NYC amusement parks tips?

[Brent York]

If I get a hotel somewhere in New Jersey near NYC, or possibly one in Staten Island (flying into Newark the night before), starting Saturday morning, how likely am I to be able t do all the NYC area parks in one day? That is these parks, and I was planning in this order:

Victorian Gardens, Fantasy Forest, Adventureland, Boomers, Kids N Action, Luna Park, Adventurers, Bowcraft, Land of Make Believe, Party Zone? At these particular parks, I'm only interested in coaster credits. I'll be heading up towards Great Escape afterwards (Hoffman's Playland/Magic Forest/TGE on Sunday). If there's no way it's possible, I might be able to save at least LOMB and Party Zone for the next morning, and TGE, etc that afternoon. Though that would mean 4 parks, around ~3:30 or so hours of driving, and TGE closes at 6.

 

I'm trying to decide if Victorian Gardens is worth it. I've read don't even try to drive to Manhattan, because it takes too long, and it's hard to find parking. How safe is the subway to ride from NJ to Manhattan, assuming I'll only be riding during the day? After riding the coaster, I would probably take it back to NJ and drive to the other NYC parks. The only time I've been in NYC (before Luna Park), we just drove straight to Coney Island from NJ and then to Playland, and didn't hit any other NYC parks.

 

Is the Fantasy Forest area bad as far as driving and parking? And how safe is this area? Reading train reviews on yelp, even the locals say don't go to Queens.

[SharkTums]

This sounds like a MISERABLE idea. No offense, but with NYC area traffic, limited opening times, and a bunch of kiddie coasters...ugh!

 

You'd have to split it in two days.

[Brent York]

The more I slept on it, the more I was thinking the same thing. I don't have two days to spend there though. But after learning today that Luna Park will be adding Thunderbolt next year, I'll be wanting to return there before long anyway. So what if I cut out Luna, Bowcraft, and LoMB?

 

When we we went to Coney Island in 2008, traffic wasn't too bad, but it may have been a Saturday (which it will be for the upcoming trip too), and we didn't get in or near Manhattan. I think we just came from NJ, via Staten Island, to Coney Island, then left up through Jamaica, the Bronx, etc. to Rye Playland.

Is the bad traffic mainly in Manhattan (at least on a Saturday)? What about the rest of Long Island?

[Batman: The Ride]

There is the Legoland Discovery center in Yonkers.

[XYZ]

Why not go to Great Adventure instead of all these tiny parks that would take a ton of time to drive to?

 

Is the bad traffic mainly in Manhattan (at least on a Saturday)? What about the rest of Long Island?

 

Western Long Island can have terrible traffic. It took me 2 1/2 hours to drive from Manhattan to JFK Airport. I have never been to Eastern Long Island, so I can't talk about the traffic there.

[larrygator]

So it appears you are now looking at the following: Victorian Gardens, Fantasy Forest, Adventureland, Boomers, Kids N Action, Adventurers, Party Zone.

 

You seriously need to check the park hours for each place,, then put each of the addresses into Google Maps (or any map planning software). Assuming you only drive, plan to spend an hour at Victorian Gardens (walking to and from car to park) and plan for 45 at Fantasy Forest (again walking to and from car) for every other place assume it will be 30 minutes to get to and from car and on to coaster.

 

Then type your itinerary and times in a post and us locals can tell you how realistic it is. It is not unsafe to park in Flushing Queens nor is it unsafe to take the subway in New York during daytime if you use common sense. Parking by Central Park in Manhattan is hard to find on Saturdays over the summer, but could take to 30 minutes to find a meter.