Mega 8 park photo trip report!!!!!

This past 4th of July week, we went on a 8 park trip down south and up into Pennsulvania. Here is the list of parks in the order of our trip.

1. Cincinnati zoo

2. Camden park

3. 2 Days at Carowinds

4. Kings dominion

5. Lakemont park

6. DelGrosso's

7. Conneaut lake

8.Geauga lake/ Cedar point(4th of July)

There are a TON of pictures to share, so this thread will have several updates. We will start out with a few shots from the Cincinnati zoo.

The camden park report can be found here...http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1604198#p1604198

Next up....carowinds park

Yay....look at my mad photo skills...

What's up?

The zoo does have a few rides like a train, merry go round and I believe a simulator of some kind.

I might have to come back and get this book.

Now that's a fan!

No trip to cincinnati is complete without a visit to skyline chili

Onto carowinds park.

Our next park is carowinds park right on the boarder of north and south Carolina. As a matter of fact, half the park is in one state, and the other half in another.We spent 2 days at this park and really did enjoy both of the days. For both days, we bought the all day dinning plan and it was worth every penny. We ate most of our meals in the new Harmony hall. They have a great selection of food and some great tasting ribs fresh out of the smoker.

I also have to say that fury is in my top 5 now. I would rate it slightly better than millennium force due to the forces and different elements of the ride.The rest of the park was very nice as well. I was able to score a thunder road farewell pin that they were handing out at the exit of the ride. The other rides I was impressed with were afterburner and Intimidator. The rest of the coasters(besides hurler) were fun but cookie cutter.

The landscaping in the park is very nice, and has plenty of shaded areas. What is it with the frogs all over the place in this park?

Onto the pictures....

Our drive to the park was beautiful.

We took the tunnel!

After that great drive, we have finally arrived at our destination.

Pick a lane

The new entrance area reminds me of cedar points.

The park reside in 2 states

Noted....

Our first stop

It also has a great tunnel

Just like Disney, they make you exit thru the gift shop

Lots of fury swag to be had

Some of the ride signes

Awsome ride!

B&M is on a roll

The new Harmony hall was a great addition to the park. I was talking with a manager, and she was telling me that this was a prototype for the other parks. I would love to see one of these at cedar point.

Lots of air conditiond seating inside

There are lots of food selections inside

Here are a few of the choices

This place had some great ribs

You can even make your own salad.

In the mood for an adult beverage? They have that covered as well.

You see...this is the problem with the world today.

One last look inside Harmony hall brings us to this scale model of the parks old entrance

Never knew the park had a train ride.

This old school arrow coaster was not too bad.

It goes right over the midway like cedar points

Seemed like a popular ride

Believe it of not, this boomerang had no headbanging due to differant harnesses. How come more parks can't go with this type?

Decent ride, but VERY slow crew

Time to say bye to an old friend

Classic racing coaster

It was really hard to get a shot of this ride

They had a tribute out near the coaster

The park has a fun, but short mine ride coaster

Most of this ride is underground

This stand up coaster was next on the list.

Vortex had a short layout

They were only running 1 train today

Nothing going on here. Looks like a good spot for a dark ride.

I love this shot of the drop tower and sunset

Sigh.....

Intimidator doing it's thing.

More pictures coming soon.

Loving the reports! Can't wait to see more!!

Also, this photo is beautiful!!!

Here are some more from Carowinds park.....

One of the better inverted coasters out there.

Afterburn doing it's thing thru the trees

The cardinal train. The other train is a shark.

This ride has some pretty intense moments.

One last look at the rides station.

The park also has a dino walk thru. We did not see a single person doing the attraction while there.

Spinny ship ride. Fun ride, but not very cumfy

My least favorate ride in the park

First drop

Station shot. I believe that there used to be waynes world props in this area when Paramount owned the park.

The hawk of the night

This ride is another sloooow loading ride

I guess as far as vekoma flyers go, this one is the best. It has a double corkscrew at the end opposed to the inline twist.

Sigh.....I am such a credit horror

Fun attraction, but another line that crawls.

This ride had no name

Old school.

Looks like they need to grease the ride up a little

Mouse coaster time

Maybe later, line was too long

Typical mouse coaster with a few drops added in

My daughter had a dragonfly land on her finger while waiting for the ride.

Windsleeper doing it's thing

One of the shows that the park has to offer

Dueling lift hills.

A park staple. This one had a cool light show.

I like the decor in this area of the park.

Furys lift hill at night.

This ride looks amazing at night

Not the best picture, but the park has a nightime show near the entrance.

As far as I know, they are the last park with the snoopy night time spectacular.

The beach band

Here are a few shots from the tower

Fury lift hill straight on

Ahhhhh....My hands!

That's it from Carowinds.....Next stop is the smokie mountains

Sidewinder (the Boomerang at Hershey Park) has the same restraints as the Carowinds Boomerang and they are awesome. I wish all the Boomerangs would change to these restraints as they are very comfortable and they completely eliminate the head banging.

Sidewinder (the Boomerang at Hershey Park) has the same restraints as the Carowinds Boomerang and they are awesome. I wish all the Boomerangs would change to these restraints as they are very comfortable and they completely eliminate the head banging.

I didn't know that. We passed on the boomerang at Hershey last time we were there.

Here are a few shots from our day in the mountains on the way to kings Dominium. We spent the day traveling down the blue ridge parkway, and were even able to eat breakfast in a restaurant with a great view of the mountains.

Coming into the mountains.

I would highly recommend driving down this parkway if you get the chance. The views are awsome.

It was a bit hazy the day we were able to visit.

Lot's of cool tunnels on the road.

This was our view from our table at the restaurant. Again, it was quite hazy

They had some killer blueberry pancakes

One of our stops along the blue ridge

Lots of education to be had

Here is our clan

There were lots of pull offs on the parkway to see things like this.

One last view of the mountains before our next stop on the trip

Here is our next stop.

Pictures coming soon!

Dude, seriously, what the crap happened to that poor T-Rex's hands?!

And his tail was all bent up as well.

This is a really nice report thus far. The I-81/Blue Ridge Parkway corridor is one of the two or three nicest drives in the entire US in my opinion. Everyone who might be traveling in the area should really strive to take a portion of their trip on the Blue Ridge Parkway and/or Skyline drive.

Where was the restaurant where you had the blueberry pancakes?

Great pictures, I can't wait to see more.

This is a really nice report thus far. The I-81/Blue Ridge Parkway corridor is one of the two or three nicest drives in the entire US in my opinion. Everyone who might be traveling in the area should really strive to take a portion of their trip on the Blue Ridge Parkway and/or Skyline drive.

 

Where was the restaurant where you had the blueberry pancakes?

The restaurant was in a hotel called the pisgah inn. There are not many places to eat right on the parkway, and it's definitely one of the nicest views you will ever see at any restaurants.

I recommend this place!

I think that fury 325 was a great investment for Carowinds, since they got a B&M product (popular since they started!), not to mention the crazy height and SPEEEEEEEED! I also like the mostly original theming, and the actual neon lights made it so much cooler! GG, Carowinds!

p.s. lucky you got to go, my family doesn't travel far out at all xD I'd go in a heartbeat!

Great photos! I really hope the Dino Alive attractions are removed soon from CF parks. Such a waste of space, among other things.

Now let's take a look at kings dominion.

Todays park.

I see you batman...errrr....Dominator.

The park is celebrating there 40'th

Mandatory tower shot

After the carowinds version of this ride, I think we will skip this one.

First stop is batman....errr.....dominator

Still a fun floorless coaster

Even though the park was not that buisy, this ride had a good line.

Next on the agenda.

Well this is not good.

I really enjoy this ride but.......

If you don't hit it first thing in the morning, you will have to deal with this.

An overview of the coaster

The ride launches you out of the top of a mountain.

I believe that this is whats left of a dark ride that used to be inside the mountain.

I love this ride, but this has to be one of the worlds slowest crews. There was no hustle or sense of urgency to hit interval.

Right next to volcano is this great ride.

Is this part of an old flume ride?

Avalanche is a classic mack bobsled ride that is a lot of fun.

A looksie at the train

The track consists of small tubes

The crypt is a topspin ride that is actually not that bad.

This guy does not look happy

This ride has some very interesting theaming. Not sure what this reminds me of.

Loading the ride

One last look at the rides theaming

This is a great ride. It's one of the few coasters that I actually grey out on.

A few shots of the ride

Interesting track on this ride.

Lift hill and bunny hop

Next to the great intimidator ride was this.....

I really want to like this ride, but its an old school arrow coaster.

A look at the station

The park also has a stunt coaster

Anybody know why they drained all the water out of these rides? It was like this at kings island as well.

Flight of fear is another ride you can find at other cedarfair parks. This version is slightly better that kings islands version, but it still stops at the mid course for some reason.

Fort zimmerman?

A look inside the station

No stop to the park would be complete without visiting the mushrooms.

I believe this is the ringleader of he mushrooms

This area of the park is theamed to candy apples I guess?

I believe that the drop tower is part of this area as well.

Bad apple is another ride in the candy apple area

We got to ride this togo death machine about a week before the announcment that it will be removed from the park.

Here are a few shots of the stand up coaster

Lift and drop into loop

The train looks like some kind of mid-evil torture device

Instructions.

Bonus lift hill shot

Funky togo breaks

One last look at the coaster

A shot of geauga lakes old wheel and windsleeper. I wonder when they are going to get rid of the blacktop and get pavers in like kings island.

The ride still has the same decals as it did at geauga lake.

Beautiful carousel building

Boo blasters

I love a ride that has no line

I love the shaded tunnels on a hot day. I remember that kings island used to have one of these.

Lots more from kings dominion coming very soon.

heh. . happy to see you took the Tower Shot that I missed (we were running to Volcano, and had to pee. so didn't stop and never went back)! But Volcano was basically a walk on for us.

Funny to see the similar pics that we took tho

and that is some AWESOME theming on the Crypt. When we were there about 3 weeks ago, the ride was in pieces. Not that we ride top spins anyways, but the fire effects are great.

and yes, Avalanche is a great toboggan coaster.

Kings Dominion replaces more and more asphalt with brick pavers each season - it is actually a part of their yearly budget apparently. They usually replace the asphalt with pavers around whatever the new attraction is. This year was in Soak City, last year was around the Singing Mushrooms to Safari Village, 2013 was all of Planet Snoopy, ect.

It looks like you hit Carowinds and KD on good days! Not too crowded by the looks of the photos. Keep the photos coming - great report so far!

Kings Dominion replaces more and more asphalt with brick pavers each season - it is actually a part of their yearly budget apparently. They usually replace the asphalt with pavers around whatever the new attraction is. This year was in Soak City, last year was around the Singing Mushrooms to Safari Village, 2013 was all of Planet Snoopy, ect.

 

It looks like you hit Carowinds and KD on good days! Not too crowded by the looks of the photos. Keep the photos coming - great report so far!

That's good to hear.

We got very lucky with the crowds considering it was the week of a holiday.

Very nice pictures!

While I wouldn't rate Fury in my "top 5," I enjoyed it--one of the B&M's better rides over the last few years.

The park is celebrating there 40'th

Technically, I'd say that KD is celebrating their 41st.

Very nice pictures!

Thank you....Lot's more to come.

Really nice pictures!

It appears that I'm one of the very few people who actually thoroughly enjoyed Shockwave; the entry to the helix was kinda punchy but that was about it. Granted, I made sure not to choose a row directly above a set of wheels, but still.

^I rode it back when I went in 2013 and loved it! It's a great ride besides some of the transitions, much better than Anaconda in my opinion.

More from Kings dominion.

The one thing I did not like about this park was the very high food prices. Good thing we decided to get the all day dinning plan.

Unlike thunder road, rebel yell is sticking around.

It was hard to get a decent shot of the ride. We did not make it to the tower in time to get a decent shot of the coaster.

Station shot

What is it with the LONG walkway to exit this ride? There are several points on the exit ramp that you could have been placed right back onto the midway, but they snake you all the way around behind the games.

Just like carowinds, the park has a mouse coaster.

This mouse coaster has a slightly differant layout that other mouse coasters I have been on.

After the lift, it has a dogleg to the right for a ways before it gets to the first drop.

It's a fun little coaster.

One last look at the station.

They should just rename this "ouch" the ride.

Other than the fact it was a rollercoaster, I cannot think of anything else positive about this one.

Fist drop

Not sure why they are replacing the old handrails with this style.

As you can see, the ride was drawing quite the crowd.

In order to get to the grizzly, you had to go thru the dino gift shop.

Due to the fact that the ride is bascly in the forest, it was imposable to get a good picture

Lift hill

Station shot

Entrance area

ghost town

I still can't figure out how snap the cable on this thing.

The park also has a pretty decent log flume ride.

Random park theming.

The park also had a cool cirqe type show as well. It's a lot like the kings island version, but it had a few differant scenes

Are they using this theater for anything?

The park had several bits of history for you to view for it's birthday.

More angry guys

I have to say that the park has the best planet snoopy area in the chain. I was kinda bummed that they removed the treasure cave and ball pit. My daughter really enjoyed them last time we were there.

I almost forgot about this coaster.

So with about an hour left before the park was to close, this was the line for volcano.

A few last shots on our way out.

The tower had some kind of light show going on.

After a long day in the park

Anybody know what this is all about?

Our next park brings us to Pennsylvania.

Lakemont park. Pictures coming soon.