amusement parks

5 Spectacular Amusement Parks for Thrill Seekers

Nick Wharton — Wed, 01 Aug 2018 08:00:10 +0000

You crave that feeling of anticipation deep down in your stomach when you get in line for a ride. The lightheaded intoxication that takes over your body when you strap yourself in. The unparalleled rush of excitement you experience when you're hurtling through the air at breakneck speeds. You're not alone.

There are thousands of people all over the country who are constantly on the lookout for that next knee-knocking roller coaster ride. If you've got an insatiable thirst for the excitement that only a roller coaster can bring, check out these five theme parks for thrill seekers. (See also: Beyond Disney: 8 Affordable Family Destinations in the U.S.)

1. Six Flags Magic Mountain

Location: Valencia, California

Cost of Day Pass: General Admission $84.99, Junior $59.99

If roller coasters are your thing, then Six Flags Magic Mountain should be right at the top of your theme park bucket list. It has an unprecedented 19 roller coasters — the most of any single theme park in the world.

Though there are plenty to choose from, the most intense rides will have even the coolest cucumbers screaming at the top of their lungs. The DC Super Heroes Drop of Doom boasts a 400-foot vertical drop tower enhanced by a virtual reality headset that shows you falling from a tower as the ride free falls at speeds of 85 miles per hour. X² is also guaranteed to get your heart pumping, with seats that twist and flip at 360 degrees while music, sound effects, and fire surround your journey at 76 miles per hour.

2. Cedar Point

Location: Sandusky, Ohio

Cost of Day Pass: General Admission $72, Junior $45

Known as "The Roller Coaster Capital of the World," this park has 18 stomach-dropping roller coasters, and six of them are over 200 feet tall. Cedar Point has astonishingly been entertaining visitors since it launched its first ride in 1890, and has consistently remained competitive with other parks featuring cutting edge rides.

The park is known for its tall roller coasters, including the Millennium Force at 310 feet, and the Top Thrill Dragster with eye-watering speeds of 120 mph and a dizzying maximum height of 420 feet. Yet it’s not all about height. The Maverick roller coaster is just 105 feet tall and reaches speeds of "only" 70 mph, but it’s regularly voted one of the best rides in the country with a vertical drop, inversions, and breathtaking launches.

3. Kings Island

Location: Mason, Ohio

Cost of Day Pass: General Admission $70, Junior $43

Kings Island is a top pick for more traditional ride fans, possessing four of the best examples of wooden roller coasters you're likely to find. For example, The Beast is the longest wooden roller coaster in the world and has held that record for nearly 40 years since it opened. Then there's the newly built Mystic Timbers, which offers plenty of airtime with speeds up to 53 mph.

But it's not all about wooden rides. The park also has a plethora of brilliant and modern structures to make your hair stand on end. The world's longest steel inverted roller coaster, Banshee, will have you screaming like one.

4. Carowinds

Location: Charlotte, North Carolina

Cost of Day Pass: General Admission $67, Juniors $47

Carowinds proudly proclaims itself to have a selection of some of the "biggest and baddest roller coasters around." And the park easily lives up to that statement with giant rides that you can see towering over the surrounding landscape as you approach the park, giving you a good idea of what's in store for your visit.

Fury 325 is the cream of the crop, as it's the tallest and fastest giga coaster in the world standing at 325 feet and hitting speeds of 95 mph. Then there's the NASCAR-themed Intimidator, which lives up to its name with seven menacing drops along the race to the finish line.

5. Busch Gardens Williamsburg

Location: Williamsburg, Virginia

Cost of Day Pass: General Admission $90, no Junior Prices

Busch Gardens Williamsburg has a reputation of simultaneously catering to all age groups, making it hugely popular with families. Younger kids will be taken with the Sesame Street Forest of Fun, teens and young adults will revel in the wild thrill rides, while older generations can enjoy craft brews and pretzels in the German themed bars and beer gardens.

But just because it effortlessly caters to all ages, doesn't mean it's short on adrenaline-inducing attractions. Apollo's Chariot is an award-winning hypercoaster with "free flight" elevated seating and a combined 825 feet of drops. The classic Loch Ness Monster has been delighting visitors for over 40 years with its double-looping course, and Alpengeist is a favorite among visitors due to its high-tempo inversions mimicking an out-of-control ski lift.

How to get the most from your theme park visit

Book online and in advance for the best prices, which can be up to 50 percent off general admission for tickets bought at the gate. Booking online will also save you the time it'll take to line up at the front gate to purchase tickets.

You should also follow your favorite theme parks on social media, as many theme parks regularly dish out discount codes or special offers to their followers.

And if you're planning to visit any of these parks regularly, consider purchasing season passes, as you can end up saving a ton of money compared to buying several single-day passes for each time you return. (See also: How to Have a Fun Family Road Trip Without Breaking Your Budget)

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This article is from Nick Wharton of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

8 Affordable Amusement Parks That Are Just as Fun As Disney

Tim Lemke — Wed, 02 Jul 2014 15:00:05 +0000

School's out and it's time for summer vacation. You may be tempted to head down to Orlando and spend hundreds of dollars for a multi-day pass to Disney World.

I love Mickey Mouse as much as the next guy, but it's worth learning about the plethora of other theme and amusement parks around the country that offer fantastic experiences for a fraction of the cost. (And may not be as crowded.)

From the coast of Lake Erie to the outskirts of Hollywood, there are plenty of options for summer fun, usually with additional family-friendly attractions nearby.

Check out these suggestions and start planning that family trip now! (See also: Best Travel Rewards Credit Cards)

Holiday World

Location: Santa Claus, Indiana

Cost: $34.95 for kids under 54 inches, $39.95 for adults if you buy online. Kids under 2 are free.

What's Great

The park is separated into sections based on popular holidays and is routinely rated one of the most family-friendly in the country, as well as one of the cleanest. It has plenty of great rides for adults and kids, plus the Splashin' Safari Water Park. The Voyager roller coaster is considered one of the best wooden coasters in the world. There are some interesting perks, like free parking, sunblock, and soda.

What's Nearby

You're less than three hours from Indianapolis, home of the world's largest children's museum, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and other attractions. Louisville and Lexington, KY are also just a couple hours away and have a lot to offer for adults and kids. Also, basketball fans can check out French Lick, the hometown of NBA Hall of Famer Larry Bird.

Hershey Park

Location: Hershey, PA

Cost: $59.95 for adults, $37.95 for kids. Children under 2 are free.

What's Great

A dozen great roller coasters for adults and kids, plus an array of water rides. And it's adjacent to Hershey's Chocolate World, where you get to see how chocolate bars are made and get free samples.

What's Nearby

Hershey itself has some other great attractions, including a zoo and trolley museum. You're also not far from Pennsylvania Dutch Country, so watch out for the Amish and their horse and buggies!

If you're a foodie, you don't have to settle for just chocolate. There are numerous factories in the area that offer public tours, including the Julius Sturgis Pretzel Bakery in Lititz; Herr's potato chips in Nottingham; Utz Snacks and Snyder's pretzels in Hanover; and the Turkey Hill Experience in Columbia.

Knoebels Amusement Resort

What's Great

Just a couple hours north of Knott's Berry Farm, it may be worth it to check out the parks back-to-back. Six Flags Magic Mountain has a whopping 19 roller coasters, including the unique X2 ride, featuring seats that rotate 360 degrees.

What's Nearby

Valencia itself is a sleepy planned community. But Six Flags Magic Mountain is just a 30-mile drive north from Hollywood, and just an hour east of the Pacific Ocean.

Whats your favorite non-Disney amusement park? Please share in comments!

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This article is from Tim Lemke of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

Seeing Mickey for a Song: Disneyland for Less

Kelly Kehoe — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 11:24:13 +0000

They say that money can’t buy happiness, but Disney seems to prove that statement false. As the self-proclaimed “Happiest Place on Earth,” Disneyland (along with California Adventure) is indeed a lot of fun for the whole family. But with exorbitant prices on everything from tickets to food, it could make your available funding fall faster than the Tower of Terror. Luckily, there are some ways to getting around these inflated costs. (See also: 6 Ways My Family Scores Free Travel With Credit Cards)

Discounted Tickets

Although Disneyland ended its free entrance on your birthday program in 2010 (as well as its volunteering program in which the first one million volunteers to sign up would receive free tickets), there is still a plethora of discounts available on tickets. It’s especially helpful if you already live in southern California, because SoCal residents, select governmental employees, and university students get special pricing, but given the comparatively small demographic, there are other discounts you’ll likely need to look into.

Buying tickets online and printing them up yourself can save you a little, as can buying through your employer, if they sell them through your company’s Human Resources department. There are also discounts available for AAA members and those in the military who bring their I.D. Have a toddler under the age of three? Then you’re in luck — they get free admission!

Finally, if possible, go during the off season, when you’ll not only get on more rides due to less crowding, but there are deals abound for Disney tickets.

Parking

Prices for parking at Disneyland have spiked in recent years, going from $12 in 2009 all the way up to $15 just two years later. This encompasses all-day parking in the both the Mickey and Friends parking lot, as well as the Toy Story one located on Harbor Blvd. Transportation to and from these lots is provided by Disney, but even with this convenience, there are still cheaper alternatives.

Those only going to Disneyland or California Adventure for a few hours might want to try parking in the Downtown Disney lot, where parking is available free of charge for the first three hours and $6 per hour after that, charged in 20 minute increments. If you do the math and it works out to be less than $15, then this is an optimal choice, and you can even bypass the crowded main entrance by showing your ticket at the Monorail station in Downtown Disney, located to the right of Rainforest Café. This will take you to another Monorail stop on the outskirts of Tomorrowland, near the Finding Nemo ride.

Food and Drinks

Disneyland used to have a restriction on bringing food and drinks into the park, but now they allow select items to be brought inside (you’re supposed to eat them at the picnic tables provided). So, instead of paying over $10 for a decent meal (bottle of water not included) or $3.75 for a churro in the park, you can bring something from home for free. Disneyland has enormous overhead costs, so obviously the cost of everything is going to be more than what you’d find elsewhere. Keep this in mind before you go, and use the surrounding stores in Anaheim to your advantage. Of course, if you run out of food during the day, you can always head over to California Adventure and get free bread.

Avoiding Ride Waits

When there are huge crowds and lines longer than an hour, it becomes somewhat difficult to make the most of your $80 one-day ticket ($105 for the one-day park hopper). Fortunately, there are some ways you can speed up your journey around the Happiest Place on Earth. One is single rider passes, which allow you to go through a separate line (or through the exit) on a ride, so long as you’re riding by yourself. Rides that have single rider passes or lines include Indiana Jones and Splash Mountain in Disneyland and California Screamin’, Soarin’ Over California, and Grizzly Bear Rapids in California Adventure. There are a few kiosks in the park that let you to check the wait times on each ride, allowing you to plot your route around the park more effectively. If a ride you want to go on has a long wait time, consider getting a Fastpass — a free reservation system which assigns you a time to come back to the ride at a later time (generally 45 minutes to three hours after you check in with the Fastpass, depending on how crowded the park and that particular ride are that day). After you make the reservation with Fastpass, you can go see the rest of the park. When you return at the appointed time, you go through a special express line with minimal wait.

Theme parks don’t have to be outrageously expensive, even those with the brand name of Disney on them. Following these tips ought to help you save money without cutting back on the fun.

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This article is from Kelly Kehoe of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

Have an Amusement Park & TV Free Summer (and if you can’t, find a way to make it cheaper)

Maggie Wells — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 19:52:34 +0000

• If you haven’t begun to plan summer vacation for your kids—lest they spend the majority of it in front of the idiot box (as my mother called it) watching bad re-runs of bad sitcoms–now is the time to begin thinking about it. The more occupied the kids are outside of the house , the better. But left to their own devices kids will always find the most expensive diversions possible, but with a little planning and networking, summer vacation doesn’t have to be expensive and their minds don’t have to turn to mush. First my take on the amusement park issue and then, my suggestions for free or nearly free summer activities to keep the kids away from the TV and the video games.

• When my kids hear the word summer nowadays, even at the ages of 3 and 5 , they think two things: they are going to be in a wedding (three so far) and they are going to Disneyland (thanks to one of the weddings being next door to Disneyland, thank you cousin Briana). This is problematic for me. Disneyland costs something like $70 for my three year old to get in and the only thing they don’t seem to charge for is breathing and going to the restroom. And technically you could use the picnic tables outside the gate and bring your own food, but socially you do so and you scar your children (I can see the therapy couch now). If one must be dragged to Disneyland, befriend an employee to help you out with tickets. Seriously, I haven’t paid full price for Disneyland since they started making “Passports” and we could no longer just bring the Buster Brown shoebox full of E—through A tickets saved up and stored above the microwave in Grandma’s kitchen.

• Disney employees tend to be geeky and take their employment as a brush with fame and greatness. They like to show off they work for the Mouse. Exploit this factor. They love feeling a little bit special and different from the rest of us. Use it and save $400. Of course the easiest way to get a family of four in is probably on a rainy Tuesday afternoon in February but you can try a week day in June as well.

• Other amusement parks have the same sort of employee and friends and families discounts but even if there are block out dates, the next best exploitation is to saddle relatives with a wonderful day out with your children at said amusement park. This works well because if they take them , you don’t have to go! What works in my family is cultivating relationships with my twentysomething childfree but in a relationship cousins and sister with my two kids. Of course it helps that my kids are well behaved, independent with an uncanny savvy streak when it comes to well placed hugs and I love yous for their aunts and cousins. This summer, I don’t even have to go to Disneyland. A cousin and her husband want the challenge of faux parenthood for a day, bless their silly souls.

• But still, amusement parks set a dangerous precedent of summer expectations so in reserve, I keep a good deal of other activities handy that hopefully will become routine enough that they’ll never notice they were suckered into free and intellectually stimulating activities.

• Museums and libraries. Often both of these have summer programs for kids that either cost nothing or next to nothing. Library summer programs usually come with free t-shirts and crafts and pizza parties at the end. I schedule kids museum visits for the one free day a month. For example, when I do this in San Francisco, I can get about three free museum trips in if I plan ahead and hit the right museum on the right day (first Tuesday of the month for one, first Wednesday of the month for another). Most museums have ‘family activities’ on Sundays that are free or low cost.

• Little kids are entertained by empty boxes and playgrounds and wading pools. I drive the extra mile to take them to bigger or better playgrounds and parks with more stuff in them because it entertains them longer and wears them out (key). These things might seem boring to you but can give you lots of mileage. We’ve also mastered the art of having a really cool picnic basket and blanket that we cart everywhere so we don’t have to stop for food. It helps that we’ve seldom gone to fast food so they don’t really know it exists as a temptation and money sucker.

• My son’s preschool teacher has started giving the kids the task of creating ‘trash art sculptures’ when they get bored. They clean up the neighborhood, make art out of found free objects (some of the last couple were pretty darn cool). They can clean up the neighborhood AND make art at the same time.

• We’ve been collecting old puppets from thriftstores all year and have created a ‘puppet theatre’ in the backyard. I’ve told each of my kids to think up the characteristics for each of their puppets. For preschoolers and kindergartners they’ve got some pretty elaborate storylines developing. Puppet theatre in the backyard can eat up whole afternoons and you only need to bring out some snacks and keep them hydrated.

• Good old swimming lessons. Many communities offer scholarships for swimming lessons at local community centers since swimming is something all children need to know how to do. You are sure to qualify if you live in a high cost of living area with more than one child.

• My husband uses the summertime to teach our son more computer skills. The fun type. The old delayed reaction digital camera is now the kids’ camera and the old eMac with iLife ’06 is now the kids learning and creating vehicle for them to learn on.

• There’s always farming the kids out and getting them to take on jobs. We’ve told our five year old if he wants any more Star Wars Lego he has to start his own blog and get his own Google Adsense account. Of course he just barely started learning to read and write so , he might need a bit of help on this one. But older kids can always be forced into labor with enough shame and guilt. My mom forced my butt off of the summer couch with a summer hire job at the age of fourteen. My clothing options were much better in the fall that year—that works too.

• With a little creativity and advanced planning the coming summer doesn’t have to be expensive or lethargic. Who knows? Cultivating their creative side could always work out in your favor. And perhaps any residuals from their fifteen minutes of creative fame they might share with you. And if that doesn’t work, there is always Disneyland.

This article is from Maggie Wells of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

Covert transaction legal, life-saving: getting free drinks at the amusement park

Julie Rains — Thu, 17 May 2007 17:23:39 +0000

Summer’s coming, and nice weather and vacation days may land you in an amusement park very soon. I’ve come to accept the high cost of admission but still grumble at the food and drink prices. Tired, thirsty, hungry, and captive audiences are ripe, it seems, for gouging. Perhaps the rationale is that if you can afford the ticket price, you can afford a $3.00 hot dog and a $2.00 cola.

In the interest of frugality and safety (I assume all of you need hydration and some of you may also bring along children who also need fluids), I will pass along a tip that I received from a waitress when my family and I were visiting Williamsburg. She rightly divined that my husband, my sons, and I had come to visit Busch Gardens and advised us that free water inside the park was always available. Apparently, it is a rule (law?) that patrons who ask (for water) shall receive. I suppose it could be bad for business if a visitor fainted from dehydration just because he or she didn’t bring some extra cash or had spent it on souvenirs.

At any rate, the waitress was right and you can get free water at Busch Gardens. In hindsight, we should have tipped her even more than the typical 20%.

Since then, I have tested my don’t-let-the-customers-get-dehydrated-or-we-will-look-exceedingly-greedy theory at one of the large water parks in North Carolina. The kid behind the ice cream counter wanted to hide the transaction but, yes, he did pass me a cup of free water (tap, not bottled) that quenched my thirst.

Try it sometime and let me know what happens.

Photo by Luza.

This article is from Julie Rains of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread: