tedfromthefuture

No. What I was asking was if you thought it was worth flying somewhere to spend 1/2 a day at an amusement park or taking your time over a vacation at one park. I guess I should have made that clearer. For an example of what that would be like and how much it would cost, I posted an example itinerary to get a perspective on it.

I wrote this about a year ago elsewhere, but I thought you guys might like the discussion after talking about planning our next big tour: --- So I live in Boston. The closest theme park is Canobie Lake Park which is 33.7 miles, or a 30-60 minute drive. A single ticket is ~$28. Six Flags New England is a 60-90 minute drive and tickets cost ~$37. I'm lucky to live so close to amusement parks, but for driving, I'm reliant on friends to go. Any time I get a day off of work, I'd take the time to visit a park with friends. What would really be nice, instead of going to the neighborhood park, go to one I have never been to before. So here is an example itinerary on how to do it. From experience, on an off weekday, I could basically do all the rides at a park within 1/2 a day. You can build on this concept for a longer trip. Obviously, if you can crash with someone with a car or use reward points, it would be a lot cheaper and you can stay longer. What I am asking of you, for the effort and money, is it worth flying somewhere to spend 1/2 a day at an amusement park or taking your time over multiple days at one park? --- 1) Make a plan A, B, and C, for disaster scenarios Plan A is your ideal plan. For example, here are some travel plans when I wrote this for October 21st, 2011: 4:00-4:50 AM - Shower, get dressed, walk to T station 5:00-5:30 AM - arrive at Boston Airport by MBTA 6:00 AM - flight to BWI 7:35-8:00 AM - get to bus terminal at BWI 8:20-10:30 AM - public transport to Six Flags America ~5 & 1/2 hours in Six Flags America 4:30-7:00 PM - Public Transport back to BWI 7:55-9:17 PM - flight from BWI to BOS 9:35-10:00 PM - MBTA to home Total cost: $195.30 For Plan B, plan to buffer an hour between travel activities in the case of delays, traffic, and bad weather. Prepare to lose the money you spent on your trip. For Plan C, plan for everything going wrong. Your plane gets cancelled, there is a zombie outbreak, or you end up in an accident. Travel Insurance is an idea, but I didn't have that for this itinerary. Make note of the local news, weather, and transportation delays. There are quite a few online phone apps for this. Register with the park's first aid, make note of the hospitals, and if you have allergies or the like, have something on your person that explains that. Prepare to spend an extra $200-$1000, if you need to. 2) Find cheap airfare online. A lot of time, there are specials. A lot of airlines offer free snacks and drinks. So use that to your advantage. Bring some crystal light packs and mix with free water at parks in a bottle. Flight plan: Round-trip airfare: $133.40 ~4 & 1/2 hours at airports and in the air 3) Use public transportation or express buses if you have to. If you can rent a car on the mad cheap, then do that. Personally, I can't drive for medical reasons (stupid depth perception), so I have to take public transport. Public transport is ideal and the cheapest, but it takes a long time to travel. In Orlando and Toronto for instance, they have express buses that are real cheap that go directly to the theme parks. In Orlando, I could get to Universal in under 30 minutes. If anyone has seen The Wire, Baltimore isn't the safest of places. So always use caution. Buffer your time and money, if you are taking public transport. You never know when you are going to be delayed or need to make plans to spend the night. Morning trip: Return trip: $4 - Travel on the MBTA $21.40 - public transport in Baltimore ~4 & 1/2 hours 4) Find Cheap Tickets. $36.50 for admission ~5 & 1/2 hours in park This isn't a lot of time, but it is enough time to go on some e-ticket rides at the least. Extra $30 for a flash pass may be worth it if there is an unexpected crowd. So, to recap: $133.40 airfare +$25.40 public transport +$36.50 admission ---------- = $195.30 --- So what do we think? Worth it or not?

Yes! I had one so bad, I had to go to the hospital. Took a full month to recover. I've been staying inside for the past couple of years and somehow, I went from tan to white. --- Have you ever gotten a kiss from a dolphin?

Fox remaking Firefly..directed by Uwe Boll. --- What's worse than finding a cockroach in your hamburger and both halves are still moving with one half sliding down your throat pinching you as it goes down?

You can never grow out of it! You'll be like 90 and thinking, "I know of a cool way to die." As for my intro, I live up in Boston and just started working in the industry. I've been to ~10 parks this year on business. I will probably match that visiting IAAPA. As for parks on vacation, I prefer to go to ones that are easy to travel to. One time, I flew down to Orlando, went on almost all the rides at Universal, and flew back the same day. Take that, hotel prices!

Do you mean like apps for the parks or do you mean game apps?

I just looked it up. Early June depart and Late June arrive. BOS to TYO. If I went on multiple airlines, I can get it down to $1181.10. Non-stop on AA is $2012.10. These flights are coach. The cheapest first class seats cost around what Japan Airlines wants coach. Delta for $5158.58 and AA non-stop for $6521.10 (Other airlines have much better first class seats). Since it is a very long flight, I do think it is better to break it up into 1-stop on same airline so you are less likely to lose your luggage. Yeah, $1200+fees sounds pretty good! So 3K for the parks, 1.5K flight (fees, taxis, etc.), and since it is a month, I'm thinking $30 spending money a day for food/supplies/etc. So $900 for that and I'm thinking $600 as emergent cash. So I think I will need a minimum of $6K for the trip.

$5 for the Great Dipper seems expensive if you would like to ride multiple times. I wonder how many riders they get a year?

Cool! I like the American tours because they are much closer to where I live. The cost of a flight to Japan is the same amount as the trip there. I'd love to visit, but I don't have $8K to spare. The tours give me plenty of time to save up funds. When is the final date to register?