hoppedup

That one hour wait will be tougher if it shuts down when you are next in line. Happened to me a few weeks ago. We got in line 4 times before we were able to ride b/c it shut down on a few occasions. Amazing ride though! We got a walk-on last row and one train wait front row. It opened as we were leaving for the day, dejected that we didn't get a ride on LR. then the app showed it as open and we were a two minute walk away.

One thing I hadn't figured on is that I get an additional week of vacation next year. So now I'm thinking this is going to be two trips. Trip A will cut CP, KI, and Kennywood and bump them to the second trip. And add Great Escape and SFNE. This should leave plenty of time to add Waldameer and Holiday World to trip B. One early June, one late August. So it would look something like this: (9-10 days each) Trip A: SFA SFGA Dorney Hersheypark Knoebels Great Escape SFNE (maybe) Trip B: Kennywood Waldameer CP KI Holiday World KK Any thoughts on what order to do these trips in would be great!

Nice report! I'm hoping to get my dad down to Carowinds next year. My daughter and I did a KD/BGW combo back in August. I hadn't been on a coaster in many, many years and didn't know LIM and LSM existed. So Volcano was quite the surprise! And probably still my favorite coaster at the moment.

Carolina Goldrusher at Carowinds in 1978 Then Carolina Cyclone in 1980. Corkscrew at Myrtle Beach Pavilion in the early 80s. 2017: Anaconda, Loch Ness Monster, Tennessee Tornado, Dahlonega Mine Train

1. Volcano 2. Lightning Rod 3. Goliath (SFOG) 4. Thunderhead 5. Afterburn 6. Griffon 7. Intimidator (Carowinds) 8. Wild Eagle 9. Mindbender 10. Great American Scream Machine I didn't ride Fury 325 when I was at Carowinds. I'm sure it will be on here next year.

Great American Scream Machine on Saturday. We are both vintage 1973 and in pretty good shape considering.

Oh, I knew it was a Schwarzkopf going in. My daughter was still skeptical as every other steel coaster from that era that we have ridden (Carolina Cyclone, Anaconda, Loch Ness Monster, and Tennessee Tornado) were Arrows and not her favorites. I was not expecting such a smooth ride from a 1978 coaster.

First time at this park Saturday. We got there right around opening time. Getting our 2018 passes was a breeze going through the normal ticket line. We passed by Georgia Scorcher as there was a line already. Same with Goliath and Daredevil Dive and they weren't running passengers yet, so we did the logical thing and went to the back and rode SMUF walk-on. Blue Hawk and GASM weren't running so we did the dark ride game thing and set out for Mindbender. My daughter was skeptical of Mindbender, as she has not liked any of the 70s-80s steel coasters she has been on. After assuring her this one was different (I actually had no clue), she agreed to give it a shot. What a great coaster! It seemed much smoother than any of the Arrows we have ridden. We had about a 10 minute wait. Then it was on to Batman: The Ride. It was fun but no big wow factor. It was a 5 minute wait. Next up was Goliath. It was a 25 minute wait and well worth it. The floater airtime was the best I've ever experienced. Ride ops on this one were the best of the day, but still not great. Seems those working the rides at SFoG could not care less about throughput. Next up was Georgia Scorcher. I didn't have high hopes for this one, my second stand-up coaster, after my experience with Vortex. This one actually seemed a lot smoother and would have gotten another ride if the lines were shorter. I kept checking the app and wait times at Daredevil Dive were at 90 minutes. Not gonna happen. So we did Dahlonega Mine Train. It was pretty fun for a family coaster. That last dip and curve before the station were pleasantly unexpected. As we exited the DMT, I saw that Blue Hawk was running so we boogied over for a double up on that one. Fun coaster that packed a lot into such a small footprint. By the time that double was done GASM was running. It was walk-on for the first ride and 5 minute wait on the second. Another great old woodie. Daredevil Dive still had a 90 minute wait so we bailed on it and went to Stone Mountain b/c my daughter had never been. All in all a fun park with good rides that could use a little work on ride ops, IMO. It will get a re-visit next year. It's an easy loop from where I am to Dollywood> SFoG> Carowinds. We have SF gold passes and friends to stay with in Atlanta, so it's just gas money. I'm glad my daughter asked to go to a theme park this year and rekindled my love of roller coasters. My coaster count stood at 7 from 1980 to August 2017. Now it's at 43.

Walked on Wild Eagle almost every time today. Seven rides total on WE. We only got one on Tennessee Tornado. For some reason my daughter hasn't liked a single Arrow coaster we've been on. We were first in line waiting for LR to open at 2. The screen outside went from blank to Temporarily Closed. So we hit Firechaser, Wild Eagle, TT, and Blazing Fury. When we came out of BF the app said LR was open with 20 minute wait. We got almost to the platform when it broke down again. So we went to Thunderhead. We both loved it and ended up riding it 3 times. App says LR had opened again so we head over. It was running and we were next in line when it broke down again. So we went for night rides on WE and Thunderhead. Firechaser line was crazy so we decided to call it a night. I checked the app as we got close to LR on the way out and it was running! We got a walk on back seat ride and then a two ride wait for front. Then the masses figured out it was running so we bugged out to beat the crowds. I have to go back and ride LR during the day. It was great. I really didn't think we were going to get that one. All in all a great day in a fun park. WE was probably my favorite then LR and Thunderhead. I thought it was odd they wouldn't let you stay on a coaster if there was no one in line. SFoG tomorrow!

Nevermind. A little more digging turned this up:

Any idea what rides will be going for HITP? Every park website I've been to lists their rides for special events except SFA.

Thanks! That'll help plan the order of rides. Friday has a high of 58 and the park opens at 2 so hopefully we can get to everything in time. If anything is down we'll just put the day's admission toward 2018 passes and go back next year.

Taking my daughter this Friday. Are all rides open this time of year? And if so, has LR been running on a consistent basis? It sounds amazing.

Definitely (all first visits except Carowinds): Six Flags America Six Flags Great Adventure Dorney Park Hersheypark Knoebels Kennywood Cedar Point King's Island Carowinds Maybe: King's Dominion Six Flags Over Georgia Busch Gardens Williamsburg Kentucky Kingdom Holiday World Stricker's Grove (if timing works out) Unlikely but maybe: La Ronde

Thanks for all the info, guys. I will be going to Dollywood and SFOG next weekend and just went to Carowinds this past weekend so I'm taking those three off of this itinerary and plan on spending a full day at each park,most likely taking 3 days to do CP/KI. Maybe an extra half day at SFGA if needed. I am drooling over some of the food recs, but diabetes has cut pierogies and cinnamon buns out of my diet I wish I could take two full weeks off of work, but my job does not allow that to happen. I think 8 or 9 parks in 11 days is much more doable than my original plan.

I took my daughter and her friend to Scarowinds Saturday night. My first trip to the park since 1995. I knew what I was in for based on online reviews but she really wanted to check it out. We were first in line at the gate and made it to Nighthawk for the first run and got front row. It was kinda downhill from there. Intimidator was about a 20 minute wait. And well worth it! Afterburn was about 30 minutes. Vortex was about the same. I loved Afterburn and we ended up riding it twice. Vortex was not worth the wait. I probably would not ride that again if it was walk-on. The second go round on Afterburn was about a 45 minute wait. We bailed on Fury 325 as I'd read horror stories about traffic getting out of there if you stay late and wait times had been steadily increasing. The characters and spook zones kinda seemed like a high school drama club production. My daughter and her friend both declared it "lame and cheesy" We have platinum CF passes for next year so we'll have plenty of time to ride everything later.

Thanks for the tips, guys! Should be a great trip. We will plan on full days at all the parks recommended for that. I pulled the trigger on Gold Season Passes for SFoG today so we will probably go pick them up in November. Looks like six coasters will be running then. Smoky Mountain Alpine Coaster in Gatlinburg looks cool. Anybody ever done that one?

Thank you, coasterbill. I am guessing that a credit whore is like a ticker in disc golf or craft beer (two of my passions), as in someone who plays a course or tries a beer once just to say they've had it, never to revisit. Not my intent at all. Before this year my last coaster ride was Thunder Road at Carowinds in 1995, my last visit there. My daughter went this year with a youth group and asked if we could go back. I offered to go to KD and BGW instead so she could try some new coasters and I could see some new parks I never made it to as a kid. We did Dominator first and I realized that coasters had changed a lot since I last rode one. We rode every coaster (except Intimidator, one and done) many times that day. We also rode a few other things but decided we really liked the coasters and focused on those the following day at BGW. We spent all day at BGW as well and rode every coaster multiple times. It was overcast and drizzly and there were no lines. I think we rode Gryffon the most at 11 times. We actually caught a show as well during a 90 minute thunderstorm break. My daughter is 15 now and I'm not sure how many more trips she will be wanting to make with dad in the future as she gets older, so I was trying to pack in as many coasters as possible for this trip. I will certainly consider any suggestions made here and maybe even split it onto two trips or pare the park list down. I hadn't thought about doing afternoon/following morning visits. thanks for that thought. That would work fine at CF parks and Six Flags as we will probably get gold passes for them as well. Skipping KD is basically all about missing DC traffic. We may leave on Thursday afternoon to cruise through DC around 8-9 p.m. I will probably take Carowinds and SF Georgia off this trip list as those will be easy to do full day combos from Greensboro. That would make a more reasonable 10 parks in 10-12 days. Thanks again for the feedback. Also, she has talked me into Scarowinds this Saturday, so wish me luck. The reviews make it sound very crowded.

No worries. I guess I should have lurked here for a while before I posted. We're just really excited about coasters.

I rediscovered my lost love of coasters on a recent trip to KD and BGW (last coaster ride prior to this was Thunder Road at Carowinds in 1995). Looking to take my 15YO daughter on a coaster tour next summer. I like to plan far in advance, but am willing to change itinerary mid-trip. Here's what I have so far, heading out from Greensboro, NC taking 10-12 days: Six Flags America Six Flags Great Adventure Dorney Park Knoebels Hersheypark Kennywood* Cedar Point King's Island Kentucky Kingdom* Dollywood Six Flags Over Georgia* Carowinds* *parks we may drop due to schedule/time issues I know this is an ambitious list and may need to be trimmed. We may add King's Dominion since it is on the way depending on day of departure and the fact that we have Platinum Carowinds passes for next year. We are mainly looking to ride coasters and skip most, if not all, flat rides/water rides. So we may be able to do two parks in a day (Dorney & Knoebels looks like an easy double dip?) Will we need to FL to get all the coasters at CP or KI in one day if we hit mid-week late August?