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A Brit Coming Over To The USA Which Park To Visit????


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Hi there

 

Having exhausted all the theme parks in the UK, the wife and I (plus possibly a couple of friends) are thinking of popping over to the US for a visit to your great nation's theme parks. We love roller coasters, but I simply cant make up my mind which to go for.

 

Cedar Point, Six Flags Magic Mountain.............. they all look brilliant. Can someone point me in a good direction. Did Disney when i was little - so you can count me out of those - want some top notch thrill rides.

 

Also, to any Brits reading this who have made the trip to America in pursuit of Roller Coaster joy - how is the best way to go about this? Rent a car and stay in motels, or can it all be done through tour operators? Stay at the park resorts, or stay further away - I dont have a clue!!!!

 

Any help would be much appreciated.

 

Many Thanks

John

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One thing you have to keep in mind is the time ypu plan on visiting. Nearly all of our parks are seasonal. My advice would be a little biased but Sunny Southern California is a good bet. High concentration of year-round parks, and tons of coupons out there. Plus if you tire out of all the parks, there's plenty of other landmarks here that will keep you entertained.

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It would be easier to point you in a good direction if we had more information. The US is HUGE, so how long of a trip are you planning? If I were selecting a time of year to travel, my suggestions would be May or September to help minimize wait times. If your budget is large, you certainly could do both MM and CP, by adding an additional flying leg to your trip. Assuming your budget is limited, I would suggest focusing on which coasters you have to ride - KK/TTD or "X2".

 

Personally, If I had a week to 10 days, I would land in NYC, rent a car and drive around (Coney Island, SFGA, CP, etc). There are over 30 parks within a 12 hour drive of NYC covering an area from Boston, to Williamsburg, to Cedar Point.

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^^Yeah, a lot depends on length of stay and budget. If you're going to be here for a week or more, you could hit up a lot of parks on the east coast/midwest by driving around (from Mass. across to Ohio or Indiana). Or if you're visiting for just a handful of days, west coast/SoCal or central Florida have several parks within a much smaller radius. I know you said you're going for thrills, but I think Orlando would still be something to at least look at, especially with their 2 brand new credits and Busch Gardens being a short drive away.

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You could always do the stereotypical British thing and go to Orlando.

Plenty of decent parks around the area, including Walt Disney World, Universal Studios and SeaWorld, with Busch Gardens not too far away either. Then, if you get bored of the parks, then there's always attraction like the Kennedy Space Centre.

 

If you're looking for soemthing less of a "holiday", and more of a "fantastic adventure", then you can't go wrong with a Theme Park Review trip!

Next year they're touring California, Deep South and Texas in America, and Scandinavia for the European trip. This really isn't a holiday though, so be ready for late very late nights, very early mornings and a lot of travelling by coach.

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wow guys - thanks for taking the time to reply.

 

I would say with the current economic climate, we would be looking for around a week to ten days, probably at the beginning of september. We dont have a huge budget, so would have thought mid-range hotels would be our target area. Cedar Point and SFMM are the two parks I have always wanted to visit in the US so would have thought the trip would encorporate one of the two, but certainly not both due to budget. Must admit I dont want to do a huge amount of driving - 1, dont fancy the idea of half my holiday spent in a car and 2, have never driven on the other side of the road before and am slightly daunted about the prospect. I will look into my options available - but for those of you who have been to both Cedar Point and SFMM, which do you think is best?

 

Thanks again for all your help.

 

John

(the confused pomme)

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^^Yeah, a lot depends on length of stay and budget. If you're going to be here for a week or more, you could hit up a lot of parks on the east coast/midwest by driving around (from Mass. across to Ohio or Indiana). Or if you're visiting for just a handful of days, west coast/SoCal or central Florida have several parks within a much smaller radius. I know you said you're going for thrills, but I think Orlando would still be something to at least look at, especially with their 2 brand new credits and Busch Gardens being a short drive away.

 

yea agreed...Florida would be another strong contender, quite a few good parks around

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I would say with the current economic climate, we would be looking for around a week to ten days, probably at the beginning of september.

- but for those of you who have been to both Cedar Point and SFMM, which do you think is best?

If you're traveling at the beginning of September, you're going to want to really look at the dates of the parks anywhere outside of SoCal and Florida, as the majority of parks (especially in the midwest and east--CP included) switch to weekends-only around the first week of September.

 

There's also a thread or two somewhere around here that talk about SFMM vs CP, which could give you more information than you care to know about both parks.

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I say take a trip to Orlando and/or Cedar Point. A whole week can be spent in Orlando where Cedar Point is good for about two-three days. I've been to both and you can't go wrong either way. I just noticed you say you want roller coasters. In that case Cedar Point is your only choice. You can also take a trip to King's Island while you are there and ride the new coaster Diamondback next year.

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Having been a Brit that's done both SFMM and CP and the idea that you

 

dont fancy the idea of half my holiday spent in a car

 

Go for Socal. Less driving and to be honest it's easy to adjust to driving on the wrong side of the road. Not only is there SFMM, Knotts but USH, Sea World, DCA and DL, plus Santa Monica Pier. Plenty of credits and you get to experience the Hollywood Thang.

 

If you've got 10 days, then why not combine with Vegas - fly or drive?

 

Of course Cedar Point is far more superior to SFMM but why not do that when our economy gets better.

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^ Yes, don't worry about driving at the 'right' side of the road. Driving in the Usa is very relaxing and easy. From my personal experience I can say that I was already used to driving at the left side of the road after being 5 to 10 minutes on the roads in the UK.

 

About the parks, you can go to CP (& KI) and then drive east to SFGAdv. In between you then can visit Kennywood, Hershey, Knoebels & Dorney. From SFGAdv you then can go further South and visit BGE, KD & SFA and fly back from DC. Or you can go North from SFGAdv passing New York and visit SFNE & Lake Compounce and fly back from Boston (or NY).

 

Comfort Inn has a handy search function for hotels near themeparks on their website.

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Hello,

 

Whilst not really answering your specific question about travelling to the US, I did notice you mentioned one of the reasons for your trip is that you've exhausted all of the UK theme parks... Don't forget that there are so many fantastic parks all over nearby mainland Europe! Once you've hit up SFMM / Cedar Point / Orlando or wherever you end up in the states, don't forget about European parks like Holiday Park (for Expedition GeForce), Europa Park, Phantasialand, Heide Park, Walibi World, Liseberg, ... the list goes on!!

 

Robin

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Thank you so so so much - all your info has been completely brilliant. It does sound to me like southern california is the best destination and can now seriously start planning our trip.

 

Robin, thank you also for your european suggestions. Just in case our USA trip does go down the toilet, which park and area in europe would you recommend most? I was thinking possibly Portaventura. Your thoughts?

 

Kind regards

John

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Having been a Brit that's done both SFMM and CP and the idea that you

 

dont fancy the idea of half my holiday spent in a car

 

Go for Socal. Less driving and to be honest it's easy to adjust to driving on the wrong side of the road. Not only is there SFMM, Knotts but USH, Sea World, DCA and DL, plus Santa Monica Pier. Plenty of credits and you get to experience the Hollywood Thang.

 

If you've got 10 days, then why not combine with Vegas - fly or drive?

 

Of course Cedar Point is far more superior to SFMM but why not do that when our economy gets better.

 

Lol Henry Ford was an American and invented the car in America so we get to choose which side is right.(Its ares)

 

But in all seriousness and in keeping on topic I also suggest So Cal(being a So Cal Native myself)

 

You can tour the movie sets at Universal( I have a friend who when he first came from Switzerland to the states said the sets were awesome.) We have DCA and Screamin is awesome. Magic Mountain is awesome and Terminator will be open by then.

 

Now for the real reason I thought I should open this thread back up. You should come as late into September as possible (preferably early October) because So Cal is probably home to the second and third best haunts in the world after HHN Orlando.

 

We have Knotts Scary Farm( Semi ghetto but a lot to see and do) We also have HHN Hollywood( not as many offerings as Knott's but completely top notch.) We also have fright fest at SFMM which is only a five dollar upcharge from normal admission. If haunts aren't really your thing this is still an awesome time to go because everyone will be in school. (including myself )

 

PM me if you decide to go to DCA or Disneyland and we can meet up. Also their are many TPR members who are cast members (ECZenith is one I know for sure) and a lot who used to be cast members (Including Robb) so they will have the best info.

 

If you are unable to go to Europe you should go to Germany.

they have Winja's, Expedition Geforce, Black Mamba, Colosus, Europa Park (rated TPR's best European park) The new Mack launch prototype. Mamut. Heiße Fahrt (Klottie Coaster), and the Nautic Jet.

 

 

 

OMG Now I really want to go to Germany( So many awesome coasters in one country.)

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We went to SoCal last year in September from the UK. If you're thinking about September I would personally recommend the week starting the day directly after Labor day, as the kids go back to school but the attractions are open during the week. SFMM had no lines atall (even X had half empty trains going out mid afternoon), weather was great, can't say much about Disney/Knott's as we didn't go to Knotts, and we went to Disney on a Sunday.

 

Bear in mind that last year at least, SFMM only opens weekends after that week.

 

Driving is EASY going to SFMM, Universal etc, 90% of the driving is on the freeway (From Anaheim at least). I'd only passed my tests 3 months before we went and I did all the driving, and I hads no problem whatsoever.

 

If you do Vegas too its quite an experience, although if you're going just for coasters not so much IMO.

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Robin, thank you also for your european suggestions. Just in case our USA trip does go down the toilet, which park and area in europe would you recommend most? I was thinking possibly Portaventura. Your thoughts?

 

Hi John,

Look no further than TPR's Spain and Mini Europe Trip 2007 reports and TPR's Europe Trip 2008 reports for inspiration! I haven't personally been to PortAventura, although it does look fantastic! There are several parks in Germany reasonably close to each other such as Europa Park, Holiday Park and Phantasialand which are all well worth visiting, plus I really loved Heide Park (further north in Germany) when I visited last year. It really depends on what sort of rides you like...

Robin

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