So close...Yet so far away

I was just thinking how nice it was that I was able to visit a lot more parks this year than any other year and then I started thinking about all the other parks I was so close to, but unable to attend. Mostly I was unable to go to these parks because of time constraints with work or my wife just wasn't feeling up to it as we drove by the park onto a different destination.

Here is my list of parks that I almost went to this year, all of them within 5 minutes of my moving car.

Beech Bend

Six Flags Marine World

Geauga Lake

Coney Island

Wyandot Lake

Libertyland

Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom

and last but not least Lagoon.

I am grateful for all the other parks I did go to but I ,like most of you, still love taking advantage of every little opportunity to go to a park that I haven't been to before. I have been to Lagoon before but it was 10 years ago. Frustrating at times, but I guess I can just hope for even more next year.

We were five minutes from Lake Winnie *twice* this weekend and I was a little sad we didn't get the stop. We're already planning our next (two?) trip(s) to Dollywood (+SFOG), so hopefully I'll be able to do the park next season. It's never fun to have to pass up a park, especially one you've been to that you know coasters are just waiting for you to go for a spin.

+Danny

Well, I've made three PA trips and still am missing three or four parks :(

Here's my list:

First, I'm not going to count Dutch Wonderland as I drive past that often travelling Rt.30 east of Lancaster.

Hersheypark: twice: Drove by, saw the huge crowd that I did not feel like dealing with, and continued driving. No big deal... already been there twice this year.

Lakemont Park: Drove by on I-99 on my way to visit DelGrosso's and ride their new Crazy Mouse. Didn't really bother me that much... been there twice already and it is only a 2 1/2 drive... easy "day trip".

Clementon Amusement Park: On my way back from a Great Adventure / Ocean City NJ trip, I took a slight detour and passed by the park to get a look at the structure of Tsunami. Since I knew the coaster was not open, I did not go into the park. No problem... short "day trip" from home.

Which brings me to the very damp vacation we took back in June....

Waterville USA: The last few days of our June Vacation were very stormy and rainy. Waterville was a rain out. Made it to the parking lot, but found that because of a few technical problems Cannonball Run was actually not running that day. So, since that was the only reason we were there, we decided to skip the park. Unlike Lakemont, this was not a park that we could do a day trip too... 18 1/2 hours and 1071 miles by car.

Visionland: Same day as Waterville USA. Arrived at the park in the evening in one of the heaviest rains I ever saw. Lots of violent lightning too. Drove past the parking lot and decided to cut our losses and head north.

Lake Winnie: Still part of our vacation. The heavy rains during the last week of our vacation made us do some rescheduling. The nice day of our second week was Thursday so we had a choice of heading to Pigeon Forge or staying in Chattanooga. No offense to Lake Winnie, but we decided to head for Dollywood instead. We passed very close to the park however when we visited Chickmauga Battlefield (in the pouring rain) on that Wednesday.

On that vacation we did manage to visit Carowinds, Myrtle Beach Grand Prix, Pavilion and Family Kingdom, Wild Adventures, Miracle Strip Amusement Park and Dollywood. However the three parks mentioned above along with SF Over Georgia (we didn't even bother driving from Bessemer to Atlanta) were all "rain outs". A future vacation to Atlanta, Rossville GA, Bessemer AL and probably back to Pigeon Forge TN is already in the planning stages.

I was at PKI and had an extra day to go to SFKK but I didn't go. I was also very close to Lake Compence and I didn't got either.

I've lived within 20 minutes of Wyandot Lake for almost 10 years and I've never been. And I've even had Six Flags season passes during some of those years.

This summer I spent a week at a hotel within walking distance of Miracle Strip park, but I didn't go.

I stopped at Dutch Wonderland and took photos of Sky Princess, but I didn't go in.

Drove right by PKD twice on the way to/from BGW.

Drove right by KBF and Disneyland twice on the way to/from SFMM.

I think that's it.

I think I've driven past PKD at least 6 times this year. Twice = up/back from BGW, 4X = up/back from Raleigh, NC to see the future in-laws two times. I passed by SFA twice house hunting and SFGAm isnt too far from O'Hare (twice). Havent really felt the urge to hit any of them either...

lata, jeremy

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Crashmando said:
I was also very close to Lake Compence and I didn't got either.

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It's Lake Compounce. It's a good thing you didn't ask for directions. Anyway, we passed exit 7A off the Jersey Turnpike to go to SFNE instead. That was weird as we always go to SFGadv.

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Den said:

This summer I spent a week at a hotel within walking distance of Miracle Strip park, but I didn't go.

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WOW! So close to Miracle Strip in it's final summer and you didn't go! I take it you have been there before. I guess work is more important than parks, (somtimes).

I was at Miracle Strip for the final closing night Sunday. Hurricane Frances was threatening to make it a no go with heavy winds and rain, but the amusement park gods looked down and spread a huge double rainbow over the park and the weather let up. Whew...that was a very close call. Wild Adventures however on the next day was a different story. Frances just wouldn't let up and the park was closed as I drove by.

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coasterpunk said:

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WOW! So close to Miracle Strip in it's final summer and you didn't go! I take it you have been there before. I guess work is more important than parks, (somtimes).

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No, I had never been there before... I've never been to any of the parks I mentioned in my first post.

The reason I was in Panama City Beach was to supervise a bunch of high schoolers on a church trip. I could have gone if I had been able to convince some of them to go with me, but ... get this... the majority of them voted to WALK TO WAL-MART rather than go to an amusement park. Can you believe that?!?

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I probably would have picked Wal Mart too! ;)