Just got back from visiting Six Flags Magic Mountain and the coasters there were sick fun. Riddlers Revenge, Tatsu, and Goliath were my favorites and they have many. Pretty cheap too. Way better than Universal Hollywood and half the price.

Universal Orlando for the win...Hands down

Although Disney World is at the top of my chart.

Growing up in North Texas, Six Flags over Texas I’ve been too many times since I was a kid. One of my favorite rides at SFOT was a dark ride called the Speelunker’s Cave Ride which featured these little weird animatronic creatures in a variety of scenes. It was the perfect escape from the hot Texas sun as the AC was always nice and cold on this dimely lit water ride. In 1991 the Speelunker’s Cave Ride was no more and SFOT being owned by Warner Bros, converted the ride to animatronic Looney Tunes were it then became Yosemite Sams Gold River Adventure.
Some have wondered whatever happened to the Speelunker’s? Most were discarded and thrown out after the rides conversion. However I’ve had a dream to find one someday for my home gameroom.
Now 20+ years later I found one and would you believe I found him somewhat through Pinside!
Over the last several months I have fully restored “Conquistador Spee” to his former glory including making him animate once again. Im proud to say I have a piece of Six Flags over Texas History.
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Kings Island is pretty good here in the Southern part of Ohio.

Pacific NW is really lacking in this department. We have Silverwood in Idaho which is fun but small. Looking forward to a Florida trip later in the year.

For anyone that likes coasters and lots of them Ceder Point in Ohio is the place for them.

I used to be really into amusement parks, but nowadays theme parks Disney and Universal do much much more for me. Yes, they may not have the tallest or fastest rides - although the Hulk coaster at Islands of Adventure is pretty fun - but they offer a much more complete, coherent package. I’ve grown to love the theming, environment, service etc, and some of their dark rides are just incredible. No regional parks have anything that can compare to something like Spiderman.

Yes, they’re much more expensive, but they’re also more than just a collection of rides. Based on your post I’d really suggest you give Universal Orlando a try - their value resorts are much nicer and much closer to the parks than in Disney, and the overall cost is no where near as expensive as a Disney trip. As much as I love Disney World, I think it’s fast approaching a point where it really doesn’t represent value for money... that being said I am doing five nights at the Yacht Club in September before heading over to Hard Rock at Universal for a week, so they still have me for now.

Universal Orlando is a much more relaxing place to visit than Disney - no booking restaurants 180 days in advance or fast passes 60 days in advance, and if you can swing a stay at one of the three deluxe hotels (Portofino Bay, Hard Rock, Royal Pacific) you get unlimited express pass for your entire trip.

It’s got to the point for me that I don’t really bother with parks that aren’t Disney or Universal anymore. They just don’t give me the same feeling of escape. They may not be for you, but you won’t know until you try.

Sounds like you should try out Canada’s Wonderland in Toronto. It’s one of the best parks for roller coasters in the world. 17 coasters, the newest one is the larger dive coaster in the world. I haven’t tried it out, but work close by and it looks intimidating.

https://www.canadaswonderland.com/?&gclid=CjwKCAjw4NrpBRBsEiwAUcLcDPYJTUezF6bMVt93D7Sbh_Xzc0_VAJaZ9osix6MA9iyfuwVxrv9hEhoCXWIQAvD_BwE

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada%27s_Wonderland

In the 70's , I worked at Rye Playland NY for 6 summers. Back then , .Westchester County owned the park and owned /operated about two thirds of the rides. The rest were owned by individuals. I got lucky and got a job the first year for a 1.85 dollar per hour. We worked 60 plus hours a week and mostly it was a bunch of kids running the rides. It was a blast. Saved all the money to help pay for college.
The park was built in the late 20's and last time I checked, has a lot of the original structures /rides from that era.
Anyway, worked my "way up" through the organization and became one of the four operators on the famous Dragon Coaster. Lot's of stories on operating the brakes for that bad boy. Anybody here that went on that ride in the late 70's can thank me for stopping the coaster train at the end .

Been to Disney, Cedar Point, Six Flags and many others, but have always thought Busch Gardens Williamsburg is one of the most beautiful parks.

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Try 10+ years ago it left the "value" behind.
A place that requires fast-passes 60 days ahead of your vacation? Screw that. I'm on vacation. I like to be a free bird, not all Clark Griswald and have my days planned to the minute, months in advance.

Can’t do the rides anymore. I get so nauseous that makes me dizzy for hours. Any suggestions for a solution?

I'm fighting that with rides with loops. Inner ear crystalization thing going on, maybe you have it worse. There are some prescriptions, which I would certainly take if it meant all rides got me all dizzy. Talk to your doctor if it's important to you!

I'm a huge rollercoaster fan and Cedar point is hands down a rollercoaster paradise! It's worth the 13 hour drive.

Love the rides, can't justify the cost to time spent in lines anymore, especially in the sun. The only way I can go any more is if they offer a "fast pass" or something similar to pay more and jump the lines, and even those tend to be more than I want to wait for a 2-3 minute ride anymore. We live about 45 minutes from Cedar Point and haven't been in years because the waiting is just brutal.

Fun topic.

If you have Millie as your #1, you owe it to yourself to check out Superman: The Ride at Six Flags New England. Same manufacturer (Intamin) and same trains/restraint style. However, the track layout has way more going on, and tons of airtime (negative G's).

That being said however, I've been really impressed by all of the coasters that RMC has been doing conversions on. There's even one at SFNE that overshadows Supes. I had a chance to ride Wicked Cyclone and Supes back-to-back, and I prefer the Cyclone.

If you want to know what roller coaster is where, search this;
https://www.rcdb.com

Also, here's a pretty good ranking by a good coaster enthusiast site;
https://coasterbuzz.com/RollerCoasters/Top100

Later,
EV

I'm about 20 minutes from Darien Lake. I like the coasters there, but everything else just spins.... My brain can't handle it anymore. I love cedar point, but i haven't been there in 15 years, even though it's just a few hours away. I know they've added quite a bit since my last trip.

Unfortunately I haven’t talked to a doctor about it. I’ll definitely do that at my next appointment.

Anyone remember Opryland USA?

I have never been able to go on rides that spin.Makes me sicker than hell.But I can go on any rollercoaster as long as I can see forward.Those motion rides really kill me too.I went on the Harry Potter ride years ago and almost saw god but me and my son went on every coaster at Disney World,Busch gardens Tampa,Universal Studios and Sea World.Never got sick on those.

Ginger pills really help me with the spinny stuff;

https://www.webmd.com/vitamins/ai/ingredientmono-961/ginger

Later,
EV

Veteran tips for shorter lines at the seasonal parks;

- visit during May (but avoid Science Days!), June and September
- avoid July, August and October (especially Halloween events)
- visit during weekdays if you can
- be there right at park opening
- hit the low capacity stuff first (ride with fewest seats per train/cycle). A coaster with one train and 12 seats generates a long line much faster than a 3-train, 36 seat per train people eater.
- take a break from about 1pm until 5pm
- stay until the park closes. Most parks will allow you to get in line right until closing time. So if there's a ride with long wait times, you can usually grab it at the end of the day, and wait while nothing else is open

Later,
EV

Kennywood!

Pennsylvania does not have the same regulations that Ohio does. Also, Cedar Fair has corporate-wide safety standards.

I found I could pretty much fast pass everything the night before/day off/refreshing trick sans a couple of things you can never get; like the Avatar ride.
Of course I went at what they claim is the 2nd best time to go and yeah it's so crammed with peeps it's not what I would call relaxing.

Went to Ceder Point only once and it was everything horrible I imagined. It seems it was the busiest they had ever been and the head of guest relations came out and told us if it where him he'd just leave Took us almost an hour to drive acrossT the entry bridge

Yeah it was a collection of weird things. Nice weather, Halloweekend, Ohio (?) holiday or a day off school or something.
To give you an idea this is where we parked.

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I think SeaWorld should be one of the choices in the poll.

Seaworld includes the Seaworld parks and Busch Gardens just to name a few.

My home park is Kings Dominion (Volcano RIP), I really enjoy Twisted Timbers and i305.

Backlot stunt coaster is a fun family launch coaster, Dominator is a solid B&M floorless coaster that I always enjoy riding, and while I like Flight of Fear, it is starting to show its age. Its launch is not revolutionary anymore and it does have a noticeable rattle, it is not a deal breaker, but it is disappointing when I was told that that FoF at Kings Island is much smoother.

I haven't been to KI, but I will trust my source when he tells me this, because he rides lots of coasters and has ridden FoF at both parks and confirmed that the KI version is better.

I don't understand how that can be given that both coasters are the exact same ride and were built at the same time. I am worried that the maintenance at KD is not up to the standard that KI has.

Volcano was their best, too bad it's tits up.

Always a huge fan of the Grizzly and the Rebel yell as well. Did they finish redoing the HUrler yet? That thing was always terrible.

Just booked to go to Disney World in february. We still love theme parks and went to a LOT of them, also in the States and UK (Alton Towers), but if you are ever in Germany you should visit Europa Park. Best park hands down in Europe. Lots of coasters, very good theming and a LOT of live shows.

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Hi been to all of those except Cedar Point. Also went to Universal back in 2007 for the last time. We only have 7 days this time and with kids for the first time so Universal I plan on going again in two years when the kids are a bit older.

Thanks for the tip of Cedar Point though.

Similar thing with me, too. Used to have no problems riding any ride but now the crazy ones make me dizzy. I had a lot of fun going to parks with the kids when they were younger. We really enjoyed the Disney and other parks in Orlando. Sure gets expensive and crowded, though.

Busch Gardens Williamsburg looks awesome. Very pretty. What other parks are attractive with lots to do besides just thrill rides?

Tivoli in Denmark is awesome.

Efteling in holland is amazing.

Williamsburg indeed the nicest US park I’ve been to. Hershey probably the second that’s very nice place.

Six flags parks are mostly overcrowded dumps.

I thought i really liked amusement parks, but after reading these posts...i guess i need to try a lot more

Agreed! It’s one of the highlights of Copenhagen.

I’d never had a brakeman on a rollercoaster before.

I have a kind of weird History.

I grew up Enjoying Coney Island, Rockaway, Ocean City, Rye, Hershey, and Palisades Amusement Park.

In 1973, we moved to Orlando, and enjoyed the early Park, as it was Magic.

In 1976, I worked as a character in the Bicentennial Parade, where I met my wife when we were 15!

My brother worked there then, and later in life in TV Production and Lead Attorney. He did the same for the building of Universal,
and I would visit him on construction site which was wild to watch! His Ex is still working there!

Many years of my life enjoying Parks, finding my Love and life partner, taking our kids and extended families, and soon my Granddaughter!

Its great These Parks and all those in PA an Midwest are still Running!

(I rode a float, like the one in the pic, and my wife was a suffragette. 30 pond costumes, no cooling, in the heat! Brutal!!)
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I'd almost drive that far just to ride the Knott's Berry Farm Corkscrew one more time. Back seat please!