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WTD - Recommendations for North American theme parks


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Hi,

A new guy here - I'm planning to do a theme parks road trip in the N.A. this year and hoping I can get some recommendations pls.

I'm in NZ so I can't do this all too often - I'm looking to do theme parks with extreme rollercoasters.

As far as my previous visits to N.A. theme parks, I've been to Cedar Point a couple of times (both in October, Halloween time - which had its pros and cons),

and the usual places in CA, The Universal Studios, The DisneyLand, California Adventure Park, Knott's Berry Farm etc etc.

I've heard good things about Six Flags Magic Mountain, Busch Gardens and Canada's Wonderland - I'll be going back to Cedar Point as well.

It would be appreciated if you guys can make some recommendations/comments on these and other theme parks and rides.

thanks,

Sam

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Big thing would be to mention what part of the US you're looking to travel to and how long you have to work with... It's a 4+ day drive to go from California to New York... Your best bet is to pick out the parks that are "Must See" for you and then plan from there.... Every "region" of the US has several stops that can be made and will make a worthwhile trip...

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I agree with Elissa, in terms of "most extreme rides for your money / time", the mid-Atlantic can't be beat.

 

You've got some big parks:

Canada's Wonderland up north, with Leviathan and Behemoth

Six Flags New England, with Superman, Goliath and Wicked Cyclone

Six Flags Great Adventure, with Kingda Ka and El Toro

Dorney Park, with Hydra and Talon

Hersheypark, with Skyrush and Storm Runner

 

Plus, some great traditional parks that, while less "extreme", are better experiences:

Knoebels, with Phoenix, Twister, Flying Turns, and everything else OMGBESTPLACEEVER

Kennywood, with Sky Rocket and some historic wooden coasters

Quassy, with Wooden Warrior (nice stop between Six Flags New England and states further west / south)

Lake Compounce, with Boulder Dash and Phobia

 

And further south:

Kings Dominion, with Intimidator 305 and Volcano

Busch Gardens Williamsburg, with Alpengeist, Verbolten and Tempesto

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For roller coasters, the park with the most big ones not just in the US, but in the world is Six Flags Magic Mountain (Cedar Point is #2). Keep in mind that Six Flags parks tend to be priced less than their competitors, so there will be more roaming bands of unsupervised teenagers than in other big parks. Plus, despite being in Southern California, which has warm and dry weather all year, SFMM is only open on weekends during the Winter months.

 

There are many other parks here with big roller coaster collections, such as Kings Island (Cincinnati), Six Flags Great America (Chicago), and Hersheypark (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania). Personally, if I had to pick one Six Flags park to go to, I'd want to go to Six Flags Over Texas near Dallas, as that is the original one.

 

I should also note that there are plenty of other great parks here that may not have quite as many big roller coasters as those above, but still deliver an overall great experience. Anything run by SeaWorld (SeaWorld parks and Busch Gardens parks) or Herschend (Silver Dollar City and Dollywood) are great options and are a sort of "compromise" between the parks that only care about big thrills (Six Flags) and those that only care about theming/ambiance (Disney and Universal).

 

In terms of lesser-known (outside TPR) parks, Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk in central California on the Pacific coast is great and so is Knoebels in Elysburg, Pennsylvania (east central part of the state).

 

On a semi-related note, for a change of pace, if you wanted to go to a neat place that doesn't have roller coasters, but still has a lot of elements that a theme park would have, the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan is a great option. It's supposedly the single biggest museum complex in the country and is the best place to have fun in the USA that has no roller coasters (besides Epcot, of course). Although it's officially an indoor/outdoor history museum, it does have a steam train, Model T Ford rides, and a legit carousel. They also can take you by bus down the road a short ways to an active Ford plant where you can see new cars being built on an assembly line. If you go there, make sure to take a glance at the wall of sample photos in the old-fashioned picture-taking building. Two of them are pictures of Walt Disney when he visited the place in the 1940s. The museum more-or-less became the inspiration for the Main Street, USA sections in Disney Parks, only tweaked slightly to resemble the hometowns of Disney and one of the designers on the project. Also, the museum is only about two hours away from Cedar Point.

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Big thing would be to mention what part of the US you're looking to travel to and how long you have to work with... It's a 4+ day drive to go from California to New York... Your best bet is to pick out the parks that are "Must See" for you and then plan from there.... Every "region" of the US has several stops that can be made and will make a worthwhile trip...

Everywhere!

I'll arrive at LAX more likely and do the Six Flags there and fly to Ohio for Cedar Point and carry on to Canada's Wonderland in Toronto. Busch Gardens is a bit out of the way but I'll have to manage somehow. I'd say I'll spend at least 2 weeks, possibly 3 weeks.

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Ive done a couple of big coaster trips in North America over the past couple of years from Australia, my tips would be.

 

-Yes do SFMM. Flights from AU/NZ tend to arrive at LAX early morning and leave late night, so its easy to hit the ground running on your first day, or do SFMM on your last day before you fly out.

 

Coast2coaster.eu is a great site that maps parks with coasters. You can use a slider to filter down (Eg show parks with between 5 and 18 coasters for example) and figure out a logical driving route.

 

As others have suggested, focus on a specific region of the US where you can chain the parks together with easy 2-3 hr drives from one to the next.

 

You get more thrill for your buck, because you aren't wasting so many days flying, less car hire days needed etc.

 

I did the east/north east part last year, and highly recommend it in terms of having a lot of good parks and coasters....All the people in this thread suggesting it are onto something.

I did Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Kings Dominion, Six Flags America, Hersheypark, Knoebels, Dorney Park, Six Flags Great Adventure, Six Flags New England and Lake Compounce.

Plus you can see Washington and New York on the way.

 

How recent was your last visit to Cedar Point? It IS good, but at the same time I I think its worth broadening your horizons and checking out the other great thrill parks in the US in preference, and revisiting in a year or two once they have had a chance to add a couple more coasters.

 

That said, I did a trip from Toronto a couple of years ago, raking in Canada's Wonderland, Darien Lake, Waldameer, Cedar Point, then down to Kings Island, Kentucky Kingdom and Holiday World (I could have pressed further to other parks had I had more time)....Again this is a good logical string of parks that are all 2-3h apart.

 

The Orlando area is also really good too In terms of lots of good parks and thrills in a small area.

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Ive done a couple of big coaster trips in North America over the past couple of years from Australia, with perhaps a similar mindset of trying to get as much done as I can....The flights over the pacific is tiring and a big expense,.

 

my tips would be.

 

-Yes do SFMM. Flights from AU/NZ tend to arrive at LAX early morning and leave late night, so its easy to hit the ground running on your first day, or do SFMM on your last day before you fly out.

 

Coast2coaster.eu is a great site that maps parks with coasters. You can use a slider to filter down (Eg show parks with between 5 and 18 coasters for example) and figure out a logical driving route.

 

As others have suggested, focus on a specific region of the US where you can chain the parks together with easy 2-3 hr drives from one to the next.

 

This is more enjoyable than trying to jump all over the place in my experience

 

 

You get more thrill for your buck, because you aren't wasting so many days flying, less car hire days needed etc.

 

I did the east/north east part last year, and highly recommend it in terms of having a lot of good parks and coasters....All the people in this thread suggesting it are onto something.

I did Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Kings Dominion, Six Flags America, Hersheypark, Knoebels, Dorney Park, Six Flags Great Adventure, Six Flags New England and Lake Compounce.

Plus you can see Washington and New York on the way.

 

How recent was your last visit to Cedar Point? It IS good, but at the same time I I think its worth broadening your horizons and checking out the other great thrill parks in the US in preference, and revisiting in a year or two once they have had a chance to add a couple more coasters.

 

That said, I did a trip from Toronto a couple of years ago, raking in Canada's Wonderland, Darien Lake, Waldameer, Cedar Point, then down to Kings Island, Kentucky Kingdom and Holiday World (I could have pressed further to other parks had I had more time)....Again this is a good logical string of parks that are all 2-3h apart.

 

The Orlando area is also really good too In terms of lots of good parks and thrills in a small area.

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...Coast2coaster.eu is a great site that maps parks with coasters. You can use a slider to filter down (Eg show parks with between 5 and 18 coasters for example) and figure out a logical driving route....

Thanks - I'll check it out.

 

...As others have suggested, focus on a specific region of the US where you can chain the parks together with easy 2-3 hr drives from one to the next...
...I did the east/north east part last year, and highly recommend it in terms of having a lot of good parks and coasters....All the people in this thread suggesting it are onto something...

Looks like I'll go along with this consensus...

 

...How recent was your last visit to Cedar Point? It IS good, but at the same time I I think its worth broadening your horizons and checking out the other great thrill parks in the US in preference, and revisiting in a year or two once they have had a chance to add a couple more coasters...

2004 then 2007, so it's been a while. As good as those visits were, they were in October Halloween time, where (if I recall correctly, weekend hours only) it was MAD busy and crowded - spent 4 hours for Top Thrill Dragster and Maverick each and 3 hours for Millennium Force, so I'm hoping to visit quiet time this time around.

 

As you can probably understand coming from down under, airfare is a significant proportion of total expense so I'd like to hit as many as I can, even if it means extending my stay there. There is a good chance I'll visit DC and Oklahoma City (for other business) so maybe recommendation there would be handy too.

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Definetely do SFMM in SoCal, but don't go on a Fri-Sun if its May-August. You may want to drive up north on the 101 and hit up Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, California's Great America, and Six Flags Discovery Kingdom before leaving CA and heading east. Gold Striker and Superman Ultimate Flight are both great and the Joker RMC is opening up this year. Flying east definetely do Hersheypark, Knoebels, and Six Flags Great Adventure. Skyrush is nuts, Phoenix is epic at night, and Storm Runner, El Toro, and Nitro are all fantastic. If your going to DC, I would drive to Busch Gardens and Kings Dominion (I haven't been to these parks but they are high on my bucket list). Have fun!

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Few more points.

-Have a look at flight prices and consider coming in via LAX and out via SFO...Discovery Kingdom has a few good coasters including a new RMC, and Great America is "okay" (better than I was led to believe)

Both parks can be readily reached from the middle of San Fran without a car.

 

The Santa Cruz beach boardwalk I wouldn't say is specifically worth going out of your way for, given your time/priorities.

 

-If you are doing Cedar Point, then just pay the $90 for fast lane. I used it, and wouldn't do things any other way. Considering the park is such an effort to get to, it basically guarantees an awesome day.

 

If you are going to Oklahoma I think the nearest big parks are 3 h away at SF over Texas, or 4h away at silver dollar city.

 

If you are going to DC you might do what I did, and fly into an airport like Newport News or Richmond or Norfolk, go to Busch Gardens Willamsburg, Kings Dominion, then press on to DC. After DC you can then keep heading north into Pennsylvania, New Jersey and beyond.

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Few more points.

The Santa Cruz beach boardwalk I wouldn't say is specifically worth going out of your way for, given your time/priorities.

California's Great America and the Santa Cruz Boardwalk can be done in the same day, depending on the time of the year. If the Boardwalk is open to 10 or 11PM, do CGA during the day, leaving at 5 or 6PM and drive to Santa Cruz, which is less than an hour away. You'll catch a classic California sunset at the beach and the Boardwalk looks great at night.

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Ok - I decided to do mostly north east area where you guys recommended.

When would be the best time to go, i.e. least busiest time?

Also, would I have to book accommodation in advance or can I just wing it as I go?

Cheers

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You're basically dicated by the park calendars.

 

When I was in the east coast I had to travel in April/Early may, so the parks are only open Fri/Sat/Sun, which meant I had to "fill in" days seeing the sights of DC.

 

Not bad in itself, and the parks weren't busy at this time of the year, but in order to do things in the time I had, I had to do some undesirable stuff like visiting Knoebels and Dorney Park in one day, and Lake Compounce/SF New England in one day.

 

Also, consider travelling after the 30th of May. Memorial Day tends to be the day parks in the US open their new rides, and for me unfortunately, due to when I travelled, meant I missed several of last years new rides, including Laaf Trak at Hersheypark and Wicked Cyclone at SF New England.

 

In terms of suggested Itineraries.

 

Start off with Busch Gardens Willamsburg which is one of the worlds best parks overall, home to 3 big B&M coasters, Tempesto (Launched sky loop style coaster), Verbolten (An indoor/outdoor coaster with a cool surprise in the building), plus really good theming and a cool 4D Dark ride (Curse of Darkastle)

 

Head north west for a couple of hours to Kings Dominion, a big coaster park with the main highlights being Intimidator 305 (A giga coaster which gives Millennium force a run for its money), Dominator (Floorless coaster), Flight of Fear (Indoor launch coaster with 4 inversions in the dark) and Volcano (The only example of a full circuit launched coaster...you launch straight up out of the volcano and wind your way back to earth through several barrel rolls)

 

You can then keep heading north, and perhaps visit Six Flags America when you hit Washington DC....It has a bit of a bad reputation, but if you get a six flags annual pass (Valid at all of their parks) then it's not really costing you anything to drop in. They have a Vekoma Flying coaster (Batwing), a decent Intamin hypercoaster (Superman)....a coaster that launches into a spaghetti bowl of track (Jokers Jinx) and a reasonable GCI wooden twister coaster (Roar)...I had the place done in about 4 hours. It was OK.

 

Heading north into Pennsylvania is a triangle of parks that are all within 90 minutes of each other...

 

Hersheypark is a big coaster park with an impressive line up..Highlights include Skyrush (A mental intamin hyper with winged seats and the strongest airtime of any ride)...Storm Runner (Imagine Superman Escape at Movie World, but with inversions) and Fahrenheit (Vertical lift, 97 degree drop, 6 inversions). There's also the incredibly fun Lightning Racer (Two wooden twister coasters that race and tangle amongst each other), Great Bear (B&M inverted coaster)...I could go on, but there's heaps there, and well worth it. I managed to get through it in a day, with re-rides on my favourite, but I've heard it can get rammed, so you might allow a 1.5 to 2 days, or buy their line skip pass.

 

Knoebels is a unique traditional amusement park. The phoenix is a great wooden coaster, they have Flying Turns, which is the only example of a wooden bobsled coaster. Twister is a wooden twister coaster, and last year they opened Impulse, another example of a vertical lift and drop coaster.

But Knoebels has a heap of other classic rides, including the Flyers, a ton of flat rides, a couple of nice dark rides, and the unique food offerings are good too.

 

Dorney Park is the last of the trio. It's a bit vanilla and generic as far as amusement parks go, but it has a few highlights...A solid B&M inverted coaster (Talon), a Floorless coaster with a unique layout (Hydra), plus a hyper coaster (Steel Force), an Impulse coaster (Possessed) and a rare example of an early Intamin "first generation" freefall ride with a curving drop (Demon Drop)

You don't really need a full day here, but it's 'on the way'.

 

South of NYC is Six Flags Great Adventure...Perhaps the East Coast's answer to Cedar Point and a must do. Heaps of coasters including Kindga Ka, the worlds tallest/2nd fastest. The worlds tallest drop tower runs down the side of this (Much like what is done at Dreamworld)

 

El Toro is one of the worlds best wooden coasters, combining a smooth ride with massive amounts of airtime.

The park has 5 B&M coasters...Flying (Superman), Floorless (Bizzaro), Inverted (Batman), Stand Up (Green Lantern), and Hyper (Nitro)

They're adding Total Insanity, an S&S free spin coaster with flipping cars.

 

That's 7 parks so far...

 

You can continue north to NYC. Coney Island has a few coasters including the Coney Island cyclone.

 

North of New York are Quassy and Lake Compounce. Can't speak for Qassy, but Lake Compounce has one of the worlds best wooden coasters, Boulder Dash, which runs along the side of a mountain at breakneck speed. They're also adding a launched coaster similar to Tempesto called "Phobia Phear Coaster".

 

Six Flags New England is not that much further north, but they've got Superman (Formerly Bizzaro) which consistently gets voted the worlds #1 steel coaster....heaps of airtime and a great layout. Their newest is Wicked Cyclone, an RMC coaster which combines inversions and airtime. Theyve also got a Batman Floorless Coaster, a rare example of a Vekoma Giant inverted Boomerang (Goliath), a cool spinning coaster, plus plenty of other coasters and rides too.

 

From there you might fly to Toronto from Boston, and then start a 2nd leg, taking in Canadas Wonderland, Marineland, Darien Lake, Waldameer, Cedar Point, Kings Island, Kentucky Kingdom, Holiday World.....really depends when you want to cut off.

 

Well worth just starting a word .doc and drafting up an itinerary, google driving times, look up park operating calendars and see what you end up with.

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I did, basically to get cheaper rates, and because I didn't feel like hunting for hotels potentially late at night.

Right - I'm asking more for the vacancy point of view. Don't fancy sleeping in a car...

When I went to CP in 2007, I didn't have a problem with vacancy then (it was October so maybe that has something to do with it) and 3 weeks road trip I did from Atlanta to LA along the southern states in 2004, I just rocked up to a hotel on the night - but then that wasn't theme parks roadie...

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi guys when is the school holiday period in Northeast (and Toronto (for Canada's Wonderland) & Ohio (for Cedar Point))?

I'm thinking of going early June for 2-3 weeks.

Obviously it's a no-brainer to avoid school holidays but as I'm not local I dont know how things work over there.

Cheers,

Sam

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