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

[GnastyGnoric7]

South Central PA no question

 

10 minutes from Hershey Park

60 minutes from Knoebles and Dorney

2 hours to Six Flags America

2.5 hours to Six Flag Great Adventure

4 hours to Kennywood

6 hours from Cedar Point

[Schrecken]

I live about a half hour northwest of Baltimore right now, but I did live in Southern California for almost 5 years back in the late 90's and early 00's. IMO both were/are decent locations for coaster fans, but I still think that where I live now is the better of the two.

The main upsides of living in So Cal were all season park operations (SFMM was my home park and there were plenty of times in the "off season" that most all of the coasters were walk-ons) and almost guaranteed good weather year-round.

The downsides included traffic that could be utterly horrendous - I remember leaving DL one Sunday night when the park closed at 10, and not getting home until just after 1am! This because of mega traffic jams, as the actual distance I had to drive was only about an hour and a half away or less. Luckily I had the following Monday off of work! Getting to KBF was also a crapshoot - not far on a map but it could take far longer than it should have due to the ever present traffic jams. Even going around DC to get to KD is nothing compared to what I would often experience in So Cal.

 

The upsides of my present location are even more parks to choose from - two of my top 4 best coasters ever are less than 3 hours each way from me - El Toro and Skyrush. From Baltimore of course there are several parks that can be day-tripped, and even more that can be done with a 2 night trip. The downside is the weather/climate - parks are of course closed in winter, and even in the summer you can get rain and bad weather at any time. Then there's the humidity...that's one thing I didn't miss when I lived out west.

 

So overall I'm happy with living in this general area.

[cmullin]

Near Cincinnati could be pretty good too. You've got KI in your back yard, CP around 4 hours, just about 3 hours to Holiday World, Six Flags St. Louis is just under 6 hours, Dollywood is about 4 and a half, when SFKK opens, it's under 2 hours, Canada's Wonderland is a little over 7 hours if you want to push it, Kennywood is just over 4 hours, and Hersheypark is 7 hours again, if you want to push it. That's 9 major parks all within a good day's drive, that's pretty good.

[bkwjjm]

Ohio. O-H-I-O

[TroyWD98]

South Central PA no question

 

10 minutes from Hershey Park

60 minutes from Knoebles and Dorney

2 hours to Six Flags America

2.5 hours to Six Flag Great Adventure

4 hours to Kennywood

6 hours from Cedar Point

 

This is so ironic because I was thinking just yesterday that Southern Pennsylvania would be the best place for a coaster enthusiast to live... and then I see this thread... and then your post! Perfect haha

 

I live in SoCal which is pretty good for being a coaster enthusiast. I just really wish Knotts/SFMM would put in a good Hyper/Giga coaster because Goliath isn't that good in my opinion and that's the only one we have. I have been on Raging Bull, Millennium Force, Magnum, Thunder Dolphin and I'd take all of them over Goliath. The only hyper I thought was worse that I've been on is Desperado... Oh, Look! That's the second closest hyper to me! Oh well, you can't have everything. x)

[talfonso]

I would say:

 

Just outside LA, close to SFMM, Disneyland, USH and Knotts

 

Tampa, close to BGA, Disneyworld, USF

 

France, close to Eurodisney, but easy to travel to the UK, Spain, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands.

 

Second Tampa too! The suburbs and vicinity (I happen to live between Brandon and Plant City) are also great! (On a side note, you can easily reach Port Canaveral from there, especially if you are hankering a Disney cruise!)

 

And if you're rich enough (I'm soooo not exaggerating, folks), you can actually live in NJ! Great Adventure, a small park called Land of Make-Believe (my inner Mangione plays when I hear and read about it, I have to admit), its waterpark Pirate's Cove, and Mountain Creek, the successor to (Tr)action Park, are all there. Dorney Park is worth surviving Route 78 (We'd usually take Parkway south, then 78 west to there). Other places worth driving to include Coney Island, Rye Playland, and even Sesame Place.

[RideofSteel]

Suburbs of Philly, in New Jersey!

 

-Within 30 miles of Great Adventure

-About an hour and a half to boardwalk parks (and 45 minutes from nearest beach)

-About an hour and a half to Coney Island

-Less than an hour and a half to Dorney

-2 hrs to Hershey

-2.5 hrs to SFA

-3hrs to Knoebels

[coasterkid124]

I would say near the border of NY and PA. This way you're close to all of the PA and Ohio parks, Great Adventure, Darien Lake, Canada's Wonderland, and a few more.

[Hercules]

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

 

In an amusement park?

[gerstlaueringvar]

A little hole under Outlaw Run or the cave of Silver Dollar City lol

Seriously, I think it would be PA and Germany.

[DanM64]

Almost anywhere but Chicagoland- though the Goliath announcement does make it a bit better!! South Central PA and Central Florida would be my 2 top choices.

[JonnyRCT3]

Orlando

-Fun Spot

-Universal Studios

-Sea World

-Disney World

 

Los Angeles

-Knott's

-Magic Mountain

-Dinseyland

 

 

Northeast

-At least 10 good sized parks between Boston and D.C

[daniellazarus]

If you live in Texas, then the Temple area would be best. It is within 160 miles of Seaworld, both Texas Six Flags parks, and the Grand Texas park being built north of Houston. Each of the 4 parks would be an easy day trip from Temple.

[Jackdude101]

Let's see what my Magical Forbidden Roller Coaster Spreadsheet of Mystery™ says:

 

It looks like the global winner based on its average roller coaster score is Yamanashi, Japan where Fuji-Q Highland is located (please don't hurt me). In the USA the winner is Virginia, followed by Ohio and Missouri. If you need something more specific than just "Virginia," the best place for a roller coaster enthusiast to live in the USA is Quinton, Virginia east of Richmond right off of I-64, as it is the closest town to the halfway point between BGW and KD, each of which will only be about a half hour away.

 

Note: the subnational entities in the attachment are marked as "relevant" based on whether they have above average counts of all the roller coasters they have (seven) AND above average counts of their total number of high-scoring roller coasters (three). So, the subnational entites that you see on this list have at least seven total and of those at least three are high-scoring.