Associated parks:
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We left the twin cities area on Sunday and drove across Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and a portion of Pennsylvania (holy turnpikes and toll booths) and found our way to Kennywood early Monday. We didn't have too much trouble getting there off of the interstate, a few missed intersections a few people cut off..but we made it there in good time. After finally finding a parking space and paying our good four dollars, we wandered our way to the park entrance. We bought ride-all-day wristbands for $22.95 (which we thought was pretty cheap). After making our way underneath the tunnel, and our first thoughts were "CarnieVille USA". We thought we'd give a shot at the old mill ride first and waited about 20 minutes. Nice dark ride through a bunch of tunnels..I was seriously expecting to get wet...but wasn't dissapointed when we arrived back at the station dry. We then wandered over towards Phantom's Revenge, we had seen some trains running when we were parking, but the ride was down when we entered the park so we hit up Noah's Ark. I got a bit disorientated and lost (i don't do well in dark places) but the ride was still fun, I think i would have really enjoyed it if I was a bit smaller. The park map was a bit difficult to follow (xeroxed black and white copy) but we found our way around the park. The guys went to see what was up with Phantom and we milled around in front of the turtle ride. The guys hit up Pitfall while they were in Lost Kennywood (literally a walk on) and then we headed for Thunderbolt. We waited about 20 minutes (they were only running one train) and got to sit near the back. The drop into the ravine is just sweet, this is by far my favorite woodie. I loved the drops, twists, and turns... I believe everyone in our group was standing up at one point or more on the rides, excellent air time and some great views. After Thunderbolt we went on Gold Rush, which was another ride similar to the old mill ride. The lap bars didn't lock and it was just a simple ride around a track. Kind of interesting, very old style. After that we decided to hit up the cafe to get something to eat. I noticed the employees were generally quiet and not to interactive but helpful if you asked them questions. The cafe wasn't busy at all but the food was good. After lunch we headed for Jack Rabbit (we had completely missed it when we came into the park). Even with the queue line full it was about a 15-20 minute wait. It was a good ride, fast, lots of drops and some good air time, but it just doesn't beat thunderbolt. After that the guys took a spin on Racer and we wandered around a bit, watching the Skycoaster and taking in the scenery. Then we rode Racer, which is a fun woodie. (are those the original cars too???). Our train won (woo hoo) and we decided to head back to Exterminator. This was by far our longest wait all day. I think we hit a little over a half hour outside, only to find another queue inside. But I think it was worth it. I really enjoyed the spinning cars, even though we got squashed in ours. After Exterminator we hit up Phantom's Revenge. It looked to be a pretty good ride. They were loading really fast running two trains, so we waited in line for about 15 minutes. The coaster was definently worth it. We were in and out of our seats the whole ride, the guys really enjoyed the front seat too. After hitting up phantom's revenge, we decided to hit the road to Harrisburg, so we were at least half way to our destination of Dorney Park for Tuesday. (words to the wise: skip the motel six in harrisburg, it's kind of sketchy).
We got to Dorney Park around noon and went straight for Hercules. I didn't go on, it was a bit much to try and get into that coaster, I was still sore from being jostled a bit at Kennywood, but the rest of the group said I didn't miss much. After Hercules we checked out their flume ride. Very good crew. The ride looked pretty simple, but it was hidden quite well. After we got up the lift, there was a whole hidden section of the ride with some nice drops and run offs. We got cooled off quite nicely and proceeded back to Thunderhawk. A nice woodie, but not a lot of air time, they really braked hard. Then we hit up Steel Force. This ride definently kicked Wild Thing in the arse. It had some nice air time and some really good turn arounds. I liked the tunnel just after the first lift. After Steel Force we went for Laser. That was one heck of a looping coaster. After Laser, we rode their Zephyr type train and took a break. Then the rest of the group went on Dominator, but I chose to sit it out. We took a break in the arcade and picked up some pink flamingos. After that we went to hit up Talon, which is one AWESOME inverted. I swear my feet felt like they weighed a ton. The rest of the group rerode to ride in the first car. Then we decided to go chill out in Wildwater Kingdom. Their "lazy river" was great, very relaxing with some nice water falls and jets. Everyone else went for slides, but I decided to kick back in the wave pool. After they had their fill of excitement in the water park, we headed to Coasters to grab a pizza. I just wanted to check out their Thunder Canyon and other train. Thunder Canyon needs a big warning about getting utterly drenched, not wet, but soaked to the bone. As one of the guys said, we were more wet getting off Thunder Canyon then in the wave pool. " The first thing you see when you get on the ride is just a lift, the rest of the water falls and ride are hidden by a huge cliff-like wall. After you get up the lift, you realize there is no turning back, you will be getting soaked. These aren't waterfalls, i swear they have someone dumping buckets on you at each turn. No one in our group walked off dry, I think the other girl was the dryest, she had like two dry spots on her shirt. Then we went on the other MRVR like train, it was very short and kind of boring, not what I had hoped for. After that, we met up with the guys at the arcade (they were attempting to play some boxing game) and they all decided to ride talon again. I sat it out (after falling into the lily pads at the water park, I didn't want to do much more) and they all rode. After the Talon, they all headed back to Steel Force and I poked my head in at First Aid and got an ice pack. We spent the whole day at Dorney, it was a nice park.
I personally preferred Kennywood over Dorney. Kennywood was small and easy to find your way around in, though I would have liked to hit up some of the smaller rides. I definently found more shade at Kennywood then Dorney. I was able to avoid a nasty sunburn hanging out in Kennywood, but Dorney gave me a nice red tint. I just enjoyed the antiquity of Kennywood moreso.
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-Sean
*** This post was edited by tservo on 8/3/2002. ***
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