Trip to the U.S.A next year

[aussiekid]

Hey everyone! Would like to start off by saying I've been a long time reader (few years!) and I've finally decided to join this epic website so I can become an active member. I'm 17 and I live in Sydney, Australia. Hope to meet some fellow coaster fanatics!

 

I'm thinking of heading to the US next year, possibly around this time. I just wanted some questions answered to help me plan my trip. I've been the America once when I was probably about 9 or 10 and did Los Angeles and Hawaii with my family. This time i'll be heading over alone or maybe with a friend and want the full blown coaster experience!

 

I would like to do all the Cali parks- Disneys, Knotts, SFMM, Universal, probably give Sea World a miss. I will probably be in Cali for a week or so, then I wanted to head to Minneapolis to see a friend for probably a week and do Great America, Valleyfair, Cedar Point possibly. I also then would love to do all the Orlando parks- Disneys, Universal, Sea World, Busch.

 

This probably seems pretty straight forward to you guys but im not entirely sure how to go about this! I have my provisional license which means I have to wear P plates on my car and cant exceed 90km/h. Would it be easier to hire a car and drive from A to B then fly to C? I have no idea when it comes to location in the US I know LA is on one side of the country and Orlando is on the other side so I couldn't drive there! I know how to get to LA but then after there im not really sure what to do.

 

If anyone has any advice or tips they would be greatly appreciated im a bit nervous! Also would september be a good time to come, for parks being quiet? (cant stand hour long ques!)

 

Cheers everyone

[KCForce]

Welcome to TPR! September will be a decent time to come to do the parks in California and Florida, though some parks will have shorter operating days. As for Minneapolis, Valleyfair is open on the weekends (and some Friday nights, with limited hours), and Nickelodeon Universe is usually open daily at the Mall of America. Six Flags Great America and Cedar Point are also open only on weekends during this time too, so keep that in consideration. Also It's a fairly long haul between Valley Fair and Six Flags Great America (642 km and about 7 hours in good traffic) and then another 540 km and a little over six hours to Cedar Point in good traffic. Keep in mind travel times don't include any stops for breaks or refueling. Also Chicago area traffic and be a nightmare (and usually is).

 

Great America is a fairly large park with lots to do and Cedar Point is just a huge park. You could in theory do Six Flags in a day (though 2 days would be better if you can), you'll definately want to spend 2 or 3 days (Fri. Sat and Sun) at Cedar Point if you come in September.

 

That being said, if you don't like ques, you'll probably hate all the parks as most have their Halloween events during this time of the year, (starting mid-September) all are very popular and can see some of the largest crowds for the year. My advice? Pick a different time to come. Mid to late July to early August is a better time in my experience. Especially at Cedar Point. Go their last week of weekday operation and it is virtually a ghost town compared to other times of the year. It'll still be busy, but not like it is any other time of the year. It's usually the hottest time of the year (late summer here in the US). Keep in mind, most US Schools start back up in mid to late August, so crowds die down a bit. However, this leads to some parks having shorter operating hours, but with the lighter crowds, it's a good trade off. Also, many parks only operate 7 days a week until mid-August, then revert to weekend only operation, so CHECK the operating dates for the parks you want to visit online first. Some parks only operate Sunday through Wednesday their last week of 7 day a week operation. It varies greatly by park.

 

Hope this helps. And yes, I've been to all the parks several times (worked at Cedar Point for a season) and I travel pretty regularly, and I'm over 40 (lol), so I know (mostly) what I'm talking about. Good luck with your trip.

[jzoole]

It's an approximately 27 hour drive from Los Angeles to Minneapolis. You might find it easier to just fly. As KCForce already said, it's another 6 hours to Great America from there, and then 5-6 more to Cedar Point. From that point, it's 16 hours to Orlando. It seems to me that the easiest thing to do would be to rent a car in California and hit the West Coast parks, then fly to Minneapolis and rent another car to hit Valleyfair, Great America and Cedar Point. Then you could fly from Cleveland to Orlando and rent a third car to get to the Florida parks.

 

On another note, will you have someone older travelling with you? Generally, you have to be 21 to rent a car. There are a few agencies that will possibly rent a car to someone under 21, but these are very few and far between, and don't exist in some states (I don't think there are any in Florida). Also, if you can find them, they will charge you an enormously higher rate. This is something to consider and research before you make big plans.

 

Best of luck!

[aussiekid]

Thanks heaps for the info guys, KCForce that helped me a lot. How far in between are all the parks in Florida? I probably won't be traveling with anyone over 21 so I think I'm going to just have to fly from Cali to Minneapolis then another flight to Florida then probably just catch busses whilst in Florida. What would be a central location to stay in Florida? Would love to stay in Miami but I'm not sure if that's even anywhere near the parks.

[SharkTums]

^Sounds like you need to do a lot of research before you figure out if this trip is even possible for you.

 

Miami is 4 hours from the Florida parks.

 

There are not easy buses or public transportation to parks/airports/hotels in most of the USA.

 

This is especially true of the Cedar Point area.

[aussiekid]

Yeah true, I just wanted to come on her first to get the best info about the parks before I go see a travel agent, they will be able to help with locations and transportation but wouldn't have as many good tips about the themeparks. I hope it's possible I've wanted to do this trip since I got back from the US in 05! I will have a fair budget so money shouldn't be too much of an issue.

[azza29]

The other thing to be aware of if you plan on hiring a car is that car hire companies will charge a (very) hefty premium for drivers under 25. So try to find someone who's that age or older to come with you and convince them to do the driving

[singemfrc]

The last couple weeks in August that most parks are running 7 days is generally the best time all year for short queues. I went to SFMM on the last Wednesday of the season a couple years back and almost every coaster was a walk-on the entire day except X and Tatsu which I think only got up to 20 minutes at peak.

 

On the subject of SFMM it's actually about an hour north of Los Angeles so you might want to do it either first or last. If money isn't a huge concern you can always buy a Flash Pass at Six Flags parks and just skip the lines. Disney has a similar (but free) fast pass that you can use as well, so you might want to look into that and where there are parks that may not have line skipping options try to plan those on tuesday-wednesday-thursday and leave six flags and disney parks for the weekend where you can fast/flash pass past the lines if need be. (Some parks will have rides that fast/flash pass doesn't work on or that there's an extra fee to skip the line on such as X2 at SFMM)

[Mrlittle]

You could just do a TPR tour in America. You would hit a lot of parks and TPR would have it all set up for you. There fantastic trips, worth every penny. When they announce the tours in October, you probably will find one that has a lot of the parks you want to go to. Then from there you could extend the trip to the other parks on your own. I know of lot of people do that. I'm not sure why but I always assumed you had to be 25 years or older to rent a car.

 

As far as Orlando goes, I just got back from there. I went for a total of 4 days and hit Busch, SeaWorld , Universal and Islands of Adventure with ease. I think the longest we waited was when a coaster broke down. Add a few days and you could probably get most of WDW.

[singemfrc]

You could just do a TPR tour in America. You would hit a lot of parks and TPR would have it all set up for you. There fantastic trips, worth every penny. When they announce the tours in October, you probably will find one that has a lot of the parks you want to go to. Then from there you could extend the trip to the other parks on your own.

This is actually a fantastic idea..TPR would set up the transportation for you plus you're likely to get ERT in most parks so you wouldn't have to worry about long queues. I don't think TPR is likely to do WCB and ECB back to back, so best idea might be to pick the biggest TPR tour you can and then add on yourself before or after the tour.

[disneyfan1313]

I also echo the thoughts about doing a TPR trip if your dates are flexible. There might even be a California one next year!

 

- The concerns about the rental cars are valid - at your age you really are going to have to probably look at other options.

- For California you could fly into one of the LA airports, take a shuttle service to a hotel near Disneyland and then there are day tours that are offered by various companies to SFMM, Knotts, Sea World, etc. You are locked into a set time schedule with the bus (usually one departure and return a day) but it might be a good option.

- For Florida you could fly into Orlando and stay at a hotel that offers free transportation to WDW, Sea World and Universal - Probably in the international drive area.. DO NOT rely on public transportation in Orlando. It is *very* poor and will generally lead to disappointment and frustration. There is a tour bus that goes to Busch Gardens once a day from the Premium Outlet Mall area - I think its around $25 a person so that could be an option to get to Tampa. There are some bus companies or you could fly to get to Miami, but without a car it would be VERY challenging. Very poor public transportation and things are very spread out.

- The Middle America part is where it just might be impossible without a car. So many of these parks are far away from a major airport... a TPR trip really might be the best option!

[Werner]

Well first of welcome to the forums!

 

About you trip plans, they are very large is scale indeed! And like above i second to the 'take a TPR trip'. It's easy, gets you where you want and most important! A lot of FUN!

 

But it's only possible of your dates are flexible, West-coast will take you to all the 'big' California Parks, and there's going to be a Disney add-on. After that you could do another TPR trip: 'Texas-Midwest' that will take you towards SF Great America and Cedar Point. And a lot of other parks! After this you could do Minneapolis(I'm thinking about that myself too).

 

For the Orlando part, public transport is a fail there... As long as your on the WDW-resort your fine, but when getting of? That seems to be a different story... Don't know much about the timetables for the Orlando area, but i've haven't seen that many public transport around...

 

So my thoughts on things: Take the 2 possible TPR US tours, and fly to Minneapolis afterwards. Skip Orlando for now, and save it for when your over 21.

[gisco]

Probably the best reasons to do a TPR trip is Elissa takes care of all the planning and it is a lot more fun to visit the parks with friends than doing them alone.

[rcdude]

I'd like to echo what has been suggested and say that if you are too young to rent a car, doing a TPR trip is your best option. Assuming both 2013 US trips happen, you'd be able to visit the parks of California, Texas, and Missouri, along with Six Flags Great America and Cedar Point. You'll get all kinds of perks you wouldn't have otherwise, and the only effort required is making sure to be on time for bus departures. If your schedule is flexible and your finances permit, sign up for both of the 2013 US tours, then stop by Minneapolis on the way home. If not, try to do one of the two (West Coast if you prefer themed attractions, Texas/Midwest if you primarily care about thrill rides). Finally, save Florida for a future visit.

Edited September 26, 2012 by rcdude

[Yamez]

I'd like to echo what has been suggested and say that if you are too young to rent a car, doing a TPR trip is your best option. Assuming both 2013 US trips happen, you'd be able to visit the parks of California, Texas, and Missouri, along with Six Flags Great America and Cedar Point. You'll get all kinds of perks you wouldn't have otherwise, and the only effort required is making sure to be on time for bus departures. If your schedule is flexible and your finances permit, sign up for both of the 2013 US tours, then stop by Minneapolis on the way home. If not, try to do one of the two, or just pick one destination (either California or Florida) and find somewhere that has shuttles to the parks. Finally, if you do a TPR trip, save Florida for a future visit.

 

 

This seems like the best option in my opinion. Especially for Cedar Point, as others have mentioned, its a huge pain to get to and from the park unless you live in the area.

[beatle11]

I also would recommend a TPR Trip. The California trip planned for next year seems right up your alley, and if you can combo it with the Texas/Midwest Trip, you'll end up at Cedar Point as well.

 

If those aren't really an option for you and your shooting for this time of year, the Orlando parks may be an option for you. Disney World has it's own transport system and I believe there are shuttle services you may be able to use to get to Universal and Sea World. I also believe there is a shuttle to Busch Tampa from Sea World. Keep in mind though, this time of year is Hurricane Season in the Atlantic so problems are not out of the question.

[aussiekid]

Thanks for all the feedback guys! I would love to do a TPR trip I was actually thinking about that a while ago, but timing is a bit of an issue. When abouts would the trips be or is it not really known untill they are announced? Would probably have to head over around late August and stay till late September or late June to late July.. These are holiday periods for the course I'm doing next year and its important I dont miss out on too much.

[disneyfan1313]

The trip survey is going on right now at www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=63517 and that has the rough idea of when the trips are going to be. More info will be available a little while after the survey closes and once Elissa and Robb get a chance to make decisions about which trips will work best. If you can do late June to late July the California trip might be perfect.

[andybarnes84]

I'll just reiterate what everyone is saying and suggest a TPR tour but if timing really is an issue I'd recommend just visiting California and Florida, they are both quite doable without a hire car, although in L.A. you'll have to make use of organised tours to get to some parks.

[ambe_bambe]

No company will hire you a vehicle under the age of 21, there is an exception for New York and Michigan but its not worth it, you pay triple the price.

[texcoaster]

Not to mention the hefty "one way fee" for dropping off the car in a different state than you picked it up in... IF you can even rent a car at all.

 

By the time you paid for the car, the fuel, the under-25 fee, and the one-way fee, it would probably be cheaper to fly.

 

ALSO: if you want to do an epic coaster trip through the US, the parks you mention aren't the ones I'd head to (except for Cedar Point). I'd skip California completely (sorry, SFMM and Disney fanboys) and also skip Orlando. YES, the parks themselves can be amazing, but for the better coastering experience, I'd go with the midwest (CP, Holiday World, etc) and head east (SFGAd, KD, Hershey, BGW, etc).

 

Coming to the US for coasters and doing California and Orlando is sorta like heading to the UK for coasters and doing Lightwater Valley and Thorpe, but skipping Blackpool and Alton Towers.

 

[edit] I'll add another vote for "do a TPR trip" - You'll likely get to do a LOT more coasters, have perks like ERT, have folks to ride with/talk to, won't have to worry about transportation or lodging, AND the whole trip will probably cost you 1/3 as much.

[azza29]

Coming to the US for coasters and doing California and Orlando is sorta like heading to the UK for coasters and doing Lightwater Valley and Thorpe, but skipping Blackpool and Alton Towers.

 

Fair point, but given that almost all flights to/from Australia land in LAX it's easy enough to fit Knotts, SFMM etc in on any trip. The only real question is whether you're up for a full day of coasters after your 15 hour flight arrives at 8am. (I say yes!)

 

And Disneyland is something everyone should get to do at least once.

[therooboy]

When i have visited the states form Oz, i tend to do it via LA & visit Magic Mountain & the 2 Disneys.

Knotts isn't a must do if your doing several other parks on your trip, although Xcellerator is great.

If your definitely doing Universal Orlando, i'd only go to Universal Hollywood if the Backlot Tour really interests you.

[Gav]

^And Universal Hollywood is worth it for Transformers too

 

Personally, I've done several trips to the US, starting when I was 18, without ever renting a car. I'm still not 25 myself, so the cost has been prohibitive to rent a car, forcing me to be a bit more resourceful. For me navigating around is all part of the travel experience, and a really good skill to have.

 

All Orlando parks and LA parks can be done without a car, but what it requires is good pre planning, this means printing PDFs of the bus routes, comparing/co-ordinating between the timetables, and just typing up and printing a few notes of what you need do for each journey (I also typed up a backup set of directions in case i missed a bus). Checking out the places you'll be getting on and off buses on streetview is helpful too.

Sometime, you might have to walk some distance (5km or so) or just take a short taxi ride.

 

In Orlando, a lot of the Brit tourists seem to use the public ''Lynx" buses, so it's not actually to uncommon.

 

 

LA

So for LA If you want to avoid the limitations of tour buses to parks, you can adopt a strategy of just shifting hotels.

 

In LA, you could first find a place to stay in Anaheim, and do Disney and get to knotts by Taxi, which is an 11km trip (Split it and you'll be fine)

The buses in the area seem to be a nice neat grid layout: http://www.octa.net/bus-system-map.aspx

So you could just catch one across from Disney, then up to Knotts. (Or up, then across)

 

Then for the rest of your time, shift to a Hotel near Universal (And you can see Hollywood etc too)

The shift between the two would require taking a Metrolink Train, or an Amtrak Pacific Surfliner Train from Anaheim Station, to LA Union station, and then from LA Union taking the Metro Red Line Subway to Universal City (Which is right at Universal Studios)

 

Getting to SFMM can be done from here as well. Take the Red Line subway one stop north, to the terminus at North Hollywood Station.

From there, you can use the $2.50 NoHo Express bus to get from North Hollywood to Santa Clarita. 45 min trip up the freeway.

See http://www.santaclaritatransit.com/routes-schedules/commuter-express/noho-express/

(Timetable: http://www.santaclaritatransit.com/files/2012/08/Route-757-Aug-2012.pdf )

 

This bus dumps you at this bus interchange in Santa Clarita called the "McBean Regional Transit Center" http://goo.gl/maps/bZz4t

From there its a nice 5km walk to the park (Done it a few times myself)

If you don't want to walk, you could call a cab.

There are buses from the interchange to the park too (Route 3 and Route 7), but combined they only seem to run every 45 minutes.

See http://www.santaclaritatransit.com/files/2012/08/Route-3-7-Aug-2012.pdf

 

Using the NoHo bus option + whatever in Santa Clarita, you should be able to stay at the park till 7pm or so. With a flashpass, you'll get it all done in a day.

 

Orlando

-For Busch Gardens Tampa, your ticket includes free transport on the Shuttle. You do need to book though

http://seaworldparks.com/en/buschgardens-tampa/Park-Info/Know-Before-You-Go

 

The shuttle leaves from a bunch of places around Orlando, including the bus stops at Universal: http://goo.gl/maps/CjtRv

Confirm the exact departure location when booking!

 

Orlando, I've tended to adopt a strategy of staying somewhere near the top of International Drive,

http://goo.gl/maps/CiN9l

so I could walk across the freeway bridge to Universal and Wet n Wild, with a short bus trip to Sea World and Aquatica.

 

You can get up and down International Drive using the I Ride Trolley, it does suck though because it seems like it has a billion stops.

http://www.iridetrolley.com/maps.asp Goes to SW and Aquatica Though.

 

For getting to Disney, a couple of options.

 

1) Shift hotels after you've done Universal, and stay on property at Disney. Since you're splitting costs amongst friends, I'd highly recommend this. Disney has great buses linking all the parks, and the resorts.

 

2) Use the city buses to and from Disney. I've done this every time, and it's somewhat bearable.

http://www.golynx.com/plan-trip/maps-schedules.stml

 

The key buses you'll use are:

-Link #8. Runs up and down International Drive, right to SeaWorld. This is actually better than the I-Ride trolley IMO, Weekdays it runs every 15 mins, from 5am till after midnight. But Weekends it only runs half hourly in the middle of the day and finishes around 10pm Sat and 7pm Sun.

 

-Link #50

-This starts in Downtown Orlando, goes via SeaWorld, via Downtown Disney Superstop, then finishes up at the Disney Ticket & Transport center, where you can get the Monorail to Epcot and Magic Kingdom, and buses to the Studios and Animal Kingdom.

It simply runs 5am-Midnight, 7 days a week, half hourly.

 

So to get to Disney, you take #8 to Sea World, then change and take #50 to Disney.

 

 

PS, for getting to and from the Airport, the Lynx Bus in that case was pretty poor, since it made too many stops and seemed indirect. Just take a damn taxi to and from the airport!

 

Cedar Point and the Rest

Haven't attempted this, or any of the Northeast, because it would be too hard without a car IMO, the parks aren't in nice clusters like Orlando and LA.

 

As a young enthusiast not old enough to rent a car, the LA and Orlando parks are a really good start, and will give you a wide variety of coasters. In the interim, till you are 25, why not consider parks in the UK, Europe, Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan? These countries are geared to getting around without a car, so you can do a lot until you are 25. And of course, jumping on a TPR tour is an option depending on when the tour is.

 

C

Coming to the US for coasters and doing California and Orlando is sorta like heading to the UK for coasters and doing Lightwater Valley and Thorpe, but skipping Blackpool and Alton Towers.

I dunno.

For a lot of Aussie enthusiasts, the LA parks are the first ones basically everyone ends up seeing on their first US trip, simply because LA is the closest place to fly into (San Fran being the next best option). A matter of convenience, if anything....If you're going to be arriving in the city, might as well see the parks!

Doing Orlando + LA, I think the main things you miss out on are big airtime coasters, and good woodies (Though Apocalypse at SFMM is decent). There is a hilarious phenomena that exists as a result, where Australians tend to rate Ghostrider highly because its the first big woodie everyone rides, and it's just so hillariously rough and insane that people love it and have little to compare too.

 

Though for the overall "Theme park" experience (Not just coasters) I think Orlando and LA is pretty satisfying.

 

But otherwhise, I think SFMM is a great "big" park to kick off a US trip on because it gives you a chance to try an example of almost every major type of coaster you've seen or read about, (or built in Roller Coaster Tycoon )

And Disneyland/DCA are great parks too. Knotts is OK, but still is worth doing.

[therooboy]

^And Universal Hollywood is worth it for Transformers too

 

Oh how could i forget Transformers [havent been since that opened].

 

For my first US trip i visited parks around LA & Orlando as well as Cedar Point & Six Flags Great Adventure

Staying in LA, NYC,Florida & Ohio.

I got a pretty decent selection of coasters, though not too many woodies, you do [now] get 2 very good ones in El Toro & Apocalypse.

I found there was public/hotel transport to all the parks, though Magic Mountain proved slightly harder to find.