Clementon Park & Home 6/21/08 (Day 8)

We checked out of the hotel and hit Clementon shortly after the 11am opening. The plan was to stay just a couple of hours and then make the long drive home.

- We got the McDonald's discount (although the online discount is a buck cheaper) making it $27.99 (instead of $32.99) which still felt a little steep for this park. In comparison the season pass is $49.99 so it's clear what the park wants you to do.

- Neither the rides nor waterpark sides of the the park would be much alone, but together I can see how it could make something to do for the day.

- Hell Cat is teh suxors!!1!111!! I don't know what it was like before they added the series of trims to the first drop, but now it's managed to reach that special place that few coasters do - too slow and still too rough. Welcome to the worst of both worlds club.

- The dude running the train looked like a hairy Alfonso Ribeiro.

- The park's clientele reminded me a lot of the folks we found at Lake Winnie last year but they were the NJ version of Winnie's southern crowd.

- Lots of picnics and groups. I think every pavillion had a group in it.

- S-L-O-W operations.

- The place was packed and being less than impressed with the park, we decided to head out a little after 2pm.

- It took about 9 hours to drive home.

Tomorrow I plan on sleeping in and doing nothing.

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coasterimage.com

That's unfortunate about Hellcat. I rode it as J2 and, while somewhat rough, it had a speed and aggressiveness about it that I enjoyed. It may have even made my top ten list, but if it's as you say it is now, then that may not hold true if I ride it again.

Yea, operations kinda suck there. I remember that there was a decent line for J2, but they were only running 1 train, and it's a short train at that.

How did you feel about the log flume that uses the water from the lake there?

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coastin' since 1985 "Ever gotten line-jumped by Flash Pass users at Six Flags? Guess what?...You've been Shapiro'd!" http://coasterpics.coastercavern.com

That's really is too bad about Hell Cat. I rode it as Tsunami when it first opened, and it was great!

Can you imagine being a park of this size, making an investment like Tsunami/J2/Hell Cat and having it turn out like that?

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website, twitter, flickr

That is depressing about Hellcat. I haven't ridden it yet but it was a fun ride as J2. It was never a great coaster but as rablat5 said the aggressiveness just made it a cool ride. My son loves waterparks so we got the $49 passes. The place is a pit but on a hot day it's not a bad place to be. Sux about Hellcat, though.

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Lord Gonchar said:

- It took about 9 hours to drive home.

Tomorrow I plan on sleeping in and doing nothing.

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9 hours??...that's pretty good considering!! Makes me feel better for my drive in a couple weeks.

But hopefully Gonch will be up to grace us with his presence for this week's podcast, assuming there is one! It would keep up with the bi-weekly pace, after all.

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rablat5 said:
How did you feel about the log flume that uses the water from the lake there?

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It was down the whole time we were there.

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coasterimage.com

As Tsunami that ride was completely and absolutely NUTS....I remember saying something that first season along the lines of "ride it now, this is NOT going to age well". Seriously. I wonder if Myrtle's HC5 ever rode like that, since I never got to ride it when it was "newish". Eerily similar, just too powerful of a ride for the support structure and maintenance. I almost prefer not to ride it again...

Keeping something that intense on good condition really requires *constant* care...

First Great White now Hell Cat, that really stinks to hear about 2 really good "looking" woodies that are just bad.

That was one heck of a trip.

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"Roll that beautiful bean footage..."

When I rode Tsunami, I really didn't like it. Maybe I'm a wuss, but I'm not really a big fan of overly aggressive woodies.

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Hobbes: "What's the point of attaching a number to everything you do?"
Calvin: "If your numbers go up, it means you're having more fun."

So all told, how many parks did you hit, coasters did you ride, and for the family side, how many memories did you make in your 8 days of vacation, Gonch?

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Jeff Young

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Jeff Young said:
So all told, how many parks did you hit, coasters did you ride, and for the family side, how many memories did you make in your 8 days of vacation, Gonch?

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It was 12 parks.

Not sure of the total number of coasters or number ridden, but I had the potential to do 23 new credits and scored just 10 bringing my total to 313 I believe.

I'd probably be over 400 if I credit whored over the years.

My daughter scored 20 new credits bring her total to 243. Not bad for age ten, but she's so coaster jaded that it's almost funny to see.

My son got 18 new credits bringing him up 64. Not bad considering he just reached 48 inches a few weeks ago. He's just 6, so he's still VERY iffy an a lot of coasters he technically could ride.

For the record, both kids followed dad's lead and scored about half of the available credits.

Parents, don't let your kids become credit whores. It's a long, slippery slope.

We leave in three weeks for our next week-long trip.

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coasterimage.com

Congrats to your son. The 48 mark is big!!! My son turned 6 and just made 48 in shoes two months ago. He was so excited. Now we're telling him to eats lots of veggies so he can hit 54 inches. I told told him he's gold after that!

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Lord Gonchar said:

We leave in three weeks for our next week-long trip.

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Too bad that likely does NOT include Canada's Wonderland!

Well, I guess I'm glad we decided to cut Clementon out of our shore trip next month. Doesn't sound like we are missing much. Our trip will include 18 parks, maybe a couple more if we have time and really want to credit whore. You hit most of the parks that we are planning on visiting so it's nice to read your take on them before we get there.