Phadd-F
Roller Poster
TOP EAST THRILL
31/05/'25: Coney Island
01/06/'25: Six Flags Great Adventure
02/06/'25: Kings Dominion
03/06/'25: Busch Gardens Williamsburg
04/06/'25: Hershey Park
05/06/'25: Kennywood
06/06/'25: Kings Island
07-08-09/06/'25: Cedar Point
10/06/'25: Canada's Wonderland
11/06/'25: Knoebels
12/06/'25: Dorney Park
13/06/'25: Six Flags America
DAY 1: ARRIVING AT JFK + CONEY ISLAND + LIBERTY STATE PARK
The last day of May, a day we all looked forward for because it meant the start of our Top East Thrill Tour. We gathered in the arrival hall of Brussels Airport where an eight hour flight to New York was awaiting us. The next 14 days we'd be travelling from the one American theme park to another one, on a queste to fill our coaster counters with a lot of big ass American coaster credits. And of course, discovering some American culture as well!
The US of A is of course not a destination close to us, to reach the land of the free we'd had to take a plane flying us over the Atlantic Ocean. Thanks to the time difference we left Belgium 10h30 in the morning and arrived at JFK airport 13h afternoon. The line at Customs would be the first but sadly not the last queue on our trip. No problems there, then it was a case of gathering our luggage, waiting for 2 of our friends who were on another plane (that arrived just 15 minutes later than ours) and going to Federal Circle where we got our rental car.
Just as in 2018 we rented with Enterprise, and just as back then it went smoothly and staff was super friendly. They changed our car from a Nissan Rogue to a Chrysler Pacifica when they heard we we're planning to go to Canada which was a little upgrade. Now 3 of our group didn't have to be smashed at the backseat but one of them could seat in a foldable seat in the trunk.
So, just arrived shortly in the afternoon but with a six hour time difference, what can you do?! Not a moment to plan a lot but we're in New York. There should be plenty to keep us busy. Let's start where I ended back in 2018... Coney Island! A name well known beneath theme park fans. Coney Island isn't the name of the theme parks located there, but is the name of the district. Located south of Brooklyn and the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. The name comes from Conyne Eylandt (meaning Rabbit Island in Dutch) as the first Dutch colonists named this place. No rabbits to be seen, plenty of coasters though!
Pretty confusing is the fact that the "Coney Island theme park" actually exists out of two parks. There is Luna Park and right in the middle of it, there's another park located in there named Deno's Wonder Wheel. There's hardly any difference visible between the two (both are pay-per-ride parks). This area used to exist of different lots where each operator had their own ride(s). By now, those lots forming Luna Park are owned by none else than Zamperla... an Italian ride manufacturer. You could call Luna Park Zamperla's catalogue park... as Europa Park is Macks catalogue park. No surprise that seven out of eight coaster at Luna Park are from Zamperla.
We park our car on a gigantic parking lot next to a baseball stadium, a lot easier and safer than a parking space on the street. Via the boardwalk we go to our first roller coaster of our trip. For one person in our group it will be his first coaster on American soil! And that was Tony's Express, a junior coaster from 2022 which is built above the log flume. A fine little coaster to start with, to get us ready for the big stuff.
The big stuff wasn't far away. Thunderbolt was staring at us. It really must be one of the biggest coasters Zamperla has made themselves. A 90 degree lifthill and drop, 35m high, 90 km/hour and four inversions... not really the statistics you'd expect from an average Zamperla coaster. How would that end up? I was pretty curious for this coaster because the lay-out does look legit fun and promising. Thunderbolt luckily enough wasn't a rough or shaky coaster, the lay-out proved to be pretty good and fun. But still, this one ride was enough for me. Because besides what I just said, it wasn't a comfortable ride...
And the coaster car purely was to blame for that! It was pretty narrow, even for the not-big-boned fellas. There was also no way to sit straight or just sit good, the top of the back is pushed forwards because of the weird design of the seat which made it very oncomfortable. Why oh why... did the designer of this car sit in his own creation for more than 30 seconds?! I doubt it. Also pretty weird were the seatbelts attached to the lap bar which were meant to go over your shoulders and serve as kind of over the shoulder restraints. But there were so large they didn't have any right of existence...
A big shame because with normal cars Thunderbolt would easily have been a good and enjoyable coaster. We decided now to go to the back of the park to see how many credits we'd need to charge on our card to get around. The park offers wristbands but we were only here for the coasters and thus thought to be cheaper off with just buying the amount of credits we needed. Our next ride was the Mini Mouse coaster, a miniscule coaster that almost every sane adult would skip. Not us, a coaster is a coaster and the counter doesn't have eyes. The ride op found it hilarious and with some enthusiasm we had a very fun ride on this little coaster.
Now at the very back of the park, our next coaster was easily chosen. We couldn't ignore Cyclone any longer. I rode it back in 2018 but didn't score any other coasters back then because lack of time. It's however no punishment to redo this iconic old wooden roller coaster. You can't possibly think a coaster from 1927 will run butter smooth but I know a lot of newer (wooden) coasters that are way rougher and more painly than this old boy. Cyclone is a matter of going hard and "lekker beuken" as I'd say in Dutch. Just pure fun, the wildness/roughness are part of the fun here. That there's room to spare with the restraints is an extra plus for the fun factor!
Back to credit hunting, Circus Coaster. A small coaster in an 8-shape which gives multiple laps. Good for once. Tickler is also not the most special coaster to do, it's the well known spinning wild mouse with the same well known lay-out we've done so many times before. By sitting with 2 on the same side we really got a great spin during the whole ride. Also pretty special to start spinning from the very first turn and not from only halfway. Tickler gave away the best ride on this kind of of coaster I ever had.
We head back to the other side of Luna Park to score our final two coasters of the park there. Steeplechase is Zamperla's version of a motorbike coaster. It's the same one as I've done before in Sarkanniemi (Finland), that one was pretty good. The coaster however just had a technical issue right after we scanned our cards and thus payed credits to ride it. a supervisor was called to give our credits back to us. But the maintenace guy was faster than the supervisor, in no time he got the train stuck in the endbrakes back into the station. And we could have our ride on Steeplechase. Our bingo was saved and just as its Finnish brother, it was a fun ride. Second best coaster of Luna Park if you ask me.
But uhm... there was one coaster left to do in Luna Park?! Right, so how do you for certain rank Steeplechase as #2 in the park?! Well the last coaster we had to ride was a Zamperla Volare... because the Italians really needed to have their own version of a flying coaster. Why oh why... Volares have a reputation under thoosies, and not a good one. For a moment I was doubting to just skip it, but ok, everything for the coaster counter amirite?! In the end I have to admit Soarin' Eagle wasn't the worst one in its kind (looking at you, Wiener Prater).
Luna Park, check. Got our bingo there. Now to Deno's Wonder Wheel which is in the middle of Luna Park and situates itself round the big ferris wheel. We immediately started with the parks biggest coaster: Phoenix. It's a Vekoma suspended family coaster, a kind of coaster that never disappoints and Phoenix was no exception from that. Smooth track with good turns and pacing, and more punch in it than you'd think. If you count Luna Park and Deno's together I'd say it's the second best coaster here after Cyclone.
The other two coasters here are nothing special. Sea Serpent is a small oval coaster from E&F Miller and Skyflyer is an even smaller oval coaster from SBF Visa - it's even called a micro coaster on RCDB. Bingo.
Let me summerize my thoughts about Luna Park and Deno's. It's just a big permanent fairground with a bunch of Zamperla rides. This kind of parks is not my cup of tea but I can see why people would enjoy these kind of parks. We also visited it in the afternoon and I admit that these parks are at their best during the evening/night, with all the lights on. So maybe that's something to do for another time. Cyclone on its own is enough worth the visit. After that, Phoenix is pretty fun and the only other coaster here you should have done. Maybe Thunderbolt as well once they put decent cars on it someday.
The quest for coaster credits wasn't done today. Nearby Coney Island is a pretty small park: Adventurers Family Entertainment Center. You hardly can name if a full theme park, it's really, really small. But they do have a coaster, and besides that there's also a go-kart track, ferris wheel and some mills. We got into conversation with a senior staff member who wanted to know where we from etc. He immediately knew we were here for the coaster. Always love to connect with the locals and Americans are so open and easy to talk to. After our talk we rode the wacky worm coaster as our last coaster of today.
It was becoming a long day but still I had one more stop before we would head to our hotel. It's not always about chasing credits, our next destination was Liberty State Park. A park closeby the Statue of Liberty, we wouldn't get any closer to it without sailing to that little island the statue is on.
The Statue of Liberty in reality appeared to be a little smaller than expected, going from all the photos and films I saw it in. We also were looking at the (back)side of it rather than her best side but oh well... I really did enjoy the moment and was happy to see it in person. This statue is built as a sign of freedom and to welcome anyone into the US, residents returning but also immigrants leaving their old lived behind to build a better life in the New World. In current times, we should look back into our history and strengthen the values this statue is representing instead of breaking them down.
And of course there was also the skyline of Manhattan. Spectacular. Skyscraper next skyscraper... Iconic buildings I've only seen from the movies. Empire State, Chrysler Building, the new WTC tower... For a moment, I felt like being in a movie. The thought to come back to just visit the city creeped into my mind. But that will be for another time. Now it was time to head to our hotel, it was a pretty long day for us and it's just the start of our two week trip filled with theme parks and a lot coasters.
Stay tuned for the next trip reports!
31/05/'25: Coney Island
01/06/'25: Six Flags Great Adventure
02/06/'25: Kings Dominion
03/06/'25: Busch Gardens Williamsburg
04/06/'25: Hershey Park
05/06/'25: Kennywood
06/06/'25: Kings Island
07-08-09/06/'25: Cedar Point
10/06/'25: Canada's Wonderland
11/06/'25: Knoebels
12/06/'25: Dorney Park
13/06/'25: Six Flags America
DAY 1: ARRIVING AT JFK + CONEY ISLAND + LIBERTY STATE PARK
The last day of May, a day we all looked forward for because it meant the start of our Top East Thrill Tour. We gathered in the arrival hall of Brussels Airport where an eight hour flight to New York was awaiting us. The next 14 days we'd be travelling from the one American theme park to another one, on a queste to fill our coaster counters with a lot of big ass American coaster credits. And of course, discovering some American culture as well!
The US of A is of course not a destination close to us, to reach the land of the free we'd had to take a plane flying us over the Atlantic Ocean. Thanks to the time difference we left Belgium 10h30 in the morning and arrived at JFK airport 13h afternoon. The line at Customs would be the first but sadly not the last queue on our trip. No problems there, then it was a case of gathering our luggage, waiting for 2 of our friends who were on another plane (that arrived just 15 minutes later than ours) and going to Federal Circle where we got our rental car.
Just as in 2018 we rented with Enterprise, and just as back then it went smoothly and staff was super friendly. They changed our car from a Nissan Rogue to a Chrysler Pacifica when they heard we we're planning to go to Canada which was a little upgrade. Now 3 of our group didn't have to be smashed at the backseat but one of them could seat in a foldable seat in the trunk.
So, just arrived shortly in the afternoon but with a six hour time difference, what can you do?! Not a moment to plan a lot but we're in New York. There should be plenty to keep us busy. Let's start where I ended back in 2018... Coney Island! A name well known beneath theme park fans. Coney Island isn't the name of the theme parks located there, but is the name of the district. Located south of Brooklyn and the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. The name comes from Conyne Eylandt (meaning Rabbit Island in Dutch) as the first Dutch colonists named this place. No rabbits to be seen, plenty of coasters though!
Pretty confusing is the fact that the "Coney Island theme park" actually exists out of two parks. There is Luna Park and right in the middle of it, there's another park located in there named Deno's Wonder Wheel. There's hardly any difference visible between the two (both are pay-per-ride parks). This area used to exist of different lots where each operator had their own ride(s). By now, those lots forming Luna Park are owned by none else than Zamperla... an Italian ride manufacturer. You could call Luna Park Zamperla's catalogue park... as Europa Park is Macks catalogue park. No surprise that seven out of eight coaster at Luna Park are from Zamperla.
We park our car on a gigantic parking lot next to a baseball stadium, a lot easier and safer than a parking space on the street. Via the boardwalk we go to our first roller coaster of our trip. For one person in our group it will be his first coaster on American soil! And that was Tony's Express, a junior coaster from 2022 which is built above the log flume. A fine little coaster to start with, to get us ready for the big stuff.
The big stuff wasn't far away. Thunderbolt was staring at us. It really must be one of the biggest coasters Zamperla has made themselves. A 90 degree lifthill and drop, 35m high, 90 km/hour and four inversions... not really the statistics you'd expect from an average Zamperla coaster. How would that end up? I was pretty curious for this coaster because the lay-out does look legit fun and promising. Thunderbolt luckily enough wasn't a rough or shaky coaster, the lay-out proved to be pretty good and fun. But still, this one ride was enough for me. Because besides what I just said, it wasn't a comfortable ride...
And the coaster car purely was to blame for that! It was pretty narrow, even for the not-big-boned fellas. There was also no way to sit straight or just sit good, the top of the back is pushed forwards because of the weird design of the seat which made it very oncomfortable. Why oh why... did the designer of this car sit in his own creation for more than 30 seconds?! I doubt it. Also pretty weird were the seatbelts attached to the lap bar which were meant to go over your shoulders and serve as kind of over the shoulder restraints. But there were so large they didn't have any right of existence...
A big shame because with normal cars Thunderbolt would easily have been a good and enjoyable coaster. We decided now to go to the back of the park to see how many credits we'd need to charge on our card to get around. The park offers wristbands but we were only here for the coasters and thus thought to be cheaper off with just buying the amount of credits we needed. Our next ride was the Mini Mouse coaster, a miniscule coaster that almost every sane adult would skip. Not us, a coaster is a coaster and the counter doesn't have eyes. The ride op found it hilarious and with some enthusiasm we had a very fun ride on this little coaster.
Now at the very back of the park, our next coaster was easily chosen. We couldn't ignore Cyclone any longer. I rode it back in 2018 but didn't score any other coasters back then because lack of time. It's however no punishment to redo this iconic old wooden roller coaster. You can't possibly think a coaster from 1927 will run butter smooth but I know a lot of newer (wooden) coasters that are way rougher and more painly than this old boy. Cyclone is a matter of going hard and "lekker beuken" as I'd say in Dutch. Just pure fun, the wildness/roughness are part of the fun here. That there's room to spare with the restraints is an extra plus for the fun factor!
Back to credit hunting, Circus Coaster. A small coaster in an 8-shape which gives multiple laps. Good for once. Tickler is also not the most special coaster to do, it's the well known spinning wild mouse with the same well known lay-out we've done so many times before. By sitting with 2 on the same side we really got a great spin during the whole ride. Also pretty special to start spinning from the very first turn and not from only halfway. Tickler gave away the best ride on this kind of of coaster I ever had.
We head back to the other side of Luna Park to score our final two coasters of the park there. Steeplechase is Zamperla's version of a motorbike coaster. It's the same one as I've done before in Sarkanniemi (Finland), that one was pretty good. The coaster however just had a technical issue right after we scanned our cards and thus payed credits to ride it. a supervisor was called to give our credits back to us. But the maintenace guy was faster than the supervisor, in no time he got the train stuck in the endbrakes back into the station. And we could have our ride on Steeplechase. Our bingo was saved and just as its Finnish brother, it was a fun ride. Second best coaster of Luna Park if you ask me.
But uhm... there was one coaster left to do in Luna Park?! Right, so how do you for certain rank Steeplechase as #2 in the park?! Well the last coaster we had to ride was a Zamperla Volare... because the Italians really needed to have their own version of a flying coaster. Why oh why... Volares have a reputation under thoosies, and not a good one. For a moment I was doubting to just skip it, but ok, everything for the coaster counter amirite?! In the end I have to admit Soarin' Eagle wasn't the worst one in its kind (looking at you, Wiener Prater).
Luna Park, check. Got our bingo there. Now to Deno's Wonder Wheel which is in the middle of Luna Park and situates itself round the big ferris wheel. We immediately started with the parks biggest coaster: Phoenix. It's a Vekoma suspended family coaster, a kind of coaster that never disappoints and Phoenix was no exception from that. Smooth track with good turns and pacing, and more punch in it than you'd think. If you count Luna Park and Deno's together I'd say it's the second best coaster here after Cyclone.
The other two coasters here are nothing special. Sea Serpent is a small oval coaster from E&F Miller and Skyflyer is an even smaller oval coaster from SBF Visa - it's even called a micro coaster on RCDB. Bingo.
Let me summerize my thoughts about Luna Park and Deno's. It's just a big permanent fairground with a bunch of Zamperla rides. This kind of parks is not my cup of tea but I can see why people would enjoy these kind of parks. We also visited it in the afternoon and I admit that these parks are at their best during the evening/night, with all the lights on. So maybe that's something to do for another time. Cyclone on its own is enough worth the visit. After that, Phoenix is pretty fun and the only other coaster here you should have done. Maybe Thunderbolt as well once they put decent cars on it someday.
The quest for coaster credits wasn't done today. Nearby Coney Island is a pretty small park: Adventurers Family Entertainment Center. You hardly can name if a full theme park, it's really, really small. But they do have a coaster, and besides that there's also a go-kart track, ferris wheel and some mills. We got into conversation with a senior staff member who wanted to know where we from etc. He immediately knew we were here for the coaster. Always love to connect with the locals and Americans are so open and easy to talk to. After our talk we rode the wacky worm coaster as our last coaster of today.
It was becoming a long day but still I had one more stop before we would head to our hotel. It's not always about chasing credits, our next destination was Liberty State Park. A park closeby the Statue of Liberty, we wouldn't get any closer to it without sailing to that little island the statue is on.
The Statue of Liberty in reality appeared to be a little smaller than expected, going from all the photos and films I saw it in. We also were looking at the (back)side of it rather than her best side but oh well... I really did enjoy the moment and was happy to see it in person. This statue is built as a sign of freedom and to welcome anyone into the US, residents returning but also immigrants leaving their old lived behind to build a better life in the New World. In current times, we should look back into our history and strengthen the values this statue is representing instead of breaking them down.
And of course there was also the skyline of Manhattan. Spectacular. Skyscraper next skyscraper... Iconic buildings I've only seen from the movies. Empire State, Chrysler Building, the new WTC tower... For a moment, I felt like being in a movie. The thought to come back to just visit the city creeped into my mind. But that will be for another time. Now it was time to head to our hotel, it was a pretty long day for us and it's just the start of our two week trip filled with theme parks and a lot coasters.
Stay tuned for the next trip reports!