Can't take it anymore!

Okay, I just can't take not being able to ride coasters right now. I'm thinking about taking a long weekend and heading out to Mall of America to ride some indoor coasters. Is it worth it? I'm thinking I don't want to spend the money that Universal studios would cost, and I'm likely going to Florida closer to May or June. Any other suggestions that won't cost me an arm and a leg?

Man, I remember when my winters were like that. I don't know what happened. I just don't get as excited for the season as I used to, nor do I get the winter withdraws. Anyone else finding this to be their case lately, too?

Raven, you know, it's funny, but this past year, I just went absolutely coaster crazy. I've never been this obsessed. I'm sure it will die down, but I guess since it was the first nutty year for me, I'll go through the withdrawals for a year or two and then be sort of blase about it too. LOL Right now, it's driving me absolutely insane. Gah!!!

I used to take long trips thinking I just needed a coaster fix and a week later needed antoher one. I've come to the conclusion its just cabin fever and try to find other activities to occupy my need for excitement. Indoor Go Kart Track, Ice fishin, Getting a motel room with a indoor pool just to swim.I don't know how MOA is but I found the Mystery mine to be excellent. If that coaster up there is close :)Have fun. Even if its at home.Chuck

I could ride Avatar Airbender, the Intamin half-pipe, at MoA all day long. That is a fantastic ride, even if the capacity sucks. And when school is in, you can pretty much own it.

I feel ya bunky...the withdraw sux especially when the weather is horrible!!

However, there is some good to the offseason. Yesterday, I spent 2-3 hours determining the cost of a Dorney/Hershey/Knoebels trip (gas, camping/hotel, tickets, food, etc). Its actually really fun!!!

$236 with two people...$205 with three...$192 with four (This counts for gas at 2.50 a gallon, 25 MPG highway, having a Cedar Fair PP, camping at Knoebels, a hotel the next night, etc.)

Indiana Beach/Holiday World/Michigan's Adventure is next!!

I don't know your age or your health, but you could considering skiing or snowboarding.

The rush is very similar.

Irony is alive and well: Bunky lives where parks are closed and is jonesing to ride any coaster. I live in Los Angeles where I can ride a coaster 365 days a year and yet I have not visited any of my local parks for over a year.

Its definitely my case.. (as my Sig has noted for the past month). But a quick 1.5 hour flight south to Florida quickly solves that problem for us.

Though lately I keep telling myself in 2 months, the BGE will open back up and all will be right in my world.

However Mamoosh, I find that same issue with respect to the Beaches.. Im 30 mins away from Ocean and rarely care to go down to beach. For me its easy to think "meh, its there I will go sometime" and not go because its so easy.. odd concept..

I used to live at the beach...quite literally! The sand was 300 feet away and the waves maybe another 500 feet beyond that. I could hear the waves crashing even with my windows closed. Other than using the bike path or watching an occasional sunset guess how many times I actually laid out on the sand to get a tan or went into the water during the four years I lived there?

Yup: zero.

I have a large city park with lots of hiking and biking trails, dog parks etc. I use it once a week at least!

d_port_12E said:I feel ya bunky...the withdraw sux especially when the weather is horrible!!However, there is some good to the offseason. Yesterday, I spent 2-3 hours determining the cost of a Dorney/Hershey/Knoebels trip (gas, camping/hotel, tickets, food, etc). Its actually really fun!!!$236 with two people...$205 with three...$192 with four (This counts for gas at 2.50 a gallon, 25 MPG highway, having a Cedar Fair PP, camping at Knoebels, a hotel the next night, etc.)Indiana Beach/Holiday World/Michigan's Adventure is next!!

Save yourself the hotel and just stay at Knoebels or one of the other campgrounds close to it and drive to Hershey/Dorney from there. Add Lakemont and Delgrossos too :)

This month we are about to start is the worse month of the year for me, its the only month that (with the exception of Sunday of course) has no football, NCAA Basketball tournament or coasters open near me. Once these four weeks are up though, we finally start climbing the peak back to Sept and Oct when my two real loves coexist.

Save yourself even more on hotels and book during this $1 promotion, it will run for one more week next week (5 more days to try and book free hotel rooms). You can book up to a week for free if you lucky to catch the promotion at the right time....I got my summer trip booked this week for free from the site. (for hints, clues, etc. about how to get this visit one of the "deal" sites like Slickdeals or FatWallet, etc.)

http://www.lastminutetravel.com/world-for-a-dollar.aspx

For this week this is the blog that has the stats on how many they have given away....
http://worldforadollar.lastminutetravel.com/

Mall of America is definitely a nice retreat this time of year (this coming from a Florida guy!). I was up there last week for the first time and had an awesome time. Avatar, Spongebob and Fairly Odd are really good. Tumbler is an awesome flat, as well.

-Steve

Charles Nungester said:

Save yourself the hotel and just stay at Knoebels or one of the other campgrounds close to it and drive to Hershey/Dorney from there. Add Lakemont and Delgrossos too :)

Well, this trip is May 22-24th, Fri, Sat & Sun...I can't take any days off so ill be leaving Friday after I get out of work around 10am...Knoebels is the first stop and we will be camping there the first night...

FLYINGSCOOTER said:
I don't know your age or your health, but you could considering skiing or snowboarding.

The rush is very similar.

I Second That! Ski Areas are just like Amusement Parks, and there are actually two kinds of ski areas that correlate with the Amusement Parks!:)

First there are Local Ski Areas that have nothing fancy, just a Lodge with a Snack Bar and Rental Facilities. Used primarily by locals, these are the "Traditional Parks" of Ski Areas.

The second kind is the Ski Resort, these are loaded with all kinds of Facilities for Visitors such as Accomodations, Shops, Theatres, Bars and Restaurants. These are the "Theme Parks" of the Ski World! :)

From this enthusiast's perspective, waterparks aren't the equal of amusement parks, and ski resorts are merely the frozen bastard children of waterparks. ;)

Raven-Phile said:
Man, I remember when my winters were like that. I don't know what happened. I just don't get as excited for the season as I used to, nor do I get the winter withdraws. Anyone else finding this to be their case lately, too?

Perhaps it's the little thing called reality. Priorities. Bills, family, etc.
In the scheme of things, besides a "release", roller coasters are quite irrelevant in these times.

^^Speaking of which, why in the world are water parks not well regarded in the community? Speaking as a person who loves water parks pretty much as much as an amusement park (especially if its going to go above 90 that day) I never got the issue folks have with them.

I could make a really good enthusiast gravy joke at this point, but I wont. Any water park haters want to come clean as to why you dont like them?