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East Coast Parks - Need Suggestions


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Hello Everybody!

 

This summer I am planning a trip to the east coast, more or less, to visit several parks. Since I know there a ton of people on these forums that are much more familiar with this part of the country than myself, I thought I owed it to myself to ask for suggestions. I'm looking for specific suggestions regarding the parks, dining ideas, interesting natural sights, and perhaps campground suggestions, if there are any. The parks I am planning on visiting are listed below, in alphabetical order, and I plan on going the 2nd week of this June. Any information you could provide will be taken into account while planning the final details of my trip. Thanks in advance for your assistance!

 

EDIT: Also, any information regarding locker policies and anything else of that sort would be beneficial. I plan to bring my DSLR and obviously it cannot ride coasters with me.

 

EDIT 2: Revised Proposed Itinerary

 

Day 1 - Drive to BGW From KI (KI is like my 2nd home park, just doing ERT)

Day 2 - Busch Gardens Williamsburg (2nd Visit)

Day 3 - Kings Dominion

Day 4 - Six Flags America & Hershey Preview

Day 5 - Hersheypark

Day 6 - Knoebels & Dorney Park

Day 7 - Six Flags Great Adventure

Day 8 - Six Flags New England

Day 9 - Quassy (for WW) and Lake Compounce, drive halfway to Waldameer

Day 10 - Drive home, hit Waldameer for a few laps on Ravine Flyer II (2nd Visit to Waldameer)

Edited by WildStangAlex
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Any reason that you are not planning to visit Hersheypark, Kennywood, or Cedar Point? All three are great parks that you will probably need to drive past anyway.

 

Cedar Point: Already frequent the park, I have a Platinum Pass from there for 2014

Kennywood: Have been there twice, until they add another attraction, I'm good.

Hersheypark: Didn't work out with all the other parks -> Is there a significant reason to choose this park over some of the others?

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Hersheypark: Didn't work out with all the other parks -> Is there a significant reason to choose this park over some of the others?

 

While I haven't visited Hersheypark since 2007, they have added a 3 good to great Intamin coasters in the past 10 years, in addition to a solid B&M invert, a very fun racing-dueling GCI, a zoo, a waterpark, and the chocolate world. They have a preview plan when you purchase a regular full-day admission ticket, and you get 2.5 hours of free early entry for the prior evening. There's just a lot of things to do at the park.

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Okay cool. Sounds like fun! I'm not sure how long you have but this is what I came up with.

 

Day 1 - Drive to BGW / KI

Day 2 - Busch Gardens Williamsburg

Day 3 - Kings Dominion

Day 4 - Six Flags America for a few hours (that's all you'll need, this park sucks and it's never busy), then drive to Hershey Area. Maybe go to Chocolate World or just relax. A great alternative would be to stop at Baltimore's Inner Harbor on the way and spend some time there. You can check out the aquarium, Camden Yards or Fort McHenry where the Star Spangled Banner was written depending on what you're into. I highly suggest getting some crabcakes though. This won't be out of the way at all.

Day 5 - Hershey

Day 6 - Six Flags Great Adventure

Day 7 - Quassy and Lake Compounce

Day 8 - Six Flags New England

Day 9 - Dorney and Knoebels (spend most of the day at Knoebels. Dorney WILL be dead and you can ride everything in 3 hours). The only thing you need to ride besides the coasters is the Log Flume and Demon Drop if you're into that kind of thing. lol

Day 10 - Drive home, hit Waldameer for a few hours on the way back. (This is a LONG drive but Waldameer is really out of the way).

 

Just a few random tips.

 

- This leaves out Coney Island but honestly Coney Island is nothing special. If you have more time than this then you can do it but I'm assuming you have 10 days for some reason. If you have more time hit Coney Island and spend some time in NYC.

 

- Personally, I think Six Flags America sucks but I know it's going to be hard to pass the sign on I-95 when you have a season pass so I'd suggest going there and getting it out of your system so you never feel the need to go back.

 

- Do not get the skip the line system at Dorney or Six Flags America. You won't need it. For the other parks, just see what the crowds look like when you get there and make a decision.

 

- At Knoebels, just eat everything. Don't even eat meals, just eat throughout the day. The food is great.

 

- If you're a credit whore I highly suggest stopping at Bowcraft on the way to Dorney. You can get 2 credits in 15 minutes and it's right off the highway. They have a coaster called "Crossbow" and it's pretty decent.

 

Also, a few driving tips.

- I know they have it in the Chicago area but if you don't already have one make absolutely sure your car has an EZ PASS. If you're renting a car make sure that car has an EZ PASS or order one and hold it up to the windshield. You're going to go through a million tolls and your life will suck without an EZ PASS. They're usually free but you need to put 10 bucks on your account. This will work at every toll plaza in every state you're visiting.

 

- If you do what I suggested and you're going to drive from Six Flags New England to Dorney then make sure you take the Tappan Zee Bridge. If your GPS tries to tell you to stay on I-95 the whole time and go over the George Washington Bridge throw it out the window and buy a new GPS. Doing that is a horrible idea but the iPhone GPS loves the George Washington Bridge for some reason.

 

- On I-95 in Virginia near Washington DC they have reversible HOV lanes. If these lanes say "Open to All Traffic" make sure you get in them or again... your life will suck.

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^ I agree with most of this. I'd probably move Hershey to later in the trip, right after your Dorney/Knoebels day. No sense in driving to Hershey, then SFGAdv when you can hit it on your way out of Pennsylvania. Honestly, I think Knoebels deserves a full day. Last year I did a trip similar to this, and here's how I did it:

 

- Day 1 - Flew into DC and drove to Harrisburg, PA that evening.

- Day 2 - Knoebels

- Day 3 - Hershey

- Day 4 - Dorney, then drove to Springfield, MA

- Day 5 - SFNE

- Day 6 - Lake Compounce (wanted to hit Quassy, but it wasn't open that day). Drove to SFGAdv

- Day 7 - SFGAdv

- Day 8 - Drove to hotel in Doswell, VA (had planned on SFGAdv in the morning, but it was pouring)

- Day 9 - BGW

- Day 10 - Coasting for Kids at KD.

- Day 11 - KD in the morning, flew out of DC that evening.

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Another thing to consider is BGW's Food and Wine Festival, which will be held Friday-Sunday between through most of June. You'll definitely have to stow your gear before boarding the park's coasters, Escape from Pompeii, and the Roman Rapids.

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I'm from the Jersey area so I think I can give you good advice.

 

First off I HIGHLY recommend adding Morey's Piers to your list of parks. It's in a fantastic beachtown called Wildwood in the very south of New Jersey. It's the best boardwalk park around and is consistently voted one of the 5 best in the world. This is also beneficial as sort of a rest day if you like beaches. Trust me on a long trip you need a slow day in the middle. You can fit this in between SFA and GAdv.

 

I agree with the previous statement about skipping Coney Island unless you REALLY want the Cyclone credit or you're visiting NYC. There's really nothing else in that park and it can be difficult to get there with NY traffic and roads. If you insist on going try doing it by subway rather than driving.

 

I have no idea how many days you have for this but just based on my suggestions here's my recommended itinerary:

 

Day 1- KI, Drive to Williamsburg

Day 2- BGW

Day 3- KD

Day 4- SFA, Drive to Wildwood

Day 5- Morey's Piers

Day 6- GAdv

Day 7- Lake Compounce, Quassy

Day 8- SFNE

Day 9- Knoebels/Dorney

Day 10- Knoebels/Dorney, drive to Hershey for preview

Day 11- Hersheypark

Day 12- Waldameer

Day 13- Drive home

 

I recommend doing the Pennsylvania parks last if you take my advice on going to Moreys Piers. They're more on the way to where you need to go and GAdv is the closest to Wildwood with going to LC on the same highway as GAdv. Good luck with your plans!

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I like that idea a lot too if you have that much time... and if you're a complete whore you can still throw Bowcraft in there just because it's right off the highway.

 

If you're an even bigger whore I actually thought of something else you could do... but you have to be willing to whore like nobody has ever whored before.

 

On Day 7, I feel like you could totally add in Rye Playland if you really wanted to. They generally open at 11:00. If you get there at 11:00 you could ride the 4 coasters in an hour and be out of there. Personally I'd suggest taking a spin on the Old Mill and Derby Racer too but even if you do that you could be out of there by 12:30 or 1:00 at the absolute latest.

 

From there you're only an hour and 10 minutes from Quassy. You can ride the 2 coasters and leave in 30 minutes. Let's say at that point just to be safe it's 3:00.

 

From Quassy, you're only 30 minutes away from Lake Compounce which really isn't a full day park anyway unless you do the waterpark. If you get there at 3:30 or even 4:00 you'll have plenty of time to ride everything you'll care to ride assuming it's June 14th or later... if it's before that then forget about this plan because Lake Compounce and Quassy close at 4pm earlier that week.

 

Lake Compounce is a nice little park but honestly Wildcat and Zoomerang are nothing special so you don't need a ton of time. They have some fun flat rides and a great (30 minute long) Skyride but Boulder Dash is the star of the park and you'll have plenty of time for re-rides.

 

EDIT: Also, on Day 5 if you want to be a whore you can just ride the rides at Morey's and then whore your way north because there are a ton of credits right along the Jersey Shore and technically you'll be heading towards Great Adventure even though you'll be doing it in a really screwed up way.

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I have been to Coney Island, and have to say I enjoyed it. The trouble is that NYC traffic makes the trip there longer than it needs to be. You don't need to spend that much time at the park, as it almost always isn't crowded. The coasters are fun, but obviously the Cyclone is the highlight attraction. Great woodie. The park also has a good selection of flat rides. Its a fun trip, so it just depends on how much time you want to spend. The trip there, back, and time at the park should take about 6 hours, maybe less. Its doable, but I too would recommend Morey's Piers. But if you have to choose one of the two parks, I would choose Luna Park, Coney Island. Plus, they're getting the thunderbolt next year!

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Coney Island is OK but a 2-3 hour experience at best. That said, they have an Air Race which is one of the best flat rides ever and worth going out of your way for.

 

While it's not necessarily the "best" way to see the parks, it is possible to do SFNE, Lake Compounce and Quassy all in one day. I did a trip last year where I had originally planned to do those parks in two days, but the first day was washed out so we crammed them all into one. Bought a Flash Pass for SFNE and got in plenty of rides on Bizarro, and every other credit at least once.

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Day 4 - Six Flags America for a few hours (that's all you'll need, this park sucks and it's never busy), then drive to Hershey Area. Maybe go to Chocolate World or just relax. A great alternative would be to stop at Baltimore's Inner Harbor on the way and spend some time there. You can check out the aquarium, Camden Yards or Fort McHenry where the Star Spangled Banner was written depending on what you're into. I highly suggest getting some crabcakes though. This won't be out of the way at all.

 

Went to SFA last year, and I rather enjoyed it. It was a ghost town, which leant to marathoning Superman. I found the inner harbor incredibly boring. I love the Crab Cakes and Crab soup, however.

 

Day 9 - Dorney and Knoebels (spend most of the day at Knoebels. Dorney WILL be dead and you can ride everything in 3 hours). The only thing you need to ride besides the coasters is the Log Flume and Demon Drop if you're into that kind of thing. lol

 

Noted.

 

- This leaves out Coney Island but honestly Coney Island is nothing special. If you have more time than this then you can do it but I'm assuming you have 10 days for some reason. If you have more time hit Coney Island and spend some time in NYC.

 

I do have exactly 10 days. And the reason I picked Coney over Hershey is the nostalgia factor. I've been to NYC twice, but neither time in the summer.

 

- If you're a credit whore I highly suggest stopping at Bowcraft on the way to Dorney. You can get 2 credits in 15 minutes and it's right off the highway. They have a coaster called "Crossbow" and it's pretty decent.

 

Thanks for this one, I will check it out for sure!

 

 

- I know they have it in the Chicago area but if you don't already have one make absolutely sure your car has an EZ PASS. If you're renting a car make sure that car has an EZ PASS or order one and hold it up to the windshield. You're going to go through a million tolls and your life will suck without an EZ PASS. They're usually free but you need to put 10 bucks on your account. This will work at every toll plaza in every state you're visiting.

 

I have an IPASS, I assume this works out there too, as it does in Indiana and Ohio??

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Right now, this is what my itinerary looks like. As much as I like how SkyRush looks, I still favor the nostalgia of Coney Island, and it would give me an excuse to visit Hershey again in the future.

 

Day 1 - Drive to BGW From KI (KI is like my 2nd home park, just doing ERT)

Day 2 - Busch Gardens Williamsburg (2nd Visit)

Day 3 - Kings Dominion

Day 4 - Six Flags America & Visit Jersey Shore (2nd Visit to SFA)

Day 5 - Six Flags Great Adventure

Day 6 - Dorney until bored, drive to Knoebels

Day 7 - Luna Park

Day 8 - Six Flags New England

Day 9 - Quassy and Lake Compounce(

Day 10 - Drive home, hit Waldameer for a few laps on Ravine Flyer II (2nd Visit to Waldameer)

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^If you plan to hit up Nathans while in Coney Island, sign up at nathansfamous.com for their mailing list. They send coupons via e-mail each month for the following month. When they offer a hot dog coupon that special can save can quite a bit on their hot dogs. Usually knocking $2 off the price of each hot dog.

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Right now, this is what my itinerary looks like. As much as I like how SkyRush looks, I still favor the nostalgia of Coney Island, and it would give me an excuse to visit Hershey again in the future.

 

Day 1 - Drive to BGW From KI (KI is like my 2nd home park, just doing ERT)

Day 2 - Busch Gardens Williamsburg (2nd Visit)

Day 3 - Kings Dominion

Day 4 - Six Flags America & Visit Jersey Shore (2nd Visit to SFA)

Day 5 - Six Flags Great Adventure

Day 6 - Dorney until bored, drive to Knoebels

Day 7 - Luna Park

Day 8 - Six Flags New England

Day 9 - Quassy and Lake Compounce(

Day 10 - Drive home, hit Waldameer for a few laps on Ravine Flyer II (2nd Visit to Waldameer)

 

If you have 10 days then I'm just gonna give you 3 bits of advice.

 

-It takes 3 hours to get from SFA to Morey's Piers. Moreys has great flats and 3 decent coasters so I really feel like that park deserves 4 hours so you should consider just spending the remainder of day 4 there after SFA instead of traveling for minor credits.

 

-I suggest changing your Dorney/Knoebels day from day 6 to day 9. The reason for this is it'll cut your travel time to Waldameer from over 7 hours to only 4.5 hours on the last day while not costing you any time in previous days.

 

-Imo Hersheypark is the best park in this area so I really question why you're skipping it in favor of other parks. The Intamin Trio there is probably the best trio of coasters in one park. I would personally make sure this is included because I'm not sure what you realize you're missing out on. With Waldy being so far out of the way you could do this over that to make traveling easier.

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If I were to change the itinerary, it would look like this:

 

Day 1 - Drive to BGW From KI (KI is like my 2nd home park, just doing ERT)

Day 2 - Busch Gardens Williamsburg (2nd Visit)

Day 3 - Kings Dominion

Day 4 - Six Flags America & Hershey Preview

Day 5 - Hersheypark

Day 6 - Dorney until bored, drive to Knoebels

Day 7 - Great Adventure

Day 8 - Six Flags New England

Day 9 - Quassy and Lake Compounce(

Day 10 - Drive home, hit Waldameer for a few laps on Ravine Flyer II (2nd Visit to Waldameer)

 

If you have 10 days then I'm just gonna give you 3 bits of advice.

 

-It takes 3 hours to get from SFA to Morey's Piers. Moreys has great flats and 3 decent coasters so I really feel like that park deserves 4 hours so you should consider just spending the remainder of day 4 there after SFA instead of traveling for minor credits.

 

-I suggest changing your Dorney/Knoebels day from day 6 to day 9. The reason for this is it'll cut your travel time to Waldameer from over 7 hours to only 4.5 hours on the last day while not costing you any time in previous days.

 

-Imo Hersheypark is the best park in this area so I really question why you're skipping it in favor of other parks. The Intamin Trio there is probably the best trio of coasters in one park. I would personally make sure this is included because I'm not sure what you realize you're missing out on. With Waldy being so far out of the way you could do this over that to make traveling easier.

 

Alright, I can take a hint on Hershey, but no, I just see no draw at Morey's, I'd rather spend that time at Hersheypark.

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Alright, I can take a hint on Hershey, but no, I just see no draw at Morey's, I'd rather spend that time at Hersheypark.

 

I hate to rag on Morey's but I agree with your decision, I really like their Ghost Ship but no standout coasters (the woodie is just OK), no great flats, it's just not worth the effort.

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I'm not saying it's better than Hershey by any means. I just think it's a hidden gem in New Jersey that not enough enthusiasts know about. To me it's like the boardwalk version of Knoebels. It's in a great beachtown with it being the best boardwalk park on the east coast and possibly the world. To defend their coasters they probably have the best SLC/Invert in the area and Great White is an incredible nightime experience with surprising airtime. But if it's between that and Hershey, go to Hershey.

 

But you should take my advice about doing Dorney/Knoebels at the end. You'll save yourself a lot of travel time on the last day plus you'll be closer to Waldy without really having longer travel time on previous days.

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Just for avoiding hitting the New York traffic I recommend doing Coney Island as a weekend trip without a car seperate from this trip - fly in by plane and take the subway. I drove in NYC once - and while the drivers are not as agressive as in major German cities I would not recommend it inside a close-knit tour like yours. You just waste too much time getting into and out of NYC.

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I have an IPASS, I assume this works out there too, as it does in Indiana and Ohio??

 

I've never heard of it but it says on the website that you can use it anywhere EZ PASS is excepted so it looks like you're all set. I only brought it up because we have an insane amount of tolls up here and a lot of them let you go through at highway speed with an EZ PASS.

 

As far as Coney Island I'm sorry but the place is a complete dump. It's much better but it's still a complete dump. Going to Hershey instead is a much better idea. I couldn't support this idea enough.

 

I had one more idea by the way... have you ever been to Conneaut Lake? When you drive from Quassy (which you should hit after Lake Compounce obviously since otherwise you'll need to pass Lake Compounce to get to Quassy)... you can go 1 of 2 ways to Waldameer.

 

Either you can take 84 to 17 to 86 or you can take 84 to 80 to 79 and it's about the same amount of time. If you do the latter, you'll pass right by the place and can probably stop and get the credits in less than an hour. This is an added bonus since the park probably won't be around much longer.

 

It sounds like you had a good plan there, but I always like to look for little credit stops that are right along the route I'll be taking anyway which is why I bring this up, and why I brought up Bowcraft.

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