Poll: My 2012 End of the World trip

Well, my sister is currently in the middle of a three week cross-country trip with her new boyfriend to tour America's national parks, and is currently in the SF area. Now, I want to do a TPR trip for the summer of 2012(*1), but in the case that I'm not allowed back into TPR, I've been thinking of a backup trip.

Now, for a couple of months, I have been making some example itineraries for some mega (2 - 3 week) trips just for the heck of it, and so I'd get some good estimates on how much they would cost. (Currently, I have 6 planned.) My primary goal is to not set foot in the GMT-5 timezone once during the trip, as that is the timezone in which I live. I have never set foot outside this timezone, and I want to do so. Really badly. However, seeing as I would be an "inexperienced traveler" I would restrict myself to an English speaking country. Even though I know German quite well (and I could pretty easily read my way through most of the Netherlands as Dutch and German are very similar languages) I better not risk it without a tour guide. (That would be Robb's job if I can do it.) So, I'd be sticking with good ol' America. (I could do England, but they don't have as many good coasters as we do.)

Currently, I'm trying to choose between a "Mountain Time Zone" trip and a California Trip. Here is a brief itinerary of each:




CENTRAL TIME ZONE:

Day 1: Fly to Minneapolis.
Day 2: Nickelodeon Universe.
Day 3: Valleyfair!
Day 4: Arnold's Park
Day 5: Adventureland (Altoona, Iowa)
Day 6: Worlds of Fun
Day 7: Six Flags St. Louis
Day 8: Silver Dollar City
Day 9: Magic Springs & Crystal Falls
Day 10: Frontier City
Day 11: Wonderland Amusement Park
Day 12: Wonderland Amusement Park (Only open for three hours each day on the times I plan on going, so I put in an extra day for some rest, with the evening set for Wonderland.)
Day 13: Joyland Amusement Park
Day 14: Joyland Amusement Park (Same situation as Wonderland Amusement Park.)
Day 15: *DRIVE DAY. NO COASTERS.* Drive to Arlington, TX.
Day 16: Six Flags Over Texas
Day 17: Sea World San Antonio
Day 18: Six Flags Fiesta Texas
Day 19: Kemah Boardwalk
Day 20: Fly from Houston to home.






(*1): I don't believe in the whole 2012 thing. I just chose this year because it would be the summer after my first year of college. I would have had a job at either Sylvan Beach or somewhere else, and I would have had a job at my college for the year. So, hopefully, I'd be able to get enough money if I brought along a friend.






CALIFORNIA TRIP:

Day 1: Fly to San Diego
Day 2: Sea World San Diego
Day 3: Belmont Park
Day 4: Legoland California
Day 5: Castle Amusement Park
Day 6: Adventure City, Scandia Amusement Park
Day 7: Disneyland
Day 8: Disney's California Adventure
Day 9: Knott's Berry Farm
Day 10: Pacific Park, Universal Studios Hollywood
Day 11: Six Flags Magic Mountain
Day 12: *DRIVE DAY. NO COASTERS.* Drive to Santa Clara, CA.
Day 13: Gilroy Gardens Family Theme Park, Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk
Day 14: California's Great America
Day 15: Six Flags Discovery Kingdom
Day 16: Fly from San Jose to home.






Pros for Mountain Time Zone Trip:
1: More big parks
2: More coasters
3: A couple of very unique Premier LIM coasters. (Poltergeist, the two Mr. Freeze coasters.)
4: A bit more variety in the styles of parks.
5: A better wooden coaster lineup overall (Prowler, Renegade, Boardwalk Bullet, etc.)
6: Three Hypers (Wild Thing, Mamba, Titan, and Steel Eel if that counts, even though it's a mini hyper.)
7: The only coaster on the continent (and only one of four or so in the world) that have an upside down lift. (X Coaster - Magic Springs)
8: A bit more variety in the scenery as my currently unnamed friend and I drive. (It's not clustered into two main areas.)


Cons for Central Time Zone Trip:
1: The average drive time per day is a good deal longer.
2: There are more clones on this trip than California: Three Boomerangs, four B:TR's, five Gerstlauer spinning coaster clones, and both Mr. Freeze models. Granted, I would enjoy all of those rides (yes, even the Boomerangs, and I do like those a lot) but I always want a different experience when I go to different parks.
3: There aren't as many charming parks, and most of them are consistently big thrill parks (there's Nickelodeon Universe and Silver Dollar City, etc. but still)
4: I will likely not be able to find a car rental for the trip due to my age. Although I could still drive out there, it's still a 13 hour drive from Syracuse, NY to Minneapolis, MN to start the trip. And, coming back home from Houston, it would be a 26 hour trip over two days. (Drive 15 hours to Louisville, stay overnight, and drive another 11 hours the next day.)







Pros for California trip:
1: Average drive time between parks is significantly shorter, with the exception of that 6 and a half hour stretch between Riverside and Santa Clara.
2: One of only six coasters in the world with flipping seats. (X2)
3: A lot less clones.
4: It's farther away from home, meaning it's practically an entirely different country.
5: Several of B&M's top rated creations (Riddler's Revenge, Medusa, Tatsu, CGA's Flight Deck) are on the trip
6: A larger assortment of quaint, charming parks (three separate beachfront parks, a cluster of nice family parks at the beginning, and the absolutely BEAUTIFUL Gilroy Gardens nearing the end)



Cons for California:
1: The first major thrill park isn't until Day 9 (Knott's Berry Farm) as opposed to Day 2 on the Mountain Time Zone trip (Valleyfair!). Personally, I'd be fine, but my friend might potentially get a little bored.
2: Related to #1, there is a good chunk of smaller coasters.
3: The track record for overall "good parks" is a bit more spotty (SFMM gets mixed reviews, and there's both Disney parks, CGA, and Knott's)
4: I have heard countless reams of horror stories of trying to drive through the major metropolitan areas of California.
5: If the Fox Rent A Car near the San Diego Airport no longer rents to 19 year old kids, I wouldn't be able to do this trip at all.







NEW OPTION: MIDWEST TRIP (Also added to first post.)

NEW POLL OPTION: MIDWEST USA.

Day 1: Drive to Cincinnati
Day 2: Kings Island
Day 3: Kings Island again, because the park is so big. (I might not get all the credits.)
Day 4: Kings Island's water park
Day 5: Coney Island, Stricker's Grove
Day 6: Beech Bend
Day 7: Holiday World
Day 8: Indiana Beach
Day 9: Little Amerricka
Day 10: Timber Falls Adventure Park
Day 11: Mt. Olympus Water & Theme Park
Day 12: Six Flags Great America
Day 13: Michigan's Adventure
Day 14: Drive to Cedar Point, half a day at Cedar Point
Day 15: Full day at Cedar Point
Day 16: Full day at Cedar Point
Day 17: Drive home


Pros:

1: It's the cheapest of the three options
2: By far the best wooden coaster lineup. (Holiday World, Mt. Olympus, Indiana Beach.)
3: Maverick
4: Since it's the closest of the three options, I can do this as a fallback option.


Cons:
1: I've been to one of the parks before. (Cedar Point.)
2: The coaster lineup isn't all that unique per-se. The only really messed up coasters are Steel Hawg and Maverick.
3: It has the least parks out of all three.




NEW CON FOR CENTRAL TIME ZONE TRIP:
4: I will likely not be able to find a car rental for the trip due to my age. Although I could still drive out there, it's still a 13 hour drive from Syracuse, NY to Minneapolis, MN to start the trip. And, coming back home from Houston, it would be a 26 hour trip over two days. (Drive 15 hours to Louisville, stay overnight, and drive another 11 hours the next day.)



NEW CON FOR CALIFORNIA TRIP:
5: If the Fox Rent A Car near the San Diego Airport no longer rents to 19 year old kids, I wouldn't be able to do this trip at all.

Well I dunno which of them,both are great parks in there...

[hyyyper]

California

[Mikey]

Your not missing anything at SFOT.

^ I don't know, Texas Giant in drag seems pretty damn sweet in recent pictures.

california

You can't rent a car unless you're 21.

I would take California just becasue of X2[:D]

Ya, X2 Rulez!

NEW OPTION: MIDWEST TRIP (Also added to first post.)

NEW POLL OPTION: MIDWEST USA.

Day 1: Drive to Cincinnati
Day 2: Kings Island
Day 3: Kings Island again, because the park is so big. (I might not get all the credits.)
Day 4: Kings Island's water park
Day 5: Coney Island, Stricker's Grove
Day 6: Beech Bend
Day 7: Holiday World
Day 8: Indiana Beach
Day 9: Little Amerricka
Day 10: Timber Falls Adventure Park
Day 11: Mt. Olympus Water & Theme Park
Day 12: Six Flags Great America
Day 13: Michigan's Adventure
Day 14: Drive to Cedar Point, half a day at Cedar Point
Day 15: Full day at Cedar Point
Day 16: Full day at Cedar Point
Day 17: Drive home


Pros:

1: It's the cheapest of the three options
2: By far the best wooden coaster lineup. (Holiday World, Mt. Olympus, Indiana Beach.)
3: Maverick
4: Since it's the closest of the three options, I can do this as a fallback option.


Cons:
1: I've been to one of the parks before. (Cedar Point.)
2: The coaster lineup isn't all that unique per-se. The only really messed up coasters are Steel Hawg and Maverick.
3: It has the least parks out of all three.




NEW CON FOR CENTRAL TIME ZONE TRIP:
4: I will likely not be able to find a car rental for the trip due to my age. Although I could still drive out there, it's still a 13 hour drive from Syracuse, NY to Minneapolis, MN to start the trip. And, coming back home from Houston, it would be a 26 hour trip over two days. (Drive 15 hours to Louisville, stay overnight, and drive another 11 hours the next day.)



NEW CON FOR CALIFORNIA TRIP:
5: If the Fox Rent A Car near the San Diego Airport no longer rents to 19 year old kids, I wouldn't be able to do this trip at all.