Coming from Norway to tour some great roller coaster parks

[enurweb]

Hi everyone!

 

I really hope some of you could help me with some information I've been trying to look up over the internet.

 

I'm travelling from Norway to visit a lot of amusement parks, including Six Flags Great Adventure and Cedar Point. I will probably be in the US from mid-June until beginning of July.

 

I have been to SFGA before once and would love to come back there again. Also been to Orlando and Tampa and done most of the parks down there.

 

Last but not least last year I was at Six Flags Magic Mountain which I by the way think afterwards was kind of hyped. For me it was a little dissapointing as I felt SFGA was a better park.

 

Now, if you guys had have to prioritize which parks to visit from my attached possible travelling route, Which parks would you guys recommend stopping by?

 

It's perfectly fine to recommend some parks not on my list yet if I've missed anything. In fact I would appreciate it!

 

The route as it is right now may be changed as there are a lot of states in the middle of the driving route I'm really curious about.

 

 

My list for now (which has to be shortened some):

- Kings Dominion

- Six Flags Great Adventure

- Cedar Point

- Kings Island

- Six Flags Great America

- Six Flags St. Louis

- Silver Dollar City

- Six Flags over Texas

- Six Flags Fiesta Texas

- Schlitterbahn (suppose to be a great waterpark??)

 

 

And you guys, thanks in advance for helping out! Any other tips and advice will be greatly appreciated! Also regaring sights along the route or if you feel I should change my route.

 

Possible travel route

Edited October 13, 2013 by enurweb

[Tanks4me05]

Even though you've been to the US before, I don't quite think you realize how gigantic our country is. For example, I am going to make an example itinerary based off of your current route. I chose June 21st as the start day so I can get a reliable answer from park schedules. Actual time will vary as I have not chosen example hotels for you, and I am not accounting for breaks along the way. I used Expedia as the airline ticket booking agency to get example flight times.

 

6/21/14: Fly from Oslo Norway (local departure time: 11:10 AM) to Richmond VA (local arrival time: 6:30 PM.) Flight: 13 hours.

6/22/14: Kings Dominion from 10:30 AM to 10:00 PM. Drive to Washington, DC, arrive by 11:30 PM (not accounting for traffic; Washington DC and New York City are the worst/most dangerous places to drive in the US.)

6/23/14: Whatever you want in Washington, DC.

6/24/14: Six Flags Great Adventure from 10:30 AM to 9:00 PM. Drive to Manhattan, arrive by 10:30 PM (not accounting for traffic; Washington DC and New York City are the worst/most dangerous places to drive in the US.)

6/25/14: Whatever you want in NYC.

6/26/14: Driving Day: 6.5 hour drive from NYC to Niagara Falls.

6/27/14: Niagara Falls during the day, 4.5 hour drive to Cedar Point in the evening.

6/28/14: Day 1 at Cedar Point. (2 days recommended.)

6/29/14: Day 2 at Cedar Point; leave for Kings Island by 10:00 PM, arrive by 2:30 AM.

6/30/14: Kings Island.

7/1/14: Driving day: 5.5 hour drive from Kings Island to Six Flags Great America.

7/2/14: Six Flags Great America.

7/3/14: Driving day: 5.5 hour drive from Six Flags Great America to Six Flags St. Louis.

7/4/14: Six Flags St. Louis from 10:30 AM to 9:00 PM. Drive to Silver Dollar City, arrive by 12:30 AM.

7/5/14: Silver Dollar City from 9:30 AM to 7:00 PM.

7/6/14: Driving day: 7 hour drive from Silver Dollar City to Six Flags Over Texas.

7/7/14: Six Flags Over Texas, 10:30 AM to 10:00 PM. Drive to Six Flags Fiesta Texas, arrive by 2:30 AM.

7/8/14: Six Flags Fiesta Texas.

7/9/14: Schlitterbahn 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM. Drive to Houston, arrive by 10:30 PM.

7/10/14: Flight leaves for Houston 11:25 AM local time, arrives in Oslo 12:20 PM local time (next day, 7/11/14.) Total flight time: 18 hours.

 

My recommendation would be to stay to one region of the United States to minimize your drive time.

[beatle11]

Yeah, I have to 2nd the above opinion. You may be biting off more than you can chew. Your trip as you have planned right now would cover over 3000 miles. This summer, we covered 2000 miles in two weeks on the Texas/Midwest tour, and that was with a bus where we didn't have to drive.

 

I could suggest maybe starting in the Chicago area at Six Flags Great America, and working your way to the DC area and stopping by Cedar Point, Niagara Falls, Knoebels, Hershey Park, SFGAd, Kings Dominion and Busch Gardens Williamsburg. You could stretch it out if you really wanted and do Dollywood and Six Flags Over Georgia, ending the trip in Atlanta. That cuts about 1000 miles off your trip.

[enurweb]

Thanks guys for replying. Appreciate your views!

 

We really want to also cover Texas but it's highly likely that we might fly from Chicago to Texas and drop SF St. Louis and Silver Dollar City.

 

I noticed reading though something about parks in Texas closing early. Do you guys know why parks there close during August?

[larrygator]

I would no try to cover that much ground in 2 weeks. I've driven over 2,000 miles in 5 days for 6 parks but really didn't get to fully enjoy the parks. Save the Texas parks and Silver Dollad City for a future trip.

 

If you start in Richmond, I would suggest the following.

 

Day 1: Busch Gardens

Day 2: Kings Dominion

Day 3: Six Flags Great Adventure

Day 4 Hersheypark

Day 5: Knoebels

Day 6: Kennywood

Day 7: Cedar Point (you won't need 2 days if you get a FastLane pass)

Day 8 Kings Island

Day 9: Holiday World

Day 10: Six Flags Great America

 

This gives you the possibilty of adding parks that have a lot of coasters and maybe just one good one to the itinerary.

 

You can add Dorney Park between SFGAdv and Hersheypark.

You can add Waldameer and Conneuat Lake between Kennywood and Cedar Point.

You can add Kentucky Kingdom between Kings Island and Holiday World.

You can add Indiana Beach between Holiday World and Chicago.

[ArgoZ]

I drove all the middle USA parks last summer from Chicago to Texas. The only tough drive was 8h from Branson to Dallas. The rest was all 3h to 4h between parks. We usually drove this early morning before most parks opened around 10am. To try and add any East coast parks would just be too much. I think the whole East coast starting at SF New England and ending in Georgia or even Florida would be an awesome trip by itself.

[enurweb]

I would no try to cover that much ground in 2 weeks. I've driven over 2,000 miles in 5 days for 6 parks but really didn't get to fully enjoy the parks. Save the Texas parks and Silver Dollad City for a future trip.

 

If you start in Richmond, I would suggest the following.

 

Day 1: Busch Gardens

Day 2: Kings Dominion

Day 3: Six Flags Great Adventure

Day 4 Hersheypark

Day 5: Knoebels

Day 6: Kennywood

Day 7: Cedar Point (you won't need 2 days if you get a FastLane pass)

Day 8 Kings Island

Day 9: Holiday World

Day 10: Six Flags Great America

 

This gives you the possibilty of adding parks that have a lot of coasters and maybe just one good one to the itinerary.

 

You can add Dorney Park between SFGAdv and Hersheypark.

You can add Waldameer and Conneuat Lake between Kennywood and Cedar Point.

You can add Kentucky Kingdom between Kings Island and Holiday World.

You can add Indiana Beach between Holiday World and Chicago.

 

Thanks a lot for your feedback, appreciate it!

 

We are talking about extending the tour to 3 weeks and also take a flight from Chicago to Texas. That way we will save 14 hours of driving.

It's great with that feedback of adding smaller parks I didn't think about.

[enurweb]

I drove all the middle USA parks last summer from Chicago to Texas. The only tough drive was 8h from Branson to Dallas. The rest was all 3h to 4h between parks. We usually drove this early morning before most parks opened around 10am. To try and add any East coast parks would just be too much. I think the whole East coast starting at SF New England and ending in Georgia or even Florida would be an awesome trip by itself.

 

Thanks, good to get experiences from others on the road.

 

We might fly from Chicago to Texas to save a little time though.

[gerstlaueringvar]

Please don't drop Silver Dollar City! It definitely worth a visit.

[gisco]

I would no try to cover that much ground in 2 weeks. I've driven over 2,000 miles in 5 days for 6 parks but really didn't get to fully enjoy the parks. Save the Texas parks and Silver Dollad City for a future trip.

 

If you start in Richmond, I would suggest the following.

 

Day 1: Busch Gardens

Day 2: Kings Dominion

Day 3: Six Flags Great Adventure

Day 4 Hersheypark

Day 5: Knoebels

Day 6: Kennywood

Day 7: Cedar Point (you won't need 2 days if you get a FastLane pass)

Day 8 Kings Island

Day 9: Holiday World

Day 10: Six Flags Great America

 

This gives you the possibilty of adding parks that have a lot of coasters and maybe just one good one to the itinerary.

 

You can add Dorney Park between SFGAdv and Hersheypark.

You can add Waldameer and Conneuat Lake between Kennywood and Cedar Point.

You can add Kentucky Kingdom between Kings Island and Holiday World.

You can add Indiana Beach between Holiday World and Chicago.

 

This would be my pick. Great selection of parks.

[kenshinmac]

Please don't drop Silver Dollar City! It definitely worth a visit.

This... If you skip Silver Dollar City you are missing one of the best parks in the US bar none. It doesn't have as many coasters but you would almost certainly enjoy it more than either Six Flags Texas park.

 

Honestly Texas is a huge state without many coasters that are must not miss. The two RMCs look impressive (accident cost Texas/Midwest tour those rides) but otherwise a lot of it you will ride other similar rides in other Six Flags parks. Beyond that Texas is miserably hot in the summer. Trust me when I say that you probably will not be ready for the heat and humidity.

[downunder]

I concur Silver Dollar City is well worth a visit and the Branson area in general is interesting. I noticed Southwest were advertising Branson a lot in their in-flight magazine recently, so flying might be a reasonable option.

[thrillerman1]

If possible, I don't know why you wouldn't just wait and go with Robb and Elissa on a TPR tour when they do these same parks. You're going to get TONS more bang for your krone and probably make quite a few lifetime friends too if you go with TPR.

[Nrthwnd]

^

QFT

[coasterbill]

I would no try to cover that much ground in 2 weeks. I've driven over 2,000 miles in 5 days for 6 parks but really didn't get to fully enjoy the parks. Save the Texas parks and Silver Dollad City for a future trip.

 

If you start in Richmond, I would suggest the following.

 

Day 1: Busch Gardens

Day 2: Kings Dominion

Day 3: Six Flags Great Adventure

Day 4 Hersheypark

Day 5: Knoebels

Day 6: Kennywood

Day 7: Cedar Point (you won't need 2 days if you get a FastLane pass)

Day 8 Kings Island

Day 9: Holiday World

Day 10: Six Flags Great America

 

This gives you the possibilty of adding parks that have a lot of coasters and maybe just one good one to the itinerary.

 

You can add Dorney Park between SFGAdv and Hersheypark.

You can add Waldameer and Conneuat Lake between Kennywood and Cedar Point.

You can add Kentucky Kingdom between Kings Island and Holiday World.

You can add Indiana Beach between Holiday World and Chicago.

 

If you drive from Knoebels to Kennywood as Larry is suggesting you're going to drive right through Altoona PA. If you do this it would be a terrible shame to miss Leap the Dips at Lakemont park. It's the worlds oldest coaster and it's a lot of fun... plus since you'll be on I-99 anyway it would only take 30 minutes of your day to ride it and the Skyliner (which is a good wood coaster). If you're a credit whore feel free to ride the Toboggan too. If you're a real credit whore stop at Del Grosso's which is also right off of I-99 just a few minutes away. Doing both parks would only take you about 2 extra hours... but if you're in a serious rush and don't have 2 extra hours you should still make time for Leap the Dips. You won't regret it.

[enurweb]

Thanks everyone for all your great feedback

 

I wish I could do it all but the party I'm in wants of course to experience some other things America has to offer other than just amusement parks. Me on the other hand will try to put as many parks in there as possible

 

That beeing said. I have a though choice to make.

If you guys would have to choose either Kings Dominion or Busch Gardens Williamsburg. Which would it be?

 

Thinking about comparing both extreme ride but also the park in general.

[GayCoasterGuy]

^I would pick Busch Gardens, hands-down. But if you desire to gobble up lots of new coasters, then Kings Dominion has them. BG has higher quality of everything, where KD has more "mediocre" coasters. With the exception of the very low capacity/but highly popular Volcano, I could pass on the rest of the KD coasters (I-305 fanboys, don't hate!).

 

The Black Forest Chocolate Cake at BG is worth it alone... welcome to America

[larrygator]

 

That beeing said. I have a though choice to make.

If you guys would have to choose either Kings Dominion or Busch Gardens Williamsburg. Which would it be?

 

Thinking about comparing both extreme ride but also the park in general.

 

Busch Gardens is better overall park (including food, ride variety and shows), but I think Kings Dominion has the better thrill rides and more overall coasters. Looking only at the Top 3 coasters at each park. In my opinion I-305, Dominator and Volcano are better than Apollos Chariot, Griffon and Alpengeist.

[enurweb]

I must thank you guys for your incredible patience with me, really helpfull

 

After loooong discussions with my "team members" (one friend of mine and my wife) on this trip it looks like we will visit the following:

 

- Six Flags Great Adventure

- Kings Dominion or Busch Gardens Williamsburg

- Cedar Point

- Six Flags Great America

- Six Flags over Texas

- Six Flags Fiesta Texas

- Sea World (San Antonio)

- Schlitterbahn (New Braunfels)

 

This list is what I'm currently stuck with because they didn't want to drive from Chicago to Texas and we are ending up flying instead.

 

Of course... I might be able to argue that we should hit both Kings Dominion AND Busch Gardens Williamsburg but then we will have to cut one of the other parks. Maybe one of the two in Texas.

 

What do you guys think about the list? Should we reorganize it somehow?

[yankeeman311]

If you have to cut a park to fit both BGW and KD then cut Sea World. Those parks aren't really the best if you're looking for rides but they have decent shows. It really depends on what you and your group prefer.

[ArgoZ]

I must thank you guys for your incredible patience with me, really helpfull

 

After loooong discussions with my "team members" (one friend of mine and my wife) on this trip it looks like we will visit the following:

 

- Six Flags Great Adventure

- Kings Dominion or Busch Gardens Williamsburg

- Cedar Point

- Six Flags Great America

- Six Flags over Texas

- Six Flags Fiesta Texas

- Sea World (San Antonio)

- Schlitterbahn (New Braunfels)

 

This list is what I'm currently stuck with because they didn't want to drive from Chicago to Texas and we are ending up flying

instead.

 

Of course... I might be able to argue that we should hit both Kings Dominion AND Busch Gardens Williamsburg but then we will have to cut one of the other parks. Maybe one of the two in Texas.

 

What do you guys think about the list? Should we reorganize it somehow?

 

I thought you were coming for at least 2 weeks, maybe more? You can easily fit all those parks in, maybe more depending on your plans. You have to ride I305 at KD, and Busch is such a beautiful park not to be missed. Anyway to fit in Hershey on your way up to Ohio? SkyRush is a must. I would also suggest stopping for only a few hours at Knoebels to ride Phionex. If you have been to SeaWorld Orlando, then Texas is the same, but worse coasters. Do not miss IRat at SF Fiesta.

[enurweb]

Thanks again for the feedback

 

We are prepared that we might need some Flash Passes in some of the parks (guessing Cedar Point also offers something like that) because of the limited time we are staying at each place.

 

I'm asking cause we have been to Six Flags Great Adventure once before and we absolutly needed that Flash Pass that time! It was a saviour. But then we went to Six Flags Magic Mountain this May and we bought the Platinum Flash Pass because of our previous experience at Great Adventure. The staff failed to inform us that there were allmost none visitors to the park so we actually didn't have any use of the passes at all, lines were super short anyways. So yeah, we spent a lot of money on nothing.

 

By deafult I would say Six Flags Great Adventure and Cedar Point is two obvious parks we need those passes, is there any of the other ones you would recommend buying passes? I would hate not having the time to ride them all!