Melody303

So yeah, it's what I wrote in the topic title, though there's the huge caveat that I have yet to ride any flying coasters, but it can simply be considered as my bucket list of flying coasters. Why flying coasters? Because among the categories I considered, it's the group with the fewest rides for me to rank. Please watch with the subtitles on, otherwise it's just the POV's and the music. I hope you enjoy it: [Link removed] The subtitles also contain the credits for all the POV sources. They're also listed and linked in the description. For many months now, I've had the intention to do a huge top 500 coasters in a similar style to this (for a much much much longer video), and I've tried to do and re-do the ranking almost a dozen times now, but each time by the point I've reordered the bottom/top 70 or so of the list, I see things that no longer make sense to me. That whole idea is probably biting off significantly more than I can chew, so I tried limiting the scope by a lot to see at least how I handle the next stages of creating a video like this. I think I'm gonna shelve the top 500 idea way way way back, I'm wondering if there's any point in trying to do more videos of more reasonable length, like this. I could certainly use some feedback.

Thanks for the recommendations. I have looked into those airlines a few months back and my plan included flights with a couple of them. As for the parks: Disneyland & Universal are not really my kinda thing (not that I wouldn't enjoy my time in them, but I tremendously prefer most Six Flags and Cedar Fair parks to them), they don't have many attractions that appeal to me greatly, I know the waits in there would be long, and they're more expensive than the parks I'm more interested in.

Well, I don't envision making more than one trip to the States, the biggest reasons for that are that the flights are long and that they're expensive. I mean, I'm not gonna disqualify possibly coming back maybe 5 or 10 years later, but it's not something I want to plan. I also wanna make the most out of the Six Flags and Cedar Fair memberships.

Update: I just got the US VISA today. Yay! But the prices for the flights I wanted and the car rentals have risen by quite a bit so as to make this trip not viable for me in 2020. I'll save up to do it in 2021 instead.

Alright. I promise.

Thanks for the tips, but the American Dream is probably the last park I'll visit in the US in this trip anyway.

According to Google Maps, here's one way of going about it: https://goo.gl/maps/z1zvjnWJP5cTzXLc8 Though I see that if I wanted to do it the other way around (which is more specifically what you mentioned) Google has no solution.

Thanks for the suggestion.

Thanks! A lot of great tips. Google Maps gave me the impression that I could get from A to B along the trip without tolls with slightly less ideal routes. Is that the wrong impression? This is my current plan: May 8th TLV->BCN PortAventura & Ferrariworld. AirBNB stay nearby. Travelling on public transport. May 10th BCN->LAX SF Magic Mountain & Knott's. Staying the nights at a friend's place in Studio City. Travelling in a rental car. May 18th LAX->AUS SF Fiesta Texas & SF Over Texas, staying some of the nights at Motel 6's nearby the parks. Travelling in a rental car. May 22-23 Board game convention at DFW. May 24th DFW->CLE ... Jun 8th JFK->BRU Bobbejaanland, sleeping at a friend's place. Travelling with him. Jun 10th BRU>VIE>TLV WIth the "..." section being freeform, where I rent a car for the duration and travel as suits me at the moment, but hopefully getting to most of these parks: Cedar Point, Holiday World, Kings Dominion & Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Hersheypark & Knoebels (I'm sold on it, and not just on the word of mouth here, even the ride selection is to my liking), Lake Compounce & SF New England, and American Dream/Nickelodeon Universe (Yeah, I looked deeper into it, and actually the mix of their main coasters and some of their flat rides is enough of a draw for me to justify the cost). Maybe I'll visit Kentucky Kingdom & Kings Island, Maybe Kennywood. Maybe I'll even do the crazy thing and drive some 9 hours west from Cedar Point to SF Great America & Mt Olympus. I know I won't get to them all due to both the time frame and the budget.

True, but I'd rather spend another day enjoying the rides at either SFMM or at Knott's without spending any more money than to get to San Diego. Their ride selection just doesn't appeal to me enough.

Again, unless credit whoring is another way to say 'to only enjoy the rides', it's not something I engage in. I'm not going on this trip to pile up as many credits as I can. I'm going on this trip to ride the coasters and flat rides that seem the most enjoyable to me. This is practically a bucket list trip for me, though I won't hit up every single one of the coasters I'd love to get to (a bunch of them are in China and Japan anyway). This trip is more than 90% focused on ride experiences, with a willingness to sacrifice a lot of comfort.

Thanks. I looked into KOA, but with prices being around the $50 area, I might as well utilize Motel 6's instead, and that's indeed an option on the table for at least some of the nights. I did really like the idea of starting the road trip from Dallas, which'd let me pick up Silver Dollar City and Holiday World along the way to Cedar Point, but unfortunately renting a car for that long will have me on the edge of my budget, so I'll stick to flying to CLE and starting the road trip from there, after Cedar Point. Time Traveller is a mega draw for me along with Outlaw Run, but fortunately one of those Mack Xtreme Spinning Coasters will be opening in Belgium in the next year or so, and it'll be much easier for me to get there on a future European trip instead. There are several launch (and even multi launch) coasters as well as several RMC's on my itinerary anyway, so I think I'll just have to do without a visit to Silver Dollar City.

I'm not just saying this to be negative, I'm being very honest: if you are serious about living in a car, this is not the forum you should be reading for tips. Places like vandwellerforum.com are where you need to be looking. This lifestyle is more akin to homelessness and will need to be approached as such with people who have tips about how to live out of a vehicle safely. This is not Europe, and at this point the rural US' crime rates aren't much different than that of urban areas. If you're planning to cut corners by flying Spirit from Dallas to points north, you may end up blowing that money anyhow if/when they cancel your flight. just a warning. Be smart and look at all your options w/re: to rental vehicles. Thanks, but the reason I'm asking here rather than in another forum is because the advice I want is more to do with the parks themselves than the specifics of living in a car for part of the trip and the like. Let's take the mention someone gave for SeaWorld San Diego for instance. Do the rides there justify the 3+ hour drive and the ticket cost? I'm sure Sky Rocket II's are fantastic rides, but if I'll indeed visit BG Williamsburg I'll get to ride one of those, so that's redundant (though I've heard the restraints at SeaWorld are better), I loved Mack's Blue Fire, so Manta could be awesome, but it's slower and has no inversions, so not very likely to be as good of a ride, I haven't loved water coasters, so Journey to Atlantis isn't a big draw for me, and Tidal Twister looks nifty, but not enough to justify the trip. (And while Mako may be great, who knows if it'll be open by May). Thanks for the warning about Spirit too.

Nope.

Fair enough, I'm in that 95% group, though I do know to begin with how intense (in both good and bad ways, but definitely aware of the bad) this trip is, so I wasn't expecting to get thumbs up from everyone when I started the thread, but the focus really is on the added bonus of information that'd be valuable to me and my idea, as you put it. I'll look into camping sites I could stop at and see what kind of solution I can come up with. Probably not the air mattress, but I'm sure I'll find something more comfortable than sleeping in the car. And you're right, my mindset has been the backpacker's one, remaining from my previous trips. Being mobile with a car does afford me better options. I did consider the road trip from DFW option before, but it's too much of a drive and too many extra days to rent a car, such that it would nearly deplete my budget, which is why I gave up on it, but I'll reconsider. Oh, and btw, at least in California I do have a friend's place to stay at.

Thanks for the two cents. The portion of my trip that includes a lot of driving is not all that dissimilar from the trips you took (except the 2014 one). I'm familiar with that channel and I watched their US trip vlogs, it definitely gave me some pointers too.

It's generally a bad idea everywhere, but if that's the only way I can make it work, it'll have to do, but thanks for the warning. If that's how this is going to go I don't think there's much advice or help for this 'trip'. All advice is getting thrown aside, especially if you're just looking to credit run places like Dollywood and Knoebels. Sounds like you're just going to do what you want to do how you do it. This all sounds unhealthy and miserable. I'd recommend saving up a bit more and listening to what the other experts have to say in order to have a memorable and fun trip. "All advice is getting thrown aside" This is incorrect. I'm considering a visit to Knoebel's now, and to cut out a few of the parks I wanted to visit, thanks to replies I've gotten in this thread so far. And I'm not about credit-whoring those places (or any places for that matter), but I do want to visit mostly for the rides themselves. You won't find me on a kiddy coaster for a +1, that's for sure. And yes, I'm definitely going to do what I want to do and how I want to do it, that's gonna be accurate no matter to what degree I follow advice I receive here. But what I want to do is affected by the discussion. Unhealthy? Yes. Miserable? No. Saving up more means waiting longer and missing out on the cheap flights that are available, thus requiring even more saving up. And also, May-June are preferable to July-August in terms of how crowded parks get for the most part.

It's generally a bad idea everywhere, but if that's the only way I can make it work, it'll have to do, but thanks for the warning.

Thanks for the tips, but yeah, Airbnbs are far more likely to fit in the budget than hotels (even with promotions like the ones you mentioned).

Thanks, I haven't looked at the prices for Nickelodeon yet, as I didn't consider it as essential, I just saw they have their version of Takabisha and thought it might justify a visit, but not at any cost.

Ok, i'm gonna start out by saying this trip is very ambitious for one person. I don't know if you considered the weather in the south in May and June. It can get quite hot. I would definitely NOT reccomend sleeping in your car. I would suggest finding a cheap place or an AirBNB to get the proper rest because unless you're on some serious drugs like meth, your body will crash. Lastly, with so many parks in one trip do you think it would be better to split it up? Like, are you really gonna enjoy it if all you're essentially doing is hopping from park to park? The SeaWorld at San Diego might be worth it, but I don't see enough of a draw for myself at San Antonio. And yes, I know it's a 6 hour drive to San Francisco, which is why I'm wondering if it's worth it for those two parks in the area. It tends to be equally hot if not hotter over here in Israel, so I'm not too worried about the weather. I've pushed my body this hard on the last trip too (and though that one didn't include driving, it was jam packed and included very little rest, including several nights without any sleep at all), but Yes, I'll definitely pepper a few airbnb stays here and there. I am going to enjoy the parks greatly (and hopefully some good eats too), but probably very little else on the trip, and I'm fine with that prospect. I prefer to experience more of my bucket list on this trip than to get less of it with a lot more comfort. Cheers.

Thanks. Fortunately there are parks that are worth a visit between SFGA and Carowinds, so I have no plans of any drive that long. Though there are quite a few driving segments that'll be around 4 hours each, and I'll likely have ideal traffic conditions because I'll be doing most of this driving in the very early hours of the morning. Taking the rest to heart.

Thanks. I'm gonna think some more about which of all of those parks I mentioned on the major road trip portion I can skip for this trip. And yes, I'll also look into booking a few airbnb's to get a proper night's sleep along the way. I did the last 2 trips to Europe super-structured, with practically everything planned and booked in advance, and I want to do it a little more freeform this time around. And I do have another grand to spend in the budget between more parks and more night rests. What is it that Dollywood has to offer beyond the rides themselves? I'll look into the ride selection at Knoebel's again and see if I want to add it to the itinerary. As for Kennywood, it seems to make sense for the trip only if I pass on Dollywood & Carowinds (and with the distance being pretty much the same between Hersheypark and Kings Dominion as between Hershey and Kennywood but in different directions, it also doesn't seem the most sensible).

Hi all, so my first trip (around April-May 2019) was to Energylandia, Phantasialand, and Europa Park (my favorite coaster of that trip was Blue Fire). My second trip (just a few weeks ago) was to Phantasialand (had a season ticket, so why not), Toverland, and Walibi Holland (and my favorite after that trip is without a doubt the RMC, Untamed). And now I'm in the planning stages of a USA coaster trip for May-June 2020. The definite must do's are Magic Mountain and Cedar Point, but I intend to include a lot more, and the more RMC's the merrier. This is a very frugal and low budget trip (the only way I can travel), but it's still pretty huge in scope. Here's what I've got so far: * Fly from Israel to Barcelona on May 8th, spend a couple of days at PortAventura & Ferrari World, then fly out to LAX on May 11th. * Rent a car at LAX, and spend a week there, mostly at SFMM and at Knott's Berry Farm, but possibly also hitting up SFDK & CGA (are they worth the driving time and fuel? Nor sure yet.) * Fly over to DFW on May 19th, rent a car there and spend 3 days between SFFT and SFOT, then a couple of days at a board game convention. ** I would very much like to hit up Silver Dollar City for Outlaw Run & Time Traveller around this point, but I haven't found a way to make it work in the plan so far. To a lesser extent the same goes for Adventureland & Lagoon. Are these three worth making the effort for? How would you make it work? * Fly over to CLE on May 24th, and rent a car there for the major road trip portion of the trip, but first starting with 2+ days at Cedar Point. * Hit up Kings Island, Holiday World, Kentucky Kingdom, Dollywood (Why so expensive? damn, I mostly wanna visit it for Lightning Rod), Carowinds, Kings Dominion, Busch Gardens Williamsburg, maybe Six Flags America (it's on the way), Hersheypark, and Six Flags Great Adventure. ** Is Nickelodeon Universe at NJ also worth a day? Probably. ** I'd love to include a visit to SFNE at this point too, but so far I'm not seeing any way to make it work. * Fly from JFK to Belgium on June 8th, visit Bobbejaanland + a friend. * Fly back home on June 11th. I've got this working on under $1000 for flights and pretty nearly $1000 on car rentals, with another $250 for the fuel budget. The budget for the parks themselves is around $500, and around $550 for food and soft-drinks budget. I'm not budgeting for hotel stays. I might be able to stay at a friends place in Los Angeles, but for the rest I'm planning on sleeping in the car. This is a solo trip, I'm going alone. Note that the stops in Europe are not as much about having fun in Europe as they are about the cheapest way back home, but while I'm there I might as well enjoy a couple more parks, so there's not much use looking at cutting those sections of the trip short or cutting them out entirely. The actual budget in my pockets after I'll pay for the flights and the car rentals is $2000. Help?

I had a much better experience at Energylandia in my 2 days there, and that was before Zadra was a thing. By the end of that trip I had been to Energylandia, Phantasialand, and Europa Park, and while my favorite coaster of the trip was Blue Fire at EP, I overall preferred Energylandia, and I'm much more likely to head back there in the near future than back to Europa Park (but first I'm going back to Phantasialand next month (+Walibi Holland + Toverland). Hyperion was amazing, Mayan was awesome (especially considering how low my expectations were for SLC's after reading and watching many different reviews of them, and I don't mean it was good just by those standards, but in general. I must've ridden it around 10 times), and Formula, and the RMF Dragon (not awesome enough to justify a trip, but definitely another great ride I enjoyed a lot while I was there), Energus (same), and I loved the Space Booster more than many of the other coastersr I've ridden to date, and morme than any other flat ride too. Oh, and Apocalipto is awesome too. Surprisingly I found it even more fun than Talocan. I'd love to go back, and I think it's an awesome park. And in the summer time with the water slides active and included in the price it's probably even better.