot

Hollywood Studios

Animal Kingdom

Universal Studios

Islands of Adventure

Seaworld

Busch Gardens

Cedar Point

TPR New Hotness Trip!!!!

Coney Island + bonus park

Beech Bend

Six Flags Great America (End of TPR Trip)

Worlds of Fun

Silver Dollar City

As I said, I'm already on the road so...

First up Six Flags Great Adventure

I arrived late on the 29th to process my pass and sneak in a cheeky ride on the Mine Train. I knew I was going to opt for the gold pass and I wanted to wait to ride the major rides. I was incredibly sad to see that Kingda Ka was closed, so I asked some of the people in the pass processing office what was going on. They told me it was closed because they were filming the commercial for Zumanjaro and that it would probably be open tomorrow. HELL YEAH!

It was a beautiful night for taking some photos.

First credit of the trip, a surprisingly good mine train with some air time. I was surprised. A solid 5.

Bizarro is definitely one that looks better than it is.

Ok, it's difficult not to take a million photos of this combination even if it's been done so many times.

Even if it's not the greatest coaster in the world (or the park) it's still so impressive to look at.

Edited October 22, 2014 by rubysparkles

rubysparkles · July 7, 2014

My full day at Six Flags Great Adventure proved to be more of a breeze than I expected. I hate queuing (especially alone with all my loose items in a locker so I can't even read) so I'd already made up my mind to get a flash pass. It worked great, I love those little queuebot things, as soon as you've scanned in you can set up your next ride. Unfortunately, when I got to the flash pass desk they told me Kingda Ka was closed until Zumanjaro officially opened. I was disappointed but luckily for me there was still a chance I could ride as I was still in the Philly area for the next 5/6 days and I have a season pass.

I found the park ok, it wasn't perfect but with the flash pass it was an enjoyable day. The food options were pretty awful but I found mozzarella sticks so that was my lunch. Yum. You can't go wrong with those things... I also got the refillable drink thing because apparently they work at all Six Flags parks (I'll be able to test that out tomorrow), those things are always a good deal for me as I can drink a scary amount of diet cola products. I have to say that 95% of the staff were really helpful and great. I didn't have any bad experiences with staff.

In most of the lines I heard complaining, especially the El Toro line. I checked out the test seat before I jumped on (I've heard the horror stories about women who carry their weight on their bottom half, like I do) but it seemed on almost every train there was someone who hadn't tried it out. I queued up for the front once, which was crazily long (kept being stopped as well by VIPs and people flashing their re-ride wristband) and kind of pointless. Really was much better in the back row.

Anyway here's my rankings of the coasters:

El Toro - 10 (It's airtime central and so obviously a special coaster.)

Nitro - 9 (Wow the surprise of the day, I've always found B&M hypers to be over-rated but Nitro is amazing!)

Superman - 8 (I love me a flyer, pretzel loops are my favourite element so most people wouldn't like it as much as I did)

Batman - 8 (Same as the others but these things are so damn enjoyable)

Bizarro - 6 (Meh, floorless coasters just aren't my bag)

Mine Train - 5 (Hey, it's a really good mine train. It's never going to beat the one at Ocean Park but it was much better than expected)

Skull Mountain - 5 (A nice inside coaster, it was pretty nice.)

Green Lantern - 4 (Ugh, ouch, I hate being on a coaster and thinking about how to not get hurt. This isn't the worst standing coaster out there, but it's still a waste of space in my opinion.)

Dark Knight - 4 (A basic mouse in the dark but at least there's theming and I liked the pre-show.)

The surprise of the park, I absolutely loved Nitro.

Batman!

The Dark Knight Coaster.

Nitro and Batman together, lovely.

I know! Another photo of this combination, but they just look so amazing!

El Toro! Airtime machine. And after hearing such bad things, I really found the restraints comfortable.

Superman: Ultimate Flight and Green Lantern in the background.

rubysparkles · July 7, 2014

The next day I was off to Knoebels. I didn't know what to expect from this park, except that it was going to be very different from not only Great Adventure, but any park I had been to. I loved Knoebels! I had a great day there, not just because there were short lines, but there was just such a nice atmosphere there. The staff were amazing, the rides were interesting and there are so many gems here. Before I went on the Japan trip last year I would probably skip every flat ride in the park, but I've started to recognise their beauty and Knoebels is a great park for flat rides. Also the food was brilliant too. I stopped by the sit down restaurant before leaving and got a really great (and cheap) sandwich. I also got a slice of the pizza and I wasn't that overly enthused with it but it was much better than any other park pizza I've had (I can't wait to try Via Napoli in Epcot!).

The most exciting thing for me was Phoenix. That is one hell of a wooden coaster, it really tries to throw you out of your seat. I really enjoyed it. I also thought Twister was a good coaster, I was very impressed with the line up here. Flying Turns was interesting, even if it wasn't that great of a coaster. Of the flat rides, I enjoyed Wipeout, the Flyers and Fandango.

My ratings:

Phoenix - 9 (Really 9 and a half, that is one hell of a rush, I loved it)

Twister - 7

Flying Turns - 6

Black Diamond - 4

Wipeout. Super fun.

Phoenix, hell yeah!

Fandango.

The Flyers.

The sky lift was a nice way of seeing the whole park.

Twister from above.

The great Phoenix from above.

mightypotato · July 7, 2014

Wow...that is one hell of a trip. I'm glad you liked the charm of Knoebels. It's what keeps me going back every year.

simon8899 · July 7, 2014

Now less (!) than a year until visiting all this great parks.

Also shocked that they had such problems dispatching ElToro due to big riders not fitting in. Never so far witnessed this at Colossos (Heide-Park) or Balder (Liseberg). I am not thin - by Euro standards - but I always have about 10 centimeters left on the seatbelt.

DaMarkSta · July 7, 2014

Look's like a lot of fun! Looking to get out to Great Adventure sometime this year, haven't been since 2011 and I remember El Toro being amazing! Don't remember Nitro so much though so gotta refresh my memory on that. haha Looking forward to following along, and I'll see you on the New Hotness trip!

Tanks4me05 · July 7, 2014

My pipe dream of a list for this season is six parks, though I might have to cross that list down in half. You must have lots of money. Sending some my way would be cool.

spongey · July 7, 2014

My pipe dream of a list for this season is six parks, though I might have to cross that list down in half. You must have lots of money. Sending some my way would be cool.

Ever thought she might just work hard and saved for 12 months to do this trip?

Barge84 · July 7, 2014

Now less (!) than a year until visiting all this great parks.

Also shocked that they had such problems dispatching ElToro due to big riders not fitting in. Never so far witnessed this at Colossos (Heide-Park) or Balder (Liseberg). I am not thin - by Euro standards - but I always have about 10 centimeters left on the seatbelt.

It's not the seat belt, it's the location that the actual restraint has to reach in order for the sensor to allow the train to leave. Balder is MUCH more forgiving than El Toro since they really only care about the seat belt being latched.

rubysparkles · July 7, 2014

My pipe dream of a list for this season is six parks, though I might have to cross that list down in half. You must have lots of money. Sending some my way would be cool.

Ever thought she might just work hard and saved for 12 months to do this trip?

Maybe not the working hard, definitely the saving money.

Also it makes sense coming from overseas, to try and fit in as much as possible. It helps when you've got some airmiles spare and use sites like priceline to save some $$$.

rubysparkles · July 7, 2014

Let's talk about Hersheypark, I got to the gate super early and it was already a little busy. I saw the huge lines form behind me and was pretty worried about how much queuing I would be doing. That said after getting into the park I went from ride to ride, all with little to no wait. With the very hot weather recently most of the crowds at each park have been heading to the water park sections.

I walked straight to Skyrush and was lucky enough to score a front row seat as there was only two people in the row when I got there. WOW. What amazing restraints! I felt a little pain on my thighs later on in the day sitting in the back few rows, but the airtime on this coaster is insane and your upper body is so completely free on this coaster. I absolutely loved this coaster. It reminded me of an Intamin Megalite, but I found the airtime more extreme. I felt like a rag doll in those seats, I'm sure some people wouldn't like that sensation but I really loved this ride. I don't think it quite beats my no 1 steel coaster, Intimidator 305 but it is definitely my second favourite coaster now.

I managed to ride every coaster in the park and take photos so quickly (luckily because there was a huge thunderstorm in the region). Well, almost every coaster, in the line for the last one (Comet) the heavens opened and it was the longest I waited for a coaster. After the storm passed and after I rode Comet, I was about to leave but decided to check the wait for Skyrush (thinking it would be huge). There was a 5 minute wait! I went on 5 or 6 times, you only really needed to wait for front row seats. Amazing.

Skyrush - 10

Superdooperlooper - 5 (So nice to not have OTSRs)

Great Bear - 6 (An average B&M invert)

Storm Runner - 7 (Nice launch, really smooth ride, comfy restraints)

Sidewinder - 5 (My first ever boomerang!)

Fahrenheit - 7 (A better layout than Storm Runner, but only gets 7 because it was a little rough in places)

Lightning Racer - 6 (This was a good racing wooden coaster, I really enjoyed it)

Wild Cat -5 (A decent, but rough woodie)

Wild Mouse - 3 (It's a mouse, duh!)

Trail Blazer - 3 (A little painful, pretty dull)

Comet - 4 (Rough and not a great layout and painful restraints)

I really enjoyed my day at Hersheypark, I think it's a great park for all ages and interests. The water park looked brilliant too. Also they have smores! Yum.

Too busy riding to get any decent photos!!!

Rotura Violenta · July 8, 2014

I just visited those three parks myself a few weeks ago, so it's really cool to relive it again through your reports!

Like you, I was blown away by Nitro—totally did not see that coming as I generally dislike B&M. In fact, it was my favorite ride out of all three parks, beating both El Toro and Skyrush, largely because it was less of an endurance test. My day at Hershey was also similar—everything was a walk-on all day long and I got an insane amount of rides in on Skyrush even though I wasn't that enamored with it.

Great reports!

bert425 · July 8, 2014

me too. . we were just there last month. . so great to see your pics! (we did Kennywood, HersheyPark, Knoebel's and Dorney)

(it was really overcast and drizzly there when we went, so no crowds, but got no good pictures ).

I'm in the camp that HATED Skyrush. Rode it once, got off and said "never again"

LOL

good report and pics thus far!

rubysparkles · July 14, 2014

The next day I made my way to Dorney Park, didn't get there for opening but still the park was completely empty. Just like the other parks I'd visited most of the crowds were heading away from the theme park side and were heading to the water park. Everything was a walk on, it was so quiet I was pretty shocked. I started off with Talon, which is another B&M invert with a very nice colour scheme. I liked the layout, it didn't make too much of a lasting impression but I enjoyed it.

I moved onto Hydra, a B&M floorless that has the interesting element of having an inversion before the lift. Even with that it was a pretty boring coaster. Thunderhawk was pretty rough and the seats were uncomfortable so I couldn't really enjoy the ride. Steel Force, I guess, nice? The only other Morgan I've been on is Steel Dragon 2000 (which seemed really similar in terms of layout, just bigger) and the B&M seats were so uncomfortable I couldn't enjoy it (it took a long time for me to be pushed into that seat, first time and last time that has ever happened). So with the old trains I definitely liked this model better, even if it's shorter. But that's only based on the restraints. Still not a ride I loved, but definitely very fun.

My favourite ride in the park was Possessed, probably the most comfy OSTRs I've come across. I loved the launch! It's the kind of coaster that made me laugh when I went on it. It was thrilling but very enjoyable. I'm hoping Wicked Twister is similar, I will be looking forward to going on that at Cedar Point.

The park overall didn't seem like a full day park. It was ok but definitely was my least favourite park so far.

My ratings this time:

Talon 7

Hydra 6

Thunderhawk 4

Steel Force 6

Possessed 8

coasterbill · July 14, 2014

I don't think I've ever heard anyone refer to the Comet at Hershey as rough before. I've always found that ride to be very smooth and enjoyable.

rubysparkles · July 14, 2014

I don't think I've ever heard anyone refer to the Comet at Hershey as rough before. I've always found that ride to be very smooth and enjoyable.

There had been a huge rainstorm before, I'm not sure whether this would make it feel worse or not. It wasn't Rebel Yell rough, but it still felt a bit rough to me.

mightypotato · July 14, 2014

I agree with you about Dorney's coasters. They're not bad or anything (well...maybe Thunderhawk) they're just...ok. Did you manage to get a ride on Demon Drop? I always like hearing peoples' first experience with that thing.

rcjp · July 14, 2014

My favourite ride in the park was Possessed, probably the most comfy OSTRs I've come across. I loved the launch! It's the kind of coaster that made me laugh when I went on it. It was thrilling but very enjoyable. I'm hoping Wicked Twister is similar, I will be looking forward to going on that at Cedar Point.

Funny that Possessed was my least favourite of the steel coasters there (the big ones) and I actually find B&M's OTSRs more comfy. I guess I would rank:

1 - Talon

2 - Hydra

3 - Steel Force

4 - Stinger

5 - Possessed

Possessed also delivered a relatively strong blow to my head on the way up the front spike for the second time. It wasn't bad, but if you're going to try wicked twister soon I guess you'll enjoy it more as I felt the launch was significantly more forceful and I prefer its back twisted spike.

Nice photos, by the way

Did you manage to get a ride on Demon Drop? I always like hearing peoples' first experience with that thing.

I actually tried it last summer (my first intamin 1st gen), so not that long ago too and it was great! It somehow felt more intimidating than any other drop tower I've been on (maybe that's just because I had high expectations) and it delivered a pure free fall feeling. And then there was the ker-chunk: I didn't' really know how to prepare and I forgot to warn my dad so it was quite funny.

Rotura Violenta · July 15, 2014

I was going to visit Dorney when I was in the area but ended up skipping the place as there's just so little there. Steel Force looked fun, but the rest, not so much. I do like those Intamin drop towers, but I've ridden them enough at other parks.

Cmbgo12 · July 15, 2014

Comet - 4 (Rough and not a great layout and painful restraints)

I'm glad I'm not the only person with that opinion

And its rough all the time, but it is really fun at night... Though it may just remind me of my home parks' woodie (Yankee Cannonball - Canobie Lake Park)

HWFan · July 16, 2014

Any particular reason you chose not to stop at SFSTL? I figure it's pretty much on your way from SFGAm to SDC and WoF. I know it's not an amazing park, but I think that even a couple hours to ride Mr. Freeze and American Thunder would be worth it when you have a Season Pass anyway.

rubysparkles · July 17, 2014

Any particular reason you chose not to stop at SFSTL? I figure it's pretty much on your way from SFGAm to SDC and WoF. I know it's not an amazing park, but I think that even a couple hours to ride Mr. Freeze and American Thunder would be worth it when you have a Season Pass anyway.

I'm flying from SFGAm to Kansas City, not driving. I'd love to go on Mr Freeze, but I'm relying on someone else's car and schedule while I'm there.

rubysparkles · August 11, 2014

Ok it's been a long time since I updated, but I did get back to Six Flags Great Adventure. Thanks to social media I saw that Kingda Ka had reopened (along with that drop tower I was not going to go on). So on the 4th July, after watching the parade in Philadelphia, I ran over to the best Six Flags I've been to. I was lucky as the next day I was leaving the area and heading up through New York to New Haven for my next coaster base. I took advantage of very short lines to go on El Toro again a few times.

Kingda Ka was everything I expected, not the best ride but still something about knowing it's the tallest in the world adds to the experience. The surprising thing about KK was that the line was only 20 minutes!

Score for my missed credit of Kingda Ka: 8 (hey I really like launches...)

Finally working, just not simultaneously.

Airtime = funtime!

Not a big fan of Green Lantern...

More Intamin prefabs in the world please.

rcjp · August 11, 2014

^Where did you sit on KK? I went there last summer with flash pass and waiting for the front alone (once in the station) was around 20 minutes.

rubysparkles · August 11, 2014

I hadn't done much research on Quassy, it's a very small park that seemed to be more popular for the water park section than the rides. I think it was probably the smallest park I visited on the whole trip, there weren't many rides at all. I bought enough tickets to go on Wooden Warrior twice and was too embarrassed to ride kiddie coaster. I only spent a really short time here. My rides on Wooden Warrior were: meh. The back was better than the front, there was a little bit of barely-there airtime but it seemed rough for such a tiny and fairly new coaster. It wasn't really rough, just rougher than I expected. I don't think it was really worth the drive out there.

Wooden Warrior: 5

Lake Compounce was a bigger park and had free soda! I wasn't blown away by the park but it was still worth visiting. My biggest regret is not sticking around for a night ride on Boulder Dash, but I would have had to stay at the park for a fair few hours to do that.

Boulder Dash was good, but didn't blow me away. I guess my expectations were too high. I'd still put it up there with some of the best that I've been on, it just wouldn't be that high, some great pops of airtime but also some places where I expected airtime and there was none. Also the operations were really slow, which dulled the overall experience. Zoomerang was a nice looking boomerang, a bit rougher than the one I had been one previously but the forces when it was going backwards through the loop were more intense. Wildcat was, um, terrible. There was nothing enjoyable about it, the layout was boring and it was painful.

Zoomerang: 5

Wildcat: 3

Boulder Dash: 8 (I have a feeling this would be higher if I had ridden at night)