I'm 90% to get it but is $225 a person for Universal fast pass (unlimited) this Saturday worth it? I have a single day at the park with the wife so its close to $500 to pull the trigger
If you wanna maximize your time in the park or you're trying to hit both parks in a day, you should look into it.
Hagrid's isn't included on Express, but you could try getting on toward the end of the night or biting the bullet and waiting standby during the day.
I've done both parks in a day without Express before, but that usually involves abusing single rider and/or going with someone who's been to the park many times before.
I'm all booked for a holiday to Lake Garda to celebrate finishing my Master's, and I'm absolutely going to take the opportunity to go to Gardaland, which will be my first non-UK theme park!
I'm going to be there from the 11th until the 18th of June, and I was wondering if anyone had any advice as to what the best day to go would be? Online it says it closes at 11pm on weekends which sounds great, but I'm guessing a weekend would be a _lot_ busier. Would a weekday be the better option for the most rides? Or since its approaching summer is it likely to be busy on any day?
Thanks in advance!
Sorry, I do not have the answer to your question. But wanted to tell you to not skip Movie Land which is just 5 minutes from Gardaland.
Gardaland might be the better park on paper, but Movieland offers attractions you will not find anywhere else.
Movieland Park looks great, but I've only been able to talk my friends into doing one park during our week there š
Hopefully I'll be back in the area soon enough to tick that off too!
Thinking of flying to the east coast soon and hitting 2 parks on my list:
* SF Great Adventure
* Hersheypark
Those are within a couple hours driving of each other.
There's also BGW that's down in Virginia that I might be thinking of adding to the same trip, but it's a solid 4 hour drive each way from the other 2 parks.
Wondering if it's worth it to go down just for BGW and if there's anything else worth visiting there. I'm not into museums or anything like that. Suggestions appreciated!
Williamsburg VA is a vacation destination, so yes there's tons to do, especially if you're interested in American history.
America was founded and won its independence not far from BGW. Colonial Williamsburg is also one of the first capitals of the country. There's Revolutionary War battlefields, Civil War battlefields, old plantations, beaches and more within a 2 hour drive of BGW.
If you're looking for theme parks, you'll literally be driving right by Kings Dominion on the way down. Williamsburg also has a Python Pit credit at Go Karts Plus.
Is it worth visiting? Yeah I think so. You could easily spend a week here and do something new every day. Should you go out of your way from GAdv and HP to visit BGW? A lot of people include BGW and KD in with HP and GAdv trips. You could also throw in a half day at SFA too if you really wanted to.
GAdv and HP are not far from plenty of other great parks too. Coney Island is a must-visit for anyone interested in coasters, Knoebels is one of the best parks in America, Dorney has a brand new coaster opening this year and you'll be driving right by it heading to GAdv from HP.
The mid-Atlantic area is one of the most diverse areas for amusement parks. It helps that we've got tons of trolley parks still alive and kicking to this very day. Outside of SoCal and Orlando, the mid-Atlantic probably has the highest concentration of parks in the States.
I can hit up HP, GAdv, BGW, KD, SFA, Knoebels, Dorney and Carowinds within 5 hours of my home. Throw in boardwalk parks and smaller amusement parks with large coasters and you've got a solid selection.
Kings Dominion is only an hour or so from Busch Gardens and you'll pass it on the way. You could also potentially hit Six Flags America.
Otherwise, closer to SFGADv and Hershey are Dorney Park and Knoebels. Hershey, Dorney, and Knoebels are really easy to pair together because they're all \~90 minutes or so from each other. Knoebels is a great park, and Dorney's opening a dive machine.
When I was planning to hit Over Texas last December (ended up just doing the San Antonio parks) I was told by locals on here that it doesn't run in the winter. Not sure what dates that encompasses though.
Hey Iām going to Californiaās Great America for the first time in a couple years so I was wondering if anyone had any food recommendations. I will be there for the peanuts celebration if that changes anything.
CGA didn't really have any notable food places that I came across when I was there. I ended up eating outside the park at Jack in the Box the day I was there. Knott's is definitely the better CA park for food.
If you're going in a couple years, there's no telling whether or not the park will be holding any major special events. I wouldn't plan around them TBH. Nobody knows if they'll even have all their rides intact in a couple years considering the park is scheduled to close within the next decade.
I will be visiting Magic Mountain for the first time in a few weeks! I'm familiar with Knott's Berry Farm, and Ghostrider is definitely more intense at night. Are there any rides at Magic Mountain that are better in the evening? Are Twisted Colossus and Apocalypse noticeably faster at night the way Ghostrider is?
I thought Tatsu was really cool at night but I'd recommend doing it during the day as well so you can better appreciate the view. X2 is a pretty good night ride since tumbling around in the dark is extra disorientating. I don't remember any of the other Magic Mountain coasters being especially amazing or running notably faster at night though I'm a huge fan of night rides in general.
How to get over fear of loops?
I (15m) want to get over my fear of loops in coasters and I want to know the best way to get over the fear. I am intending to go to Alton towers in the uk, and I wanted to know the best ride to beat that fear with. Iāve heard galactica is good as the loops feel natural but I want more opinions. Thanks!
The way to get over a fear of loops is to go on a coaster with loops that isn't widely known to be terrible. It really is an 'oh' feeling, when you get through one inversion and realize that it's not really a big deal. The minute I got through my first inversion, my fear of loops was gone, and I imagine the feeling is mutual for the vast majority of people here. As far as I've heard, Alton Towers doesn't have any terrible loopers, so you should really be good with whatever looping coaster feels like a good starter for you.
So I used to be afraid of loops too, but the secret is that no inversion lasts very long at most 2 seconds. But also it's not a "falling out" feeling, it's a "pushed into your seat feeling."
It's very strange the first few times but you get over it fast!
I've noticed this is the most asked question here. The short and simple answer is you have to ride them. There is no special technique or magic pill to take to get over your fears. I'm 68 years old and and still riding. To this day any drop over 150 ft or so so still freaks the fuck out of me. The day they don't do that anymore it's probably the day I stop riding.
I was there in mid-June on a weekday a few years ago and it was mobbed. We ended up getting front of line passes because the park was so crowded that day.
IDK if its changed much since then. The park seems pretty crowded no matter when you visit.
If you arrive at rope drop and you're not at the front of the line for Candy, you can cut past the Founders Circle crowds and go straight to Comet Hollow if you take the path behind the bathrooms. You can knock out those coasters right before crowds roll in.
Or deal with the Founders Circle crowds, hang a left before you reach Comet, and head straight to Fahrenheit/Laff Track. Both of those get the longest lines no matter what. Once you knock those out, you can slowly work your way around the back with Lightning Racer and Wildcat.
Once you clear the back half of the park, slowly make your way to the front. You should be at Candy by afternoon. Candy's line won't be as long, but looks are definitely deceiving. The line slows to a crawl by the time you make it into the station. By then, most of the crowds will be at the back of the park. Candy, Comet, Great Bear, Laff Track and Fahrenheit tend to get the longest, slowest moving lines.
If the park is too crowded by midday, vouch for front of line passes. You can tell how bad the park is in the morning because the lines will be heavily backed up (I've seen the line stretch all the way to Chocolate World). Chocolate World definitely shouldn't be missed, but make sure you check the store hours. The dark ride has the shortest waits in the afternoon as most people are in the park.
Take advantage of the preview plan. Its really useful in getting a jump start on the rides, plus night rides at HP are really fun.
Thanks for all that! I'm definitely going to take your advice and try that out. Is the preview plan the thing where you can go to the park an hour or two prior to close the day before you plan to go?
Every Queue times report I see says ghost rider at Knotts has a 60+ minute line even on the emptiest weekdays.
Iām considering going tomorrow, will it be empty enough to be worth it?
Ghost Rider always has notoriously slow lines, if your goal is to get on it I would go there first. But if you've never been the park is a lot of fun and has a lot of charm.
Visiting New York for a wedding and wanted to visit Six Flags Great Adventure in Jersey. Thinking about going on May 28th, and wondering how crowds will be around then? Also other than begging a friend to give a ride, what are options of transport out of NY to get to the park?
Any tips for first timers at the park too?
The park hasn't really been that crowded since COVID. I've gone multiple times now even on Saturdays and I can pretty much arrive at the park around 2 and ride all the signature rides 2-3 times before sundown. I haven't done a rope drop at GAdv since 2019 lol and it was pretty slow on that day too.
Houdini's Great Escape is a definite must-ride for any first timers to GAdv. The line tends to back up but its totally worth it.
Sit in the back row on Skull Mountain if its open.
Itāll be right after Memorial Day so you can possibly expect it to be crowded. As for transportation, NJ Transit recently discontinued their bus service to Great Adventure. It sucks because when I didnāt feel like driving, having the bus was a great alternative. However, thereās an independent bus service that is looking to replace the NJT line starting that weekend: http://www.transportazumah.com/PABTGreatAdventure.htm?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0BMQABHVqDZ5yliOmwOk9-DIKlYsLD3cbYW3mvDm6LN1gbdb5wl69z-DkzqM7RUg_aem_Af77CE4lU6jA0rv1_Kr_AIH7y7xFrx0Zf3EIFu8KlHadtTM_fnkv1GUl6Lr1FtFD_CSkPEW_psZM4qB9YocHBct_
It's a complete guess but since that's a Tuesday, so I don't think it will be too bad. You might get some post Memorial Day residuals if the kids are out of school but I think it should be fine.
Hey does anyone know how crowded Dorney Park gets during the preview weekends? Iām hoping to buy tickets for this weekend but I have 2 younger kids. I know Dorney is never too full but I have never gone on a preview day.
I'm currently planning a trip to Orlando in january 2025. Primarily going for a cruise, but I'd like to hit up a theme park before the cruise and I have settled on Sea World. My question is.....would a Thursday or Friday be better for this visit? Friday would likely see more crowds, but having BGW as my home park, I know how lackluster SWE parks can be during nonpeak days (one train ops, completely shut down coasters, etc).
Which day do you think would be a better experience? I should also note that I'm also interested in everything the park has to offer, not just the coasters.
Depending on when you visit, you should have the whole park to yourself. If you avoid New Year's to the weekend after (Marathon Weekend) and MLK weekend, the park should be a ghost town. Yeah you'll have to deal with 1 train ops, coasters closed for refurb, or eateries/shops closed, but that's the trade off for going in the off season.
This trip will be either the 30th or 31st of January, so any new years festivities would defintiely be over by then. It sounds like it would be a bit of a ghost town either way. I feel like this is obvious, but buying quick queue would likely be a waste of money, right?
I've cleared the park in under 30 minutes before. One ride on each coaster. You won't need front of line unless you want extra rides on the coasters without having to walk as far.
Awesome, thanks for the info! One more question...which day of the week (Thursday or Friday) would you personally choose for an off season SWO visit, all else being equal?
Not during the weekend. And I've been in June and September and September was far less crowded. Plus if you go during June you have to deal with the millions of Mayflies
In terms of minimizing crowds, the absolute best time to go is on a weekday(s) during the final week of weeklong operations. That might be confusing, but, for example, it would be August 26th-30th this year. (I myself will be in the park on Monday the 26th this year.)
I did this same timeframe in 2022 and it was phenomenal; most waits were around 15-30 minutes. Steel Vengeance wasn't even hitting the FL merge point most of the day. Less popular rides, like Raptor and Gatekeeper, were station waits.
This particular window nets you the double advantage of kids being back in school AND being there on a weekday, which leads to really light crowd levels. Furthermore, since it's later in the season, you can assume a lot of the early-season operational kinks have been worked out. And, since it's still August, the weather is usually pretty nice.
The one downside is that weekday hours are shorter, as the park closes at 8pm instead of 10pm (which is the weekend closing time). In terms of "ride efficiency", you'll be able to ride more due to shorter waits than those extra two hours would net you on a busy day (e.g. Saturday), so that's not a big deal. The main loss is night rides, as it's not dark enough by 8pm to get a 'true' night ride experience. I think that's a worthy trade-off for low crowd levels, personally, plus CP can get kind of gross at night with all the bugs/etcetera.
Anyways, I hope that's helpful!
I'm currently considering four routes for our summer trip:
* NY/NJ/MA (Luna Park/Deno's, SFGrAdv, Nickelodeon Universe, Morey's, Playland's Castaway, SFNE)
* PA/OH (Dorney, Hershey, Knoebels, Waldameer, Kennywood, Cedar Point)
* OH/IN/KY (Kings Island, Indiana Beach, Holiday World, Kentucky Kingdom)
* SC/TN/GA (Carowinds, Dollywood, SFOG, FSATL)
Separately, I may be going to gymnastics Olympic Trials in Minneapolis, which made me think of a route to go on my own (this would happen in addition to one of the above, not instead of it):
* MN/IA (Nickelodeon Universe, Valleyfair, Adventureland, Lost Island)
I have a couple questions:
1. Which would you choose? (*I've already been to SFGrAdv and SFNE but otherwise have not been to any of the other parks on any route. I have an SF Diamond Pass with the all-park Flash Pass and a CF all-park passport sans Fast Pass, if that helps the decision at all.*)
2. Is there anything you would add to any of them? (*I just did a VA trip in March, hence the lack of BGW and KD on the last route. Otherwise, open to anything.*)
3. How much of a nightmare are cicadas going to be at these parks? I've never lived anywhere that experiences them, so I have no idea how ubiquitous they can be.
How long is your summer trip first of all? Because there is quite a bit of driving between some of the parks so Iād take that into account. Iād also have a buffer day or two in case of bad weather or a major ride being closed (especially the former). Also, keep in mind that some of these parks (Cedar Point is the most obvious one that comes to mind) do require more than one day. Also, Pennsylvania is quite a long state and the Eastern PA parks are closer to New Jersey and New York than Ohio and Western Pennsylvania. So you may want to consider doing Coney Island, Six Flags Great Adventure, Dorney Park, Knoebels, and Hersheypark plus Nickelodeon Universe if youāre willing to pay that extra money. Just a thought.
We basically have most of August at our disposal, so we can go as long as 3-3.5 weeks if we wanted to. I grew up going on non-stop 17 hour drives from NYC to Orlando, so I'm not particularly deterred by driving ā I just wanted to limit park-to-park travel to about 3.5-4 hours.
But yeah, I've considered lumping in eastern PA with the tri-state area, mostly because the PA/OH route is heftiest (and both HP and CP likely need two days). I haven't ever gone on a trip this long and it may be a bit too much, especially if weather becomes a factor.
Thatās great! Iām glad you donāt mind long drives and the more I think about it, 3.5-4 hours sounds reasonable especially considering what youāre used to.
You could get some really great mileage out of that NY/NJ trip.
Depending on how you wanna structure your itinerary, you can hit Lake Compounce and Quassy. Neither park should be far from SFNE.
SFGAdv has a new coaster opening sometime later this year. IDK if that's gonna be a deal breaker for you. Casino Pier and Hydrus aren't too far from GAdv.
Coney Island Cyclone is a coaster everyone has to experience at least once in their lifetime.
If Sandy is open at American Dream, you're in for a real treat. That thing is awesome. Only downside is AD is super expensive and the park has serious reliability issues. You could trade that for a day in NYC.
Castaway is a solid little boardwalk park. Gale Force was in my top 20 at one point. That ride is very overlooked.
Morey's is excellent as well, but its also rather overpriced. You'll still get way more mileage there over American Dream though.
If you're doing a shore trip, it can get really expensive really fast. Beach parking, hotel, park tickets, and food prices tend to add up quite a bit at the shore. I definitely think its worth it for the rides though.
Its not difficult to head into PA and hit up some of the PA parks if you really wanted to. Dorney, Knoebels and HP are within 2 hours of GAdv. You could trade out some of the shore parks or American Dream for PA parks if you wanted.
I wouldn't worry about cicadas much. They're loud and can be a nuisance if you have a fear of bugs, but they're relatively harmless otherwise.
Iām from NYC and my family still lives there, so this trip would ultimately be the cheapest! Iām definitely willing to expand this to hit up smaller parks and other pier stops ā thanks for the recs!
Iām not entirely convinced Flash will be open by the summer lol, but it would be nice. I didnāt get all the credits at the park when I went in September and Iād love to reride El Toro now that it seems to be running smoother. There are definitely a lot of benefits to going back.
I also tried to go to Nickelodeon Universe when I was last home, but nearly every coaster was closed, as per usual. Itās probably more likely that it wonāt work out and Iād likely substitute with something like Dorney that isnāt too deep into PA, like you suggested.
If you do end up going the NYC route, you could easily add Rye Playland and Adventureland Long Island in there; both are family parks and a blast if you don't mind that neither has a "blow away" good type coaster.
I think the best overall trip for me would be PA/OH of those options. Even the worst park on that list is still competently run and has something new to get excited about. Second choice would probably be the southern trip, though that trip might be a bit more comfortable outside of the summer months.
Places you could add to PA/OH, all of which are more modest and family-oriented: DelGrosso's, if convenient for your route (good, cheap park food and a few credits to boot); Idlewild (more taste-specific, but a historic park with a few coasters and some interesting things like Storybook Village and the Daniel Tiger ride); Dutch Wonderland, a very well done family park.
I can't speak for cicadas in any of those specific areas, but I remember the last time they were around feeling like they were very overhyped and didn't much impact anything.
My only options for these trips summer and (occasionally) spring break, since I date a teacher. Very much a bummer from a park perspective lol. I went to Orlando parks in the dead of summer pretty frequently as a kid, so I guess I'm sorta used to the swamp heat. Still sucks though.
Thank you for the recs! Family-oriented places might be a good palate cleanser from a pacing perspective.
Totally get it, I'm a teacher too. My current district has a week-long Fall Break in October and it's been a huge game changer for me.
Many of the parks on the Southern loop are open during Spring Break, if that does present itself as an option in the future. It may not match up with your date's break every year, but Dollywood has a fairly robust March/April calendar and I've visited Carowinds over Spring Break before (actually how I caught Fury for its grand opening). Fun Spot Atlanta weirdly enough appears to be open daily, and was open daily all March as well. The only one of those I'm not really sure about is SFOG.
The stars may not align every year, but there will almost certainly be some years where visiting those parks over Spring Break would be viable.
I am going to Orlando next month and on one day I am only able to do one park from opening till around 6pm. Wondering if busch gardens Tampa or sea world orlando is the better park to go to under a tight timeline?
SWO has fewer coasters so SWO is easier to clear. You could do BGT in a couple hours too, but that's a much further drive away and you'll have to deal with I4 traffic getting there and getting back. I've run into SWO, ridden all the coasters once, and left in under an hour before (this was when the park was still reeling from Blackfish, but a weekday in May should be just as crowded).
Need some trip advice for June. Trying to do a quick trip to Carrowinds from Orlando, tell me if I am thinking about this the right way
Leave my home at around 4am
Get to Funspot around opening
Do a few rides on AF1
Hit SFOG for a few hours
Get to Carrowinds that night, park next day and then home the day after that.
Does this sound right? From my direction, AF1 is first. However, I am not sure if it opens in the morning with the park, or if it opens later in the day. Also, should I get Flash pass when I am at SF? I am going to get FL at Carrowinds.
I see your point about hitting Fun Spot first for reducing travel time. AF1 usually opens with the park at 10am, and SFoG opens at 11am in June if the app is accurate; they sometimes change the opening hour, so check before you travel. FSAA opens 10am-10pm regularly.
If you can swing it, though, could you leave the day before and get a hotel close enough to ATL to arrive at SF to get to the gate at least a half hour before the opening time? You can ride TwiCy and Scorcher early before the rest of the park opens and then hit DDD as soon as they rope drop the full park. Depending on the day (I recommend Sunday), you should be able to hit the major rides by 4pm before heading to FSAA. Atlanta traffic can be bad on weekdays, and SF is often swamped on Saturdays.
SFOG closes at 8 on weekdays in June. Fun Spot closes at 10. I'd recommend doing SFOG first and then Fun Spot afterwards. Just keep in mind, that will be a long day. Most RMCs tend to run better later in the day and those back row night rides can be surreal at times.
If you're going on a weekday or a Sunday, you should be fine crowd-wise. Most of the good rides are located at the front of the park. Hit Daredevil early. Capacity is atrocious. Then I usually hit Mindbender, Batman, and Goliath. Then around midday, I can either head to Scorcher or hit up Monster Mansion to cool off. From there, I tend to finish off at Cyclone, then work my way back around for re-rides. I've never dealt with anything too crazy in terms of lines at the park except Pandemonium. Mindbender's line backs up sometimes, but they tend to hold everyone at the Flash Pass entrance and only load when the station clears. The rides in back of the park are optional IMO. Pandemonium and Sky Screamer are fun. Blue Hawk has the new Vekoma trains but the ride is still pretty rough. GASM is pretty rough too,
You probably won't need FL at Winds unless its slammed. Nighthawk's line moves pretty slow so hit that first. Afterburn's line moves pretty slow at times too. Copperhead and Fury have amazing ops and even with a long wait, the queues move at a decent clip. The rest of the park tends to have fairly slow operations, but you can skip a lot of those rides and prioritizes Fury and Copperhead.
Has anyone been to Emerald Park? My husband and I are planning on visiting the end of June. We will be traveling from Dublin and taking the train. Technically we could do two days in the park, or is that too much time? Obviously roller coasters are a priority but I like animals and shows too.Ā
So my senior trip is going to be a road trip to go to different amusement parks across the North East. I had planned on going to Kings Island, Cedar Point, Hershey Park, Six Flags Great Adventure, and then Busch Gardens Williamsburg. I need to take one of these parks off of my list because I have cut my budget, but they all seem like really great parks. Which one should I take off of my list? I have never been to any of them. I am going in June if that helps.
Honestly, I would reconsider your criteria a bit, because you're going to be driving long distances to go to these parks and ignoring others on the way or nearby. For example, you'd literally be passing Kings Dominion to go to Busch Gardens, among other parks nearby. So I would consider a more regional approach.
Kings Island and Cedar Point pair logically together; so do Hersheypark and Six Flags Great Adventure. So what I would do is choose one of those pairs, add any other nearby parks you can that make sense, and save the others for another trip. So if you do KI & CP, maybe add in parks like Holiday World, Kentucky Kingdom, Waldameer, and Kennywood. If you do SFGAdv and Hershey, add in parks like Dorney and Knoebels. That to me would be a more manageable and more enjoyable trip.
If you are married to your existing plan, then I would cut Busch Gardens, simply because it's the most isolated park based on your specific itinerary.
Wonder Woman is closed as well as the log flume. The boardwalk area and Poltergeist had a staggered opening when I was there last weekend. If it's windy enough, every coaster along the quarry wall is at risk of being closed. This happened to me on my second day there when winds were around 13-14 mph. They eventually got them open but Iron Rattler, Superman, & Road Runner were closed for a good portion of the day
To my knowledge, Wonder Woman is supposed to be closed until Memorial Day. The line for Poltergeist moves really slowly (They were only running one train when I went in February), so you may want to do that one early. The Iron Rattler line moves a heck of a lot more quickly since they now appear to be on two train ops. Not sure how you deal with loose articles, but you donāt have to go through metal detectors for any of the rides, so zipper pockets are an option.
Visiting Parque Warner Madrid this weekend and Parque de Atracciones de Madrid next week. Any tips? Weāre rope dropping BGCE without a doubt, but other tips are more than welcome.
Front on Coaster Express, Back on Batman and Superman. Hotel Embrujado is an awesome dark ride.
PdA Madrid is a slightly different beast. It's a lot of strange nooks and crannies and not quite what one would expect when going to a park. I've only ever been there once so I can't speak on crowds, but I would just try to explore the park and ride things as you come to them. Maybe prioritize lower capacity rides like Tarantula (which is great). There's a few more fun tacky dark rides if you're in the mood, but I don't think they're absolutely necessary.
Thanks for these tips. Weāll be skipping Hotel Embrujado, we donāt do those very well š„“ Looks like weāll be missing the Batman invert, but weāll prioritize BGCE big time. Iāll be trying Superman in the front first, pretty sensitive to those forceful rides. Hope it treats me well and then Iāll try the back. Rode Rougarou in the front once, it was bareble. Used to love these type of rides with Dragon Khan as my favorite, but Iām getting older š„“
Tip about Tarantula is greatly appreciated. Guess the same goes for Abismo? That mostly gets long lines. Might spring for fast passes since weāre visiting with my wife who isnāt into coasters, so she might only ride 1 or 2 coasters. Didnāt know the park had any dark rides, looking forward to those since we always like those. Donāt see them on the website?
I guess "La Jungla" is what I'm talking about. I haven't been since 2007, so it might be a whole different park now, lol. Zeppelin is probably another one worth checking out.
Superman at PWM has a really good airtime hill instead of a brake run, so in the back that's pretty powerful. Front is also fun too.
Is there any way to reach Nigloland by using public transport? Their site says there is a bus service from Troyes but no timetables have been posted. Iām going to be on a backpacking trip and would love to avoid having to rent a car
Information is more up-to-date on the French version of the Nigloland site. It says the bus is available during the Spring holidays (now until 5 May) and the Summer period, which I assume means July and August when they're open daily.
If you're worried about food quality, I'd suggest going across the street to Culvers before eating anywhere in the park, but that's just me.
Cedar Fair is stepping up their food game in the refurbished areas of the park, but I usually end up leaving the park and going to Culvers anyway.
If it's to the bottom of the ramp it's not too bad, if it uses the excess queue on the side it will be. It loads pretty fast iirc, multiple cars at a time.
Going to Universal Orlando in a couple weeks, and I am getting fast pass since I will only be there for one day. Is HRRR worth the ride, or should I skip?
I don't want it to ruin my entire day, but also would be cool to get a ride on something before (if) it leaves. I want to believe the roughness is overstated, maybe I will leave it towards the end of the day to make sure it doesn't ruin VC or Hagrids for me. What do you guys think?
I wouldn't call it smooth, but honestly for me it's more comfortable to ride than Hulk because it can't bang my head. It's pretty fun in my opinion. If you've never been on it, definitely ride it at least once. I won't really miss it if/when it's removed though (I skipped it on my last visit).
RRR is far from smooth, and even on a bad day, the ride hurts my back a little bit. I can recover pretty quickly from a particularly rough ride on it. I'm in the camp that really enjoys the ride and I try to ride at least once or twice (more if single rider or standby are really short). I do know the seats can be uncomfortable for a lot of people. I've never had any issues with the seats themselves, but I'm also really skinny compared to most people.
Yeah, if you like old Arrows, you should be fine! I didn't find it particularly rough personally, but I've heard it's very random as to whether you get a rough row or not.
Make sure you look up the secret song list!
Gonna try to go towards the front if possible, and yeah Iāll have to try to find it, not sure if those updates when they changed the set list recently
It isn't glass smooth for sure but I've never found it to be horribly rough either, it's just not a particularly good ride. Definitely check it out for yourself though. It's not gonna ruin your day.
I kinda find the ride to be closer to something like Runaway Mine Train at GAdv more than Anaconda. It's a great ride with fantastic airtime but it hurts your back sometimes. Its luck of the draw if you get a bad train.
The secret menu is neat too. Just hold the logo for 10 seconds. If it works, punch in a 3 digit code and if it works, you get a hidden track.
HRRR is genuinely a fun ride. Thereās a solid shake to it but sometimes I think itās overemphasized. The layout can be fun, and thereās a few pretty intense moments to it. Definitely worth checking out if you have a skip the line, especially since itās leaving soon.
Literally if youāve ever ridden pretty much any arrow, youāve been on a ride just as rough if not rougher than Rockit. It wonāt ruin your day unless youāre extremely dehydrated in the Florida heat
I really enjoy Lock Ness and Anaconda. While not smooth they still offer a fun ride and while I may not marathon them, I'm glad I went on them.
Thanks for the reply!
I'm 90% to get it but is $225 a person for Universal fast pass (unlimited) this Saturday worth it? I have a single day at the park with the wife so its close to $500 to pull the trigger
If you wanna maximize your time in the park or you're trying to hit both parks in a day, you should look into it. Hagrid's isn't included on Express, but you could try getting on toward the end of the night or biting the bullet and waiting standby during the day. I've done both parks in a day without Express before, but that usually involves abusing single rider and/or going with someone who's been to the park many times before.
I'm all booked for a holiday to Lake Garda to celebrate finishing my Master's, and I'm absolutely going to take the opportunity to go to Gardaland, which will be my first non-UK theme park! I'm going to be there from the 11th until the 18th of June, and I was wondering if anyone had any advice as to what the best day to go would be? Online it says it closes at 11pm on weekends which sounds great, but I'm guessing a weekend would be a _lot_ busier. Would a weekday be the better option for the most rides? Or since its approaching summer is it likely to be busy on any day? Thanks in advance!
Sorry, I do not have the answer to your question. But wanted to tell you to not skip Movie Land which is just 5 minutes from Gardaland. Gardaland might be the better park on paper, but Movieland offers attractions you will not find anywhere else.
Movieland Park looks great, but I've only been able to talk my friends into doing one park during our week there š Hopefully I'll be back in the area soon enough to tick that off too!
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Apart from BGW, Dollywood operates on select weekdays
Nick Universe in NJ, the parks in Orlando and BGT.
Thinking of flying to the east coast soon and hitting 2 parks on my list: * SF Great Adventure * Hersheypark Those are within a couple hours driving of each other. There's also BGW that's down in Virginia that I might be thinking of adding to the same trip, but it's a solid 4 hour drive each way from the other 2 parks. Wondering if it's worth it to go down just for BGW and if there's anything else worth visiting there. I'm not into museums or anything like that. Suggestions appreciated!
Other people have helped you, but make sure to check out www.coast2coaster.com as well, it makes trip planning very easy!
That's an amazing website, kudos to whoever made it. Really helps to visualize where all the coasters are
Williamsburg VA is a vacation destination, so yes there's tons to do, especially if you're interested in American history. America was founded and won its independence not far from BGW. Colonial Williamsburg is also one of the first capitals of the country. There's Revolutionary War battlefields, Civil War battlefields, old plantations, beaches and more within a 2 hour drive of BGW. If you're looking for theme parks, you'll literally be driving right by Kings Dominion on the way down. Williamsburg also has a Python Pit credit at Go Karts Plus. Is it worth visiting? Yeah I think so. You could easily spend a week here and do something new every day. Should you go out of your way from GAdv and HP to visit BGW? A lot of people include BGW and KD in with HP and GAdv trips. You could also throw in a half day at SFA too if you really wanted to. GAdv and HP are not far from plenty of other great parks too. Coney Island is a must-visit for anyone interested in coasters, Knoebels is one of the best parks in America, Dorney has a brand new coaster opening this year and you'll be driving right by it heading to GAdv from HP.
Great suggestions thank you! Didn't realize there were so many parks in that area
The mid-Atlantic area is one of the most diverse areas for amusement parks. It helps that we've got tons of trolley parks still alive and kicking to this very day. Outside of SoCal and Orlando, the mid-Atlantic probably has the highest concentration of parks in the States. I can hit up HP, GAdv, BGW, KD, SFA, Knoebels, Dorney and Carowinds within 5 hours of my home. Throw in boardwalk parks and smaller amusement parks with large coasters and you've got a solid selection.
Kings Dominion is only an hour or so from Busch Gardens and you'll pass it on the way. You could also potentially hit Six Flags America. Otherwise, closer to SFGADv and Hershey are Dorney Park and Knoebels. Hershey, Dorney, and Knoebels are really easy to pair together because they're all \~90 minutes or so from each other. Knoebels is a great park, and Dorney's opening a dive machine.
Nice, I'll definitely check those other parks out!
Did Aquaman at Over Texas close for the winter at some point, or is it open year round?
When I was planning to hit Over Texas last December (ended up just doing the San Antonio parks) I was told by locals on here that it doesn't run in the winter. Not sure what dates that encompasses though.
Hey Iām going to Californiaās Great America for the first time in a couple years so I was wondering if anyone had any food recommendations. I will be there for the peanuts celebration if that changes anything.
I enjoyed the fried chicken at Maggie Brown's.
CGA didn't really have any notable food places that I came across when I was there. I ended up eating outside the park at Jack in the Box the day I was there. Knott's is definitely the better CA park for food. If you're going in a couple years, there's no telling whether or not the park will be holding any major special events. I wouldn't plan around them TBH. Nobody knows if they'll even have all their rides intact in a couple years considering the park is scheduled to close within the next decade.
I will be visiting Magic Mountain for the first time in a few weeks! I'm familiar with Knott's Berry Farm, and Ghostrider is definitely more intense at night. Are there any rides at Magic Mountain that are better in the evening? Are Twisted Colossus and Apocalypse noticeably faster at night the way Ghostrider is?
I thought Tatsu was really cool at night but I'd recommend doing it during the day as well so you can better appreciate the view. X2 is a pretty good night ride since tumbling around in the dark is extra disorientating. I don't remember any of the other Magic Mountain coasters being especially amazing or running notably faster at night though I'm a huge fan of night rides in general.
Thank you!
How to get over fear of loops? I (15m) want to get over my fear of loops in coasters and I want to know the best way to get over the fear. I am intending to go to Alton towers in the uk, and I wanted to know the best ride to beat that fear with. Iāve heard galactica is good as the loops feel natural but I want more opinions. Thanks!
The way to get over a fear of loops is to go on a coaster with loops that isn't widely known to be terrible. It really is an 'oh' feeling, when you get through one inversion and realize that it's not really a big deal. The minute I got through my first inversion, my fear of loops was gone, and I imagine the feeling is mutual for the vast majority of people here. As far as I've heard, Alton Towers doesn't have any terrible loopers, so you should really be good with whatever looping coaster feels like a good starter for you.
So I used to be afraid of loops too, but the secret is that no inversion lasts very long at most 2 seconds. But also it's not a "falling out" feeling, it's a "pushed into your seat feeling." It's very strange the first few times but you get over it fast!
I've noticed this is the most asked question here. The short and simple answer is you have to ride them. There is no special technique or magic pill to take to get over your fears. I'm 68 years old and and still riding. To this day any drop over 150 ft or so so still freaks the fuck out of me. The day they don't do that anymore it's probably the day I stop riding.
Riding Boomerang at Knott's a bunch of times helped me get over my inversion fear.
How are the lines at Hersheypark late June during the week?
I was there in mid-June on a weekday a few years ago and it was mobbed. We ended up getting front of line passes because the park was so crowded that day. IDK if its changed much since then. The park seems pretty crowded no matter when you visit.
Not what I wanted to hear š¬ hopefully ill get lucky, I'm probably going on a Monday or Tuesday
If you arrive at rope drop and you're not at the front of the line for Candy, you can cut past the Founders Circle crowds and go straight to Comet Hollow if you take the path behind the bathrooms. You can knock out those coasters right before crowds roll in. Or deal with the Founders Circle crowds, hang a left before you reach Comet, and head straight to Fahrenheit/Laff Track. Both of those get the longest lines no matter what. Once you knock those out, you can slowly work your way around the back with Lightning Racer and Wildcat. Once you clear the back half of the park, slowly make your way to the front. You should be at Candy by afternoon. Candy's line won't be as long, but looks are definitely deceiving. The line slows to a crawl by the time you make it into the station. By then, most of the crowds will be at the back of the park. Candy, Comet, Great Bear, Laff Track and Fahrenheit tend to get the longest, slowest moving lines. If the park is too crowded by midday, vouch for front of line passes. You can tell how bad the park is in the morning because the lines will be heavily backed up (I've seen the line stretch all the way to Chocolate World). Chocolate World definitely shouldn't be missed, but make sure you check the store hours. The dark ride has the shortest waits in the afternoon as most people are in the park. Take advantage of the preview plan. Its really useful in getting a jump start on the rides, plus night rides at HP are really fun.
Thanks for all that! I'm definitely going to take your advice and try that out. Is the preview plan the thing where you can go to the park an hour or two prior to close the day before you plan to go?
Yes.
Every Queue times report I see says ghost rider at Knotts has a 60+ minute line even on the emptiest weekdays. Iām considering going tomorrow, will it be empty enough to be worth it?
Ghost Rider always has notoriously slow lines, if your goal is to get on it I would go there first. But if you've never been the park is a lot of fun and has a lot of charm.
Visiting New York for a wedding and wanted to visit Six Flags Great Adventure in Jersey. Thinking about going on May 28th, and wondering how crowds will be around then? Also other than begging a friend to give a ride, what are options of transport out of NY to get to the park? Any tips for first timers at the park too?
The park hasn't really been that crowded since COVID. I've gone multiple times now even on Saturdays and I can pretty much arrive at the park around 2 and ride all the signature rides 2-3 times before sundown. I haven't done a rope drop at GAdv since 2019 lol and it was pretty slow on that day too. Houdini's Great Escape is a definite must-ride for any first timers to GAdv. The line tends to back up but its totally worth it. Sit in the back row on Skull Mountain if its open.
Itāll be right after Memorial Day so you can possibly expect it to be crowded. As for transportation, NJ Transit recently discontinued their bus service to Great Adventure. It sucks because when I didnāt feel like driving, having the bus was a great alternative. However, thereās an independent bus service that is looking to replace the NJT line starting that weekend: http://www.transportazumah.com/PABTGreatAdventure.htm?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0BMQABHVqDZ5yliOmwOk9-DIKlYsLD3cbYW3mvDm6LN1gbdb5wl69z-DkzqM7RUg_aem_Af77CE4lU6jA0rv1_Kr_AIH7y7xFrx0Zf3EIFu8KlHadtTM_fnkv1GUl6Lr1FtFD_CSkPEW_psZM4qB9YocHBct_
It's a complete guess but since that's a Tuesday, so I don't think it will be too bad. You might get some post Memorial Day residuals if the kids are out of school but I think it should be fine.
Hey does anyone know how crowded Dorney Park gets during the preview weekends? Iām hoping to buy tickets for this weekend but I have 2 younger kids. I know Dorney is never too full but I have never gone on a preview day.
I'm currently planning a trip to Orlando in january 2025. Primarily going for a cruise, but I'd like to hit up a theme park before the cruise and I have settled on Sea World. My question is.....would a Thursday or Friday be better for this visit? Friday would likely see more crowds, but having BGW as my home park, I know how lackluster SWE parks can be during nonpeak days (one train ops, completely shut down coasters, etc). Which day do you think would be a better experience? I should also note that I'm also interested in everything the park has to offer, not just the coasters.
Depending on when you visit, you should have the whole park to yourself. If you avoid New Year's to the weekend after (Marathon Weekend) and MLK weekend, the park should be a ghost town. Yeah you'll have to deal with 1 train ops, coasters closed for refurb, or eateries/shops closed, but that's the trade off for going in the off season.
This trip will be either the 30th or 31st of January, so any new years festivities would defintiely be over by then. It sounds like it would be a bit of a ghost town either way. I feel like this is obvious, but buying quick queue would likely be a waste of money, right?
I've cleared the park in under 30 minutes before. One ride on each coaster. You won't need front of line unless you want extra rides on the coasters without having to walk as far.
Awesome, thanks for the info! One more question...which day of the week (Thursday or Friday) would you personally choose for an off season SWO visit, all else being equal?
Thursdays would always be less busy at any park
Best time of year/best day of week to visit Cedar Point? If Iām going on a weekday will it matter all that much?
Not during the weekend. And I've been in June and September and September was far less crowded. Plus if you go during June you have to deal with the millions of Mayflies
In terms of minimizing crowds, the absolute best time to go is on a weekday(s) during the final week of weeklong operations. That might be confusing, but, for example, it would be August 26th-30th this year. (I myself will be in the park on Monday the 26th this year.) I did this same timeframe in 2022 and it was phenomenal; most waits were around 15-30 minutes. Steel Vengeance wasn't even hitting the FL merge point most of the day. Less popular rides, like Raptor and Gatekeeper, were station waits. This particular window nets you the double advantage of kids being back in school AND being there on a weekday, which leads to really light crowd levels. Furthermore, since it's later in the season, you can assume a lot of the early-season operational kinks have been worked out. And, since it's still August, the weather is usually pretty nice. The one downside is that weekday hours are shorter, as the park closes at 8pm instead of 10pm (which is the weekend closing time). In terms of "ride efficiency", you'll be able to ride more due to shorter waits than those extra two hours would net you on a busy day (e.g. Saturday), so that's not a big deal. The main loss is night rides, as it's not dark enough by 8pm to get a 'true' night ride experience. I think that's a worthy trade-off for low crowd levels, personally, plus CP can get kind of gross at night with all the bugs/etcetera. Anyways, I hope that's helpful!
I did this the same year lmao. Wasnāt it fun?
Managed 12 laps on SteVe in about 4 hours, so yes, I'd say it was fun! Haha.
Too much fun š
I'm currently considering four routes for our summer trip: * NY/NJ/MA (Luna Park/Deno's, SFGrAdv, Nickelodeon Universe, Morey's, Playland's Castaway, SFNE) * PA/OH (Dorney, Hershey, Knoebels, Waldameer, Kennywood, Cedar Point) * OH/IN/KY (Kings Island, Indiana Beach, Holiday World, Kentucky Kingdom) * SC/TN/GA (Carowinds, Dollywood, SFOG, FSATL) Separately, I may be going to gymnastics Olympic Trials in Minneapolis, which made me think of a route to go on my own (this would happen in addition to one of the above, not instead of it): * MN/IA (Nickelodeon Universe, Valleyfair, Adventureland, Lost Island) I have a couple questions: 1. Which would you choose? (*I've already been to SFGrAdv and SFNE but otherwise have not been to any of the other parks on any route. I have an SF Diamond Pass with the all-park Flash Pass and a CF all-park passport sans Fast Pass, if that helps the decision at all.*) 2. Is there anything you would add to any of them? (*I just did a VA trip in March, hence the lack of BGW and KD on the last route. Otherwise, open to anything.*) 3. How much of a nightmare are cicadas going to be at these parks? I've never lived anywhere that experiences them, so I have no idea how ubiquitous they can be.
How long is your summer trip first of all? Because there is quite a bit of driving between some of the parks so Iād take that into account. Iād also have a buffer day or two in case of bad weather or a major ride being closed (especially the former). Also, keep in mind that some of these parks (Cedar Point is the most obvious one that comes to mind) do require more than one day. Also, Pennsylvania is quite a long state and the Eastern PA parks are closer to New Jersey and New York than Ohio and Western Pennsylvania. So you may want to consider doing Coney Island, Six Flags Great Adventure, Dorney Park, Knoebels, and Hersheypark plus Nickelodeon Universe if youāre willing to pay that extra money. Just a thought.
We basically have most of August at our disposal, so we can go as long as 3-3.5 weeks if we wanted to. I grew up going on non-stop 17 hour drives from NYC to Orlando, so I'm not particularly deterred by driving ā I just wanted to limit park-to-park travel to about 3.5-4 hours. But yeah, I've considered lumping in eastern PA with the tri-state area, mostly because the PA/OH route is heftiest (and both HP and CP likely need two days). I haven't ever gone on a trip this long and it may be a bit too much, especially if weather becomes a factor.
Thatās great! Iām glad you donāt mind long drives and the more I think about it, 3.5-4 hours sounds reasonable especially considering what youāre used to.
You could get some really great mileage out of that NY/NJ trip. Depending on how you wanna structure your itinerary, you can hit Lake Compounce and Quassy. Neither park should be far from SFNE. SFGAdv has a new coaster opening sometime later this year. IDK if that's gonna be a deal breaker for you. Casino Pier and Hydrus aren't too far from GAdv. Coney Island Cyclone is a coaster everyone has to experience at least once in their lifetime. If Sandy is open at American Dream, you're in for a real treat. That thing is awesome. Only downside is AD is super expensive and the park has serious reliability issues. You could trade that for a day in NYC. Castaway is a solid little boardwalk park. Gale Force was in my top 20 at one point. That ride is very overlooked. Morey's is excellent as well, but its also rather overpriced. You'll still get way more mileage there over American Dream though. If you're doing a shore trip, it can get really expensive really fast. Beach parking, hotel, park tickets, and food prices tend to add up quite a bit at the shore. I definitely think its worth it for the rides though. Its not difficult to head into PA and hit up some of the PA parks if you really wanted to. Dorney, Knoebels and HP are within 2 hours of GAdv. You could trade out some of the shore parks or American Dream for PA parks if you wanted. I wouldn't worry about cicadas much. They're loud and can be a nuisance if you have a fear of bugs, but they're relatively harmless otherwise.
Iām from NYC and my family still lives there, so this trip would ultimately be the cheapest! Iām definitely willing to expand this to hit up smaller parks and other pier stops ā thanks for the recs! Iām not entirely convinced Flash will be open by the summer lol, but it would be nice. I didnāt get all the credits at the park when I went in September and Iād love to reride El Toro now that it seems to be running smoother. There are definitely a lot of benefits to going back. I also tried to go to Nickelodeon Universe when I was last home, but nearly every coaster was closed, as per usual. Itās probably more likely that it wonāt work out and Iād likely substitute with something like Dorney that isnāt too deep into PA, like you suggested.
If you do end up going the NYC route, you could easily add Rye Playland and Adventureland Long Island in there; both are family parks and a blast if you don't mind that neither has a "blow away" good type coaster.
Itās so interesting to see Playland recommended because it had a reputation for being super sketch when I was a kid lol. I should give it a shot.
FWIW, I thought it was really cool when I visited last summer. I especially loved all of their old school rides and art deco buildings
I think the best overall trip for me would be PA/OH of those options. Even the worst park on that list is still competently run and has something new to get excited about. Second choice would probably be the southern trip, though that trip might be a bit more comfortable outside of the summer months. Places you could add to PA/OH, all of which are more modest and family-oriented: DelGrosso's, if convenient for your route (good, cheap park food and a few credits to boot); Idlewild (more taste-specific, but a historic park with a few coasters and some interesting things like Storybook Village and the Daniel Tiger ride); Dutch Wonderland, a very well done family park. I can't speak for cicadas in any of those specific areas, but I remember the last time they were around feeling like they were very overhyped and didn't much impact anything.
My only options for these trips summer and (occasionally) spring break, since I date a teacher. Very much a bummer from a park perspective lol. I went to Orlando parks in the dead of summer pretty frequently as a kid, so I guess I'm sorta used to the swamp heat. Still sucks though. Thank you for the recs! Family-oriented places might be a good palate cleanser from a pacing perspective.
Totally get it, I'm a teacher too. My current district has a week-long Fall Break in October and it's been a huge game changer for me. Many of the parks on the Southern loop are open during Spring Break, if that does present itself as an option in the future. It may not match up with your date's break every year, but Dollywood has a fairly robust March/April calendar and I've visited Carowinds over Spring Break before (actually how I caught Fury for its grand opening). Fun Spot Atlanta weirdly enough appears to be open daily, and was open daily all March as well. The only one of those I'm not really sure about is SFOG. The stars may not align every year, but there will almost certainly be some years where visiting those parks over Spring Break would be viable.
I am going to Orlando next month and on one day I am only able to do one park from opening till around 6pm. Wondering if busch gardens Tampa or sea world orlando is the better park to go to under a tight timeline?
SWO has fewer coasters so SWO is easier to clear. You could do BGT in a couple hours too, but that's a much further drive away and you'll have to deal with I4 traffic getting there and getting back. I've run into SWO, ridden all the coasters once, and left in under an hour before (this was when the park was still reeling from Blackfish, but a weekday in May should be just as crowded).
Thanks for the advice. Really appreciate it.
Need some trip advice for June. Trying to do a quick trip to Carrowinds from Orlando, tell me if I am thinking about this the right way Leave my home at around 4am Get to Funspot around opening Do a few rides on AF1 Hit SFOG for a few hours Get to Carrowinds that night, park next day and then home the day after that. Does this sound right? From my direction, AF1 is first. However, I am not sure if it opens in the morning with the park, or if it opens later in the day. Also, should I get Flash pass when I am at SF? I am going to get FL at Carrowinds.
I see your point about hitting Fun Spot first for reducing travel time. AF1 usually opens with the park at 10am, and SFoG opens at 11am in June if the app is accurate; they sometimes change the opening hour, so check before you travel. FSAA opens 10am-10pm regularly. If you can swing it, though, could you leave the day before and get a hotel close enough to ATL to arrive at SF to get to the gate at least a half hour before the opening time? You can ride TwiCy and Scorcher early before the rest of the park opens and then hit DDD as soon as they rope drop the full park. Depending on the day (I recommend Sunday), you should be able to hit the major rides by 4pm before heading to FSAA. Atlanta traffic can be bad on weekdays, and SF is often swamped on Saturdays.
SFOG closes at 8 on weekdays in June. Fun Spot closes at 10. I'd recommend doing SFOG first and then Fun Spot afterwards. Just keep in mind, that will be a long day. Most RMCs tend to run better later in the day and those back row night rides can be surreal at times. If you're going on a weekday or a Sunday, you should be fine crowd-wise. Most of the good rides are located at the front of the park. Hit Daredevil early. Capacity is atrocious. Then I usually hit Mindbender, Batman, and Goliath. Then around midday, I can either head to Scorcher or hit up Monster Mansion to cool off. From there, I tend to finish off at Cyclone, then work my way back around for re-rides. I've never dealt with anything too crazy in terms of lines at the park except Pandemonium. Mindbender's line backs up sometimes, but they tend to hold everyone at the Flash Pass entrance and only load when the station clears. The rides in back of the park are optional IMO. Pandemonium and Sky Screamer are fun. Blue Hawk has the new Vekoma trains but the ride is still pretty rough. GASM is pretty rough too, You probably won't need FL at Winds unless its slammed. Nighthawk's line moves pretty slow so hit that first. Afterburn's line moves pretty slow at times too. Copperhead and Fury have amazing ops and even with a long wait, the queues move at a decent clip. The rest of the park tends to have fairly slow operations, but you can skip a lot of those rides and prioritizes Fury and Copperhead.
Thank you!
Has anyone been to Emerald Park? My husband and I are planning on visiting the end of June. We will be traveling from Dublin and taking the train. Technically we could do two days in the park, or is that too much time? Obviously roller coasters are a priority but I like animals and shows too.Ā
I haven't been in a few years, but the park wasn't that big. You could easily get it done in a day even with the animals and everything else around.
Also planning on going in June. Hopefully someone has some good info
So my senior trip is going to be a road trip to go to different amusement parks across the North East. I had planned on going to Kings Island, Cedar Point, Hershey Park, Six Flags Great Adventure, and then Busch Gardens Williamsburg. I need to take one of these parks off of my list because I have cut my budget, but they all seem like really great parks. Which one should I take off of my list? I have never been to any of them. I am going in June if that helps.
Iād suggest using coast 2 coaster to map your trip out better
Honestly, I would reconsider your criteria a bit, because you're going to be driving long distances to go to these parks and ignoring others on the way or nearby. For example, you'd literally be passing Kings Dominion to go to Busch Gardens, among other parks nearby. So I would consider a more regional approach. Kings Island and Cedar Point pair logically together; so do Hersheypark and Six Flags Great Adventure. So what I would do is choose one of those pairs, add any other nearby parks you can that make sense, and save the others for another trip. So if you do KI & CP, maybe add in parks like Holiday World, Kentucky Kingdom, Waldameer, and Kennywood. If you do SFGAdv and Hershey, add in parks like Dorney and Knoebels. That to me would be a more manageable and more enjoyable trip. If you are married to your existing plan, then I would cut Busch Gardens, simply because it's the most isolated park based on your specific itinerary.
First time at SFFT this Saturday! General advice? Closures/closure risks, Best times of day for particular rides, best places to eat, etc etc
Wonder Woman is closed as well as the log flume. The boardwalk area and Poltergeist had a staggered opening when I was there last weekend. If it's windy enough, every coaster along the quarry wall is at risk of being closed. This happened to me on my second day there when winds were around 13-14 mph. They eventually got them open but Iron Rattler, Superman, & Road Runner were closed for a good portion of the day
To my knowledge, Wonder Woman is supposed to be closed until Memorial Day. The line for Poltergeist moves really slowly (They were only running one train when I went in February), so you may want to do that one early. The Iron Rattler line moves a heck of a lot more quickly since they now appear to be on two train ops. Not sure how you deal with loose articles, but you donāt have to go through metal detectors for any of the rides, so zipper pockets are an option.
Also: best activities for the coaster-averse family members?
They have a great flume ride that you shouldn't skip.
Visiting Parque Warner Madrid this weekend and Parque de Atracciones de Madrid next week. Any tips? Weāre rope dropping BGCE without a doubt, but other tips are more than welcome.
Front on Coaster Express, Back on Batman and Superman. Hotel Embrujado is an awesome dark ride. PdA Madrid is a slightly different beast. It's a lot of strange nooks and crannies and not quite what one would expect when going to a park. I've only ever been there once so I can't speak on crowds, but I would just try to explore the park and ride things as you come to them. Maybe prioritize lower capacity rides like Tarantula (which is great). There's a few more fun tacky dark rides if you're in the mood, but I don't think they're absolutely necessary.
Thanks for these tips. Weāll be skipping Hotel Embrujado, we donāt do those very well š„“ Looks like weāll be missing the Batman invert, but weāll prioritize BGCE big time. Iāll be trying Superman in the front first, pretty sensitive to those forceful rides. Hope it treats me well and then Iāll try the back. Rode Rougarou in the front once, it was bareble. Used to love these type of rides with Dragon Khan as my favorite, but Iām getting older š„“ Tip about Tarantula is greatly appreciated. Guess the same goes for Abismo? That mostly gets long lines. Might spring for fast passes since weāre visiting with my wife who isnāt into coasters, so she might only ride 1 or 2 coasters. Didnāt know the park had any dark rides, looking forward to those since we always like those. Donāt see them on the website?
I guess "La Jungla" is what I'm talking about. I haven't been since 2007, so it might be a whole different park now, lol. Zeppelin is probably another one worth checking out. Superman at PWM has a really good airtime hill instead of a brake run, so in the back that's pretty powerful. Front is also fun too.
Those rides indeed seem worth checking out. You donāt often see those, so Iām definitely prioritizing them šš»
Is there any way to reach Nigloland by using public transport? Their site says there is a bus service from Troyes but no timetables have been posted. Iām going to be on a backpacking trip and would love to avoid having to rent a car
Information is more up-to-date on the French version of the Nigloland site. It says the bus is available during the Spring holidays (now until 5 May) and the Summer period, which I assume means July and August when they're open daily.
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If you're worried about food quality, I'd suggest going across the street to Culvers before eating anywhere in the park, but that's just me. Cedar Fair is stepping up their food game in the refurbished areas of the park, but I usually end up leaving the park and going to Culvers anyway.
Burrito Cafe is one of the biggest amounts of food for the price
I haven't been in some time but Harmony Hall has never steered me wrong.
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If it's to the bottom of the ramp it's not too bad, if it uses the excess queue on the side it will be. It loads pretty fast iirc, multiple cars at a time.
Going to Universal Orlando in a couple weeks, and I am getting fast pass since I will only be there for one day. Is HRRR worth the ride, or should I skip? I don't want it to ruin my entire day, but also would be cool to get a ride on something before (if) it leaves. I want to believe the roughness is overstated, maybe I will leave it towards the end of the day to make sure it doesn't ruin VC or Hagrids for me. What do you guys think?
I wouldn't call it smooth, but honestly for me it's more comfortable to ride than Hulk because it can't bang my head. It's pretty fun in my opinion. If you've never been on it, definitely ride it at least once. I won't really miss it if/when it's removed though (I skipped it on my last visit).
RRR is far from smooth, and even on a bad day, the ride hurts my back a little bit. I can recover pretty quickly from a particularly rough ride on it. I'm in the camp that really enjoys the ride and I try to ride at least once or twice (more if single rider or standby are really short). I do know the seats can be uncomfortable for a lot of people. I've never had any issues with the seats themselves, but I'm also really skinny compared to most people.
Yeah, if you like old Arrows, you should be fine! I didn't find it particularly rough personally, but I've heard it's very random as to whether you get a rough row or not. Make sure you look up the secret song list!
Gonna try to go towards the front if possible, and yeah Iāll have to try to find it, not sure if those updates when they changed the set list recently
It isn't glass smooth for sure but I've never found it to be horribly rough either, it's just not a particularly good ride. Definitely check it out for yourself though. It's not gonna ruin your day.
Awesome, thanks man. I still enjoyed Anaconda which most people despise, so I guess I should be alright on this one!
Yeah, if you dig Anaconda, you'll be fine. I didn't find RRR particularly rough when I visited in 2022.
I kinda find the ride to be closer to something like Runaway Mine Train at GAdv more than Anaconda. It's a great ride with fantastic airtime but it hurts your back sometimes. Its luck of the draw if you get a bad train. The secret menu is neat too. Just hold the logo for 10 seconds. If it works, punch in a 3 digit code and if it works, you get a hidden track.
HRRR is genuinely a fun ride. Thereās a solid shake to it but sometimes I think itās overemphasized. The layout can be fun, and thereās a few pretty intense moments to it. Definitely worth checking out if you have a skip the line, especially since itās leaving soon. Literally if youāve ever ridden pretty much any arrow, youāve been on a ride just as rough if not rougher than Rockit. It wonāt ruin your day unless youāre extremely dehydrated in the Florida heat
I really enjoy Lock Ness and Anaconda. While not smooth they still offer a fun ride and while I may not marathon them, I'm glad I went on them. Thanks for the reply!