WTD - Recommendations for North American theme parks

[Farley Flavors]

I'm looking to do theme parks with extreme rollercoasters.

I'll save the more sedate ones when i get older

In which case I'd ignore all the recommendations you've had for Knoebels.

[Taylor Finn]

I mean, certainly Knoebels lacks a bit in terms of volume and overall intensity of the coasters; but all five are good fun, and the park itself, while sedate, is the best of its kind. I would just offer that it would probably end up being a rather refreshing change of pace. There is so much to do there, regardless of the coaster count!

[robbalvey]

I'm looking to do theme parks with extreme rollercoasters.

I'll save the more sedate ones when i get older

In which case I'd ignore all the recommendations you've had for Knoebels.

Really? I find that Phoenix ranks up there with some of the best wooden coasters I've ridden. Twister can have quite a bit of a bite to it, and their new Impulse is actually quite good! Sorry, but I don't find any of those three coaster lame or boring at all. Night time rides on Phoenix are some of the best coaster rides you'll ever have, IMO.

Edited February 5, 2016 by robbalvey

[fraroc]

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.

 

To add to this, it is also TOTALLY worth it to make the trip down south to Carowinds. They truly have a fantastic variety of roller coasters at their disposal. The stars of the show are undoubtedly, Fury 325, the B&M Giga which is also my personal favorite coaster and Intimidator 232, the B&M hyper. Also you have Afterburner, a pretty kickass and intense B&M Inverted coaster. You also have Nighthawk, a Vekoma flying coaster which is a pretty fun ride. Also if you're bringing any young kids, Carolina Cyclone and Carolina Goldrusher are pretty decent starter coasters.

[coasterbill]

^ Hey that's a great help - yes, I started putting together itinerary...

Thanks!

As for accommodation, did you book in advance?

 

Just a heads up, hotels near Knoebels are limited but they have a campground if you're into that. If you're like me and you'd rather die than go camping then I suggest (get ready for this) the Super 8 in Danville.

 

I know, I know but trust me on this. This Hotel should never be a Super 8. If I were them I'd lose the Super 8 name as fast as humanly possible. It looks more like a Courtyard Marriot than a Super 8. Why they would ever want to carry the Super 8 name I have no idea. Don't get me wrong, I'm not above a Super 8 but this is the only one I'd actually recommend to someone.

[ul9601]

I'm looking to do theme parks with extreme rollercoasters.

I'll save the more sedate ones when i get older

In which case I'd ignore all the recommendations you've had for Knoebels.

That said, it is close to Hersheypark and Dorney Park (where I'll be going) so I could stop by and check it out - it also depends who i'm taking with me as well...

[ul9601]

^ Hey that's a great help - yes, I started putting together itinerary...

Thanks!

As for accommodation, did you book in advance?

 

Just a heads up, hotels near Knoebels are limited but they have a campground if you're into that. If you're like me and you'd rather die than go camping then I suggest (get ready for this) the Super 8 in Danville.

 

I know, I know but trust me on this. This Hotel should never be a Super 8. If I were them I'd lose the Super 8 name as fast as humanly possible. It looks more like a Courtyard Marriot than a Super 8. Why they would ever want to carry the Super 8 name I have no idea. Don't get me wrong, I'm not above a Super 8 but this is the only one I'd actually recommend to someone.

Is Super 8 at the budget end of hotels? - I've never stayed in one, mostly Courtyard Marriot and Howard Johnson Express and the like...

And definitely no camping for me...

[DJeXeL]

Super 8 is the Six Flags of Hotels: Better than nothing but not great by any means.

[coasterbill]

Super 8 is the Six Flags of Hotels: Better than nothing but not great by any means.

 

Basically this... like I said, I would NEVER recommend a Super 8 anywhere else but options are limited near Knoebels and this one is much better than any other one I've seen. Like much, much better.

 

But usually they're crap.

[Farley Flavors]

Really? I find that Phoenix ranks up there with some of the best wooden coasters I've ridden. Twister can have quite a bit of a bite to it, and their new Impulse is actually quite good! Sorry, but I don't find any of those three coaster lame or boring at all. Night time rides on Phoenix are some of the best coaster rides you'll ever have, IMO.

I've only ridden Phoenix and Impulse and they were both terrific fun. I don't think anyone is going to class them as "extreme rides" though.

[CoasterMateo]

Okay, since I misjudged your trip before, sorry.. I can only speak for Cedar Point as that is my homepark.

 

1. As many others have said, everyone has different preferences at the Point since there are many different styles of coasters. So if you like intense, then Maverick. More floater and speed? MF. It really depends.

 

2. Lines at Cedar Point are deceiving. Sometimes, lines seem long but they move at a fast pace Ex: MF. Also keep in mind, NEVER do Raptor, Gatekeeper or WT in the morning, as these rides will later become walk-ons near 6 o-clock as people are normally exiting the park, or are at the back.

 

3. Since the park is so big this is how crowd level goes:

 

Morning: Front of park is packed

 

Afternoon: Back and Mid sections of the park are full

 

Night: People head towards the big rides like MF, Mav, TTD. Crowds will start dying down after 6pm.

 

4. June is a great time to go, although I recommend that you head on a week day as *some* schools don't get out until mid June. (I get out in May)

 

5. Make sure to use your time wisely. If you are a credit whore you could do all 17 (or 18) credits, but it's hard to do in one day. If you have been there before, just soak in the park and enjoy walking among the steel giants.

 

Hope this info helps.

[ul9601]

^ hey thanks for your advice. most helpful. i'm definitely spending 2 days there.

[jonskinny12]

A couple things I would recommend (mostly for CP, with a couple other things thrown in).

 

1. Buy a Cedar Fair Platinum Pass. From what I've read you're already spending at least 4 days at Cedar Fair parks. This will get you into all of them, plus you'll get free parking and early entry (at least to CP, not sure about KI and CW). Also might make budgeting easier with paying the monthly fee.

 

2. Utilize early entry at CP, either by buying a platinum pass or staying at Breakers Express or one of the more expensive hotels on the peninsula. If you're staying off the peninsula, go in the marina gate where they're building Valravn and you'll be closer to what you want to get to first (MF, Maverick, Valravn, TTD). I usually go to Maverick right at early entry for a couple quick rides (although be warned that sometimes it doesn't open right on time for early entry) and then head to MF for at least one ride and then try to get to TTD around the time the park opens. This is also based on what has been on early entry in the past, which could change this year with Valravn being open.

 

3. As many others have stated, do not go to Raptor or GateKeeper until later in the afternoon or the evening. These lines really die down after the majority of people have gone into the park.

 

4. Is KI as far south you want to go in the midwest? I personally love Holiday World and Storm Chaser at Kentucky Kingdom looks fantastic, and they're not TOO far of a drive from KI (depending on what you think a long drive is).

 

5. I would also recommend driving from CP to the northeast. There are a couple things you can hit along the way or not too far off the path. Like Niagara Falls, Darien Lake, Waldameer (they do ride tickets and it's not far off the freeway between CP and Buffalo so it's a good way to break up the drive with a few rides), and I'm sure other things along the way.

 

Sounds like a pretty fantastic trip you're planning. Have fun and hopefully we'll see a nice trip report from this mega trip!

[ImNotOneOfYou]

If you're in the area, Lakemont Park and Delgrosso's near Altoona are easily doable in a few hours. Delgrosso's has a feeling reminiscent of a fair, with a lot of different flat rides. Lakemont Park is more of a classic park, with Skyliner and Leap the Dips. I'm not sure how crowds are at Delgrosso's, but a Lakemont Park employee told me that they were having a busy day when it seemed like a ghost town.

[coasterbill]

Delgrossos gets very crowded. Lakemont is always empty because it's terrible.

[ul9601]

hey everyone - i'm back with the rest of the itinerary.

i've already covered the first half of the roadie on the theme park specific threads (with interesting feedbacks) but i'll revisit them anyway.

 

I'll be landing at LAX late May (most likely) / early June, I can pick one of two flights, landing around 12pm or 3pm.

 

Will do SFMM first, looks like it's worth spending a couple of days there (not counting the arrival day). Looks like it opens to full day hours on 29th May? In that case, probably best to do two days, Monday and Tuesday - does it sound reasonable?

 

I'm not sure if I'm better off staying within the walking distance (i.e. no rental car - assuming there is an easy way of getting to and from LAX) and saving on rental car cost but pay more for the accommodation (I suppose it'd be more expensive to stay closer to the park) or rent a car and stay a bit further out.

I'm thinking of getting the gold pass as I will be visiting SFGAdv and SFNE also, which means the parking is free.

Probably will get flash pass too.

 

As for the ride, I had a bunch of feedbacks - some might have been a bit of trolling as I annoyed some members so I'm not entirely sure whether they are genuine (if they were, that's cool - I don't mean to further offend), so here they are, pls feel free to comment/add more rides you think are deserving.

These are sort of in the order of priority but still flexible in terms of actual order of riding.

 

Full Throttle - backrow

Twisted Colossus - backrow

Goliath - frontrow or middle

X2 - front row

Scream

Tatsu

Green Lantern

Viper

Riddler

Superman

Apocalypse - backrow

 

After this, LAX to CVG, for KI - CP - CW - Knoebels - and a bunch on the east coast (SFGAdv, SFNE, HP, KD, BGW, DP - haven't figured out the exact itinerary on those just yet - I have to figure out the shortest time spent on the road all up - guess will have to spend some time on google maps...) and back to LAX (this would involve rental car one way drop off).

I was going to fly to CLE and do CW, CP & KI back to CLE, fly to PHL and do the east coast, back to LAX via PHL but many didn't think it was a good idea - this way i would end up with two loops (midwest and east coast) with shorter time on the road between each park but i'm not sure how much time i would lose at the airport (getting to and from as well as going through security and all that - i haven't flown domestic US since 2007). Driving from CW to Knoebels would take around 7-8 hours according to google and that's pretty much a day gone, not to mention pretty tiring.

 

More to come.

 

Cheers,

Sam

[ytterbiumanalyst]

I would suggest avoiding PHL if an alternative is available, as it's one of the most expensive airports in the country, especially since you're going one way. Newark or Baltimore would each be cheaper.

 

Also, I wouldn't do US to Canada and back again. US customs are pretty paranoid, and a New Zealander coming into New York from Ontario in a one way rental is going to raise red flags. If you do go to CW, make that your last stop and fly back from Toronto (even though YYZ is pretty expensive too).

[ul9601]

I would suggest avoiding PHL if an alternative is available, as it's one of the most expensive airports in the country, especially since you're going one way. Newark or Baltimore would each be cheaper.

 

Also, I wouldn't do US to Canada and back again. US customs are pretty paranoid, and a New Zealander coming into New York from Ontario in a one way rental is going to raise red flags. If you do go to CW, make that your last stop and fly back from Toronto (even though YYZ is pretty expensive too).

Hmmm so going to Canada from US is not a problem but coming back is?

In that case, maybe I'll fly to east coast and drive back to midwest and to toronto (not sure how cross border one way rental is going to work though - or some other means of transport) and fly to YVR.

Cheers,

Sam

[ytterbiumanalyst]

Yes, US customs is a lot stricter than Canadian customs is, especially in this case where you wouldn't be coming from or going to your home country. I can almost guarantee that you would be detained at the US border if you tried to re-enter from Canada. I know that doesn't make a lot of sense, but we're really paranoid here.

 

You could drop the rental car off in Buffalo or New York City (depending on which direction you're coming from) and take Amtrak or Via to Toronto. They both run a Toronto to New York City route that goes through Buffalo.

 

If I were planning this, though, I'd skip CW, as it's likely to be way more trouble than it's worth. The Canadian border just isn't as easy as it used to be.

[Farley Flavors]

After this, LAX to CVG, for KI - CP - CW - Knoebels - and a bunch on the east coast (SFGAdv, SFNE, HP, KD, BGW, DP - haven't figured out the exact itinerary on those just yet - I have to figure out the shortest time spent on the road all up - guess will have to spend some time on google maps...) and back to LAX (this would involve rental car one way drop off).

If you've decided on doing all of these parks, I'd fly from LAX to Cincinnati and do KI, CP and CW, drive to SFNE, head south for the Pennsylvania parks and SFGAdv and finally KD and BGW.

 

Rather than pay for the one-way car rental fee, I'd then drive back to Cincinnati - assuming you're not pushed for time. Even if it takes you two days, you'll probably find that the extra cost of gas and a hotel for the night will still be cheaper than the one-way fee.

I was going to fly to CLE and do CW, CP & KI back to CLE, fly to PHL and do the east coast, back to LAX via PHL but many didn't think it was a good idea

I don't think this is a good idea either, mainly because your first "loop" involves driving all the way to CW and back to CLE. It makes more sense to drive across to SFNE from CW.

Driving from CW to Knoebels would take around 7-8 hours according to google and that's pretty much a day gone, not to mention pretty tiring.

Not sure why you'd want to go to Knoebels as the first of the East Coast parks. If you're going on to SFNE from Pennsylvania you'll be doubling back on yourself.

Also, I wouldn't do US to Canada and back again. US customs are pretty paranoid, and a New Zealander coming into New York from Ontario in a one way rental is going to raise red flags.

I don't see why it should. I've driven a rental car from the US to Canada and back with a UK passport a few times without a problem, although admittedly you do tend to get a five minute quizzing on where you've been and where you're headed.

If you do go to CW, make that your last stop and fly back from Toronto (even though YYZ is pretty expensive too).

Even if you can find a rental company that will offer a one-way US to Canada hire (it's quite rare), the one-way fee will be prohibitively expensive. Like $1000 expensive.

[Farley Flavors]

Yes, US customs is a lot stricter than Canadian customs is, especially in this case where you wouldn't be coming from or going to your home country. I can almost guarantee that you would be detained at the US border if you tried to re-enter from Canada. I know that doesn't make a lot of sense, but we're really paranoid here.

Sorry, but this is just nonsense. Why would someone who has a valid US ESTA/visa be detained for attempting to re-enter the US from Canada?

 

As I've already said, I've done this several times without a problem - as recently as August 2015.

[Married a Canadian]

As a Brit who now lives in Canada, and travels to the US on a fairly regular basis...I have to say that you will NOT have problems with border crossings at the Canadian border either way IF you have a valid passport and an ESTA.

Yes you will get stopped at the crossing and asked questions, but they are along the lines of "where have you been, where are you going, where are you staying..etc". You will only have problems at customs and immigration if you create them yourself.

 

a New Zealander coming into New York from Ontario in a one way rental is going to raise red flags

 

Not if you have your travel itinerary and the required documents. The horror stories you hear about customs and immigration normally come from those who aren't prepared.

The trip to CW would be worth it, and if you haven't been to Niagara falls, or the Niagara area..that becomes one of the must do parts of the trip.

 

Good luck.

[ul9601]

Thanks guys.

Ok so one way rental is off.

I'm not gonna have all my accommodation and plane tickets sorted (apart from LAX - AKL) as I'll be flying standby and want to be as flexible as possible. So that might be a problem at the border unless I arrange the hotel night before in that specific case. I've found rocking up to a hotel without reservation worked ok but then it wasn't for theme park roadie.

[ul9601]

CW looks pretty cool and I'm keen to visit as a part of this trip.

I've been to Niagara Falls and definitely go there again.

[ul9601]

 

YOLOcoaster - backrow

Twisted Colossus - backrow

Goliath - frontrow or middle

X2 - front row

Scream

Tatsu

Green Lantern

Viper

Riddler

Superman

Apocalypse - backrow

HI guys,

Would you say it is doable to ride all of the above at least once in a single weekday, late May-early June?

Cheers,

Sam