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Attractions near your theme park


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Here's a thread that's kind of a head's up or tips for visiting attractions nearby your theme park. I'll start.

 

I live in the Charlotte area. Other than Carowinds, we have A LOT of things to do. I'll list a few:

 

Concord Mills This is a long strip about a mile long in Concord, NC that has a giant strip mall called "Concord Mills Mall" with over 200 stores and attractions. There is a carousel in the middle of the food court, a trackless train that transports visitors through the mall, a Sealife Aquarium attraction (opening 2/20/14) and an outdoor go-cart park called "The Speedway". There is a trampoline bungee jump called "the mall jump" and an Outdoor World store. There are also lots of stores and attractions outside of the mall too.

 

Great Wolf Lodge This is towards the end of the strip. This indoor water park has an outdoor section too with mini golf and a hotel you can stay in. There's also a large arcade, Dragon Quest, a bowling alley, and a food court. There's also a 4D world and an XD theater.

 

Charlotte Motor SpeedwayFor you NASCAR fans out there, you can tour the speedway area (I believe there's a Z-MAX thing in the area) or you can watch a race if it's in town.

 

Downtown Charlotte

 

Discovery Place There's a Discovery Place with an Aquarium Area, Nature Museum Area, I-MAX theater, an Exhibit Area (usually it's a moving exhibit area like "Mummies of the World"), and this science thing with a bunch of kinetic stuff or something like that.

 

Mint Museum Art Museum.

 

BB&T Park This where our MiLB baseball team plays. If you're in town, the games are cheap, so try to catch one.

 

Bank of America Stadium & Time Warner Cable Arena Our Carolina Panthers play at Bank of America Stadium, and our Charlotte Bobcats/Hornets play at Time Warner Cable Arena. The Basketball games are probably cheaper, so if you want to see your favorite team play the panthers, it should be very affordable. We also have a minor hockey team that plays in the arena called the Charlotte Checkers.

 

Epicenter This is like a mall. There's also a few nightclubs. If you're bringing the family, there is a bowling alley and a few movie theaters.

 

There's a few theaters too where you can catch shows in Charlotte.

 

So, if you're in town, take some of my advice!

Edited by tarheel1231
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Capilano Suspension Bridge Park is one of Vancouver, British Columbia’s most popular tourist attractions. The reason is simple, there are so many things to see and do! Just minutes from the bustle of downtown Vancouver, the attractions at Capilano Suspension Bridge Park offers a unique mix of adventure, history and culture making this Vancouver tourist attraction a complete British Columbia experience and an essential on your list of things to do in Vancouver, BC.

 

Originally built in 1889, Capilano Suspension Bridge stretches 450 feet (137m) across and 230 feet (70m) above Capilano River.

346855117_ResizeofCapBridge-3.jpg.5ff2df6556a2586e45949ace2e42a0f2.jpg

Looks all nice, nestled in the trees...

398457299_ResizeofCapBridge-1.jpg.9422f763eff1437b34a33948dcb1e633.jpg

Then there's that "looking down" part of it. (o;

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Williamsburg is part of the "Historic Triangle" of Virginia. In addition to Colonial Williamsburg, there's Jamestown (the first "permanent" English settlement in America) and Yorktown (site of the last big battle of the American Revolution). They're all active historic sites. There's plenty of Civil War history in the area, too--including the battlefield at Petersburg (the last big battle of that war).

 

Plus, were not far from Virginia Beach or Outer Banks of North Carolina.

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How about attractions near my area in general?

Blue Flash is literally the only non-theme park attraction available in Vincennes

image.jpg.fa600cd3ccfb4fcbcbed22f1481a4e18.jpg

But I'm not complaining

 

However, Holiday World is the closest to where I live and there are quite a few attractions in Santa Claus

-Santa Claus Museum

-Candy Castle

-Santa Claus Post Office (to mail cards to Santa)

-Christmas Lake Golf Course

- Lincoln State Park

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There are a couple of things in Branson I feel are worthwhile. One is the Branson Landing. It's a car-free commercial district that is basically an outdoor mall along the riverfront. The other is the Branson Scenic Railway. They've restored an old Burlington Zephyr trainset and power it with a 1930s F3 diesel locomotive. It runs about 30 miles in either direction of Branson; you only go one way there and back again, and the direction you go is determined by which way the freight traffic is running on that day. It's single track only through the mountains. Absolutely beautiful scenery.

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USH has all the touristy stuff on Hollywood Blvd (Mann's Chinese, Hollywood Walk of Fame, Kodak Theatre) just two exits down the 101. With the Metro, you can go to just about any touristy spot in the L.A. area.

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There are a couple of things in Branson I feel are worthwhile. One is the Branson Landing. It's a car-free commercial district that is basically an outdoor mall along the riverfront. The other is the Branson Scenic Railway. They've restored an old Burlington Zephyr trainset and power it with a 1930s F3 diesel locomotive. It runs about 30 miles in either direction of Branson; you only go one way there and back again, and the direction you go is determined by which way the freight traffic is running on that day. It's single track only through the mountains. Absolutely beautiful scenery.

 

I'd argue there are a few more noteworthy things to do in Branson...

 

-There are more go-kart tracks than Orlando, Pigeon Forge, or the Wisconsin Dells

-Branson's Wild World is an awesome indoor animal attraction, that gets you up close with Bull Sharks, Alligators, Wolves, and a ton of other animals. This was a total surprise for us, and we would definitely do it again next visit.

-The town is really centered around their music and variety shows, in fact, I'd argue they are more of a draw then the park.

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To add to tarheel1231's post about Charlotte:

 

Charlotte Motor Speedway For you NASCAR fans out there, you can tour the speedway area (I believe there's a Z-MAX thing in the area) or you can watch a race if it's in town.

 

The track is often open most of the time during the day although you should check their site for big events going on where traffic and crowds will be heavy. They have a gift shop where you can also buy tours. The main grandstands are also usually open so you can see the track. Additionally the Richard Petty Experience goes on here so a lot of the time you will see cars going around the track.

 

The NASCAR Hall of Fame is also located in downtown Charlotte and should be a must-do for any NASCAR fan. Even though I'm not a fan, I went there once and had a good time.

 

Epicenter This is like a mall. There's also a few nightclubs. If you're bringing the family, there is a bowling alley and a few movie theaters.

 

In my opinion, Epicenter is awesome and a must-do for anybody who has a little time in the Charlotte area. It is focused on a younger metro generation and is more 'hip' than your average mall. StrikeCity is a state of the art bowling alley that has private bowling rooms, and the movie theaters are in-theater dining experiences. I haven't tried the food yet at the theater but it's on our to do list. Additionally our favorite restaurant is here, Blackfinn American Saloon. Their fresh upscale-casual American food at Chilis/Applebee's prices is some of of my favorite food, especially the bacon-wrapped meatloaf with maple glazed carrots.

 

I highly recommend stopping by Epicenter if you are in the area (there's also a Five Guys here). Regarding parking, if you self-park at the attached parking garage your rates will be more than if you park at a nearby parking garage and walk.

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Six Flags St. Louis is about 30-45 minutes from Downtownn St. Louis.

 

There's literally dozens of things to do, but here are the things I feel like TPR would most likely end up doing in St. Louis.

 

Sports: The St. Louis Blues, St. Louis Cardinals, and St. Louis Rams all play in stadiums no more than 10 minutes apart from each other. I'm pretty sure that you can get tickets to the games of all three teams for under $25 a head. If you have to choose between one of 2-3 games, I'd recommend seeing the Cardinals in action. They're almost always competitive in the games, Busch Stadium is really freaking cool, and the atmosphere is really fun. However, if you've never been to a hockey game before, the Blues are a blast to watch and are sure to be a great introduction to hockey for any new fan. The Rams are just okay. I think it's way more fun for the people who follow them. Although, if you're from outside the US, it would be a pretty cool cultural thing to see despite the quality of their play.

 

The cool looking arena where the Blues play. Right around the corner on the right side of the picture is a road that takes you pretty close to Busch.

 

Overview of the stadium where the Cardinals play.

 

Apparently the signature shot of stadium that everyone uses. Quite sexy.

 

Just the Edward Jones Dome (home of the Rams) looking ugly as ever.

 

City Museum: I don't really know how to describe this place. It's a bunch of re purposed things that have been molded together to create a really awesome place to explore. I'd highly recommend it to anyone who hasn't been to St. Louis before. It is also physically demanding, so people with knee, neck, and back issues should stray away. I feel like it is also much more enjoyable to go with a group, as you'll be pushed into some pretty cool experiences that you might not have searched out otherwise.

 

thumb_dsc_3355_1.jpg

City Museum doing what it does best.

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Great Adventure has a large outlet mall about 2 miles from the park. They actually used to be called Six Flags Outlets (or something similar) until a few years ago.

 

Dorney has Iron Pigs baseball (AAA Affiliate of the Phillies) about 20 minutes away and Sands Bethlehem also around 20 minutes away with a casino and outlet mall.

 

Hershey has a lot of attractions near the park. There is the Hershey Gardens, Hershey Museum, Zoo America (I know some might consider it part of the theme park though since it's free with admission to the theme park) and Chocolate World.

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La Ronde is on an island next to Montreal, and of course there's a lot of things to do as usual in a big city. For example you can enjoy one of the 105 039 restaurants serving Poutine, there's also Schwartz' and Dunn's which serve their world famous smoked meat, and of course you can enjoy the view of the awful, terrible, dilapidated and dangerous to fall apart at any moment Champlain Bridge :

Image from http://media1.ledevoir.com/images_galerie/d_86888_74236/image.jpg

Of course there's lots of other things to do, and that's a good thing... La Ronde isn't a reason good enough to come to Québec !

EDIT : there are a few cool waterparks in the province, the ones that I know are Village Vacance Valcartier (by far the best) in Québec city, Mont Saint-Sauveur in the Laurentides, and Bromont in Bromont. There's also Calypso which is really awesome (rated #1 waterpark in the world by MSN travel), which is about 1 1/2 hour from Montreal (but it's in Ontario).

Edited by booink
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There are a couple of things in Branson I feel are worthwhile. One is the Branson Landing. It's a car-free commercial district that is basically an outdoor mall along the riverfront. The other is the Branson Scenic Railway. They've restored an old Burlington Zephyr trainset and power it with a 1930s F3 diesel locomotive. It runs about 30 miles in either direction of Branson; you only go one way there and back again, and the direction you go is determined by which way the freight traffic is running on that day. It's single track only through the mountains. Absolutely beautiful scenery.

 

I'd argue there are a few more noteworthy things to do in Branson...

 

-There are more go-kart tracks than Orlando, Pigeon Forge, or the Wisconsin Dells

-Branson's Wild World is an awesome indoor animal attraction, that gets you up close with Bull Sharks, Alligators, Wolves, and a ton of other animals. This was a total surprise for us, and we would definitely do it again next visit.

-The town is really centered around their music and variety shows, in fact, I'd argue they are more of a draw then the park.

Yep. There are go karts and country music shows all right.

 

Now this Branson's Wild World sounds interesting. I didn't even know that existed. It's back behind the Walmart apparently. I avoid 76 if in any way possible (and if you know the back roads it is in several ways possible), so it's not a huge surprise I haven't seen it. Thanks for the tip!

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Near Kings Island:

 

Entertrainment Junction - 15 minutes away -World's largest indoor train display (25,000 square feet), as well as a small shopping/dining area and a funhouse. The train display includes a model of Cincinnati's Coney Island as it existed in the late 1960s.

 

 

Monster Mini Golf - 19 minutes away - Indoor, blacklight-lit putt-putt.

 

The Web - 18 minutes away - Indoor go-karts, laser tag, and blacklight-lit putt-putt.

 

Full .Throttle - 19 minutes away - Indoor go-karts

 

 

Cincinnati Zoo - 27 minutes away - 75 acre zoo with nearly 2,000 animals

 

 

Accompanying Cincinnati Zoo are all the basic city activities - football and baseball stadiums, movie theaters, etc. Right across the river is the Newport Aquarium, which is also exciting.

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  • 8 months later...

My home park is Valleyfair in Shakopee, Minnesota, which is also home to Canterbury Park, a horse racetrack with lots of horse racing (obviously) and concerts. Mystic Lake Casino is a pretty big casino a few miles south of the park in Prior Lake. Valleyfair/Shakopee is 25 minutes southwest of Minneapolis-St. Paul, which has a lot more attractions such as Mall of America (which ironically also has a theme park), our professional sports teams (Vikings, Timberwolves, Twins, Wild), lots of parks with great nature, and much more.

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If theme park refers to home park, then there's a lot of stuff.

 

The Adventuredome is conveniently located in the Circus Circus hotel. It's within walking distance of all of the Strip attractions, like the Fashion Show Mall, the Bellagio fountains, and more. I only walked along the center of the strip, however, so I don't know how long it will take to walk to all of the main attractions.

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This thread needs some history, so:

 

Germany - Phantasialand is 10 miles away from Cologne, famous for its cathedral.

 

Construction started in 1248 and was stopped halfway done in 1560:

 

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gross_St_Martin_-_Rheinpanorama_um_1856.jpg

 

Resumed in 1840, construction finally completed in 1880 where the cathedral was the tallest building in the world. (Taller than Kingda Ka)

 

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:K%C3%B6lner_Dom_nachts_2013.jpg

 

Today it's the most visited tourist feature in Germany.

 

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Koelner_Dom_Innenraum.jpg

 

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Hohenzollernbr%C3%BCcke_K%C3%B6ln.jpg

 

Video (use HD): http://youtu.be/bwFu9dnWtCA?t=9m23s

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