Cyclonic
Posts: 2636
Registered: 7/19/2002
Rank: Experiment 626
|
 7/23/2005 9:51:36 AM
Idlewild Park (http://www.idlewild.com)
Weather: Hot and muggy
The entire collection of photos from this trip can be found here:
http://tinyurl.com/cnju8
Some may find this report a bit long. This is a park I've never been to, and I hear little about it, so I would like to detail it a bit more then usual. When I get around to writing my Kennywood report, it will likely be much shorter.
I headed out Friday directly after work, and headed for Somerset, where I was to stay the night, with just one pit stop. I got in at about 9:30, not too bad considering I left at 5:30 from the Philly area, and collapsed into bed. The Hotel was a Knights Inn, and despite it being just $30 online, it wasn't too bad, it hadn't been renovated since at least the 70's, and was built in this weird, dark tudor style, but it was clean, without any of the musty, cheap motel smells, which pleased me since I am a bit of a hotel snob.
I got to Idlewild at just before ten to find a line up of cars in the drive. I could see the parking lot ahead, and did not think it was too bad, until I got closer, and saw that I was in the lesser used entrance. It was going to be a busy day in the park.
Idlewild has an unusual admission system. Instead of parking and then having a gate when you get admission, they have everyone pay at toll booths before entering the parking lot. Everyone gets a wristband, so you can't just walk in either. I kinda like this, as this way you don't have to go through the whole hand stamp and readmission thing if you have to go to the car, but it does slow things down on the front end. That, however, did not matter I would find out.
Why? Because even though the park opens at 10, the rides aren't open until 11. It took me a few minutes to figure this out, but once I did, it gave me a chance to get some pictures I would otherwise not have gotten. I walked around Raccoon Lagoon getting a bunch of pictures of some of the more interesting kiddie rides. They have some nice older rides, including this Doodle Bug ride,
a neat old tracked car ride based on the Lincoln Highway (it even had a nice information plaque about the road),
hand carts for both children,
and adults (which is cool),
a kiddie Turtle ride (each turtle has a name),
and even the little boat ride on the edge of the small lagoon.
I was over this way to get a ride on Mister Roger's Neighborhood, which I'd heard gets pretty long lines due to its low capacity, but is worth it if only because it is different. The ride was created in 1989 by he park staff with the assistance of the late Fred Rogers. He help with the design and voiced all of the characters.
I sat down with about 20 minutes until the ride opened. There was a family already there ahead of me, and soon others lined up behind. The queue is nice, it is set up like an old trolley stop, with a small roofed shelter over a long line of benches. When it came time for the ride to open, a trolley came out of the woods and we boarded.
The trolley itself is a work of art. I had at first thought it was an original trolley from somewhere, and components of it may well be, but a small plaque on the inside indicated that it was built in 1989 as well. In any case, it is a great looking vehicle, and looks just like the miniature trolley from the TV show that I so adored as a child. Thing is, no matter how I adored the show as a child, the trolley seems to be just about the only thing
Message updated 7/24/2005 10:19:15 AM by Cyclonic
|