Spent a fair amount of time around this state, first time was the #Penn2015 region trip and twice more to go to Hersheypark with Emily on her yearly trip. Ranked in order...
Hersheypark- This place is drop dead gorgeous. Nice little property nestled in a cute little corner of the state that's done a great job of staying fresh and relevant despite being as old as it is, way to really embrace that without letting it hold them back. They have one of the most insane coasters ever created in a beautiful location, one of GCI's best jobs, a huge preference for happy and positive themes, and wonderful service. The icing on the cake here is probably the beautiful landscaping both in and out of the park, which leads to visually pleasing scenarios from not only a walk down the midway but also the tops of the taller rides. Definitely one of the best parks I've been to, only complaint I have about it is that it's pretty shameless about money grabs here and there but that's to be expected from a corporate park like that. Got a bit sick of it being held hostage there for weeks on end but I still accept that it's a wonderful place, I'd love to go back in the next few years.
Knoebels- Another take on preservation done right here. They've saved the good experiences from days gone by that deserved to be immortalized and they treat them like gold. Twister and Phoenix are both among the best outdated designs out there (though I personally think Phoenix is considerably overrated), Black Diamond is a really cool little indoor coaster (on the Pennsylvania region trip in 2015 I also found out that the mining industry depicted had a tie to my family too), their flying scooters are a ton of fun, hell even their kiddie coaster is really good. The atmosphere around the place is on point, their food is amazing, and it's something really unique you can't get anywhere else. It's a bit hard to access but that's kind of the beauty of it, you drive through the backwoods of PA for like an hour of nothing and all of a sudden you end up in this forest and it's like you've stepped back in time, sets the stage perfectly for a great day here. I do think it's fairly overrated because of the stigma attached to preservation, I'm not making a 7-hour drive out there just for it, I don't think Phoenix is even close to the best coaster in the world, but it's still a place I have a ton of respect for and would love to get back to someday. My only gripe is that I'm slightly concerned with the direction they're heading in, Impulse seemed like a really cheap WTF addition that doesn't do much and doesn't even fit the park. Now I'm all for modernization but this choice seemed like a really strange, cheap way to do it, and it would be a damn shame if a park like that got filled up with cheap, gimmicky, low quality additions in twenty years. But until that day comes, it's a wonderful park, and even if it were to happen it still would be.
Waldameer- Take Cincinnati's Coney Island and milk as much potential out of it as you can and you get Waldameer. It's a cute little park, but it doesn't feel like just another small family-owned park. Their coaster collection consists of a kiddie coaster, a bigger classic kiddie woodie (which they kept in immaculate shape for its age), a cheap gimmicky spinner...and a feisty little Gravity Group that could ruin your day. I do think RFII is a tad overrated, but it's still a beautiful machine. There's a lot of natural beauty around the park and they did a great job of running this coaster through there while throwing you around a lot for its size. A twilight ride on this as the sun sets into the lake is one of the most visually stunning experiences you can get on a wooden coaster. Now it's a little park so it's not fair to compare it to something like Hershey, but it's definitely worth the trip up there if you're in Western PA or Northern Ohio. Only complaint I had about the place were all the unsupervised kids running around like little demons but that could just be me, I'm scared of kids both in and outside of coasters.
Dorney Park- Cute little corporate park with some solid rides but not much else. Hydra's one of the best floorlesses, Steel Force is a fun hyper in a nice plot of real estate that doesn't hold a candle to the more extreme hypers, the rest was mediocre to awful. There are a few interesting structures around the place to look at but no actual, deliberate theming. My biggest issue with this place was actually the clientele. Parking is a nightmare because they can't trust the crazy drivers that go there to not turn the lot into a dodgem so they have to file one car into a spot at a time, needless to say this takes forever. Lots of poor guest behavior around the place, from a guy who needed to be told to put his shirt on to some hotheaded broflake that verbally abused a ride op because his OTSR on Talon was too tight. Tl;dr, blandly presented park with some charm but not much, a few good rides and a lot of faff, and the people there will probably drive you nuts. Now I wouldn't say it's an offensive experience by any stretch, but they don't have much to offer. Walk in casually, knock the creds out, and get out in three hours and go to one of the two better parks in the triangle for the rest of the day.
Kennywood- This place probably deserves a lot of credit for putting a bad taste in my mouth for both Parques Reunidos and older, boring wooden coasters. This place is falling apart, zero effort to make it look nice, weeds taking over, paint peeling off of coasters, run on a skeleton crew of six rude staff on weekends, terrible clientele, and the sad thing is it could be a great park. The ride lineup here is really strange, which isn't a bad thing by any means. Phantom, while kind of rough for those speeds, is a really cool little airtime machine with a really cool setting on that hillside overlooking that steel? plant across the valley. Got a good ride and a mediocre ride on Sky Rocket, Exterminator is one of the best spinning mice out there if not the best. Thunderbolt has a really cool layout but just doesn't have the geometry to do anything mind-blowing with the concept, Jack Rabbit is a one trick pony that's been not only recreated but perfected by newer coasters, Racer is the most boring coaster I've ever ridden. There's a certain stigma attached to hating on Kennywood I've noticed, especially if you aren't a local or into older rides, but I went there before I really even had a strong stance on progress vs. preservation and I still thought it was unacceptable. But to not make this a total roast, I will say it has potential. It's a treasure for the locals, there's a lot of unique stuff here, it might not be in the best area of town but there's still some nice natural beauty there. Keep everything painted, in good condition, really take the gust experience into account, and this could easily be an incredible experience worth the four hour drive from my place at least once a season. And with Steel Curtain joining their crazy coaster collection in all its weirdness, I do think that looks like a step in the right direction. I seriously doubt they can afford to let that Steelers slowly wither away like the rest of the park, new themed areas like this and Thomas Town are probably a very good way to go for this park in terms of experience.
Crap that's long! But that's my take on this state's parks. All in all it's a great state for coasters, my region trip in 2015 that I did solo was the experience of a lifetime and relatively easy as far as credit runs go. It's one of my favorite states for a reason!
