Rollercoaster Guy

A few weeks ago I was on vacation. Me and the family spent the week at amusement parks – specifically 2 days at the Wolf Lodge in the Pocono’s, two days at Six Flags Baltimore and 2 days at Six Flags New Jersey (the kids picked the itinerary). Seeing how we also are frequent visitors to Six Flags New England (we have season passes) – I hope you take these observations as coming from someone who has some idea of what he is speaking about.

The idea behind the Wolf Lodge is ingenious in its simplicity. Take a water park, put it indoors (so there is never a park closing due to rainy weather and never any summer days when its just too damn hot) and make it available only to guests at the hotel. People spend a good amount of money staying at the hotel - both on lodging and food (and don’t forget beverages – parents need to unwind with a few beers after chasing junior through the water all day).

The problem is that after just a couple of hours you’ve had time to ride every ride and do everything. A stay at the lodge for any period over two days is bound to make even the most spastic, water-loving kid bored.

The lodge is fairly close to Camelback Mountain and their ski area. And I am toying with the idea of returning to the Wolf Lodge during the winter in order to ski during the day and water park it at night. As far as going back during the summer though – been there and done that.

I should also note that I can see the place getting fairly run down rather quickly because you feel more like a patron than a guest there and patrons are more likely to feel like they can act like they want while a guest is more respectful of the host (think about how fan behavior has gotten out of hand at pro sports events as ticket prices have risen and the “I paid for this damn ticket” mentality has taken over).

The next stop was the Six Flags outside Baltimore in Bowie, MD.

On Monday July 3rd USA Today reported that the population of the US will soon top 300 million. I think all 300 million were in the wave pool of the Baltimore Six Flags on July 4th. It was way too crowded on the 4th but it was pretty quiet on the 5th (almost no lines even for their best rollercoasters). This Six Flags is relatively old and no innovative rides have been added to “jazz up” the place. Truth be told – it is pretty run down and dirty. (The Whalom Park of Six Flags for you Central Mass readers).

I doubt I’d return to the Baltimore Six Flags although it bears mentioning that we did have a very good time going out to the restaurants in Annapolis.

The last stop on the Lynch vacation was at the Six Flags in New Jersey. This is home to some of the country’s best rollercoasters.

Kingda-Ka is the world’s highest and fastest rollercoaster. You get shot out at about 120 miles per hour (similar to the take-off to the Aeorsmith ride at Disney World) and then corkscrew straight up to 456 feet where you descend in a corkscrew. I had a blast riding it. However, sometimes being the highest and the fastest isn’t enough. In my opinion – Kingda-Ka isn’t even the best rollercoaster in New Jersey’s Six Flags.

That honor goes to El Toro.

I should tell you that the wait time I experienced was about 1.5 to 2 hours for each ride (with an equal wait time for Superman but I’ve ridden that before so I blew it off this time around – good thing we were there for 2 days). I cannot stand waiting in line (for anything) and I’m not a fan of being part of the crowd – so the lines soured me on Six Flags New Jersey.

I will say that I really enjoyed the Sponge Bob 3-D Experience (probably even more than my youngest two who went on the “ride” with me). It should also be mentioned that Six Flags New Jersey has three parks – the amusement park, a water park and also a Safari park where you get to see all sorts of wild animals (having a giraffe lick our sunroof was a highlight). Problem is – you get admission to the amusement park and the Safari park with one ticket purchase and if you want admission to the water park – you need a whole second admission ticket.

All things considered – Six Flags New England is the best bet for your Northeast Amusement park dollar.