Idlewild to make "huge" announcement tommarow.

There are several very different categories when it comes to coaster snobism. This is the "boring little old park, no B&M, blah blah blah" category.

I love Idlewild. I've only been there once, but wow what a great place. That little Rollo Coaster was beautiful. I can't wait to get back.

Since I'm poking fun at coaster snobism, I do include myself. But I'm the coaster snob that is so bored with B&M and large Intamin rides. And the coaster snob that is still upset with Cedar Point over the Blue Streak (see 1995). So I understand... in a twisted way.

I don't see how this is huge, in any respect. It's a freakin' circus.

/Not a coaster snob.

Idlewild is hands down my favorite "small" park. I have been there twice for over 6 hours each and both times did not have a chance to do everything I wanted. I guess it's just an excuse to keep returning every year. :)

And for anyone thinking it's just a kids park, definitely not!! Lots of things for adults to do. Adult hand-carts, Rollo Coaster, Dizzy Lizzy's, the crooked house, and the Caterpillar come to mind.

Fun, look at it this way. If you purchased a wave pool for your backyard, you would think it was huge. However, a water park that has two or three wave pools on the other side of the world could care less.

That's just it though, a wave pool that fits in my backyard would be inherently small ;).

I get the comparison though, but I would argue that this still isn't huge news in the grand scheme of things for Idlewild- it's just hype.

Premier parks buying Six Flags, now that was huge.

It is huge for the people that miss the circus and wanted it to come back.

Because I like analogies, here is another. I think the announcement of putting Timberliners on The Voyage is huge, but what makes that a bigger deal than the circus thing? People over at circusbuzz may think that this circus coming back to Idlewild is revolutionary.

Perfect fit for this park. I remember when the "park" troupe of the Royal Hanneford Circus spent a summer at (then) Wyandot Lake in the late '90s. Seeing an old fashioned circus in a small tent really is a unique experience, something that many kids might not experience today.

Meh and yawn too. Is the log flume that they added a few years ago bigger or smaller news than this?

On the other hand, this show was actually pretty good the one time I visited the park. It's a nice park, for what it is. Dizzy Lizzie's was the biggest surprise of the day. I hate to be a "coaster snob", but, imho, Rollo Coaster wasn't "all that and a bag of chips." lol

RatherGoodBear said:
At least it's not the Commoner Hanneford Family Circus that's coming.

I got it this time. You never cease to amaze me, RGB. :)

Summer of 1992, I worked part time at Jolly Roger in Ocean City, MD, and the RH Circus was there for the summer. Anyway, I had a party, and some circus folk arrived at my apartment. Thank the beach gods the party was in its final leg around 3 am when they showed up. Not sure what would have happened had they arrived 2-3 hours earlier.

As for the announcement, yes, meh....

Isn't this the park with the really cool wild mouse?

If you consider a wild mouse with a lift hill that leans to the side really cool, then yes it is. And I agree, it is really cool.

Ditto that. Leaning lift hill mouse = really cool. And I like how it zig-sags through the trees.

It's also the only Vekoma wild mouse ever made. The only Vekoma I ride willingly. :) The leaning to the side thing is from when the ride was at Alton Towers, it was indoors and they wanted to disorient riders.

^Seems to me that all the Vekoma rides in England were pretty good. The tilt and the trees make the Idelwild mouse unique and quirky...i.e., fun! Oh, and Rollo-Coaster, late at night, is one of the best "family woodies" I've ridden. I <3 Idlewild...

^Are they typical Vekoma hang-and-bangs and boomerangs? Or actually unique rides and layouts?

The "hang and bang" moniker really seems to apply only in N. America. Don't think we rode more than one or two Boomerangs, which were pretty good, but the SLCs, mostly customized, rode like any other manufacturers' ride(s). The only Vekoma we were slated to ride and failed, unfortunately, was Jubilee Odyssey - reports are that it's closed quite frequently due to the fact that it can valley in any sort of wind, and is built about two blocks from the coast.

Now that I'm out of school for the semester, TR pages will begin to come in from "European Vacation '09" in the next few days...class started the day I got back... ;)

Where are your priorities, 'gator? ;)

I'm not sure the reason we seem to have to judge the worthiness of the marketing catchphrase "huge announcement." As we've discussed before, they (marketers) get people's attention in order to get people talking about the park. They succeeded in that and I say good for them.

Idlewild is a great little park for families. I have no doubt that many who frequent the park will appreciate this addition.

Carrie M. said:
Where are your priorities, 'gator? ;)

Well Carrie, since it's the end of semester, let's give Scooter a ring and find out...then, on to the mega-TR (figured it'd be good reading for the offseason and those who wish to take a virtual journey to the Land of Dickens during the Holidays).