WTD - Recommendations for North American theme parks

[ul9601]

KI

 

The beast (night)

Banshee (night)

not much feedback on the ones below apart from Diamondback

Diamondback (apparently this is rubbish?)

Vortex

The Bat

Firehawk

Backlot Stunt Coaster

Invertigo

The racer

Adventure express

[ul9601]

i have my itinerary planned tentatively like so:

 

SFMM (30May-31May)

LAX-CVG (01June)

KI (01June-02June)

CP (03June-04June)

CW (05June-06June)

SFNE (08June)

SFGAdv (09June-10June)

DP (11June)

Knoebels (12June)

HP (13June)

KD (14June-15June))

BGW (16June)

CVG-LAX (17June)

 

What do you think?

[ejot]

Looks like a great itinerary to me. Were it my trip, I'd consider:

 

> trading the second day at SFMM for a visit to Knott's.

> giving up the second day at KI to fit in a stop at Lake Compounce between SFNE and SFGAd. Boulder Dash is an exceptional ride.

> BGW - CVG drive is significant, so I hope your flight to LAX isn't too early. You really want a full day at Busch.

 

In any case, you're sure to have a really fun trip.

[ul9601]

Looks like a great itinerary to me. Were it my trip, I'd consider:

 

> trading the second day at SFMM for a visit to Knott's.

> giving up the second day at KI to fit in a stop at Lake Compounce between SFNE and SFGAd. Boulder Dash is an exceptional ride.

> BGW - CVG drive is significant, so I hope your flight to LAX isn't too early. You really want a full day at Busch.

 

In any case, you're sure to have a really fun trip.

 

- I've been to Knott's before but it's been a while (7 years). What are the good rides there? I think I tried most as it wasn't very busy at the time, and It was ok then but not great enough to go back (but then it probably has some new ones since my last visit)

- Would you give up the second day at anywhere else? (e.g. SFGAdv) I allocated some two days because of long drive and/or weekend.

- I've pretty much written off a couple of days (CW-SFNE & BGW-CVG) as just travel days...

cheers

[Farley Flavors]

 

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

With a Flash Pass? Yes.

 

Without one? Possibly.

 

I went on a weekday last March, arriving before the gates opened, and the significant lines were:

X2 45m

Tatsu 55m

Goliath (front row) 65m

Full Throttle 75m (we didn't get on this until about an hour after the park closed)

 

The lines for Viper, Green Lantern, Drop of Doom, Riddler's Revenge, Superman and Ninja were all minimal. Apocalypse and Scream were walk-ons so we rode both twice. Twisted Colossus wasn't operating.

 

I'm assuming similar crowd levels to late March in late May/early June though, dunno if that's the case.

[Farley Flavors]

not much feedback on the ones below apart from Diamondback

Diamondback (apparently this is rubbish?)

Who the hell told you that?!

 

For me it's the second best coaster in the park (after The Beast).

[ejot]

- I've been to Knott's before but it's been a while (7 years). What are the good rides there? I think I tried most as it wasn't very busy at the time, and It was ok then but not great enough to go back (but then it probably has some new ones since my last visit)

- Would you give up the second day at anywhere else? (e.g. SFGAdv) I allocated some two days because of long drive and/or weekend.

- I've pretty much written off a couple of days (CW-SFNE & BGW-CVG) as just travel days...

cheers

Knott's is fully retracking Ghost Rider, and it was supposed to reopen in late May, but I just noticed a rumor that they are significantly behind schedule. I think you'd miss it, and no new "big thrill" attractions since your last visit, so skipping does seem reasonable in your case. I was happy to have a second day at MM when I visited, so nothing wrong with that!

 

You could get away with one day at SFGAd if you FlashPass it. KD may be light enough on a Tues/Wed in mid June to cover comfortably in a day. Two days at CP and CW are definitely good ideas (haven't been to CW myself, but I do believe it is the highest attendance Cedar Fair park).

[ul9601]

Does any of the parks in my list warrant two full weekdays with flashpass / fast lane?

[ul9601]

not much feedback on the ones below apart from Diamondback

Diamondback (apparently this is rubbish?)

Who the hell told you that?!

 

For me it's the second best coaster in the park (after The Beast).

Here - it might have been in jest.

http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1677233#p1677233

[ul9601]

CP

 

Maverick

Millennium Force

Gatekeeper

Rougarou

Valravn

Magnum

Raptor

Top Thrill Dragster

Iron Dragon

Mean Streak

Wicked Twister

Corkscrew

Gemini

Blue Streak

Witches Wheel

Cedar Creek Mine Ride

Skyhawk

 

I'm give the following advice:

- buy platinum pass & go early entry

- go in marina gate and do MF, Maverick, TTD & Valravn early

- do Raptor & Gatekeeper until later

 

More advice on when to ride and which row / seat to ride would be appreciated.

 

Cheers

Sam

[ul9601]

CW

 

Leviathan

Vortex

Behemoth

Time Warp

Dragon Fire

Wild Beast

Wonder Mountain's Guardian

Backlot Stunt Coaster (are these all the same? I noticed KI, KD and may be more have the same name rides?)

Flight Deck

The Bat

Skyhawk

Thunder Run

Mighty Canadian Minebuster

The Fly

Orbiter

Psyclone

Sledgehammer

Drop Tower

 

I've been told to go on the rides in the following order:

leviathan, vortex, thunder run, the bat, the fly, wonder mountains guardian, behemoth, backlot, mighty canadian minebuster, dragon fire, time warp, flight deck, wild beast, ghost coaster

skyhawk the first thing or last of the day

guardian - early in the morning

mondial revolution - what is this?

[ul9601]

Carrying on....

 

SFNE

 

Superman

Mind Eraser

The Dark Knight

Goliath

Wicked Cyclone

Thunderbolt

Pandemonium

Flashback

[ul9601]

SFGAdv

 

Skull Mountain (back row)

The Dark Knight

El Toro (one from back row)

Nitro (backrow, far right)

Batman (front row or back row)

Green Lantern (front row)

Kingda Ka (front row)

The Joker

Bizarro (front row or back row, at night)

Superman (do it early)

El Diablo

Jumanzaro

[ul9601]

A question:

Obviously I'm still a n00b when it comes to roller coasters and I somehow assumed that the front row is the best seat (the view, for the obvious reason, I thought) - but some are ridden best at back row or some odd locations (El Toro - one back from back row etc).

How does that work? Do you guys try out different rows?

[ul9601]

DP

 

Steel Force

Talon

Hydra

Stinger

Possessed

Thunderhawk

[ul9601]

Knoebels

 

Impulse

Phoenix

Twister

Flying Turns - this looks fun

[ul9601]

HP

 

Fahrenheit

Great Bear

Strom Runner

Comet

Lightning Racer

Skyrush

Wildcat

Sidewinder

Sooperdooperlooper

[ul9601]

KD

Flight of Fear

Intimidator 305

Volcano

Dominator

Anaconda

Backlot Stunt

Grizzly

Hurler

Rebel Yell

[ul9601]

BGW

 

Verbolten

Alpegeist

Apollo's Chariot

Griffon

Loch Ness Monster

Tempesto

[ul9601]

Yippee, that's me done - now, it's a waiting game for me...

[ul9601]

So, it's been done - a quick report and also thanks to a bunch of people who helped me and sorry to those who I managed to irritate with a bunch of question and so on...

 

2nd June, arrived at LAX, a rest day after 12 hour flight in economy.

 

3rd flew from LAX->CVG, picked up the rental car and drove to KI, by then it was around 830pm, so I just had the season pass processed and went to BW Mason for a sleep. I had a dinner at the Wendy's next to the motel and apparently a guy there works at Banshee, he told me it's the best (obviously)...

 

4th Kings Island

It turned out to be a nice first stop of 12 park roadie - not too boring, not too intense. Did all the coasters except for Adventure Express.

My favourite had to be Banshee, and Firehawk. The Beast also impressed me. Flight of Fear and Backlot Stunt Coaster weren't my cup of tea. I didn't think I'd like Invertigo (or any boomerangs) but I enjoyed it a lot. In short, I quite liked it for the size of the park and they run good operations -I would come back here if I'm going to CP. Had Fast Lane and would definitely pay extra for beating the queue, especially in the hot weather I had.

 

5th Cincinnati and Dayton on route to Cedar Point

Had a quick look around Cincy and USAF museum in Dayton on the way to CP, pretty impressive setup they have there. Got to Breakers Express late afternoon, was pretty beat so, had dinner and rest. Found out that storm knocked the powerlines out and shut up the park on Monday. I had Fast Lane for 6th Monday but they gave me a free one for the next day and a free night's stay for Monday as well - which I thought was pretty good as it was my understanding they weren't obligated to do so. BE was cheap given the proximity to the park but otherwise service and cleanliness weren't all that flash.

 

6th Cleveland

So I had a downtime, went to Cleveland and did the tourist stuff, Rock n Roll Hall of Fame and USS Cod and a few more, which I don't remember. Nice enough city.

 

7th Cedar Point

They got it up and running so I'm happy. Did Millennium Force, Maverick, Rougarou, Raptor, Magnum, Mean Streak, Blue Streak, Wicked Twister, Gemini, Valravn, Gatekeeper. Top Thrill Dragster was down most of the day - I think I heard it was back up running for a short time before put to bed for good for the day. Which didn't bother me a great deal, as I've been on before but then it would have been good to compare against others (e.g. Kingda Ka) MF is now my #1 coaster here (if not all time #1), followed by either Maverick or Valravn. Woodies didn't impress me as much as the first time I was here.

Rode most in either front or backrow (generally front on steel and back on woodie). The thing about MF is that it's always fun everytime I've been on and the sense of enjoyment or adrenaline rush doesn't decrease like others. As with previous times, CP ran good operations, I guess I was spoilt here (and KI) as there are some crappy operations to come...

 

8th Detroit on route to Canadas Wonderland

 

9th Canadas Wonderland half day

Got there in the afternoon ish, was fairly tired so just did a few flats. A few runs on Skyhawk had to be the highlight. Managed to get a good amount of spin after a couple of tries. Spinovator (?) was surprisingly fun.

 

10th CW

By now, I'm getting pretty sick of all the school groups mobbing the parks and also realised that I can easily do all the rides (in my case, just roller coasters) in half a day with a few multiple rides on stuff I really like. (note that I have had Fast Lane and Flash Pass etc everywhere). Done all the coasters minus The Bat, Thunder Run and Dragon Fire - which happened to be excluded from Fast Lane list. I don't see why Fast Lane shouldn't get you to the front of the line to all the rides that have reasonably long queues - on this day, the queues on these rides were pretty long. I figured these were mid level coasters and didn't want to spend time waiting on mediocre rides. Leviathan and Behemoth were major letdowns - especially Leviathan. It looked like so much fun but in reality it wasn't.

So instead I spent the rest of the afternoon riding Skyhawk - I could have ridden it until the park closed with the Fast Lane, with no more than one cycle wait. The breeze died down and I was having problem spinning so I called it a day. Operations weren't as fast as KI & CP and they didn't seem confident for whatever reason. It was disappointing as I've heard good stories about the park - I won't coming back here, unless I happen to be in Toronto - if I do, then it'll be for Skyhawk only. Oh by the way, hardly anyone was using Fast Lane - there were some, not many at KI & CP but here, I don't think I've ever seen one person using it...

 

11th travel day to Six Flags New England

8 hour drive, luckily I stopped at Niagara Falls, which broke up the long driving nicely. I did a quick walk of the Cave of the Winds - didn't have the time for the Maid of the Mist (it was my second time here, so I'm not missing anything).

 

12th SFNE

Had Flash Pass platinum - which was great for Superman, as the wait was fairly long even in the early morning - understandably so with VR slowing things down. Did it twice, one front row (w/o VR) and mid row with VR - I guess it's worth experiencing once but nothing to write home about. Apparently the original configuration as Superman was a great ride but this as is (with or without VR) doesn't do much for me. Did the new revolution VR at SFMM, I prefer SFMM one as it seems more interactive (shooting stuff although my gun got smashed fairly early in the ride). Superman here with VR is definitely a waste of a good coaster. Did the most of the coasters (if not all) - my favourite has to be Wicked Cyclone and #2 here is Goliath. They ran good operation (not counting VR but it's the nature of the beast) and I would come back for WC and Goliath.

I've been thinking about WC vs Twisted Colossus at SFMM , I feel WC is a bit more intense but TC does have its moments with those little hops and the "racing" aspect. I can't pick which I prefer at the moment...

 

13th Lake Compounce

This wasn't worth planning for a full day here - Phobia was pretty good, mostly for its sudden lateral movement (wasn't great for my back). Another thing wasn't good for the back was Wildcat but fun all the same. Was disappointed with Boulder Dash after all the things I've heard about it. I'd say it's maybe on par with The Beast at KI (or just a notch below). I was told to ride after dark but being in the middle of Summer the park closing time was way before sunset (I went back to motel for a break and was going to come back if sun set before the closing time). Good enough operation. Would I come back? If I'm passing through I might stop by for a couple of hours maybe...

 

14th on route to Six Flags Great Adventure & rest day

 

15th SFGAdv

By now I sort of figured out what type of coasters I like and the types I don't. And I was getting a bit lazy so I started skip a few I figured I wouldn't like.

For example, dark indoor rides like FoF so I skipped Skull Mountain and The Dark Knight. But even if they are good rides, if I don't know what I'm missing,no

harm done, right? Anyway El Toro - it has to be #1 woodie (up there with the Beast but in a different way). Kingda Ka was definitely the highlight, which IMO trumps TTD easy. Nitro and Bizarro, I also liked enough to ride multiple times. Operations were good, it's a good park, if things are scattered around too much.

 

16th hanging out in Philadelphia

 

17th I dont remember much

 

18th Dorney Park

It's pretty underwhelming place - but then I have been warned. Steel Force is pretty weak, a bit of waste of space and "steel" unfortunately. Possessed was good but by now I've experienced bigger and better things so nothing special. Thunderhawk was lame.Now the upside - Demon Drop, what a crazy contraption that is! Talon was surprisingly intense but I didn't like it as much as I expected to. It might have something to do with the dislike I developed for inverted coasters and the hard overshoulder restraint which prevents hands-up riding... And I loved Hydra... I enjoyed my time here although I understand why a lot of people bag it.

 

19th Knoebels

I think it was Father's day Sunday - It was very busy probably because of it. I got what a lot of people rave about this place - I don't know if they have automatic organs all the time there but they had a few dozens of all different sizes running throughout the park - very impressive. As for the rides, I bought $20 ticket book, which got me on x2 Impulse, Phoenix, Twister and Flying Turns + Bumpercars. Impulse was a great fun, the others weren't all that - Flying Turns has a bit of a novelty value but I wouldnt bother riding it again. I really enjoyed the bumpercars - massive long queue but it was worth it.

It's less of extreme place but nice enough for good family outing.

 

20th Hersheypark

Unfortunately this place turned out to be the worst in this road trip. Fast Track really disappointed me as 1) you can only get on designated rows and 2) the order you can ride each ride is randomly generated (or at least that's what the guy explained to me) and 3) it's only one off - it's a terrible product. Operations were rubbish - I had to wait around 5 cycles on Storm Runner with Fast Track - what is the point of having it at all? They have signage saying you wait at the exit for the attendant to come and let you in but that didn't happen. So at the next ride I walked through the turnstile and the guy says I need to stay outside - what is wrong with this place? It wasn't just two different rides, but pretty much everywhere. As for the rides, it's ok - Skyrush has its moment but that's mainly to do with the restraint IMO, the thigh restraint is a bit different from the others I've been on and it lets you slide around more (which I guess is more fun and slightly alarming, depending on how you look at it). Fahrenheit is good, probably on par with Knoebels Impulse. Id find other rides that are on par or better elsewhere. With the terrible experience I had, HP doesn't have anything I'd come back for. So I won't.

 

21st Travel day to Kings Dominion

Had a massive storm all day from Hersheypark all the way to KD, as if the storm was following me - lucky it was only travel day. Never seen so much rain in a single day.

 

22nd Kings Dominion

Having ridden Intimidator 305 now it's probably my second favourite coaster, #1 being Millennium Force. I've heard it used to be a lot more intense with cases of blackouts - not sure if people still suffer blackouts with the current configuration but it's just a plain great ride to me.

Other than I305, Volcano was a good fun and Rebel Yell was a good rough woodie that I could appreciate. This kid was sitting next to me at the backrow - unfortunately he was separated from his crowd by a few cycles. I don't know why he was there at the backrow anyway, because the other rows were mostly walkon. He was constantly yelling throughout the ride that it was too rough and complained to the ops once the train got back to the station - I just had to laugh...

 

23rd Travel day to Busch Gardens Williamsburg

Not sure what else I did... oh yeah I went to Colonial Williamsburg - quite nice

 

24th BGW

They put a lot of effort into putting theme in the theme park - great vibe and ambience. Rides weren't all that hot, I did like Griffon and to a lesser extent Alpengeist. Verbolten, I liked the outside part, not so much of inside but that's just my preference. Curse of Darkastle was ok, better than CW Mountain Guardian, if I put them in the same category. Didn't buy quick queue and worked out fine - it wasn't too busy. I'll probably visit again, next time I won't need to rush around too much I hope.

 

25th travel day to CVG

What can I say, 9 hour drive, boring boring boring... Driving through West Virginia was beautiful but I was keep losing radio reception and more importantly GPS & cell reception so got lost a couple of times.

 

26th travel day CVG-> LAX

Arrive in Valencia around 12, could have gone to SFMM but it was sooooooo hot (I'm not used to 100+F dry heat) so I just stayed in and watched TV. Really should have tried harder, knowing the many good rides they have...

 

27th Six Flags Magic Mountain

A big park - not too good on such a hot day, hardly any shelters and refreshment options were rather limited.

It was a bit of walk up the hill to Superman and Ninja & Tatsu - they must have utilised the terrain and decided not to flatten the whole park area...

I had platinum Flash Pass but it's not as good a value as SFNE & SFGAdv as there is one time ride limit on a bunch of good rides. By the time I got there (11am) the queue was plenty long.

Did the New Revolution VR, which was more fun (more interactive than Superman at SFNE) but tamer (the coaster itself isn't that hardcore), Full Throttle (which was unfortunately didnt live up to my expectation), Superman (ok for what it is, there was no queue so did it twice - it was a bit of a different experience riding coasters in dry heat), Ninja (not a fan of these but did it anyway), Tatsu (again, not a particular fan of flying coasters but this one has a great high g loop). Viper & Scream were also very enjoyable. Goliath was good but not great. Green Lantern was pretty much the same as The Joker at SFGAdv but rougher. Riddler - not my kind of coaster, I guess it's a ok ride but I wouldn't bother with it again. X2 was down so I missed out on it so I'll have to come back for it some other time. Now to my highlight of SFMM, Twisted Colossus - it's just too much fun, no other way of describing it.

 

28th SFMM

Went back to find out if X2 was up and running, got there around 930 and waited for the season pass early entry - unfortunately it was still down and FT was too (I'm not too bothered with it but it would have been good to ride front row as well). So instead spent the next couple of hours at TC - a great way to finish the trip...

 

28th evening flight from LAX->AKL

 

now back to stupid reality

 

In summary, I found out that I'm not a true coaster junkie like most of you are - in that I get sick of riding stuff after around 6 hours. The coasters seemed like pretty much all the same after 2-3 parks (with a few exceptions, of course). Tripping solo sucks. USA in June is hot as hell. Sun in USA is blinding in Summer time. School groups suck big time. Any group of teenagers suck big time. Hersheypark sucks ass.

 

My top rides in no particular order:

Millennium Force CP

Intimidator 305 KD

Wicked Cyclone SFNE

Twisted Colossus SFMM

El Toro SFGAdv

Kingda Ka SFGAdv

Goliath SFNE

Banshee KI

Skyhawk CW

 

My top parks in no particular order:

CP

SFMM

 

Thanks and goodbye