Imaginary coaster vacations
Sep. 10th, 2023 11:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mmcirvinSince my family aren't really coaster enthusiasts, our family vacations aren't usually focused on amusement parks. Lately I've been thinking about bucket-list trips to make at some point when I have more of an ability to take solo vacations. My side day trip from Barcelona to PortAventura this spring was actually one of them--I had a great time. But some others: - The obvious Ohio trip: divide a week more or less evenly between Cedar Point and Kings Island.
- The Maine day trip I keep meaning to make one of these summers, to just go up to Saco/Old Orchard Beach and hit Funtown Splashtown and Palace Playland. Easy except if you drive, you have to deal with the weekend beach traffic, and the Downeaster doesn't get you to Funtown Splashtown. But you can ride 5 of the 6 operating coasters in Maine in a few-mile radius.
- A tour of the alpine coasters of northern New England's off-season ski resorts.
- An old-school New York/New Jersey special: hit Coney Island, the Jersey boardwalk parks like Morey's Piers, maybe Six Flags Great Adventure (but I don't think that would be the focus). Get the Silverball Museum in there. Maybe hit Quassy on the way out or the way home--I've never stopped there. I have been to NYC many many times but have never made the time to get over to Coney Island and ride the Cyclone; this seems like an omission. (But driving in NYC is such a headache that maybe Coney is best done separately from the others on a car-free trip.)
- Germany! Phantasialand, Tripsdrill, Holiday Park, Europa Park.
Some of these I'll probably never do, but some I probably will, in some form.
- Eastern PA road trip: a day at Knoebels, a day at Dorney Park and 2-3 days at Hersheypark (my favorite park in the world as a kid, but I've only been there once as an adult and only ridden 3 of the coasters there). Maybe throw in one of the other little ones like Idlewild or Dutch Wonderland.
- Western PA: This could even be an extension of the eastern PA tour. Go west and hit Lakemont, Kennywood and Waldameer. A lot of heritage-and-history emphasis in this one. If you can't tell, I'm fascinated by ancient wooden coasters.
- The Maine day trip I keep meaning to make one of these summers, to just go up to Saco/Old Orchard Beach and hit Funtown Splashtown and Palace Playland. Easy except if you drive, you have to deal with the weekend beach traffic, and the Downeaster doesn't get you to Funtown Splashtown. But you can ride 5 of the 6 operating coasters in Maine in a few-mile radius.
- A tour of the alpine coasters of northern New England's off-season ski resorts.
- An old-school New York/New Jersey special: hit Coney Island, the Jersey boardwalk parks like Morey's Piers, maybe Six Flags Great Adventure (but I don't think that would be the focus). Get the Silverball Museum in there. Maybe hit Quassy on the way out or the way home--I've never stopped there. I have been to NYC many many times but have never made the time to get over to Coney Island and ride the Cyclone; this seems like an omission. (But driving in NYC is such a headache that maybe Coney is best done separately from the others on a car-free trip.)
- Germany! Phantasialand, Tripsdrill, Holiday Park, Europa Park.
Some of these I'll probably never do, but some I probably will, in some form.