coasters and dark rides

I'm planning my park trip and have narrowed it down to the Virginia area (PKD and BGW) or the Penn area (Hershey,Kenneywood,Knoebels). I'm finding reasons to go to either area but I love dark rides as well as coasters so which of these trips would be better if I was to consider dark rides as well as coasters. Any help would be appreciated.

hershey/kennywood/knoebels would be my pick

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Rollercoasters are my life, I think about them more than I think about....wait, thats all I think about :)

Proud Owner of www.coasterkingdom.cjb.net

Well Kennywood has a couple of good dark rides, and Knoebels has the famed haunted house. Hershey has some good coasters, and a great dueling/racing woodie, Kennywood has some good classic wood coasters, and phantom's revenge. Knoebels has Phoenix, do i need to say more?

PKD does have a good COLLECTION of rides, but not necessarily the best of the bunch, but some unique rollercoasters, Hypersonic XLC, but I don't know when it will open, BGW has some excellent theming, and some Excellent coasters.

I cant tell you which one(s) to go to, because it is not my trip,but Knoebels/Kennywood/Hersheypark are beautiful parks, and so is BGW.

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welcome one and all, y'all come have a ball!
Things a bear-y fine, ridin' on the old knott's bear-y line!

Well seeing as though neither PKD nor BGW has ANY dark rides (well, maybe Escape from Pompeii and a couple of sims) that pretty much narrows it down dont it?
jeremy
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Besides, if we were really shutting down people we disagreed with, would Jeremy (2Hostyl) still be around? :) I think not. - Jeff 1/24/02

I would say the PA trip…

I won’t go into the individual coasters, but with Knoebels, Hersheypark and Kennywood you get the following:

Wood: 3 out and backs, 2 twisters, 1 racer, 1 deuling racer

Steel: 1 inverted, 1 wild mouse, 1 mine train, 1 boomerang, 1 interactive water coaster, 1 corkscrew, 1 hyper and 1 enclosed wildmouse.

Dark Rides:

Knoebels has its famed Haunted House

Kennywood has its run of the mill Gold Rusher, fun Noah’s Ark and historic Old Mill. Kennywood also has Exterminator… part coaster, part dark ride (counted in the above steel count).

While in the area, consider hitting two small parks between Hersheypark/Knoebels area and Kennywood…

Williamsgrove: Cyclone (rickety but fun wooden out and back), Wildcat (standard Wildcat steel), and Dante’s Inferno (one of the few traditional dark rides around)

Lakemont: Skyliner (wood out and back), Leap The Dips (side friction), Mad Mouse (strange older cousin to modern wild mice)

Don’t get me wrong… Nothing wrong with the VA trip (heading down there myself in early April. However, from the way it looks, you may have an enclosed coaster or two… but you won’t run into any Dark Attractions other than that. Also, as far as coasters… while I am looking forward to the likes of Grizzly, Rebel Yell and Hurler, I don’t think these can compare to the wood in PA… especially Pheonix (Knoebels), Lightning Racer and Wildcat (Hershey).

*** This post was edited by SLFAKE on 3/18/2002. ***

If you do PA, go to Dorney as well, one GREAT woodie, a couple great steelies, and one other TALL coaster. I really enjoyed the place, esp. ThunderHawk, Talon, and Lazer. The only coaster I didn't ride was Lil' Laser, a kids-only coaster...;)

Add to that, a nice atmosphere, some other good rides, etc... (*awaiting the fires from the pro-Steel Force faction)...I'd take PA any day, it's definitely right up there with Ohio in my book....

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It's March, but the Madness is over in Mudville, Mighty U-D has struck out...
If you can't laugh at yourself, at least stop laughing at ME!

Pennsy. Like SLFAKE said, try to include Lakemont and Williams Grove. If you are going to Kennywood, Hershey and Knoebles, you might as well try to include these since they are on the way. Also note that Del Grossos is right by Lakemont, and Idlewild is close to Kennywood. If you are a dark ride fan like me, be sure to hit Knoebels. The xtra cost for the Haunted House is worth it. They charge to deter vandalism (it used to be free). Have fun!
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Brad Sherman
Don't.....look.....back! The Headless Horseman awaits you in 2002!
Model coasters and rides

And no one mentioned Conneaut Lake Park. Shame on you......

Go to Conneaut Lake Park! [there...happy AJ?]

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2002 - the year of IB's LoCoSuMo!!

I would have mentioned Conneaut.....but it doesn't seem like he is going that far north. If so, there's a great little dark ride, similar to Camden Park's, which is almost a mad mouse in a box with a nice drop. Some count these on their track records!
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Brad Sherman
Don't.....look.....back! The Headless Horseman awaits you in 2002!
Model coasters and rides

Thanks guys it seems as though I'll be heading to Penn., however I only have enough time to hit say 3 parks. Which itinerary sounds better, Knoebels Kenneywood and Hershey or Knoebels, Hershey and Dorney. I guess the question is whether Kenneywood is worth the extra drive or should I just do Dorney instead.

If I were you, I would hit Dorney. Not just because it is my hometown park, but it has some great rides, and with the addition of Meteor, it should be a good year. Hope to see ya there!

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Rollercoasters are my life, I think about them more than I think about....wait, thats all I think about :)

Proud Owner of www.coasterkingdom.cjb.net

ok, better.

Note on Dorney...

While I certainly would tell anyone who is considering Dorney to go to Dorney (it is a very good park), I left it off of this list for two main reasons...

1) Steel Force stated that he was considering Hershey, Knoebels and Kennywood. Lakemont and Williamsgrove are "on the way" between those locations... Dorney falls an hour and a half or so east (you would have go to out of your way to get there). With Lakemont and Williamsgrove, a slight detour would take you to both of those. Same reasoning I did not suggest Conneaut Lake... a good distance "out of the way".

2) with a name like "Steel Force", I made the assumption that Dorney has already been visited.

Actually SLFAKE Steel Force was a hockey nickname I had in high school (no kidding). I guess I should eventually ride my namesake huh?

I work at Kennywood and have some inside info. This will be a good year for Kennywood. The Pirate Ship and Flying Carpet have been redone. Also, since you like dark rides and coasters. They company that did some stuff on the Carpet and Phantom's Revenge also did some new "tricks" on the Exterminator. It is said that it's supposed to be better than ever. The Jack Rabbit, just got a new computerized braking system and the Phantom has 2 train operation now! That might help a bit.