PA, NJ, VA Amusement Park Trip

[johnjniehaus]

Ok so July 31-Aug 4 I hit 5 parks over 3 states. These were Lakemont Park, Knobles Amusement Park, Six Flags Great Adventure, Hershey Park, and Busch Gardens Williamsburg. (Drove right past Kings Dominion and Dorney Park....I currently don't have a platinum pass and decided to invest my time and $ into non Cedar Fair parks since conceivably I could upgrade to a platinum pass in future years.) Regardless so here's my thoughts and let me know if any of you have been and what your thoughts are. 

Lakemont Park is so small and seems mors like a recreational park but leap the Dips is an amazing piece of history and actually Skyliner was a pretty good Woodie... similar to Thunderbolt at Kennywood. 

 

Knobles Amusement Park was amazing.... well except that I spent$60 in 4 hrs on tickets. Regardless Pheonix is my second fav Wooden wonder after The Beast at KI. Twister was amazing too and is my 4th fav Wooden coaster. You usually don't hear much about twister but it was really good. Rode my first ever bobsled style (flying turns) was cool. Black Diamond was a way better dark ride than boo blaster. The teacups were a PTC crazy daisy and was alot of fun. The Flyer was the old Bisch-Rocco style and now I know why my dad hates Woodstock Gliders because it's so dumbed down compared to the old models. He remembers the Eagles at KI which is now at Carowinds. Now I've been spoiled on a Bisch-Rocco model and I'll probably never ride Woodstock Gliders ever again....

 

Six Flags Great Adventure surprised me in many ways. First El Toro didn't live up to irs hype....so first of all I had high expectations like maybe this can knock beast out of my top wooden coaster spot?.Nope! Not even close Beast is WAY BETTER! El Toro is probably my #5 wooden coaster but I felt it was rough and the end of the ride wasn't very enjoyable. (I don't like Mystic Timbers because of that side to side throwing motion and Toro was doing that too.) The airtime was crazy but I prefer the Pheonix for air and The Beast for location and speed and length and location and speed and length and did I forget to say location!? Anyway I rode 3x in 3 different seats and walked away with a headache so no I'm here to say El Toro isn't the best wooden coaster out there. It's good but not the best. Kingda Ka was amazing especially considering the dragster at CP has been closed for awhile now. I love b&m stand-ups and Green Lantern was of course one of my favs at the park. Nitro was great. Second favorite hyper after Dback. Skull Mountain was cool. Biggest surprise was the Runaway Mine Train. Everyone on YouTube and in articles say it's rough and I disagree. I didn't get a headache from the mine train and I rode it 3x in a row and probably close to 6x throughout the day. The location and speed and airtime was awesome...one of the better arrows in my opinion. Final rides to comment on at the Para-Drop which was unique, Twister which was my first "top spin" and it was a blast (kind wish Crypt would make a return to KI because top spin was alot of fun), and the Houdini Great Escape which was one of.the weirdest rides I've ridden....like I logically know it doesn't flip upside down but it feels like it. Trying to determine how a Vekoma Mad House works makes my head hurt.... anyway I Love that ride. Won't ever happen but I would go for a Phantom Theater themed Vekoma madhouse in the former action theater building at KI you know former action theater is now phantom theater....

 

Hershey Park was really nice. Super Duper Looper, Great Bear, Candymonium were awesome...laff Trak was cool too. Skyrush was like a mini millennium Force but those restraints kill.your legs. Trailblazer was a cute mine ride and comet was a classic. The Kissing Tower was the first observation tower type ride I've done that isn't an elevator to a platform like the Eiffel Tower. 

 

Busch Gardens Williamsburg I can't say enough....rival to Epcot in my book. Such great theming and rides. I did behind the scenes tour which was worth every $ . Loch Ness Monster was a terrific arrow looper and was really smooth for that ride type. They went into how much maintenance goes into that ride and how often they replace wheels to keep it smooth.... just visually looking at some of KI wheels on Arrows like The Bat for example I think that Busch Gardens hold theirs to a much higher standard. Like the wheels on The Bat would be replaced if it was at Busch gardens. Griffon was a great dive coaster. Apollo's Chariot was a good hyper. Idk.why people hate on it. Pantheon was down alot but I finally did get a ride on it and it was a fun mix of velocicoaster and Mr freeze reverse blast. InvadR was BETTER than Mystic Timbers in my opinion. Alpengeist was surprisingly rough and had bad transitions so it was a 2x and done for me. Raptor and Banshee are more comfortable. Verboten I cannot say enough about. Rode it 10x and got all 3 show scenes. Smooth, great launches and positive gs, great night ride, drop track was amazing! Best coaster in the park. (Wish I could reverse the clock and ride big bad Wolf because I know some people say it was even better than verboten) Escape From Pompeii was best themed splash Boat type ride I've ever been on. The fire in there is nuts! 

 

So there's my thoughts on these 5 parks and their offerings.