So after visiting all the South East Theme Parks, I finally goto to make a trip up to Six Flags Great Adventure last year and believe it or not, I enjoyed it more than anything Florida or Georgia have to offer. This summer I have to drive back up to NY for a wedding, so me and some friends may make a nice road trip out of it. I'm considering Busch Gardens Williamsburg (I have the Platinum Busch Passport anyhow) but what else good may be worth a stop not too far off I-95 between Florida and New York. I saw Paramount Kings Dominion on my drive there last year, and noticed signs for Six Flags America(I also have a 2007 Six Flags Season pass now). Are either of these worth a stop, or anything else along the way we should consider?

The trip will be around the end of July/Beginning of August.

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"I don't think you really get dizzy when you're drunk. You just gain sense of how fast the earth is really moving."

Any major park you can visit is a good thing. I say hit up BGE and PKD they're not that far from one another. I plan on doing it this year as well. You might want to hit up Dorney Park as well, though you may not want to travel to PA from NY. SFAM is OK too. You could alway go to GAdv again.

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Roller Coaster Central The one stop source for roller coaster, thrill ride, and theme park enthusiasts.

Driving up I-95, PKD is literally directly off the interstate and is worth a stop and SFA is maybe only 5 miles or so on a direct major road directly off I-95, both are VERY easy to get to from I-95 and not far off I-95 at all. Due to the fact that you'll be so incredibly close to both parks on your drive, I'd say you should hit both. SFA's not the greatest, but the coasters are pretty good, and PKD is a pretty good all around park.

You could try Dorny too, but that is a bit further off I-95 than the other two.

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If you can't stand the heights, get out of the line.

Well I am definitely going to Great Adventure...probably twice while I am there! I absolutely loved the rides in that park, but absolutely HATED the way it was run. Half the rides were down at some point during the day and no one would want to offer any info on whether they would open or not or anything. The day I went, Kingda Ka, El Toro, Nitro, Chiller (of course), and Batman all went down at some point in the day, or just didn't open with the park. It's pretty funny when you kinda think of Florida as a huge Theme Park home, but we have nothing anywhere near as good as Kingda Ka and more notably, El Toro which I rode at night last time and it was incredible!

I saw Kings Dominion up close and personal when I stopped there to get gas right across the street. I got a good view of the Volcano coaster from there and it looked pretty neat, but that's all I could really see from there.

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"I don't think you really get dizzy when you're drunk. You just gain sense of how fast the earth is really moving."

That's Great Adventure for you. Everyone was mentioning that "we should all wait and see what it's like once Shapiro has control over the entire budget.." so we'll see what it's like this year around. GAdv also has a new GM, the one from SFNE. All we can do is wait and see.

I'm actually in the process of planning a PKD/BGE trip for June.

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Roller Coaster Central The one stop source for roller coaster, thrill ride, and theme park enthusiasts.

Well it looks like my Six Flags Great Adventure days will be July 3rd and July 4th. If I hit up any other parks it will be on my drive back, the weekend and Monday after the 4th of July. I'm almost positive I'll be going to Busch Gardens Williamsburg, and I'll probably do either SFA or PKD, one or the other. The only thing intriguing to me at SFA is the Superman ride, and the only thing intriguing to me at PKD is Volcano. Everything else at both seems to look pretty average.

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"I don't think you really get dizzy when you're drunk. You just gain sense of how fast the earth is really moving."

If you have to decide between SFA and PKD, go to PKD. It is a great Park. SFA is a nice little park with some good coasters, but I feel that it does not measure up to PKD. Enjoy your trip. You should have either way.

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I would definatley hit BGE and PKD, PKD probably wont have much of a spike in attendance with no new attractions other that the waterpark and them losing XLC, so definatly stop in. I am heading to BGE myself so I will see how that is myself hadnt been in 10 years.

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Its rollercoaster time baby!!!

If you can, stop at Clementon Lake. It's about 30 miles south of GADV, and J2 is worth the price to get in (if you happen to get there after the water park closes, it's like $10 for a wristband). I didn't do anything but ride J2 when I was there, but it was worth it.

Dropzone is AMAZING... and Griz ran really good at night when I was there. FoF is pretty fun as well.

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My Coasters

I didn't even notice DropZone, that looks pretty cool. I really like Acrophobia at SFOG (in the rare times that it's running). I saw an On-Ride video of Superman at SFA and it didn't look too thrilling at all, and while Jokers Jinx looks pretty fun, the only other major things there were a SLC and a Boomerang...probably not worth the $20 Parking or whatever ridiculous amount it is at Six Flags now, so I'm leaning towards PKD now. I'm definitely doing BGE now though after watching an on-ride video of Apollos Chariot. Is Griffon scheduled to be open the beginning of July? I've been on Sheikra many many times and it's alright, so I'm interested in seeing what difference the few changes on Griffon makes.

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"I don't think you really get dizzy when you're drunk. You just gain sense of how fast the earth is really moving."

^ Griffon is scheduled for a "late spring" opening. so yes, It will be open in July.

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What is considered "late spring" anyway?

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Its rollercoaster time baby!!!

^ Your guess is as good as anyones. My guess? Probably May. But who knows.

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Yes you need to Ride J2 it's intense as they get and a awesome ride.
It really only 8-10 miles from the NJ Turnpike and 295 (along the way).
But always call ahead to see if they are open to the public.
You only need a few hours in the park.,
Also Wildwood NJ is awesome.

I endorse pcman's comment. You must ride New Jersey's other intense woodie: J2. Formerly known as Tsunami this is a young woodie that has such bite, kick. What a crazy helix. You'll be in tears. Clementon's such a tiny park. I need to get back there and support. Great ride.

Dorney is not in your alley. It's away from 95; you actually have to go west in NJ on 78. It's a great park, nice collection but I see it not being in your alley of overall travel. That place should just be left to a dedicated Pennsylvania trip. I would stick to the SFGADV, PKD, SFA . SFGADV and PKD are the headliners. At BGW you'll get to see a Pre-NITRO B&M Hyper Apollo's Chariot. I still like my homepark NITRO. I appreciate you'll spend two days @ SFGADV.

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Thrillnetwork Moderator - Sophomore Original sn: CHILLERLC1
The 2010 TN Coaster Draft: Now Underway Round Three
My Draft 10 in '10: El Toro, Afterburn, Phoenix

Well sounds like a trip to go ride J2 is worth it. I'm probably going to skip SFA and go with PKD instead. I'm pretty excited for Busch Gardens Williamsburg though cause I know how good BGT is here in Florida.

And yea I'm definitely doing 2 days of SFGA cause last year we had Flash Passes and were there from 10am-10pm, and still didn't get to ride everything! I really hate how the Flash Pass works...it would be so nice to be able to scroll and see the whole list of rides you've scanned and when your times for each are. And Nitro was great but I think Goliath at SFOG has it beat by just a little.

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"I don't think you really get dizzy when you're drunk. You just gain sense of how fast the earth is really moving."

They had the success of NITRO in hand during their planning of Goliath I bet. The seed takes sprout not far from the tree.

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Thrillnetwork Moderator - Sophomore Original sn: CHILLERLC1
The 2010 TN Coaster Draft: Now Underway Round Three
My Draft 10 in '10: El Toro, Afterburn, Phoenix