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East/ Mid Atlantic Trip thoughts


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I was kind of thinking of a similar trip next year and I also live in the Detroit area (Ypsilanti), but I would lean slightly more south:

 

Saturday 1: Leave early in the morning, go to Waldameer and Conneaut Lake, then drive east

Sunday 1: Dorney

Monday: Knoebels, then Hershey late in the day

Tuesday: Hershey, then SFGAdv late in the day

Wednesday: SFGAdv, leave mid-afternoon toward Hampton Roads (using US 13 to avoid DC entirely)

Thursday: Busch Williamsburg

Friday: Kings Dominion

Saturday 2: Carowinds

Sunday 2: Dollywood (I work afternoon shift M-F, so I could leave PF and get a hotel north of Cincinnati/Dayton and still make it to work on time)

 

I could drop the western PA parks, as those (and Kennywood) could be done in a weekend trip (if that were to happen, Hershey and Dorney would be swapped, with HP moving to Sunday and DP moving to Tuesday [Knoebels would remain Monday])

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Now I have some concerns about the Six Flags Flash Pass system. They have 3 levels, regular, gold and platinum. You say I will be fine with the regular but all that does is reserve my spot based on the actual wait time. I don't see how that helps unless I'm allowed to make multiple reservations. If that's not good enough can I upgrade to a higher level?

 

Basically with regular you will double your rides for the day. Basically reserve the one ride then wait in line at another to maximize it.

 

Gold in my opinion is almost worthless as you need to do math constantly to figure out how to maximize it.

 

Platinum is pretty much the way to go especially if you don't plan on coming back to the park for sometime. It's pretty much ride when you want. I used it on a BAFF day at Great America and with the deduction I never waited more then 10 minutes before being let in.

 

Whichever route you go, remember these things. One, never buy in advance, you never know if it will be a rain out or completely dead. (Though again, some like to maximize and still get it.) Two, while you can't reserve multiple rides at once, remember this: As soon as they scan your bot, you can choose another ride. For platinum that usually means going from one ride to the next.

 

Hopefully that helps. (And if you buy in park, there is a small discount with a season pass.

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With Platinum Flash Pass, basically yes. You're not allowed to just stay on the ride; you'll need to check in with the Flash Pass line person each time. But once that person scans your pass, you can reserve a new ride. Since the Platinum reduces by 90%, you'll probably have a 3-4 minute wait on the next ride. So you have them scan your pass, reserve the same ride again, get on the ride while simultaneously queueing for your next ride, then go right back around again, and the pass will probably allow you to check in right away. Note that the same trick is available for regular and Gold too, but since Gold is only reduced 50%, and regular not at all, likely you will have some time before you can re-queue.

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Can you marathon with the flash pass?

 

No, but you might get lucky early and late in the day at SFGAdv and if no one is waiting for your row you can re-ride. Or if you get out of the row on the exit side, you can move into an empty row if available. Just double check with the ride ops, because the park has been none to change the policy at times.

 

It is not unusual to get at least 6-10 rides in a row on the same train if you head straight to El Toro first thing after the rope drop. Ole!

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Basically with regular you will double your rides for the day. Basically reserve the one ride then wait in line at another to maximize it.

 

Gold in my opinion is almost worthless as you need to do math constantly to figure out how to maximize it.

 

I've never used one but I can't agree with your math. Regular makes it so you can eat, walk or ride shorter wait rides while the Flash wait passes, but if you do rides with shorter waits without the pass you also get more rides, so it's still not double with it. Also there are times where the posted wait time is higher than actual, so if you didn't need to go to the bathroom or eat and walked incredibly fast you could actually ride more top coasters by spending all day in line. Gold makes it sure you can get at least twice as many top rides, unless there are portions of the day you don't need it.

 

As to rope drop or its distant cousin, closing time, yes these can give you advantages beyond what any fastpass provides.

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It's been my experience that regular Flash Pass is more than sufficient 99% of the time.

 

Generally it does knock time off of the wait time even though it says it doesn't and if you reserve a new ride as soon as it they scan it and you merge you're basically waiting for 2 things at once when you're in the station. It's also a great excuse to wait for better seats. Why not wait an extra 25 minutes for the front of Kingda Ka if you're waiting for El Toro while you're doing it? You might as well.

 

Also, remember that if you ride SORA you should reserve the absolute longest line in the park when you merge since there's a 100% chance that it'll be time to ride when you get back.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hey everyone, one of the people I will be doing this trip with made a suggestion that I like, but I want to run it by you guys to see what you think.

 

So the idea is to not visit Dorney on Sunday and visit Six Flags New England and Lake Compounce instead. Lake Compounce closes at 8 and I would want to get there by 6 at the latest to get a couple rides on Boulder Dash, and a ride apiece on the Sky Rocket 2 and the other woodie they have. So at SFNE with the most expensive flash passes is it realistic to think that we could ride Superman and Wicked Cyclone at least 3 times, Thunderbolt twice, and Batman, Goliath, Joker, Pandemonium, and the Sky Screamer once in 5 hours? And if we cut it close we can cut out Joker since the same one exists at SFGA...

 

Then since Lake Compounce closes at 8, I was thinking we could drive down to Luna Park and ride the Coney Island Cyclone depending on what time they close that. But I'm imagining/ hoping they would keep that open pretty late.

 

The rest of the trip would follow the same course. Great Advanture on Monday, Knoebels with a preview of Hershey on Tuesday, Hershey on Wednesday, Kings Dominion on Thursday, Busch Gardens on Friday, Carowinds on Saturday, and Camden Sunday on the way home.

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That Six Flags New England / Lake Compounce / Luna Park day is going to be tough. Really tough.

 

Realistically, at the end of your Detroit > Waldameer > Conneaut Lake day, you would need to drive at least to Binghamton. You'd go to Meadville / Conneaut Lake first and then to Erie / Waldameer. It's 4 hours 15 to Binghamton after that.

 

You wake up at the crack of dawn Sunday (5:30-6 AM) and drive 3 hours 45 to Six Flags New England to be there at opening, give yourself five hours there (10-3). Then an hour drive to Lake Compounce, and you're there in the early evening for a few hours (4-6). BUT WAIT! You still have AT LEAST 2 and a half hours on the road to Brooklyn. And then, IF Luna Park is still open, you can ride the Cyclone (9-10:30 maybe?). AND THEN you have to drive to your hotel! By then it might be 1 AM, with New York's traffic.

 

It's somewhat doable, but I don't think it will be as good as you think. Any amount of traffic that you run into along the way might wreck your itinerary for that day, since everything is time-dependent. You're also getting very far into "whirlwind tour" territory, where the trip becomes less about fun and enjoyment and more about checking items off of a list. I used to be that way myself but now, I wouldn't wish that sort of stress and pressure to "get everything done" on anyone.

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Now i'm actually thinking of getting rid of Waldameer/ Conneaut Lake. Friday after work we could drive to Niagara Falls (about 4 or so hours). I'm going with my GF, my cousin and his wife, so that would be a nice couples thing to do. Then Saturday drive to SFNE. We will have Six Flags passes so we can spend 4/5 hours on Saturday night which would make Sunday a lot less of a rush to get Lake Compounce in and Coney Island. It also may save us from having to buy flash passes at SFNE but I don't know...

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