Pennsylvania Trip Day 3: Idlewild Park

[raptor]

The weather report looked good for today and the rest of the trip, which was refreshing after that terrible night driving in the rain last night. However it did take longer than expected for the sun to come out and still looked dreary and over cast with some light sprinkles. The weather would end up being good though. I left the Johnstown Holiday Inn after eating my free breakfast at their restaurant that came free with their Idlewild ticket package, which by the way is a terrific deal. For $135 you get a room at the Holiday Inn, normally over a $100 dollar room, plus 2 tickets to Idlewild, that’s worth almost $60 there, plus breakfast for 2 at the Holiday Inn’s restaurant up to $10 a person, and it was a nice Holiday Inn. Anyway I headed for Idlewild, I passed through Ligonier, which was a cute little town, and then turned onto 30 W, I missed the entrance to the park the first time, the road looks too small to be an entrance to a park, so I had to turn around and get it the 2nd time. We entered through The Hootin’ Holler Section of the park and the first thing we rode was the Howler. This is a unique new type of flat. I’d never seen one before and it was a great spinner.

One of the first things I noticed as we strolled in the park was a log flume, but I never got around to riding it.

Then we stopped in the General Store but didn’t buy anything. Next we headed up for Olde Idlewild where most of the traditional rides are. We rode the Whip and the Paratroopers.

I can’t get enough of the Paratroopers. The whip however, did disappoint a little bit as I thought the whipping part was a bit tame, maybe it was just me, but when I rode the whip at Kennywood later in the week it seemed a lot better!

I never got a chance to ride The Monster as I got to ride it plenty at Lakemont the night before:

I didn't have enough time for the Ferris Wheel either:

Next we headed over for Mister Rogers Neighborhood. I thought this would be a very interesting attraction, even though it obviously would be geared towards kids. This ride was both charming and disappointing. I found the ride and the presentation and the character models very charming. However, the theme of the ride about inviting everyone you see to a hugging part by saying over and over again “come along, come along to the castle hug ‘n’ song – I found to be dumb and obnoxious, but if one can block that out it becomes a very neat attraction, everything else about it was first class.

Next we strolled around the Kids area which had many charming attractions, I’m sure I’ll get some argument on this end, but I thought this was the best park for kids I've been to, alot of unique kid attractions, and just about all the adult rides are good for kids as well if ridden with an adult. I just don’t like the current trend of everything being either a wild adult ride or a kiddy ride, the nice family rides good for all are becoming a thing of the past and I think that’s a shame, in Pennsylvania, however this isn’t the case. Rides like Haunted House Rides, The Whip, Tumblebug, Paratroopers, Flying Scooters, Enchanted Voyage like boat rides are good fun for all together.

Some quick shots I took in the Kids park were:

Handcars:

Pony track:

Another thing, this is one of the prettiest parks I have ever visited, Trees everywhere, lots of fountains, and bridges and streams. You could walk through this park all day and not ride anything and have a good time.

Next we headed for the Caterpillar. I rode this when I was a kid, I think at the Cincinnati Zoo, with my mom and sister. This ride was super cool, I loved the canopy coming over top, and it felt like you were in a tent, and there was also a fan blowing up air underneath you. It really goes quite fast, which surprised me. I rode this 3 or 4 time that day. I believe I read that it is one of only 2 rides of this kind left with a functioning canopy.

Next it was over to the Rollo Coaster. This was a terrific ride for a mild coaster, It’s not quite a kids coaster, not quite an adult coaster, somewhere in between. It’s a ride that Grandparents could ride with Grandchildren and both have a great time. It goes through a lot of trees, which is really neat. There was about a 5 or 6 year old kid who was scared to death to ride it and his parents desperately wanted to ride it and tried to take him on it and it was like rain man screaming when Tom Cruise tried to get him on the airplane that wasn’t Quantus. The dad said you rode the bigger coaster at Hershey and wanted to ride again, you can go on this one, the kid screamed NOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Throwing up his hands in a panic. It was very funny!

I never did make it on the Carousel or the Tilt A Whirl

Never got a chance to ride the flying scooters either

Next was the Wild Mouse Roller Coaster. This was the best Wild Mouse I have ever ridden, it goes through the treetops and spends a lot of time high in the air and has very quick jerky turns.

Notice you can also see the Wild Mouse in the background of some of the Caterpillar shots.

Next I rode the Balloon Race. The only time I had ridden this before was at Dollywood back in 1994 (back when the admission was $34 less than it is today). That one has long since been removed, I believe. It was a nice, enjoyable, relaxing ride.

Next I wanted to visit Story Book Forest. I didn’t expect to be charmed by it or stay very long, but since it was unique I wanted to see it. It was kind of hard to find, it was all the way at the other end, and I had to ask a couple people where it was, but eventually I found it,

I have to say I was blown away by it, First of all it is huge, I got lost a couple times in it, you could spend all day walking through this place, The craftsmanship is incredible, the life-size houses that you can walk in are so neat, another reason I think you can’t beat this place for kids. The place was such a beautiful place to walk, with beautiful landscaping, bridges, creeks and ponds.

The house of the Three Bears had a real Goldy Locks sitting outside the house in a chair, although it may be hard to tell in this distant picture

Inside the house of the Three Bears

Next we went on The Dizzy Lizzy attraction. This was totally cool. You sit on a bench and get the illusion that your going upside down in a circle, when in reality the room is moving in a circle, this was really cool, not to mention you get to listen to the Beatles song Dizzy Miss Miss Lizzy written by Larry Williams the whole time, you can’t beat that!

The next thing we did was Confusion Hill, which was kind of like a fun house, you walked through and listened to the host, but the floor was slanted through the whole place, interesting attraction, but something that could get old after a couple of times.

We pretty much just rode rides we had already ridden before leaving around 7:30. I had a 2 hour drive up to State College PA, where I was staying 2 nights at a Sleep Inn. Tomorrow I would be going to Knoebel’s Park in Elysburg!

[standbyme]

Thanks for yet another good report!

I haven't seen those kiddie handcars since I was a kid...and that's been a (really) long tiime!

[The Interpreter]

Idlewild is one of my favorite parks. I adore both Rollo Coaster and the mouse there. It's quite incredible. And a beautiful park it is. I hope the new owners maintain the gem they have.

Thanks for yet another great report! Did you eat anything in the park?

Standbyme, Camden Park also has kiddie handcars.

[windshawne]

I have only been on a caterpillar during one summer in my life-I thought that was a really unique thing. I bet they're high maintenance though. All of these parks are making me want to support the mom and pops, which I have been doing this summer.

[raptor]

The only thing I ate was a meatball hoagie at the indoor Italian restaurant, the name escapes me. I prefer indoor eateries so I went there and I wasn't really in the mood for anything on the menu, so I got the MB hoagie which I am not a big fan of, so I couldn't really say how good it was, but I'm sure there food is pretty good. I was just in a hurry. Yes I believe the Caterpillar is high maintenance, you can see where the canopy is ripping some, and since there are more of these rides in operation without a functioning canopy than with would indicate that it is indeed high maintenance.