Down South, anyone?

I'm in Tennessee, where the closest thing we have to a real amusement park is Dollywood. I'm not originally from down here, so I've never been to any of the Six Flags (KY, GA, etc?). I've also heard of some parks in the Carolinas. What do you think my best option would be?

Well we have some decent parks down here. We pretty much have the second-class parks of all major amusement park chains. There's Paramount's Carowinds in Charlotte, NC, a small park with a couple really good coasters including Top Gun:TJC. There's Six Flags over Georgia, in Atlanta. They have some really good coasters. There's S:UF, Georgia Scorcher, B:TR, Mindbender, etc. Also, there's Wild Adventures, in Valdosta, GA. They have a pretty hefty coaster count including a Vekoma SLC and a decent woody. And then there's all those Florida parks... if you're willing to travel down there. :)

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Tales for the L33t

Don't forget the upper Southeastern Parks, Busch Gardens Williamsburg and Kings Dominion (Richmond). There's also Visionland in Birmingham, but I'm not quite sure on it's status currently.

Several Small Parks sprinkle the Carolinas, Tennessee and Georgia: Tweetsie Railroad, Ghost Town, Santa's Land, Jeepers, MB Pavilion, Family Kingdom, Lake Winnie, and Libertyland.

And of Course the ones mentioned above, PC, SFOG and Dollywood.

Nothing really amazing unless you count the Florida Parks, Busch Gardens is the only one that is really Well-Known.

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*** This post was edited by Dukeis#1 7/11/2003 3:16:49 AM ***

Don't forget about Lake Winnie, just outside of Chattanooga, which is a great little traditional park. Also Libertyland in Memphis is another traditional park with a great old coaster. I would put forth the effort to visit the smaller parks now while they're still around because the themer's are always going to be there. They also take less effort and are inexpensive if time/money are constraints on your plans.

Sha Bang: Are you by any chance a Static Shock fan?

lata, jeremy
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My current favorite home video game!

Carowinds is only abouta 4 hour drive from Dollywood, and it has and incredible B&M invert and some more decent coasters including a Wild Mouse, racing woodie, Hurler clone, an old but smoother Arrow, several kiddie coasters including a small Scooby Doo woodie, a vekoma suspended, and mine train, and Setpoints first water coaster. Oh, and dont forget Vortex, B&M's 3rd coaster, i hasn't aged that well, but its still a unique ride.

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***DISCLAIMER***
This post, no matter how offensive it may seem to some, was not intended to hurt anyone either physically and/or mentally.

Well, looks like everyone pretty much covered everything, so let me just say, Dollywood rocks. And since you are new, you may not know this year, but Dollywood is building a new wooden roller coaster next year that looks like it is going to be pretty incredible, so you're in a lucky location!

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/\ Jonathan Hawkins
Starcoasters.com | ThrillSpot
Howard Dean for President!

Woohoo , a Tennesseean! Seems like there all from Ohio or PA.

If you want to know anything about Lake Winnie , ask me(my home park). We have the most unique(sp) boat chute anywhere , the least braked wild mouse ever , and the Cannonball , John Miller classic.

Six Flags Over Georgia has the wonderful Mindbender(no line at night), The original S:UF , Georgia scorcher(the best standup IMO) , and the new-and-improved, working Deja Vu. Definately a good Six Flags.

Wild adventures has all stock rides that could be found somewhere else. It's okay , but go to Orlando instead.

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My sig Messed up on this post. Boo.

Ah... I hate to be the one to tell you this but the Cannonball is a John Allen creation. If that was a typo because you were so excited, I'll give it to you.

Wood - anything else is just an imitation

psshh, I live in Florida and would rather go north:)ahhh CP,SFoG

Dang (smiley face).

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Son of Beast Broke My Glasses. The Beast made my elbow bleed. I don't think their family likes me.

Wild Adventures is a good little park. Cheetah is a great ride plus you can keep reriding it all day. They now have the new Splash Island water park open too. The water park is included in the admission.

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http://www.bgtguide.com
What if Busch Gardens Tampa built a new roller coaster? Now @ bgtguide.com

Yay another Tennessean! I'm in Nashville. I just visited Lake Winnepesaukah about 3 weeks ago for my very first time. What a great little traditional park! I highly recommend visiting it. The 1967 John Allen/PTC designed coaster, Cannon Ball, was running great. I got in about 50 rides on it that Saturday. I actually caught the last train on it that night, and the ride ops turned off all the lights on it during my ride. Nothing like a back seat ride on Cannon Ball in the dark! The park also has (according to the plaque in the queue line) the last original operating mill chutes ride dating from the 30's if I'm not mistaken. It has a VERY long tunnel which gets practically pitch black inside. In addition, the park has a nice antique PTC carousel moved to the park from Lakewood Park in Atlanta. Check it out!

Other parks in the area: Visionland in Birmingham with the highly rated Rampage, SFoG (Mind Bender still rules!), Waterville USA in Gulf Shores, AL with The Cannonball Run woodie, and while you're down that far south, make the trek over to New Orleans to visit the newest SF addition, SFNO, featuring Megazeph and Batman:The Ride (which I hear has a great swooping first drop over the park's lake!).

I have to give it to Cheetah. That is one insane little ride. I must have ridden that 35 times. THe air is just perfect. And the thing is that the air is EVERYwhere. Sweet lats too, just those trains make it a tad painful.

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I hate it when "cooaster enthusiasts" put down coasters. Why can't we just have fun on all of them?

I like your sig Nightride! I agree whole heartedly.

If you are in Birmingham, give Visionland a try. Rampage was the number 4 woodie in the nation in 2001. It is running great!. Very little wait time.

You don't say where in Tennessee. If you're in the Nashville area, remember you're only a few hours from Holiday World up in Indiana, Kentucky Kingdom up in Louisville and the woodies out at Branson (Mo.) and over in Arkansas.

I'm from Nashville too, and I'd say your best bet is probably Six Flags Over Georgia. Even though its farther away from me than KK is, it is a much better park and worth the extra drive.

I also live in Tennessee.

Having been to both Dollywood and SFKK, IMHO, DW knocks SFKK back to the stone ages. Even though SFKK has more coasters, DW's Tennessee Tornado is *the* best Arrow looper ever built, hands down. Plus you got Blazing Fury (whatever you make of it) is a classic.

As mentioned above, make sure to visit Dollywood in 2004 when DW debuts Thunderhead,GCI's tallest wooden coaster to date.

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Can you feel the thunder?
Thunderhead comes to Dollywood in 2004!

I live in N.C. and would recommend King's Dominion over Carowinds. I feel their coaster selection is far superior to Carowinds' and I like the park better. I am not sure how far that is from Tenessee, as its in VA. SFOG is a good one to visit too.