SF Great America or SF New England

[simon8899]

For my next US trip I've this basic idea:

 

Cedar Point -> Kennywood -> Hersheypark -> Knoebels -> SF Great Adventure -> New York (Luna Park)

 

Now to my question: Which other park/location would you choose to visit?

 

- Chicago with SF Great America before Cedar Point

- SF New England before NYC

 

My preferences are Schwarzkopf rides/ocasters and Intamin coasters but so far I'm not quite sure which too choose. Any hints appreciated.

Edited March 11, 2014 by simon8899

[azza29]

Personally I'd detour to Kings Island between CP and Kennywood, but if those are your options I'd pick SFNE, mainly for Bizarro. It's also possible to fit Lake Compounce and Quassy in on the same day as well, well worth it for Boulder Dash and Wooden Warrior.

 

But I'd suggest going Knoebels > SFNE > New York > SFGAdv to save some driving time.

[tge98]

Yeah I would try to get Gadv in its only 50 miles from Luna closer than SFNE. But if you do end up with SFNE. I strongly suggest Lake compunce and Quassy. You probably only need about 2 hours at quassy as it is very small and the rest of the day at LC

[simon8899]

Thanks for the replies but I'd like to do NYC at the end as I want to return my car on my first NYC day - as a rental car is quite useless while staying in NYC.

[azza29]

^I'd still recommend going Knoebels > SFNE > SFGAdv > New York rather than SFNE last, to avoid backtracking.

[Werner]

Just a quick question, for how long are you going? Maybe it would be able to fit in both SF parks. Since many Airlines to trough one of the 'hubs' and Chicago is one of them. Maybe this would cost you one or two days extra, but it's proberly worth it. Since you said your Into old school Anton, and SFGAm has Whizzer...

 

If you have any more questions on how i would do it just sent me a PM

[simon8899]

This is what I have come up so far - now planned for 2015:

 

> May

16 Sa - Flight Hamburg-London-NYC, Flight NYC-Chicago, get rental car

17 So - Chicago

18 Mo - SF Great America

19 Di - Chacogo-Sandursky (Hotel Breakers)

20 Mi - Cedar Point

21 Do - Cedar Point

22 Fr - Sandursky-Erie, Waldameer (if open)

---> Memorial Day Weekend Begin <---

23 Sa - Erie-Pittburgh, Waldemeer (if Fri not open, otherwise check for weather)

or Kennywood, Pittsburgh-Harrisburg/Hershey

24 So - Knoebels (67 km)

25 Mo - Dorney's (100 km)

---> Memorial Day Weekend End <---

26 Di - Hersheypark

27 Mi - Hersheypark

28 Do - Harrisburg/Hershey, Doswell (Best Western Kings Quaters)

29 Fr - Kings Dominion (next door)

30 Sa - Six Flags America (133 km)

31 So - Busch Williamsburg (97 km)

> June

01 Mo - Doswell, Philadelpia-New Jersey Coast

02 Di - SF Great Adventure

03 Mi - Coast Parks/Piers

04 Do - NJ-Bowcraft-NYC, drop rental car

05 Fr - NYC

06 Sa - NYC, Coney Island

07 So - NYC

08 Mo - NYC

09 Di - Flight NYC-London-Hamburg

 

Hotels - if any preferences so far I have noted. If anyone has hotel recommends - very welcome. For Chicago it would be ideal to have a hotel close to a highway but also close to the cities subway system. Overall I would prefer *** to **** hotels that are located with easy highway access to reach the parks, preferably with gym and free parking.

 

Any other recommends also welcome...

[SharkTums]

I would do SFA on the way from Hershey to Kings Dominion. That area has HORRIBLE traffic and even if you're doing a base camp in Doswell and going to SFA, Busch, and KD it just would suck doing that drive more than you have to.

 

Also for parking, none of the hotels you'll stay at would charge for parking aside from NYC.

[simon8899]

I am thinking of putting the trip into another order after Waldameer:

 

22 Fr - Sandusky-Erie (265km / 3h), Waldameer

---> Memorial Day Weekend Begin <---

23 Sa - Erie-Conneaut Lake Park (73km / 1h) (2-3h)

-Pittburgh (146km / 2h)

24 So - Kennywood

25 Mo - Pittsburgh-Idlewild (92km / 1,5h) (3-4h)-Doswell (420km / 5h)

(Best Western Kings Quaters)

---> Memorial Day Weekend End <---

26 Di - Kings Dominion

27 Mi - Busch Williamsburg (112km / 1,5h)

28 Do - Doswell-Six Flags America (156km / 2h) (5h)

-Philadelphia (214km / 3h)

29 Fr - SF Great Adventure (95km / 1,5h)

30 Sa - NJ Coast Parks, Morey's Piers (132km / 2h)

31 So - Philadelphia-Dorney's (84km / 1,5h) (4-5h)

-Harrisburg/Hershey (120km / 1,5h), Hersheypark preview (17:30-20:00)

> June

01 Mo - Herhseypark

02 Di - Hersheypark

03 Mi - Knoebels (102km / 1,5h)

04 Do - Harrisburg/Hershey-Bowcraft (224km / 2,5h) (1-2h)

-NYC (70km / 2h), drop rental car

05 Fr - NYC

06 Sa - NYC, Coney Island

07 So - NYC

08 Mo - NYC

09 Di - Flight NYC-London-Hamburg

 

Also thinking about adding 3 more days for SFNE, Quassy and Lake Compounce - but then will reach 4 weeks fast that way. Four days in NYC are fixed as I plan to stay there with a friend.

[flotus]

21 Do - Cedar Point

22 Fr - Sandursky-Erie, Waldameer (if open)

---> Memorial Day Weekend Begin <---

23 Sa - Erie-Pittburgh, Waldemeer (if Fri not open, otherwise check for weather)

or Kennywood, Pittsburgh-Harrisburg/Hershey

Any other recommends also welcome...

Waldameer is a very small park and I'm not sure if it's really worth it making a detour for it.

But if you go there, you might consider going to Niagra Falls as well, which is closer to Waldameer than Cedar Point.

Here's what I did in 2013:

After Cedar Point, Day x+1:

Drive from CP hotel to Waldameer: ~ 3h

Waldameer: 1-2h

Drive to Niagra Falls: ~ 2,5h

Niagra Falls: 3h (did everything you can do there, and it's really worth it)

Drive to Toronto: ~2h

Sounds like a lot of driving and while it is, the stops at Waldameer and Niagra make it very doable.

Day x+2: Canadas Wonderland

Day x+3: Toronto (was not really worth it) and drive back to Buffalo via Niagra Parkway (Whirlpool an Falls from Canadian side).

I did Darien Lake on the next day as well.

If I'd do it again, I'd skip Toronto and use the time for Darien Lake instead (3-4h for Darien is enough). And you can shorten the trip on day x+1 a bit if you drive 1 or 2 hours from Cedar Point towards Waldameer the day before.

[King of Ka]

Looking at your most recent itinerary, my instinct is to replace the last Hershey / Harrisburg day with a day trip to hit Quassy and Compounce. Doing both in one day shouldn't be a major problem if you get a hotel near Knoebels or en route, and I think you'd regret missing out on Boulder Dash if you didn't. Of course, I'm sure some people would say the same about Bizarro, but as you said adding SFNE adds at least another day to the trip, if not more. It depends mostly on whether you've ever ridden them and how much you value riding top coasters, I suppose. Based off my experiences though they could potentially be the best rides of the trip.

 

And personally I would dissuade you from visiting Niagara because, as spectacular as the falls are, the city is — and this is just my opinion — a horrible tourist trap garbage hole.

 

Either way, I hope this trip works out for you, it sounds like a heck of a tour to me!