This past Saturday & Sunday (June 3-4th), Olivia and I jumped in the car to make an early morning trek to visit two of our favorite home amusement parks: Kings Dominion and Busch Gardens Williamsburg!
See below for a recap of both of our amazing park visits:
We had such a blast at both parks and were very satisfied with all that we accomplished over our two days in Virginia. The weekend started with a 10:30am arrival (for an 11am park opening) at Kings Dominion. This granted us a spot towards the front of the security lineup, so we were able to race back to twisted Timbers for two incredible rides on this world-class RMC. So much airtime and ridiculous pacing even for first rides of the morning.
From there we made the short walk over to Grizzly, one of the main reasons for our visit this time around. The classic woodie was recently re-tracked by the Gravity Group, and we were very impressed by the renovation. There is still a bit more work to do as the last 1/3 or so of the ride was left untouched, but the coaster is so much more enjoyable now and I’m hoping they’ll continue the process and address the last portion in the coming offseason.
Our next coaster was a brand new credit for me in Tumbili, a new for 2022 free spin located in the newest themed section of the park, Jungle Expedition. Although the free spin didn’t do a whole lot for me, it was an intense little filler attraction that I was happy to get on—particularly with a short wait. The theming in this area is really the highlight, and I’m hoping Cedar Fair continues this trend moving forward.
Our last two coasters of the day were Backlot Stunt Coaster and Intimidator 305. The former was just fine, nothing super special, but the latter was (and always is) the most intense coaster experience I’ve ever been apart of. I305 is relentless from start to finish, and honestly it feels like it’s trying to euthanize you as the forces can be a bit overwhelming at times. Nevertheless, it is such a unique attraction and one I recommend for any true coaster lover.
After some shaved ice and Auntie Anne’s pretzel bites, we were on our way to Williamsburg for Saturday night + Sunday morning at BGW. Just as we expected, we arrived to a relatively busy park but we’re able to get on Finnegan’s Flyer with just a two cycle wait. From there, we went on a tear enjoying some of the food and drink offerings. Our trip aligned with the park’s annual Food and Wine festival, so we started with some tacos and margs from the Mexico booth that were delicious. From there, we indulged in some bacon & cheddar fries from the legendary Les Frites, and we capped it all off with a strawberry shortcake funnel cake. Of course we split all these items, but we were more than stuffed after this endeavor. What better way to settle your stomach than with roller coasters! We closed out the night with rides on Griffon & Apollo’s Chariot, with plans to return early the next morning for a special treat…
Sunday began bright and early from the employee entrance at BGW, as we had to arrive at the park by 8:45am for our Roller Coaster Insider tour that we booked about a week prior! The tour was everything I expected and more, beginning with a walkthrough of the Verbolten show building and drop track/final launch area. We were also able to get the first rides of the day on the coaster which was super cool. From there, we made our way to the maintenance areas of both Alpengeist and Griffon, getting two rides on each along the way. The final stop of the tour concluded at the Loch Ness maintenance area; unfortunately that coaster was down so we were unable to ride but they did give us a remittance pass to come back which was nice.
All in all, the tour was a fantastic experience. It was awesome to be some of the first in the park and see it without any visitors, in addition to seeing and learning so many things about BGW and its collection of coasters. It was only $55/person with our membership discount and the tour lasted about 2.5 hours.
With our energy running low, we got two incredible rides on Pantheon and finished with my all time favorite, Escape from Pompeii. Our one miss of the weekend was the all new DarKoaster as it consistently had wait times north of 100 minutes. I’ve heard it’s a fun coaster but definitely not worth that long of a wait, so we decided to bag it as we know we will be returning soon enough.
To sum it all up, we had an incredible day and a half bouncing around the amusement parks of Virginia. We are so lucky to have these (and Carowinds) within a 3 hour drive, and I’m glad we got to take advantage of it this weekend. The Roller Coaster tour was definitely the highlight, and I would highly recommend this experience to anyone that loves the park or coasters in general. We’ll be back in action soon enough but thank you so much for following along on this adventure, we’ll see ya in the next one!
This past Wednesday morning, my brother and I landed in Tampa to celebrate my upcoming wedding and bachelor weekend. Since I had a bit of time to kill the next morning while he finished up some work, I chose to pop over to Busch Gardens Tampa for a few hours to activate my brand-new season pass. I decided on the season pass for the massive discounts on the quick queue (fastpass) it provided my friends that were visiting the very next day, as well as the two free included park tickets. I plan on utilizing it for Williamsburg–in addition to SeaWorld and possibly others–so I thought the investment was worthwhile.
I arrived at the gate shortly after opening and I could immediately tell it was going to be a busy day. The forecast was beautiful so I wasn’t expecting anything different, but with a second day on the horizon I wasn’t too worried about getting on everything. My main objective was BGT’s newest coaster, the hybrid monster Iron Gwazi from the magnificent Rocky Mountain Construction. Like Pantheon, this attraction was originally slated for a 2020 opening but was delayed due to the pandemic. This mammoth new coaster has been high on my list ever since, and I was excited to ride it within just a few weeks of its grand opening to the public. Naturally, I made a bolt for it as soon as I was through the entrance plaza.
This coaster is incredibly intimidating and hulks over the entire front half of the park. Since I had arrived rather early, the wait was only about 30 minutes for a front row ride. Iron Gwazi was entirely worth the wait, as it delivered an incredible experience that can only be rivaled by a few other coasters, in particular one from the same manufacturer up in Sandusky, Ohio. This one however might also give Velocicoaster a run for its money as my favorite ever, as it is nonstop intensity and relentlessness from start to finish. It literally has zero filler track or elements, and the coaster is glass smooth, similar to most creations from RMC. My two favorite elements on the coaster have to be the enormous first drop, clocking in at a ridiculous 95 degrees, followed by the aptly named death roll that the train absolutely rips through just under the massive lift hill.
Feeling content after conquering Iron Gwazi with a minimal wait, I decided to head to the opposite side of the front half of the park to see what else I could ride with a short wait. Thankfully, Cheetah Hunt was still collecting visitors and I was able to hop on after only waiting about ten minutes—again in the front row. This ride isn’t the most intense experience (especially compared to Iron Gwazi) but it is always a ton of fun and super smooth to boot.
Attempting to head to Cobra’s Curse next, it was seeing a bit of downtime when I walked by, so I continued on to one of the worlds most legendary B&M inverts: Montu. Another beast that is packed with intensity from start to finish, this coaster is over twenty years old and still delivers an incredibly glass-smooth ride. As was the theme of the day, I opted again for the front row—the best seat on any inverted coaster. The pacing on Montu is relentless and it delivers a nice long ride that is chock full of whippy B&M inversions. I hope this attraction sticks around for another twenty years because it is an absolute gem.
Cobras curse was running by the time I came back by, so I decided to hop on for a quick lap. For a family coaster, this thing delivers in so many different ways. It has incredible theming, a fun layout, and plenty of surprises for first time riders. It is a lovely addition to the park and I really wish Seaworld and Busch Gardens would model their newest installations after this addition just a few short years back.
After taking in some of the incredible animal exhibits on the walk back to the middle & back sections of BGT, I came to one of my favorite attractions of the park: Falcons Fury. To my dismay, the Intamin drop tower was down and didn’t look as if there was any action going on around the ride itself. As this was my first day of two, I decided to continue on to the back of the park for a ride on the mighty Kumba.
Kumba is every bit just as iconic as Montu, and thankfully it still delivers 20 years after it’s original opening date. Even though I’ve heard a decent number of recent complains, it is still a smooth ride—not to mention intense as all get out. Another attraction that I’m hoping sticks around for much longer to come, Kumba is everything you could want in a coaster. Although there have been some rumblings about its upcoming demise, I really don’t think there’s much truth to them and we’ll be able to continue to enjoy this legendary attraction for some time to come.
Next up in my circulation of the park was the recent premier rides addition of Tigris, a SkyRocket II model. Unfortunately, upon locating the entrance to the coaster, the wait was over thirty minutes long. Since I knew I would be returning the next morning (with a quick queue), I decided to punt this one. So that brought me to Shiekra which was sadly also not operating due to high winds in the area. With some storms moving in, I decided to try to grab one more ride on Iron Gwazi. Again I was denied by the time I arrived to this attraction, with high winds being to blame for this coasters downtime. Deciding to cut my losses, I ordered an Uber and headed to the exit.
I won’t go into too many details about my next and final day at the park, but I will say it was one of my most memorable ever. Being able to show-off something I love so much to my group of best friends and brothers was absolutely incredible, and I’m so grateful that they joined me for the day. We had an amazing time and everyone genuinely enjoyed themselves. The highlights were definitely our five rides on Iron Gwazi and two absolutely hilarious rides on Falcons fury which I was ecstatic to see back operating. For whatever reason, the visit on Friday with my groomsmen was way less crowded then my few hours at the park the day prior. Not sure if it was the weather forecast or what exactly, but we didn’t even utilize our quick queue save for one or two coasters. Iron Gwazi was a walk-on at the end of the day and the four back to back rides we got on it were absolutely insane. I recommend checking out my vlog from this afternoon to see all that we were able to pack-in:
And that’s it for another adventure! Of course, we got into plenty of other bachelor festivities, but none of them were as exciting as our amazing rides on Iron Gwazi. It truly is a world-class attraction and I can’t wait to make it back to Tampa to get on this coaster again. I know Olivia will love it as well.
Thanks again for following along with me and be sure to stay tuned for the next adventure!
Last Thursday the 24th I decided to make a spur the moment trip to one of my home parks just a few hours down the road in Charlotte, NC: the beautiful & up-and-coming Carowinds. I lucked out tremendously with the crowds—one of the reasons I decided to make the trip in particular—but it turned out to be beyond anything that I could’ve expected. I essentially had the entire park all to myself, and I was able to knock out a ton of rides in a short period of time. Come along with me on my video recap of my epic day at Carowinds:
I am still not entirely certain why the park decided to operate this day—A thursday in the middle of March—but I am extremely grateful to them for doing so. I assumed a school day would be less busy as is, but on top of a sketchy-looking weather report, I figured the park could be deserted. This turned out to be the case, and thankfully the weather stayed away for the entirety of my time at the park.
My decision to make the trek came earlier in the week on Monday when I noticed the rates at the new Springhill Suites of Carowinds were extremely low, and since I have yet to stay at this Marriott property I knew I had to jump on it. As icing on the cake, one of my favorite bands had a show scheduled for Wednesday evening near downtown so it really was just meant to be. I got in my vehicle Wednesday afternoon and arrived at the hotel just before rush hour traffic.
I was very pleased with this brand new hotel offering. It had all the modern amenities you come to expect from a Marriott-brand hotel, and the fact that it was just over two years old (1.5 of those being during the pandemic) everything was ridiculously fresh, clean, and new. I stayed in a king suite and the room was super spacious, unfortunately without a view of the park but that was more than compensated for with the fantastic amenities offered. Upon checking in and getting to my room, I changed for a quick workout in the hotel’s gym (which was great as well) and then proceeded to get ready for the evening’s concert.
The concert was incredible and only a short ten minute drive from the Springhill Suites. After a fantastic night’s sleep, I helped myself to the excellent continental breakfast that was offered and got myself psyched to head into the park at opening (9am).
When I tell you the parking lot was nearly empty, I am not going in the slightest. Maybe 30 cars had parked by the time I was making the quick walk over—another fantastic perk of this hotel. With non-existent lines at security and the turnstiles, I was in the park shortly after opening and immediately headed for my first attraction. I thought I would hit Copperhead Strike first to beat any potential morning rush, but once I noticed the park was a ghost town, I decided to hop straight on Intimidator. I was treated to the best ride I’ve ever had on this coaster, as the typical airtime hill trims were completely turned off. The temperature was in the mid-70’s, so with the warm conditions and non-existent trim brakes, this bad boy was flying through the layout. I have always liked this coaster, but it truly blew my mind this morning and I was lucky enough to lap it four times without leaving my seat. Check that, I did move from the back row to the front on one of my rides, but the ride ops were super cool and didn’t even make me go back around through the entrance. That’s how dead this place was.
From there, I made my way to the back of the park to checkout Afterburn and Copperhead, both of which had yet to open for the morning. No big deal, as I was just as happy to head to the park’s signature coaster Fury 325. This beast is always so much fun to ride and I am so spoiled to have it so close to home. Same deal here—I was able to get three back to back rides without leaving the back seat. What a start to the morning! Next, I hopped on Hurler in the front row (which was underwhelming), followed by another front row ride on the freshly repainted Carolina Cyclone. For whatever reason, there was standing water in my car for this ride so I spent the entirety of the course trying not to get splashed. Not super great but thankfully I managed to stay dry.
By this point, Copperhead and Afterburn were back up so I was able to hop on both for two rides each, front and back again. Copperhead really surprised me this visit as well, and although I already thought it was a great coaster, the rides that I got this day only further solidified my feelings. The hangtime in the front seat is phenomenal, while the quick pops of airtime are so much fun in both the front and back rows. The launches also seemed a bit punchier to me but maybe I just felt that way because I was vibing so hard from the incredible day I was having at the park.
I made another lap around Carowinds before taking a break at the Springhill Suites to make a few work calls, only to return back to the park for another lap and a couple more early afternoon rides. Once I was all coaster-ed out, I walked back to the hotel where my car was parked (for free) before heading back home to Raleigh. I was exhausted by this point but had a smile from ear to ear from how great the visit was. All in all, my ride counts were as such:
Intimidator – 6 laps
Afterburn – 3 laps
CopperheadStrike – 3 laps
Hurler – 1 lap
Fury 325 – 5 laps
Carolina Cyclone – 1 lap
I always say in my videos if you can visit either of my home parks (BG Williamsburg or Carowinds) during their early season—particularly during the week—you will be treated to super low crowds and an amazing day riding coasters. This Thursday was one of those epic days.
I am so glad that I decided to make the trip down, and I highly recommend a visit to Carowinds if you have not been yet. It is an incredible regional park with a solid top-4 lineup and an enjoyable supporting cast. The park is always well-kept and is a pleasure to spend a day at. Although I’m not sure when I’ll be making a return trip this season, I’m sure I will be back to Charlotte sooner than later. Thanks for following along with my trip report and be sure to stay tuned for plenty more here at T-R Travels!
After an arduous two year wait, Busch Gardens finally debuted their brand-new & highly-anticipated Intamin multi-launch coaster: Pantheon. Originally slated to open spring of 2020, the worldwide pandemic had other plans and the opening was delayed indefinitely. Two trying years later, the coaster was finally ready to be unveiled, and trust me when I say this–it was totally worth the wait. See below for a recap of our first rides on this tremendous new attraction:
Taking a quick step back, as mentioned previously this coaster was originally supposed to open in the summer of 2020, but after COVID lockdowns lingered on SeaWorld parks (the owner of BG Williamsburg) decided to delay the opening of all their newest attractions. This was a curious decision but one that only served to build the anticipation further. After hyping the coaster for the last two years, Busch Gardens finally announced an opening date for Pantheon, in addition to three weekends of member exclusive ride-time prior to opening to the general public.
I have been a member for three or four seasons now, and as soon as I received the email invite to attend this event, I immediately began planning a day trip to the park. The membership rates are pretty solid for folks that plan to visit more than twice per year, so I was also able to convince my good friend Daniel to buy a membership and join me on the trek north. This was both of our first “opening day” events for a roller coaster, and as avid enthusiasts we were both super psyched to experience the festivities.
Daniel lives an hour south of Raleigh so he met-up with me around 10am and we both hopped in my vehicle to make the three hour drive north. We decided to go with a Friday as we figured the crowds would be a bit less, and this definitely turned out to be the case. Unfortunately, this also meant the park was only open from 3 to 8 pm. As Pantheon was our main objective this day, we were fine with the limited park hours and were able to make it to the entrance of the parking lot just before the gates were opened.
Of course, we made a bee-line for Pantheon as soon as the rope was dropped at 3pm, and we were fortunately some of the first few guests in line. This turned out to be a great decision as we were on the 4th public train of the day (in the front row, no less). The coaster did not disappoint in the slightest, and here’s how I would break down each individual element:
Starting off with a punchy launch, you are quickly whipped up into the zero-g winder which offered some great hang time in the front seat. Turning around 270 degrees before popping into two off axis airtime hills (which were fun but relatively forceless), you then traverse into my favorite section of the ride, the swing launch. The launch is a little strange since it isn’t as continuous as typical Intamin launch coasters, rather the launch occurs on each side of the airtime hill in the middle of the swing launch section. So it was a bit of a weird sensation but definitely cool.
The first time up the large camelback was awesome in the front row, and plummeting back towards the launch track was an equally as awesome feeling. Next, you are caught by surprise as soon as you’re back down at ground level, first from the stout reverse launch and second from the intense airtime as you rocket over the mid-launch bunnyhop. After that ridiculous hit of ejector, you are sent ripping into the sky up the large reverse spike. The view from the front was great, but even more ridiculous from the back seat (more on that later).
One more time through the swing launch and another intense blast of ejector, the speed is incredible as you successfully hurdle over the outside top hat, barely creeping over the top and giving you plenty of time to take in the beautiful scenery. A moment later, you are careening back towards the ground and the picturesque Rhine river. Again, this drop hits in the front but delivers even more force in the back seat.
Next up is the low swooping turn down by the water, followed by the enormous outer bank airtime hill. This element was fun but not nearly as intense as I expected. Another quick right turn and you’re catapulted into my second favorite element, the zero-g stall. This stall holds you upside down for what feels like an eternity, and by the time you are right-sided, you get a great near-miss element from the top hat support structure. After hurtling through two more super low speed turns, you hit the last element (the wall stall) with a ton of force and finish the 3,280 foot long coaster in style.
There is not a single dead spot on this ride, and even though it’s track length isn’t super long, it feels lengthy enough with the four turns through the swing launch. Pantheon is butter smooth and the trains are amazingly comfortable–there is really not much negative you can say about this coaster. If I were to nitpick, however, the theming is somewhat lacking and will hopefully be improved upon in the coming years. Other than that, Pantheon is an absolutely incredible addition to Busch Gardens Williamsburg’s coaster lineup and was more than worth the wait to finally ride.
The rest of the afternoon was spent slowly perusing the rest of the park and riding the remainder of the coasters that were open (Verbolten, Apollo’s, and Loch Ness). We also happened across a few new updates for the 2022 season, so be sure to checkout my recap video for footage of those.
Before we called it an evening, we decided to get a night ride on Pantheon to close out our visit–this time in the back row. The back was equally as intense as the front but offered some unique views (particularly on the reverse spike) and incredible forces. I would definitely recommend checking out both ends of the train on this coaster, as both offer very memorable rides. All in all, Pantheon exceeded my expectations and I can’t wait to get back soon for a few more laps.
So that’s it! Thanks for tuning in for another trip report from beautiful Busch Gardens Williamsburg! I will for make a return visit to the park within the year, so be sure to stay tuned for more updates from BGW. If you wouldn’t mind checking out my YouTube channel, I post regular vlogs from all of my trips and amusement park adventures, so be sure to hit the subscribe button and follow along! Thanks again!
For our last trip out west for the 2022 ski season, me and my fiancé accompanied a good friend to the mountains of Colorado to snowboard for a long weekend. We were luckily joined by two of our other good “couple” friends to explore a some new and old (to us) terrain. Check out the video below to see a recap of our amazing three day weekend:
This particular weekend started much like my previous trip just a few weeks back in early January with a Thursday afternoon flight out of RDU to Denver. Much like last time, we had some gracious hosts that let us crash at their home that evening, and first thing Friday we were headed up I-70 to start the adventure. This trip we decided to kick it off with a resort we have yet to explore: Keystone. I’ve heard plenty of reviews and critiques over the years but I was ecstatic to be able to try it out myself.
After being some of the first guests up the mountain via the high speed quad at the main village (Summit Express), we enjoyed three runs with absolutely epic conditions. The front face was in the sun all morning so that played into our strategy, and I believe this was the right call as we were treated to some soft & beautiful groomers. After we had gotten our fill of the main lift area, we decided to hop on the Outpost Gondola to take us a little further back into the resort.
From the top of Outpost, we dropped into the furthest peak at the resort called the Outback. This area was super cool and had some excellent gladed areas just off the main blue runs. We were able to hit a couple of these before navigating to the Wayback lift to return us to the top of the Outpost area. This is where we decided to break for the day and grab a quick bite to eat. Thankfully, we were able to beat the lunch rush and were easily able to find a table and some room to stretch out & relax.
After wrapping up lunch, we dropped back into the Outback and hit the Ruby Express lift to return to the main mountain. We did a few more solid runs here before deciding to call it an early afternoon. Realizing we had three more packed days ahead of us, we were content with our decision to call it and head to a bar in the village. After a drink or two we piled back in my buddy’s 4Runner to make it back down the mountain and check-in to our accommodations for the evening–the Hampton Inn at Silverthorne. We landed on this area as the room for the night was relatively inexpensive and we knew it would ease our drive to Beaver Creek the next morning.
For dinner, we made the quick trip over to Frisco to visit one of my friend’s recommended Italian restaurants called Bagalis that had an epic happy hour consisting of a great selection of beers and pizzas. After our carba-load was complete, we walked around Frisco a bit before returning to the hotel for the evening where we proceeded to pass out within a quick thirty minutes. We were absolutely exhausted but it was an amazing start to our long weekend.
Saturday morning began with an early alarm as we had plans to head to the village of Beaver Creek, just a quick 45 minutes down the road in Avon, Colorado. I was slightly concerned about being able to get a spot in one of the main parking decks at BC, particularly because we were meeting up with another group of friends who had yet to ski the Beav. Thankfully, we rallied early enough and there was plenty of deck parking available by the time we arrived (around 8:15am). After gearing up and grabbing some coffee, we made our way to Centennial Express to kick-off the day.
I’m not going to go into great depths about our time at Beaver Creek since we have skied this mountain so many times in the past, but just like all my others visits it was an incredible two days at the resort. For my good friend’s first time, I was so happy to be able to tour them around and showcase all the great terrain and apres’ spots the Beav has to offer. Of course, we had lunch Saturday at my all-time favorite Broken Arrow Cafe at Arrowhead, followed by an afternoon of music and drinks at the Ritz Carlton at Bachelor Gulch. Saturday’s dinner was at a local spot called Benderz that we had recently discovered on our last trip in January and it did not disappoint in the slightest.
For our accommodations, we decided to return to Beaver Creek West (booked through AirBnb) that has treated us so well in the past. The condo was the perfect size for our group and we were even able to enjoy the hot tub after our full day on Saturday which was really just the icing on the cake. After plenty more turns on the mountain on Sunday, we sadly had to say goodbye to three of our friends while the rest of us held down the condo for one last evening. That night we made the trek up to BC village to show the group around and get one last meal in at one of our favorite pizza joints, the Blue Moose. The meal was bookended with beverages at the Park Hyatt and another one of our favorite local spots, the Dusty Boot Saloon. It was an incredible evening and a great way to spend our last night at Beaver Creek.
Monday hit us like a freight train and although we would’ve had just a few hours to ride anyways, we decided to take it easy for the morning and grab a nice breakfast instead. We decided on Benderz’ sister restaurant–the Northside Kitchen–which was absolutely incredible and definitely a spot we will be back to in the future. The meal was fantastic and we were able to grab some to-go donuts that the restaurant is famous for. All-in-all, it was an excellent last visit to the Avon area and we were content to head back down I-70 with our tummies full.
Unfortunately, this was our last ski trip of the season, but it was such an epic way to close the year out. We were not sad in the slightest but it’s always tough leaving such an incredible place–not to mention leaving behind good friends. We will most certainly be back though, sooner rather than later because one of my other hometown friends is actually getting married in Denver the end of June! We absolutely love visiting Colorado and are ecstatic to get return. Thanks for tuning in to another trip report–hope you enjoyed it. Stay tuned for plenty more upcoming adventures here at T-R Travels!!
This past week I was lucky enough to experience four days in the beautiful mountains of Colorado skiing and riding with good friends. We were able to make this trip out west pretty efficiently (in terms of time-off work and $) and we still managed to ride three incredible resorts over the extended weekend. Take a look at the recap video(s) below to catch-up on all the action:
In terms of our schedule, we flew in Thursday afternoon and proceeded to pickup our rental car near downtown. We rented the vehicle through Turo–I’ve had great luck with this service out of Denver. If you don’t know what Turo is, I’d highly recommend checking it out if you area in the area. It is essentially Airbnb for rental cars, and I’ve been able to rent some excellent vehicles over the five or six times that I’ve used it. Definitely check it out.
Thursday night was rather uneventful as we crashed at a friend’s place in the city. We were, however, up early Friday morning to head west on 70 (by 5:45am). Since our weekend condo was in Avon, we landed in/on? Vail for our first day of riding. From there, we rode Beaver Creek Saturday and Sunday, and finished the long weekend at Breckenridge on Monday.
The Airbnb we stayed at in Avon was located at BC West–a condo complex I would also highly recommend. I have stayed at this property twice before and have had a great experience each time. It is centrally-located in Avon and offers a convenient shuttle that drops at the nearby Avon gondola (easy 3 min ride to BC mountain).
Our last day (Monday) was a half-day as we needed to catch our flight back to Raleigh, so we got first tracks at Breck and were off the slopes by shortly after 12 noon. It was an absolutely epic trip, and one that we are actually looking to make again very shortly!
Take a look below at my notes on each individual mountain:
Vail – Friday (1 day)
Vail reported 5″ of snow for our first day on the slopes, and we soaked up every single minute of it. In terms of the weather, we were gifted a beautiful bluebird day–sunny skies and warm temps in the upper 30’s.
After riding most of mid-Vail for the morning, we stopped for a lunch break at one of our favorites in the main village, Los Amigos. The margs, chips, and queso always hit so nice on the back deck that overlooks gondola one. We made the short walk back to the parking deck to shed some layers and we were back headed up the mountain.
I was pleasantly surprised by how thin the crowds were for a Friday. The longest lift line we waited in was probably just over five minutes. Not bad at all.
The afternoon involved a bit more of the same with a few new runs added in from the Game Creek area. After a few more hours of riding, we decided to call it an afternoon and head to Avon to check-in to our Airbnb.
Beaver Creek – Saturday and Sunday (2 days)
The Beav is my favorite mountain out of this bunch, so you can see why I lobbied for accommodations in Avon. This resort is always an unreal experience and I was excited to share it with friends for their first visit. Saturday was actually snowing and overcast most of the day while the sun came back on Sunday. Temperatures were hovering right around 30 degrees.
There are never any lift lines at Beaver Creek, and this time was no different. Even at “congested” areas of the mountain, there were minimal to no lines to speak of. Really spoils you compared to other resorts these days. We were able to explore the majority of the mountain (minus Arrowhead–my personal favorite area), and we spent the most time on the Bachelor Gulch mountain.
Lastly, we were able to enjoy the amazing BC village on Sunday evening. After exploring some of the shops, we stopped by the Dusty Boot for some beers and apps, and capped off the night with some to-go pizzas from Blue Moose. Another epic visit to one of my favorite places on Earth.
Breckenridge – Monday (1/2 day)
Although my friend was slightly concerned about us somehow missing our flight back later in the day, we were able to get started early and out the door headed to Breck. Parking here was an absolute breeze, and we were on the gondola shortly after 8:30am. This gave us just about 4 hours to ride, and we certainly made the most of our final morning.
Again, another sunny day with highs in the lower 30’s, we had a tremendous time in our short visit here. With relatively minimal crowds and good snow from the previous week’s storms, it was a great way to finish our trip.
And that’s it! Thank you so much for reading and following along. We will be running the trip back in just a few short weeks, so be sure to stay tuned for that recap! See you then!
This past weekend, Olivia and I had the pleasure of visiting one of the most authentic theme parks I have ever seen: Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. We had an absolute blast at the park’s signature Christmas event, Smoky Mountain Christmas, and we can’t wait to return in the future. Take a look below at the video to see our two day’s adventure at Dollywood:
As I mentioned, we were absolutely blown away by Dollywood’s Smoky Mountain Christmas. The park claimed to have over five million lights installed, and I would certainly not argue that number. Everywhere you looked there was some sort of beautiful decoration or another lighting display. Every rooftop in the park was lined with lights, and they even had certain areas throughout the park that were “themed” lighting areas.
Glacier Ridge was a great example of this, in addition to the absolutely stunning Northern Lights walkthrough area. This location featured beautiful string lights that hung down from the gigantic overhead trees. It created an absolutely amazing 3D effect, and when synced with the ambient Christmas music playing in the area, the whole section came to life.
Another obvious highlight of this beautiful regional park is their fantastic selection of dining options, both quick service and sit-down style. Olivia and I did our best to avoid eating everything in sight, but we did indulge in some killer food items throughout the park. The food truck area was particularly our favorite, possibly because of their nice variety of options and relatively low wait times. We also had one of the best soft pretzels we have ever encountered (sorry Auntie Anne’s).
We barely even scratched the surface when it came to dining, however. We did unfortunately miss out on the famous cinnamon bread from the Grist Mill, but we were ok with this decision as we had recently experienced this delectable treat at Dollywood’s sister park, Silver Dollar City in Branson MO.
There were so many similarities between this park and SDC in Branson, which makes sense as they originally both started out under the same name (SDC) and are still managed by the same parent company to this day. The beauty of these two parks is in the authentic and downright one of a kind experiences that you can witness in the way of the outstanding craftsmen, artisans, artists, musicians, and everything in between. The Craftsmen’s Valley area in particular is such a great section of the park; Olivia and I could’ve spent the entire day there just browsing the different shops and watching all the amazing demo’s provided by some of the kindest park employees you will ever interact with. This truly sets this park (and SDC) apart from the monotony of the Six Flags and Cedar Fair’s out there.
Not to mention, the setting of the park in general is absolutely serene. It is not the biggest park, and besides from the new kids area of Wildwood Grove, it really is just one big circle. Super easy to navigate—minus the enormous mountain that divides the park in two. This mountain (in addition to the surrounding hills and ridges) makes the settings for some of their star coasters absolutely one of a kind.
The design of most of their attractions use the terrain brilliantly, and each one of them was more unique and enjoyable than the last. With that, let’s get into the real reason we came to Dollywood: the coasters, ranked from least to most favorite.
Firechaser Express (x2): This coaster is not bad by any means. In fact, Firechaser is probably one of the most enjoyable and well-themed family coaster I have ever ridden. The ride is nice and long, features two different launches, a nice backwards section, and a really cool show scene with pyro. It is a brilliantly executed attraction that provides an experience that everyone can enjoy. If I was a kid (and I still am in many respects), you wouldn’t be able to get me off of this thing.
Mystery Mine (x2): This has been a bucket list coaster for me for awhile now, as I am huge on theming and this ride has it in spades. The facade of the attraction is enormously daunting, and provides a very easy to follow storyline that only develops as you delve further into the queue line and are loaded into the small Eurofighter trains. The theming of this coaster certainly did not dissapoint, and it has a super unique layout that is incorporated into the structure perfectly. Unfortunately, the ride experience didn’t hold up to the overall look of the attraction. You can definitely tell it’s an older coaster, as it provides a good bit of headbanging with the OTS restraints and very sharp transitions. Some new trains with a lap bar would absolutely do wonders for this ride, but I know that is a costly investment. They did alter the course of the coaster in the outdoor section recently, but I think this made a very minimal difference. Still glad to have experienced this crazy looking roller coaster.
Wild Eagle (x2): Wild Eagle was the third of the four Bolliger and Mabillard wingriders in the United States that I have ridden, and although the setting was absolutely incredible, I think it was my least favorite of that bunch. The straight drop was a nice change and had some decent pull in the back seat, but the rest of it was very graceful and floaty–which was nice–but didn’t offer much in the way of forces. The vest restraints are also not ideal, but I can overlook those most of the time as long as I don’t get stapled. Fortunately this one has a relatively high capacity and never had much of a wait during our visit. Definitely worth a ride at least once, if not for the stellar views.
Dragonflier (x2): Other than my number two on this list, this coaster was the biggest surprise of our visit. We loved this little thing. We rode once in the front and once in the back, and honestly I wish we could’ve gotten on a third and fourth time. The ride is whippy and forceful for a family style attraction. It has some great theming interactions and near misses with terrain. Best of all, the seats and restrains are uber-comfortable and it makes Dragonflier and absolute joy to ride. Highly recommend you do not skip out on this one.
Tennessee Tornado (x1): I am a diehard Arrow Dynamics fan boy, so of course I was stoked to ride what I had heard was their best work of all. I can’t decide if it was truly number 1 for me as Arrow designed so many iconic and nostalgic coasters over the years, but it certainly was the most comfortable and smoothest the company ever created. It’s pretty sad that this was their last creation, and Arrow’s older coasters seem to be going by the wayside in most other parks. But it’s great to see this one running strong–hopefully for a long time to come.
Thunderhead (x3): This coaster was the biggest surprise on this trip, even after my brother had alerted me to it’s awesomeness (shoutout to Rhett for the spot-on analysis). It was absolutely relentless yet offered a very smooth ride. One that was filled with airtime and best enjoyed in the front row. The way the coaster was built into the terrain is downright incredible, and this ride has all the great elements of a classic GCI. Thunderhead was fantastic and it for sure shot up my rankings.
Lightning Rod (x4): What else is there to say about this coaster, it is simply a masterpiece. It seems to be much more reliable since the re-tracking to (mostly) all I-box track, and it was running great for us on our visit. We rode in the middle, back, and front rows. The front was by far the best experience but the back was crazy intense. I would highly recommend riding this coaster at night, especially during the holiday event. The view of the Christmas lights coming over the ridge of the quad down was breathtaking–not to mention the speed of the launch felt like we were blasting into space. An all-around incredible coaster. Being super nitpicky, it could be a little bit longer. But what it does manage to pack into its shorter track length is downright insane. This one has top 10 potential.
And that’s it! Thank you so much for checking out my recap on the park. We had an amazing time at Dollywood and cannot wait to return. Thankfully, it is not super far for us and we will definitely be back at some point in the near future. We would highly recommend coming to this park, as even non-coaster fans will find something to love. The artisans and craftsmen they have is enough to entertain most, but their world-class performers, attractions, and cuisine definitely keep people coming back. Until next time, Dollywood!
The month of October has sadly come to an end, and with that brings time to reflect on this year’s Halloween Horror Nights event at Universal Orlando Resort. This year’s edition was another amazing time, and we were lucky enough to spend three nights getting spooked at HHN. For a full recap of our time in Orlando, checkout the video below:
Our visit took place the penultimate week of this year’s edition of Horror Nights, as we spent the second to last Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday nights of October at HHN. This year we opted for the Frequent Fear Plus + Express ticket, which got us access to the event each night of October (minus Saturday). We’ve learned in years past that the Express pass is absolutely essential, with some haunted house queues easily surpassing ninety+ minutes.
I’ll get into my individual house reviews below, but overall I thought this year’s event was solid. It was a bit of a bummer to still have certain COVID restrictions in place (masks on in houses, plexiglass in front of most scareactors, etc.), but we definitely made the most of our three evenings at HHN. We were able to do each house at least twice, both shows (HHN Nightmares x2), and of course indulged in a fair amount of food and beverages. Not to mention all the available attractions we were able to ride with minimal waits.
The atmosphere for this edition of HHN was a bit subdued compared to year’s past, and although there were some good moments within each scarezone, overall I thought they were relatively weak. I’ll get into those ranks below as well but sadly they just didn’t do it for me this year. Granted, we don’t particularly go for the scarezones anyways, but there have been a few cool ones in years past but overall this years’ missed the mark for me.
Additionally, I think a lot of the houses suffered due to the aforementioned COVID restrictions. I totally understand that a huge production like HHN has to adhere to certain health and safety protocols, but other nearby haunts in the area operated much differently (SeaWorld & BG Tampa’s edition’s of Howl-O-Scream) in terms of these protocols. I will give them the benefit of the doubt though, as I know the HHN employees put their heart and soul into it no matter what the circumstances. Unfortunately for this season, it did take away from the scare factor.
My two winner’s from this year’s event were the 1) huge array of food options that they offered, and 2) the Halloween Nightmares stage show. In terms of food, my top three selections from this year’s event were:
Confetti Battered Oreos
Twisted Tater
Buffalo Hot Chicken Sandwich
We tried a variety of the other items as well, but these were for sure the standout selections for me. In terms of the Oreos, both times I had them they were warm, gooey, soft, and incredibly delicious. I am a sucker for Oreos so this ranking makes sense, but damn these things were incredible. The Twisted Tater on the other hand has been a staple of HHN for some time now. I have tried these in the past only to be terribly disappointed, but this year’s crew was churning out some soft, fresh, and downright tasty taters–they were for sure the sleeper hit of the event. Finally, the buff chicken sandwich was another welcome addition. The helping was generous, the chicken was tender and tasty, and it was just a great snack for my fiance and I to share. My only wish is that we could’ve tried the other flavors as well (BBQ and Bahn Mi).
Finally (before I get into the houses), I have to drop a huge plug for the Horror Nights Nightmares crew. They brought the energy each and every show, and we were absolutely blown away by their stunts and pyrotechnics. This was a very welcome addition to the HHN lineup, and I hope they bring this production back for years to come. The soundtrack was fire–just as the rest of the performance. It was a perfect fit for HHN, and if the crowds were any indication, I’m hopeful they punched their ticket to return for (at least) a second year.
If you want to take a look at how I initially ranked each house, take a look at the below hype video:
And with that, here’s a look at my rankings and reviews from each of the houses from Halloween Horror Nights 30:
10 – Welcome to Scarey
This maze was the biggest disappointment of the year for me, as I initially had it at #2 on my pre-season hype list. I just did not understand the story here. It was very hard to follow, the scares were not great, and there was just no cohesion throughout. The facade did a decent job of setting the stage, but the rest of the maze was just lackluster. On top of all of that, it was one of the shorter houses of this year’s event. All in all, a swing and a miss for me.
9 – Revenge of the Tooth Fairy
This was one of the three houses we were able to experience from the the year prior. HHN30 was originally set to take place the year of 2020, but unfortunately the pandemic had other plans, and the event wound up being postponed for a year. Since Universal was already in the final planning stages when last year’s event was cancelled, they eventually decided to open two houses (Universal Monsters and Tooth Fairy) to daytime guests for the fall season, with a third (Beetlejuice) opening the last weekend of October.
So even though this was not a bad house by any means, it just wasn’t as entertaining to me as the other “new” houses I hadn’t seen just yet. I did really appreciate the storyline, and some of the sets and costume designs were fantastic. I just don’t really think the tooth fairy is that scary of a premise, and unfortunately this house was the heaviest user of the plexiglass which gave away a good amount of scares.
8 – The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
This was another house that was slightly underwhelming. After a rewatch of the original TCM, we were excited to experience this one but it just didn’t live up to the hype of its namesake. I do feel like we got extremely unlucky with some of our run-throughs, as the second and third laps through this house were missing notable scares. This franchise also suffers from the same issue that the Halloween houses do, as there are only so many things you can do with Leatherface and a chainsaw (similar to Michael and his blade). The scares just get slightly redundant by the end of it.
The sets in this house were fantastic though, and I really appreciated being able to walk through some of the scenes from the film we watched a few nights prior. I’m a huge fan of the TCM series in general, but I think this franchise has run its course (for the near future) at HHN.
7 – Beetlejuice
This was another house we were lucky enough to experience in fall of 2020, and I absolutely loved it. I was able to wakeup the morning of Sunday, November 1st to secure two virtual queues, and sadly these two run throughs in 2020 were better than the encore we received in 2021. Since it was only open for all of two days last year, I think the 2020 version of the house was much better staffed and the energy was much higher. You could tell the scareactors were taking it to the next level, and it literally seemed like there were characters everywhere you looked. So I think it’s slightly unfair to compare to this years run, when the house was missing noticeable scares and just didn’t live up to the hype that everyone gave it last season. I still enjoyed it, but after seeing the houses potential, it was another miss for us unfortunately.
6 – Puppet Theater: Captive Audience
This house was good but not great. I am terrified of dolls and puppets, so this house had the makings to be one of the scariest of the year. I really thought Universal would’ve blown it out of the water with this theme, but for whatever reason they didn’t capitalize on this fantastic original idea. The facade was excellent, and it really set the stage nicely. There were a few great scares throughout, but I was still slightly underwhelmed. I had high hopes for this house but unfortunately it did not live up to the hype. Not a whole lot more to say here, it just wasn’t super memorable.
5 – Case Files: Unearthed
This storyline of this maze was by far the best of this year’s haunt. Although it was somewhat intricate, it was still relatively easy to follow, and I absolutely love how Universal was able to weave in some classic park lore with the characters in this house. The scares were creative and varied, and the whole house just had that original HHN feel that some of the others were sadly missing. Being in the second Shrek theater, this location typically lends itself to shorter houses, but I think since the storyline of this house was so good, it didn’t feel short in the slightest. This is the direction that Universal needs to continue with their original houses, and I hope we see this level of detail in the storytelling going forward.
4 – Universal Monster’s: Bride of Frankenstein’s Revenge
The last of the three houses we were able to experience from 2020, who doesn’t love a lineup of classic monsters? Unless you’re doing something severely wrong, you really can’t screw up with this O.G. cast of characters. The opening facade of this house was absolutely incredible, and it did a fantastic job of setting the macabre stage for the remainder of the walk-through. I think I had the best scare of the year in this house as well, in the final scene where the bride brings the monster back to life. This house really just embodies all that Universal brings to the table in the Halloween department, and I’d be okay with the monsters sticking around for the next few seasons.
3 – The Haunting of Hill House
One of the best original series’ we’ve seen on Netflix, I was hyped for this house, and I was psyched that it lived up to my lofty expectations. The sets in this house were spot on, and the facade was one of the best I’ve seen in recent years. Universal really nailed the creepy ambiance, and even though the house had a good amount of scares, it just felt uncomfortable being in Hill House. It truly seemed like the bent neck lady was lurking around every corner. The creative team really did justice to this fantastic series, and even though a lot of people had this as their top house, the next two I have listed were just a tiny bit better.
2 – Wicked Growth: Realm of the Pumpkin
I believe Wicked Growth actually ended up winning house of the year, and rightfully so, as I thought these last two I have left really could be interchangeable. This house was long as hell, had an incredible storyline, and just flowed perfectly all the way through. The sets were grand and the costume design was out of this world–all culminating in an epic final scene. I had this as my most anticipated house of the year, and if it weren’t for one last maze surprising me and sneaking its way in to the top spot, Wicked Growth would’ve been my favorite house as well.
1 – Halloween Horror Nights Icons
So of course after visiting HHN for the last 5 years running, I knew a good deal about the Horror Nights icons, but other than experiencing Chance in 2015, I never really had a personal connection to any of them. This all changed after experiencing the Icons house three times this year. I was blown away by this maze, and although the overall premise was simple, I thought Universal knocked it out of the park with this one. The individual tributes to each icon were incredible, and it was easy to follow the changes in story. The finale was the best of the season by a long shot. After a gauntlet of scares from every icon, the final “ruler” of the house was different with each run-through, providing a varying experience each time. I thought I was getting sick of the icons after the last few seasons, but this house left me longing for more.
And that’s it! Thank you so much for reading and following along our journey from this year’s Halloween Horror Nights! We had a great three nights at the park and cannot wait for next year’s event. We are hoping the creative team ramps the intensity and overall scare factor up a bit, but nonetheless we will always keep coming back for the overall experience and ambiance. It won’t be too long before we start getting announcements for HHN31, and in our minds, September ’22 can’t come soon enough. Thanks for another epic Halloween season Universal! We’ll see ya next year.
Olivia and I spent the weekend in Southwest Virginia celebrating a good friend’s wedding, and what better excuse than to make a quick trip (2 hours) over to our favorite Virginia theme park for their annual Halloween event, Howl-O-Scream at Busch Gardens Williamsburg. Take a look at the video below for the entire recap of our evening:
I am fresh off a recent mid-June visit to the park, so I had recently experienced all the coasters Busch Gardens has to offer. It had been a little longer for Olivia, but only around a year or so because we were in Williamsburg this time last year for their 2020 (COVID-friendly) Halloween event, Halloween Harvest. Last year’s event did not feature any haunted houses, so we were very excited to be back to experience a full “normal” Howl-O-Scream experience. This was an event that I grew up with, but I was excited to host Olivia for her first time. We checked-in to the DoubleTree down the street and were in the park by 4PM.
With two hours to kill before the beginning of Howl-O-Scream, we decided to head to Ireland to get on Busch Garden’s newest attraction, Finnegan’s Flyer. Thank God we purchased quick queue for the day, as this ride had some of the slowest ops I have ever seen. Dispatches were around 8-10 minutes, and this attraction does not have a long ride cycle. It is very fun for what it is, especially cause we had the side of the ride that hangs over the creek towards the center of the park, but I would never wait longer than twenty minutes or so for this ride. The airtime at the top of each swing is phenomenal though.
From there, we headed back towards the front of the park to catch one of Howl-O-Scream’s three shows, Monster Stomp on Ripper Row. We grabbed some drinks from a nearby bar location that had two themed drinks (Olivia was a fan of the sangria), then hopped in some back center seats for the 5pm showing. The show was entertaining–the middle section in particular. They had a really cool four person drum solo using butcher knives instead of drum sticks. I was thoroughly impressed, and the show was great for what it was. At just over twenty minutes long, it was a fantastic way to kick off the event.
After being released from the show, we headed over to the Festa Italia section of the park to check out Tempesto and Apollo’s Chariot. The latter was unfortunately down for maintenance, so we took a front row ride on Tempesto. A fun coaster; nothing super incredible but a good experience nonetheless. It’s got a nice launch to it, and the hangtime at the top of the ride is cool, but other than that, these sky rockets are a little gimmicky to me. Especially with the overkill “comfort collars” that SeaWorld parks love to utilize. Phobia at Lake Compounce is a great example of a much superior exception to this.
By this time, it was just about 6 o’clock, and as soon as my watch turned over, a creepy voice came over the PA announcing that the event had begun. Crossing over the bridge into the Oktoberfest section of the park, we came across Verbolten and decided to jump on for a ride. One of Busch Gardens’ best, we throughly enjoyed our lap on this coaster. The drop track is always surprising and the ride is just a fun time–we were laughing the whole way through. It isn’t as smooth as it used to be, but by no means is it a rough or unenjoyable experience.
We stopped at a temporary bar nearby the Festhaus (one that became our favorite drink location as the night went on) to grab a round of adult beverages and a pair of celebratory Jell-o syringe shots. This gave us the courage to check out our first haunted house of the evening, and we decided to start with the nearby (new for 2021) Nevermore maze. As the name indicates, this was an Edgar Allen Poe themed house that we really enjoyed. There were plenty of scareactors throughout, and with Olivia leading the way we had more than a few decent scares, some being rather unique. There were some cool sets and I thought the house just had a creepy, macabre atmosphere to it. A good one in our books, and a solid way to get the event started.
From there, we were nearby the new for 2021 scarezone Hexed Hollow, so we decided to check it out on our way to Alpengeist. We still aren’t sure why, but there were absolutely zero scareactors in this area. Maybe it was because it was still light out, but if the event starts at 6pm then it seems like there should definitely be actors out by 6:45. Haven’t figured this one out yet but was pretty disappointed with this walkthrough. We unfortunately didn’t get back to this section of the park later on, so it was a bummer to have missed this. Thankfully for us, this was one of the lone misses of the night.
Alpengeist was up next, and with a crowded station we opted for a less-clustered middle row (row 4 I believe). This attraction is still running phenomenally, and Olivia even deemed it her all-time favorite inverted coaster, surpassing Montu at BGT (among others). From there, we were able to checkout my favorite scarezone of the evening, the Meat Market, located in New France. The actors here were great and super interactive. The atmosphere was perfect with a nice combination of lighting and terrifying music. This section just felt complete, and it harkened back to some of the scarier zones of Howl-O-Scream’s heyday (Sea Dog Cemetery, Festa Dementia, etc.). This was by far the best of this year’s event.
While at the midway point of Meat Market, Olivia and I decided to take a quick lap on Invadr, the park’s GCI family coaster. We rode in the specified quick queue row (row 6), but sadly the ride was nothing special. I wish they had went with a more aggressive woodie in this location, as Invadr seems a bit tame and is definitely on the short side, particularly for a GCI. It’s a good mid-tier coaster for young ones and individuals building up courage, but it doesn’t do a whole lot for me unfortunately. I do remember the front row being a good time on this ride though, so maybe we’ll try to get a lap there the next time around.
Next up was Griffon. This coaster is a beast, and if it wasn’t for my undying love of Apollo’s Chariot and B&M Hypers in general, this would for sure be my number one in the park. The airtime is phenomenal, views are fantastic from front to back, and the ride is smoother than anything I’ve ever experienced. Just a fun time all-around–I could go on and on about this one.
Walking through the nearby party zone (not sure about these; somewhat of a vibe killer), we made our way into Wolf Valley. This area used to have scareactors in gillie suits when I was a kid–I really wish they would bring that back. I’m assuming there is a reason for this that I am unaware of. If anyone has any intel on this I’d love to know.
Approaching Ireland, we caught the entrance to Killarney Diner and decided to queue up. This was my most anticipated house of the event, as it was new for this year’s edition of Howl-o-Scream and had been receiving a good number of positive reviews. Thankful to report, the maze definitely lived up to the hype and landed in my top spot of the evening. The sets were impressive and there were a few really good scares peppered throughout. I loved the theme of the house and I thought they executed it extremely well. There were, however, two dead spots within the maze that I thought missed the mark a bit. One was a strobe effect in a long hallway, while the other was a hallway of hanging meat carcasses. If they were able to sneak one scareactor into either of these locations, that would’ve made for a fantastic moment. Otherwise, the house was a strong addition to this year’s lineup.
From Ireland, we made the quick walk over to the Pompeii area to experience another returning house called Dystopia. Crazy enough, this one actually takes place beneath Escape from Pompeii (not while its running, of course), and everytime I enter a maze in this location I can’t help myself from looking up at the ride structure for the majority of the walkthrough. This house was solid; it had plenty of scareactors and a few unique scares. The theme was a bit difficult to pick up on though, and the sets didn’t do a whole lot to help with the narrative. My main question for this maze: why did Busch Gardens get rid of the moving floor at the entrance of the house? I guess the floor didn’t actually move, rather the frame of the room surrounding the floor. BG would hang props from rollers on the ceiling that would swing back and forth, making for a very unique effect that I have yet to see elsewhere. I’m assuming this is related to a reliability or maintenance type issue, but maybe they don’t want to deal with the potential liability of it as well? If anyone knows the true reason, please help a brother out because I’m dying to know.
Next up on our list of haunted attractions was the maze all the way in the back of Festa Italia called Circo Sinistro. This area (Roman Rapids queue area) used to house one of my favorite mazes when I was a kid. It had a very similar theme, but I distinctly remember wearing 3-D glasses within the maze, and the house used the 3-D effect in some really creative ways to scare the crap out of you. To my dismay, BG did away with the glasses years ago, and apparently the maze hasn’t been the same ever since. I didn’t think it was a bad house, but there were a lot of dead spots and very minimal scareactors on our one walkthrough. Granted, we did get the singular best scare of the night at this maze (a bungee jumper that came out of nowhere), but overall it fell a little flat. On the plus side, it was the longest house of the night, so we did feel like it was worth our less than ten minute wait.
We headed back across the bridge past Verbolten and into the area of the park that once housed the legendary Drachen Fire. This is where our last maze of the evening was located, in the very, very back section of the coaster-less field. This maze is called Witch of the Woods and it is an outdoor haunt that runs through the edge of the woods bordering the Drachen Fire field, which is now called the Black Forest. Witch of the Woods was a nice change of pace. This was a new incarnation of this maze, but I had also done its predecessor (Lumberhack) which I really enjoyed as well. The outdoors aspect of it is super cool; it allows them to utilize larger sets, in addition to using a few different scares that really changed up the pace. Since it was later on in the evening, we were the only ones in the area and we esentially had the maze to ourselves–definitely upping the scare factor. A solid addition for this year, and probably my #2 of the evening behind Killarney Diner.
At this point, we had completed every house and scarezone, and with about thirty minutes left in the event, we hustled to get a few house re-runs. Starting with Nevermore, we then took a ride on the legendary Aeronaut skyride that soars above the middle of the park, allowing for some excellent sights and a nice ride to the England section. From there, we were able to get another run-through of Dystopia before finishing off with an epic 10pm ride on Apollo’s Chariot. Apollo’s was running great as always, and even though we weren’t able to get my go-to back row, it was an amazing way to wrap up our busy evening.
We had a great time at this year’s Howl-o-Scream, and we are excited that the event is back in it’s (mostly) true form compared to last season. The houses were a bit hit or miss, but overall they were enjoyable. Busch Gardens can definitely get away with a few more things that a more high profile event (such as Halloween Horror Nights) cannot, so I really appreciate being able to experience some variety. Olivia and I got a bunch of good scares and really enjoyed our night.
I’d like to see a few more specialty food items as it didn’t seem like they had anything this year. They had a number of themed bar areas that were nice, but I can understand why they probably couldn’t go all out in their first season back. The show that we saw was entertaining, and I heard the Jack show was great as well. Scarezones were a bit lackluster, but to be honest I’ve yet to see a good one in awhile, regardless of event. Overall, Olivia and I had a fantastic evening and were happy we made the trip over. We always love visiting Howl-o-Scream and hope to return next year!
After being with my fiancé for over four years now, it is almost a crime that I have yet to visit her hometown park of Kennywood. It is a park that I grew up reading and learning about, as it is over 100 years old and chock full of history. Kennywood has done an amicable job preserving this legendary history, and I was so happy to finally be able to visit after all these years. Check out the video below for a recap of our beautiful fall day at one of America’s most historic theme parks:
We were staying in downtown Pittsburgh for a family wedding, so the park was a short twenty-minute drive to the south side of town, in a suburb called West Mifflin. Kennywood is situated on the side of a huge hill leading down to the river, so it’s a super picturesque scene driving in, seeing all the coasters on a cliff essentially. It is separated from the main parking lot by a city street, so access to the park is provided by an underground tunnel—a unique way to enter the park (similar to Knott’s Berry Farm).
Our visit fell on a Sunday in September, and we were able to arrive at the park just after opening around 11am. Parking was somewhat disorganized but after finding our spot and heading towards the gates, we were hit with our most massive disappointment of the day: the brand-new coaster from last season (Steel Curtain) would be down all day. I was so excited to ride this attraction, but it has been plagued with operational issues since opening day, so it wasn’t tremendously unexpected. That didn’t lessen the sting though, and I was slightly bummed to start our morning. Luckily for me, the rest of the day’s events would make up for this early blunder.
Our first ride of the day would be on the Thunderbolt, a classic Woodie built in 1965 that has been taken care of tremendously. It still runs its legendary original trains, but unfortunately, they only operate it with one, so I could see how the line could get out of hand easily. Thankfully, with our early arrival, we were able to get a front row ride with only a two train wait. The coaster was fantastic; smooth, full of great forces, and a picturesque traverse over the beautiful riverside hills. The other requirement for this attraction (which was super unique) was that you had to ride with a partner, so no single riders were allowed. I quickly found out this is because of the intense lateral forces on the first section of this coaster. The trains do not have seat dividers, so if you were in the row by yourself, you would get tossed around in this section. Weird policy, but I can understand why it makes sense.
Next up was my most anticipated attraction of the day (behind the lawn ornament on the other side of the park), Phantom’s Revenge. This coaster has an interesting history, as it originally started its life as an Arrow looping coaster in the early 90’s. After a few years of operation, Morgan was contracted to renovate the entire coaster. They kept certain iconic sections of the ride as is, but changed out the trains completely and removed the inversions all-together. With this track replacement, Kennywood was left with a masterpiece of a hyper coaster—full of ejector airtime and plenty of great speed. It is also incredibly smooth, and the new trains do a world of good for the ride experience. No wonder this has been a fan favorite of the park for many years. It was easily my top pick of the day.
From there we took a quick walk into the Lost Kennywood section, an absolutely beautiful area of the park. This section is themed to the old trolley park that used to be located in Pittsburgh in the late 80’s/early 90’s called Luna Park. The designers did a great job capturing the old school feel, and incorporating the shoot the chutes ride as the centerpiece is such a cool look. We came across a flat ride next; Black Widow, a Zamperla Giant Frisbee. These are usually solid attractions, but something about this particular rendition felt elevated. The swings were absolutely enormous, and the airtime at the top was amazing. It almost seemed as if we were upside down at the pinnacle of each swing. A nice long ride cycle as well, this one was a winner in my book.
Exterminator was our next coaster, and this one was a little hard to find. If I didn’t have my ex-Pittsburgh local with me, I’m not sure if I would’ve found it. A standard Zamperla spinning wild-mouse on the surface, this one is built indoors and takes place (mostly) in the dark. There’s some decent theming in this one (albeit out of date), but it was a fun experience and worth the short wait. I could see this one getting a long line on busy days though as it had a relatively low capacity.
About time for lunch, we decided to get on one more attraction. This one turned out to be the most unique of the day, it was called Noah’s Ark, and it is an old-school walk-through funhouse type ride. It was such a cool experience! There were some one of a kind things in the ark, and even though a lot of the theming was outdated, it was still so incredibly awesome. You just don’t see attractions like this anymore, and I’m so glad Kennywood has kept this thing going for as long as they have.
We decided to commit to the slow-moving line at the Potato Patch, but the nearly thirty minute wait was worth it for some fried potato-ey goodness. Olivia and I were in agreement that the cheese sauce provided was nothing special, but the fries themselves were tasty and I can definitely understand the hype. Just wish it was a quicker operation, as this was our longest wait of the day.
Next up we headed back to snap a few pictures of Steel Curtain and its surrounding Steelers Country area. This section opened last year with the coaster, and I was definitely a fan of this new expansion. It’s a really unique idea to have an area and coaster themed to a football team, but it totally works in Pittsburgh. We were even able to catch some of the NFL highlights on the big screen overlooking the new section. It was dead back here with the Curtain down, but we were able to grab a drink and use what was by far the cleanest bathroom in the park.
We headed just next door for a ride on the 100+ year old Jack Rabbit. This legend of a woodie opened in 1920 and still delivers a thrilling ride. The double down section provided a ridiculous pop of ejector airtime–even more so because we were in the back row. We only waited about ten minutes for this classis attraction, and I’m a little disappointed we didn’t go back for a second lap. Here’s to another 100 years of the Jack Rabbit.
Moving back towards the front of the park, we located the entrance for Sky Rocket and went ahead and hopped in line. This coaster has always received mixed reviews, but I thought it was enjoyable. It had a nice powerful launch, the top hat was fun (albeit quite a bit nerfed with the holding brake), and the ride was super smooth and comfortable. There were a couple fun inversions mixed in with a few good pops of airtime. Nothing tremendously impressive, but definitely a good addition in a relatively small footprint. For sure a great coaster for the younger guest working their way up to larger attractions.
About fifty yards from the entrance to Sky Rocket was The Old Mill boat ride, which Olivia and I decided to hit up next. This is a super old attraction as well, and I’m glad we got to experience it. The ride meandered through some outdated scenes and the story was tough to follow, but I’m a sucker for these tacky old-school rides, and this one was no different. It was a relaxing ride and a nice way to escape the sun for a bit.
Our last (new) coaster of the day was another historic landmark (literally a registered national landmark)–this one being the infamous Racer. Although it is not nearly the tallest or fastest coaster around these days, the Racer still delivers a thrilling and downright fun ride. It’s a unique experience to be able to high-five the other train when traversing around turns. A common theme on all of Kennywood’s old coasters is how smooth they all rode and operated. Huge kudos to the park for keeping up the maintenance of these fantastic machines.
At this point we had ridden everything we came to experience, so we decided to catch a re-ride on two of our favorites, Thunderbolt and Phantom’s Revenge, with a pretzel from Auntie Anne’s mixed in between. Both coasters were just as good if not better than our morning rides, as they both seemed to have warmed up a bit throughout the afternoon. We closed out our awesome day at Kennywood with a lap on the Pittsburgh Plunge, the park’s shoot the chute rides. Thankfully this was our last stop on the way out, because we got absolutely drenched. It was, however, a refreshing way to cap off our visit.
Of course Steel Curtain being down was a huge bummer, but Olivia and I still managed to make the most of our afternoon and turned out to have an amazing time at Kennywood. I’m so grateful to finally have checked off this legendary amusement park, and it more than lived up to the long-awaited hype. The coasters, although not super numerous, were all a great time–each was unique in it’s own way. The park also had a great old-school charm to it that you don’t often see in today’s modern amusements. We will for sure be back for a ride on the Curtain, as we are in Pittsburgh relatively frequently to visit Olivia’s family. Although the park has already enjoyed a long and successful operation, hopefully Kennywood’s best days are yet to come.
Thanks for following along, and be sure to stay tuned for our upcoming Halloween adventures!
Texas-Ranger Travels 