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25-state, 40-park, month-and-a-half, post-pandemic extravaganza

MestnyiGeroi

Giga Poster
Nearly a year and a half of house confinement and I need a huge coaster trip like I need oxygen. And no three-park trip will do. This requires something a fair bit crazier. Something that terrifies my wallet but excites my heart. It requires a level of unbridled self-indulgence that would make an entitled tween blush. It requires a rental car and an itinerary that looks as if a wild crayoned lightning bolt had been madly scribbled across the entire map of the United States. It requires the dangerous, rebellious spirit of Easy Rider, but really the safely sanitized confines of amusement parks largely intended for kids. It requires a near psychotic state of man-childhood.

I intend to post reports here nearly every night of the trip. But I don't think I'll have the time, energy, or inclination for the kind of voluminous reports I've seen as the norm over the years at Coasterforce. Instead, the reports will largely be "live" (what I did that day) and they'll be brief -- something along the lines of five-sentence summaries of the overall impressions and a mention of any standouts.

I leave on July 3, but I'm posting this now as the framing post, and I'll include the itinerary now, so you boys and girls at home can print it out in advance and put it up on your bedroom walls. Maybe make an interactive map or an advent calendar with it. Be creative.

An asterisk indicates a park (or place) I haven't been to before.
July 3 — SFGAdv
July 4 — Dorney (brief morning visit to get Plat passes, maybe a couple of rides); Hershey for the rest of the day and night.
July 5 — Six Flags America (mostly just want to get on the former spite The Wild One)
July 6 — BGW
July 7 — Family Kingdom* and the two other little parks* in Myrtle Beach*
July 8 — Savannah*, Georgia
July 9 — BGT
July 10 — Legoland Florida*
July 11-14 — Universal Studios* and Islands of Adventure*
July 15 — Wild Adventures*
July 16 — The Park at OWA* (and Sam’s Fun City*?)
July 17-18 — SFoG*, Fun Spot Atlanta*
July 19 — Lake Winnie*
July 20 — Alabama Splash Adventure*
July 21 — Magic Springs*
July 22 — Worlds of Fun*
July 23 — Frontier City*
July 24 — Wonderland* and Joyland*
July 25 — Cliff’s*
July 26-27 — Elitch Gardens* and Lakeside* (either both on the 26th, or one each day in that order)
July 28 — Glenwood Caverns*; Moab*
July 29 — Arches National Park*
July 30-31 — Lagoon*
August 1 — Yellowstone Bear World* in the morning, northbound travel for rest of the day
August 2 — Silverwood*
August 3 — Cultus* (if the border is open)
August 4 — PNE Playland* (if border open)
August 5 — Wild Waves*
August 6 — Oaks*
August 7 — Enchanted Forest* (last two parks may be reversed)
I think the border is unlikely to be open. So the likely alternative is Wild Waves on August 3rd, followed by four days exploring Portland* and its two parks)
August 8-10 — Los Angeles
August 11 — SFMM
August 12 — SFDK*
August 13 — CGA
August 14 — Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk*
August 15 — Gilroy Gardens* (saving the best for last)

So, if all works out, this will be forty-one parks, but I think it's more likely to be 38 or 39.

So ready.
 

Matt N

CF Legend
And I thought I was in for a great run of theme parking, with 4 visits in the space of about a month…

That’s certainly one epic trip! Have a great time, and I hope you find some new coasters to add to your top coasters list! Out of interest, how many new credits do you think you stand to gain on this trip, and where will that take you to?
 

MestnyiGeroi

Giga Poster
Out of interest, how many new credits do you think you stand to gain on this trip, and where will that take you to?
That’s a good question. This is easily the longest trip I’ve ever done with the most parks, but it won’t even be close to the trip with the most credits. This is partly because I’ve done a number of the parks before, but mainly because most of the parks I’m visiting are small.

So, NOT counting the two Canadian parks (as I don’t think I’ll be able to visit them), and NOT counting Pantheon and Iron Gwazi (as Busch Gardens seem content to punish their patrons by leaving new, ready rides SBNO), but assuming no other coasters are closed and I get on every kiddie ride (unlikely), that would be another 138 coasters, putting my credit count at a tantalizing 698. We’ll see what the actual number turns out to be.
 

Nitefly

Hyper Poster
Looks…. aggressive. I wouldn’t dare spill your itinerary’s pint. And when I say ‘spill its pint’, I mean ‘displace its line of meth’.

Is this a solo adventure, or is Dr. Gonzo going with you?
 
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MestnyiGeroi

Giga Poster
Looks…. aggressive. I wouldn’t dare spill your itinerary’s pint. And when I say ‘spill it’s pint’, I mean ‘displace it’s line of meth’.

Is this a solo adventure, or is Dr. Gonzo going with you?
Friends/family are meeting up with me for four different legs of the journey, but over half will be solo. Anticipated stages of such a solo car trip: 1. Shamelessly singing along to songs on the radio; 2. Talking to myself; 3. Arguing with myself; 4. Arguing with Dr. Gonzo, who I imagine to be the co-pilot.

Actually, I've done long solo coaster trips before and was surprised what a blast I had. And while this trip is longer than the previous record (three and a half weeks), I finished those previous trips still not wanting it to end. So I've got the enthusiast stamina. :cool:
 

emoo

Hyper Poster
Somewhere in the permissions. Helps if your phone is active and has internet & GPS connection often. It won't necessarily trace the exact route, more join the dots of locations you went to and spent an amount of time at.

You may already have some history, depending on your default settings. Can be found under 'Your timeline'

It is possible to add stops post trip in your personal history if you want to fill in the blanks.

I would be keen to see your end result, let's see if it helps temper my obscene jealousy. Looks like a terrific trip.
 

cocoa

Mega Poster
I see that you have no driving days in between park days. Do you drive 8 hours across kansas in the morning before getting to the park, or at night after? 😆
 

MestnyiGeroi

Giga Poster
I see that you have no driving days in between park days. Do you drive 8 hours across kansas in the morning before getting to the park, or at night after? 😆
Travel times are very carefully taken into account when planning the itinerary. I don’t like being exhausted, I don’t drive late at night, and I always get a full night’s sleep on these long trips. There is only one day that is almost all driving, and aside from that day I have no drive over five hours.

When I drive depends on the demands of the map and what makes the most sense. If I go to a park that closes at five, but it’s eight hours to the next park, I may drive after the park from 5-10 pm to a mid-point hotel, then drive the last three hours in the morning to arrive at the park at opening. Those are about the greatest distances I have to deal with. Most of my drives are one to four hours, not eight.
 

MestnyiGeroi

Giga Poster
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Day One: Jersey

Picked up a rental car from New York’s JFK airport, and two different rental employees marveled at the rate I got. One asked, You reserved this quite a while ago, didn’t you? (I did.) Turns out there’s now a severe shortage of available rental cars nationwide, so I was told that if I tried to rent for the same month and a half now, instead of $1500 it would be 4500! And he said they’re now charging 1500 for one week!

SFGAdv was not my home park growing up, but it has been for many years now. So I’ve been on everything but the new coaster.

Turned out to be one of those lucky days that should have been slammed with holiday attendance, but it rained and was cold in the morning, so the park was quite empty. To give you a sense, I got two rides in the front row of Kingda Ka without having to get out of the train. That never happens for Ka, which regularly has an hour-long line. I had the same experience on the back row of Nitro.

Anyway, Jersey Devil. Many have said they were underwhelmed with the sluggishness in the morning but impressed with the coaster by the end of the day. I have a wimpier variant of that. In the morning, I felt it was rough — it beat me up! Those rivet patches on the track (forgot the name for them) clang every time, the OTSRs are uncomfortable, and mostly prominently the seat forces you to spread your legs as if you’re riding a barrel. This last factor especially is what made everything a bit painful during the morning rides. Every time I got off I felt saddle sore.

However, there have been many rides over the years that seemed rough to me at first, but which I seemed to “learn” to ride somehow (especially Voyage and Phantom’s, which both became favorites once I adjusted to them). This was what happened with Jersey Devil — and, more simply, I think my inner thigh muscles eventually loosened. :D

Eventually, I was marathoning the coaster and loving it. And as I was solo today, they often called out for a single rider from the line, and it was always needed for the last row, so toward the end of the day I got to ride it over and over in the best seat.

In the end, I’d say it’s a wild ride with great drops and some great inversions, but it certainly isn’t threatening my top ten. But I had a great time marathoning it.

Tonight I drove to a hotel in Pennsylvania, and when I asked if there was any food still open at 9:30, the concierge said there was a bar in the back that served food. What followed was some sort of cliched comedy scene with a pinch of Narnia. I follow a labyrinth of hallways to the very back of this generic corporate chain hotel, and find what I’d have to affectionately call a complete redneck bar. Many have said that the center of Pennsylvania is really Alabama, and this felt the complete picture — like an over-the-top movie set. Before long, the guy at the bar next to me had offered me his leftover fries, and the barkeep was sure she’d seen me in there before, so I passed for a local in under an hour! And the price of the beer made my jaw drop. This is no longer New York City.

Tomorrow, mostly Hershey.
 

MestnyiGeroi

Giga Poster
Day Two: Pennsylvania

The Fourth of July weekend crowds that I’d so fortuitously dodged yesterday were finally in full force today. Half an hour before opening, Dorney Park’s parking lot was already massively swamped. Dorney is never crowded, so this was amazing to see.

But Dorney was just my morning mission, with two tasks at hand: 1. I bought Cedar Fair Platinum Passes just before the pandemic hit. So I never used them and was hoping I could stroll in today and activate my pass with no explanations. Mercifully, I was able to do just that. 2. To ride Demon Drop. This is the last remaining North American Intamin first-generation Freefall ride. I hadn’t ridden one since Freefall at Magic Mountain in the 80s! Was it this sense of a disappearing history that moved me to ride this for the first time today? No. Coaster-Count recently reclassified these rides as credits, and that was my sole shameful motivation. (Ridden everything else at Dorney before.)

Then I drove to Hersheypark and was through the gates before 2 pm. It was, of course, crowded as well. If this were a first visit and I were hoping to get all the credits, the day would have been a miserable failure. But that was not my goal. My goal was to experience Candymonium and a handful of other rides, and that mission was accomplished.

Candymonium. The second half is a bit anti-climactic in layout, and it includes annoying trims that crop up here and there. And the ride feels a bit short. These detriments acknowledged, the airtime in the first half of this ride is so phenomenal that this has to be considered a top-tier B&M hyper. It really is a fantastically fun ride. I rode it twice in the front row and twice in the back row, and they were both amazing. Can’t say which is better.

And Storm Runner in the front row remains flippin’ fantastic.

Skyrush was down for the day. My thighs rejoiced at the news, but my heart was disappointed. Still, the day was about Candymonium, so I wasn’t too crestfallen.
 

MestnyiGeroi

Giga Poster
Day Three: Maryland

Today I visited Six Flags America, a park I’ve been to once before, but where The Wild One was previously closed all day. As I’d someday like to have ridden the ten oldest coasters in the world, I stopped by primarily just for this credit. Rode it in the back seat first and it was shockingly rough — Predator rough! Came back later to get a front row ride, but by then the line was very long, and I couldn’t afford the time. Wish I’d used one of the skip-the-line passes you get with Diamond Elite for this coaster, but I got them both for Superman Ride of Steel.

I used one pass for Superman — front row is best — and it was a lot of fun. But it was time for me to leave, so I spotted a kid approaching the long, slow Superman ride by himself and gave him the skip-the-line pass. He didn’t say thank you. Apparently his parents taught him well not to speak to strangers … but to accept any free passes offered. :p

Then I drove down to Williamsburg, Virginia to have dinner with some old friends.

Tomorrow, BGW, which is five minutes away.

Random photo today of giant spider outside my hotel window.

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MestnyiGeroi

Giga Poster
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Day Four: Virginia

Today was an open-till-close day at Busch Gardens Williamsburg. I’d been here once before four years ago, but it was nice to get back — albeit on an oppressively hot day. My British genes are not built to deal well with such weather!

Let me get straight to the coaster everyone will want to hear about: Pantheon. I have to say right up front that the airtime is pretty much non-existent, and the pacing is just about as bad as it gets. And though, as I said, it was a blisteringly hot day, I really couldn’t say whether it warmed up much by the afternoon. Finally, it has to be said that the capacity was abysmal, by my count averaging zero riders per hour. All told, a bit of a disappointment.

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Granted, this is about as close as I was able to get to it.

For what it’s worth, a friendly employee told me that they’re being told it’s slated to open in September.

And finally a random unrelated observation: of course I go to many parks all over the place, and I wear a million different park and coaster t-shirts, and there is only one shirt that is guaranteed to have people coming up to me all day and talking to me about the shirt, and that’s a Kennywood shirt. Pittsburghers really love their park and feel compelled to ask me if I’m from their city. I know some CFers are anti-social grumps about people — possibly even park or coaster fans — talking to them, but I enjoy it. Anyway, experienced this Kennywood phenomenon at three different parks around the country now, and no other park shirt has that guaranteed effect.
 
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