vrf19977 Posted October 5, 2010 Share Posted October 5, 2010 Which park would you recommend for families who are looking for a day of family rides (NOT kiddie rides), not just a park full of hyper-coasters? Which park has more/better flat rides and family-friendly coasters? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SharkTums Posted October 5, 2010 Share Posted October 5, 2010 (edited) Are you talking about during this time of year or for next summer? Also, when you say 'family rides' what does that mean to you? How tall are the kids? And what sorts of things do they like? Edited October 5, 2010 by SharkTums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larrygator Posted October 5, 2010 Share Posted October 5, 2010 (edited) SFGAdv is extremely deficient in the area of flat rides for families. SFGAdv gets the edge in family friendly coasters, but that doesn't overcome the fact they have few other rides for families. Based on your criteria Dorney is the better choice. Edited October 5, 2010 by larrygator Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deguy123 Posted October 5, 2010 Share Posted October 5, 2010 Well since your from Delaware (like me) I'd actually say skip both and head to Hershey if you want a great family park trip. They have IMO a really good balance for families. If I had to choose between Dorney or Great Adventure....Id say Dorney since your basing it on a family friendly trip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chadster Posted October 5, 2010 Share Posted October 5, 2010 I am partial to Dorney, SFGAdv IMO is geared more to the 14+ age group and and mediocre flat selection. I actually like Dorney Park better than many of Cedar Fair's other properties, it's small enough, but large enough, has a very good coaster selection and plenty of new and old school family attractions. You could easily spend the better part of a day there. My pics of the park from earlier this year are here. While they focus more on the coasters, you can get a good idea for the feel of the park. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vrf19977 Posted October 5, 2010 Author Share Posted October 5, 2010 Are you talking about during this time of year or for next summer? Also, when you say 'family rides' what does that mean to you? How tall are the kids? And what sorts of things do they like? Sorry for not being more specific We're planning to go this coming weekend (Hershey isn't a contender cause they aren't open this weekend). By family rides, I mean things like the Tilt-a-whirl, carousel, train rides, himalaya, bumper cars, and small coasters (think Hershey's "Trailblazer"). My son is well past the 48" limit for most rides, so he can ride anything, but he isn't quite at the big steel coaster level of courage lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chadster Posted October 5, 2010 Share Posted October 5, 2010 ^ Then Dorney is the best choice, they have pretty much everything you just mentioned and tons more! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vrf19977 Posted October 5, 2010 Author Share Posted October 5, 2010 SFGAdv is extremely deficient in the area of flat rides for families. SFGAdv gets the edge in family friendly coasters, but that doesn't overcome the fact they have few other rides for families. Based on your criteria Dorney is the better choice. That's what I was suspecting. SFGA seems to have more family coasters, but Dorney has more family rides overall. Do you prefer either place based on other factors, like atmosphere, friendliness of staff? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vrf19977 Posted October 5, 2010 Author Share Posted October 5, 2010 Thanks for all the input! I have some serious thinking to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vrf19977 Posted October 5, 2010 Author Share Posted October 5, 2010 I'm liking Six Flags less and less. I just went to check their online ticket prices again and they jumped up $10.00 from yesterday. No, thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saxman47 Posted October 5, 2010 Share Posted October 5, 2010 I'm admittedly a Gadv fanboy, but Dorney Park is a more well-rounded experience and I think your family will have more to do there. Besides giant coasters Great Adventure doesn't offer much else, unfortunately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chadster Posted October 5, 2010 Share Posted October 5, 2010 ^^ I looked up their prices as I was curious what they are charging, I got a price of 44.95 plus their 5.00 processing fee, so 50 bucks a piece, sure beats the gate price. If you joined C-TPR you could take $$ off each ticket. I just logged in and looked at the price and it comes out to be 25.00 per ticket, however, I'd stick with Dorney given your criteria, (then you'd have money to join C-TPR and enjoy all it's benefits and discounts until this time next year!) At 28.00 a ticket online, that's a real bargain. Hydra and Talon may not be to the kids liking, but the other coasters should be fine. In all reality, Hydra is pretty tame for a B&M. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SharkTums Posted October 5, 2010 Share Posted October 5, 2010 Seems like Dorney will be the best bet for you guys then. Just keep in mind that the parks can start getting busy with all of the Halloween events. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vrf19977 Posted October 5, 2010 Author Share Posted October 5, 2010 Yeah, it was a toss-up a few days ago, with SF being 34.99 and 15.00 parking, and Dorney being 28.00 with 12.00 parking, but now that SF just went up to 44.99...forget it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YoshiFan Posted October 5, 2010 Share Posted October 5, 2010 Great Adventure hardly has any family rides, for non coaster and non kiddie rides this time of year there is: Tea Cups, Houdini, Carousel, Top Spin, Jolly Roger (smaller music express type ride), swinging ship, round up, parachutes and the sky ride. The sky ride and parachutes are very dependent on good weather to run so that doesn't leave much. Dorney has rides for everyone, but some of the tamer rides close at 5:00 during Haunt, like Thunderhawk and possibly Cedar Creek Cannonball. Plus during October, Dorney's ride lines will be much shorter than at Great Adventure. Great Adventure does have better family friendly coasters and more of them but other than that I think Dorney would be a better choice for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vrf19977 Posted October 5, 2010 Author Share Posted October 5, 2010 Great Adventure hardly has any family rides, for non coaster and non kiddie rides this time of year there is: Tea Cups, Houdini, Carousel, Top Spin, Jolly Roger (smaller music express type ride), swinging ship, round up, parachutes and the sky ride. The sky ride and parachutes are very dependent on good weather to run so that doesn't leave much. Dorney has rides for everyone, but some of the tamer rides close at 5:00 during Haunt, like Thunderhawk and possibly Cedar Creek Cannonball. Plus during October, Dorney's ride lines will be much shorter than at Great Adventure. Great Adventure does have better family friendly coasters and more of them but other than that I think Dorney would be a better choice for you. Thanks! I've been reading reviews of Dorney today, and I've seen a lot of comments about items being stolen from guests, as well as reports of roving bands of rude inner-city people. I've also heard that the difference between weekday (terrible time to go) and weekend (great time to go) is like night and day. Any Dorney fans care to confirm or deny any of these? I'm not particularly worried about thieves (I never bring bags in, everything stays in my pockets) or wild inner-city youths, but I am curious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shivtim Posted October 5, 2010 Share Posted October 5, 2010 I was at both parks last Saturday (SFGAdv in the morning/early afternoon and Dorney in the late afternoon/evening). Crowds were light at both. The longest line of the day was 20 minutes for Dorney's Wild Mouse. I didn't see any "roving bands" of rude guests, although there was a Glenn Beck rally at SFGAdv, which brought some interesting customers to the park. The employees at Dorney also seemed more professional and friendly than at SFGAdv. I'm sure you'll have a great time! Keep in mind that if you exit Dorney after 6PM, you cannot re-enter. So if you need to go and get a jacket from the car, do it at 5:30. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YoshiFan Posted October 5, 2010 Share Posted October 5, 2010 Thanks! I've been reading reviews of Dorney today, and I've seen a lot of comments about items being stolen from guests, as well as reports of roving bands of rude inner-city people. I've also heard that the difference between weekday (terrible time to go) and weekend (great time to go) is like night and day. Any Dorney fans care to confirm or deny any of these? I'm not particularly worried about thieves (I never bring bags in, everything stays in my pockets) or wild inner-city youths, but I am curious. That really only applies to the summer and is true. It is best to avoid summer weekends at Dorney if at all possible and the crowds during the week in the summer are very different than the weekend crowds. It isn't an issue during the spring and fall though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larrygator Posted October 5, 2010 Share Posted October 5, 2010 During Fright Fest, I avoid SFGAdv like the plague. It is a nightmare of people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tatertot3710 Posted October 5, 2010 Share Posted October 5, 2010 Thanks! I've been reading reviews of Dorney today, and I've seen a lot of comments about items being stolen from guests, as well as reports of roving bands of rude inner-city people. I've also heard that the difference between weekday (terrible time to go) and weekend (great time to go) is like night and day. Any Dorney fans care to confirm or deny any of these? I'm not particularly worried about thieves (I never bring bags in, everything stays in my pockets) or wild inner-city youths, but I am curious. I've never had anything stolen from me at Dorney, but people I know have had things stolen, but that was when things were left on chairs in the waterpark. I did notice some rude people on Saturday, but that mainly only applies during the summer. Security is very tight at the park during Haunt. They metal detect you and there's usually a security guard on a bike within sight. Try to go on a Sunday, as the past two Sundays were empty. The wooden coaster, both of the kiddie sections, one of the two train rides, and the two water rides that are still open all close at 5. There's also kids Halloween activities that go on around the park during the day. Hope this helped! Have fun! More info: http://booblast.dorneypark.com/ http://haunt.dorneypark.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Movieguy Posted October 5, 2010 Share Posted October 5, 2010 I've never visited either park yet, but I visited a large park in Hershey this summer, and found myself rushing around to get from spot to spot in such a big space. That's especially tough when you have other people with you. I think next summer I'm gonna go to smaller park, and Dorney has definitely moved to the top of my list after reading some of this. So, I would recommend Dorney as well, seeing as how this is a family trip that's being planned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chadster Posted October 6, 2010 Share Posted October 6, 2010 ^ Don't tell anyone, but I think I like Dorney as good as or maybe even slighlty better than Cedar Point. The three time's I've been the staff has been friendly, rides have been up and running and in excellent working order and clean. The layout may seem a little odd to some, and is just the right size. Once you get used to it and familiar with all the short cuts it's rather enjoyable. Their overall ride selection is rather diverse and, well, rather complete IMO, something for everyone and several of those somethings for everyone. Add on their enhancements for next season and woa, got a contender on their hands. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Movieguy Posted October 6, 2010 Share Posted October 6, 2010 How many trees are in Dorney? My least favorite part of Cedar Point are those sections with no trees, or no places to sit in the shade, and you're just baking out in the sun on hot days. This is why I've really enjoyed parks like Knoebels, Hersheypark, BGW, and Kennywood, which incorporate natural beauty with their overall look very well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chadster Posted October 6, 2010 Share Posted October 6, 2010 not many trees, sadly, but they have several buildings and shady areas to chill out around and in. I think the center of the park around the S&S towers has a kids play area that was shady, and was shady around their woodie as well, but overall, not too many trees. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BarryH Posted October 6, 2010 Share Posted October 6, 2010 Out of the two parks, I'd choose Dorney for family-friendly stuff. I really don't like Dorney, but it's the best for your criteria out of the two. Something you may want to ponder on your next outing for family-friendly stuff...you can head a few hours west of Dorney and go to Knoebel's. There's plenty of family-friendly rides there. Plus, parking is free and ride tickets are fairly cheap. The food is great too -- you can't say that about Dorney or SFGAdv! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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