Photo courtesy of RideZone

Dear Diary, Well apparantly the theme of this trip is "I Don't Want to Leave" because that's exactly the way I felt yesterday at Waldameer and Conneaut and now today at Idlewild. Cindy, Tim Melago, Greg Galley and I spent about 3 hours at Idlewild today before having to leave in time to register for Coaster Con. Three hours is simply not enough time! If Busch Gardens Williamsburg is the most beautiful theme park in America, Idlewild is certainly the most beautiful traditional park. This place is breathtaking, there is no other way to describe it! And like my last visit, I breathed Idlewild. The park has a distinct scent, a heady smell of pine that simply engulfs you. It is a park for the senses - visually stunning and so wonderfully aromatic that I would literally be happy just to walk around and take in the sights and smells without riding a thing. Fortunately we didn't do that. We rode the Wild Mouse first, which is my favorite mouse ride in the country. I love everything about this ride - the tilted lift hill, the wicked turns, the wild drops, and the lovely setting. It's a coaster I could ride over and over, even if it were in another park with lots of coaster choices to make. We also rode the Roller Coaster several times, which is just a great junior woodie. Greg didn't even see it at first, so hidden is it in the woods! We also rode the hand cars, which are not as embarrassing as I thought they'd be (I get embarrassed riding kiddie rides, I don't like to do them) and the train ride, which is a *wonderful* trip through the woods. Idlewild is a huge park and they have tons of unused land. Wouldn't it be great if they took some of that land and created hiking trails? The Laurel Mountains are full of breathtaking scenery and I think this would be a great natural attraction for this park! We also did Confusion Hill. I think these things are kind of stupid. You know, the tilted shack where everybody walks funny and the water runs up and the ball rolls up and everything rolls up. I just think it's stupid. Fortunately it was made tolerable by the girl who "told the tale" and was just about the most adorable thing in the park, and Tim got yelled at for guessing the punchline and "ruining" her joke! Raccoon Lagoon is an area I did not see last time. This is probably the most beautiful, sophisticated children's area I have ever seen. Each ride has its own landscaping and forms a giant circle around a pond. There is a *gorgeous* fountain in the center of it all, with a boat ride nearby in the pond! I really wanted to do the trolley car ride, but there simply wasn't time. I didn't even get to see Storybook Village or ride any of the great flat rides. I think Idlewild needs a Sally shoot em up dark ride in Hootin' Holler. It would be a perfect fit for this area. And I would love for them to get an adult wooden roller coaster. But one thing that stood out in this park was the notable absence of teenagers. There are none - the place is almost exclusively limited to adults and kids. This isn't a thrill park, it is very much a family park, and I'm not sure a thrill ride like an adult wooden coaster, while personally making me happy, would preserve this park's unique character. Unfortunately time ran out and we had to leave. There is no way you can take in even half of what this unbeliveably beautiful park has to offer in three short hours, and I feel totally gypped because of it. Stupid Coaster Con! We made the three hour drive from Ligonier to Hershey in about three hours. The view on Route 30 is breathtaking on this drive. There's a tourist trap on the mountain called "Noah's Ark" that we wanted to stop at. It said you could see three states and seven counties from that spot! We found our way to the Hershey Lodge. This place doesn't look anything like I expected. It looks almost nondescript from the outside - we never would have noticed it on our own, and had we not stopped to ask for directions we would have driven right past it. It was unfortunate that we stopped for directions at a convenience store only two doors down. "Pardon me, can you tell me how to get to the Hershey Lodge?" "Yes, go outside, face the street and look to your left. It's right there." Registration went smoothly though I find the packet of crap to be cumbersome. You have your Coaster Con name badge which must be worn at all times. Then you get your Hersheypark three day flex ticket which must be presented at the gate each day. Then you have a blue ticket which is good for the gala reception on Sunday night, a green ticket which is good for some picnic on another day, and a red ticket which is good for another picnic on another day. You also get a ticket for a souvenir cup which is good for free refills during your stay at Hersheypark but which you must carry with you at all times during your stay at Hersheypark. Then you get a memorandum from Hersheypark explaining how to use your tickets. And that's just Hersheypark! From Williams Grove you get, in addition to your name badge which must be worn at all times, an admission ticket to be presented at the entrance where you will receive another ticket to be admitted into the park, and a meal ticket which must be presented during the picnic. And for dear old Dorney you get, in addition to your name badge which must be worn at all times, a two day admission ticket, and two huge buttons, both of which designate ERTs on different days and which must be worn each day with each button corresponding to its particular day. After consulting with experts from around the world to interpret the meaning of this registration packet, we assembled our name badges and tickets and entered Hersheypark. We did not have much time before the gala reception was to begin (what the heck makes a reception gala, anyway? is it music, drinking and dancing? puppeteers? the addition or absence of cheese whiz?) so we headed fairly quickly to the Trailblazer picnic area. We turned the corner and were faced with literally hundreds of ACEers standing in line, like hogs waiting to be led to the trough. Now I've seen enough ACE events to know that there was no way we'd ever reach the front of that gala buffet. Supposedly the park was serving Pennsylvania Dutch treats, but from what I saw it looked like hotdogs and macaroni salad. Cindy turned to me and said "let's get out of here and go have some fun." So we headed for Midway America and Cindy took her first ride Hersheypark's insane Mad Mouse ("it's mad, i tell you, MAD!"). We then headed for Lightning Racer and saw a food stand selling perogies. Perogies? Hmmm! Now would we like to enjoy some delicious perogies, all piping hot and within our grasp, or would we like to go back to a gala hot dog reception? "Two orders of perogies, please." Oh my God, these things are so good! Knoebels no longer has a lock on perogies because Hersheypark's are even better. They also sell popcorn chicken and popcorn shrimp with their perogies, and you get so many in one order it's nearly impossible to eat them all. I said nearly, okay? Perogies are a delicious, very Pennsylvania thing to eat, and it was a such a great alternative to the endless line of ACEers holding their blue tickets at the Trailblazer picnic area. We ran into Rob Vacarro and his Dad, who are not part of the Con but were at the tail end of a trip that sounded very trying but also very fun. A car breaking down could ruin a trip faster than anything (well, other than losing a wallet), but Rob and his Dad really know how to make the most out of a trying situation! I'm glad we ran into them if only for this one night. There are two great things about Coaster Con - lots of ERT and lots of friends. Holy cow, there are so many good friends here. There's Crazy Chris Murray with Sean Flaharty, Jon Smith, Barry Short, Neil, Phyllis (Phyllis' laugh can be heard from one end of Pennsylvania to the other) - oh my god, this is wonderful! But I have to say it seems wrong to be at a Coaster Con and not see Dave Sandborg or Chris Lucht. ERT on this first night was split - one hour in the Comet Hollow area with Great Bear, Comet, and SooperDooperLooper. Cindy and I followed Stephen Fox and Jason Perez like little sheep and rode the Looper with them for awhile - I guess I'd forgotten or never realized how fun this coaster actually is. There's Peg and May! And then I rode the Comet with Sean. I love riding coasters with Sean, I wish he were really my brother. And I can't even say how happy I am Chris Murray is here. Chris is one of the funniest but also most sincere and thoughtful people I've met in a long time. There's Mark Fluharty! And Ted and Debi and Katie Ansley! Then we rode Great Bear. The hour was over way too soon, and then we were rounded up while the ops moved over to Midway America. We then rode Lightning Racer nonstop for the rest of the evening. Lightning Racer is just the ultimate ERT coaster! It's interactive, it's rerideable, and it's just pure fun! I saw so many people here that I haven't seen in so long - Rus Ozana! Rus is one of the nicest guys I know and I never get to see him! And I met Marc Faas, the guy I'm sponsoring for the Blue Streak Marathon. And here's Greg Galley, he found his way! And Tim, with Adam Revesz! Tim was also with Greg Legowski, who would be his roomie for the remainder of the Con. And there's the Westlands, and Dave Escalante, and Tim Baldwin and Jeffrey Seiffert and Jason Pytka and Mike Saunders and Mike Thompson and Scott Short and Andrew Hartman and Mike Parker and Tom Kelley and Curt Hassinger - two Coaster Con diehards - and Bob V. from Ohio (I always forget how to spell his last name) and Chris Johnson and Chris Trotter acting silly as usual. And there's Jeff Cook! Who's that he's with? And Brian Peters and Brad Haller - yay! God, I love these people! Coaster Con is not about the picnic. It's not about the park. It's about the people. And the people are here and having a lot of fun.