Trip planning for next season: PCW or Combo trip with PKD and Carowinds

We have added a PKI season pass for 2006 and are planning our one big additional trip to either PCW or a combo trip to PKD and Carowinds. What would your preference be for a trip and why?

Have you been to any of the parks if you havent the choice is simple: PKD and Carowinds. One flagship park + another park > one park (you also dont have to deal with customs). Also, if you have time, you can hit Williamsburg (and BGW) and/or Washington DC.

ThrillBilly - first, let me give you my opinion. My vote is for PDK & Carowinds, mostly because of the other parks that are close-by that you can also visit.

That being said the main problem with asking questions like yours [and many people do it] is that we know nothing about you. We don't know what kind of experience you're looking for. Are you only interested in coasters? Are there other kinds of rides you enjoy? Do you plan on visiting other parks on this trip? What is your budget? Are you travelling alone or with others? What kind of park experience do you prefer?

Not to sound rude but I really don't understand why people ask for others to help make their travel plans. The internet is full of resources. Each park has their own website. RCDB will give you details on every coaster at each park. Coasterbuzz [and other sites] has trip reports you can read. Get online, do the research, and figure out for yourself what park[s] offer the experience your looking for that also fits within the budget you have to work with.

Just a little rant, sorry to sound like such an ahole ;)

Have fun on your trip, whichever you decide!

PCW isn't exactly Timbuktu either, Moosh.....nearby there's Marineland, Niagara itself, Seabreeze, SFDL, and whatever is going on at Clifton Hill (I *will* know more about that place after my next visit in that area, LOL).

There are NO stand-out coasters at PCW, save for the *non-coaster* Thunder Run, which makes me lust mightily for more of the Blauer-Enzians...but the flat rides at PCW top anything I've seen. Puyallup has a better *selection*, but PCW gets the nod based on quality...

PKD's wood is lifeless, PCar's, in my experience, is WAYYY better cared for. :)

Mamoosh,

Thank you for your opinion preferences on the Paramount Parks. PCW, PKD and PCar. Thank you for telling why you would prefer PKD and Carowinds.

This was the first time I've posted on CBuzz for many years, however I do read it on a semi-regular basis.

As per your observation:

"That being said the main problem with asking questions like yours [and many people do it] is that we know nothing about you. We don't know what kind of experience you're looking for. Are you only interested in coasters? Are there other kinds of rides you enjoy? Do you plan on visiting other parks on this trip? What is your budget? Are you travelling alone or with others? What kind of park experience do you prefer?"

Why would one need to know all of my personal information to determine which park(s) you would prefer? I didn't request that people tell me which park(s) I would prefer, but rather which park(s) you would prefer.

You went on to add:

"Not to sound rude but I really don't understand why people ask for others to help make their travel plans. The internet is full of resources. Each park has their own website. RCDB will give you details on every coaster at each park. Coasterbuzz [and other sites] has trip reports you can read. Get online, do the research, and figure out for yourself what park[s] offer the experience your looking for that also fits within the budget you have to work with."

I wasn't asking anyone to help me to make my travel plans. I was asking for opinions from you, the expert on coasters and parks. One of the greatest things about a board like CBuzz is that you will get a great variety of opinions and insights that you just won't get on a Park's biased site or on a generic stat based Inet site. Kennywood's Jackrabbit doesn't look that thrilling on RCDB but those who have ridden it know that the double dip really rocks.

I am well aware of resources on the net regarding parks, coasters and travel in general. I am aware of what parks and activities are around each of the parks. I didn't ask about what other parks or activities are in the areas. I already know what they are. You read a lot into my question that wasn't there. Don't make assumptions.

You finished up by stating:

"Just a little rant, sorry to sound like such an ahole"

I'm sure that one reason many people have quit posting or do not post at all is due to the rude, responses, such as yours that are thoughtlessly posted back. Your reply was intended as an arrogant condescending attack on an innocent survey question. I am simply interested in the opinions from you guys based upon your own personal experiences at those parks.

I for one enjoy sharing my opinions on the parks and rides with which I am familiar with others. I don't view opinion questions as annoying. I also don't assume that the poster of these questions will base their entire trip upon my response. What I find annoying is mean spirited responses like yours.

Just a little rant right back at you.Peace Out!

Dude, I'm not being arrogant. I'm trying to HELP you. If you give us a better idea of what you're looking for "us experts" can give you a better idea of what park[s] are best suited for you.

Take Gator's last comment: "PKD's wood is lifeless, PCar's, in my experience, is WAYYY better cared for."

If you are a wood coaster fanatic his comment is really going to matter to you and how you plan your trip. If you're more of a steel coaster fan his info is of little help.

The more info you give us about what you're looking for, the better our answers will be. And, really, if you've already done the research and are just looking for raw opinions then, IMHO, you're wasting everyone's time. You have all the info you need to make an informed decision...who cares what we think?

Help us help you! ;)

I do not think Moosh was being arrogant either. You asked for our opinions so that you can make an informed decision about where you want to go. What moosh is trying to say is that for us to help you more you could let us know what your preferences are. If I tell you about how the flat rides are awesome at one park, and you don't like flat rides, what good will it do? That post wastes both the poster's and the reader's time.

Plus everyone is original and what we think is not going to be what you think. Our thoughts about a park are from our experiences. None of us have the same experiences, so none of us will have the same thoughts about a park.

Maybe it's just because I know him more than just a random poster, but moosh's post was NOT arrogant, rude, or disrespectful.

Perhaps more people would post here if people didn't get all defensive when someone points something out as politely as they can (including telling you point-blank that they are trying not to be rude, so don't take it that way).

Ever hear of a thing called "constructive criticism"? Most people on here don't know how to take it. The regulars on this board point things out for the betterment of the community, or even your question itself.

Let's take the flat rides thing as an example. For the sake of argument, let's say that you prefer flat rides, etc. If the "experts" on this site merely said that they'd prefer PCar/PKD. That answered your question to what we prefer, but wouldn't be very useful to you, because you'd actually be more interested in PCW and their flat collection.

In the same way, if you called *ANY* tech support department and said "I'm having problems with [product] doing [task]. How do I fix it?" They're going to ask you a lot of questions, including background information regarding possible scenarios where the problem may or may not exist. Are you going to call them rude, and ask why you have to tell them all kinds of personal information? No - because it's necessary to make an informed response that will actually be helpful. It's the same thing here.

Now, back to the topic...

I can't really compare parks because, of the three in question, I've only been to PKD. I personally loved Grizzly, and although my wood experience is limited, I rank it #2 behind Ghostrider @ Knott's. I especially liked it at night. Anaconda in probably the smoothest arrow I've ridden, and actually went for a couple laps on that. Hurler I found to be very rough and painful, though. As for flats? I don't recall seeing a whole lot, although their troika provides a nice ride, and their inverted TopSpin (Tombraider: Firefall) is absolutely amazing. The ride spins so much, that I found it actually less nauseating than the other topspins I've been on. I really enjoyed myself there.

ThrillBilly, I think what people don't want is for you to be disappointed based on their opinions. There has to be some kind of a process of elmination. When you said that "we" have a season pass to PKI, you never described who "we" was. Is it your friend, girlfriend, partner, wife, brother, sister, mother, father, cousin etc.? You don't have to answer that, but you can see that it throws in a whole other variable to the mix .

The problem with these kind of threads is that they actually make things much harder for you to decide which park to go to. It's already started above since people are making side-trip suggestions for you. So now you've gotten responses from people saying "and hey while you're there, travel to park A, it's only an hour away!" Then someone else chimes in with "From park A, you're only two hours from park B which has a really great vintage woodie!" It starts to get out of hand.

Don't worry about it Thrillbilly. I think that some of the people on this site that post do not realize that what they are saying may come across rude and arrogant when all they are trying to do is help out. Of course, they say that posts like yours are a waste of everyone's time when it is really the tangent that all posts, like yours, takes when they get in their "helpful" mood and start telling you that you should have asked it this way instead of that way. Or, you should have posted the question in this type of format instead of the one you used. It is then that we turn from talking about the subjects we all love the most (theme parks, coasters, flat rides, etc.) and start talking about proper grammar and sentence form. Sorry... I don't mean to come across a. holely, just trying to make Thrillbilly feel more welcome.

No, posts like his are only a waste of our time when no information is given on what kind of rides or park experience is desired.

What if I said I was going to the movies tonight and asked CBuzzers for recommendations without telling them what kinds of movies I liked or didn't like? How would anyone know what to recommend? ;)

Again, we're trying to HELP. I had smiley faces in my posts to show I was posting in a friendly manner. I apologized ahead of time because I knew my post might come off as being rude instead of helpful. And I even gave him my answer: PKD and Carowinds...although I have no idea if that's the best answer.

I'm glad ThrillBilly is back and posting after just being a lurker. The more people participating in the discussions the better! ;)

Mamoosh and others:

I am happy and humbled with the class and poise that you and the other responders have answered my flame to a perceived slight.

Again I asked for the opinions from you guys on your preferences between three specific parks. Moosh, if you asked for opinions regarding three specific movies like say Joe Dirt, Casablanca and Gone with the Wind, I'd say I’d go with the Dirt; I wouldn't waste my time on those other losers.

Anyway, to flesh out my request. The person's traveling on our trip will be my family, which includes two early 40's parents, and 17 and 14 y.o. boys. We have been to approximately 55 parks and have rode just under 200 coasters with woodies being my fav. Favorite parks for me are Kennywood, Knoebels, Indiana Beach, and Dollywood. I get motion sick on spinning flats but the boys love them. We all love darkrides and Carousels. We love offbeat Roadside America type of stuff, (Lucy the Elephant, House on the Rock, Ripley's etc.) Our budget is to do as much on as little as possible.

Take it easy,

DAC

Oh, another note I forgot above.. If you decide on the PKD/PCar trip, and you end up going to PKD on 2 separate days, I would recommend saving your first ride on Grizzly to ride in the dark, and then follow up with day rides the 2nd day. Most of the ride is fairly dark and in the woods, and you don't see the tunnel until you're practically in it (at least I didn't. :) ) and it produces a very nice, sudden handchopper sensation (without actually chopping off the hands, of course ;) ). If you ride it in the day first, you may become more acquainted with the layout, and thus the tunnel probably won't "sneak up" on you as much. As with all rides, though, YMMV.

Is ThrillBilly a play on HillBilly? I like that, I'ma hafta use it...

ThrillBilly, after reading your info I just want to repeat my suggestion that you go to Williamsburg as part of your PKD/PCW trip. Besides having BGW it also has a great waterpark in Water Country USA and a fantasitc Revolutionary War era historical park called Colonial Williamsburg. Also, if you have never been to Washington DC its only one 1.5 hours to the north of PKD. Besides being breatakeing, allmost all of the major attractions in DC (monuments, govt building tours, Smithsonian) also happen to be free.

Presumably the season pass + the "as much for as little" is why PCaro was considered over BGW.

^I wasnt suggesting he should drop PCW, just suggested other things to do in the area if he has the time and money (Williamsburg) or just time (DC).