Big coastertrip May 2008

Next year, second half of May, we are planning a themeparktrip in the Usa.

We intend to drive in the evenings to a hotel near the next themepark.

Here's our preliminary planning :

Fly in on Saturday

A/ Holiday World,Sunday

B/Paramount Kings Island, Monday

C/Cedar Point, Tuesday and Wednesday

D/Geauga lake, Thursday

E/Kennywood : Friday

F/Hershey, Saturday

(2 nights in Hershey : if it was too crowdy on Saturday, we can go back on Sunday morning and drive to Knoebels in the early afternoon. If we were able to do everything on Saturday, we drive to Knoebels on Sunday morning)

G/ Knoebels, Sunday

H/Dorney + Waterpark, Monday

I/ SFGA, Tuesday & Wednesday

J/ Six Flags New England, Thursday

K/Lake Compounce, Friday

fly back from Boston on Friday evening.

Everybody, I need all the advice you have e.g.

- if we go second half of May or early June, do we avoid all holidays like Spring breaks, etc ?

- are the parks crowded during the weekends and weekdays in that period ?

- will we be able to do everything in the 1 or 2 days we are staying at the parks ? Will we be able to combine Dorney and their waterpark on 1 day ?

- hotel suggestions ?

- I guess the most economical will be buying a Maxx pass in PKI and a SF season pass at SFGA ?

- We intend to buy at SFGA a Flash pass gold for 1 day. Good idea ?

- Are there any other 'express passes' available in the other parks mentioned ?

- which restaurants in the themeparks are to be recommended ?

- any other parks I missed in my planning and which are on the way or at least not too far away ?

- any other suggestions or recommendations ?

Thanks in advance for your help.

if we go second half of May or early June, do we avoid all holidays like Spring breaks, etc ?

- are the parks crowded during the weekends and weekdays in that period ?

- will we be able to do everything in the 1 or 2 days we are staying at the parks ? Will we be able to combine Dorney and their waterpark on 1 day ?

- hotel suggestions ?

- I guess the most economical will be buying a Maxx pass in PKI and a SF season pass at SFGA ?

- We intend to buy at SFGA a Flash pass gold for 1 day. Good idea ?

- Are there any other 'express passes' available in the other parks mentioned ?

- which restaurants in the themeparks are to be recommended ?

- any other parks I missed in my planning and which are on the way or at least not too far away ?

- any other suggestions or recommendations ?

As for HW, I know it is less busy up until mid june. As for lodging in Dale/Santa Clause, I suggest lake rudolph, more expensivc if you rent a cabin or thier rental rv, but 30 dollars for camping. Plus you get free shuttle to the park. In Reality, if you do everything once and the slides in the waterpark, Hw could easily be a 6-8 hour park then drive onto Kings Island in one day. I do suggest Plymouth rock Cafe, Turkey or Fried Chicken plus other meats. plus two sides for only 6.99.

If I were you, I'd leave out "Geauga Lake", as there isn't much there, and probably "Kings Island", too; KI is a big park with a LOT of rides, but nothing that really stands out as being amazing.

You might want to try to squeeze "Indiana Beach" in there, which might be a bit out of the way, but according to most enthusiasts (I myself have yet to be there), it's a must-do.

I also recommend "Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom", which is by no means a blow-away park, but has a unique collection of rides. I'd also recommend swapping "Hershey" and "Knoebel's", as "Hershey" can get packed on Summer Saturdays (though they do keep the lines moving).

Oh, and I HAVE to say, if you're not afraid to travel into New York (and there are a lot of people who are), grab a spin on the famous Cyclone; you can't come all this way and hit this many coasters without hitting the granddaddy of 'em all. Just make sure you leave a full day for this, as driving into and out of the city will take a while.

IS the cyclone going to be open next year?

^

While there are a ton of rumors going around about the possible "remodeling" of Coney Island (most of which seem too far out there to be little more than pie-in-the-sky dreams), it's pretty much confirmed that, no matter what happens, the Cyclone will continue to operate in its current spot.

okay, I didn't know.

If you are looking to fly into the midwest, which by your itinerary I'm guessing is true, I'd fly into Detroit (DTW) or Chicago (ORD). Then do something like this...

Days 1 and 2: Michigan's Adventure and SF Great America. If you fly to Chicago, do Great America, if you fly into Detroit, do MIA first. Then, on day 2, do the other park. Michigan's Adventure doesn't require a full day, so you can plan a longer drive for that day. Buy season passes at both - Michigan's Adventure's pass will get you into CP, PKI, GL and Dorney, and will get you early entry at Cedar Point, plus its cheaper than if you buy it in Ohio.

Day 3: Indiana Beach, drive towards Holiday World (its pretty far)

Day 4: Holiday World and SF Kentucky Kingdom. Neither is a full-day park, and since they are just over an hour apart, they can easily be done in the same day.

Day 5 -6: Like you had, PKI and Cedar Point

Day 7: Spend most of the day at Cedar Point. Begin drive towards Kennywood, stopping at Geauga Lake after 5pm (when admission is discounted). You don't need a full day at this park, you only need a couple hours

Day 8: Kennywood

Day 9: Hershey (the plan you came up with sounds good)

Day 10: Knoebels

Day 11: Dorney + Waterpark

Day 12 - 13: SF Great Adventure.. you could squeeze in some Jersey shore parks or Clementon if you are done with Great Adventure early (with a gold pass, this should be easy). At the very least, Jenkinson's, Casino Pier and Funtown Pier are close and combine to have 10 credits.

Day 14: SFNE

Day 15: Lake Compounce

Unless your day at SFNE would fall on a weekend, I would switch t hose as then you would be going backwards a bit. Or, if you go to Lake Compounce last, flying out of New York City may be easier

You definitely want a gold qbot at Great Adventure! The other SF parks, Great America and New England, aslo offer q-bots which would be worth it for a foreign visitor. None of the other parks allow you to bypass lines.

Dorney and the water park in one day is plenty.

If you go in May or early June, you should be ok in terms of weather and crowds.

You might also want to also check out Waldameer Park in Erie, Pennsylvania. The park is not that large but it has some good rides. They have a small water park with about 10 slides, a very fun and wet (for me at least) log flume, a great Maurer Sohne spinning coaster named Steel Dragon, and next year they are opening Ravine Flyer II, a brand new Gravity Group wooden coaster!!

Thank you everyone for the tips so far.

In the meanwhile we already know that we will go the last week of May & the first week of June, or the first two weeks of June as some parks are not open yet on weekdays the third week of May.

Squeeze in Indiana Beach is tempting I must say, after having seen the Lost Coaster pics and footage of the Midwest trip. Will check this.

Also SF KK is interesting and not too far from HW. Will have to see how late we arrive on Saturday and perhaps we can squeeze in a day 0 park visit.

Swapping Knoebels and Hershey seems a very valueable tip : so Hershey will be packed on Saturday but not on Sunday ?

As we will take a Maxpass, we will include GL but considering your advice, we might visit CP the third day in the morning and only visit GL in the afternoon.

Driving into NY is not really tempting I must say. We don't really care that we will not get the additional 10 credits over there.

SF GA & Michigan's Adventure are 2 parks I didn't consider yet. Have to look whether flying to one of the 2 airports you mentioned would be an option for us. Also a visit Waldameer must be checked.

Now, in stead of going to SFNE and LC, we probably will do the following : after SFGA we drive to the south to SF America. Then we can also visit PKD and end with BGE which imo sounds more interesting than Lake Compounce as a last park of the trip. No offense to LC or their fans .

Is there a big difference btwn SROS at SFNE and SFA ? We don't want to miss the experience of riding the #1 coaster in the world of course.

^ Huge difference.

SROS at SFNE blows DL's and SFA's versions out of the water.

SFA's SROS is still a good ride, it's just that SFNE's is that much better.

Yes, SFA and DL's Superman rides are mirrored copies of one another, while SFNE's is totally unique, and awesome. They're made by the same company, have the same color track and trains, are over 200 feet tall, and have the same name. But that's pretty much where the similarities between the DL/SFA and SFNE Superman rides end.

^ & ^^

Thanks. This is of course not the reply I was hoping for

Still, I think SFNE will be for a next trip and in stead we will go to SFA, PKD and BGE. Fly back will be from Norfolk in that case.

I now have to see how we can make enough time to visit these 3 parks, while we had only 2 days left.

You may be better off flying back from Washington DC or Baltimore. I imagine Norfolk will be much more expensive!

^ Ok thanks, will check that.

In order to fit the extra park in the schedule, we will visit Hershey only on Saturday, visit Knoebels on Sunday morning and drive to Dorney in the early afternoon, as Dorney normally should be open till 10 pm then.

Schedule will look as follows after the amendments :

Fly in on Saturday May 24 (depending on arrival hour, possibly visit to SFKK)

A/ Holiday World,Sunday May 25

B/Paramount Kings Island, Monday May 26

C/Cedar Point, Tuesday and Wednesday May 27 + 28

D/Geauga lake, Thursday May 29

E/Kennywood : Friday May 30

F/Hershey, Saturday May 31

G/ Knoebels, Sunday June 1

H/Dorney, Sunday June 1

I/ SFGA, Monday & Tuesday June 2 + 3

J/ Six Flags America, Wednesday June 4

K/PKD, Thursday June 5

L/BGE, Friday June 6

fly back from ?? on Friday evening June 6.

After checking the possible flights, schedule has been amended slightly again, as follows :

Fly in on Saturday May 24 : Evansville

A/ Holiday World,Sunday May 25

B/ Kings Island, Monday May 26

C/Cedar Point, Tuesday and Wednesday May 27 + 28

D/Geauga lake, Thursday May 29

E/Kennywood : Friday May 30

F/Hershey, Saturday May 31

G/ Knoebels, Sunday June 1

H/Dorney, Sunday June 1

I/ SFGA, Monday & Tuesday June 2 + 3

J/KD, Wednesday June 4

K/BGE, Thursday June 5

L/ Six Flags America, Friday June 6

fly back from Washington DC on Friday evening June 6.

Depending on what will happen in GL, we might not visit GL. In stead we would then foresee 1 day Knoebels and 1 day Dorney + waterpark.

Now I've been trying to get an overview of the total route and would like some locals to check whether I didn't make huge mistakes. Plse check following

map. (it's on city level, not street level).

Thanks in advance.

SFNE's SROS is a lot better than DL's version, but DL's version is still a VERY good ride (DL RoS - 8.5/10 SFNE SROS - 10/10) DL's version still has great airtime, in fact, about as good as SFNE's, but SFNE has more of it (more hills) and is more forceful. DL's helices are very large, but they still produce some strong forces, enough to start a gray out on some occasions. You should try to head out for NY, DL has good rides despite the constant wave of crap people call it. Viper is smooth and forceful, Boomerang is smooth and insane (once you realize that Boomerangs pull 5.2 G's you start to appreciate them more.) Mind Eraser is painful, but still smooth enough for re rides. Even Predator is fun, just remember: SECOND CAR, FIRST ROW, BLACK TRAIN! If you don't sit there, you will be sorry. MFI has Silver Comet, which is a very good wooden coaster, Seabreeze has that nice family atmosphere, a fun spinning coaster and one of the oldest coasters on the planet (turned 87 this year) and Sylvan Beach is a tiny amusement park, but it has a classic feel of the 1940's - 1960's. They just got a Rotor that only has a couple of weeks until its open, and they have a lot of OLD rides. TGE is a nice family park, and their Boomerang is great with the amazing scenery of the Adirondack Mountains (also very smooth) and their Comet is freaking unbelievable! So, yeah, there are a good five parks in NY that are definitely worth a visit IMO.

^^ sounds like a solid plan.

One thing to keep in mind. You might be done with Geauga Lake pretty quickly so keep the following idea in your pocket.

If you leave Geauga Lake early in the afternoon you might want to consider Waldameer park later in the same day before heading down to Kennywood.

But then again, Waldameer park might not even be open on weekdays prior to Memorial Day nor might the Ravine Flyer be open yet.

On your map, it shows you driving through Louisville - if this is the case, you will drive right past SFKK! While I personally didn't like the park too much, they do have an awesome stand-up and I hear the waterpark is at least decent. But looking at your schedule, it seems as though you might not have enough time for more than an hour or two stay at SFKK. If you're not looking to just do "credit runs" to parks, then maybe you avoid it, but if you're okay with just running in, getting all the credits, and leaving, it's a good park to stop at. We went on June 7, 2006, and got everything done within about two hours [including re-rides]. There were virtually no lines at all.

Just something to consider. It wouldn't be out of the way at all, and they have at least one very good coaster.

As larrygator mentioned, Waldameer would be a good choice after you finish with Geauga Lake. But looking at your road map, going to Waldameer would add some extra driving to your trip, which is probably not something you want to do! So I'd say skip it.

^,^^,^^^

Thanks everybody.

I don't understand why I didn't notice myself that we are passing SFKK.

If crowds at HW are light and we were able to do everything by let's say 2 of 3 pm, then we certainly stop at SFKK. We will buy a SF season pass anyway.

I checked the Waldameer option but it is indeed more miles which we want to avoid.

Hey grotslurf, cool trip. I am planning a very similar trip within days of yours!

I was wondering if it would be possible to do GL in the morning at Kennywood in the afternoon? I thought GL can be done in a couple hours and have the balance of the day at Kennywood.

Also, can anyone give me a heads up on the best possible route between Kings Island and Cedar Point? Whatever is fastest.

Hey grotslurf, cool trip. I am planning a very similar trip within days of yours!

 

I was wondering if it would be possible to do GL in the morning at Kennywood in the afternoon? I thought GL can be done in a couple hours and have the balance of the day at Kennywood.

 

Also, can anyone give me a heads up on the best possible route between Kings Island and Cedar Point? Whatever is fastest.

GL and KW could probably be done in a day... Nikki and I went on a very busy Friday night in August, and managed to get on half the credits in three or four hours, and multiple rides on Phantom and Thunderbolt. The full park can definitely be done in five or six hours. It depends, though - GL is nearly a four hour drive from KW, so it'd be hard-pressed to get all credits in one day. It's worth a shot but it's no guarantee!

Mapquest has the GL to Kennywood trip at 2 hours and 16 minutes.

I was planning to hit the parks in late May or early June.

Oh well, nothing is set until next year's schedules are posted.

Mapquest has the GL to Kennywood trip at 2 hours and 16 minutes.

 

I was planning to hit the parks in late May or early June.

 

Oh well, nothing is set until next year's schedules are posted.

Yeah, I was using the wrong route to get there [forgot that you could cut across the state instead of going up 79 to 90 and across].

You could most likely get both done in a single day then.

Well, at least I don't have to worry about Geauga Lake.

Now, what about doing Dorney in the morning and Knoebel's in the evening? The second week of June, the 11th, to be exact is a Wednesday. Both parks seem great but not full-day excursions. Dorney opens at 10 AM and Knoebel's probably closes around 8 PM.

Also, does anyone have much experience with Astroland/Wonder Wheel and Coney Island? Surprising, those parks get very little attention on the website. If Astroland is there next year, where would one park? Any suggestions?

We will have to advance the trip with 1 week due to work obligations of one of the participants. So we will go the last 2 weeks of May.

As GL is closing, we will spend 3 days at CP iso 2.

I've already checked the 2007 park calendars of the first week, and it seems that we will not end up at closed doors : HW, SFKK, CP & KW opened in the middle of May.

Only the KI calendar is no longer on line at their website. Would anybody having this years brochure of KI be so kind and check when KI opened this year. We would visit KI on the Monday of the 3th week of May.

I have already taken up contact with KI directly but they will only announce the 2008 openingshours in January.