Cedar Fair

Hi, I'm new to CoasterBuzz, but have been riding coasters since i can remember. I have been a CF platinum pass holder for a few years now, but have never ventured further than Cedar Point and King's Island (Chicago-based). This summer i want to get out more and make a big trip, so im reaching out to you guys: Where should i go? I think my top 2 options right now are Canada's Wonderland (would love to ride Leviathan) or Carowinds to catch the opening of Fury 325. Input?

If you're really looking to milk the CF platinum pass, then those are probably your 2 best bets. CGA is very far and really not that great. I've never been to Valleyfair or MiA, but have never felt super compelled to go even with both of their signature woodies. If you are headed down the east coast, King's Dominion is definitely worth a stop and Dorney is probably worth a stop. That said, if you're going to invest the money to get from wherever you are to either of those parks, I'd think about expanding outside the CF chain. Busch Gardens, SFoG, and Dollywood are all within a day's drive and are all excellent stops.

If you haven't already, bookmark coast2coaster.com. I've used it to plan all my trips for the past decade.

I would strongly consider Carowinds only because you're "right-there" (in enthusiast terms, anyway) as far as Kings Dominion is concerned...and you've got that Platinum pass just burning a hole in your pocket... ;~)

Canada's Wonderland is an awesome park, though...definitely one of my favorite corporate parks.

Plus you get the awesomeness that is Toronto.

We travel and most seasons I make good use of my platinum pass. I think I've been to all of the CF parks except Ca. Great Adventure. Valleyfair and Michigan's Adv are about the same in terms of size and remoteness. The larger parks might serve you better since you're making an effort to travel some distance. Carowinds and KD aren't exactly spitting distance from each other, but if you're in the general area it would make sense to do both. Since you're used to KI, then KD might seem like some other version of that. But- who could resist a crack at Busch or Dollywood while in the hood? That would make an awesome trip.

You could combine Canada's Wonderland with your trip to CP and that would break up that trip a little. Plus in western NY you have Seabreeze, and in Western Pa you could grab Kennywood and/or Waldameer for old style, traditional fun on all counts. Not on the pass, I realize, but all three parks are affordable and worth your time if you've never been.

I love Michigan's Adventure, and I love Shivering Timbers, but it's not a destination park. I think anyone going to Michigan just to go to MiA will end up disappointed.

Carowinds and Kings Dominion are both great parks and would make a great coaster vacation destination.

I would agree that the east corridor, consisting of kings dominion, busch gardens and carowind would be an awesome trip. Both of said cedar fair parks will have their giga coaster next year. They also have a few strong coasters in the park that arent giga coasters. Ie at kings dominion, which are volcano, dominator, and sorry but i like avalanche. Carowinds has intimidator and afterburn.

Simply put when you decide on busch gardens is just the park itself. Really just a beautiful park. The rides dont hurt either with griffon alpengeist and apollo. They also have animals and theme areas which added to me liking it even more.

Canadas wonderland, first things first have a passport. I went about a month ago. We went on a saturday during the fall before haunt at night. It was dead. Now i have heard that the park can get pretty packed. However, my problem was that many of the coasters are of the low capacity type. They also have a vekoma slc, boomerang, a horrible flying coaster, and an arrow suspended similar to the bat and iron dragon. I have to admit vortex isnt that bad though. Plus to the park is the rediculous amount of flat rides they have, some of which are not seen anywhere else. Leviathan and behemoth are the real standout coasters as you would expect.

If you have time for Dorney Park in PA, it'd be almost like visiting a little piece of every park in the (CF) chain.

^ I see what you did there. ;)

I'd second the advice for an east coast trip, KD and Carowinds each have plenty to offer. If you do add Dorney, coming from Chicago you'd be passing near Knoebels as well.....and on the return trip from Carowinds, Dollywood and even Holiday World wouldn't be too far off route.

I like the idea of a PA trip if you're not limited to just CF parks. There's Waldameer, Kennywood, a ton of tiny little parks like Idlewild and DelGrossos. Then there's Knoebels, which has the Phoenix (ride in the front car on the right side of any row and you'll get some serious air without getting beat up). Plus, Impulse might be open (I wouldn't count on it but...), and Flying Turns is really fun to ride at least once. And we can't forget the Oasis Cafe chicken being awesome (Tommy, that's for you). There's also Hersheypark. Not only do they have a more than decent selection of coasters, but two of those coasters are classics (Comet and Sooperdooperlooper), with not many of their manufacturer/designer's rides left in the country. Lightning Racer remains a personal fun favorite for me and is über cool at night. Plus, Hershey also has Chocolate World, which is a fun little tour with a free educational ride about the making of Hershey chocolate. I don't ever miss a yearly trip to Chocolate World.

Finally, there's Dorney. Dorney feels like a tiny little Cedar Point, with smaller versions of many big-time Cedar Point rides. However, Talon gives Raptor a run for its money (still haven't figured out which I like better in this case), and Steel Force might have a less spectacular view than Magnum, but it rides a million times smoother. The airtime is floaty and not at all jerky. And there are 2 Chickie and Pete's there...if you like salty fries, their crab fries with cheese sauce are ridiculously good.

But if you have a little extra time, take the last two hour drive down to Six Flags Great Adventure. They've got a fantastic selection of coasters, and El Toro remains an extremely highly ranked coaster for very good reason. It may look like a typical woodie, but just trust and believe in the hype. You won't be sorry. If you must ride Kingda Ka (and I rarely bother with it after having ridden TTD and been much more impressed), ride towards the front, and ride at night. Hurtling down that straightaway into pitch black is amazing. Unless they light it up now for Jumanji, in which case, meh for Ka. The OTSRs really make this ride not as impressive as TTD, even with Ka's little bit of extra speed and height.

Whatever you decide to do, enjoy! I'm so excited to see an enthusiast getting more experience. My first year really getting into the hobby (*coughobsessioncough*), I tripled my coaster count and pushed my threshold so far beyond what I thought I could. It was a fantastic season, and I hope you get to have a similar experience. Best of luck!

I think Ben wants to maximise his CF pass, but I do agree with Bunky. You cannot go wrong with a coaster trip through Pennsylvania.

Hersheypark, Idlewild, Waldameer, Knoebel's, Dorney -- all great parks with some great coasters. I'd also toss in Lakemont. Skyliner is fun and Leap The Dips is history you can ride.

At one point a few years back there was a entire thread about Pennsylvania parks and trip planning. I can't seem to find it now. Does anyone know or remember the thread I'm referring to?

Why hasn't anyone commented on the vague topic title yet? lol

I like how every time someone asks about going to a specific park, the answer is always that they must to go to every park within 2,000 miles of said destination.

I got the search to work and found a few topics on Pennsylvania park trip planning (with useful titles):

From 2011:

http://coasterbuzz.com/Forums/Topic/planning-pa-trip---any-suggestions

From 2009:

http://coasterbuzz.com/Forums/Topic/pennsylvania-parks

http://coasterbuzz.com/Forums/Topic/thinking-about-hitting-parks-in-pennsylvania

From 2008:

http://coasterbuzz.com/Forums/Topic/ideas-for-a-pa-coaster-swing

I'm not trying to sideline the discussion, but I'm planning to use my platinum pass to get back to Dorney. I've been meaning to review the relevant discussion on what other parks to hit on the way and this topic brought up the chance to do that.

It does seem that my 2-ish park trip has now expanded to an East coast 3 week tour. Not that i am opposed to that, but money and vacation time may shrink it yet. I think i will avoid PA on this planning purely for the reason that either this year or next it may get its own trip because my girlfriend has family there (free lodging!!). I may very well end up doing a KD/Busch Gardens/Carowinds trip and call it a summer, but i am already planning so many different trips to parks I've always wanted to hit.

Not sure of the reason OMFG STEAM ROXORZ TEH BIG ONE111!, but none of your links open forum posts for me, just an error page, looks like im going hunting through old forums!

^ The links don't match the text posted. Instead of /Forums/Topic, they go to /Topic. The simplest solution is to add in Forums/ after coasterbuzz.com/, if that makes sense..

For instance (correct address):

http://coasterbuzz.com/Forums/Topic/planning-pa-trip---any-suggestions

actually links to:

http://coasterbuzz.com/Topic/planning-pa-trip---any-suggestions

kpjb said:

I like how every time someone asks about going to a specific park, the answer is always that they must to go to every park within 2,000 miles of said destination.

You don't just quickly swing by SFoT everytime you visit Dorney?

Pfft.

Yeah, the links break in the editor on certain browsers. It's fixed in the new version (coming... eventually).