Ohio Theme Parks

A friend of a friend of mine is a coach for one of the NFL Europe teams. On my last trip to Scotland I got to attend a practice game and I even stayed with the team for a couple days when I was in Edinboro. It was a lot of fun.

I'm surprised I didn't pick up that "there's no NFL in Europe" quote before.

I'll chime in and also say that if you're here from the UK, GO TO KENNYWOOD. There is no way on Earth you'll regret it. It's no Alton Towers, but it's a piece of Americana that you won't find anywhere else.

But don't let the fact that all sorts of parks are in Pennsylvania fool you into thinking they're all close. Pennsylvania is a big state. It'll probably take 4 hours from Kennywood to Hersheypark. That's about 10+ hours from Cleveland. Eek.

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- John
I got a B&M T-shirt!

I would say Hershey is worth the drive. It is a very nice park and then lines generaly dont go over a 20 minute wait. They have 3 awsome woodies. The park also has the hershey museum and zoo right next to the park.

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Coaster count:32
top3:Boulder Dash, Steel Force,Wildcat(Hershey)

If you're already in Ohio, I would recommend the U.S. Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton. They have more than 300 planes and missiles on display from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm and admission is FREE!

http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/index.htm

*** This post was edited by Steaming Heap of Gecko on 10/22/2002. ***

Well Kennywood is definatly worth it but you may find some similarities with Blackpool Pleasure beach,since KW and BPB are the only 2 really historical parks, they both have the 2 remaining mobius coasters in the world, plus the 2 Noah's Ark, but Phantom's Revenge should be way better than Pepsi max and KW is more spread out than what I've seen at Blackpool, where they are litteraly building rides on top of each other.
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The Jokes on You!! Ha Ha

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Michael Darling said:
"But don't let the fact that all sorts of parks are in Pennsylvania fool you into thinking they're all close. Pennsylvania is a big state. It'll probably take 4 hours from Kennywood to Hersheypark. That's about 10+ hours from Cleveland. Eek."

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You're just a *tad* off there my friend. Last year when the Ravens were playing the Steelers in the playoffs all the news stations were saying ho Heinz Field is only four hours from PSINet Stadium. Now Hershey is pretty much "on the way" to Pitt from B-more so I'd only think the trip would be about 3.5hrs max from KW to HP. I *know* it only takes 2hrs to get from SFWoA to KW so it should take no more than six max to get from SFWoA to HP.
lata, jeremy

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"To get inside this head of mine, would take a monkey-wrench, and a lot of wine" Res How I Do

I think the guy just wanted to go to Ohio parks. Hell, Six Flags Magic Mountain is worth a drive from Ohio if you have the time. I think Hershey is too far from Ohio, and the drive across PA (Pennsylvania) is miserable (I've done it before and I won't do it again).

Bottom line, eyeamthu1 - I wouldn't drive all the way from Cleveland/Sandusky/Cincinnati to Hershey. I think you are getting in way over your head. Just try to concentrate on a couple parks (Ohio is a great place to start) - if you are anything like me and friends I have gone with to parks, you'll appreciate a park you've never been to before a whole lot more if you aren't too tired to experience it.

*** This post was edited by ophthodoc on 10/23/2002. ***

Yeah cool, I was just wondering how close (or far away) everything is. I think I will definitely do Cedar Point, SFWoA, PKI and Kennywood.

Then a question about the other parks:

Knoebel's- how far away is it from Kennywood?

Holiday World- how far away is it from the various Ohio parks? Which state is it in? And did someone say SF Kentucky Kingdom is on the way? If so, is that worth a visit, is it really 'on the way' or 'out of my way'? I'd like to go Chang looks awesome, but then again CP has Mantis.

I may go to LeSourdesville Lake but I will definitely not be doing Hershey and Dorney.

Jeremy:

Hershey is just about as far from Kennywood as Baltimore is. It's just at a different angle.

Okay, assuming you are correct Jim, The news people (and mapquest) say it is four hours from B-more to Pitt. I'm sure any *average* driver could make it there in less. Making my KW to HP estimate of 3.5hrs completely reasonable :)

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"To get inside this head of mine, would take a monkey-wrench, and a lot of wine" Res How I Do

My aunt lives within walking distance to Kennywood park, and we made it to Hershey in less than four hours last summer with my aunt (a very conservative driver) behind the wheel. This included one breakfast/bathroom stop.

I'd say a normal driver would be able to do it in 3 or 3.5.

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Can we go to Vancouver now?

I'd like to remention the idea of going to the Air Force museum in Dayton. I went there last year on the way home from PKI. We had a terrific visit. Our only complaint was that we didn't have enough time to spend there.

I'd also recommend the Air Force Museum. That place is so much fun. BTW did you know that's where they took all the evidence from the Roswell, New Mexico case to examin it? Just a little backround. I love looking at the planes there aswell!

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www.moviecoaster.com

OK, now we all know that there are several good parks right outside of Ohio. But, it seems everyone is now gradually recommending parks even further away? Hershey? Sure, Hershey is only a three or so hour drive from Kennywood, and Kennywood is only a two hour drive from WOA, but come on, that's five hours further than he was planning to drive. Next, someone is going to recommend Dorney, then GA, and so on. I mean, it would be great for him to experience them all, but I doubt he has that kind of vacation time...

MF Maniac,

In his post yesterday at 2pm, he stated that...

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Luckily I think we will be going for either 10 days or 14 days...

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And he was the first to mention parks as far west as IB and HW as well as parks in PA such as Kennywood , Conneaut Lake, Dorney Park, Hershey Park, Knoebel's, and Lakemont Park.

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Le roi est mort. Vive le roi.
Thanks Great America!

*** This post was edited by redman822 on 10/23/2002. ***

I think I was the first to mention IB and HW. But if he's going to be at CP and PKI then those parks are not a stretch!

Telling him to goto Hershey is rediculous. That is the most horrible drive I've ever been on, aside from the trip to BGW. Plus, that would potentionally have him driving in CIRCLES! How would you do that? Fly into Pitts, drive to Hershey and then head back to Ohio if he want's to hit CP? Just not that worth it! Maybe fly into Philly, but all that driving from there to Ohio, to get in Hershey? It's a great park, just not worth all of that!

Whoever said CP to PKI is a 5 hour drive, is on crack! If it takes you five hours to make that drive, I hope your traveling an hour north then turning around south to account for the two extra hours it takes you! We do it in 3, 4 tops! I live 20 mins from PKI.

HW is MORE than worth it. It's three hours from PKI. SFKK is on the way, you have to travel through Louisville to get to HW. When you pick up I-64 in Louisville, your about 15 maybe less minutes from KK. Should you stop? If you have the time, sure. It takes about 1 1/2 to 2 hours to drive from Cincy to Louisville, if you drive fast. Then about an hour to HW. You *might* even consider hitting those two in the same day. But my guess is, once you get to HW, you won't want to leave!

Also, you shouldn't really follow mapquest for directions. If you do, then you likely make that 3 hour trip from CP to PKI an actual 5 hours like someone above said. Mapquest is not very realiable. I would be willing to help you out with directions for the parks in this area. HW, CP, IB, SF, KW, and PKI. I've driven to all of the parks quite a few times in the past years. IM me at ericthered26 if you want help!

Eric

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A one that is not cold, is hardly a one at all.

Sorry, i was only mentioning Hershey, Dorney etc. IF they were in the nearby area, because i read they were in Pennysylvania IF a total drive from SFWOA to HP is like 5-6 hours, there's no way I'm doing that.

So what I'm really after is IF SFKK and HW are worth going to as well! So I will definitely do CP, SFWoA, KW and PKI but then are those 2 worth the trip to and are they fairly easy to get to? I guess eric was answering my question there, but anymore info or opinions would be great! Thanks.

Eyeamthu1,

I'm not assuming anything about England's parks because I don't know much geographically about them... YET (2004 baby!!!).

That said, when planning this trip, keep in mind that although we have a pretty efficient interstate system in place here, be careful about over-fatiguing yourself making all these 2-3 hour jaunts to other parks. You don't want to be dead tired 4 days into this trip dreading the next "short" 4 hours to the next MUST hit park.

Now let me clarify, almost every one of these parks have at least one STELLAR coaster or two, but you need to decide what exactly you want to acheive with this trip. Is it coaster counts? Quality wood? Answering these questions for us will help ALL of us help you more.

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Getting a B&M will always beat out having to take a BM.

I am not after any sort of Coaster Count or purely wood, purely steel. I just want to go to areas with cool coasters really, cos i have done the UK and Florida and this seemed the next place to try. Sorry, that doesn't help much, but I just want to go to the places with the best coasters and then work down from there i guess. We may have 10-14 days there so I guess we could pace ourselves but we don't wanna get tired out or anything. I just wanna know if the parks are worth it and how far they are in between each other, i guess.

Well then, you HAVE to go to Holiday World then. :)

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Getting a B&M will always beat out having to take a BM.