What is the best place for a coaster enthusiast to live?

[ArundelHigh Coasters]

I'm with Werner - both Orlando and Tampa would be wonderful places to live for a coaster enthusiast. I heard the cities themselves aren't bad, but it's the amusement parks that form them. Well, Orlando at least.

 

Anyway, I live in Kansas City.. the worst place for an enthusiast to live.

 

Worlds of Fun - about 40 minutes away

Six Flags St Louis - 4 hours away

Silver Dollar City/Branson - 3 hours away

Elitch Gardens - 8-9 hours away

 

Meh, I don't really like where I am.

 

That sucks, it would be cool if those Six Flags Nebraska rct creations were real, then you'd be able to there . I live 15-20 mins. away from SFA, but going to KD is quite a drive, only about an hour and a half though, nothing compared to you. IUt's good that worlds of Fun is close though.

[Voxelmatic]

Anywhere on the East Coast of the United States. Quality and quantity sprinkles that region, coaster wise.

[WFChris]

Other places would be Los Angelas ( Six Flags Magic Mountain, Knott's Berry Farm,) LA is not a very pleasant place to live though.

 

Not sure where you get your stats on LA being unpleasant, but I personally love skiing by day and Disney by night, and going to the beach the next morning. Being surrounded by every culture on the planet isn't so shabby either, not to mention the fierce snowstorms that NEVER pass through town! I suppose (contradicting my other post) that we are a good location park-wise because our parks are open year round, but I still say that it's unfortunate that we cannot experience the parks of the east coast without planning a full blown vacation. Been on every coaster out here a million times but haven't been on any of the true classics.

[Josh Linn]

Central PA is pretty ideal. I have:

 

Knoebel's - 15 minutes

Hershey - 1 hour

Dorney - 1.5 hours

Great Adventure - 2.5 hours

Kennywood - 3.5 hours

 

5 solid parks that I could conceivably go to for a day trip. Not bad.

[ernierocker]

If you are a coaster enthusiast living in Pennsylvania, you pretty much have it set. So many great parks within reasonable drives.

[TheMaxster]

When I was in Florida it was great being a coaster enthusiast. Now I live in a small town by Chicago with SFGAm 45 minutes away and Mt. Olympus 3 hours away. I live in a terrible spot! There is nothing else that close.

[thepoint4life23]

I live in columbus ohio about two and a half hours from cedar point and little less then two hours to kings island. thats not bad. but i would really like to live in the orlando or tampa area.

[blade1]

If your my age, you can't choose where you live ;P , which is how I ended up in Northern Maryland. (Can't wait for college .) I think a coaster enthusiast is lucky if they live near Sandusky , Ohio (Cedar Point, Kings Island,) if they live near Gurnee/ Chicago , Illinois (Six Flags Great America.) Other places would be Los Angelas ( Six Flags Magic Mountain, Knott's Berry Farm,) LA is not a very pleasant place to live though.

 

Living near Gurnee is not ideal at all. Six Flags Great America is 1 hour away for me with no competition in it's market. Mt. Olmypus is 2 hours away and it's one of the worst parks I have been to. Indiana Beach is 4 hours away and the worst park I have been to. After that Adventureland in Iowa, Valleyfair and Nick Universe in Minnesota 5hrs, Holidayworld 7hrs, and Cedar Point 7 1/2 hours. Not good at all.

I sure wish Universal had come to Chicago in the 1990's.

[TXthrills2010]

I would say Houston, Texas?

I mean before 2005 you had AstroWorld but now you have:

 

20 minutes to Splashtown

30 minutes to Kemah Boardwalk

45 minutes to the Pleasure Pier

2 1/2 hours to Schlitterbahn New Braunfels

3 hours to Six Flags Fiesta Texas & SeaWorld San Antonio

4.5 hours to Six Flags over Texas & Hurricane Harbor

 

 

 

Schlitterbahn South Padre and Louisiana aren't too far either.

[GayCoasterGuy]

I usually vote for Pennsylvania. But Texas is also a great place. And of course, California or Florida. It all depends on what you like.

 

It used to be Ohio, but there has been a LOT of change there in 20 years. They lost some really great rides

 

I'm content in Chicago, with Great America being my home park. I have Holiday World, Kings Island, Cedar Point, Michigan's Adventure, and all the Wisconsin goodness all under a 6 hour drive. Oh yeah, Indiana Beach too, which has had a few bad years - but hopefully it will soon return to it's former glory.

[JJLehto]

Honestly, NJ is a pretty great place.

 

For me:

SF:GA 45 mins away

Dorney Park 1 hr 10 mins away

Hershey 2ish hours

Lake Compounce is just a couple of hours

SF:NE just an hour past that

 

It's not a hop away but Kings Dominion is 5 hours from me, an easy weekend trip.

 

Even Cedar Point can be done in a 4 day weekend, or 3 if you do just one day.

PA is another good state, and puts you closer to CP... really anywhere in the Northeast is good, but NJ is nice since we're right in the center.

 

 

Naturally FL and CA are the other obvious ones.

[SingleRiderCam]

Carlsbad, CA is a great place to live in.

 

Less than 5 minutes to Legoland CA

20 minutes to Sea World SD & Belmont Park

50 minutes to Disneyland/California Adventure

1 hour to Knott's Berry Farm

2 hours to Six Flags Magic Mountain (YOLOland)

5 hours to Las Vegas

 

If you wonder about Northern California, it usually takes 9 hours.

[firewalk13]

Cleveland was great when Geauga Lake, Sea World, or SFWOA in whichever iteration were still around. Waldameer's 90 minutes away as is Conneaut Lake Park, and Cedar Point. Geauga Lake was 40 minutes away.

[canobie#1]

I would say New England. Everything is close by, most states are actually clean and the parks are great.

Familys and thrill seekers love Six Flags New England (holds the #1 coaster on the planet), Canobie Lake Park with amazing flat collection and several great coasters. Lake compounce is okay, Boulder Dash is unbeliveable. Funtown splashtown, santa's village and story land are truly GEMES! And 4 hours from R.I is SFGAdv. Def. better than living in dumpy NJ and NY areas.

[ytterbiumanalyst]

Everyone seems to be voting for their hometowns, so yeah, the Ozarks is not a terrible place. There are quite a few parks within a day's driving distance (even if most of them are Six Flags parks)

 

Silver Dollar City - 30 minutes

Worlds of Fun - 3 hours

Six Flags St. Louis - 3 hours

Frontier City - 5 hours

Magic Springs - 5 hours

Adventureland - 8 hours

Six Flags Great America - 9 hours

Six Flags over Texas - 9 hours

 

And if you really wanted to push it, other cities are open. I personally have driven to San Antonio, Houston, Denver, and Minneapolis each in one day. It's a very long trip (about 14 hours or so), but pretty much everything between the Rockies and the Appalachians can be driven in that time period. Jut have a second driver, and it's not bad. A third and it can actually be pleasant.

[Musketeer]

I really like where I live! It's pretty good for me being a general theme park fan not so much just coasters.

 

SFMM is about 35 minutes away.

Universal is 35 minutes also in a different direction. Time may vary depending how LA drivers are feeling that day, lol.

Disneyland and Knott's are about an hour and 15 minutes to an hour and a half from me.

Legoland is about 2 hours and 15 minutes.

Seaworld San Diego is about 2 and a half to 3 hours away depending on traffic.

 

I like my home!

[gisco]

All though there is a lot to be said about living up in the Northeast with the number of parks around I still think Orlando or even Southern California are better because they are open year round.

[thrillseeker4552]

I really like my area. Knott's and Disneyland are an hour away (with good traffic you can get away with 50 minutes). SFMM is about 2 hours. USH is about 1 hour 45 min. Seaworld is about an 1 hour 15 min South. And CGA and SFDK are within a day drive.

 

EDIT: I would also like to add what was said above. All of these parks I listed are year round. Some are only open on weekends during the Winter, but they're open! I also forgot to add Legoland, which is about an hour away.

[xChris125x]

Here at school I am within 6 hours of:

 

Lakemont Park

Knoebles

Hersheypark

Kennywood

Idlewild

Cedar Point

Kings Dominion

Busch Gardens Williamsburg

Darien Lake

Six Flags America

Lake Compounce

Six Flags Great Adventure

Dorney Park

Six Flags New England

Canada's Wonderland

 

I think it's a really solid list of parks.

[CrymeLord]

Many coaster enthuesiest think that SoCal and Florida are the way to go. But are there even better places to be near better theme parks? I think that the Jersey Shore is beacuse of 1. LOTS of Piers 2. Near SFGAd, Hershey, Dorney Park, Knoebles, and Lake Compounce are all close by. 3. CONEY ISLAND! What other places around the world can you think of?

 

I feel fortunate to live in Southeastern Pennsylvania. Most of the major parks are grouped in eastern Midwest (Ohio and East) and the Northeast.

 

In a 3 hour radius I have:

Dorney Park

Six Flags Great Adventure

All coasters at the Jersey Shore

Hersheypark

Six Flags America

Coney Island and others in the Connecticut area

Knoebels

 

In a 5-6 hour radius (in addition to the above):

Busch Gardens Williamsburg

Kings Dominion

Six Flags New England

Kennywood

Darien Lake

 

8-9 hour radius:

Cedar Point

Kings Island

Waldameer

Carowinds

 

12-13 hours

Holiday World

Six Flags Over Georgia

Dollywood.

 

If given 12 hours, a lot of people could get to a lot of parks from many places on the east coast, but I've got over a dozen parks within 6 hours. And they aren't just run of the mill places. We're talking many of the best and the oldest coasters out there. If you added up sheer numbers of roller coasters, I have nearly 50 in a three hour radius.

[reissecup]

probably anywhere around like Pittsburgh or Orlando, but I live in a horrible spot (cumberland, Maryland) because the closest park is idlewild, and it's like an hour away, when I was in Hershey we stayed at days inn, and I liked being able to look out the window and see roller coasters, I also like having noise nearby during the day, the sound of screaming in terror when no one is actually in danger is just music to my ears!

[reissecup]

also my parents don't like driving 3 hours to go to an amusement park because I'm the only one who would ride all the big coasters, although at Hershey the only ones they didn't go on we're Fahrenheit and great bear

[gerstlaueringvar]

Pennsylvania Hands down.

[TheMaxster]

California.

Florida.

Missouri/Tennessee.

Pennsylvania/Ohio.

[ntag2ndturn]

North Carolina would be good to.

You have Carowinds, Kings Dominion, Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Dollywood, Over Georgia, and even like Great Adventure within 6 hours. (Ok, maybe more like 9 for Great Adventure)