MrFurious

Heading to Great Adventure for the first time on a Friday. Looking at the map, HOLY CRAP this park seems to be spread quite wide. Obviously hoping to hit all open coasters, but REALLY desiring KK, El Toro, and Jersey Devil. Nitro too....but I am guessing that queue moves well. Any knowledgeable folks have a suggestion for plan of attack? It seems that as Jersey Devil is diametrically opposite from KK and Toro, the rope drop choice becomes an either or directional decision. Thanks for any tips/ideas!

@teacherkim OooOoOOoooOOooohhhhh....I may dance with that plan. I like the sound of that....A....LOT. I have been looking at AirBNB's around both areas....and there is a surprising amount to choose from. Even some within a half hour of HW. My wife may balk at the heavy driving (go go go) plan....BUT....I think I can modify and make that work. Sounds like rope drop to close at HW is more than enough...especially if it is clear sailing weather wise on Thursday. Then, I have been researching breweries in Louisville, and there are multiple that I would love bouncing between....not to even mention that this could get me a day to do some bourbon-trailing (how has that not been worked into a coaster name yet). GOOD STUFF!

Planning my family's (and hopefully another family's so my daughter has a friend to ride with) first ever trip to Holiday World (AND POTENTIALLY KENTUCKY KINGDOM). We are coming from St. Louis, and while I am pretty plugged in when it comes to parks (I am here after all), I have NO IDEA when it comes to these two parks. SO...feel free to suggest alternatives, ideas, and poke holes in any thoughts/plans here. My original thinking is to leave the STL on wednesday (7/20), and head straight for HW. Of course, lodging seems....interesting. I first looked at ticket packages, but some of the drives from their "preferred hotels" can be as high as one hour away! I also noted that the "packages" don't really offer any serious savings, if at all, over standard pricing (hotel and tickets). Basically, the Comfort Inn in Ferdinand seems to fit the bill. Thought was to stay there wed night, and then hit HW hard core all day thursday. I have seen some good plans here for attacking the day (lockers right away near splashing safari, then Voyage and Thunderbird in morning, SS during the day, but pulling the rip cord early and then hitting remaining coasters and flats late afternoon). The park closes at 8pm. Here is where my brain breaks: Should I get a two day ticket, and then hit stuff up for half of the day friday and THEN head to KK in Louisville....OR....just get the one day, and then get up and get to KK on Friday morning (we LOVE craft breweries, and Louisville seems to have a good selection!). Regarding KK, no idea where to stay yet (getting research started ASAP), or whether to get a one day or a two day ticket. Two day tickets only cost five additional bucks, so getting in Friday night, then FULL day saturday sounds pretty good. SO...opinions: 1) Is Hurricane Harbor in KK worth spending some time in, especially after SS at Holiday World? 2) Am I doing this trip in the correct order? Part of me thinks we should head directly to KK from STL, then work our way back. My fear with this is HW crowds. I am thinking that they may be more difficult on the weekend compared to KK, hence getting to HW on a thursday. Sorry this is so long, and also that I should be more active in here! Sadly, I don't feel that I have enough to contribute regularly, so I resign myself to lurking...which when typing that up...seems crazy creepy. Last year our families hit CP and KI for the first time, and with advice from TPR, we KILLED....KI. CP was a disaster (not due to advice...but crazy crowds...and the other family's indecisiveness on FL+...which when sprung for at KI led to the best park day of my life).

You know... one benefit that not having a kiddie land at hurricane harbor has... is it really drives down the numbers of people over there. Kind of nice actually. There. I said it. No tiny tots was... nice.

Trying to make a last minute reservation for tomorrow... the app only pulls up a blank screen. Restarted the phone and everything. Are they letting people in without reservations? I'm kind of shocked they are still listed as necessary at this point... in Missouri... at six flags...

After spending two days at CP (Sunday and Monday of this week... with Monday being HORRID with crowds and rides not operating, and staffing issues), we drove to Mason for a Tuesday visit to K.I. our first ever. Having PTSD from previous days, seeing amazing forecast, and seeing early car lines trying to get in before opening... we panicked and purchased FL+. BEST DECISION EVER. We've never been "pay extra to skip the line people" but outside of drop tower, we NEVER waited more than 10 minutes. Got 24 coaster rides in. Never checked online for times. Grabbed our funpix after every ride. Ate a nice off-peak lunch at Miami River by diamond back. Had some nice beer. And closed down the park. The ops were SPECTACULAR. The rides were consistently running. The crowd was fun and engaged. It was our family's best amusement park experience of all time. We'll be back!

To conclude (in brief), as this really belongs in a K.I. post... but as we had early entry to K.I. and they didn't... and the crap show that was Monday at CP...I took a picture of the parking lines and sent to to them (they hadn't left the hotel yet)... and they responded with "we should buy FL+". DONE! So... first trip to K.I. was freaking amazing. 26 total rides, 24 coasters, leisure clockwise approach, good beer and food, MAGIC. Changed every future visit to a park. Also, CP has such a maintenence issue with their coasters (and/or wind), and K.I.'s were SUPER reliable. My daughter is firmly off the mind that K.I. is better... even though her favorite two coasters are at CP. NOW... to plan a trip through Virginia and Pennsylvania. We'll try and save money through airbnb's and buck up on the fast passes. Thanks for all the advice!!!

I SO WISH they would... but they won't. I'll encourage, but this is the price to pay to have companionship. Worth it for my kiddo (though I've trained her well to hate and strategize around lines). I forgot to mention...I noticed one thing in line for SV yesterday. It's almost like they made a policy change WHILE we were in line. At first, the line was CREEPING, and I was counting anywhere from three to ten empty seats on the trains (assuming it was the lockers). Then, something happened, and ALL the trains were full. On Sunday, when it was our turn to hit the lockers, if people were behind us, but had NOTHING to put in the lockers, they made them wait for us. This likely led to the empty line situations after the choke point. On Monday, while we were handling lockers, they were letting people behind us go right on through and get ahead of us. AND THAT WAS PERFECTLY FINE!!!!!!! Reward them! And I have ZERO issue waiting behind them. When we went through the detectors, the stairs and hall before them was FULL. That's likely why the line started moving much better, and the trains were all full. So... to conclude... yes, it was very nice seeing adjustments being made. Now fingers crossed for our first kings island trip. I'm ready for some slower rolling and a new park. Being that SFStl is my home park, I'm pretty stoked. Hoping to find some good beer while I'm here today as well. It... assists... my relaxation.

Concluding (and having high hopes that I use enough detail so as not to incur the biting wit of prozac... but knowing I'll fail and he'll pounce... enjoy!): Sunday 13th vs Monday 14th was a tale of wildly different experiences. Sunday was very solid. Wish other family was comfortable doing FL+... but wasn't... and we didn't want to separate (daughter prefers riding with kids to old geezer parents... and I don't blame her). Managed just fine, but holy crap, yeah... just buy the dang FL+. Ops seemed off at first, but yeah, they're training a boatload of newbies, so patience was key. Without massive details (boring and unnecessary as we aren't experts and made plenty of self inflicted wounds) the day was fine. Today, Monday, was a feces fest. No sour grapes or ill will towards cedar point, but yikes it was rough. First and foremost, the crowd was MUCH heavier than Sunday. My best guess is that Saturday and Sunday features a bunch of travelers (such as...us), which leave on Monday (cedar point express hotel really seemed to be emptying out Sunday to Monday), but Monday (and formerly Tuesday, Wednesday, etc) is when anyone within the three hour drive descend on the park with their season passes. Gold passes. Early entry was chill, but once the park opened the masses descended. Then, bad luck hit. Milli, SV, GK (broken chain... and it's looking grim over there), TTD didn't open for the first three plus hours. Maverick, which we hopped in line for after a second train valravn run, went down almost exactly at ten am. With us boarding next. Since nothing else was running that we felt was worthy of pulling the plug, we waited. And after an hour of that... we finally pulled the plug. At this point, five of their biggest rides were down... and things got interesting. We waited fifty minutes for Rougarou. Had you told me that on Sunday I would have believed you less than if you told me maple trees have birth to octopi. Corkscrew had a 105 minute wait posted at one point. Blue Streak was 90 minutes. It was hilarious. The poor maintenence staff must feel like the game of whack-a-mole they were playing was some kind of cruel joke. Winds were decently high in the morning, so that likely played a role too. Yesterday I complained that if never ride Gemini as a racer anymore. Today... it was racing. However, I got vetoed and wasn't able to ride (we were hoping to leave by four and begin our travel to kings island... and the wait was posted at 45). Just ran out of time. Goals for the trip were: 1) Ride SV. Checked that box twice. Second time in last row. Holy Frijoles the forces back there are intense. I loved every second, but I seriously wonder how many laps someone could do before Crying uncle. 2) get daughter to ride all the coasters. Missed GK, CCMR, and blue streak... so a return visit is inevitable. 3) find some good beer (Hello CLAG beer in Sandusky). Now, tomorrow morning, KINGS ISLAND.

I think that if you use FL+, you should experience lower waits on SV... depending on time of day. The locker situation... experienced first time yesterday... so I can't compare it to weeks ago, but it looked like those with FL+only waited around 10 minutes. The lockers are the choke point, and after those, it's basically a station wait. It makes the standby line look like shit, but it's not terrible. Especially if you're patient and hit it after noon. We went at 1:30. It was posted at 90, and we waited about 45. FL+ which we didn't get because the other family with us balked, was seemingly ten minutes. Waits were perfectly acceptable on the most part. Only issue was Valravn. They were stacking.... BAD. It was the only wait that exceeded the posted time. When we got to the station it was clear why. TRAINING. I'm confident that in two weeks, they'll be well staffed and things will feel 'normal. Crowd was pretty big yesterday, and without the people Eater that gate keeper is, lines still were manageable. We're back today, and if the rain isn't crazy, today should be pretty sweet. Learned a great deal about managing the park yesterday, hoping to be even smoother today. Also, I'd kill for one last ride on a racing Gemini. I doubt I'll ever get it before it's eventual demise.

Update: I am dumb. They gradually increase the load as they start it for the day. Please ignore the ramblings of this old man.

Not sure the issue... but they're only loading the first three rows of TTD. They Also had three cars of Magnum roped off. Ops have been otherwise smooth and enthusiastic. Multi trains everywhere, but staffing shortages are certainly still effecting morning roll out.

Super hoping to hit Melt. Also, outside the park... if you're into excellent craft beer, we tried CLAG tonight. We were super impressed. The brewer knows how to make excellent hazy N.E. ipa's. Didn't have the food. May go back tomorrow night.

Super hoping to hit Melt. Also, outside the park... if you're into excellent craft beer, we tried CLAG tonight. We were super impressed. The brewer knows how to make excellent hazy N.E. ipa's. Didn't have the food. May go back tomorrow night.

Oooooohhhhh.... that's a good idea. I was worried about raptor being so close to the front. I WAS all about a maverick start. Then MF. SV looks like a noon hit. Big open crowd is thinned then. Heard about gatekeeper chain. That's a giant bummer. It eats so many crowds and my daughter was super excited for it. THANKS!

Just arrived at Cedar Point Express. Checking crowd levels for today... yikes. Not going on until tomorrow and Monday. Still going to be busy, but hey... haven't ridden anything here yet, so anything and everything will be a win (and holy crap... two year coaster drought...I NEEDS IT!). Quick question for the experts. Leaving from Express tomorrow morning with early entry. What time should we be starting the car to head over to the park to ensure actual entry at nine? Haven't decided on fast lane plus. We want it, but couple joining us has unsure feet. Fingers crossed.

I'm afraid we're potentially looking at months, not week's. Our trip through Ohio in June is looking very very very dicey. The next thing will be pass holders looking for refunds. In six flags current business state, this could really force some parks to close forever. Basically...shit.

Teacher Kim, I've enjoyed your posts in the STLSF forum for forever. I may @ you my plan once finalized given your knowledge from this area to that region. I was considering a holiday world stop as well, and this may seal that!

Huge, giant, enormous thank you's to everyone! Great info and advice. Love this community (even though I'm just a lurker, I do feel a part of it). I'll be getting to work, and hopefully won't be too lazy to contribute down the road. Also, that Econo map is hilarious. Well done. Looking forward to building our coaster count soon!

Howdy knowledgeable Cedar Fair individuals! First, I'm a teacher planning our family's first visit to Cedar Point (2 park days), and kings island (1park day). We purchased platinum passes for the trip, and I'm officially at the "time to plan and make reservations" stage. We're out of st. Louis, and I'm hoping to get there as early in the summer as possible (depending on snow days, first week of June??). I don't want to be annoying, so if there's already a post that's easily accessible, I'll look there... but I know that I trust y'all, and there's literally thousands of posts so I don't know where to search. Hoping to plan cedar point on weekdays to minimize the crowds, kings island will have to be whatever day fits around CP's schedule. With platinum, I get the early entry (I think this is the case), so I'm considering NOT staying at Breakers (teacher salary plus family vacation equals pinching of pennies), but MAYBE breakers Express, or another suggested local hotel. No idea where to stay at kings island. Advice on early June crowds? Good hotels? Plan of attack in park (does steel vengeance run during early entry)? My daughter is nine, tall enough for EVERYTHING, and a budding enthusiast. Loves Time traveler, outlaw run, and goliath at great America. Seen the POVs of everything at CP, and is stoked. I'm usually hyper planned on these trips, but for some reason I'm flying a little blind on this one. Sorry to be such a needy lurker, love to read a bunch on these forums, but often have little to contribute. I reached out once regarding getting a platinum pass, and loved/ respected the heck out of that input (and put that advice to good use). Thanks!

Thanks everyone, and damn those are nice photos!

Forever lurker, seldom poster... but here goes. I, like many, purchased platinum passes for my family for 2020 (and the remainder of 2019). My daughter is budding enthusiast at 9, and is now tall enough for EVERYTHING. The plan was a road trip from St. Louis to holiday world, kings island, and then, CEDAR POINT!! My wife and I have been, but not our little one. After all the discussions (of which I was a part), we decided to buy the platinum passes from Canada's Wonderland (thanks conversion rate!) With the intention of converting the printouts to actual passes at cedar point (or kings island). Many assured us that would work out. I started getting paranoid though, and planned a quick trip to KC in order to visit WOF in order to get them in hand sooner (and get the creds there I'm missing and give my daughter her first taste of cedar fair). At the gate, I was greeted by a super pleasant newish employee who was super excited to process her first platinum pass. Except she couldn't get it to work. She was in an entry point, alone, at the back of the park... and after some confusion and phone calls on her point she asked me if Canada's wonderland was my 'home park'. At a loss to explain 'no, I'm just trying to save money here, using the conversion rate to my advantage'...I went with....'uh, yeah'. She gave me temp passes, let us in, and then said "I guess you'll have to process them there!". I'm not planning to go there. At all. Has anyone else had issues processing their passes at parks other than the 'home park's, and more specifically Canada's wonderland? Can I plan my trip and hotels anyway, assuming that I can either process them at KI or CP in the spring (six flags makes you process them before 2019 is over). Basically, I'm a little lost and paranoid that I screwed up here and don't know how to fix it (and hate asking here due to seeming like a complete rube). But here I am, and I'd appreciate any and all advice/ feedback. Y'all are much more well versed than I.

Heading up with the fam today. My daughter is FINALLY tall enough for EVERYTHING, so today she finally gets freeze and batman in. Didn't buy a pass for this year, and only went once on our pass last year... but next year's new ride and the insane pass price coupled with BAFF seemingly more frequent, I could buy two 2020 passes (one for my daughter and i) and still get my wife in many days (like today). Hoping the weather holds, and crowds are manageable. It's been 11 months since my last coaster, so I'm shaking like a junky.

I did end up purchasing 3 platinum passes, and 1 fun pix through CW. Decided that the savings essentially were better than just purchasing FL+ when we visit WOF. And, who knows, may not need it whenever we get to WOF anyway! Decided against the dining and drink stuff. Hoping to be healthy and focus on water... and beer. Now, I'm struggling to link my physical vouchers to the app. They want some kind of quick code, and that doesn't exist on sdny of my emails and paperwork. May have to wait until getting the physical cards. Big thanks to y'all for helping me figure this out. I am usually a lurker on this great community. More of a consumer than a poster. My daughter is stoked to ride some of the rides I've been showing her POV's of for years.

Not sure about an activation deadline, but I can say that it doesn't matter which park you buy the Platinum pass through, you can activate it at any CF park. Ok, I am dumb. Didn't fully internalize this when you answered it. S orry and thanks!