We were only able to spend one day of the original plan of two days here. One of the ride workers told us that we were smart to come on a Wednesday instead of our originally planned Saturday because of the light crowd. It seemed pretty crowded to us though. That same operator said that since the new waterpark opened the park crowds have been really low as it pulls 5-10,000 people everyday. Take that with a grain of salt.

Overall thoughts

This is the nicest Six Flags park I have been to so far. It has great coasters, good ride operations, great themeing and is clean and just fun. The park goers here were much nicer than I have seen at a lot of the other Six Flags parks, there was no line jumping or other mis-behaivior. Maybe it was because it was a weekday?

I have to laugh at Six Flags though for charging so much for their food. The parking lot was full of people eating out of their trunks because of the ridiculous food prices inside the park. Even us, who are used to the expensive park food were shocked at the prices. $5 for a small funnel cake? Ugh.

Monica: I had heard that this was one of the nicest Six Flags parks. I wasn’t sure what to expect since I am normally not a huge fan of Six Flags, but after a recent trip to Six Flags over Texas, I began to appreciate the original goal of what Six Flags was meant to be before they started to buy out smaller parks and fill them with duplicate rides. I really liked this place. I loved all of the themed areas. It was really different from any other Six Flags. There was lots of walking space and it had an atmosphere of fun.

The Rides

Viper

I was expecting a rough ride with a short line and I got a fun ride with a long line, but it was worth it. I would imagine the ride gets even better as it gets later in the day, it seemed just a tad sluggish.

Good operations here, they got each train out of the station as the other was returning and they controlled the traffic in the station itself which is something I wish more parks would do. I hated the corporate park headrest PTC trains though, I never really got the point of these.

Raging Bull

What is with that trim brake on the second hill? It kills so much speed so early that the rest of the ride is gimped from that point forward. If I had never been on another hyper coaster before this would probably be my #1, but since I have it was just OK. Was the layout inspired from Titan and Goliath at all?

Monica: This was my favorite ride of the day. It reminded me of Nitro at Great Adventure which is always a good time.

Ragin’ Cajun

This was my third installation of this ride, and was just as good as the others, Exterminator and Crazy Mouse. The themeing of the ride was nice and followed the rest of the New Orleans area nicely. Well done. The queue could be less jam packed however.

Monica: This ride had the slowest line of the day. It was the same thing as the Exterminator at Kennywood, but was outside. I like the inside experience much better.

Whizzer

What a neat ride this was. Monica and I sat in the same car and smiles on our faces from the spiral lift hill until the ending brake run. I hope the rumors about this ride being replaced are not true, or it is relocated somewhere else.

American Eagle

It is quite a hike to get to this station! The eagle is a racing coaster that if it were maintained better would be a top ten coaster in my opinion. I liked the backwards side more, but what is the point of the head dividers? Typical corporate park not keeping their woodies in good shape.

Monica: This was another frontward/backward racing coaster. It was an interesting experience and the line was short. Don’t pass this one by!

Iron Wolf

I could have done without this coaster, stand ups are not my thing.
Monica: eh! Nothing special.

Déjà V

We waited to ride Deja as the line was pretty long and the intervals were long. I was determined to wait as long as it took though just because it looked so damn cool! Man, what a waste of time, the restraints suck. They were the typical vekoma harnesses and don’t clamp down far enough. When I am going 90 degrees I want to feel secure. The bottom of the drops felt like we were hitting the ground, not a pullout.

Logger’s Run

A bumpy old log ride with an extra large ending splash.

Monica: This ride was nuts. It was in the upper 70’s or 80’s the day we were there so I wasn’t interested in getting soaked on a water ride, but in general the log fumes don’t get you that wet. We are big fans of log rides so we rode it and got absolutely drenched. There is a secret rapid at the bottom of the hill that gives you an extra splash. Boy was I cold when we got off that one. I would absolutely love it on a hot day.

Food

Monica: I was disappointed that there weren’t a lot of vegetarian options. We ate at the Mooseburger Lodge which had overall good food, but the ordering process was a nightmare. I wanted to get French fries on my salad instead of chicken as a vegetarian version of the salad. They could not understand this. I thought for sure that I was getting chicken on my salad. The salad came out without the chicken, but the fries were missing. They did not seem to be used to special requests. But if I hadn’t ordered a special request I would have starved, there was nothing on the ordinary menu for me.

Accommodation

Courtyard Marriott Waukegan

Monica: There was nothing special about the hotel. It was nice and what you expect from a Marriott property. It was an exit away from the park and it looks like there is going to be a lot of new development in this area. In a year this area could be really nice, but now it was nothing special. One perk was that it was within a short drive of an IHOP which is a must stop on vacation since we do not have one in the Pittsburgh area.

Reasons to go back

• We didn’t get to go to the water park
• It’s a big park and we did not get to ride things multiple times.
• Great ride operations kept the lines moving.
• Great atmosphere

Question Marks

• Expensive food ($5 for a funnel cake !@$&*&^#)

Indiana Beach was the forth stop on our adventure. The drive from Holiday World was really long and filled with corn and other various vegetables as the only scenery. We ended up going to the park the same evening that we arrived because of a family emergency that was to cut our trip short. After waiting for the boat at the campground to take us over to the park, we were there. Wow! What a cool place. We received the ACE discount for half-price off of admission for the evening session. The park closed at 10 or 11 so we had plenty of time to do everything.

Overall thoughts

Monica: I really didn’t have any expectations of this place. Ryan added it to the agenda, but I had never heard of it and I really didn’t know what to expect even after reading the web site. I am glad that we went to the park during the evening session, the crowds were really light so we walked from ride to ride without more that one cycle’s wait.

Indiana Beach was unlike any amusement park that I have ever been to. Since it has been around for 80 years or so, it had that old time atmosphere. You could feel the history and sense all of the fun that people have been having there generation after generation. We went to the Skyroom bar for a Corona and in my head I could picture people jitterbugging, swing dancing, doing the electric slide, or whatever other popular dance of eras past. I was happy to see that they still offered “Fascination.” I think I only played that game once, but there is a certain feeling of nostalgia that comes over me when I see it. Since the park is located essentially over the lake on boards, it provided a complete unique experience. I felt like I was at one of the boardwalks on the East Coast that I love so much.

Monica summed it up for me, the atmosphere here was incredible and their wooden coaster duo take second place only to Knoebels. I wish it were closer to us. Does anyone know if there are any houses on the lake to rent for a week?

The Rides

Den of Lost Thieves

This ride was a really fun old dark ride retrofitted with electronic guns. what a great way to preserve an old ride and make it fun for the new generation.

Monica: I love dark rides! This one was great. I loved shooting the targets and I think I even beat Ryan for once.

The Hoosier Hurricane

The hoosier hurricane was a cool coaster. It didn’t have as much airtime as I expected, but it was fast, smooth and relentless. I loved it. Throughout the evening we walked on, or waiting for the train to come back into the station to board.

Monica: I loved it. It felt like an old-time coaster. There was no line and we couldn’t get enough!

Cornball Express

Cornball was a complete shock after seeing how small it was in person. It packed quite a tight little punch with airtime over each hill, just enough laterals to keep it intense without pain, and some nice headchoppers. The buzz bar restraints are such a great way to experience any coaster let alone one with some good airtime moments.

The Lost Coaster of Superstition Mountain

I had heard a lot about the comfort level of this ride, and while I can’t say it was comfortable being squeezed into a tiny car looking across from two strangers trying to avoid touching legs, I can say that it was really fun and maybe a bit scarey. I never knew which way we were going as the turns were so tight and usually hidden.

Operations here were rather sad though with only two cars running, that means four people riding at a time. This was the only ride with a wait for us.

Monica says: This ride was a lot of fun and different than any other mine ride I have ever ridden. You ride up in an elevator and then you are dropped on to the track. The ride is very compact so there are lots of twists and turns. I think I laughed the entire time.

Haunted Castle *

Sitting in the holding area waiting to go into the house a costumed grim reaper walked up to us, didn’t say a word and motioned for us to enter the elevator. As we went up the elevator the reaper simply looked forward and never made a peep. This set us up for a cool walk through attraction. Two thumbs up to the actor. We let the two young kids walk in front of us for a bit so we could experience all the gags ourselves. This is a good time, and highly recommened for even the most jaded coaster enthusiast.

Monica: I am sort of embarrassed to admit this, but I was actually really scared in this thing. I don’t want to give away any details about it to ruin the experience for anyone else, but it’s so dark in there and disorienting that I couldn’t wait until we were finished. I think I was more afraid than the little girl who went in ahead of us. Oh well!

Food

We weren’t really hungry when we were at the park because we stopped at and had pizza on the way. I was disappointed that we couldn’t try the Skyroom. But as mentioned before, we loved the bar area.

Accommodation - Indiana Beach Campground

Monica: From the get go, I was more impressed with this place than Lake Rudolph at Holiday World. I noticed on the map that we weren’t too far from the dock to take us across the lake which was an added bonus. Our campsite was large and sufficiently wooded. I loved walking on the wooded pathway to the lake. I really felt like I was one with nature. Again, we got stuck with rowdy neighbors and were graciously educated in whether or not we might be rednecks from the Jeff Foxworthy recording amplified from their truck’s sound system.

Ryan: The campground seems to be falling on hard times as the docks, mini golf course and other amusements are falling into dis-repair. Other than that the campground was really nice. Our site was large enough and close to bathrooms. As Monica said we continued our tradition of loud neighbors. I don’t get it, every campground we go to is silent at night except for our neighbors.

Reasons to go back

• Cornball Express and Hoosier Hurricane
• Unique atmosphere of the park
• Various lake and boating activities
• Atmosphere again

Questions Marks

• Too far from Pittsburgh.

• Coaster operations were odd, they wait for a full load before sending off the train, and re-rides are exhausting without jumping the railing and skipping the stairs.

• There is an up charge for this amusement to keep out the riff-raff

Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom

We stopped at SFKK as a side trip on the way to Holiday World from King’s Island. We didn’t intend on spending the whole day, but since we were in the neighborhood, we couldn’t pass it by, especially since we have Six Flags season passes. We only ended up spending about two hours there.

Overall Thoughts

We didn’t expect much from this park after hearing so many bad things about it, and while it was a pleasant surprise it still wasn’t great. Lots of food stands were closed and we were starving! We couldn’t find a place to spend our money! Thunder Run was surely the highlight, incredibly smooth turns (was expecting the worst) and freaking sweet airtime! Why haven’t I heard more about this coaster?

Monica says: I really had no expectations of this place. I thought it was odd that there was so much barbed wire around the park. Were we in such a high crime area? We only stayed about an hour there and rode two wooden coasters that were each a lot of fun. Hey, what can I say? It’s a Six Flags!

Holiday World

We spent the 4 th of July at Holiday World. The crowds were moderate and the weather was beautiful (hot as…). We stayed at the park from when it opened until it closed with a break in the middle to eat at St. Nick’s restaurant and to return to our campsite.

Overall thoughts

I personally could not wait to visit Holiday World and their two world-class wood coasters, Raven and Legend, but Monica and I were left disappointed with the park as a whole. There was the promise of a theme park, but there was very little theme outside of the named areas. Walking from area to area the theme hardly changes other than the music and the names and colors of the rides. Where were the fake gravestones and cobwebs in the Halloween area? How about some fake snow or more than one decorated tree in Christmas. And why are all the wooden railings in the entire park painted mud brown?

The coasters and water park dominate the park, without them there wouldn’t be much to do.

Monica says: I was psyched to visit Holiday World because I love Christmas and the other Holidays. I love amusement parks, too, so what could be better than a place that combines these two things? I have to agree with Ryan’s opinion of the park. Changing the music and the paint color does not change the theme.

Raven

Our first ride on Raven I was left wondering what the hype was all about, it was good and fun, but #1 in the world? For me it couldn’t compare to either of Knoebel’s woodies. The first half was good, but the second half to me was too lateral crazy and threw us around too much which resulted in a headache

At night things changed and I saw why it was ranked #1 for so long. The ravine drop from the back was wild and it got so dark on my last lap I couldn’t tell which way was which. The rides at night were far better, but were still far too rough for me to rank above my favorites, Twister and Phoenix. That said, I couldn’t resist getting off and running back around to the short line again while Monica waited on a bench drinking a free soda. The atmosphere in the line was electric, with plenty of parents and their kids eagerly waiting their ride cheering the whole way. Good times.

Legend

So this is were the howling we heard in the campground was coming from. Legend is huge! So much larger than I was expecting. It was lateral crazy and again it gave me a headache, but I can’t resist riding it. It must be something CCI added to the wood that makes them so addicting, kind of like McDonalds or Starbucks.

I loved the first drop & trip through the water park and its two nasty airtime hills. The double helix was relentless and the finale was just as intense as the beginning of the ride. While it is larger and longer, there isn’t much to me that makes Legend standout from Raven other than its length.

Splashin’ Safari Water Park

Splashin’ Safari is one of the best water parks the two of us have been to. All of the slides were a blast, the new Bahari wave pool was fun and nicely themed and the lazy river was perfectly paced.

Monica: This place saved Holiday World for me. I had a really good time here. The Congo River was so relaxing and all the slides were a lot of fun.

Food

Nothing here stood out to me as being great, the pizza we ate was better than most amusement park pizza, but most amusement park pizza isn’t very good to begin with. The free soft drinks are a nice touch.

Monica: First off, the unlimited free soft drinks were the best! I love diet pepsi so much and even though I should have been drinking water all day, I couldn’t resist the sweet caffeinated nectar! We ate lunch at Kringle’s Café. I really enjoyed the pizza; it was nice and doughy. We ate dinner outside of the park. The park offered no “must-eats.”

Accommodation

Lake Rudolph

Monica: The campground was located adjacent to Holiday World, but offers no direct park access. It offered paddle boats and miniature golf, but I have seen nicer campgrounds in my day. Santa Claus, IN is a virtual ghost town. There is nothing for tourists outside of Holiday World and the only full-service restaurant was St. Nick’s Restaurant located at Santa’s Lodge. The food was expensive, mediocre at best and the waitress neglected to tell us that there was a salad bar. It wasn’t the North Pole experience that I had hoped for, although we did get a nice photo of Ryan touching Santa’s bum in front of the municipal building.

Ryan: The atmosphere here was great, and pretty typical of a campground located so close to an amusement park, it felt similar to Knoebel’s. Of course we got stuck with the only two noisy families in the whole campground both nights who insisted on arguing with each other or yelling about a game of cards. There was only one small pool however, and due to the excruciating heat it was packed with children.

Reasons to go Back

• Free soft drinks
• Free Parking
• Clean
• Good capacity
• Great water park
• Really nice, and usually enthusiastic workers

Question Marks

• Lack of creativity in their themed areas
• Lack of unique flat rides

All that good and still disappointed? Its weird but yeah, there was just something missing for us. The employees, coasters and waterpark were all outstanding, but the park’s atmosphere was lacking and just didn’t feel right. That said, I am already craving Raven and Legend, and The Voyage looks too great to pass up. So we will be back. Even if I have to drag Monica kicking and screaming.

We started the day early and got to the park about 45 minutes before opening so we could participate in the ACE walk back. After a touch of confusion about the ACE discount, and a crowded wait to get in the park we were in. While we were waiting, we met another Pittsburgh area ACEr, Brian, from the North Hills. Another guy and a family showed up for the walk back and we all decided as a group that we wanted to ride the Italian Job rather than The Beast as the first ride. When we got back to the Italian Job, the ride operator informed us that the ride would not open on time, but we were free to wait. The group decided to take the first ride on The Beast. I think we accidentally stole Brian’s first seat ride and for that we apologize.

The ACE walk back is a really nice thing the park does every day of the season, I can’t belive how lucky we were to get a good discount and a nice perk such as the first ride of the day.

We wanted to ride Tomb Raider as the second ride, but it was closed and the ride operators had no idea when it would open. We would have to check back later in the day. It was a hot and busy day and we were there until the park closed. It was Monica’s decision to go up front and ride Scooby Doo rather than the rides in the rear of the park…it had the same long line it would have all day, and Brian later on said he was treated to an exit ride on Flight of Fear and a quick ride on Italian Job. We would wait over an hour each later in the day!

Overall Thoughts

I hadn’t been to Kings Island since I was about 16 and was looking forward to getting back to ride The Beast and their newest ride The Italian Job Stunt Track. The day as a whole was a good one, but I don’t feel the need to rush back like I do with Cedar Point. Their coasters are good, slightly better than average, but not one of them steps over the line into being great and the constant advertising really got my nerves. We saw the same music video, movie clips etc all day long.

Monica: I was really looking forward to visiting PKI. I saw it on the episode of the Brady Bunch where Jan swaps her cartoon poster with Mike’s architecture plans. I was looking forward to seeing the themed rides that came about after Paramount’s acquisition of the park. I was somewhat let down by the movie aspect of the park and I don’t think it compares to the Florida parks, but they are in a league of their own. I had a great time and would visit again if I were in the area, but I am not aching to go back next summer.

The Rides

The Beast

Our first and only ride was the first ride of the day in the front seat. After waiting at the start of the queue with no notification we could head back an operator walked up, gave us a funny look and nodded that we could head on. We entered the station to see the crew standing around twiddling their thumbs with all the lap bars down, they made no effort to aid anyone on board and never really acknowledged anyone was boarding their ride. Oh well.

Well, mark me down as one of the ones that doesn’t get it. The ride is fun, but after the first couple of drops and turns it just doesn’t do anything. The double helix was cool, but I don’t like that there is an entire lift hill just for that purpose and nothing but a brake run after it. I don’t see it as a top ten ride, but I never criticize anyone for having it ranked that high. We never got the night ride we were planning on since they closed the lines at 8pm for the fireworks.

Monica: I am not really a fan of wooden coaster built after 1940. The Beast was a nice long ride through the woods, and I wasn’t thrown around as much as I thought I would be. We only rode in the front seat so I may have thought differently had we sat further back in the train. We didn’t get a chance to ride it again, but given the chance, I would.

Racer

The Racer was sweet, well cared for and a blast to ride. We only got on the reverse side since we ran out of time in the day.

Monica: I really liked this ride. It was the type of ride that raced, but one car was forwards and the other one backwards. It was the first time I had ever ridden backwards on a roller coaster. It was an interesting feeling.

Flight of Fear

I thought this would be more than just a coaster in the dark, the thematic elements of the queue sure made it seem that way. We were treated to a great launch and a really disorienting ride, but I can’t help think there should be more to it.

Top Gun

The theme of this ride makes it seem outdated and lame, including the 80s soundtrack, but the ride packs a serious punch. I only wish it were about twice as long. Great ride!

Vortex

This is probably the only Arrow looper I would consider riding again. It still offers a thrill while giving only a slight neck thrashing. The crew was a bit of a disaster though, there was a kid that may or may not have been tall enough to ride. So rather than dispatch the train while measuring him, they spent about five minutes with three trains parked debating weather or not he was big enough. He was finally allowed on, but they dispatched our train without him anyway! So the waiting was for nothing.

Monica: I really don’t remember this one, but Ryan said that I didn’t like it. Not memorable = not good in my book.

Italian Job Stunt Track

What a great ride, after hearing the lackluster review I was shocked at the pep it had. The launch was so intense I knocked my elbow on the side of the car. The ride by itself was a blast, but the theme is what made it great. We would have only waited an hour for it, but break downs made the wait much longer.

Monica: This ride was a lot of fun. As a fan of theme parks and over-the-top theatrical rides, I thought this ride had a lot of great elements. I liked the mini cooper trains and the theme of the police chase. The ride was rather short and the line was very long, but it was worth the wait for the first-time ride. If I ever ride it again, I will wait until an off-peak time.

Scooby-Doo and the Haunted Castle

Monica: I really like this ride. I am a huge fan of dark rides. This was similar to Men in Black at Universal, but not as big of a production. It was cute. I made Ryan go on it in the morning, I think he would have skipped it if I weren’t there (Not true, I loved it and beat you! – Ryan). Even though there were a lot of kids in line, I would still recommend it. It was neat to walk through their children’s area. It was nice to see the themed areas representing all the Hanna Barbara cartoons that I watched when I was a young.

Drop Zone

Monica doesn’t do drop rides, so after waiting in the hour long line she took the camera and waited for me. Man this thing is big! I was facing the old campground and couldn’t get over how high we were…and how freaking long we were sitting…ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, and so on through the longest free fall I have ever experienced. What a rush.

Boomerang Bay Water Park

This water park was decent, certainly better than Sandcastle but lacked anything memorable. The lines were crazy, and some managed poorly where they split in two making the wait seem even longer since we had to stand around more.

I agree that this park is better than Sandcastle in Pittsburgh, but that is not very difficult. I liked Snowy River Rampage a lot. We really lucked out; it broke down right after our turn.

Food

Monica: Food at an amusement park is just as important as the rides. There was nothing special at PKI and nothing especially vegetarian friendly. We had fresh cut fries for lunch at a place near Tomb Raider and mediocre pizza in the Octoberfest building for dinner. There was no nice sit-down place to dine. We really enjoy a nice full service dinner at a park to take a break from the craziness and enjoy some A/C and some good conversation. We did stop at the Oktoberfest for a Michelob Amber Bock, our cheap beer of choice, but it was loud inside with the same advertisements that we saw in each of the lines. It did not compare to Busch Garden’s Oktoberfest experience.

Reasons to go back

• Drop Zone was ridiculous, Monica was too afraid to ride it.
• The wood coasters were in great shape and were really fun.
• The park was clean and easy to navigate.

Question marks

• Tomb Raider was closed all day
• Lines for all major rides except for Italian Job closed at 8pm, including The Beast which we planned our entire day around getting a night ride.
• Advertising all over the park and in every line with no variety. We saw the same five bands, video clips and ads the whole day.

Accommodation

TownePlace Suites Cincinnati Northeast

Monica: I would recommend this place. It was really homey and the price was reasonable. The pool featured adults-only swim from 10PM – 11PM on weekends at the adjacent SpringHill Suites which was an added bonus. The park was one exit away and it was a quick and easy drive which took us past Cracker Barrel where I was able to indulge in some pecan pancakes and real maple syrup.

See all photos from our trip