Best Place in America to Live for a Coaster Enthusiast

if you consider easy and cheap flight options, the Philadelphia/eastern PA/NJ region is pretty good.

in addition to all the east coast parks within a several hours drive away, there are numerous airports up and down the I-95 corridor that offer lots of cheap flight options to Orlando if you time it right. A typical flight from the NE/mid Atlantic is in the two hour range.

metallik:

And unlike Harrisburg , Indy and Columbus, we have a convenient home park in KI with pretty reasonable pass/perk pricing and a great selection of rides.

Hersheypark is closer to Harrisburg than KI is to Cincy. Just saying.

I am in the Twin Cities and while we don’t have a lot of parks within a few hours away we do have a two parks that are 15 minutes from where I am. I am also about 3 hours to Adventureland and Lost Island, 4 to the Dells, and 6 SFGAm. The downside is that a lot of bigger parks are a long drive away. I took a family trip to CP about 5 years ago (long before I became an enthusiast and was still terrified of pretty much all the coasters at the park) and we had to stop at a hotel in Indiana mid drive because it was so far. I would probably say either Cleveland, Cincy, or Columbus (however I would stay away from Cleveland as a Twins fan cause I hate their team)

If you pick Harrisburg, PA, you are basically picking Hershey Park as it literally 10-15 minutes away. There is nothing wrong with that, just be sure to buy that season long fast pass unless standing in two hour lines per ride is your idea of fun. I have heard King Size passes have been flying off the shelf this year due to the new RMC Wildcat Revenge. I imagine the crowds at Hershey will be worse than 2022, and that is hard to imagine.

kpjb:

Hersheypark is closer to Harrisburg than KI is to Cincy.

You're right, my Pennsylvania geography is rusty... forgot Harrisburg was that far east.

I'd still rather live in Cincy.

delan:

South Florida??? I think central Florida is way better.

You are 100% correct. I really meant to say "Florida" in general as in they have parks open 365 days a year. That's a big/huge deal to this question I asked, right? I just noticed that Jeff lives in Orlando. Is that by coincidence? Or by choice?

I just had to get out of the Midwest and winter. I battled SAD my entire adult life and moving made it better.

+1 for the South Jersey Philly area.

You have the Big 3 SFGA, Hershey, and Dorney all within a reasonable drive

Plus Knoebels, and all the oceanside parks from Coney Island to Wildwood.

Aurora, Ohio

Meh. The coaster scene there has kinda gone down hill in recent years.