Nina P.
Yelp
Wow, I guess a lot can change in 7 years. I have very fond memories of this theme park and have visited throughout my childhood and some of my adulthood. Unfortunately, the consensus my boyfriend and I made was that this place really is in need of some upkeep.
Don't get me wrong, I still feel safe at this theme park, as crazy as the rides look. And I don't know if this happened because of COVID or what, but the general appearance of this park is not being taken into the consideration. The parts of the park that I went to were clean, however, they still had the Christmas "Holiday at the Park" display out that people take photos in front of (IT'S JULY). And when I was on the Batman ride waiting to get onto the track to be let off, it appears they are using a part of the ride to store random things, like boxes, a ladder, construction items, I even saw an empty tub of cat litter they were reusing. I would have taken a photo of it if cell phones were allowed on rides. It seems like they don't really care about the appearance of this park anymore.
Parking is pretty straight forward, general parking is everywhere, further up closer to the entrance is preferred parking, and even further up from that is Handicap parking. I'm unsure if handicap customers need to pay for preferred to access that section.
They are very strict about what they let into the park, which can really impact your first impression. You're not allowed to bring food or drinks, but be sure to bring an empty water bottle because they do have refillable water stations available. And if you don't feel like grabbing your water they still give out cold cups of water for free! By the way, a can of coke from the vending machine is $6 (aka price gouging).
If you have a bag expect that security will be looking through it, all of it. They stopped me because my medication container is apparently glass (I truly had no idea). I tried to explain to security that it's for my medication. One security guard was fine with it and the second one refused, and even when told it was for my medication he said "she's not gonna die without it." Like...??? Sir, how do you know that? It's incredibly jarring and they do not appear sensitive at all to medical needs.
The park offers all-day lockers, which will definitely make your life easier since you can't bring anything on rides. I bought a $10 option that allowed me to relocate the locker wherever I needed. The downside though is that nobody is around to help if you get assigned to a sticky/gross locker, which happened with our first one.
Once in the park I could tell a lot of the rides changed. Some of them had a little pre-show of sound, music, videos, to entertain the riders as they waited in line. I remember this for Dark Knight and Batman. There was nothing this time. The Dark Knight was also missing the Heath Ledger laugh sound effect it used to have, the ride appeared to be partially broken because it was completely silent, there was no sound at all! Everybody who had gone on the ride before seemed really confused when they got off. Without the sounds you literally have no idea what's going on except that you're in a pitch black cat and mouse coaster.
The Metropolis ride was new for me. I thought it was going to be like the Buzz Lightyear ride at Disney, but appeared more like a rush job. The ride doesn't at all tell you what to shoot or any back story. It throws you in and afterwards takes a photo of each individual shooter, which only includes a portion of your face or body. They don't seem to care that it takes poorly cropped, blurry, photos of their guests.
The Skull Mountain ride used to be a fun rave-like coaster, but now is completely dark and again silent. No strobe lights, no sound, no fun. I was sad, this used to be my favorite ride!
Some rides I previously enjoyed were closed: Kingda Ka (probably bc of the rain), Houdini's Great Escape (no idea why this was closed). I didn't reattempt the Green Lantern because when it first opened it made me sick, maybe because all that force is being directed at your stomach?
They also had a few animals as you walked through the park. I felt awful for the owl, as this type is nocturnal and appeared to be really hot with nowhere to cool off. Why is a nocturnal animal being forced to interact so close with guests in the middle of the day in almost 90 degree weather? How is that okay?
I got a Flash Pass Gold but realized once I got there it really wasn't necessary. I went on July 5th. I'm unsure if this is just because it was the day after a holiday or if it's because there was a chance of rain (it drizzled a little bit midday).
Overall, this park is fun for thrill seekers, with not much for adults who don't enjoy as crazy rides. I do not feel at all that it was worth the price and I get the general impression that this park is being neglected, which I hope isn't the case for the animals. I likely won't be back anytime soon.