USA Roadtrip - July 2019

[Danny]

This weekend, @CGM, @BigAl, @Pedro and I will be jetting off to the US of A to sample some of the world's most notable and newest attractions for the first time on a ridiculous itinerary that has been shortened from a three week plan and crammed into two weeks.

I'll be using the topic during down time/car journeys to compile thoughts on things as they pop into my head, whilst attempting to write up more comprehensive reports upon returning to MerlinMonopolyWorld. Our journey consists of:

- Fly out to New York JFK. Drive to Knoebels.
- Kennywood
- Cedar Point (2 days)
- King's Island
- Six Flags St Louis
- Silver Dollar City
- Holiday World / Kentucky Kingdom (2 parks, 1 day)
- Dollywood
- Carowinds
- Busch Gardens Williamsburg
- King's Dominion
- Hersheypark
- Six Flags Great Adventure
- Coney Island. Fly back to Blighty.

 

[Jonathan]

You're completely insane for attempting to do all this, mate, but best of luck to you all. You're gonna need it.

 

[RicketyCricket]

That's a proper road trip, looking forward to the reviews. Hopefully you'll all get on Steel Curtain.

 

[Rick]

Do you have to do Holiday World + Kentucky Kingdom in one day? Such a same not to be seeing Holiday World for a full day - what a wonderful park. The water park is as impressive as the theme park, those two water coasters are both wonderful attractions. If you have problems with Merlin that's your antidote right there, but you'll have Six Flags St. Louis for your dose of bad operations and closed rides!

Don't miss out on checking out some of small town America whilst you're there. Have fun!

 

[Danny]

Do you have to do Holiday World + Kentucky Kingdom in one day? Such a same not to be seeing Holiday World for a full day - what a wonderful park. The water park is as impressive as the theme park, those two water coasters are both wonderful attractions. If you have problems with Merlin that's your antidote right there, but you'll have Six Flags St. Louis for your dose of bad operations and closed rides!

Don't miss out on checking out some of small town America whilst you're there. Have fun!

I was very much against doing HW and KK on the same day as we had originally planned for both on separate days. The time constraints mean this is the only feasible way of doing so without eating into generic New York touristy stuff. Thankfully KK is open until 10pm so we should hopefully be able to get in a decent amount of time each.

We're definitely intending to visit some smaller towns; we're also popping into St Louis and doing the Gateway Arch prior to doing SFSL!

 

[Ted]

I was wondering what two parks in one day you were doing when you mentioned it to me a while back Have fun!

 

[Danny]

I can confirm Steel Curtain is a little bit good.

 

[Danny]

So before I cover my thoughts on Kennywood and Steel Curtain, Knoebels was the first stop on the list that I want to leave some thoughts on.

On first impression, Knoebels didn't appear to be as charming and quaint as I'd expected.

We entered via the car park entrance next to Kosmo's Curves which seemed to be very anti-climactic. There's no hiding the fact that it's an ugly kiddy coaster, whilst the neighbouring Impulse is hardly well presented either.

After spending $20 on our ride tickets however and scratching beyond the surface, it wasn't long until we found where Knoebels charm and quirks lie.

It does feel very much like a public park space in a shaded woodland, particularly when some of the rides are very much plonked in a fairground-esque manner. Appearance and pride aren't necessarily at the top of the agenda with some of their presentation; yet other components of the park are oozing in history and charm. In fact it's very clear to see how proud Knoebels are of one ride in particular.

An advertised 40 minute queue for Flying Turns was just a scratch over 20, with the 4 of us taking the entire train to ourselves. Obviously throughput is a major downside to the ride, but everything else about Flying Turns is astonishing. The lead up to the second left hill is a tad on the underwhelming side, but everything that followed was surprisingly erratic and outrageous fun. Cue laughter the whole way round!

The genuine fear however that the train had banked beyond its capability and would crush our skulls into the wooden trough was ever too apparent. It's amazing that Knoebels could even pull this ride off in the modern day, made all the more better by the fact it is such good fun.

The display featuring the old train and the various scopes of signage dotted around beautifully convey how proud the park are of being Flying Turns; so they should be. It's a remarkable piece of craftsmanship. It's far from the best, but there's so much about this coaster that tugs at your heart strings and makes you warm to it.

The next ride on our three hour dwell at the park was the highly praised Phoenix. Many respected opinions had been bestowed upon this seemingly un-suspecting woodie, so I was quite unprepared for what was about to follow.

Given its age, Phoenix is significantly smoother than a lot of modern steel coasters. Then there's the air time. What a pure thrill and joy. Off-ride looks are deceiving as it attempts to playfully eject you into it's structure. As the height of the layout decreases, the air time continues to grow in a sensational manner. I managed three rides on Phoenix (including a sneaky re-ride in an empty seat), two at night. All three rides have easily won it a place in my heart.

Twister is also a cracking woodie for its age. Its' somewhat lack of banking makes the entry into corners seem slightly terrifying, yet it executes them with relative smoothness and a lot fun. Even the Crystal Beach cyclone helix element is a wonderful delight. The only regret is not taking a night ride on it!

I'm not going to write home about Kosmo's Curves with the exception of the clearance to the boat ride that passes under it. It's certainly one of the more violent kid coasters I've done, with an extra lap provided due to a staff member jumping on with us...

Another huge surprise was Impulse. Initially apprehensive to the shin bar on the restraint, this became a god send upon realising how open to the elements and free you are during the first drop. It's smooth. It's punchy. It's pacey. It's everything you could ask for from a compact coaster. Two trains in operation seemed a little lacklustre, but then the operations didn't help either with the two trains frequently stacking.

Stupidly we totally forgot about Black Diamond, favouring the Ghost Train instead. Copious amounts of alarmingly loud noises blended with some genuinely great effects and theming set pieces made for easily one of the better Ghost Trains I've done.

Whilst we didn't get the chance to experience the majority of the rides at Knoebels due to tiredness of being up and running for 25 hours, we were certainly grateful to bask in how beautiful it becomes at night. The fairy lights, the river down the middle of the park that has some very heavy Europa Park/Liseberg VIBES, even the rides themselves.

Knoebels is not the biggest. It's not the best. The operations in the grand scheme of things weren't the most efficient. Yet Knoebels was the perfectly charming, easy and pleasant way to begin this madcap trip.

 

[Danny]

Firstly, apologies for not updating this as frequently as I'd hoped whilst out there. I'd anticipated how intense this trip was going to be but even so much as leaving speckles of thoughts here and there proved to be quite the challenge. Alas...

Our first full day on the trip commenced with a 3 hr 30 minute drive across Pennsylvania into the city of Pittsburgh. Pulling across the Monogahela River, Kennywood would once have been unmistakably identified by glimpses of its pride of place Arrow hypercoaster. Needless to say, that's no longer the case....

Let's not beat about the bush here. Steel Curtain is massive. I mean, seriously huge. A sprawling mass of supports which wouldn't look out of place on a newer Gerstlauer Infinity coaster towers over the park and the Pittsburgh skyline. When parking on the hillside opposite the park, its sheer scale makes much of the park look tiny (which is an impressive feat in itself given Kennywood is deceptively large).

Now it's worth to mention that this trip was pencilled in with a rough time frame of after Steel Curtain's opening in mind. Of course, there are plenty of other world-famous behemoth coasters we would be racking up on this trip, but with Steel Curtain standing as arguably the most anticipated new credit of the year, a lot was riding on us getting on this coaster.

Those of you loyal to the Kennywood topic will have known that I remained somewhat apprehensive right up until the last minute to getting on this thing, so when it was announced we would be at the park the day after it opened, needless to say the excitement levels.....Sky Rocket...ed.

Granted we had also written Sky Rocket off from this trip given its long SBNO status. Kennywood was however the beginning of our pot of gold luck for the duration of this trip. Without further ado however, let's start from the beginning.

After a brief stop for an obligatory photo in the log flume boat from the predecessor to Steel Curtain, we marched down the walkway towards the Birmingham-esque underpass into the park. It was at this moment we noticed a hive of activity taking place in Sky Rocket's station at the forefront of the park; striking our curiosity but not heightening our hopes.

It's rather bizarre entering Kennywood through its charming entrance plaza subtly bathed in nostalgia, then proceeding to enter the park through a concrete underpass under a coaster. The view on the other side however is a delight; a clash of heritage through its structures, the wind mill and Jack Rabbit's structure poking through, down to the sprawling steel mess of the Curtain. It's a rather humble and somewhat restrained entrance view compared to what some parks offer; everything politely tucked to the sides in an orderly fashion.

Prior to arriving to the park, we discovered via Kennywood's social media that the Curtain wouldn't be opening until midday, so opted to nab our first ride on one of the classics before joining the inevitably long wait. Our first delight of the day was therefore had in the form of Jack Rabbit.

You'd be forgiven for thinking that Kennywood's range of woodies are newer than they actually are, with Jack Rabbit certainly a testament to that. This 99 year old family woodie might be slightly dull through the elevated corners, but the drops and air time are spot on. Perfect for its target audience and the ideal sampler of fun for everyone with remarkable levels of smoothness. We soon came to learn across the trip from the multiple old-timer woodies we rode that the Americans are almost impeccable at ensuring and overseeing their classic woodies are well treated, and continue to offer pleasant and comfortable ride experiences. Jack Rabbit was amongst one of the first coasters on the trip to affirm that notion.

After Jack Rabbit we were a scratch past the 11am mark. Arming ourselves with bottles of water, we headed over to Steeler's Country to brace ourselves for the forthcoming wait.

Now it became obvious in the weeks prior that Kennywood were intending to get the Curtain open before its accompanying area of Steelers Country. What wasn't apparent however was the sheer amount of work left to get the area ready. Had the ride been waiting for the area, it's safe to say guests would have been waiting until at least September to get to ride it....

Even the pathway up to the Curtain itself and down to the queue line had been rushed; a hideous tarmac mess that stood out like a groggy, acne infested teenager in a retirement home full of rather sprightly elderly people who were being taken care of.

The hour wait for the Curtain to open was painful. It is far from the prettiest ride to look at with a sprawling mess of steel, colliding together in the most peculiar and awkward angles possible. The first riders began to board at just after 12pm, allowing the held queue outside the ride area to begin progressing into the actual queue line.

Remnants from the press event the day prior were still knocking around in the area directly outside the queue line entrance; easily the most attractive part of the new area thus far due to the dotted shrubbery and well presented rock work.

Once inside the queue line however, the following hour and a half became perhaps the most torturous experience of the trip aside from our forthcoming woes at Holiday World. Row after row of uncovered, un-air conditioned cattlepens on an exposed concrete base in the high 30 C's made for an outstanding buzzkill to the edge of the seat gripping anticipation that had been building for the past few months and certainly weeks.

WELCOME. To hell.

The single file nature also made for awkward socialising in the group, having to wait for the corners in order for our foursome to re-assemble and discuss our repeated thoughts on how awful the heat, queue line and snail paced dispatch speed the train has from the station onto the lift hill.

Even the bare and open nature of the station made the conclusion to the wait a final few moments of hell. Initially batched to cheap seats in the middle of the train, my English accent made quick work in securing us seats at the front of the rear car to guarantee the best ride possible following the excruciating build up to riding this hugely anticipated tangle of steel.

So the question you're all be dying to know the answer to.

But was it any good?!

Steel Curtain is a bloody good coaster.

It's hard to draw direct comparisons to other coasters due to its vast dissimilarity from a lot of other coasters on the planet. Having rode Lech Coaster back in September, it felt like the most comparable ride between Al, Craig and I in that both coasters seem to defy the elements to offer a glass smooth, varied and well paced layout. Curtain's exception however is it does that with a sh*t load of height and further incredible elements.

The first main drops contorts you surprisingly through the world's tallest inversion and down into a sensational and unrivalled rush. Racing back under the lift hill at 75mph, the Curtain leaves you without a moment to catch your breath before hurtling you over the station and into its cobra roll. Slightly slower than anticipated at its pinnacle, the Curtain leaves you with no time to reflect on this whilst riding as it ramps back up and escorts you back to the ground in its open seating, offering a delicious air-time filled hump into the mid-layout sea serpent roll. Nothing to shout home about here, fairly standard stuff but conveyed with a smooth and flowing sensation.

Over the midway camelback and into a dive loop over the park's lake with relative aggression in comparison to some of the elements experienced thus far, before delivering you into the mind-blowing zero-g stall. This RMC style element is navigated beautifully in credit to S&S's design here and is arguably one of the highlights of the ride; perfectly paced with glorious hang-time and a forceful snap at its conclusion that would even be able to stand its own against Maverick.

The conclusion of the ride does feel a little lost in its attempt to return to the station through its sweeping turns, corkscrew and awkward cutback before delivering you back to the brake run. But the sheer random cohesion of these elements however leaves you with a tinge of speechlessness as you make the final 180 degree turn back into the station, rewarding riders who have braved the long and tedious queue for it.

I won't lie, I threw Steel Curtain straight into my top 10 when I came off it. The sheer variety of its elements, the surprising comfort and openness offered by the ride, mixed with peculiar blends of aggression and soothing air time makes it unlike any other coaster I've ridden before.

As the day progressed however and certainly as the trip progresses, I found myself questioning how good I actually believed Steel Curtain to have been. Naturally it's not only a new ride to have experience, but new coaster hype was also a factor to consider. I've joked and joked time and time again to others that this ride would be amongst the best in the world and I was confident on that, but the truth is that for the more seasoned coaster connoisseurs amongst you, it probably won't even get a sniff at a top ten (unless your top ten is tailored for bragging rights rather than your actual opinion; let's face it, there's some of you out there guilty of this!).

By the end of the trip with newer additions, Steel Curtain sits comfortably within my top 20. The biggest issue I found with Steel Curtain actually lies within Kennywood itself. I simply wasn't surprised or as astounded as I thought I would be; yet the park actually offered more than one roller coaster that would give me these exact feelings (more on those later).

I should also mention that we were eluded of a Curtain night ride due to them closing the queue much earlier than we'd anticipated. Having almost charmed the entrance host into allowing us into the queue, we were scuppered by a non-vocal manager who dared not even look at us. Nevermind....

After nipping back to the car to ensure I hadn't left my entire spendings for the trip three and a half hours away back at the previous hotel, we settled down for an average BBQ and a beer by the lake, observing the infrequent dispatch times of the Curtain and feeling sorry for those behind us in the torturous queue still awaiting to ride.

The Curtain swooping over the lake

At this point we also learnt via Kennywood's social media that one of the coasters we had written off on our trip by some miracle had re-opened whilst we were riding the Curtain; offering a potential full set of credits to be grabbed (TLDR; we didn't ride Lil' Phantom. Soz).

Following on from the Curtain, we began to work our way through Kennywood tackling its extensive range of classic and more recent additions. So in no particular order....

Thunderbolt

Banking? Who needs banking?! This outrageously fun, lateral packed woodie making use of its predecessor's trains and its superb location on the edge of the hill made for a huge amount of laughter and clinging on for life. We gave up on it previously in the day due to a spell of down time, but second time worked the charm and it was certainly worth the wait. The immediate first drop from the station opens the ride with an insightful bang, teasing and promising the absolute riot that follows from the lift hill.

Thunderbolt was one of the many coasters I had not considered looking at prior to the trip; I'm particularly pleased I hadn't given the stretched layout over the hillside was offering some superb surprising drops!

Segments of Thunderbolt and Phantom's Revenge against the industrial backdrop of Pittsburgh

Racer

Whilst not as laughter-inducing as Thunderbolt, Racer is yet another example of Kennywood's testament to ensuring its pack of woodies remain well maintained. The ride did appear to be rather one-sided and unbalanced from the racing perspective, but still remained remarkably smooth again considering its 92-year history.

Exterminator

I'm not entirely sure how this Reverchon spinning coaster has never cropped up in conversation previously. It's easily one of the best themed examples of this coaster (despite its hideous concrete bunker of a queue line). What made for an even better ride is our accidentally un-planned seating of heaviest to lightest in the row, paving the way for some ridiculous levels of spinning that made this bog standard layout perhaps the most intense incarnation I have yet experienced. Exterminator was certainly amongst one of the most surprising coasters of the trip, which feels quite frankly absurd to say given that without the theatre of it all, you wouldn't recognise it on a travelling fairground circuit.

Sky Rocket

This initial write-off very much became a ticked box on our trip through sheer good luck. The park certainly appeared to do a great job of keeping this under wraps, helping to ease the Curtain generated crowds with its average 40 minute queue all day. Needless to say reliability was a major issue throughout the day for Sky Rocket, as it frequently bounced from operational to down whenever queue times were checked. We waited around 50 minutes with one pro-longed period of down time, made somewhat easier by the bliss misters in the cattle pen portion at the entrance to the queue line.

Whilst Sky Rocket is certainly not something to write home about, it was pleasantly good fun. Far from worth the queue length we waited for it, a punchy launch is almost immediately killed by the holding brakes at the top of its 95ft tall top hat. What follows however is a compact series of elements nicely orchestrated that mischievously leads you believe to ride is about to respectfully bow out at the mid-course brake run. The following drop however is a delightful kick back into things, topped with a series of gentle s-turns before wandering back to the station.

For a total write off at the start of the trip, Sky Rocket was a pleasant surprise full stop. The main issue lies however in the fact it doesn't really appear to belong in the park. Whilst it is essentially the first coaster that greets you as you enter, it contradicts the heritage the park has through its refined woodies, the balls to the wall nature of its taller steel machines ala the Curtain and Phants, whilst seeming total devoid of drama and essence when a Reverchon spinning coaster is better presented.

I'd be interested to know what the cost of Sky Rocket is as there are debates to be had whether or not a smaller park such as Drayton would benefit from one. As with similar Premier coasters, the trains are stupidly awkward to get in and out of which seem worthless to the hassle, but there's no doubting how fun it was in the grand scheme of things.

Phantom's Revenge

Well this was a delightful surprise. Anyone deluded enough to think The Big One boasts airtime needs to ride this Arrow hypercoaster, as Phantom's Revenge is the very definition of it. Whilst the first drop is nothing short of epic, it's the second drop diving off the hillside where the ride really hauls ass. Every single hill tries to eject you from the train regardless of its height or profiling. The second ride was almost ruined by an iPhone to the face and even that came only moments prior to the brake run; a statement to just how continuous and relentless Phants is right up until its final moments. The queue remained minimal courtesy of solid operations and an ideal throughput, meaning this ride held our majority of re-rides and was certainly a firm favourite of ours even towards the end of the trip.

If I'm brutally honest, Phantom's Revenge was easily one of my favourite coasters of the entire trip. The seamless blend of location, surprising and violent dives mixed with the addictive and relentless airtime made for a cocktail of thrills that made some of the B&M hypers feel like kiddie coasters (looking at you Intimidator and Diamondback).

A serious display of 'hair'time towards the ride's finale.

In between soaking up the coasters, we boxed off our desire to experience historic attractions such as Noah's Ark and the turtles, enjoyed the delights of the Whip; and from @Coaster's trip report, opted to miss the Garfield dark ride to guarantee a ride on the very enjoyable and alarmingly thrilling Bayern Kurve. Perhaps our biggest regret of the day was not experiencing the log flume given the height of heat, but the queue line dictated otherwise, opting instead to experience Swing Shot and Musik Express.

The rapids and haunted house were also a duo of delights that we managed to tick off in the park; the former offering our first insight into just how unforgiving a US rapids ride can truly be.

In terms of the park in general, Kennywood is oozing with pleasant presentation, stunning scenic vistas, gorgeous architecture mixed with noble heritage and bold, modern attractions. The operations were only really a let down on the rapids with a noticeable lack of boats and Steel Curtain, mainly down to the snail like pace of trains leaving the station (most likely down to the immediate sharp angular transition I suspect).

The staff weren't too much to write home about, although we had a brief minor geek chat with the operator of the Whip prior to him going on a break.

Overall, I think it's safe to say collectively we thoroughly enjoyed our day at Kennywood. Phantom's Revenge stole our hearts, we all had equally positive views of Steel Curtain and it was the perfect first park to properly attack on the trip. Dusk/night rides were managed on Racer and Phantom's Revenge to mitigate the sting of missing out on a Curtain re-ride, but I'm not overly worried that a return visit wouldn't be off the cards.

But alas, we had to move on from Kennywood and continue our road trip with a 1 hr 45 minute drive to our hotel near Cleveland. Besides, we had a certain coaster mecca to tackle for the next 2 days....

 

[John]

I thought their log flume was removed for SC...?

 

[John_P]

I thought their log flume was removed for SC...?

It was, though there is a chute the chutes ride (Pittsburg Plunge) which I never got round to going on either.

Great to see another big Kennywood fan, loved the place when I visited back at the start of June. Definitely have to go back eventually to get on Steel Curtain (and Sky Rush). Definitely agree with you about how well most of the American parks preserve their wooden coasters so that they still give a fantastic experience.

 

[Danny]

I thought their log flume was removed for SC...?

Upon reflection I realise that what I was alluding to may perhaps be the Garfield ride.... We just assumed it was a remaining log flume not butchered for SC and opted to skip it due to the queue....