Photo TR - East Coast Tour 2008 - The C-Jay Perspective

[KerryBWhen I grow up, I want to breed donkeys!]

^When I get a copy? How much is it worth it to you that I don't post a boat photo? Hmmm, blackmail!!!

[rollin_n_coastinDon't put that donkey on the floor!]

I should mention that today was a bit of hangover day from…DRINKING NIGHT 2!! For those of you who were there…an awesome night and man, that bar/ pub/ restaurant was totally happening! Whoever has those pics…they must be destroyed!

Ok, so on to Dorney, another classic park with a proud history but of course done up the CF way.

Four favourites were at this park:
-Hydra: I loved this ride! It was running crazy smooth with awesome floater during almost private ERT while everyone was at Talon
-Talon:Another amazing ride!! It’s tied with Montu for favorite invert
-Laser:Well, it’s Laser, what more needs to be said? Funny, after Superman at SFGA, this is the second ride that I’ve grayed out on.
-Voodoo:I love these rides, especially Wicked Twister.

Anyway, the day at Dorney was a bit sad given that only one more day was left. It was a great park and one of the major highlights was of course the water park with Robb, Elissa and crew! How awesome is a water park that has slides that are “Dark and Dynamic”? I mean, what can touch that? Thanks to all of you for letting me tag along, it was awesome, I’ve never laughed so much! Plus, you really haven’t experienced enthusiasm until you’ve heard Robb go down a waterslide, especially the covered ones!

Overall, another great day and a fantastic ERT, especially on great coasters like Hydra (debatable I know..) and Talon. Honestly, it was so hard to believe that only one day was left.

Fellow food lovers, you’ll understand this. Following almost ten days of similar food each day (fried chicken, hamburgers, assorted pulled pork sandwiches, mac & cheese, etc) I have to take a moment to talk about a memorable culinary experience. After the waterpark and before ERT, we were all lucky enough to be across the street from the hotel. After resting up a bit, I ran into Scott and Jenn who invited me to tag along to Carrabbas to pick up Robb and Elissa’s gift. Until discovering TPR, I had never heard of the place. I think Olive Garden was in Canada for all of a year or two but that’s as close as we had to Carrabbas, and Olive Garden doesn’t even come close. Speaking as someone who knows that nothing can come close to Mamma and Nonna’s cooking…..the place was just awesome and yes, was as close as a restaurant can get…(but shhh..don’t tell the family). Scott and Jenn, thanks again for the great company and hanging out for some great food…and wine…

There is no doubt that the food on the trip was very generous and of good quality but Carrabbas was definitely a special treat!

So, now that I’m hungry this late, I’ll just stop rambling and get to the pics. Enjoy!

[downunderWhy do I still have a donkey title???]

Great TR, I totally forgot about the tour so it was nice to get a view of that.

Dorney was a lot better than I thought it would be, Talon and Hydra really rocked and I was expecting to ride them once and be off. Steel Force was a lot better than I thought it would be and Thunderhawk was not bad. Though the Wild Mouse queue would have given the Dalai Lama the sh!ts.

When I looked up "glass" in the dictionary it had a section on word uses like "Smooth as glass" and lo and behold it just had a picture of Laser, it was odd but very cool to have that much smoothness and force in the one coaster.

[krazekidddFIRE HAIRED BOY]

Here's all I remember of Dorney:

- Wake up late and run my A$$ to the meeting point.
- Do ERT on Steel Force
- Ride Voodoo, Lazer, and the mouse
- Eat lunch at 11:30
- Run back to the hotel and sleep till 5 pm!
- Go to Carrabbas, back to the park for Night ERT and sleep some more!

Yes, that was my eventful day but totally worth having a hotel right across the street from a crappy park.

[rollin_n_coastinDon't put that donkey on the floor!]

^^ How could you even comment on trying the patience of the DL

But you're right; I think given that queue, only deep meditation and instantaneous self-enlightenment would get anyone through while maintaining moderate blood pressure. Yah, I skipped it lol

^Hey Scott! So I guess a Dorney trip is definitely in your future plans then?

At least over Thanksgiving you're going to be close to some awesome places.

[rollin_n_coastinDon't put that donkey on the floor!]

So, here we are at the last day. It was definitely a day that tugged at the heartstrings, both in terms in how awesome Knoebels was but also in knowing that the trip would be over after ERT and that we’d all be parting ways for the foreseeable future.

Now, we were lucky on the past few bus trips to have Robb join us along with his trivia, bag of ‘not all that mysterious’ mystery items and some of the craziest stories ever. That was of course in addition to how awesome Studio 54 bus was already!

Robb described how different and crazy Knoebels is and that there really is no easy way to describe the park. He was right and it didn’t disappoint! The park was one of the most memorable atmospheres around and certainly a park that I would categorize as a “must return”. You can not go into it expecting a corporate atmosphere whatsoever. They clearly do things differently and their philosophy seems to work. The parking lot was packed by mid-day after all! I have no idea how to describe the place other than it’s simple and works so well on so many levels. It’s like the camping atmosphere was extended right into the park. You can relax, ride on your own terms/ spend what you want, enjoy the setting, enjoy the spontaneous entertainment and enjoy the great home-style food. The park employed a lot of retirees and I thought that it gave it quite a charm. The lunch line reminded me of the high school cafeteria lunch ladies, but serving better food. Ok, you got me, it’s quite often about the food for me.

You’d be surprised at how much there is to do and a full day is definitely a recommend. Also, there are some classic rides there that I’ve never seen anywhere else.

Highlights of the day:
-Twister and Phoenix ERT!! Especially Phoenix, I’ve never landed half on the lap of the person sitting beside me on any ride before..
-Losing but then finding my camera
-The awesome Haunted Mansion
-Ring grab/ toss on the carousel. BTW, Kim actually bought the Wurlitzer sound track! I would never have known that such a thing existed.
-‘Hamster wheel ride’ and other crazy flats!
-Insane bumper cars and chatting with Mr. Dick Knoebel about the park while waiting for them!
-The Flyers – TPR takeover styles, no need to say more except maybe..snap!
-TPR takeover of the Cosmotron.
-An amazing opportunity to not only tour the Flying Turns site but also walk the track!
-GCII field trip
-Cora and Scott’s 1st annual TPR trip awards. Thanks for all the work you two put into it, it was a lot of fun.
-Birch bark beer, waffle ice cream (Jake/ Texas, thanks for going on that food walk/ hunt with me…what was it that we were looking for again…just popcorn??) haha
-Did I mention Phoenix?


Enjoy the pics and if you’ve made it this far following this TR, thank you! Looking forward to your posts!

Robb and Elissa, thanks again for all that you both do! If anyone out there is looking for a truly unique and fun experience, definitely consider one of the trips.

It goes without saying that it was a pleasure meeting everyone that I had the opportunity to meet. I hope that we all run into each other again on a future trip or in our areas.

Yah I know..finally...the pics

[rollin_n_coastinDon't put that donkey on the floor!]

Some good news! I managed to recover my Philadelphia pics that I accidentally deleted during the trip! These will be posted as Day -1 in the near future.

Cheers,
J

Pheonix?

nice report so far J, Knoebels was a killer last-day

[rollin_n_coastinDon't put that donkey on the floor!]

^ hahah I couldn't find what you were talking about, but then I found it in the two captions. I must have been really excited during my typing!

Thanks Bas! Looking forward to seeing the rest of yours as well.

Cheers,
J