DJSkyFoxx

Being the Stinger train, I noticed that the ride comfort (haha I know, old school Vekoma ) is significantly less than the OG train that came with ours. I realize Invertigo has never been a particularly "comfortable" ride, but having learned how to ride it without much trouble, I have felt the old Stinger train is less comfortable than the one that came with ours. Not sure if its because the train itself is a year older than ours ( 1998 Invertigo from CGA) or what, but I just thought it felt a bit bumpier this year.

Ok so having gone to Haunt this past Friday 9/29 here are my thoughts. I will immediately say that yes, the fog was turned up and it was awesome. But I will also add that.....well...the decorations and overall Haunt theming is considerably weak from last year. I was joking with my fiancé' that they turned the fog up to cover up the bareness of the park's decorations. For example, Pumpkin Eater over in Action Zone was sooo much more immersive. You didn't even need to participate in that attraction itself to be part of the action because it was so deeply themed over there. Now its just this tiny little area and it just feels...sad. After completing a full lap around the park to survey the scenery, we were both very unimpressed by the lack of enthusiasm in the decorations department this season. The budget cuts are definitely felt and I was really sad about that. My memories of past Haunts reflect such an immersive experience where the park truly felt transformed into a spooky land. Now, not so much. I will say there are plenty of pumpkins lol We did not participate in any of the haunt mazes as the lines were super long. We decided we will splurge one evening for Fright Lane or aim for a Sunday night Haunt when it will possibly be considerably less busy. So on that note, I don't have anything to add to how well the actual mazes are but I am planning to do them before its all over. We caught the first Nyte Walkers show and we both really enjoyed it. Very fun show with both a dance/BMX combo of things. It was a good time. Fun music. And overall just a well rounded show. I think the roller blade guy really stole the show for the BMX portion and the two main dancers of the show were the highlights for us. I went for a few hours on Saturday as well to see a couple of friends that came into town and did a late afternoon/early evening and mostly just focused on the rides. And truth be told, outside of doing some mazes on a visit, that is mostly what Haunt will be about this year. Getting the last usage of my All Season Fast Lane and getting as many rides in as possible. Because the total immersive feeling of Haunt this season just doesn't exist sadly. Side Note: The amount of folks on a certain facebook group encouraging others to bring their small children is aggravating. I feel these are the people who have made it easy for the neutering of haunt to be justified in budge cuts because why turn up the scare factor when this seems to be a welcomed mentality? I wish I was kidding when I say there was a literal INFANT in the audience for Nyte Walkers and there were so many small children running around the park Friday night I literally would have thought it was the day time event for families. I was really annoyed by this. Not to mention the amount of unsupervised kids running amuck without any adults. A specific instance inside the candy store over by the VIP lounge occurred where these pre-teen boys kept bugging the workers to taste test all the candy and fudge and they were being relentless and rude. I was watching them because of the line of work I do, its hard not to be instinctually vigilant, but they were definitely working on trying to steal because they were hiding various things where they didn't belong. It took security wayyyyy too long to throw them out. I was really disgusted by the lack of supervision going on. Aside from that, I just plan to enjoy the park for what it is for the rest of the fall season as much as possible, get as many night rides in as possible and end the season on a good note.

It was definitely SUPER foggy this morning on my morning commute to work!

And THIS right here is exactly why special events such as Pride Night are so special. It sickens me to hear this kind of garbage. I know this unfortunately exists everywhere but I really hate it when people simply can't just mind their business. We're all just out here trying to have fun, not be harassed and made to feel less than. And as for the more "family friendly" Haunt, I have a lot of feelings about this. Like most of you, I am truly not a fan of the watered-down Haunt we have today. Fear Fest is deep in my memory as an experience that was truly dark and had a real creepy feel to it. Long gone are those days it seems. I wish they felt they could keep it on high. Its not like there isn't a family friendly event during the day and its not like there aren't warnings about the event not being recommended for those under the age of 13. If your 5 year old gets the crap scared out of them and parent takes issue with the scare actors or the scenery/music/atmosphere that completely falls on them for having said child there in the first place. You don't get to be upset when you have been warned. And because of this the scare actors don't feel like they can turn up the heat and truly create a scary experience. Not to mention the No-Boo necklaces. If you wish not to get scared, don't come! That's like going to a rock concert and not wanting to listen to it because its too loud even though you know with it being a concert it will be loud so you ask the board operators to turn down the amps to a dull roar thus making the experience less immersive for everyone else. Maybe I sound too brash but I just want to see Haunt be what it used to be when it was Fear Fest.

Ok so seriously, WHERE ARE THE SPECIAL FALL FOODS THIS YEAR?! I am rather concerned that there won't be any special fall foods since there hasn't been anything specifically noted on the website like in years past. No blog posts. Nothing. Really hoping they still have some special items they just "forgot" to list them on the website. To me, along with the decorations and the atmosphere, having special eats for the event is all part of the experience.

Jolly Donut is always a must-stop for my fiancé' and I! Been going there for years. Not only are their doughnuts great, but the rest of their menu is also enjoyable. And their price points are definitely more than reasonable too. Glad someone else here on this forum has experience with that old school diner! Also thanks for the heads up on low crowds this time of year. May end up having to make a trip like that next year. Low crowds would be a treat at that park.

I would really love to see a water coaster be added to SC. I feel that would be one heck of an addition. It could even be a family-styled one like Mammoth at Holiday World where it would have a higher capacity and a wider appeal. I doubt this will happen anytime soon since SC hasn't really gotten anything significant attractions wise in awhile, but one can dream. It does give one hope though with the fact that they did some updating to one of the restaurants, I'd like to think that they are slowing sprucing it up for something great.

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Or it could be the opposite and squeeze a few more years out of Invertigo to have "a kid friendly boomerang and a thrill boomerang"

Even if they didn't use the TRTR building for an RMC, if they could put something in there to give life and year round use back to it that would be rad. It's truly incredible how much dead space the park has from past attractions that they can use at their fingertips before they even have to clear out major portions of land for other attractions. I just want to see this building get some use again, The Vortex plot used and hopefully maybe someday the old SOB station find use again that doesn't just restrict it to Haunt activity. That would be my wish list and not in that order. Just hoping to see those areas receive some love before we see more attractions ripped out. Seeing how they were able to transform a relatively non-themed area into a vibrant mini-land ( AP ) it gives me hope to see more of that kind of energy being brought forward to hopefully the above listed and beyond sections of the park. And in no way do I expect any of this to crop up over night as these areas have been left vacant for some time now. But more time will tell.

If I had to guess they might be revamping it for new merch (Haunt/Winterfest gear) or maybe just redoing the way the page looks all together?

I can honestly say that Vekoma's designs and innovation have always been really cool to me. Granted the Vekoma of yesteryear is notoriously rough, they had the idea and the spirit. It's good to see they've grown up and shown out to be the company I have always believed they could be. And this small purchase of a family boomerang from them gives me hope for a bigger badder project down the pipeline with them. Anyone who has followed my responses knows I'd love to see a new gen Vekoma take the place of Vortex. It just seems fitting to have something that has hint of nostalgia with today's tech and smooth ride. I think if they were to do something like that it would be an instant hit and it would fill the void that has been left since Vortex's demise.

I just gotta say they really picked the "best" time to cut weekday ops out seeing as this is such an incredibly hot week I'm sure folks would have been thrilled to be able to utilize the water park.

This is all beginning to sound like a middle school math-word problem

Thank you so much for this!

Anyone ever read Google reviews of parks for fun? Sometimes I like reading the negative ones just to humor myself on some of the ridiculous things people say. I recently read a negative review for Cedar Point and the individual was complaining that half the rides were not running and that they were upset because they had a group of students with them and such. The part that was funny was that they complained that the "Top Thrill ride wasn't even running" as if they didn't realize the ride is currently under construction( Signs and everything pointing to the new reimagined ride experience...) and couldn't even possibly run....let alone that is has been closed for two years Sometimes I really wonder how some folks get out of bed in the morning and function in society...

If anyone is in the park today, any updates on Banshee? I also heard about all three trains being parked on the transfer tracks so I was just curious if she was back up and running. Considering getting off work a little early tomorrow to enjoy a few hours of the last daily ops and was hoping to get a few rides on Banshee.

That's exactly what I've been rooting for. A next-gen Vekoma looper in The Vortex plot would pay homage to the past but bring forward a better experience. Aside from my hopes and dreams of this, its just nice to see them working together. Looking forward to seeing the updated area next season!

This gives me hope for Cedar Fair eventually giving Vekoma a chance to do a major install at some point if they are giving them a chance to do a family ride.

My fiancé' and I have been talking about making a trip up to Dorney because of their very self aware PR team's videos on TikTok and how funny they are. We have been waiting to see what this announcement would be and I will say that I have two sides of feelings. The positives being that it's great to see them getting a brand new major installation after so many years, the theming/story is creepy and cool and them getting a reliable coaster. The downside being that it is yet again another B&M. Nothing against B&M as they make great coasters, but it would be nice to see another player involved since there are so many other manufacturers out there doing rad stuff. Overall, I will be glad to hopefully make my first ever trip up there next year and check it all out.

And then in turn when folks see filthy walkways, that also ties into the perception of other areas like ride safety and food safety. The line of thought "if they can't even keep the walkways clean where else are things not being cared for?" and this image is bad as a whole which can then lead to further decline on attendance. It's just not a good look

I quite like the hoodies. May consider getting one at some point!

I had seen folks talking about a free ice cream voucher and birthday pin last year on FB when I was still active on there and I wanted to check and make sure they still did it this year considering all these cuts they have appeared to make this year. On that note, I did get my pin and ice cream yesterday and I wanted to give a big shout out to all the staff who made my evening special. My fiancé and I managed to get a nice clear evening in, got a tastings card, did a few coasters, walked around and got a couple of new plushies. So the good and the bad about the food tasting card. The good being that you don't have to use the whole thing in one visit. As long as you visit during Grand Carnivale, it is valid so its nice that you don't have to get them all at once. The bad being that of the three tastings we got yesterday, only one of them was truly enjoyable. The panzerotti was the most enjoyable but we both agreed that the house made marinara dipping sauce was not that great so we opted to use LaRosa's pizza sauce instead which was the better choice. The krapfen di carnevale (berry cream filled doughnut ) was just disappointing. It looked so good in the photo but when we tried it, there was hardly any cream in it at all and it wasn't warm. I feel like had it been warmed up with more cream filling it would have been much more satisfying but it just didn't deliver which was sad. The blueberry bits were good and we mostly ate that part of it. And our last tasting we did of the night was the bang bang chicken. This again could have been so much better had it been grilled chicken with a spicier sauce. It was just very peanut forward and sadly just not at all what we hoped for. We didn't get to experience the parade last night due to weather so I can't give my personal opinion on the experience yet, but it does make me so sad to hear that it isn't the grand experience that they are selling it as. I would still like to see it with my own eyes despite the fact. I'll just say that I am grateful to the kindness from the staff last night and getting a peaceful evening with my human

Thank you kindly for the confirmation!

Keeping all of the drink stations opened. Granted I realize in recent times with the budget cuts and yada yada this isn't high on the priority list, but everyone constantly needs something to drink and having more locations open creates less waits and more options. Not to mention as a fan of fountain Cherry Coke, Tower Drinks has the superior Cherry Coke vs the FreeStyle. I wish Tower Drinks was open more often specifically for this reason and also because its right at the front of the park and makes sense to staff it more often. Oh well.