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Labour Day weekend is usually pretty busy, I would seriously contemplate coasterbill's suggestion: I love Fright Fest at Great Adventure, but I used to be a local so the long lines don't bother me. You will never regret going to Knoebels for Phoenix Phall Phunfest. Seriously they have the best ride lineup for families, including thrills that rival the best coasters at GAdv. It's free admission and pay-per-ride (you can opt for an unlimited ride pass) and the wait time for most rides will only be 15 minutes (even though it's their busiest day of the year). The best time to visit Great Adventure imo is April or early November (post Fright Fest). Even a summer weekend is way less crowded than Fright Fest haha What about the weekend after Labour Day? Still busy? We're planning on going to Hersheypark and Knoebels on the same trip, one day at each.

Yeah as soon as you guys mentioned Fright Fest that idea went out the window, I've read about it too Now contemplating Labour Day weekend, unless that's a busy weekend too

Ahh fright fest, I didn't think it started that early. I thought first weekend of October the park might be pretty dead Guess not. Perhaps labour day weekend would be better for crowds? Last weekend for Hurricane Harbour, I don't know if that's bad or good as far as crowds

Does anyone know if the Safari ride typically runs in October? Thinking of visiting with the kids during Canadian Thanksgiving Oct 6-8, kids are young so Safari would be a big reason to come. That time of year, assuming nice weather, can we expect all the big adult rides to be running too (KK, Toro, Nitro, Bizarro)? And to anyone who's been to Hersheypark, from a kids perspective (aged 3 and 5), which has the most to offer? Or does Hershey have that much more to offer that it would be worth spending $200 more? SF is free with our Laronde Gold Passes, so it's hard to resist People seem to really speak fondly of the park Thanks!

How is this park in Apr/May? I've read some reviews on tripadvisor of people saying they went to the park early season, there was no rain, and multiple top tier rides were closed because of staffing shortages. Is this common? Or at least with regards to Skyrush, Stormrunner, Farenheit, Lightning Racer and Great Bear?

why not process the season pass after you're done riding?

I tried. The park didn't open because of passing showers hours earlier on Victoria Day 2004. The staff stayed, however, because they are union, behind padlocked gates. And they ran rides. Empty rides. Possibly for hours. well maybe they've improved in the 14 years since then I went again and actually got inside years later. It was what I was warned about. Lots of other people have tried to go and have a good time independent of me and found it a challenge. I mean, kudos to you having that luck. I got lucky too - Saturday at Canada's Wonderland was dead when I popped in for a few minutes for some rides. Like walk-on Leviathan dead. But I have no illusions I'll find that at La Ronde. that's too bad, hopefully i get lucky again next weekened! and you too if you come back again. curious how does behemoth compare to goliath at laronde? (i'm assuming you've ridden both) they seem pretty similar, out and back with a lot of airtime hills. if behemoth is really similar to goliath, i'm debating whether it's worth the 5 hour trek just to ride leviathan and paying $50 when i could drive 5 hours to SFNE and ride superman, wicked cyclone, batman floorless, etc.. for free with gold pass. nothing else at CW really piques my interest beyond the two big B&M's

I tried. The park didn't open because of passing showers hours earlier on Victoria Day 2004. The staff stayed, however, because they are union, behind padlocked gates. And they ran rides. Empty rides. Possibly for hours. well maybe they've improved in the 14 years since then

it rained in the early early morning but the forecast was for sun all day and it was a beautiful day. maybe everyone went saturday, which was opening day for the season. but even then someone on reddit said wait times were 10min max on everything except monstre.. i wasn't even going to go opening weekend thinking it would be packed but i went based on his report and there was even less people. it was great i had the same experience at great adventure a couple weeks ago on a beautiful saturday. some waits for kingda ka, 15-20 min but mostly because it broke down a couple times. el toro had no waits all day, same with nitro.. i'm going to go again next weekend and i'll report back, have you guys gone in may before? maybe it just gets crazy once school lets out end of june?

I went on Sunday, got there at noon, Monstre wasn't open yet, went to Goliath, walked on and did 5 rides in a row, went back to Le Monstre, it was open, did two rides then a line started forming, Had some Mcdonalds which costs pretty much the same as any other mcdonalds in quebec, and then did 5 rides on vampire around 2:00, all walk-on front row. I wasn't alone but there was a couple of singles that got on the monorail, and everyone was taking pictures. Every ride was walk on, or at most a one train wait when we left at 3:00 except for le monstre it was at 30 min. This was my first visit, I truly don't get the hate people have for this park, first of all it's six flags, i mean you're paying $60 a year for unlimited use of a dozen parks, what are you guys expecting? If I use it 10 times they're making $6 a day from me. It's not Disney at $100/day. I was pretty satisfied with my $6 Goliath is a great ride

Is Cedar Point ever dead this time of year during the week, where for the first 2-3 hours you could pretty much walk on to most rides and 10-15 minute waits at most for the most popular/low capacity rides? Excluding SV of course. Or is this park so popular that it's pretty much always going to have lines even midweek mid-late may?

is queue-times.com accurate? it's saying raptor, rougarou, gatekeeper, gemini are all closed today and a whole bunch of other lower tier rides. is that normal second weekend of the season, still not opening all coasters, etc?

If you noticed in my second post, I clarified that I wasn't only referring to enthusiasts. People who think FL+ is the only way to do parks now are spoiled by it. All people. That's pretty much just using the word spoiled as it's contextually used. And I think there are some very deep philosophical problems with the concept, but that's not something I'm going to get into here, because that wasn't my whole point in speaking up. It was in regard to specifically whether somebody would need FL+ during this early season at Cedar Point, and my opinion on that based on extensive experience going to the park during this time. As for sounding old, I am old! I'm not interested in waiting in line for more than a half hour, if I had to, I simply wouldn't go to the park at all, it wouldn't be enjoyable to me. I'm also cheap so I go midweek, etc.. but if I'm going to a park that's far away, and I only have one day to experience it, I'm very happy that it's possible to pay for a Fast Pass/Lane though I've yet to need to. Yes it creates a two tier system of those willing to pay to cut wait times and those not. I don't think it's a rich vs poor, I would rather buy a fast pass and go one day, than go two days with none. The fastpass is cheaper than the hotel. When you have kids it gets more difficult,so maybe someone is camping instead of getting a hotel so they can put the savings towards fast passes on a holiday weekend. But frankly the whole system sucks, this whole waiting two hours to get on a ride is mental to me, makes absolutely -no- sense. The Disney system is the best, it doesn't cost extra, I went to Disneyland on a mid summer Saturday and never waited more than 15 minutes for any ride with the fast passes, and 10 of those 15 minutes was usually how long it took just to walk from the entrance to the ride itself. It was awesome, book a time on a popular ride and then instead of wasting your day in line for two hours you can go for lunch, try less popular rides, have a nap, etc.. if you were even remotely organized you could ride every major ride in the park without ever having to stand in line for more than a few minutes.

If you want the first available seat you'll usually be on Millennium Force within 20 minutes with Fastlane. Maverick ranges wildly. I've waited 5 minutes with Fastlane, I've waited 45 minutes with Fastlane. With Dragster it all depends on how many times it breaks down between the time you enter the Fastlane line and the time you get on the train and how long the breakdown lasts (it's bound to happen). No. It's a wristband and it's non transferable. Also since you have kids, note that last weekend they were only operating most kids rides for half the day and then moving the ride ops to other flats and kids rides later on with posted operating times outside each ride since they're so insanely understaffed. That may not be the case this weekend but you never know. Seriously... I LOVE this park but I strongly advise you to wait a few weeks if you don't have a season pass. thanks, so it's not just because of the new ride opening, this is a typical problem in may at this park? strange that six flags was running so well in april and cedar point, the park everyone talks about, has these staffing issues, etc..

haha yes i am new, i know the intamin's are finnicky, i just meant the park wouldn't leave those closed because of staffing issues right? i know they break down a lot. when i was at six flags kingda ka shut down on me while i was waiting to launch, then went to zumanjaro and it broke down just as we were about to get on, then back to KK it was back on again, got two laps in and it broke down again. At least if there's an attempt to keep them going i'm good

Wow, ok. No season's pass, this is a one off visit. We figured we should visit sooner than later since we had such luck with crowds early season at SF, I assumed May would be the ideal time to visit CP. Is it always so crazy/crowded in May or is it just because of SV opening? I would get fastlane I guess if you're saying it's a must May is the ideal time to visit in terms of crowds but generally only if you go midweek. Crowds on a May weekend will probably be a little lower than on a summer weekend but the park will also be insanely understaffed, rides won't be running at full capacity (or at all) and given the uncertainty surrounding Steel Vengeance after last weekend I would really hold off because it's very likely going to be running one train and reaching capacity on return times by early afternoon. ah ok gotcha, when you say some rides won't be running.. we're not talking about the flagship rides like TTD, MF and Maverick right? If we go on a May weekend with fastlane passes, what would be a typical wait on one of those rides? I'm leaving SV out because it's obviously a unique situation given how it just opened. Also if i get a fast lane pass, can it be shared with my wife? ie i use it to ride something while she does a ride with the kids, and then she uses it to ride something while i do something with the kids?

Wow, ok. No season's pass, this is a one off visit. We figured we should visit sooner than later since we had such luck with crowds early season at SF, I assumed May would be the ideal time to visit CP. Is it always so crazy/crowded in May or is it just because of SV opening? I would get fastlane I guess if you're saying it's a must

We have nothing! We have six flags passes Your advice on SFGadv was spot on, glad we didn't get fast passes there. We're only going the one day, but it could be Saturday or Sunday, or we could possibly delay until the following weekend if weather is not cooperating, but can't go on a Friday. Just wondering what crowds are like this time of year on weekends and whether all the big rides are running as of 10am (assuming weather is ok)? Main interest is MF, TTD, Maverick and SV. Anything else is bonus

Hey guys, I just went to SF Great Adventure last Saturday and had a great time. 10 minute waits for Kingda Ka in the morning (30 min in the afternoon), El Toro cars were half empty for the first hour and half.. and even late in the day Nitro was a 5 minute wait. Everything was open at 10:30 and we got to ride every coaster we wanted to ride 2-3 times no problem. I'm thinking of heading to Cedar Park this weekend, what can I expect? I've never been before and want to get at least 2 rides on MF, TTD, Maverick, and Steel Vengeance. I can't just ride something once, two times minimum if it's really good. Should they all be running first thing in the morning assuming weather cooperates? What are crowds like this time of year? I was shocked at how few people there were at Six Flags on a weekend. I could also go Sunday if that offers better chances of lower crowds. And after hitting up the top 4 a couple times, what would be good to try if there's time.. Valravn, Raptor, Gatekeeper and Magnum?

Well we went Saturday in the end, beautiful day, and didn’t wait for anything all day! Started with kingda ka, as someone who hasnt been on a real coaster since i was 10 (30 years ago), that was intense more so than bungee jumping or sky diving. I knew it would be fast but did not expect that. Rode it two more times before it shut down for a bit, did the drop a couple times, toro a couple times, Superman, skull mountain, Batman, and nitro a couple times. Never waited more than 10 min for anything, amazing. Totally forgot about bizarro though guess I didn’t see it, thanks for all the advice guys and sooooooo glad I didn’t buy fast passes

Ok so forecast is not looking too good for tomorrow.. we can only go one day, will it be miserable in the rain? Will Kingda Ka even likely be running? We could swap things around and go to nyc tomorrow and then leave the city for the day either saturday or sunday to come to the park, saturday still has a chance of rain, and sunday looks windy.. we'd probably have to get gold fast passes if we went on either of those days.. but i just really want to avoid going on a day where KK won't be running, i won't have an opportunity to return so want to make the most of it. thoughts? sucks, yesterday the forecast was looking great for tomorrow!

Thanks guys! Great advice I guess we can decide if we need fastpass after we get there and see how things are moving? I'm assuming they're not going to run out of them on a Friday in April..?

awesome thanks, so there's really not a lot of lines in the morning? but still worth getting the gold fast pass as someone suggested? also is there a general consensus on which of these rides is the best: batman the ride, green lantern, bizarro ? i put them as a lower priority because they all have a lot of inverts and not sure if my wife will be into that, but if all goes well just wondering which 1 or 2 we should prioritize in case there's no time for all 3, would do them at the end of the day. are there usually lines for the added fee rides like daredevil dive and slingshot or are those good ones to hit while waiting for a fastpass time?

If it's your only day, arrive at opening, get a Gold Flash Pass, have fun. The rides that require you to empty your pockets require you to leave your stuff in a l ocker or with a non-rider, so that's secure. They're floating l ockers; you'll get a code that allows you to access one near the ride you're going on. They were $6 all day last year; if they've raised the price this year, probably not by much. They're big enough you should be able to get all your stuff in one. Do Kingda Ka and Nitro in the front, Skull Mountain and Nitro in the back, and El Toro one row up from the back (middle row of last car). If you go straight to Toro, there will be little to no wait for the first little bit. awesome thanks, out of the ones i want to ride, kingda ka, el toro, nitro, superman, and zumanjaro drop.. is there an order to do them? ie on a friday which would have the longest wait times and which would have the shortest? just wondering if there's an order i should try to hit them in to do it all and is a gold flash pass a necessity to get to ride everything if we only have one day, even on a friday at the end of april?i was hoping not to spend the extra money on daredevil dive and slingshot

Hi everyone, I've never been to a Six Flags before so I apologize for any dumb questions but is Great Adventure open? Their website says they only open April 21st yet I see lots of posts from visits this month already..? We're going to be in NYC that weekend so I was hoping to visit Fri April 21st, will all the big rides be open? The ones I really want to ride are Kingda Ka, El Toro, Nitro, Superman and Zumanjaro? Should they be running? If anyone has any tips for first timers, how to make the most of the day since it's our only day we will visit, best place to sit on certain rides, etc.. which order to do them to minimize waits, etc.. please let me know! Also for rides where you have to empty your pockets, is where you put your phone and keys, etc.. very secure? Thanks!