I am taking a week long trip down to the Phoenix Arizona area... I was wondering if there were any parks (with coasters) within a 2 hour drive of phoenix?
Thanks.
-Matt
If you can free up a little more time, Vegas is a five hour drive (Speed:the Ride, Manhattan Express, Big Shot, High Roller, Canyon Blaster, Desperado) from Phoenix.
Five hours will also take you to Knotts (Ghostrider), DCA (Cali Screamin) or Disneyland.
Five to Six hours drive from Phoenix to Six Flags Magic Mountain (Goliath, Deja Vu, Riddlers Revenge, X, +more).
I have made many overnight to 2 dsays trips to LA.
Just this week in fact, we left Phoenix at 1PM, Got to Knotts at 5pm (1hr time change right now), Rode Ghostrider and others til 10pm closing time. Drove to Valencia (45min), got a hotel for the night. Went to SFMM in the morning, left at 6pm and got back to Phoenix at 12:30am. Basically, we left at 1pm sunday afternoon, went to BOTH parks, and got back to Phoenix at Midnight Monday.
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I've traded in my 2000 Giovanola for a 2002 Arrow X4D :)
My other car is now an Arrow X4D!
*** This post was edited by LoadedG on 2/21/2002. ***
Jim Fisher said:
I'm going to Tucson some time this year and it struck me that somewhere between Tucson and Phoenix would be a great place to put a new park. Lots of open land available, a year around climate, and over 3.5 million people with almost no parks.
Yeah, that is what I am talking about! I wish somebody would act on that thought though. Another good place would be between Phoenix and Flagstaff. The temperature there during the summer would be less "overheating" than a park between Phoenix and Tucson. Either way though, I wouldn't complain if there was a REAL park anywhere in AZ. For now though, I have to settle for 5 hour drives to Southern California.
PT300 - Glad to here you enjoyed your time at CnC. I will fully agree with you that the mini-golf courses are very good. I do like the flume also, though it could use some theming. If you've got a few hrs to kill, by all means go give CnC a try. But I personally will drive to Cali or Vegas 4-5 times a year when Ive been to CnC just twice in 8 years. One trip there gets you enough to not need to go back anytime soon. Riding Desert Storm is like a tease, just makes me want to go to a park with more to offer. Desert Storm MUST have a certain load of passengers (8 I believe) as I was told by a ride OP last time I was there. If it is busy enough to fill the train and the station queue is full, they will run it more frequently.
I guess what REALLY sucks the most about CnC for us who live in Phoenix is that they do NOT offer a season pass. One trip for one day at CnC is gonna run about $30+. If I wanna go back, its another $30+. Just to ride Desert Storm, bumper cars, and a swinging ship!? If they'd offer a season pass, I'd bet there daily clientelle would be much higher. Profits come in the form of concessions and video games, and parking (they used to charge for parking when CnC transformed from Golf n Stuff, but they no longer do).
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I've traded in my 2000 Giovanola for a 2002 Arrow X4D :)
My other car is now an Arrow X4D!
LoadedG, I agree about CnC...once is enough for quite awhile, and I think you nailed it on the head when you called Desert Storm a tease. Every time I've ridden it, I've gotten off wondering why I didn't spend my time driving to someplace with more coasters. And the pricing is horrendous, no doubt about it. I think a season pass would be a great idea for them, but I'm not sure that there'd be as big a market for it as in other citites, considering their lack of attraction. Perhaps a frequent rider card/discount? =) By the way, did anyone else ever hear the rumor about an Intamin gen-1 giant drop going in at CnC?
Wasn't there an idea for a Dinosaurs of Pangaea theme park a while back? I thought it was to be located in Eloy, south of Casa Grande, but the website they had up has disappeared (not surprisingly). I believe the problem with a theme park there would be temperatures during the summer. While us Arizona people are *pretty* acclimated to it, I can't see our weather helping to make it a huge draw for out-of-staters. However, it could work if it was open for our wonderful winters (need I remind everyone of the near 80 highs recently?). I have also thought of placing a theme park in between Phoenix and Flagstaff (Prescott), but I don't think I-17 could handle the possible traffic flow, and a lot of vehicles have a tough time making it out of Black Canyon City. I seem to remember hearng rumors awhile back about Six Flags looking at land in Peoria for a park, but that was probably years ago, and most definitely was a wild rumor.
Anyway, JamesK, go to CnC if you must stay in town, but otherwise, see if you can't con someone into a ride to Vegas or Cali.
To all others who have posted, isn't it fun discussing rumors for such a coaster-deprived metropolitan area?
-Matt
I've never heard ANY rumor of CnC making ANY improvements since its opening 10+yrs ago. I REALLY wish they would add SOMETHING, perhaps utilizing the parking lot across the street (near Best Buy), that remains a vacant lot because NOBODY goes to CnC.
James K, go to CnC and form your own opinion, but remember, Magic Mountain is just a few hours away!! When will you be this close again??
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I've traded in my 2000 Giovanola for a 2002 Arrow X4D :)
My other car is now an Arrow X4D!
Someone did try and start an amusement park there, but he ran out of money (or so they have me believe). I don't know exactly where it is, but I'm sure it's before Picacho Peak. There's a sign on the side of the road that says Family Fun World or something and there are some animals on it. There's also a big open field there that would be perfect for an amusement park because there's lots of land and there are also some things there from when the park started getting built. Tiny things like a little fire truck or a wagon or something. It's been a while since I passed by there so I don't remember much.
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I was asked to describe X in one word. The word? -- OhmygoshwhathaveIgottenmyselfintothisisthescariest
thingintheworldhelpmeIamgoingtodieAHHHH!!!
*** This post was edited by haux on 2/22/2002. ***
I appreciate all the varying opinions on CnC. I think I will put this one on the backburner for now. I am sure that I will have a greater opportunity to get there then to get out to LA again.
Anyway, I really wanted to get out to SFMM this year to ride X. I am from MI and never thought I would have the possibility to make it out there this summer, I did not realize it was that close to Phoenix. (anything less then 8 hours is close for me, I am on the road a lot).
Thanks again everyone for your assistance.
James K,
*******
Planned Parks for this summer: CP, SFWoA, SFGAm, SFKK, PKI, MA, HP, KW, SFMM, KBF. Is 10 enough?
*** This post was edited by James K on 2/23/2002. ***
You'll LOVE X, but get there early and go RIGHT to it. I was just there and got in quick and all the way to the loading platform. It looksed like it shouldve been about a tem minute wait, but turned out to be an Hour and a half because of single train operation and loading from both sides. Viper, right next to X, has been resurrected and once again boasts quite long lines from the X turnover. Deja Vu is a better-than-expected ride with HORRIBLE capacity issues as well. The other side of the park isnt bad. Goliath, Colossus and Batman were all walk-ons, though Riddler had quite the line (around lunch time, as expected). Prep yourself for SEVERAL rides on GhostRider. I assume your CF pass is from MIA, and youve ridden ST (I havent), but GhostRider is far and away the BEST woodie I have ridden. Behind MF, it is my #2 favorite period (and I dont like Woodies!).
I think you'll enjoy yourself. Hit CnC next time you're in the area, OR head to Vegas.
Dont know when your trip is planned for, but try hitting the parks on weekday operations. Knotts is open daily Year round, but SFMM is only open weekends until April. Avoid SFMM on Saturday by all means. If you MUST take a weekend day for SFMM, make it a sunday, then hit Knotts on Monday (park closes at 6, but you should be able to get in 6-8 rides on GhostRider in an hour, and hit everything else within 2 more). Your 2001 CedarFair pass is good at Knotts til the end of April, then you need a 2002 pass. SFMM passes are annual ONLY, which means you will need a 2002 pass.
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I've traded in my 2000 Giovanola for a 2002 Arrow X4D :)
My other car is now an Arrow X4D!
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