slicknixon

I mentioned the toys because it just seems to me like if you're going to be showcasing the gem of your park on national television, which could very likely qualify as a national historic landmark, you'd try to present it to the best of your ability. I don't know, the kids toys just looked strange sitting there to me. As far as changing the theme goes, I have a feeling you are correct on that one. The interior walls had some pretty bad artwork as well, but who knows. All I can say is that a jungle theme sounds a lot more fun and inviting than a circus theme with cracked-out looking clowns that look like something out of someone with coulrophobia's nightmares in every direction you look.

If what has been said about this Neal Fehnel guy is true, then the future of the park doesn't look good. I don't mean to sound like a jerk or anything, but there's also something about this guy that creeps me out a little. He's a (quite creepy looking) clown: I noticed this extremely creepy looking corner of the Barl of Fun when I was watching the show: You'd think that he would've moved those kid's toys or something for the show.. I could be wrong about this, but i'm pretty sure the facade of Barl of Fun was repainted under his ownership (possibly by his family, who knows) Either way, this facade is all kinds of wrong. Even if it was because the original was ruined by the flood or w/e, i mean what were they thinking? here's the original: here's the repainted one: Now don't get me wrong, I don't even know this guy. But from the surface it seems like he doesn't know what he's doing. I mean especially if the taxes thing is true. Either way, I hope I'm wrong and he could somehow pull it together and keep the park from the (alleged) IRS getting a hold of it.

Well that certainly changes things!

http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/entertainment/index.ssf?/base/living-1/1291611915100240.xml&coll=3 Just finished watching it. They bought a bumper car, a no smoking sign from the Barl of Fun, and some original freak show banners (maybe other stuff, i don't know, i turned it on half way through). I have mixed feelings about how the deals went down. Basically, the owner has confirmed that they are planning to reopen the park in the future. This must mean they need money. The pickers only gave him $500 for the bumper car which is worth $1500. You could tell he didn't want to sell it for that price by the look on his face. He wants the park to get the publicity of being on the show because I guess he thinks it might be beneficial to when he plans to re-open the park. However, I think he might have been better off selling or auctioning the stuff he didn't want to keep in the park at their real value. I mean, it really seemed like he didn't want to sell the stuff and that he was only doing it to get the park (or himself) on tv. I mean, when they're walking through the Barl of Fun, the one guy (yeah i don't watch the show normally) asked about the no smoking sign which could have very well been original. "25 bucks?" he says and the owner just looks at the sign for a second and says "ok" in an unsure manner. Then the guy just rips the sign off the wall and goes "wow, now i have a piece of the oldest funhouse in the country" I dunno, i think shows like these should be paying royalties (especially if it comes out on DVD) to the places featured because the people are selling the stuff for good prices only for the fact that if they don't, then they don't get on the show. And it's kind of detrimental to a defunct park that is struggling to re-open by basically robbing the place of it's stuff that could have made the owners much more money. Who knows, they might pay them more for being in the show for all i know, but chances are pretty good that they don't.

^ Agreed. There really is no place like it. It's one of the few gems of the east coast and has always been like a summer home to me for a week every summer growing up. I'd love to see another park go in, maybe up near Fenwick Island or Fager's Island like where the old Ocean Playland park used to be. But really, the place has been great for all these years with just Trimpers, the pier, and Jolly Roger's. I do admit that I would like to see a bit of improvement out of the Jolly Roger company as they leave a good bit to be desired but Splash Mountain is a great water park. For how small of an area it's in, they pack in a lot of slides and a decent wave pool, lazy river and kid's play area. I always imagined Jolly Roger's would be better off getting rid of the over-priced Speedworld by expanding the amusement park and wrapping it around the water park. Seriously, Speedworld takes up at least twice as much space as the park and although I've had some fun there when I was younger, JR has the most overpriced seaside amusements anywhere. I do gotta hand it to them for the water park though. Admission isn't a terrible price and the quality is several notches above what the company has to offer with the rest of their stuff. Honestly though, I've been to carnivals with a better quality experience than Jolly Roger AP and Jolly Roger at the Pier.

Ah, Ocean City brings back so many childhood memories. Sad to hear Trimper's got rid of the Toboggan!! I took quite a few runs on that thing when I was a kid. Do you know if they put anything in it's place? If you aren't sure where it was originally it was right across from Pirate's Cove. Still love Trimpers' dedication to preserve the Bill Tracy classics and really that park hasn't changed a whole lot since I was younger. They used to have an Allan Herschell Sky Wheel which was removed somewhere around 2000-2001 but between that and the Toboggan the same big rides have been there for as long as I remember. Anyone know what the word is on Trimpers' battle with the OC property taxes? I swear a part of me would die if that place went under. Anyway, Ocean City is one of the best beach resorts anywhere as long as you go at the right time. August to late season is the worst time to go as it is really crowded and has sort of a jersey shore atmosphere. Early season to the end of July is the best time to take your family but even still OC isn't quite the same family destination as it was in the 90's. The best thing about OC is all the landmark mom and pop restaurants and businesses that have been there for many many years and continue to thrive despite the city's attempts to "modernize" by increasing property taxes and what have you. Regardless, every year small things leave and newer, more touristy things and high-rise condos go in. Even though it's happening slowly, OC will undoubtedly with time become a very different place from the one we knew and loved as kids so enjoy it while it's here. If you've never been there before, I implore you to discover it's wonders. A trip to Trimper's, an excellent dinner at the original Philips and a round of mini-golf at one of the many Old Pro courses are just a few of the unique things that makes OC such a great family beach resort.

^ A thong. Oh yeah!

The crowds at Kennywood were light-moderate. The park was filled with high school-age kids so I'm taking it there were one or more senior trips that day. We got on a good many rides and had a great time. Kennywood is one of my favorite parks so I took many park related pictures. Sorry there aren't more coaster shots but this TR is more park focused. The new laser show is excellent and they play the nighty night music a few minutes after the show. It wraps up the day very nicely and it's just another thing that makes spending a day at Kennywood a special kind of experience. Kennywood is Americana at it's finest. Like I said earlier, there aren't any shots of Sky Rocket. To be honest, it's not hard to ignore. It doesn't really stick out much once you're in the park so if you do visit the park before it opens it won't be constantly beckoning you. But if you're like me, it sucks to go to a park not long before it's new coaster is scheduled to open. Anyway, enjoy our pictures of Kennywood sans SR. ********** DAY 2 *********** KENNYWOOD RIDE COUNT: Phantom's Revenge x 2 Thunderbolt x 2 The Exterminator x 2 Racer x 1 Jackrabbit x 1 Auto Race x 1 Olde Kennywood Railroad x 1 Turtle x 1 Log Jammer x 1 Carousel x 1 Ghostwood Estate x 1 Noah's Ark x 1 Garfield's Nightmare x 1 Kennywood, one of the most beautiful parks in the country. It's quite the honor. Fountains EVERYWHERE The Turnpike might be gone for now, but who needs it when you've got the Auto Race? The documented history behind eveything here is astounding. They really go beyond a simple placard to show you. Cow crossing? Can someone explain this? You always see kids staring at Laffin' Sal. I wonder what they're thinking.. Moar like all over the Atlantic amirite? Lil Phantom shot from the train. Some people would say ugly view, I say awesome view! Sign after sign... bring back the steel-bender dude! There were more.. what about that Africa ride? And what about the Gold Rusher? The ark will live forever!! The only dandelion fountain I've ever seen. Kenny Kangaroo, Laffin' Sal, Cowboy Joe, Noah, George Washington, and Steel Bender Dude (does he have a name?) all rockin' the Thunderbolt. Epic station sign. Can you guess where this shot was taken? Ghostwood Estate aka Target Mania Lost Kennywood just ahead. It's gonna rule. And now for one of the most photographed spots in any park. Same shot, further away One of the most underrated indoors of all time. I love this ride! Oh yeah! Another common shot The rarely photographed other side of Noah's Ark. Noah doesn't look so much like a crackhead on this side. Volcano was STILL down!! Aero 360 was running though. We forgot the exterior shots, but here's what the inside of Parkside Cafe looks like. I LOVE eating here. It's such a beautiful building and Kennywood wouldn't be Kennywood without it. There are pictures on the walls of what the place looked like in it's heyday. It's hard to believe it's been there since 1898!! Screw Potato Patch. Each of those chicken baskets has almost two orders worth of fries. Going on a Tuesday? FOUR watermelon slices served on an old fashioned plate for $1!!!! THAT'S RIGHT $1 as in one item off the mcdonalds dollar menu one dollar. $22 total with 3 drinks!!!!! Is this the last year for Garfield? Is it even official? I think Garfield's Nightmare is underrated. Of course, I've never ridden it with it's original Old Mill theme. He's in there, alright. The Old Mill is gorgeous. It mocked me while I was in line for Garfield. This isn't as fun as Sky... I mean wow look at all the 3D stuff!! Oh yeah, mushroom drinking fountain love. All your Kennywood boxes are belong to us. Not if I have something to say about it! Drop the boxes ye scalliwags! "Everybody's got it" shot # eleventy The night time fountains can put you in a trance. Eat your heart out, (insert park who claims to be more beautiful here) Preparation for the laser show involves blasting fog machines into the lagoon area. We saw this family of ducks while waiting. Awww Good music, bad music, good music, bad music, bad music. This was the pattern. I'm freaking out man!!! Nighty night Kennywood!! Until we meet again!!

^^ I was comparing Ligonier to Elysburg as rural towns. Given it's proximity to the nearest city, population etc. Ligonier could definitely be classified as a rural town. Rural towns aren't necessarily boring with nothing to do. Heck I'd live there, it's a great town! But you can't deny that it is somewhat in the boonies I'll get to the Kennywood update soon. Just a little warning though, there are no pictures of SR. While we were there we acted as though SR wasn't because we were a little disappointed that we planned our trip too early for SR to be open. But, we did cover more of Kennywood than we did Idlewild so there are plenty of pictures of the rest of the park. I'll post them when I get the chance.

^^ IMO Idlewild is a great park for the whole family. Even if you have somewhat older kids there are enough rides in Olde Idlewild to interest any age group. I really wish we would have taken more pictures but we were limited with time. The old Skooters building and the pavilions are especially beautiful and you don't see many pictures of those.. ^ For circus-folk the Royal Hanneford people aren't that bad looking

Yeah, that's it. It's on Lincoln Highway.

^ There was a lot more to it but we couldn't get the pictures in time. The other side was all Pittsburgh teams. I wonder if it's been there since the early 90's..

We took the family to Pittsburgh this week and hit Idlewild Monday on the way to West Mifflin. We stayed in West Mifflin Monday night and went to Kennywood on Tuesday. The weather was rainy early Mon and Tue which brought light crowds the whole trip. Wednesday we went to the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium. All in all, we had a ton of fun. The Pittsburgh area is a great place for a family vacation and we highly recommend this itinerary to anyone else with kids. This is our first photo TR so bear with us on the pictures. We had our two year old daughter with us so it wasn't easy getting pictures as she sometimes (usually) isn't very patient. We did get quite a few though, so enjoy. ********** DAY 1 ************ IDLEWILD If you have kids you must take them here. It's a beautiful and historic park located in a rural mountain town kind of like Knoebels. The Alleghenies are spectacular and the drive to the park is very relaxing. It's strange though, because until you are in the park it feels like you are in the middle of nowhere which is actually really nice. The park is much bigger than you would think and there are a lot of rides and a TON of stuff for kids. Kids could spend two or more days at this park and still not want to leave. Soakzone, the waterpark is also pretty big and could provide a day's worth of fun. Unfortunately, we had less than a full day to spend here so we did the most important stuff as a family and didn't ride many of the "big" rides. We did however get both credits but didn't have time to get pictures of Olde Idlewild so you get an almost complete tour of Story Book forest, some of Raccoon Lagoon and some not so good pictures of the new Royal Hanneford Circus. Enjoy. Ride Count: Rollo Coaster x 1 Wild Mouse x 1 Mr. Rogers Neighborhood of Make-Believe x 1 Caterpillar x 1 Merry Go Round x 1 Dizzy Lizzy's x 1 Windmills at the top of a mountain on the way to Ligonier. Gotta love the Alleghenies!! You owe it to your kid(s) to take them here. The first thing you will notice is that they don't constantly paint over the stuff here until it doesn't look like the original. Almost everything has cracking paint and looks weathered but that's a good thing really because sometimes they make these old statues look really bad (Dutch Wonderland) in an attempt to preserve them. I say keep them as-is until they are really ugly. Mother Goose greets you inside the storybook entrance. Inside the schoolhouse, a lone rebel sits all by himself. Little Boy Blue chillaxin'. STAY OFF THE GRASS!!!! Little Miss Muffet, what's wrong? HOLY $^@! There was a crooked man who had a crooked house.. ..he had a crooked cat (dog?) who chased a crooked mouse. The crooked man is battling osteoporosis due to not enough milk-drinking in his younger years. KEEP OFF THE GRASS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This was the baker's house. It was a Dippin' Dots stand.. hmm... The Good Ship Lollipop with "Yo-Ho A Pirate's Life for Me" playing. I wonder if they have the license for that... Plank For Walking. Ha! He looks nice and friendly here.. ..but like something out of a nightmare here!! Across the bridge, we see the Billy Goats Gruff. Guess it was easier to make this than a troll statue. Mama Bear says "Come visit my closet-sized Rubbermaid shed!" Goldilocks must've been pretty hungry to want to eat that slop. Is she up there, fast asleep? The detail of theming in some of these houses are pretty impressive. lol wut? Yeah, this one was probably the most elaborate. Trynn couldn't get it. She doesn't seem to be in that much distress.. LOL WUT!?!?!?!?!?!?! KEEP OFF THE... wait lol Our one kid is better behaved than her 50 combined. Seriously, look at this hellion playing on the roof. .. so what?? What did he do?? OH GOD!! I don't even want to know!! They must have really bad balance. There's a grandma in there.. somewhere... Snow White lookin' pretty fair. That's a lot of sandwiches to be made. I can just imagine Beavis & Butthead standing there looking at this one.. "huh-huh huh-huh" You'd be a merry old soul too if you had what he was smokin' The Great Oak wasn't working. Pass through this hole for the grand prize. A gift shop! Could it be that time?!? Oh yeah, hug 'n songs are abound. King Friday lookin' a little cock-eyed. I can't remember this guys name.. or what the heck he's supposed to be. Lady Elaine Fairchild, lookin' more like an ugly man than ever. This stop was surrounded by mosquitos!! Daniel tiger is afraid to come out. If you looked like Snuggle bear's crackhead cousin you'd be afraid to be seen too. It's such a good feeling to know you're alive. It's such a happy feeling -duh la la la duh hmm hmm hm yeah, don't remember. The Doodlebug is one of the more interesting old rides at the park. The little lagoon in the middle of Raccoon Lagoon makes this area of the park very beautiful. I'd say it's one of the best kiddie lands anywhere. Pollywog Regatta is the boat ride in the lagoon. Trynn loved it and all the other rides here. Ladies and Gentlemen... The Royal Hanneford Circus (sans horse and elephant acts) This guy knows how to get a woman's clothes off. The amazing hula-hoop lady. I don't think I've heard this much early 90's dance music since.. well the 90's!! These dogs are bad@$$ They jump through hoops and over stuff and doesn't afraid of anything. Just look at these amazing feats!! There was also an acrobat act but we didn't get any good pictures. Finally, on our way to West Mifflin we saw this epic mural of 90's pop culture painted behind some restaurant. Can't remember what restaurant it was.. (a little help?) We had a great time at Idlewild and we will be going back next year!!

Hey Robb, you mentioned that you once worked for Oingo Boingo.. Just wondering if you've ever seen Forbidden Zone. I just saw it last summer for the first time and became an instant fan of Danny Elfman and Oingo Boingo. Man, that's one trippy movie.

They gave those emo kids something to really cry over... mace! "My life is so depressing that I can't even have fun at SF without getting maced" - Socially inept teen