Help & advice for our USA trip please!

[Innovtech]

Hi everybody,

My wife & I have decided to take a trip from the UK to the USA in 2016 to visit as many theme parks as we can and we are hoping to pick the brains & experience of all you lovely people to help ensure we have the best time possible and not miss out on anything amazing while we are there.

To make the trip fit with our work schedules & budget we'll by flying to New York on May 7th 2016 and starting our journey from there.

We'll then be visiting the following parks (in order);

1. Six Flags Great Adventure - (1 Day)
2. Hershey Park - (1 Day)
3. Kings Dominion - (1 Day)
4. Busch Gardens - (1 Day)
5. Kings Island - (1 Day)
6. Cedar Point - (2 Days)
7. Six Flags Great America - (1 Day)
8. Knott's Berry Farm - (1 Day)
9. Universal Studios Hollywood - (1 Day)
10. Six Flags Magic Mountain - (1 Day)

We've planned in a fair amount of rest days as well because there's quite a lot of driving to do and we would also like to take in some other less intense tourist attractions along the way.
We've already decided that we are going to film our trip so I'll definitely post it online when we get back along with what I imagine will be quite a hefty trip report.

Anyway, there are a couple of things I'm not sure about and was hoping that some of you guys would be able to help and maybe offer advice. Any information/tips would be very much appreciated.

So here goes with the questions....

1. Will one day at SFMM be enough or do you think we'll need two to fit everything in? We don't have any spare days in California but we're OK with dropping Universal Studios off the list to
save a day as we visited Universal when we were last in Florida.

2. Do you think we should budget for Fast Lane/Flash Passes in order to make sure we will get on all the attractions @ each park or will the month of May be quite enough to not require them? (Our itinerary has us at SFGA, Kings Island, SFMM & Universal Studios on weekend days.)
If it's a yes for passes, how far in advance do you think I will need to book them to ensure availability?

3. If it works out financially better to get Season Passes, are these available to pre-buy for Guests outside of the USA, or do we need to wait until we get to the first park to get them, (I can't seem to find this information on the park websites.)

4. Cedar Point opened on Sunday May 9th this year, is this the case every year or does the opening date fluctuate each year? Our itinerary has us getting to Cedar Point on May 16th & I would hate to finalise everything now and then find out that the park won't be open when we plan to be there.

5. Does anyone live near any of these theme parks that can give me a rough idea of what weather to expect when we are there in May?

6. Whilst we plan to try and experience everything we possibly can in each park, I'm sure there will be some things that will have to be overlooked due to us only having one day @ at each park (apart from 2 days at Cedar Point). So are there any hidden gems at these parks that you recommend as a "must do" (apart from all the big coasters obviously). I would hate to miss a great dark ride/haunted house ect on what will probably be a once in a life-time visit to these parks.

That's everything I can think of right now, but as I mentioned above, if anybody has any other information that they think would be useful for our trip, it would be very much appreciated. We can't wait to head over the USA and visit all these amazing parks. We visit all the UK parks regularly (I used to work at AT) & we've also been venturing further afield over the last few years and it's been amazing. This year we went to Europa Park which was mind blowing so I can only imagine how good the rides are going to be at all these parks in the USA, especially after reading all about them on here.

Thanks in advance,

Innovtech

I only know a few answers so here we go.

2. Yes, if you want to guarantee all attractions you should definitely spring for a line skip service. Honestly, it's not best to buy them online. A much smarter strategy is to go to the park, gauge the crowds and get a sense of how packed it is, and if it is crowded then buy it, and if it's not, don't. It could get you on many more rides and save a lot of money.

3. I believe you can buy season passes for most parks online and print the voucher regardless of where you live but I'm not 100% sure on this one.

4. I believe CP's opening date fluctuates. Anyway, opening day never goes well from what I've heard, because of a lot of breakdowns of the coasters. I haven't been to CP so I'll let a CP local take this question!

5. I live in NJ so my homepark is SFGAdv so I can give you the climate for May. Expect it to be fairly hot, and it doesn't rain too much around then, at least this year (we hardly got any rain this year from what I've noticed.) Of course, this could change by next year, but for now I'm fairly certain that weather shouldn't be a problem.

6. Not a coaster, but not a dark ride; If you have extra time and have the guts to do it, I say you should definitely try out Zumanjaro at Gadv. It's the sheer height of the thing that gets you and no matter how confident you are stepping on, you always get apprehensive at the top. The drop feels eternal, but it's just intense enough to be a pleasant feeling. It's scary until you get off, really!

Have a great trip in advance!

[Oscar]

1. If it is during the season when kids are in school and it is in the middle of the week, it might just be enough to do everything in SFMM. If not, you should consider the flash pass. Being it is in May, you might catch it when kids are barely starting to get out of school. Tough call to make at the moment.
2. For SFMM, as a tourist coming from abroad and wanting to ensure you can do everything, I would consider the flash pass for SFMM. For Knott's, you can do everything in one day and have time left over without any priority boarding pass.
3. I don't know.
4. I don't know.
5. Mid 70's weather. Sunny, no rain.
6. I can't really think of any hidden gems at SFMM and Knott's

[Innovtech]

Cheers Guys,

I think we'll take your advice and not bother pre-booking any flash/fast lane passes until we get to the parks and judge it from there. If we can get away with not needing them at a few of the parks we visit on week days it'll save quite a bit of money.

I am a little worried about CP being as we are going to be very close to opening day, but there is no other option on the dates so we'll have suck it and see and hope everything is up and running well.

As for Zumanjaro at Gadv, it's definitely on my list, but I'm not sure I'll get my Wife that high on a drop tower without paying for it later, lol!

Thanks again,

Innovtech

[Innovtech]

So we finally made to the USA for our first ever theme park road trip. We're 2 days in & have done Six Flags Great Adventure yesterday & Kings Dominion today! 8 more parks to go!

LOVING THESE PARKS!!! AMAZING COASTERS!!!

El Toro - AMAZING
Kingda Ka - AMAZING
Intimidator 305 - AMAZING (experienced my first ever grey out on the front row of this beast this morning)

Busch Gardens Williamsburg tomorrow.

Fingers crossed for Lightning Rod being open on Saturday!

I'll post a full report when we get back to the UK!





All rides at KD were "walk straight on today" BONUS!

[Oscar]

Sweet!!! No wait times pretty much for you!

[slosprint]

If you miss Boulder Dash you are pretty much missing all the america.

[Paradox]

slosprint wrote:

If you miss Boulder Dash you are pretty much missing all the america.

QFT

Also Wicked Cyclone

Oh my god did you skip Skyrushland

[Innovtech]

Our schedule changed from the original one I posted last year due to budgets, if all goes to plan it'll now be...

Six flags great adventure (Done)
Kings dominion (Done)
Busch gardens Williamsburg
Carrowinds
Dollywood
Kings island
Six flags great America
Cedar point
Canada's wonderland
Lake compounce

& if we have time before we have to head back to New York we might be able to squeeze another park into the tour, either Six Flags New England or Hersheypark....which would you guys recommend out of the two??

& just to reiterate....back row of El Toro - AMAAAAAZING!!!

[slosprint]

Go to Hershey over SFNE; it's got like 5 amazing coasters whereas SFNE has 2, and it's also a better park overall. IN terms of LC try to ride BD well after sunset. On BD back seat is best for 1st half of the ride (getting dragged through all those amazing hills), and front is best for final half (the triple up is incredible). If you go on an uncrowded weekday they'll just let you marathon it so long as nobody is in line for that row.

If your goal is to be close to NYC SFNE is probably a little closer, but Hershey is great not just for the coasters but for overall experience, if you have time, and money I would buy the combo ticket to Dutch Wonderland too, you only need a few hours there since there is only one coaster(Its more for the PA Dutch/Amish Atmosphere) and its only like 30 minutes from Hershey.

Holiday World is missing from your list..... and it's the best park we have

The back row of El Toro is really divine, yes. You should go to Hershey and try the back row of Skyrush.

What a wonderful roadtrip plan for your time here. I would also vouch for Hersheypark over SFNE. It's on the way from CP/CW, all three Intamins are astounding, the park is lovely, the total coaster credit count is high. If time becomes an issue, I would honestly prioritize Hersheypark over Canada's Wonderland in your list--you'll have ridden both Levithan's and Behemoth's better counterparts earlier in your trip. Hershey would round off your trip with a plethora of most of the best Intamins around. I'd also urge you to buy flash / fast passes when you can--like at Cedar Point--as you'll not be around again any time soon. Keep us updated!

[mkingy]

Great to see you realising your trip!

From a UK perspective I'd totally want to hit up Skyrush and Storm Runner as I don't think you'll see anything like those in the UK/EU any time soon (whereas you could get over to Sweden for an RMC).

[Innovtech]

Wow, thanks for all the great advice guys, Hersheypark it is then (if we get time). Canada's Wonderland is really only on our list as we are heading to Toronto to meet up with some old friends who live there now & we are going to spend the day on park with them otherwise we would have probably given it a miss.

Busch Gardens was great today, all rides were "walk straight on"again so we got a LOT of rides on Griffen and Alpengeist, both great & I'm now eagerly awaiting Valravn at CP.

Thunderstorms forecast for tomorrow, hopefully it won't stop us getting on Fury 325

Thanks again for all the advice and tips!! I'll keep you posted as we go. (Everyone please keep your fingers crossed for Lightning Rod for us, lol!!)

[mkingy]

Not sure if you've seen the topic but they are doing technical ride rehearsals - so even if you don't see a big banner saying it's open it might be running

^^ Were you able to ride Fury 325 or how was that ride?

[Innovtech]

Quick update;

Friday we were at Carowinds & it was HOT!! Hot enough to crack the winscreen of our rental car but it did mean that everyone was at the water park and not on the rides so we got to ride Fury 325 twelve times It's definitely my favourite coaster on this trip so far. The speed & airtime on this thing is relentless and amazing. Front row, late afternoon/early evening was my favourite ride.

Then it was Dollywood on Saturday with no chance of a ride on Lightning Rod which was a massive disappointment, but we were still buzzing from Fury 325 the day before so it didn't feel like the end of the world. I really enjoyed Thunderhead too. I got a sore neck from Mystery Mine, but that was a fun ride too. Didn't really rate Wild Eagle, I prefer the layout of The Swarm at Thorpe Park.

Yesterday was a travel day to Kings Island & we arrived in Mason at 8pm last night. I remembered reading a post on here about how good The Beast is in the dark so we checked into our hotel and headed straight to the park. We managed a ride on The Beast & Diamondback, both in complete darkness, both Brilliant! So thanks to whoever it was on CC that recommended that.

We're gonna head back on park for the day today before making our way to Chicago. Early ride time on The Beast this morning so we'll get to see what it's like in daylight.

I do have to say a massive thank you to everyone on CC, the help & information you guys offer on here is fantastic and has definitely made our trip immeasurably better.

I'll keep you posted,

#GETTINGCLOSERTOCEDARPOINT

[Paradox]

But what about Tennessee Tornado? I love Mystery Mine even though it is a little rough. It's my favorite old school Eurofighter.

^^ Congrats! You did ride Fury 325!