Best Time for trip to USA

Coaster-Robin - - -> I don't mean to be rude, I was just saying that some of the week days that might look like it would be an light day are days that are PACKED with Music in the Parks trips.

For example, our school is going to Dorney on Friday, May 31. I know that on that day...while most schools are in session...the park will be PACKED.

I also know that most of the schools will get there later in the morning after performing at local high schools and colleges. They will also empty out by 7 PM once the busses leave.

To people unaware of this...it's a day that would normally appear so light...that parks wouldn't even open. Instead it's packed to the gills. (On a nice day the water park side is much busier than the ride side...but on a cooler day...it's reversed.

To be fair...the crowds that day are VERY well supervised. If you are only looking for rides (not slides) you can get there early - do everything quick and get out of there by midday...or get there at 5 PM and have some great evening experiences. (Most school groups leave after the judging ceremeonies.)

I am not sure about physics days in terms of actual numbers...but from what I understand it's also a big draw for the parks on what would otherwise be lighter days. Physics days are mostly for high school students I would guess...Music in the parks is usually from grade 5 through high school.

bunky666 said:

I highly recommend the back seat, right side (unless Mike and I are already sitting there, but we might move up a seat for a visitor from another country. Maybe. :))

Speak for yourself :)

Seriously, Robin, I might. Bribes are sometimes accepted, especially if they're edible.

bunky666 said:Knoebels is a great park for kids

All kids, even the over 6 ft/200lb ones :) Phoenix and Twister are worth about 10 standard coasters. And all the charm at Knoebels is worth...? I guess I shouldn't try to make this a Knoebels love thread. There are probably more than enough of those.

bunky666 said: SooperDooperLooper is a fun classic Schwarzkopf looper

You mean sooperdooperLooper? It takes a real coaster nerd...

ApolloAndy said:

To be honest, middle of the week (Tues, Wed, Thurs) in the middle of the summer isn't that bad.

This.

Enthusiasts like to tout the early and late season as great times to visit...and they can be.

But your average weekday in the middle of summer just isn't too horrible to begin with.

We've traditionally taken weeklong trips in mid-to-late June and Monday-thru-Friday crowds are completely reasonable. (and the weather is more 'park-like')

A summer weekday will still be better than an early or late season weekend.

"A summer weekday will still be better than an early or late season weekend." - Gonch.

This.

The "conventional thinking" was that early-season and late season weekends were less crowded. Because it was true. Especially for the early weekends once the Halloween thing caught on so hard. Now you can't walk in some parks on Halloween weekends. Others are *merely* way overcrowded.

Early weekends were better for another 5 years or so after the Halloween parties became THE thing. But in the last 5-7 years, the reports have trended toward larger crowds on those opening weekends....heavily. The weather was/is/will be an important consideration in the years ahead. (So always go when it's cold/damp whatever if that's within your tolerances).

But weekdays - they're still pretty much golden.

Exactly (Take note all you people saying parks are crowded and you have to buy a Queue cutting measure to just to have fun).

Edit: And I don't know why people don't know about midweek days. This has always been the case, for, like, decades. I know the entire time I've been an enthusiast, the only time I've every been met with huge crowds mid-week was one tuesday at Cedar Point, my first trip, and everyone working there and everyone there was talking about how unusually busy it was for a Tuesday.

Over the last couple of years, I've done a trip over Labor Day weekend. I would suggest doing parks mid-week the week before Labor Day weekend, and then hitting up a really busy park on Labor Day (We hit up SFGADv on Labor Day and it was fairly dead, only non-walkons were Toro, with a 20 minute wait, and Ka, with a 30 minute wait). Sunday before was busy at Lake Compounce, but not in any way unbearable.

Wow what a fantasic response. Really looking forward to planning for next year as it sound like there are some great coasters to be riding.

When I started riding coasters in 2009, at the age of 58, at first I really was into steel looping coasters, however, I went on a trip with the Roller Coaster Club of Great Britain and rode some of the woodies. This included The Voyage (awesome) and the Beast (mental) and this changed my views of woodies and at the time was then about 50 - 50 with steelies.

Now after riding Woden at Europa Park, Acropolis at Magic Mountain have decided these wood coasters from GCI are my favorites. The sheer speed, banking and hurtling through the station is totally awesome. The beauty of these rides is that they are intense as well as being re-rideable over and over. I been told by many that El Toro is one of the best woodies that they have ridden so this is just one of the reasons I would like to visit this part of the US.

I'm only sorry I've left it so late in my life to be doing this. Trying to make up for lost time.

Are parks quiet on Labor Day? I would have assumed this would be a busy day. In England we have bank holidays, where most people have a day off, and they can be horrendously busy at the parks.

I wish to thank Mr. Reflux for posting that Music In The Parks Schedule. It's not just for visitors from overseas, or for non-locals visiting the parks. It'll come in handy for me too. For example, my ex made a suggestion of coming out to GAdv (she's more than six hours away) on May 18th-19th, since Toro and Nitro hadn't opened when she left the Sunday of Opening Weekend. According to Richie's posted schedule, the 18th is a music In The Parks Day. So if she comes out, we'll shoot for Sunday.

Surprisingly, major public holidays tend to fall in the "medium crowds" type of days, so much so that the coupon book routinely has special discounts for those days. Memorial Day, Easter Sunday, July 4th, Labor Day, etc. all tend to have healthy but not oppressive crowds. Of course, it also depends on the day of the week. If July 4th is a Sat, then you should just stay away, but if it's a Wed, it's actually a decent day to go.

Andy, that's very true from what I've noticed. Hershey on Memorial Day was not bad at all, which I was surprised at. Especially with it being the first weekend with Skyrush running most of the day. I don't think we waited more than 30 minutes for anything, and most rides were station waits and walk-ons only.

Coaster-Robin, better late than never for your new passion. :)

You should definitely hit up Hershey if you're a GCI fan. Lightning Racer is, from what I've ridden from them (not much to be honest), one of their best. It is a work of art. Great relentless pace, smooth as all get out for a wooden coaster, pretty lengthy ride time, and it's a racer, so it counts as two credits (this is debatable). It is a really fun ride and definitely in my top 20.

I was at Kennywood last Labor Day, and it was packed. I mean I waited like 45 minutes for Phantom. lol

The next day I went to Hersheypark, and the rain kept everyone away. That might sound awesome, but every outdoor ride was closed as well, for what I will guess to be about four hours. The opened back up for the second half of the day and the crowd was about half what it was before they all closed. ...Before the rain, I will guess that we waited about 20 minutes for most of the coasters, except for ThighCrush- Err I mean SkyRush.

I've been to Dollywood in April a few times. The shows are pretty full, but the coaster and ride lines are normally less than five minutes, for the most part.

Kings Island seems busy all the time to me for some reason, but busy to me is about a 20 minute long line for a major coaster. I have been to KI for a few opening days (Saturday), and it is much busier those days than a normal weekday.

Having worked a few seasons at Cedar Point, I noticed the trend there too. Weekdays were usually not so bad throughout the entire summer.

I'm on vacation to the USA every day. I even have schooling there.

Hey Robin, I am from the UK too and have been visiting the USA doing coaster road trips for 13 years now. I have two booked and planned this year. I won't suggest which parks to visit because others have done that, but I will give you some advice on planning.

I always go the last two weeks in May (sometimes October) and with some careful planning, you can visit a park a day. My first trip is my biggest yet 21 nights and over 20 parks. A lot of major parks will be open daily by then and you can do the smaller parks at the weekends. Don't be afraid to do more than one park a day. I have done 3 sometimes, but things like SFNE/Lake Compounce, Hershey/Knoebels , Luna Park/Rye can easily be done on the same day. Other C'Buzzers may think you need full days in these parks, but if you are short for time or they are closed midweek, its better to visit for half a day than not at all. Although I am having a full day at Knoebels this time cos the Phoenix is awesome, and I haven't been since 2004 because every year I say I will go the next year when Flying Turns is open.

If you are planning on going next year, then now is the best time to workout your trip because some of the parks are very slow putting their hours up. La Ronde only put their hours up 2 weeks ago, and Arnold's Park only this weekend. Park hours may change, but it will give you a rough idea who is open daily and from when. I started planning my May trip in December and spent hours searching Google for old park schedules so I could plan, since by then no parks had 2013 hours up. Fortunately nearly every park had similar operating days the previous year so my plan worked. You get much cheaper flights and accommodation by booking early. Oh yeah and seasons passes are cheaper too before January.

Once you know what parks you want to visit and have the hours just go on Bing Maps and you can get directions, mileage and journey times between parks from there (watch out for Bing though it loves to send you down the toll roads). Most days I am doing 300 miles + and a theme park, but having done this for the last 13 years I know I can manage it, plus some parks I only want to ride new to me coasters.

Crowds are usually manageable, but don't expect parks to be empty, and you can be sure to watch the yellow school buses file in one after the other at at least a few parks. If it happens to me this time I'm heading straight for the Q-Bot (hopefully school kids can't afford them).

Also be prepared for several coasters throughout the trip to be closed. It always happens to me, and really annoys me. People don't understand that you have travelled thousands of miles to visit these parks, and you can't just come back next week when its fixed. But there's nothing you can do about it other than be prepared and try not to let it ruin your day.

I wouldn't recommend the East Coast in October. Halloween events are usually busy and parks are only opened weekends as others have said. I have done Carowinds, SFOG and Dollywood in a weekend and then spent a week in Florida before. But frequently go to the West Coast at this time, you can do SFDK and CGA one weekend then drive down to LA where parks are open daily (except SFMM but its open weekends). Plus there's always Vegas.

If possible, I would advise flying into anywhere other than New York and Newark. Car Hire is so much more expensive there. I am flying into Boston and car hire was £200 cheaper, plus you're close to SFNE and Bizzaro is awesome and not to be missed, and you must ride the bull (El Toro). I think I am just going to flashpass the ride all day it's that good.

As for the weather, it is a lot hotter in May than in the UK (there again that doesn't take much). You do get rainy days, and lots of thunderstorms (compared to the UK), but it hasn't rained for few days on end when I've been there unlike how it does in the UK with our 3 day summer.

OMG I have been writing this for two hours and its 5am in the UK. I hope you get to read it and find it useful.

I agree with avoiding October. I only will go to Great Adventure on a Friday night or Columbus Day and will avoid Saturday and Sunday. I've read enough reports of hearing how someone only got on Kingda Ka and El Toro in 7 hours or that the main lot, overflow lot, Hurricane Harbor lot and grass were all filled with cars with all major rides having overflowing queues that it just isn't worth it to me. I have also seen photos of Cedar Point from a Saturday Halloweekends day and it looks just as bad.

Hi Grant,

You have some really good advice there, thank you. I did not think of flying to Boston but that seems one of the better options because it’s going to quite expensive anyway.

Late May seems to be a good option but my wedding anniversery is on the 26th May so I need to be home (if I’m going to enjoy another one)

One of my reasons for this part of the US is because of El Toro. I’ve heard so much about it and I’ve been on Apocalypse ay SFMM and Woden at Europa and I decided these are the coasters I like the best. I think they are all CGI. The Voyage is a similar typer of coaster but I think that is the Gravity Group. However the features on both companies coasters are the same - sheer speed with loads of banking, fast through the station, not painful and very re-rideable.

Reading the comments I think the best plan is to do the big parks during the week and spend the weekends visiting the smaller parks. Yes - I’m one of the sad people who 'tick’ or 'credit’ all the coasters I’ve ridden.

Today I have flown from Gatwick up to Aberdeen, hired a car and driven up to Inverness to tick off a 'kiddie’ coaster but it is quite good for a 'kiddie’ coaster. Will then drive down to Glasgow before finishing up near Newcastle.

You mention the 'flash pass’. How does that work? Can you keep re-riding as much as you want?

Is there any part of the US where you could go in February and find most parks open? Thanks.

Flash Pass does not allow unlimited rides. The three levels at Great Adventure are:

Regular: Same wait time as line, but you don't wait IN the line.

Gold: Same as above, but with much shorter wait time.

Platinum: Shortest wait time, and two consecutive rides without debarking.

I've never bought FP myself, but I've been on someone else's.

I don't know if there's differences park to park in the SF chain.

Cedar Fair's Fast Lane wristband allows unlimited rides, except for a couple at Cedar Point.

February, I think the only parks open will be the SoCal parks and the FL parks. The Texas parks tend to open earlier in the year and stay open well past Halloween, but I tend to think of Jan/Feb as their "off-season."

edit: Mall of America (MN) and Adventuredome (Vegas) are also open year-round, right?

Coaster-Robin, have you checked out RCDB (Roller Coaster Data Base)? It is chock full of info about coasters, parks, and any coaster info you might need. Plus, it may help you plan what things you really wanna see/ride while you are here. And since you're trying to get a fair amount of coasters done, it can give you lists of rides at each park and the stats on each one so you know which are the biggest and baddest rides.

Here is a website that might help you a little too. Have fun.

http://coast2coaster.com/default.aspx