Help Me with my first Coaster Trip

[kpmcman]

So I am planning a coaster trip this summer and was wondering if I could have some help with it. Let me tell you what I am planning first.

 

I will start in Westford MA, near Lowell and drive to Cedar Point, then maybe a trip to Kings Island, then onto hersheypark and Six Flags Great Adventure. Finally on to Coney Island to ride the Cyclone. Then back home.

 

So I want to Know a couple of things:

-What parks should I add to the list or take off

-Tips about each park such as what the best days to go are or where to get discounted tix

-What the best place to stay is near each park

-Anything else that you can add to help out a first timer.

 

Thanks for all of your help!

[Sir Clinksalot]

Well, if your going between Hershey and SFGADV you must add Knoebels.

 

Dorney is an option as well.

[larrygator]

^I would have to see try to add Kennywood and/or Knoebels.

 

There are a couple of other parks along the way (depending on your route) but those 2 are the best.

[robbalvey]

So I am planning a coaster trip this summer and was wondering if I could have some help with it. Let me tell you what I am planning first.

 

I will start in Westford MA, near Lowell and drive to Cedar Point, then maybe a trip to Kings Island, then onto hersheypark and Six Flags Great Adventure. Finally on to Coney Island to ride the Cyclone. Then back home.

 

So I want to Know a couple of things:

-What parks should I add to the list or take off

-Tips about each park such as what the best days to go are or where to get discounted tix

-What the best place to stay is near each park

-Anything else that you can add to help out a first timer.

 

Thanks for all of your help!

Well, usually what I tell people is do a little bit of research and map out the trip yourself first, pick the parks that would be more interesting to YOU based on what rides and attractions they have, then come back here with your schedule and trip plans for us to give you more input on.

 

It's a little hard when you just get "I'm going from point A to point B...what should I do?" because there are so many different options and we know nothing about your preferences.

 

Not only that, planning a trip is very time consuming! I wish we had the time to help plan everyone's trips, but we are so busy planning our own TPR trips that we just can't do this for everyone.

 

But once you figure out your trip, we'll be more than happy to give you input!

 

--Robb

[Sir Clinksalot]

Another thing you might want to do, which we have done is:

 

Go through the past trips that Robb and Elissa have done. Having done a few trips with them, they know what they are doing and have been doing it for a LONG time.

 

Find a similar trip to the one you want to do and go from there. You should be able to figure out timelines for each park, order for each park, etc.

 

Of course, the easiest option would be to sign up for one of TPR's trips where you don't have to do any of the work except have fun.

[Homeboy23]

Well if you have the money for a few parks, you can try out this route. You were kind of going close to these anyway. I put them in order in which you could go.

 

1. Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom

1A. Holiday World (These two can be done in one day)

2. Kings Island

3. Cedar Point

4. Kennywood

5. Hershey

6. Knoebels

6A. Dorney (If done right both can be done in one day)

7. Six Flags Great Adventure

8. Coney Island

[robbalvey]

1. Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom

1A. Holiday World (These two can be done in one day)

 

6. Knoebels

6A. Dorney (If done right both can be done in one day)

Again, not knowing what the original poster is into, it's hard to say if this is good advice or not.

 

Sure both sets of these parks can technically be done in the same day, but unless you just wanted to run in, get the credits, do a quick photo lap, I wouldn't reccomend this.

 

SFKK/HW is more likely to be done in the same day if you don't care about either parks water park and you don't mind riding everything just once (maybe twice) and you don't care about any of the flats or other rides.

 

SFKK has a FANTASTIC water park with Deluge and Tornado and they do have 6 coasters to get in (not counting Twisted Sisters) and 3 of those 6 only run one train, and another one is a low capacity mouse. I would budget NO LESS than 4 hours at Kentucky Kingdom.

 

And at Holiday World, if you are even the slightest fan of either of their woodies (and some people love all three!) you'll want to spend a lot of time there as I have seen the lines for those coasters get VERY long!

 

HW also has a lot of "classic" flat rides if you're into that thing, and they have a very good water park.

 

As for Knoebel's and Dorney, I would say the ONLY way to do both of those parks in one day is get to Dorney EARLY and try to get in all the credits as quickly as you can. But even still they have 8 credits you can get (7 if you're not sad and pathetic and don't count the powered!) and that's going to take you at least 2-3 hours.

 

Dorney also has a FANTASTIC water park and if you're even slightly into water parks, I highly reccomend it.

 

I think most people could probably spend 4 to 6 hours at Dorney and have a good time.

 

And then there is Knoebel's, which IMO is one of the nicest traditional parks in the country and by all means you should NOT "blow through there" and do a credit run (unless of course that really is all you care about.)

 

There is so much cool about Knoebel's - the coasters, the flyers, the bumper cars, the other flats, the haunted house, the brass ring carousel, the log ride, the various museums, the food...OMG, the food!

 

But see, this is why you can't just post "Hey I've going from point A to point B, tell me what to do..."

 

We need more information about YOU and WHAT YOU WANT **YOUR TRIP** to be before we can really give you some advice.

 

Someone may post advice that is good for THEM and not good for YOU.

 

See my point?

 

Please give us more information, then I feel we can help more.

 

--Robb

[Sir Clinksalot]

Again, I have to agree with Robb here.

 

When we did PA, we actually DID do Knoebels and Dorney in the same day, but that wasn't our original plan.

 

We started the day at Knoebels and spent ALL day there. Rode Phoenix I think 6 or 7 times, Twister about 3 or 4, did all of the flats we wanted to, the flume, carousel, bumper cars, Haunted House, HSTC, sky-ride, etc. Had an AMAZING day.

 

It just so happened that our hotel that night was the Holiday Inn Express across from Dorney. When we got back to Allentown we saw that Dorney was still open for another 90 minutes (we were planning on going the next day). So we decided to just go in and do some rides that night, and then come back the next day.

 

Turns out there was no lines for ANYTHING and we got all of the credits (and the whip) done in 90 minutes. Even riding Laser and Steel Force twice each.

 

But we just happened to get REALLY lucky and I wouldn't recommend it during the summer. (we were there at the end of September).

 

EDIT: Holy Crap, I didn't realize they took out Laser to put in Steel Venom (from Geauga Lake) there. What a crock.

[robbalvey]

EDIT: Holy Crap, I didn't realize they took out Laser to put in Steel Venom (from Geauga Lake) there. What a crock.

They didn't. Both Voodoo and Laser operated together last year. Laser was sold to one of the traveling fairs in Germany at the end of last season. Had nothing to do with Voodoo/Possessed.

 

--Robb

[kpmcman]

I'm interested in the parks that have the best coasters and maybe a few good flats. I also don't want to have a super expensive trip and hit every park I drive by. So which parks would you guys say have the best coasters? Thats mainly what I am focused on. I f you want me to add infomation on anything else please tell me specifically what because this is all I can get from what you have told me. Thanks for the help though.

[Homeboy23]

You listed the parks with the best coasters in your original post, so I would say you answered your own question.

 

However, if you prefer wood coasters then Holiday World would seem to be a place to go. I haven't been there yet (Will on June 6), but Voyage seems to rank high on everybody's list. And Knoebels has my favorite wood coaster Phoenix.

 

Robb, I was going by his term "coaster trip" in my response. I took that as he wants to ride coasters mainly.

[Sir Clinksalot]

EDIT: Holy Crap, I didn't realize they took out Laser to put in Steel Venom (from Geauga Lake) there. What a crock.

They didn't. Both Voodoo and Laser operated together last year. Laser was sold to one of the traveling fairs in Germany at the end of last season. Had nothing to do with Voodoo/Possessed.

 

--Robb

 

Ahhh, gotcha. Well that sucks. Laser was freakin' awesome although the station was kinda small.