Great Adventure, Carowinds, Cedar Point, Kings Island tips.

I'm like a kid in a candy store this year. Getting older, finally got better finances and a partner to travel the United States and visit theme parks. But next year might be even better. These theme parks are in the plans for me next year.

So members who've been to these. Give me tips maneuvering my way and information. Such as expected wait times, order I should go on the rides, if the park dies down in business what time that happens, even best seat or seats to avoid for each coaster.

These are the rides I'm really looking forward to in each park the most.

Carowinds - Nighthawk and Afterburn. Yeah, Intimidator Carowinds is the highest rated coaster, but I just got my first taste at a flying coaster at Six Flags America (Maryland) and adored it so that's why I'm looking forward to Nighthawk. Afterburn is possibly secretly the best inverted coaster on the east USA according to the ratings on coastergrotto with only 0.05 points below Volcano average while Volcano has the advantage of 2 launches and Afterburn possibly makes up for it with other stuff. This is easily the most low profile theme park of the 4 but I'm not a judgemental person who critiques their time at a theme park due to not having the best rollercoasters. Went to Six Flags America and had just as a great of time as Hershey Park and Dorney Park really just cuz I love being at theme parks so I'm sure I'll have tons of fun at Carowinds.

Great Adventure - El Toro, Superman: Ultimate Flight, and Nitro. Yeah, I heard El Toro kinda cheats and is not actually a wooden coaster. I'll see for myself but its a highly highly rated experience. Nitro, I've been wanting to go on this for a while before some of the newer crazier one comes out, might be just another B&M hyper but I look forward to it. Ultimate Flight same reason as Nighthawk and its from a different manufacturer.

Cedar Point - Millenium Force, Top Thrill Dragster, Gatekeeper, Magnum XL, Maverick. Theres just so much here I don't know how to start. MF, TTD, and Magnum I look forward to just cuz I've wanted to for the longest time. Gatekeeper is a creative type of ride, and Maverick has an awesome looking POV video.

Kings Island - The Beast, Firehawk, Banshee. Firehawk for the same reasons has above. Banshee actually currently has a slightly higher average rating than both Volcano and Afterburn but only has 18 votes so far compared to 300 that Volcano has but that makes me wanna go on a nice inverted coaster. But, possibly the rollercoaster that's so classic and one I wanted to go on the most for the longest time now is The Beast. Its a shame Grizzly is still the best wooden coaster I've been on (albeit we didn't have time to go on Lightning Racer at Hershey) and its lame I haven't been on a better one. I hope Beast blows it out of the water.

I can speak for Great Adventure since it is my home park. The first ride you should go for is El Toro. Even though it has 2 new rides nearby, the line will probably not fill up as much as the rides over by Kingda Ka. You should start with the back car on El Toro. Even though I strongly believe that the front is better, the back has to go first. Always sit in the middle of the car too so the restraints don't tear apart your hips. I would probably run over towards Kingda Ka before that line gets ridiculous. You should then go for Superman and Green Lantern in that order. Then you should go across the park to Batman followed by Nitro then skim your way across the park until you get to Bizarro including a front seat ride on El Toro. If you can squeeze in a Zumanjaro ride in after that you can try, but I have no idea how bad that line is.

Edit: Oh and get to the park nice and early so you can minimize line times.

As for Cedar Point. 2 days or your not getting everything done.

[TTD03]

I think the most efficient way for Great Adventure as it is my home park as well is to just get Kingda Ka first, since once that opens, the line stays long all day, then you can hit zumanjaro if it is still running, cause it only runs for 10 minutes at a time before breaking for 20. Then hit El Toro because that is empty still, then Bizarro, then the skyride over to the Nitro side and do that stuff. That's what I always do.

Cedar Point is my home park

Maverick, Maverick, Maverick. Cedar Point has a healthy early entry crowd Since you are going to three CF parks I know you are getting a platinum pass. Tooootally worth it. Most of the rides are not open for early entry. Usually maverick, Millenium Force, Raptor and Gatekeeper. Millenium Force and Maverick will have the longest lines. If you are there at early opening, you should have time to ride all the early entry rides by the time TTD warms up. After that smooth sailing and you'll be done with the park by 1pm

If by some freak of science you go in with the GP, Maverick, Millenium Force, and TTD will be the only real lines until the evening when all the tour groups go home. Even still they are favorite closing rides.

Also. Ride Wicked Twister in the front and the back. two TOTALLY different rides that are worth the reride.

Riding Mean Streak used to be a nightmare but this year I tell you, if you can do it, make your first ride at night. I know I'm summoning more hate from those who haven't ridden it this year to know what I'm talking about XD But it's epic

BEST CEDAR POINT PRO TIP.

Cedar Point is the only amusement park most of the local GP have every known. So they look at a lot of coaster fan legends as just older rides XD

[Coasterkidmwm]

When you ride Dragster there are two loading platforms. Head to the one in the back nearest the turn where you unload (right side when the line splits in two), because all of the people with plinko tickets usually end up loaded into the first load platform at the front. When I was working that ride I generally couldn't trust people to walk to the back train and load fast enough.

Also Raptor's line is usually obscene in the morning (and Gatekeeper's probably is too).

[Blase Rhine]

Carowinds used to be my home park until I recently moved to Georgia this summer. Carowinds definitely had the thrills and is very fun to visit however their Staff are the main issue...A couple years ago I was charging my phone for around 30 minutes while a friend of mine got in line for Carolina Cobra and a janitor came by and told me she needed to move my phone and the charger for her to clean the area. I kindly moved my phone and turned around (my phone was literally right behind me) she does her business and leaves. I then turned around and saw that my phone wasn't there but my charger still was. I went to guest services and they called a cop to come so I could fill out an incident report. I told them exactly what happened and that I am not entirely sure who took my phone but the Janitor was the last person I saw near it. The cop then went up to the women and asked if she had seen my phone and she told him that she wasn't even over where I was... I asked the cop to check her and he then asked her if it was okay for him to check her. She said no at first and the police officer implied that if she had nothing to hide then she would allow it. She then said yes and checked her... Guess what he found... My cell phone. The cop asked if I wanted to press charges for theft. I didn't press any charges against her. I went to guest services and told them the whole ordeal and they just brushed it off like it was no big deal and they told me this happens all the time.... I told them that if this happens all the time then maybe they need to hire new staff. However I did not let this stop me from going back to Carowinds. I recently took a visit to Carowinds and had no problems. Now that I live in Georgia I am proud to say my new home park is Six Flags over Georgia.

Hey, nobody's touched on my old stomping grounds - King's Island. I'll give you a breakdown:

- I haven't been this year so sadly I have no Banshee advice for you. But if you do indeed have a Platinum Pass and get in early, I don't have to tell you that it should be the first thing you hit.
- Flight of Fear and Firehawk always seem to have long lines. FoF has basically the only queue that's all in air conditioning, so the line gets massive whenever it heats up. The throughput of the ride doesn't help. And Firehawk always seems to have horrible throughput. It's a decent ride - better than it's little sister Nighthawk at Carowinds - but I wouldn't wait hours for it.
- There are three Arrow rides in this park that shouldn't be overlooked. Vortex is a good ride if you know what to expect from an Arrow sit down. It will beat you up a bit. The Bat (formerly Top Gun - which I liked a lot better as a name) is a wonderful Arrow suspended coaster, and though it isn't talked about too much, it utilizes the hillside very nicely and has some surprising forces. And lastly there's Adventure Express, the Arrow mine train, which is worth a ride as well. The sudden, ridiculous lats bring a smile to my face every time.
- Invertigo won't beat you up as much as other Vekomas but it's far from painless. Watch the line and jump on when it gets short.
- Backlot Stunt Coaster has decent theming and fun pacing. Again, the wait is on and off here.
- As far as flat rides go, I love Delirium, the Giant Frisbee next to Banshee. The Drop Tower is also a good one and usually a short wait.
- You've left out a very important coaster in your initial post, and it's bugging me a bit. Diamondback is the best of the four B&M hypers I've been on, though I haven't ridden it nearly enough since it opened only a couple of years before I moved further from KI. Ride it multiple times if possible, but make sure to get the back once.

Last bullet point:
- The Beast. It's amazing. Make sure you get at least one pass in at night. I'm going to repeat that because it's important. RIDE THE BEAST AT NIGHT. I can rant and rave about how unique an experience it is, but it's better off as just that - an experience. At night it easily tops my wooden coaster list.

Hope you get to make it out there! That sounds like an amazing year, I'm jealous.

LoneQuark wrote:

Hey, nobody's touched on my old stomping grounds - King's Island. I'll give you a breakdown:

- I haven't been this year so sadly I have no Banshee advice for you. But if you do indeed have a Platinum Pass and get in early, I don't have to tell you that it should be the first thing you hit.
- Flight of Fear and Firehawk always seem to have long lines. FoF has basically the only queue that's all in air conditioning, so the line gets massive whenever it heats up. The throughput of the ride doesn't help. And Firehawk always seems to have horrible throughput. It's a decent ride - better than it's little sister Nighthawk at Carowinds - but I wouldn't wait hours for it.
- There are three Arrow rides in this park that shouldn't be overlooked. Vortex is a good ride if you know what to expect from an Arrow sit down. It will beat you up a bit. The Bat (formerly Top Gun - which I liked a lot better as a name) is a wonderful Arrow suspended coaster, and though it isn't talked about too much, it utilizes the hillside very nicely and has some surprising forces. And lastly there's Adventure Express, the Arrow mine train, which is worth a ride as well. The sudden, ridiculous lats bring a smile to my face every time.
- Invertigo won't beat you up as much as other Vekomas but it's far from painless. Watch the line and jump on when it gets short.
- Backlot Stunt Coaster has decent theming and fun pacing. Again, the wait is on and off here.
- As far as flat rides go, I love Delirium, the Giant Frisbee next to Banshee. The Drop Tower is also a good one and usually a short wait.
- You've left out a very important coaster in your initial post, and it's bugging me a bit. Diamondback is the best of the four B&M hypers I've been on, though I haven't ridden it nearly enough since it opened only a couple of years before I moved further from KI. Ride it multiple times if possible, but make sure to get the back once.

Last bullet point:
- The Beast. It's amazing. Make sure you get at least one pass in at night. I'm going to repeat that because it's important. RIDE THE BEAST AT NIGHT. I can rant and rave about how unique an experience it is, but it's better off as just that - an experience. At night it easily tops my wooden coaster list.

Hope you get to make it out there! That sounds like an amazing year, I'm jealous.

Most detailed advice so far, thanks for really giving me the ins and outs of the rollercoasters and some flat rides at the park. I'll remember this when I go there. I probably won't ride Flight of Fear or Backlot since they are already at my home park (Kings Dominion) but I'll see if I can ride Beast at night. I WANT to, but we'll probably arrive there early and we usually don't eat at theme parks since its expensive so staying all day only drinking water might be tough but we'll see if I get a little more cash than expected next year.

OH YEAH! Also, after recent discussion with my friend, we might even hit up Dollywood and Knoebels for some of the best woodies in the world since they're pretty close too! If we can.

I'll add a little tips I've picked up over the years at Cedar Point.

-For obvious reasons, avoid the front of the park until the late after noon. The GP runs straight to Gatekeeper and Raptor. WAIT. Go back to Raptor, Gatekeeper, Blue Streak and Wicked Twister after dinner, and you'll have a minimal wait (sometimes walk-ons).
-You'll end up waiting for Maverick no matter what time of day it is. If you do get in for Early Entry, go there.
-Hold off on Top Thrill until about an hour before close. By that time the line will also be minimal. I've gotten 7 rides in 30 minutes in the past.
-Magnum's peak line is noonish-after dinner. About 1-2 hours before close, the ride is a walk-on. And conveniently located near TTD.
-Same with Millennium.
-I wish I could give you Mantis advice. Normally when Millie has an hour wait, Mantis is 15 minutes. BUT it has changed since they've announced something's happening.

Now for another favorite part. Live shows. Go see them.
I'm a little biased because I'm a performer in the midway entertainment (Band of Buccanneers-I'm a trumpet player) however, check out some of the shows. The GP really only sees the Luminosity stage and assumes that that's our only show. This summer, we had 13 shows around the park. This fall we have:
-Midnight Syndicate NEW - Ghoul Time Theater - Concert horror show (not meant for young kids)
-Skeleton Crew - Luminosity Stage - Acrobats and just craziness!!
-Edge of Madness - Red Garter - World class vocalists singing 80s hair band and rock!
-Spooky Shenanigans NEW - Palace Theater - Singing your favorites!
-Sideshow Magic - Aldrich Theater - Magic and dancing!
-Band of Buccaneers NEW - Midways - I'm in it so you know it's good
-Monster Midway Invasion Celebration - Parade - In the front of the park
-Gypsy Fortune Tellers - Near Slingshot - Get your fortune read
-Kids shows and karaoke

I can't say much but I did see the set for Midnight Syndicate and it looks amazing!! My roommate is an actor in the show. It's like nothing we've ever had at Cedar Point.

Let me know when you come and say hi! Like I said I'm playing trumpet with the Band of Buccaneers and at night I'm a barker at CarnEvil (The guy at the front with the Mic).

Tips for Gadv (most of them not all that recent)

-Superman will always have a long line, regardless of when you go, unless it breaks down and you go right when it reopens. Then you can get as many rides as you want

-GL is a pretty decent ride, just murder on your ankles if you're rather tall. Ride as close to the front as you can, otherwise it's a real head-boxer

-El Toro is another one of those rides that's line doesn't change. It's usually 1 hr-1hr 30 mins, and it's worth the wait. By the way, it technically doesn't cheat as the only thing different is it was cut at the factory. El Toro is like building a lego set out of pre-cut legos, while others are like taking a block of plastic and cutting it to size and assembling it yourself.

-Believe it or not, nitro never has a ridiculous line unless you go on the weekend. You can get many re-rides and I got 4 in a row once.

-Since Bizarro is in the back of the park so it never has a long line, again unless you go on the weekends

-Batman is a great ride, but the queue is not air-conditioned, and on a hot day it's brutal. Decide among yourself if it's worth it

-Kingda Ka's line is one of the only rides that's line fluctuates. The best time to ride if you want a day ride is around 5:00. If you want a night ride and the line is long, then go at around 7-7:30. Trust me, by the time you get to the front, with Zumanjaro eating up time and the ride getting less launches it will be night. Although I have heard they will put nets on top of KK so they can sync them next year, and they have been launching kingda ka without riders at the same time as Zumanjaro.

That's pretty much all I can think of at the moment.

[TTD03]

^ Only thing I'd like to change is that El Toro's line right when the park is open is virtually nothing until noon, so you can get a lot of rides on it.

just reread what you posted about Volcano and Afterburn. Afterburn craps alllllll ooooooovvvver Volcano. Volcano is a fad coaster and not much more. Yeah it's fun but I keep forgetting it's even at the park until I go there. Banshee is the best by far but only in the last row. The first drop in the last row is one of the best American coaster drops you can have. Other than that, Afterburn and Raptor are just so super angry. Every row. Every time.

Coaster Dave! I've seen you and until now I hadn't realized you worked there >_< If you're there tomorrow I'll shout you out (respectfully of course). You know the guy in the money room at the Erie... whatever haunt?



back to the topic XD

Skip the flats as a lowest priority at the Cedar Fair parks and go for the coasters EXCEPT for Drop zone. Cedar Point has pretty much all the other flats with way less wait times. A busy day for Windseeker and Delirium at KI is 30 minutes. A busy day for Windseeker and Maxair at Cedar Point is three cycles. Just never go to CP on the weekend or you will ride like five rides all day. Especially since RouGarou is a new coaster experience

Yeah, Volcano kinda revolves its awesomeness on the 2 launches. But man, those 2 launches are freakin GOOD. Anyway, its a pretty good chance I'll visit both Kings Island and Cedar Point next year and I definitely look forward to riding Banshee almost as much as The Beast. Actually, even if theres faster, bigger, badder coasters in the world, Beast might be one I'm looking forward to more than any of them. I'm deprived of excellent wooden coasters at the moment, the best one I've ridden is still good but nothing special Grizzly. That's incredibly lame.

[TTD03]

I'm heartbroken, Volcano is my number 4 coaster!
The 2 launches are so good and it is so unique going out the top of a volcano!

Volcano is like the only top 10 in the world inverted coaster not made by B&M and out of the 5 theme parks I've been to, its my 6th favorite ride and my personal favorite inverted coaster.

But, it seems while feet dangling is cool, I guess I prefer stuff like ejector air, weightlessness, and lateral movement intensity in your seat that inverted coasters kinda lack in. By lateral movement, I don't mean lateral g's, literally your body moving in the seat laterally left to right diagonally while you turn and drop which Skyrush and Intimidator 305 excel in (and actually, Skyrush does that aspect BETTER than Intimidator 305, just I like I305 a little more overall).

So, I look forward to Afterburn and Banshee and see if they provide something different than Alpengeist and Talon, which I like both but not all-time favorites.

[TTD03]

^ Yay, another Volcano supporter!