Hello everyone, it's been a while since I've last posted here. The off-season has gone by rather quickly as it wasn't too wintry this year. Over the off-season, I have been planning my amusement park trips for 2024. As you may know, I had visited nine different parks last year, which was a record for me! Well, this year I plan to break that record again and visit 11 different amusement parks this year! Three of the 11 amusement parks I will be visiting this will be new to me, while the other eight will be parks I have visited 6+ years ago. The 2024 season looks to be quite exciting!
My first amusement park visit of 2024 will be at Knoebels on their opening weekend on April 27th and 28th, 2024. My first and only visit to Knoebels was in July 2018 during my first major US amusement park road trip. I instantly fell in love with the nostalgia at Knoebels as they have a lot of vintage amusement rides, three wooden roller coasters, and an amazing setting! I am really looking forward to revisiting this April!
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| Twister at Knoebels as seen from the Skyway in July 2018. |
In May and early June I plan on making a few visits to my home park, Canada's Wonderland before heading off on another amusement park road trip in June! Unfortunately I will not be able to visit on opening weekend this year, but I will definitely get to Canada's Wonderland as soon as possible!
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| Wonder Mountain at Canada's Wonderland as seen on May 6th, 2023. |
In June, I am planning to visit four different amusement parks as I travel for one week through New Jersey and Pennsylvania! The trip will start off with a visit to Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey (previously visited for two days in July 2018), followed by a visit to Dorney Park in Allentwon, Pennsylvania (first visited in June 2015).
I am excited to get back to these two parks, as while the new for 2024 roller coaster, Flash: Vertical Velocity (Vekoma Super Boomerang) at Six Flags Great Adventure more than likely won't be ready, I am really looking forward to hopefully riding the Jersey Devil Coaster, an RMC single rail Raptor Track coaster that opened in 2021! Also, Six Flags Great Adventure is celebrating 50 years in 2024!
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| Me (John) after my first ride on Kingda Ka at Six Flags Great Adventure in July 2018. |
As for Dorney Park, I am really looking forward to riding Iron Menace, the B&M Dive Coaster opening this Spring! The theming and storyline behind the Iron Menace is really cool and I am happy that they finally got a new roller coaster after all these years! I am also looking forward to (hopefully) finally getting a ride on the extremely rare Intamin First Generation Freefall, Demon Drop as I didn't get to ride it in 2015.
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| Dorney Park skyline as seen from across the street in June 2015. |
After visiting Six Flags Great Adventure and Dorney Park, I'll be off to two new-to-me parks, HersheyPark and Kennywood! I am really looking forward to visiting both of these parks as they both have a unique collection of rides and roller coasters of both old and new!
Since there is a lot to see and do at HersheyPark, I plan on visiting the park for two days. I am hoping to get on all of their roller coasters and many flat rides, including the Sooperdooperlooper, a classic Schwarzkopf Looping roller coaster that has been operating at HersheyPark since 1977. This will be my first Schwarzkopf Looping roller coaster! 😄 Obviously I am also really excited for HersheyPark's newest roller coaster, Wildcat's Revenge, an RMC conversion that opened in 2023 as I have really enjoyed all of the RMC coasters I have been on to date!
After two days at HersheyPark, I will spend one day at Kennywood getting on as many rides and roller coasters as possible! I really want to try to ride all of their classic wooden roller coasters, but I may not be able to ride Thunderbolt as it requires a partner to ride. 😢If you're in the area when I am at Kennywood, please reach out to me as I would love to be able to ride the Thunderbolt! 😂 While at Kennywood, I also want to ride two rare flat rides, Turtle, the World's last remaining Tumble Bug ride that dates back to 1927 and Kangaroo, the last remaining Bartlett manufactured Flying Coaster ride. I love how many of the amusement parks in Pennsylvania still have vintage amusement rides operating to this day! 😊
After hopefully squeezing in another visit to Canada's Wonderland, I'll be off on another road trip in July, this time to five different amusement parks in Pennsylvania, New York, and Massachusetts! Four out of the five parks I plan on visiting on this road trip will be parks I have visited in the past, with the first park of the trip being new to me, that being Waldameer of Erie, Pennsylvania!
Waldameer is home to five roller coasters, one of them being the legendary Ravine Flyer II that opened in 2008! This wooden roller coaster pays homage to the original Ravine Flyer that operated at the park from 1922 to 1938. Waldameer is also home to many classic rides and attractions such as the Spider (Eyerly Spider) and Whacky Shack (Bill Tracy dark ride) that have been operational at the park since 1977 and 1970, respectively.
After a day at Waldameer, I'll be making my annual visit to Six Flags Darien Lake as it is on the way to the other parks on this road trip! Prior to the pandemic, I had visited Darien Lake in 2017 and twice in 2019 (May and August). It was nice being able to visit Six Flags Darien Lake again in August 2023 as there are some nice rides and roller coasters at the park! I am also looking forward to seeing the additional improvements made on the Predator as over the last few years it had received Gravity Group steel titan track on the rough spots, which has greatly improved the overall ride experience on the Predator.
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| Entrance to Six Flags Darien Lake- May 10th, 2019. |
Following a day of thrills at Six Flags Darien Lake, I'll be revisiting the charming Seabreeze Amusement Park of Rochester, New York. The first time I visited Seabreeze Amusement Park was in August 2017. Seabreeze is home to the classic 1920 Jack Rabbit wooden roller coaster that provides a decent amount of airtime as I recall. Seabreeze is also home to the unique bobsled hybrid roller coaster and the thrilling Whirlwind, a spinning steel roller coaster! It'll be great to visit this lovely historic amusement park on the edge of Lake Ontario again!
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| The Carousel at Seabreeze at night on August 30th, 2017. |
Up next will be Six Flags Great Escape, a park I first visited in July 2018. The star of Six Flags Great Escape is the legendary Comet that previously operated at the long gone Crystal Beach Amusement Park near Fort Erie, Ontario. The Comet has called Six Flags Great Escape home since 1994, where it reopened and has been thrilling visitors since!
New for 2024 at Six Flags Great Escape is the Bobcat, a Gravity Group manufactured family wooden roller coaster that will be constructed where the former Alpine Bobsled operated. Bobcat will feature many airtime filled hills along its 1,412 feet of wooden track! I am really looking forward to getting on this new wooden roller coaster when I visit in July!
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| The Comet at Six Flags Great Escape on July 5th, 2018. |
The final amusement park of the road trip in July will be Six Flags New England. I am looking forward to visiting Six Flags New England again as I greatly enjoyed it on my road trip in July 2018. While my visit to Six Flags New England in 2018 was a bit damp by rain showers in the morning, it turned out to be a great time overall as the staff were super friendly and the roller coasters and rides were great, including the views from the 400 foot tall New England SkyScreamer! From what I recall, Six Flags New England also had some nice theming of America's past with the Rockville section.
Since my last visit to Six Flags New England, two new flat rides, Cyborg: Hyper Drive and Supergirl Sky Flyer opened in 2019 and 2021, respectively. As a lover of flat rides, I am looking forward to taking these two rides for a spin during my upcoming visit! I am also looking forward to re-riding all of the park's roller coasters too as they were all quite fun, especially my first RMC roller coaster, the Wicked Cyclone! Six Flags New England in my opinion is a perfect park to end the trip.
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| Rockville section at Six Flags New England on July 6th, 2018. |
For the remainder of the 2024 season, I look forward to making multiple visits to Canada's Wonderland with family and friends, maybe even making a surprise day trip with some friends to the US in August!
Be sure to follow me on my adventures this season through my blog, Amusement Views and on social media via Instagram and X! If you happen to see me at any of the amusement parks I plan on visiting this summer, be sure to say 'hi' as I love meeting fellow enthusiasts! 😄
Here's to a fun and thrilling 2024 season! 🎢
