Coney Island or SFNE Superman Event?

We are planning an East Coast trip this summer.
We will be there early-mid June and Astroland
will only be open weekends when we are there.
We have a choice of going to Astroland to ride
the Cyclone or attend the SFNE Superman Event
(with 2 hours of nighttime ERT on Superman).
We can only choose one or the other due to time
constraints. We have not been to either of these
parks before. Which one would you choose to go
to?

Thx for the help, we are really excited about
this trip, which will also include Cedar Point,
Kennywood, Hershey Park, Lake Compounce, SFGAdv,
and maybe some others along the way.

Jip - could you give a more detailed itinerary? What days will you be at each park? Maybe there's an alternative.

mOOSH

6/5 Start from Indiana
6/6 CP
6/7 Kennywood
6/8 Hershey Park
6/9-6/10 NYC, maybe SFGAdv on the way
6/11 SFNE Superman Event
6/12 Lake Compounce on the way to Maine to visit friends
6/13-6/14 Maine
6/15-6/19 moseying back to Indiana (stopping whereever we please)
The main problem is that Astroland is only open on weekends then, and we only will be out east 1 weekend (we live in Indiana so the last weekend we will be headed that way)
We thought about reversing the order of the trip, but then we run into the problem that our friends kids will still be in school, which is the main reason we are headed out that way.

Jip - How's this:

6/6 - CP
6/7 - Kennywood
6/8 - Hersheypark, hotel near SFGAdv
6/9 - SFGAdv
6/10 - NYC, with 1-2 hours at Coney
6/11 - LC until 4pm closing, then SFNE event
6/12 - SFNE, continue up to Maine
and the rest is the same.

Coney is an easy subway ride from Manhattan and you really won't need more than a few hours there. Must-rides would be Cyclone, Wonder Wheel, B&B Carousel, El Dorado Bumber Cars, Spook-o-Rama. Plus a Nathan's Dog and you're set! That leaves you the rest of the day to explore parts of the city.

Considering Compounce is only open until 4pm on June 11th just head on up to SFNE after LC closes and do the event. That's exactly what I did last year. You can register for the event all day and you won't miss the Superman ERT. Whatever you don't get to ride on the 11th you can hit the morning of the 12th before you head to Maine. FYI, give yourself 90 mins for the drive...traffic around Hartford is nasty during afternoon rush.

Plus since you're heading to Maine placing SFNE after LC means no backtracking ;)

mOOSH

*** Edited 4/13/2004 11:29:37 PM UTC by Mamoosh***

There is some question as to if Astroland will be open on the 10th. The website says it opens everyday mid june, whatever that means. June 10 is a Thursday. *** Edited 4/13/2004 11:40:09 PM UTC by RavenTTD***

Good point. I failed to check Astroland's website. I'd suggest calling the park and asking, Jip.

I checked with Astroland, and they will only be open Saturday and Sunday that weekend (12 & 13), so that is the dilemma. We don't really want to backtrack 3 hours to NYC.

When you go to Maine you should stop @ Canobie Lake Park which is in New Hampshire.

I would suggest the SFNE event. I haven't been to CI yet but I can safely say that SFNE's S:RoS at night with the misters on is about as good as coastering gets on this continent, maybe even in the world. I would second Moosh's suggestion that you to LC first. While Dash does really get going at night, it's still a great ride during the day and you probably don't want to be coming back for it from SFNE.

Jip - as much as I truly love Astroland and the whole Coney area I wouldn't recommend backtracking all that distance for it. NYC is a great city and has a lot to offer other than Coney. I'm sure at some point you'll make it back that way. Besides, I hear next year a new coaster is coming to replace the Jet Star that left last year.

And if you have the time I would also recommend Canobie Lake Amusement Park in Maine.

Thanks for the advice! It looks like we will be attending the SFNE event. We also plan on going to Canobie Lake with our friends while we are staying with them in Maine (only an hour from their house). We will also stop at Lake Compounce somewhere in there.

Jip - My pleasure, Jip. I strongly recommend LC from 11-4 on 6/11, followed by the evening portion of the SFNE event. Yeah, you miss morning ERT session but the Superman ERT is what its all about. Just grab a hotel nearby and hit the rides you missed the next morning before heading north.

I attended a lot of events last year: Solace, SRM, ACE Con, Coaster Alley Convergence, and SFNE's event. Off all the ERT sessions, Superman at SFNE was a close second to Tremors and Timber Terror at CAC was #1.