Planning NJ & PA Trip Late August

I am currently planning on a week-long trip starting on Saturday Aug 25th in New Jersey and ending Sunday Sep 2nd at Kennywood.

I was looking to see if anyone would be interested in meeting at any of these parks?:

Sat Aug 25th - Land of Make Believe, Bowcraft Playland, Keansburg Amusement Park, Jenkinson's Boardwalk, Casino Pier, Blackbeard's Cave

Sun Aug 26th & Mon Aug 27th - Six Flags Great Adventure

Tue Aug 28th - Storybookland, Steel Pier, Gillain's Wonderlan Pier, Playland's Castaway Cove, Gillian's Funland, Morey's

Wed Aug 29th - Clementon Park, Sesame Place, Dutch Wonderland

Thu Aug 30th & Fri Aug 31st - Hershey Park

Sat Sep 1st - Del Grosso's, Lakemont, Idlewild

Sun Sep 2nd - Kennywood

Pretty ambitious trip. Also throwing in several Famous Dave's for good measure! :) I am hoping to get all the credits planned. Should hit my #500, possibly on Leap the Dips.

Also if anyone can find discounts for Sesame Place, that would be great! That will be one expensive credit!

I go to Blackbeard's Cave once in a while, although it's nowhere near me. It's my favorite Miniature golf course. It's also where I had my one and only roll-back, on the Dragon Coaster...all ten feet or so. Three times!! Also, the last "real" Roy Rogers in Jersey..i.e., free-standing franchise, not part of a Turnpike rest stop..is several blocks away.

This week demonstrates I can't plan that far in advance..I had tickets to see the Romantics last Friday and Beach Boys last night..but I was hospitalized on the 22nd and released yesterday. But send me a PM closer to your departure, and maybe we can meet at one of your destinations.

Also, I believe I can find you a coupon for SP. Dunno how much, but a buck's a buck. I'll check for it next week when I'm back on my feet, so to speak.

Short list of concerns: Jersey traffic and possible construction on the 25th (and a lot of driving on the 28th). Morey's on the 28th is going to get short-changed, IMO. Possibility of too much time at GAdv and Hershey. No mention of the greatest park on Earth in Elysburg, PA.

Other than that, I'm old and jealous....so enjoy! :~)

Make sure you check your park schedules. School starts in PA on August 26, and many of the parks start closing earlier on weekdays that week. I know that Dutch Wonderland will close at 6:00 that week, and Hershey will be closing at 8:00.

Had this been posted just two days earlier, I would have been all over it, but now I have to work those days. Damnit. I have yet to meet a Buzzer in person (that I know of). One has passed me while I stood guard over the brain injury guy, and that's about it. Lol

We've already been to Knoebel's and Dorney this year.

RGB - way ahead of ya! I always look up schedules before planning. So in case a park closes earlier than another, I hit it first. Couple of those days will be pretty busy. Most places will be get the credits then leave. Morey's will get some love. They are open til midnight and I have free passes for it.

The only reason I am spending 2 days at SFGAd & Hershey is never been to NJ and wife has never done Hershey. They is so much to do at both parks and want to take it all in.

Mike - I will get in touch as time gets closer.

I cannot wait until you ride El Toro. :)

A quick word about Great Adventure: the easiest way to tell if you're gonna need Flashpass is to go to the Toro queue. If the line is past the churro stand, get a flashpass gold. You will not be sorry...although since you are taking two days, you should be able to ride all the coasters in that time.

I assume you mean if all the cattle pens are open. When we went the line was out past the churro stand, but none of the cattle pens were open and it was about 20 minutes.

Ah, yes. Thank you for clarifying that, Andy. If the cattle pens (so appropriate of a name in this case) are open and full and past the churro stand in the middle of the line, it is a good guess you need flashpass gold.

Morey's does 22 dollar wristbands from 12:30 to 6 on Tuesdays.

I just got back from Hershey, if you do the preview thing the night before you can probably do everything in 1 day plus the extra 2.5 hours.

We went to SkyRush immediately upon entering the park and it was like a 25 minute wait, because they were only running one train for some reason.

All of the older coasters were walk ons, except for the Comet which had a long line for some reason. Fahrenheit was 15 minutes, and Storm Runner was 20.

billb7581 said:

Morey's does 22 dollar wristbands from 12:30 to 6 on Tuesdays.

I just got back from Hershey, if you do the preview thing the night before you can probably do everything in 1 day plus the extra 2.5 hours.

We went to SkyRush immediately upon entering the park and it was like a 25 minute wait, because they were only running one train for some reason.

All of the older coasters were walk ons, except for the Comet which had a long line for some reason. Fahrenheit was 15 minutes, and Storm Runner was 20.

Comet always has a long line because of the redundantly-redundant bonds that must all be checked-- seat divider, seat belt (which is usually shoved under the seat divider) and buzz bar (which has to be raised several times each time a train is loaded so the people who are sitting on the seat belts can reach between the seat and divider to retrieve the belt then fasten it). Dispatches average one train about every six minutes.

Or maybe this year, they just decided to fasten every rider to his or her seat with their own roll of strapping tape. In your choice of Hershey Kisses, Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, or Twizzlers.

LOL you're right. That's exactly what happened, those seatbelts are a mess. Why do they need all that? Phoenix has a lap bar that comes 6 inches from your lap, and no belts?

I had some friends who were at Hershey last night for the concert, and I guess the weather went south pretty quickly later in the night. I've seen some pictures of downed Hershey kisses and trees and things. Looks pretty gross.

Yea we cut out about 9 pm due to the heat and being exhausted. We were listening to the radio, rocking out to War Pigs when they broke in with the emergency broadcast system regarding severe weather. I had never heard an actual announcement before.

Comet is often bad because of the restraints, but this year it's especially bad because it serves as overflow for anyone who doesn't want to ride or wait for Skyrush.

Or confused like my children and I, who thought we WERE in line for Skyrush LOL....

Thanks for the replies! It's starting to look like a bust, though. The storms that ripped through last Friday did damage to house and left us without power for 5 days. So, the money I was going to use to make reservations, is now going for repairs. It should be only deductible, but that is still something I did not anticipate. I really can't complain. There was a lot of damage done by that storm across many states. My thoughts go out to anyone that experienced it.

billb7581 said:
Yea we cut out about 9 pm due to the heat and being exhausted. We were listening to the radio, rocking out to War Pigs when they broke in with the emergency broadcast system regarding severe weather. I had never heard an actual announcement before.

Yeah, I guess they cut short by a little more than a half hour, and luckily people had made t to their cars before the skies opened up. Unfortunately, I hear the grass lots turned into mud pits and people got stuck all night, or at least until someone could pull them out.

In all honesty, I'd welcome a bit of that ki d of rain right now.

Sorry to hear that, Jerry! Give a shout if you need anything. That goes for anyone in the general Ohio region that was affected by the storms.