Tea

Excluding flights but including food, accommodation, park tickets, car rental, fuel and extra activities we're looking at about £3800. I'm positive this can be done much cheaper, but we've stretched the budget to include a better rental car, nicer accommodation where possible and probably over-estimated the food budget.

Thanks for everyone who helped me out with planning this trip; nailed down the itinerary a while ago and everything is booked. We'll be arriving in Philadelphia on Memorial Day, hopefully Zumanjaro will be open by then. If anyone is interested in the finalized route then do some clicking > http://goo.gl/KZ5VbX 47 days to go! I'll do my best to provide you guys with a decent Photo TR!

Time to plan a trip to Sweden!

As an alternative to paying for flights, put all your regular spending through an Airmiles earning credit card and use the miles you earn.

I don't have much experience on the weekends, but they were operating Single Rider when I was there midweek in early October. Standard line for The Smiler was an hour, single rider was a walk on. Could have ridden all day if It wasn't so damn rough. I'm pretty sure they operate single rider for Nemesis & Oblivion too.

The Smiler has reopened. Surprised they managed to do so before the end of the season. Source

Not sure if this is the right place to ask considering I sort of have a trip planning thead elsewhere on the forum, but here is probably my best shot. We currently have Tuesday 26th May planned as our Six Flags Great Adventure day, but we also plan to come back the following morning before driving on to Dorney Park. I'm concerned that this won't be enough time to see the whole park and/or get rerides on the better coasters. I should say we're not too fussed about missing out on the flats... Any thoughts? Do we need a second full day? Time is kind of tight at this end of our trip and I'm not sure I'd want to sacrifice time at Dorney, Knoebels or Hershey.

Interesting to see how many times their wooden coasters have been nixed by management. A stand-up in Katanga Canyon would have been cool, but it'd be a B&M that wouldn't have aged well.

Time Lapse footage of The Smiler construction was posted today: It'll be visiting in early October, looking forward to it.

Also Nemesis here, though my first ride was in 1995.

Originally from Blackpool, so Blackpool Pleasure Beach was my home park for a number of years and sadly I didn't visit near enough. Recently moved to Chorley and now Camelot is closed - so I'd say my home park is technically still the Pleasure Beach.

Pleased to see more successful testing of Flying Turns, especially considering we plan to visit next year. It's probably wise to avoid reading those comments on Facebook, far too much nonsense being spouted.

Perhaps If we hadn't visited Dorney before I'd be more tempted to find some time for it. We rode Hydra during our 05 trip, and as rcdude pointed out they haven't added anything unmissable since then. Far more tempting to visit Knoebels than Dorney. That said we will have Cedar Fair Platinum Passes in which case a visit to Dorney isn't much of an extra cost! Won't be going as far south as Georgia but we'll definitely be seeing Carowinds.

Thanks for the feedback folks! We're definitely going to fly in a day earlier (Monday 26th) which should allow the extra day for Knoebels. We're not massively bothered by missing out on Dorney and visiting the day we land doesn't seem feasible due to the timing of flights and having to clear immigration - not to mention its Memorial Day and parks may be busy? I think missing Kennywood wouldn't be the most enormous loss, especially considering what I've been reading about ride closures this season. As for Great Adventure, is it worth doing an extra day? I read a similar trip report from andybarnes84 and he seemed to feel the need to come back for a second visit. I'd imagine the purchase of a flash pass would lessen the need for this somewhat. Waterpark wise, other than Splasin' Safari, would you say any of the others that we would be passing by are worth a visit? Is Dollywood's Splash Country worth a whole day? I'm also feeling that a basecamp in Louisville sounds like a decent idea. Much less hassle with jumping between hotels then too. Time to start tweaking the itinerary!

Thinking about adding a day at Knoebels by arriving into Philadelphia a day earlier, though this would mean flying in on Memorial Day. Any Issues with travelling in on Memorial Day at all? I think I've flown into Philly on the 4th of July before and I don't recall it being too bad.

Yeah, though I haven't exactly budgeted for any form of Fast Pass and they certainly do seem to get pricey! I guess my main concern is more one of should we be trying to squeeze more parks in? Skipping Six Flags America is fair enough, but do we really need to go back to Kennywood, Knoebels and Dorney? Also I guess I'm not sure if we'll just be far too tired from travelling park to park every day to do yet more parks.

Hi Folks! The girlfriend and I are looking at crossing the pond from the UK and touring some parks around the North East US in May/June 2014. Both of us have visited several parks in the region previously (though this was back in 2005) and are keen to return. I've put together the following potential itinerary and was hoping for some feedback. Tue 27: Fly to Philadelphia Wed 28: Six Flags Great Adventure Thu 29: Either Dorney Park & Hersheypark or Six Flags Great Adventure & Hersheypark Fri 30: Hersheypark Sat 31: Washington DC Sun 01: Kings Dominion Mon 02: Busch Gardens Williamsburg Tue 03: Busch Gardens & Drive to Carowinds Wed 04: Carowinds Thu 05: Dollywood Fri 06: Dollywood Sat 07: Drive to Holiday World Sun 08: Holiday World Mon 09: Holiday World, Drive to Kings Island Tue 10: Kings Island Wed 11: Cedar Point Thu 12: Cedar Point Fri 13: Drive to Cleveland, Fly Home Now, I know there are a few parks missing here. We're sort of tempted to fit Knoebels in, especially considering Flying Turns might actually be running by then! We're also trying to avoid visiting parks on the weekend. Is two days at Dollywood necessary? Likewise Holiday World. I should point out we are quite keen on the odd visit to a waterpark. For reference of the parks listed here we have previously visited: Cedar Point, Kennywood, Knoebels, Dorney Park and Busch Gardens Williamsburg. Anyway, it'd be great if anyone can share any opinions that might improve our experience. I'd also like to state that this site and forum has been an excellent resource for planning this trip. Apologies for the Herculean first post!