Which Theme Parks in the USA are worth checking out?

[OzErik]

Ok, so I am from Australia the land down under, and the land of lame theme parks.

 

I have been to the states in 1998 and 2002 and once my daughter is old enough I want to plan a large coaster / theme park pilgrimage.

 

Which parks should I make an effort to see?

 

I've been to: Disneyland (not Cal. Adv), Knotts, SF:MM, USH, USF, IOA, Seaworld California, and Disneyworld.

 

I originally thought if I went LA -> Ohio -> Orlando -> Vegas

 

Do any of you guys have suggestions of parks I shouldn't miss?

 

Thanks a bunch!

[robbeal]

Well, it's a hell of a trek between the regions you've suggested, so unless you're either flying in between or planning to drive for days on end, it's probably not best.

 

You could stick to either California, which is do-able with a bit of driving. There's a few parks in Texas that could constitute a trip. There's the south-east, with Florida and Georgia. Then there's the north-east, with Pennsylvania etc.

 

Or, you could do what I plan to do next year, and road-trip from north-east to south-east and take in 16 or so parks on the way :o

[disneygurlz2s]

Erik....

 

Well, I am the Ohio girl here, so I will tell you what I can about the parks around here. Basically, the two biggies are Paramounts Kings Island and Cedar Point. There is a third, Geauga Lake, that is lesser known, and that's a long story....

 

PKI is in southern Ohio and is my home park, literally home away from home each summer. They do not have as many rides as other parks, but they have a good selection, and boast two pretty famous wooden coasters, The Beast and Son of Beast. The Beast is my favorite, and I know it gets debated as to if it's really THAT good or not, but I have always loved it. Unlike a lot of parks who've built their coasters right out in their midways and parking lots, Beast goes back through the woods and is awesome at night. They also have a popular childrens area, which your little girl should love. Many of the attractions are themed around Nickelodeon characters, like Rugrats and Wild Thornberrys, and they also have the costumed Blue and Dora you mentioned having down there. There is also a waterpark area, included in your admission. They upgraded it last year, to an Australian theme (or at least what we Americans think is Aussie themed ha ha) and it is really nice. I recommend a weekday versus a weekend if you visit during the summer months, and you should be able to do the park in one full day if your daughter is the kind who can go and go and go (like mine).

 

Cedar Point, you obviously know about, it's coaster paradise. But, let me also say, it is a pretty park. Right on Lake Erie, lots of shady areas to chill out in, nicer restaurants than PKI and some great amenities if you have a little one. They have a very user friendly parent swap policy by which you get a form at guest relations upon entering the park. All the major rides are listed on it, and there are two boxes by each attraction. When you wait in line, your wife or whomever can entertain your daughter and then wait at the exit for you to come off the ride. When you ride, you give the form to the attendant, and when you exit, your spouse or whoever didn't get to ride can go right up the exit ramp and board. That person can have one other person go with them as well. The ride attendant gives them the form back for the next attraction. It was a huge sanity saver for us, because so many of their coasters are 30 min to 1 hour wait. They have tons for kids there, also, and the nice thing is that all their kids rides are not lumped in one area, but scattered around the park. They also have a ton of flat rides that are minimum height 36", so there is a lot for little one to do.

 

Geauga Lake is about an hour and a half east of Cedar Point on the outskirts of Cleveland. They were a small, family owned park for years, and a Sea World was on the opposite side of the lake. When Sea World decided to leave Ohio (a dark day for my family) Six Flags came in and bought the whole shebang, and from what I gathered, the place sucked. Last year, Cedar Fair, who owns Cedar Point, Knotts and others, bought the park and it looks like they are really trying to improve the park.

 

There are also two other parks within three hours of Cincinnati. One is Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom, which I have not heard good things about, and Holiday World in Santa Claus Indiana, which I have heard wonderful things about.

 

Finally, in my opinion, no trip to the states would be complete without a trip to a Disney park. I have been to WDW 9 times and am a huge Disney fanantic, so I am partial to Florida's Disney, but others may say Disneyland.

 

 

Shari "have fun planning your trip" Shoufler

[Real]

Geauga is great...Plus all the woodies got (or are supposed) retracked. I personally really like the collection of rides there.

 

I live in northwest Ohio and Im within 4-5 hours of several good parks:

 

Cedar Point

Geauga Lake

PKI

Indiana Beach

Holiday World

Kennywood

Michigans Adventure (ok, so its only got one ride, still, its an amazing ride)

 

I know theres a few more in there too. IB and HW are wooden coaster places , both with extreme top notch rides. PKI, CP and GL have awesome steel coasters with a few good woodies. KEnnywood is just good old fashioned fun.

 

 

However, being just like disneygurlz2, Ive been to Disney about a dozen times and my family is in the DVC club. My girlfriend is doing an internship down there at the moment so Im also partial to the parks. They are not coaster parks, but still awesome nonetheless.

 

You should hit up both parts of Universal however. The regular side has Mummy and some other great old hits. IOA has the crem-da-la-crem of Inverts IMO, Dueling Dragons. Hulk is good fun and Spiderman is sweet. I personally loved the park.

 

 

You cant forget Busch Gardens Tampa or Sea World either

[Token Yankee Guy]

I'm the Yankee here of New England so I can give you a little list of the parks in my area. Now there are maybe a few parks that are of good size

Heres the list of the good parks in the North Eastern area.

 

Six Flags New England - Agawam, Massachusetts

Lake Compounce - Bristol, Connecticut

Six Flags Great Adventure - Jackson, New Jersey

Dorney Park - Allentown, Pennsylvania

Hersheypark - Hershey, Pennsylvania

Knoebels - Elysburg, Pennsylvania

 

Now, SFNE and LC are about an hour drive between the two.

 

And when it comes to SFGAdv, Dorney, HP, and Knoebels. they're within about a 2hr radius. When I went down to Pennsylvania last summer I found that from the town I was staying in (Langhorne, PA) HP and Knoebels were both a 2hr drive. Six Flags Great Adventure is about a 30-45 minute drive, and Dorney Park is about a 45 minute drive.

 

If you were to plan a North East trip, it's probably best to start from the north and pretty much work yourself down. You got two International airports in the New England that gives you good access to. But if I had to choose I would suggest trying to fly into Bradley International which is only 20 minutes south of SFNE and it's easier to get in and out of then Logan International which is in Boston.

 

I hope that helps a bit in trying to plan out a trip, if you have any questions, feel free to contact me and I can give you more info.

[coasters 4 me]

This isnt to do anything with parks in ohio, but normally in disney, if you go anti-clockwise around the park, the queue's are normally shorter than if you went the other direction, because everyone goes clockwise for some reason.

[SharkTums]

How come Texas never gets any love??? Those are actually 3 of the better Six Flags parks! There's a nice Sea World, and tons of cool waterparks everywhere!

 

Elissa "Poor Texas" Alvey

[disneygurlz2s]

^Guess you just need more Longhorns on here, Elissa!

 

I would have to agree with Real that from northern or southern Ohio you can drive six hours or less in any direction and reach a multitude of theme parks (Six Flags in Chicago, St Louis, Kentucky, parks in PA, Dollywood in Tennessee, etc). I think in the southwest and through the Plains states things are pretty widespread.

 

Shari "give me a US map" Shoufler

[MichRollerCoast]

Defenitly do a Midwest trip. Sorry Elissa, but the Midwest is where its at.

 

Hit Cedar Point, Geauga Lake, Kings Island, Kennywood, Holiday World, Indiana Beach, Six Flags Great America, Mt. Olympus, and Michigan's Adventure.

 

It may sound like a lot but it will be worth it, you'll hit some of the best coasters and parks in the world.

[Mr.Six]

Elissa I agree with you about the Texas Six Flag's Parks. It could just be because they don't have any "major recorded breaking" coasters such as Cedar Point or Six Flags Magic Mountain. You place a 500ft Rocket in a Texas SF park and I bet it will attract more attention.

[downunder]

Good to see another Aussie on the boards.

 

Last year I flew to Cleveland after I got to LA, did Cedar Point. Then went to New York and from there I did SF New Engand, Hershey, and Great Adventure. Then I went on a tour that stopped at Orlando, but I only had time to do Sea World, Islands of Adventure, and Universal. Then I flew back to LA and did some parks there.

 

Personally, Cedar Point is the best - loved it. Islands of Adventure was the best in Orlando. Busch Gardens I wish I could have gone to for the coasters, and with the new dive machine looks like a must visit. I have been to the Disney ones on a previous visit and they are worth going to if you have never been before but they are not really for thrillseekers. Great Adventure has some good coasters but it's no Cedar Point.

 

Washington DC is good place to visit and it has a heap of parks all within two hours - Six Flags America, Paramount King's Dominion, Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Dorney Park, Knoebels, Hershey etc. Unfortunately I didn't have time to do this myself.

[MLRC7 CP]

If you are coming to the states for a coaster trip, cedar point is something you must do

[ShannonSomerville]

If you get a chance to visit Washington,D.C.,I suggest you visit Six Flags America,in Largo,MD,also go to Paramount's Kings Dominion,near Richmond VA,and Busch Gardens Williamsburg,VA,which,by the way,has one of the best coaster collections on the East Coast. SES :o

[momo1tx]

Yes, going to the D.C. area is a good idea. There are a lot of good parks (Including BGW, my favorite park) within 2-3 hours of here, and D.C. is great for sightseeing.

[MSLSM]

 

Wow a 9 month dead topic brought back just to say CP is a good park. :shock:

[momo1tx]

Crap! I didn't even realize how old this topic was. I hate posting in a topic and realizing that the topic is useless now, and is only up here because someone bumped it up.

[Coasters 4 ever]

EDIT: I just noticed the 3 posts above me. Crap.

 

I'd recommend some parks in the NJ/NY/PA area. I've been to Dorney, Hershey, and Knoebel's (I'd go there just to ride Phoenix).

 

Dorney Park:

Hydra, Talon, Steel Force, Laser, and Thunderhawk are all decent to good rides. Nothing spectacular, but it's worth a trip. There's also Camp Snoopy, with 2(?) kiddie coasters and some kiddie flats.

 

Hersheypark:

Storm Runner, Sidewinder, Comet, Lightning Racer, Wildcat, and Great Bear. Comet's decent, I didn't go on Sidewinder, I didn't go on Storm Runner, Great Bear's pretty short, but has many positive G's (plus a helix at the top of the lift that I love), and Lightning Racer and Wildcat weren't open. There's also Chocolate World right across the street, which doesn't require an addmission fee (go free stuff), and has a ride that shows how chocolate is made.

 

Knoebel's:

I love Knoebel's. First off, addmission is free, so you can pay as you go, or get a wristband for around $30 that let's you go on unlimited rides. There is no gate or anything, so you can be waiting in line for a ride before the park even opens. The two most popular rides are Phoenix and Twister, both great wooden coasters. There's a handful of flats, too (Fandango is IMO the best). I also don't recommend going on Power Surge on a full stomach (I did, and I nearly threw-up, and I don't even get sick on rides). Twister is a great ride, but it's a little rough. Phoenix is AMAZING. By far the best wooden coaster I have ever been on (I haven't been on many, but still). I literally almost fell out during the biggest pop of airtime. I was practically floating the entire ride, due to sustained speeds and a bunch of airtime producing hills. This ride doesn't let off until the end. Add on comfortable seats and lapbars that are desinged perfectly, and you've got a "world-class wooden roller coaster".