Drive time to SFGAd from Hershey?

I know that HP is about 120 miles "as the crow flies" from SFGAd. But how long does it take to drive? Also how long time wise is it once you get over the PA-NJ border? Mapquest did not help me at all so I turn to you experenced folks here. Any help would be great.

Thanks,

IGGY

IGGY - not giving you a hard time, I'm just curious: did you try getting each park's address from rcdb.com and putting them into Mapquest or Yahoo Maps to get directions?

mOOSH [will let the locals help him with specifics]

Time for the Gonchar mapquest tutorial.

1. Go to mapquest.

2. Click on the "directions" button in the top right.

3. Go to RCDB and search for Hersheypark

4. Put Hersheypark's address under "starting address"

5. Go back to RCDB and search for Great Adventure

6. Put SFGAdv's address under "destination address"

7. Have mapquest tell you it can't find those exact addresses, but has found similar ones or none at all in the same zip code

at this point you have two options:

Option A: realize that typing in just a zip code will give you directions from the center of one zip to the center of the other - and while it's not 100% useful for precise directions, it will give an extremely close estimate on driving mileage and/or time

or

Option B: Try at www.randmcnally.com as they often find things that mapquest doesn't and vice versa

Your final results:

Mapquest says 143.37 miles taking 2 hrs and 30 min

Rand McNally says 143 miles taking 2 hrs and 45 min

Total time used to get these results 3 minutes and 39 seconds (yes, I timed myself :) )

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Ok, that was on the cocky side, but it is an attempt to help others use the tools available. It's like I mentioned in the travel tips sticky thread - we point people to these tools, but I'm not sure people know how to use them effectively.

BTW, I find that these sites are usually VERY conservative on time estimates - I'd say it would take that long at the absolute worst.

*** Edited 7/13/2004 8:00:14 AM UTC by Lord Gonchar***

I live just outside Hershey, and 2 hours 30 minutes is the average time. Depends on traffic.

if driving stay away from the rush hour traffic...It can get pretty nasty in the philly area!

I haven't done it direct from Hershey, but piecing (sp?) together some previous trips, I'd say you're at about 30 min. to the Turnpike from Hershey, 1 hr. to the NJ border and 30-45 to SFGAdv depending on Jersey turnpike traffic. If you can shoot north of Philly, it might add 30-60 min. to your trip, but you'll avoid traffic in Philly, plus you'll jet right past Dorney and come pretty close to Knoebels.

That northern swing might get you "closer" to Knoebels... but at best you are still going to be around 1 hr and 20 minutes away. (In Hershey you will be around 1 hr and 30 minutes away... greater distance, but better roads).

Do a search on MapQuest starting at Great Adventure (use zip code of 08527... for whatever reason it can't seem to locate Jackson NJ) and ending at Hershey PA. About 2.5 hours. NJ Turnpike to PA Turnpike to PA 72 to US 322 and then straight on into Hershey.

I don't always follow MapQuest, but for this, I believe they are right on targe. A few years back I left Neshaminy State Park (just north of Philly along the Delaware River near the town of Croydon) and took the PA Turnpike - PA72 - US322 and made it to Hershey in around 2 hours. I just did a check on Map quest for this same route and they have it listed as 2 hrs 1 min. I believe they are right on with this one.

(is it my imagination, or are MapQuest's times getting to be a bit more realistic?) *** Edited 7/13/2004 2:45:49 PM UTC by SLFAKE***

Am I just all on crack or do I drive slow?

It takes me 30 min from Princeton to GAdv. and almost 3 from Princeton to Hershey. There's not *that* much overhead in local roads. Maybe I'm just doing it wrong...

It's Joisey, Andy.....not being able to make LEFT turns adds enormously to the drive times, hehe...:)

Seriously though, once you get off the Turnpike or the Parkway, Jersey becomes a virtually-unnavigable morass of small towns and stop lights...can you tell I grew up there? ;)

edit: Don't want to suggest that you're NOT or crack, or that you DON'T drive too slow...:)

*** Edited 7/13/2004 3:46:10 PM UTC by rollergator***

OK, now wait a minute. The header says drive time to SF GAd, not SFA. There is just a little bit of a difference there. SFGAd is 710 miles from Hershey, eleven hours not counting fuel and pit stops.

And SFA (as in Six Flags America) has nothing to do with anything here.

SFGAd (as in Six Flags Great Adventure) is the park in question.

It could be 710 miles between Jackson NJ and Hershey PA... if you take the scenic route.

SFGrA (as in Six Flags Great America) I think is what you are thinking of.

See... It is confusing enough that Six Flags names their coasters the same thing... but couldn't they be a little original in the names of their parks?

Oh heck... why not just name three parks the same thing... Six Flags Great American Adventure and just take your pick.

(okay... that was sarcasm... I know that the names Great America and Great Adventure predated the Six Flags "branding")

What happened to the old days where people actually wrote out things... or didn't try to use the SHORTEST possible Abbreviation.

Six Flags America = SFA

Six Flags Great Adventure = SFGrAdv

Six Flags Great America = SFGrAmer

*** Edited 7/13/2004 7:47:21 PM UTC by SLFAKE***

Uh no... SFGAdv (Six Flags Great Adventure) is located in New Jersey is about 140 miles from Hershey. SFA (Six Flags America) is in outside Baltimore, and SFGAm (Six Flags Great America) is in Chicago.

It's a 2 1/2 hour drive if your lucky and don't get into traffic.

Edit: SLFake beat me to it.
*** Edited 7/13/2004 7:51:15 PM UTC by rOLLocOASt***

My bad. Still getting used to these bifocals

I don't think it is the bifocals... I think it is the way the abbreviations that we insist on using are so much alike.

I don't know how many threads I have opened up expecting to find something on Six Glags America (SFA) only to find out that it is something about Six Flags Great America (SFGA)

For ME, Corey's abbreviations are the ONLY way to keep 'em *clean and tidy*...

SFA, SFGAdv, SFGAm...I'm just thankful the AstroGlide and AutoWorld aren't sharing the SFAW tag, LOL...;)

Iggy Ace,

Sorry for the long post. but I used to drive from pittsburgh, pa to the nyc area A LOT. (I moved back to NY in 2001) So I know how the drive looks like. These directions I got from mapquest (which i copy/pasted here)IS the quickest way to SFGadv. As per mapquest, apprximate travel time/distance in 2.5 hrs/143 miles. Just look for the sign(s) when youre in I-195. U cant miss it. Have fun!

Directions Print | E-Mail | Download to PDA | Reverse | New Directions | Revise
Hershey, PA US - Hotel Offers - Flight Deals
Jackson, NJ 08527 US - Hotel Offers - Flight Deals


Maneuvers Distance Maps


1: Start out going Southwest on W CHOCOLATE AVE/PA-743 N/US-422 W toward PARK AVE/PA-743. Continue to follow W CHOCOLATE AVE/US-422 W. 0.1 miles Map

2: Turn LEFT onto LINDEN RD. <0.1 miles Map

3: Turn LEFT onto W CARACAS AVE. 0.1 miles Map

4: Turn RIGHT onto COCOA AVE/PA-743. 0.7 miles Map

5: Turn LEFT onto US-322/E GOVERNOR RD. Continue to follow US-322 E. 12.3 miles Map

6: Stay straight to go onto PA-72 S. 2.0 miles Map

7: Take the I-76 ramp toward PENNA TURNPIKE. 0.2 miles Map

8: Turn SLIGHT LEFT to take the I-76 E ramp toward PHILADELPHIA/EXITS 21-39. 0.4 miles Map

9: Merge onto PENNSYLVANIA TURNPIKE E (Portions toll). 92.3 miles Map

10: PENNSYLVANIA TURNPIKE E becomes NEW JERSEY TURNPIKE EXT (Portions toll). 5.3 miles Map

11: Merge onto NEW JERSEY TURNPIKE N via the exit- on the left- toward NEW YORK (Portions toll). 9.5 miles Map

12: Merge onto I-195 E via exit number 7A toward LAKEWOOD/SHORE POINTS. 15.5 miles Map

13: Merge onto CR-527 S/CEDAR SWAMP RD via exit number 21 toward JACKSON. 3.1 miles Map

14: Turn LEFT onto BENNETTS MILLS RD/CR-636. 0.8 miles Map

There are .19 miles between your ending location and the end of your driving directions. Use maps to get from your ending location to the end of your route.

15: End at Jackson NJ

Woah.....I love how people misread posts. His question was how long the drive time is, not how to get there or how many miles it is. If I were making this drive I would wonder about it too. Let's see, driving through the Philadelphia/Trenton area....considering Mapquest doesn't take into consideration traffic really, you have a big delta on what the total drive time would be.

However, if someone has driven it before they could provide insight into how long, on average, the trip takes.

I've learned quickly to not trust the Mapquest times when going through metropolitan areas, especially here in SoCal. My daily commute (Torrance to El Segundo) for instance is closer to 30-35 minutes with traffic, not the advertised 13 minutes. It is 13 minutes before 6am and after 9pm, but much longer during the day. Another classic example is my drive to Universal. It says it takes 37 minutes. I've yet to make it in under an hour, even when leaving the park around 11pm. I've tried the 110/101 route as well, so it's not just the 405/101.

Anyways, just pointing out that he might have been looking more for that kind of drive time consideration. But I guess it wouldn't be Coasterbuzz if everyone didn't jump down his throat right away. *** Edited 7/13/2004 11:49:01 PM UTC by Blaster_1578***

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Blaster_1578 said:

But I guess it wouldn't be Coasterbuzz if everyone didn't jump down his throat right away.

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...and it wouldn't be CoasterBuzz if someone didn't whine about it ;)

See, I always assumed mapquest did add some time for potential traffic in metro area, because I've never even close close to taking as long as they estimate. I also tend to drive on "off" hours and usually miss traffic for the most part.

We did the drive from Allentown to SFGAdv 3 times and the longest of those took 1hr and 20min. We did the Allentown to Hersheypark drive twice and it was a hair over and hour at worst. (I've also done it in approximately 53 minutes, but the PA state troopers don't need to know about that :) )

Add those together and you still come in under the 2 1/2 hour mapquest estimate - and that's going WAY out of your way.

143 miles & a mapquest estimate of 2 1/2 hours - I'd personally be guessing 2 hours if I did the drive (hell that's only averaging 71mph).

Bottom line - it's not far and won't take long at all.

Hmmm...see your point when doing the longer drives. It seems Mapquest seems to think you're driving 55 on the interstates or something. So, faster than Mapquest time on the between metro areas, and slower than Mapquest time on metro areas would probably put this drive right around the Mapquest estimate for the entire trip, since people who have made the trip seem to concur at the 2 1/2 hour mark.

Thanks to all who replied that actually drove it and gave me real drive time. Thats what I was looking for not computer drive time.

Iggy.

I guess around here you have to spell out exactly what you did so people don't jump on your case cause they think you didn't do your homework. *** Edited 7/15/2004 10:33:11 PM UTC by Iggy ACE***