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Your_Torpedo

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  • Birthday 06/11/1988

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  1. Please feel free to post as much as you possibly want on this thread, all advice is welcomed and needed! I've just checked out Ocean City - definitely prefer this location to Virginia Beach, it's 100% more our scene and the bar sounds incredible. A day of fairground rides, arcades and games of pool while getting merry is utter perfection on a rest day. I think a day & night here before the drive to SFGAdv will be perfect. The drive across the bridge also looks quite unique and will be a nice change of scene. Empire State at night could be an excellent shout, I think i've convinced him to do Top of the Rock anyway but could be another cool thing to add on if we get chance. Thanks for the Statue of Liberty tip too, I think he wants to do it it this time round so I'll keep an eye out for when the June tickets get released. Thank you for all the great info re: Pigeon Forge, particularly the drive. Cade's Cove was one of my must see's and it definitely makes sense to add this into the travel day and give ourselves a lovely scenic drive before arriving. I'll be sure to look into the other suggestions too for the hike day. We're not regular hikers by any means so probably would be looking at a relaxing trail that isn't too taxing but with plenty of lovely photo ops. We've not done any rafting either so hopefully it doesn't end up being too wild! Any tips on 'must do' stuff for Nashville while we're there? I'm still looking into the hotels and thanks for highlighting the Wyndham chains that are preferable. It would be great to get enough points to cover 1/2 nights in NY at the end but the planner in me is quite anxious at the thought of not having anything booked in while I rack up the points, but as they're redeemable all over it probably makes sense to still stick with one chain as we can still use them somewhere else in UK / Europe on our return. Thanks again for all the input, so good to have tips from people who have been to these places time and time again, google only gets you so far vs talking to people who have direct experience. Very grateful to you all taking the time to help me out with my planning
  2. Hi everyone, Thanks for all the info, so much to digest! I certainly came to the right place for some advice I definitely think we'll be dropping the car off for those last two / three days to save pennies, just looking to see what will be the best way round to do things - e.g drop off car and head to Coney Island or leave CI til the last day when we fly back at 10pm? The NY portion of the trip I've honestly done zero research into as I always intended to do a separate NY holiday with a road trip towards Chicago taking in some North East parks and figured we'd spend a good 4/5 days in NY then, doing it 'properly' (Statue of Liberty, Niagara Falls etc etc). The BF does want to do Empire State but i'd heard about top of the rock from friends who've been and i'm slowly talking him out of it. My only request is Coney Island and a show and top of my list is Book of Mormon which i've wanted to see here in London for years but may as well see the authentic version while we're there. This isn't a total must though, i'm super chill about the NY part as I know I'm intending to come back and do it again with more time & money. My Coney Island / Atlantic City interest can be blamed on my upbringing. I grew up in Blackpool by the beach, piers and Blackpool Pleasure Beach so have a nostalgia for boardwalk type places with lots to do (zero interest in the sand / sea portion if i'm honest.) I'd looked into Atlantic City and saw it was a dive but we both love Vegas and casinos so wasn't sure if it would be another thing to add on as apart from Nashville and the days in Pigeon Forge we aren't going to be able to have a night to 'go out' as it were. (Nobody likes to drive with a hangover...) I also wouldn't stay at a Trump property if you paid me. Really sad to hear that my travel day on the 20th could be a hellish drive, but I had factored in 5-6 hours so knew it was one of the longer travel days. Glad I know about the traffic in advance to try and somewhat prepare. I've been reading through the SFGAdv thread most of yesterday and have pretty much talked myself into going there the evening of the 20th as well as 21st due to 1) Schools letting out and park being busier than i'd first anticipated. 2) It's one of my dream parks on this list along with Cedar Point and I owe it more than one day. 3) I've just seen there's a safari and want to ensure I have time for this and all the incredible rides. (I was considering dropping my Virginia Beach rest day to dedicate more time to SFGAdv on this basis but this was when I thought I could buy a season ticket for $72 with free parking but I have just seen that I would need to pick it up in person this season rather than next June ) Re: not adding more park days as it will turn into a death march, I'm hoping that an extra evening at SFGAdv could alleviate some of that pressure and as Coaster Bill pointed out we'd only be driving that long ass drive to go sit in a hotel room so may as well visit that evening if it's open until 9/10. SFGAdv is the one park I have budgeted Flash Pass for as it saved our life at SFMM in 2015. The sheer size and heat of that park took it out of us just getting to the coasters let alone queuing for them. (Per your advice though this is something we'll judge on the day rather than buy in advance). Glad to hear both Dollywood and Busch can be done in a day, (and hopefully a preview at Dollywood night before). They look stunning with some incredible rides, and would love to give them more time but if the majority can be hit in the morning with a more leisurely afternoon then that would be fab as I do want to catch shows in both. I've seen a few people mention on this forum that Sundays can be a quiet day at the parks due to Church attendance etc, is this correct? We're not huge Church goers in the UK so Sundays while less busy than Saturdays are still busy compared to weekdays but wondering if this will make a difference with the schools off and if it is worth switching the days round for KD & 'Virginia Beach' rest day...? On the same thought would it be worth rearranging our rest day to hit KD, BG first and take the route through Maryland and Delaware to SFGAdv to avoid the DC congestion or does it work out to be a similar time? I'm thinking that as we're taking a travel day from CW we could add on an evening at KD before a full day the next day... I hadn't considered when first planning this trip that the Platinum Passes would allow me to stretch some parks to 1.5 days if we arrived early enough / set off later on travel days. Hoping this will actually ease the 'death march aspect' of it as we'd only be driving those days anyway. I'm going to volunteer to do the majority of the travel day drives so BF can get some rest in the car. So with some tweaking the new itinerary is looking a bit like this: Monday 4th June - Fly into Cleveland Hopkins. Pick up hire car, drive to CP Express hotel. Tuesday 5th June - Hit Cedar Point at 9am - 8pm (I think those will be the midweek opening hours + ERT) Wednesday 6th June - Cedar Point 9am - 6pm, drive 4 hours(ish) to Kings Island. Thursday 7th June - Kings Island 9am - 8pm (Again a rough guess on opening times, and factoring in ERT), drive to KK that evening (2 hours) Friday 8th June - Morning at Kentucky Kingdom until 2pm. Possible trip to Holiday World & drive on to Nashville. (3 hours) Saturday 9th June - Day & night in Nashville - (JD Distillery also moved to this day due to no alcohol sales on Sundays ) Sunday 10th June - Drive to Pigeon Forge. Dollywood preview. Monday 11th June (My Birthday) - Dollywood, full day. Tuesday 12th June - Rest day / Pigeon Forge Activities (Alpine Coaster, Zipline, Lumberjack shiz) Wednesday 13th June - Smokey Mountain NP day (Rafting / Hiking etc) Thursday 14th June - Drive to Carrowinds (4 hours) (Head to CW for a few hours that evening if time). Friday 15th June - Carrowinds, full day. (9am-8pm estimate with ERT) Saturday 16th June - Travel day to Kings Dominion (Something like 6 / 8 hours) Evening at KD if we get time. Sunday 17th June - Kings Dominion Full day, (9am - 8pm estimate with ERT) Monday 18th June - Buschgardens Williamsburg. Tuesday 19th June - Virginia beach* rest day - Possibly drive closer to SFGA in the evening unless drinking. Wednesday 20th June - Drive [rest of way] to SF Great Adventure (4-8 hours) Visit park after 6pm-ish. Thursday 21st June - SFGAdv, full day. (10am-9pm?) Friday 21st June - Drive to Newark, drop off hire car. Drop off bags at hotel. Rest of day & night in NY. Saturday 22nd June - Full day in NY (See a show, tourist shiz) Sunday 24th June - NY? fly back at 10pm Newark to London. So some slight additions with adding extra half days to CW / KD & SFGA but these aren't set in stone and can definitely be played by ear. If we are simply too exhausted from the drive then we can just go out for dinner and head to bed to unwind before a full day at the park the next day. If I take the bulk of the driving on the travel days it should give the BF enough rest and hopefully mean i'm not running around like a mad person the following day trying to ride every single thing. Plus it gives us a couple of hours to get our bearings for the next day. Only parks where this won't be possible are Kings Island and Busch Gardens so hopefully i'll get lucky with sticking with one day there and the crowds won't be too busy. I've switched Kings Dominion to the Sunday but still not sure quite how to order these 3 days yet (17th / 18th / 19th) and if weekend / week day will make a difference with the schools being out anyway. Thanks for all the info and suggestions re: hotels. I'm currently looking into them and their loyalty schemes etc. My max budget is no more than £100 / $132 per night, but obviously Pigeon Forge and NY will be more expensive so it all needs to balance out. £75 / $100 would be ideal. Thanks again, honestly you guys have been brilliant!
  3. Thanks for the tips re: staying on site. I would love to do that and it's always a dream for me to stay on site at parks (Only managed it once before at Efteling) but worried that it might take us a fair bit over budget and as we're trying to get round everything without a fast pass I don't think we'll have too much time for breaks... If we do we can surely go to the waterpark next door? (He does love a sunbathe - although I'm unsure on weather in Ohio in early June!) I will have a look into it though when they release the rates as I think our platinum passes will get us a slight discount so if it works out similar or not much more than Express then I'll certainly consider it. (I'm secretly saving the accommodation budget to allow me one or two nights in a Cabin for my 30th at Pigeon Forge - probably cheesy but I super want to stay in one with a lovely scenic view.) I wish money was no object on this tour but the trip alone is looking to be about £5000 without spending money I realise I'm maybe not being too fair to my BF's needs but I'm hoping he won't be burnt out this early in the trip. I expect it to hit him harder around the BG/ KD / SFGA portion where we've currently only got one day to get round substantial parks and rides. I do agree with you guys though, i've always enjoyed parks more when we've been there for 2/3 days and had time to really explore and soak it all in. I hate rushing about and feeling like I might miss things as I only have the one day, ruins the experience immensely which is why I'm concerned about the back portion of the trip. I'm definitely looking at buying season passes for SF and adding on a half day somewhere (probably the 20th as pointed out by Coasterbill) and I might look to see if we can substitute Virginia Beach with an extra day at BG should it need it. (We got round Tampa BG in one day though so I'm on the fence with this one.) If you have any tips for helping me cut costs even slightly I would be extremely grateful to hear them. It's amazing how many hidden discounts there are - but on the same note if some things (like breakers) are absolutely worth every penny for the experience i'd love to hear recommendations. Thanks so much! x
  4. Hi Coasterbill, Thanks for your reply - some super useful stuff in there, always good to get insider knowledge. I've booked the Cedar Express hotel already but on a free cancellation basis so will review the prices of others nearer the time to see if it makes sense to ditch, looking to try and save $$$ on the hotels seeing as flights and parks are easily putting this at the £2000 mark already. (We have brexit to thank for the dire exchange rate too) I've toyed like hell with the idea of adding in Holiday Park, SF Georgia, and SFGAm and it definitely seems as though Holiday Park and SFGAm could be added in but again just concerned re:burn out. My bf starts to flag by 5pm after a full day on the park, bless him. (It's also why he drives the mornings and I try and drive the evenings) I'm also conscious of rushing through Holiday Park and not giving it the attention i've heard it deserves. A worry i'm also having about Dollywood and Buschgardens. Will certainly consider it though, and work out the cost of the SF season ticket when factoring in parking. We bought one for our California trip and it definitely had it's advantages. The perks of the CF platinum have certainly made that a no brainer, I think we'll also be adding on the drinks plan and also the photo plan. Great news about Kentucky Kingdom, I'd read about the out of state discount but forgot to make a note on my itinerary / budget so adding in now! Interesting that we should be able to get round everything that morning in 3 hours, I was toying with staying by KI and doing an extra ERT morning there in case we miss anything, and the rest of the day at KK - now i'm rethinking that leg... Some stuff I definitely need to find out more about - crossing between timezones, hadn't even factored this in at all going from Central Time to Eastern. Also when the school kids break up. In the UK it's not until mid July so can count on midweek parks being very quiet until then thus why I booked a June trip with no weekend parks as I thought American schools might follow a similar pattern, damn! Re: Front row on Kingda Ka - This is absolutely on my to do list. Launches are my absolute fave type of coaster besides Woodies and riding front row is unbeatable and non negotiable! Front row on Xcelerator at Knotts a few years ago blew my mind so I am understandably hyped for Kingda Ka and Top Thrill Dragster on this trip. Will bear in mind your El Toro tip too! Thanks for your alternative Virginia Beach & Wednesday 20th travel day suggestions, I'm off to check them out now. Not overly fussed by swimming in the sea whatsoever, just want to chill at a place that still has plenty of interesting things to see and do. I'd heard of Virginia Beach so put it in the trip but upon looking at stuff to do there it seemed a bit bland tbh. Might maybe skip that rest day, move the parks up a day and use the extra day in NY or NJ (I'm oddly fascinated by atlantic city & coney island.) I'm hoping to sort of visit some bizarre 'off the beaten track' kind of places on the travel / free days, no idea what exactly to be honest. I'm not hugely into museums, or overly historical stuff so *may* swerve Washington DC for something a bit more lively / strange. I hadn't considered having the car in NY, duh, sadly we are flying out of Newark though. I'm sure we could book cheap enough transfers back while saving on those 2 days rental. I've just googled an EZ pass too, no idea we would need one, good shout! Thanks again, you've certainly given me some important things to ponder over. x
  5. Hi TPR Forum, This is my first post but I've been a long time reader and have used the site frequently when planing previous trips throughout Europe and Florida and California trips in 2012 / 2015. Thanks for being an amazing resource! (I'm UK based so don't get to do big stateside trips as often as I would like.) 2018 is fast approaching and so to is my 30th birthday in June. As such I've decided to go and book flights to the US for a 3 week trip starting at Cedar Point on June 5th and finishing in NY on the 24th. I'm going with my long suffering bf who desperately longs for a relaxing beach holiday but ends up being dragged from park to park in my quest to ride every coaster I can. (He does actually love it when he's there but is by no means an enthusiast). As such i'm trying to be fair on this holiday and make allowances for a few rest stops and other activities besides hitting just parks and so have come up with a rough schedule for the 3 weeks - http://mapq.st/2zSVLg2 My current breakdown is as follows: Monday 4th June - Fly into Cleveland Hopkins. Pick up hire car, drive to CP Express hotel. Tuesday 5th June - Hit Cedar Point at 9am - 8pm (I think those will be the midweek opening hours + ERT) Wednesday 6th June - Cedar Point 9am - 6pm, drive 4 hours(ish) to Kings Island. Thursday 7th June - Kings Island 9am - 8pm (Again a rough guess on opening times, and factoring in ERT) Friday 8th June - Drive to Kentucky Kingdom, day at KK. Saturday 9th June - Drive to Nashville, night in Nashville. Sunday 10th June - Drive to Jack Daniels Distillery, Drive on to Pigeon Forge. (Possible Dollywood preview?) Monday 11th June (My Birthday) - Dollywood, full day. Tuesday 12th June - Rest day / Pigeon Forge Activities (Alpine Coaster, Zipline, Lumberjack shiz) Wednesday 13th June - Smokey Mountain NP day (Rafting? etc) Thursday 14th June - Morning in Pigeon Forge, drive to Carrowinds (4 hours) Friday 15th June - Carrowinds, full day. (9am-8pm estimate with ERT) Saturday 16th June - Drive to Virginia Beach* (Something like 6 / 8 hours) Sunday 17th June - Rest Day at Virginia Beach Monday 18th June - Buschgardens Williamsburg. Tuesday 19th June - Kings Dominion, Full day (ERT, 9am - 8pm) Wednesday 20th June - Drive to SF Great Adventure (5/6 hours) Thursday 21st June - SFGA, full day. (10am-8pm?) Friday 21st June - Drive to NY. Night in NY. Saturday 22nd June - Full day in NY (See a show, tourist shiz) Sunday 24th June - NY, fly back at 10pm to London. Basically I think that I have scheduled in a fairly doable trip, with a few full travel days allotted to try to avoid total burn out, but I am a tad worried by the top end of the trip with the first 4 days being very full on and also the fact I have only allowed 1 day for BGW, KD & SFGA near the end, although I think we might have to purchase FlashPass for SFGA. Just wondering if you guys think there is any way I can streamline or improve the trip so that I get maximum ride time without sacrificing rest / travel days too much. Or if you think I've been unrealistic about the time given to the parks (i'm hoping to get round everything in one day for most parks as it's midweek June, without fast passes where possible as the theme park budget is already at like £700 without those) We're not strictly credit whores but do prefer coasters to flats, and also love our darks rides. Kids rides are often missed out. I like to try and ride everything once, and the 'good' rides at least twice to ensure front / back row and a decent photo ops. For Cedar Fair parks we are going to purchase platinum passes as it makes sense for the parking and ERT, but aren't quite sure on deals etc for the rest. I did read something on here about a Dollywood preview which sounds great as I am worried about limiting Dollywood to just one day especially with Lightning Rod opening. I also know that there are so many great parks that are insanely close by on this trip but I have had to cut a few to make it as balanced and realistic as possible. The ones that made the cut are parks I can't stand to miss out on (and Kentucky Kingdom was on the way) My bf even gave up his request of 2 days in New Orleans so that I could add on SFGA and placate him with 2 days in NY instead... Any tips, advice or suggestions of places to go through / pass by on our travel days would be most appreciated. We've never done a big road trip in the states before so are equal parts excited and apprehensive. I've also put a * next to Virginia Beach as I wanted to factor in a rest day but I'm not totally sold by the place as a location so if this day could be spent more wisely (park or not) i'd welcome some suggestions. Thanks in advance!
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