Homepark pride?
I have noticed that a lot of us Buzzers fully support our homeparks. I was wondering if we like our homeparks a lot because we have a greater opportunity to visit them than other parks. Another question is do you like your homepark more than the others? Could some of us be a little biased? If we are, I think it is okay to brag a little about the park closest to where you live.
What do you feel about your homepark and why? Do you find it to be your favorite or not? Do you find it to be a part of your identity?
I live in Altoona PA. HP and KW are the 2 large parks near me. I have alway had a small affection for KW and HP is slowly growing on me. My true homeparks are DelGrossos and Lakemont. They are both very small and inexpensive. I like Delgrosso's a lot but I almost dislike Lakemont.
Lakemont is just run down and old. The employees are not as good as they could be (they will hire just about anyone). The food is just okay and the rides are in poor condition. They say the family who currently owns the place are keeping it open as a service to the community.
DelGrosso's, on the other hand is sparkling clean and the rides are new and/or well mantained. The ride opps are pretty good as they are well selected (heck, they won't even hire ME, and I am as good as they come). The food is very good and for a small park, they have very good attendance. They have so much money that they can't find ways to spen it all.
I do not feel that these two are my favorite parks. If I had to pick a favorite park it would be PKI just because that is where I noticed that I was coaster crazy at the ripe age of 12.
Discuss...
I certainly have a lot more pride in SFEG than I used too. After visiting it more frequently this year, I have enjoyed my visit almost every time. I used to bag on it a lot, but now I stick up for the park. Part of what makes a park fun is how your attitude is when you visit the park, I could have fun riding a kiddie coaster as long as I am in a good mood. Now I know that SFEG can't give the thrills you would find at CP or SFMM, but I enjoy the park and regret past remarks I have made about the park.
I also have GREAT pride in Lakeside as I think this park doesn't get the respect it deserves. But it never will so I guess I just have to live with it.
I think a lot of people have pride in their homepark and they should. Not all of us get to visit 4 or 5 parks a year. I have also noticed a lot of the members on this site have great parks near them, so they definitly have the right to have pride in thier home parks.
BTW-Money is not everything. Just because a park has money does not neccesarily make it better.
And money can get the best of you, making you charge $3.00 for a 20oz Pepsi, it just ain't right. If you ask me, Lakemont looks like a great classic park that is in a simular situation as Lakeside here in Denver. Funds are limited and the community dis-respects the park. Well, you never know what you had till its gone, my suggestion is to support Lakemont, but that is just a 15 year old kids opinion...
*** This post was edited by RubberDucky on 8/15/2002. ***
Well I for one love my homepark PGA. I ama bit biased because its my homepark but i believe tehy are going in the right direction with things. They are getting better attractions and the park is REALLY clean!
I even have an unofficial webpage for it!
www.greatamericanthrills.com
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*** This post was edited by carr76013 on 8/15/2002. ***
My home park is Knoebels. I believe I take pride in it being my home park. I love taking Knoebels newbies on the tour of the park, having them walk across the covered bridge and look at the trout swimming beneath, touching the north pole, jumping at the truck in the Haunted Mansion, grabbing the rings on the carousel. They are just some things you just can't do at 99% of the parks in the world and I'm glad that 1% is near me.
I still remember when Knoebels was woodless and they still had the cages, Ferris wheel where the swings are, Rocket Slide where the Galleon is, petting zoo and pony rides. How many people remember those?
I grew up going to Knoebels. When I was very little I remember my pap taking me to the park and riding the kiddie rides. The hand cars were my favorite. When I was in second grade the greatest thing happened at the park.....The Phoenix! I've seen Knoebels expand greatly but still stay the same quaint little park.
I just know theres no other park quite like Knoebels out there and I love to see peoples reactions when they visit. I love pointing out stuff that most people wouldn't notice like looking back as you exit the skull room to see the lights turned on and telling them where certain rides were before they were removed. I also like to show people the carousel and Knoebels museums, because I know most people would miss them unless they were looking for them.
There's no other coaster that I've ridden I'd rather have 15-20 minutes from my house than the Phoenix. Add the Skooters, Flyers, Haunted Mansion, Grand Carousel, Twister, fresh cut fries and the several organs playing music and you don't need anything else to have a great day at a park.
Just ask Gregleg and Soggy, there two buzzers I gave my tour to.
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Visits to Knoebels in 2002: 6
*** This post was edited by coasterpunk on 8/16/2002. ***
PKD isnt much better. They have *slightly* better operations and atmosphere, but their rides are inferior to SFA.
Home Park 3-South, BGW, I've only been there once so I really cant say how I feel about it. I spent the entire day there, but it was a short operating day. That seems more like a vacation park rather than one I'd go to weekly.
Home Park 3-North (they are equidistant from me), HERSHEYPARK is one of, and may soon become my absolute, favorite park. With the exception of the fact that they dont logically fill up their parking lot, there isnt a thing that I do not like about the park. Imagine if somebody gave Holiday World about 2 billion dollars to expand, the only stipulation being that they had to ratchet down their charm about a third (like the dont have enough to spare). THAT would be HERSHEYPARK. Even though I just went there for the first time last year, I've already been there four times and currently have a coupon in my pocket to go back! Out of all the park in this area, that was the ONE I chose to take my parents to....they loved it as well!
jeremy
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"To get inside this head of mine, would take a monkey-wrench, and a lot of wine" Res How I Do
I take great pride in Kennywood not only because I am biased that I go there all the time and its very accessible to me - it is widely recognized as being one of the best, if not the best atmosphere park in the world. I realize that makes me extremely spoiled when it comes to parks (probably the single reason that I don't hold any six flags park in high esteem) but I also realize I am spoiled and realize that I should take pride in the fact that I'm one of a lucky what, maybe 2 million people who can call KP a true "home park" (and most of them don't like parks ;) ).
And Jeremy, is Hershey "do-able" by yourself? I am really itching to get to the park this year for the first time, but NO ONE will go with me, they all claim "its too far" but they all jump at the chance to go to CP which is the same distance ... go figure.
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Steel - #1 Kumba, #2 Millie, #3 Mantis ||| Wood - #1 Thunderbolt, #2 Villain, #3 Gwazi
"The key to a happy life is moderation" -- Jon Stewart
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Current favorite coasters:
Wooden: 1) Beast 2) Raven 3) Son of Beast 4) The Boss 5) Timber Wolf
Steel: 1) Raging Bull 2) Millennium Force 3) V2 4) Wild Thing 5) Mr. Freeze
Visit: http://www.dynamicgroove.com
*** This post was edited by Joe Carroll on 8/15/2002. ***
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Yes I'm 15, no I'm not childish, I'm not being sarcastic, well maybe I do have somewhat of an ego...
SFGAm
This is the park that is closest to me, and located in (near) my hometown. I think this park is about as good as it gets for what it is. I really have no complaints with the place, and enjoy most of the rides there a great deal. This is not the park that I actually visit the most, as that would be my true homepark...
Indiana Beach
I know this sounds corny (a joke, get it?), but if there is a park that I truly feel "at home" at, Indiana Beach is it. Having my favorite coaster in the world there doesn't hurt much, either. IB is one + hours furthur than SFGAm from my apartment, but I've already been here 5 times this year.
Kennywood
My childhood and family homepark, so I've got a sentimental attachment to the place. My family is still in Pittsburgh, so I get to Kennywood at least once a year. :)
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"The perfect machine, you seemed to be, when I built you up in my mind..." - Reverend Jon Autry
The closest park to me is King's Island. I really love this park. It's not the best but I think it does me and my family good with the whole "amusement park" feel.
Now Cedar Point on the other hand...I wouldn't consider this my home park because I live so far away! I can hardly get over there 2 times a year. But Cedar Point is good too. If I lived closer, it would definantly be my home park.
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Call me SpongeBobAlex.
Living in Columbus, OH, gives me a few options as far as "homeparks" go.
PKI is probably my real homepark-it's the first one I ever visited (pre "P"), and I spent hours upon hours in Hanna-Barbera land riding the Beastie and Smurf's Enchanted Voyage over and over. My poor brother (he's six years my senior) was forced to ride the Beastie many more times than the Beast in those days. Nowadays, it seems like PKI is a little stuck. They only have one coaster that is solidly a top-20 for me (Beast), and even that monster is in danger of sliding out. It seems that it has lost some of the charm it had in my youth without really becoming a "mega-park" Of course, a shiny B&M hyper might turn it around for me :)
Then, of course, there's CP. In my youth, I really never liked going there as much as KI, probably due to the fact that their kid's area wasn't as good. Of course, since then they've added Raptor, Mantis, Mean Streak, MF, WT, Power Tower, etc. Wicked Twister (when running full power) is my #3 coaster, and of course MF is a bad mofo. However, Raptor and Mantis just don't do it for me anymore-I've ridden inverts and standups that blow them both away-and Maggie is showing her age. Since I've been going there for approx. 17 years, I guess I don't view it as "Mecca," like some do. It's a solid park, but definitely not my favorite.
I wouldn't even consider SFWoA as a contender. I've only been there twice.
I'd love to "adopt" Kennywood. It's only a little further away than SFWoA, and I think it has everything that a home park should have-atmosphere, friendly staff, and, of course, great coasters. But maybe most important of all is the flat ride collection. Since I was unable to ride big coasters when I first started going to parks, I have a soft spot in my heart for unique flats. The Kangaroo and the Whip are enough to make me declare my love for KP.
However, my "real" homepark is BGT. Granted, I live 1200 miles away from it, but I always go there at least twice a year due to its proximity to my grandparents home in Clearwater. I started going there when I was a pre-teen (Python rocked back then), and I've looked upon it lovingly as it has grown into a first-class park. Two of my ten favorite coasters reside there (Kumba and Montu) and the hidden gem, Scorpion, was my first real "favorite" coaster. The animal exhibits are just as fun as the coasters for me. I'm saddened that the dolphins are leaving, but the gorillas and the lorikeets are staying put :)
I know BGT is my true homepark because it's the only one I get defensive about. You can bash PKI and CP all you want, but say one word out of line about BGT (or, The Dark Continent), and I'm ready to fight. I can't wait for the day that I move to the Tampa/St.Petersburg/Clearwater area (if only Lori had decided to go to USF for her Masters instead of OSU).
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Why do you have to have a license to own a dog, but not to have a child?
My home park is SFGAm, and while I'm very glad to have such a coaster tour-de-force relatively near my home (170 miles), it's not my favorite. I love going to Holiday World every year, and I wish I could make it there more often. I always leave HW thinking about how great SFGAm would be if its staff treated patrons like HW's and if its food and drink pricing were similar.
Actually, I live closer to Big Chief, Riverview, and Little A-Merrick-A, but I don't really think of them as home parks.
To turn this discussion in a slightly different way, I've seen many posters lately become very defensive when responding to criticism of their home or favorite parks. I don't favor arbitrary bashing of a park for no good reason, but I thought part of the idea of CoasterBuzz (and all forums in general) was to share ideas and opinions on the topic in question. I would say that posting something like "X-Park sucks!" is out of line, as well as responding "Good! You're one less person I have to wait in line behind at X-Park!" Is anyone else tired of seeing these kinds of posts in a thread started to try to intelligently discuss the pluses and minuses of one park or another?
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Revised projection for 2002: 37 parks & 140 coasters. 27 & 105 through 8/11
(First... let me give MY deffinition of Home Park: not necessairly the park that I am closet to... but the park that I feel the most at home in or have the closest "connection" to or go to the most. I know that most share this deffinition, just a disclaimer for those who don't.)
Homepark is Hersheypark. 40 minutes away. "Proud of it?" As proud as anyone can get who is not direclty associated to it I suppose. Defensive about it? Definately. While there are a great many people who love the park, there are others who are not quite as "kind" to it and do a fare share of complaining (comments like "Tudor Square is a 'poor man's' BGW", "Comet is a boring old coaster", and the oft stated "Great Bear is just forceless").
Homes away from Home:
Knoebels: 2hrs away. Pride in the park? I suppose. When my wife and I visited we bought a bag of peanuts. They give you these little brown paper bags for the shells. I was being so careful not to even drop one shell by accident on the ground to litter up the park!
Kennywood: Something about the charm that grows on you.
Busch Gardens Williamsburg: Do I need to list all the great things about this park? It gets so redundant.
Is my home park my favorite? In my opinion, Hersheypark is only over shadowed by one... BGW. As for Knoebels and Kennywood... yeah, they are right up there on even footing. Ask me on two different days which I like better and you could get two different answers.
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Kind of hard to take a post as objective if a park or coaster name is part of the "user name"
*** This post was edited by SLFAKE on 8/15/2002. ***
You can probably guess my homepark is CP, although I'm just an hour further from MiA and SFWoA, and 2 hours further to PKI.
I have a lot of pride in CP, it's very hard not to after watching them grow from a park full of flat rides with a couple coasters in the 1960's to what it is today. Their attention to cleanliness and friendliness is consistent and has been so for as long as I've been visiting, and I can count on one hand the number of times I did NOT enjoy myself at CP in the past 30 years. Kinda hard to beat that. I could walk the park blindfolded.
On the other hand, I thoroughly enjoyed my two trips to Michigan's Adventure and my one trip to PKI. The recent trip to SFGAm was pleasant. I can't help but compare some aspects of those trips to CP, but each of these parks has their own particular good points and must be looked at as separate entities. It's unfair to expect certain parks to match the same explicit standards as another. Although I expect all parks to adhere to a "general" set of standards on a consistent basis. This is more easily to judge from a home park than from a park that is only visited once or twice.
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I'd rather die living than live like I'm dead
PKI is my home park but I only go a few times because CP is only an extra hour drive. Plus I'm liking Cedar Point better any way. Had a bad bad, trip the last time I went to PKI. Almost all of the coasters and drop zone were closed.
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OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH! My dikfus.
PittDesigner said:
"And Jeremy, is Hershey "do-able" by yourself? I am really itching to get to the park this year for the first time, but NO ONE will go with me, they all claim "its too far" but they all jump at the chance to go to CP which is the same distance ... go figure."
Anyone who would choose CP over HERSHEYPARK has to be either a) a Po!nter, b) a steelie freak or c) just doesnt know schitt from shynola (My opinion only of course :))
I'm likely the wrong person to ask that question right now. I am currently falling back into the "Parks are not fun Alone" mindset. That being said, I would gather that HP is no more or less "doable" solo than any other park aside from KennyWood and Astroworld. There are no rules on any of the coasters that require you to pair up. None of the lines get ridiculously long (save Roller Soaker, but you'll be interacting so it's like you suddenly have hundreds of 'friends'). So I guess you could do that if that's your thing :)
jeremy
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"To get inside this head of mine, would take a monkey-wrench, and a lot of wine" Res How I Do
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Steel - #1 Kumba, #2 Millie, #3 Mantis ||| Wood - #1 Thunderbolt, #2 Villain, #3 Gwazi
"The key to a happy life is moderation" -- Jon Stewart
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