Theme Park Discussion / FredD is coming to America

Next week I'll be flying for a good 2 week theme park trip in the USA! Since NE has a lot of Americans (duh) maybe it's a good opportunity to meet up sometime in one of the parks I'll be doing?! I've met some NE'ers before and that was always fun

 

My schedule:

June   8th: Six Flags New England (in the afternoon/evening)

June   9th: Six Flags New England & Lake Compounce & Quassy Amusement Park

June 10th: Six Flags Great Adventure

June 11th: Hershey Park

June 12th: Kings Dominion

June 13th: Busch Gardens Williamsburg

June 14th: Carowinds

June 15th: Six Flags over Georgia

June 16th: Dollywood

June 17th: Kentucky Kingdom (before noon) & Six Flags St Louis (afternoon/evening)

June 18th: Silver Dollar City

June 19th: Holiday World

June 20th: Kings Island

June 21th: Cedar Point

June 22th: Cedar Point

June 23th: Coney Island NY (depends on having time left)

 

 

Let me know if you wanna meet up  At least expect a ton of photos and trip reports!

Someone needs to tell you that this schedule isnt feasible. The driving / flying / travel distances are too great for a one day turnaround. Did you check all the times for travels before booking this schedule?

For example, the driving distance between Kentucky kingdom and Six Flags St Louis is 4.5 hours. Theres no way youre going to both parks in one day.

Someone needs to tell you that this schedule isn’t feasible. The driving / flying / travel distances are too great for a one day turnaround. Did you check all the times for travels before booking this schedule?

 

 

It will be heavy, yeah, but I still have a week off after the journey to rest. I'm kinda used to long drives and we have 4 drivers in the car so nobody has to drive for hours. 

It will be heavy, yeah, but I still have a week off after the journey to rest. I'm kinda used to long drives and we have 4 drivers in the car so nobody has to drive for hours.

Sure, but even if you drive the 4.5 hours from KK to St. Louis, you’ll have maybe around 4 hours in each park - not including parking, gas stops, food, etc. So maybe you’ll get to ride one or two rides at most? That’s really tight!

What do you do for a living to be able to afford this? I thought you were a communist? Will you guys share the load of driving?

Regardless, that looks like an amazing line up. Very happy you get the chance to go for this! Shame you aren't coming down to Florida to hit IOA and Busch Gardens, but it's a terrible drive.

Wish I was around!

I drove over 7 hours to Europa Park, I wasn't disappointed.

 

Have fun Fred!

Do you sleep ever? This is insane. You should also build in some flexibility in the event of bad weather.

 

I guess if I had to offer some advice, here you go, but you're talking about an unimaginable amount of driving here...

 

- Get an EZ Pass. Your rental car company will offer a toll option, you'll want it. If they don't, just buy one on the Jersey Turnpike on the way to Great Adventure at a rest area.

 

- Quassy probably closes early. You may want to hit it on June 8th on the way to Six Flags. As an added bonus, it's a Friday which means ride tickets are HEAVILY discounted to 50 cents.

 

- Try to leave Hersheypark early and get past Fredricksburg, VA late at night when heading to Kings Dominion. Traffic in DC is unimaginable misery and if you attempt that in the morning you'll sit there for hours. They have reversible EZ Pass only express lanes but they'll be closed in your direction in the morning so traffic will be hell.

 

I might buy their skip the line pass even if it sucks. Unless you're a credit whore, Skip Laff Trakk. It's going to have a 90 minute wait and there's no avoiding it thanks to Sweet Start.

 

- Holiday World sucks and doesn't deserve a full day. You can make this much less stressful by doing this:

 

June 17th: Kentucky Kingdom & Holiday World. Drive towards Branson. Note: There is a time zone change between Kentucky Kingdom and Holiday World.

June 18th: Get up early and drive another hour or so. Silver Dollar City

June 19th: Six Flags St. Louis, leave early. Drive towards Kings Island

 

It's still monkey fuck insane, but it's less insane. You can easily ride everything at Kentucky Kingdom in 2 hours and Six Flags St. Louis doesn't have to be a full day park.

 

Kentucky Kingdom has an out of state special but you can't buy it online. Buy it at the gate. Don't pay full price.

 

Forget Coney Island. The place straight up blows and it's hilariously expensive. If you're looking for something to do between Cedar Point and New York City, go to Knoebels. You could do Dorney too since you'll have a Platinum Pass and every ride is walk on all day, every day (you can ride all 6 coasters in like 2-3 hours plus Demon Drop and Thunder Creek Mountain which are the only other rides in the park that are worth a shit) but Knoebels is way better. Fuck Coney Island though.

 

- Kings Island lets you in 30 minutes early with a Platinum Pass. Cedar Point lets you in one hour early with a Platinum pass. Since you're a robot who doesn't sleep, take advantage.

 

At Cedar Point you'll want to park in the main lot, follow the fence by Gatekeeper to the new boardwalk and enter through the resort gate by Magnum. Get to the lot no later than 8:30. They'll let you through the gate and into a holding area. At 9:00... follow the masses to Steel Vengeance. If you don't run but just walk quickly, you'll still only wait about an hour.

 

Alternately, on day 2 you can easily ride Millennium Force, Gatekeeper and Valravn all within that hour if you want since everyone will run to Frontiertown.

 

- You'll almost definitely need a Flash Pass at Six Flags Great Adventure and Six Flags over Georgia. You can take a "wait and see" attitude with the other parks.

Sure, but even if you drive the 4.5 hours from KK to St. Louis, you’ll have maybe around 4 hours in each park - not including parking, gas stops, food, etc. So maybe you’ll get to ride one or two rides at most? That’s really tight!

 

Oh believe me doing KK and SFST on one day was not my idea at all. But my friends wanted to include SFST to get some coaster credits, since it's on the way to Silver Dollar City which we all wanted to include on this trip even though it's far off the way. Main idea is to get the coasters in KK and then drive on to St Louis.  

 

Personally I've done SFST before (and didn't like it) so I don't care. I just want to ride the KK credits. I'm already happy we do Silver Dollar City. That will be for sure the heaviest day. 

 

 

Thanks Josh, I am just a plain retail worker but my wage is quite high for the hours I do. Not really complaining, don't know how it compares to the average wages in the States. But of course it also helps I still live with my father, saves a lot of costs. Though after this trip I'll be quite done with travelling for a while since I plan to buy an apartment in 2019. If everything goes right. 

Well fuck. You're at Hersheypark (30 minutes from my house) on a day I'm going to be either in DC or Tennessee. There goes that meet-up idea.

Do you sleep ever? This is insane. You should also build in some flexibility in the event of bad weather.

 

You maybe won't believe, but the schedule is carefully planned out. Even the food stops and the time spent there is planned. Think we have every night at least 6 or 7 hours at the hotel to sleep. And there still can be slept in the car. Bad weather will always be a spoilsport, can't plan that out. 

 

I guess if I had to offer some advice, here you go, but you're talking about an unimaginable amount of driving here...

 

It's OK. Last weekend I drove about 19 hours in 4 days   

 

- Get an EZ Pass. Your rental car company will offer a toll option, you'll want it. If they don't, just buy one on the Jersey Turnpike on the way to Great Adventure at a rest area.

 

You said this before I think and I passed it to my friend who actually planned and booked everything. Gonna pass it on again to be sure!

 

- Quassy probably closes early. You may want to hit it on June 8th on the way to Six Flags. As an added bonus, it's a Friday which means ride tickets are HEAVILY discounted to 50 cents.

 

Quassy is actually 2 hours longer open than Lake Compounce on June 9th. The fact that's on the way from Lake Compounce and our hotel is mostly the only reason to jump in and get the creds over there. Reckon it won't be more than just jumping in and get the creds.

 

- Try to leave Hersheypark early and get past Fredricksburg, VA late at night when heading to Kings Dominion. Traffic in DC is unimaginable misery and if you attempt that in the morning you'll sit there for hours. They have reversible EZ Pass only express lanes but they'll be closed in your direction in the morning so traffic will be hell.

 

This is a hella good tip. Thanks!

 

I might buy their skip the line pass even if it sucks. Unless you're a credit whore, Skip Laff Trakk. It's going to have a 90 minute wait and there's no avoiding it thanks to Sweet Start.

 

My group of friends are basically all credit whores, lol. Laff Trakk first thing to do when we arrive I guess?!

 

- Holiday World sucks and doesn't deserve a full day. You can make this much less stressful by doing this:

 

Wait what, you are the first I hear saying Holiday World sucks   I've done it before in 2013 and very much liked it. Great coasters, free soda and a great pool. Also, it will be a great chance to relax at their pool/water park. No I can't agree with you on this one, Holiday World deserves a full day! (in 2013 we did 2 days at the park )

 

June 17th: Kentucky Kingdom & Holiday World. Drive towards Branson. Note: There is a time zone change between Kentucky Kingdom and Holiday World.

June 18th: Get up early and drive another hour or so. Silver Dollar City

June 19th: Six Flags St. Louis, leave early. Drive towards Kings Island

 

It's still monkey fuck insane, but it's less insane. You can easily ride everything at Kentucky Kingdom in 2 hours and Six Flags St. Louis doesn't have to be a full day park.

 

Meh like I said before, I didn't want to include SF St Louis but OK, if we can have all the creds at KK I'm fine with it. That we can not get all the coasters of SFT St Louis is also fine by me, visited it before, have the creds and disliked the park. So don't care about that one.

 

Kentucky Kingdom has an out of state special but you can't buy it online. Buy it at the gate. Don't pay full price.

 

Good to know!

 

Forget Coney Island. The place straight up blows and it's hilariously expensive. If you're looking for something to do between Cedar Point and New York City, go to Knoebels.

 

Knoebels was on our first plans but we had to change it since the flight schedules changed. Now on the last day it is normally just driving from our hotel to the airport and if we have some time left, we go to Coney Island. That's the plan. It's right near the airport where we need to be and they have the Cyclone which is mythical for coaster fans. That explains it maybe a little. Knoebels is not an option since time is very limited this day. 

 

- Kings Island lets you in 30 minutes early with a Platinum Pass. Cedar Point lets you in one hour early with a Platinum pass. Since you're a robot who doesn't sleep, take advantage.

 

At Cedar Point you'll want to park in the main lot, follow the fence by Gatekeeper to the new boardwalk and enter through the resort gate by Magnum. Get to the lot no later than 8:30. They'll let you through the gate and into a holding area. At 9:00... follow the masses to Steel Vengeance. If you don't run but just walk quickly, you'll still only wait about an hour.

 

We do have a Cedar Fair platinum pass and at CP we'll be staying at the Breakers so early entrance anyway. Both parks I done before so I can enjoy them at my own pace   In 2013 though I managed to ride all CP and KI coasters on one day (and it was quite crowded at KI). We already planned out what you were saying, the Magnus entrance and Steel Vengeance straight away. But rumours going that they are testing SteVe riding with two trains so I hope they get it done by then and don't have to do horror queues for it. 

 

- You'll almost definitely need a Flash Pass at Six Flags Great Adventure and Six Flags over Georgia. You can take a "wait and see" attitude with the other parks.

 

Yeah we were already thinking a flash pass at Sf Gr Adventure would be a necessity. Didn't expect it for Georgia but OK, let's see. 

 

 

 

Thanks for your advice Bill! 

 

I think it will be fine. Average time in the car will be around 4 hours most days, and that's split of course between morning, park time and after park time. Just the day with KK and Sf STL takes the cake. 

Why are you subjecting yourself to labour camp conditions? 
It's also a trip for relaxing right? Why not some free days? 

Dude you'll die

Sounds like you'll have a great time!  Let me know if you need any help planning stuff.  

that trip is batshit

 

you probably walk around 5-10 km at minimum at a day at an amusement park. you're gonna do that for 20 days straight with no rests? you better start a workout schedule now... keep in mind that driving is not relaxing like you'd think, you always finish being extra tired and worn out. source: have done lots of road trips especially in the US that include theme parks

Going to echo everyone else here and say that this is a very full schedule.....just looking at drive times alone you've got 7 hours from Branson to Santa Claus, 4.5 from Pigeon Forge to Louisville...I've been known to do 12 hours in a day but especially in the Midwest, it SUCKS. I don't want to tell you to cancel any plans now but I'd say be prepared to cancel one or two of those parks. Kudos to you for making the most of your time though.

 

Also definitely buy an EZ-Pass. 

Back from my trip, it was pure awesomeness. Got to experience new interesting parks and rode a lot (new) awesome roller coasters. It was heavy but I'm still alive Of course I'll be writing about my trip. I'll be posting them on my blog (Theme Park World if you didn't knew it already) and just posting the link to it here. 

 

 

First article is a full review on Steel Vengeance, the coaster of the trip me and my friend were super excited for. It was announced with a whole list of records, including being the coaster delivering the most airtime on a coaster in the world. Very high expectations! Can it live up to the hype? Find out here: http://themepark-wor...timate-revenge/

 

 

 

 

 

Also, Cocoa... one of my friends had such a step counter app during the trip. We walked average around 17 km a day I lost 3 KG on this trip!

jeez, what a whirlwind. looking forward to your reports!

I had an interview with Cedar Points Tony Clark, their head of communication   Had a good chat with him.

 

http://themepark-wor...nts-tony-clark/

 

 

Tripreport about Six Flags New England (in Dutch) --> HERE

Photo gallery of Six Flags New England --> HERE

 

 

Not gonna translate everything, some remarks:

 

- Operations suck heavily at this park... Why sending both two trains empty to clean up one train. Why does cleaning up vomit takes 15 minutes when you are with 5 ride OP's in the station. Batman's second train always had to wait few minutes in the final brakes because the other train wasn't dispatched yet...

 

- Wicked Cyclone did not beat my other two RMC's I rode before (Outlaw Run & Wildfire) but is still a really good coaster, topnotch. Best coaster of the park.

 

- Superman was also a worldclass coaster, combining the best bits of Expedition G Force (Holiday Park) and Goliath (Walibi Holland). My #500 also  

 

- Joker wasn't my cup of tea, others liked it a lot.

 

- The Vekoma SLC had modern restraints, so no headbashing, but still a unpleasant and shaky rough ride. 

 

- Batman, a floorless B&M, would be a topper when it was located in a Belgian park but only feels as a filler ride here.

 

- Thunderbolt was a bit rough

 

- Met Sens, it was nice to meet him. We met up 2 days later too!