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Best parks near Pittsburgh?

oakdown

Roller Poster
Incredibly long-time lurker, first-time poster. As a poor student Scot goon-ery has taken a back seat for a fair while but I'm finally jumping across the pond on uni exchange for a few months next year. Seeing as I'm still gonna be on a tight budget, what do you lot reckon is the best park to head to with regards to distance/best coasters/best atmosphere/value for money etc?

(Sorry mods if this in the wrong place. I'm a stupid millennial it's not my fault.)
 

Snoo

The Legend
Knoebels isn't that close to Pittsburgh.. Cedar Point is closer in fact.


If you want two obvious choices, it's Kennywood and Waldameer. Also, as Kennywood is obvious, RCDB has this handy feature with "Parks Nearby". :)

https://rcdb.com/r.htm?ot=3&no=4553&ec

The below parks are within 2 hours of Pittsburgh:
  • Lakemont Park for Leap The Dips (legendary and old)
  • Idlewild (two creds)
  • DelGrossos
  • Conneaut Lake (Blue Streak)
  • Waldy

Outside of that, you're looking for a trek.
 

X: Uknown

Mega Poster
Knoebels isn't that close to Pittsburgh.. Cedar Point is closer in fact.


If you want two obvious choices, it's Kennywood and Waldameer. Also, as Kennywood is obvious, RCDB has this handy feature with "Parks Nearby". :)

https://rcdb.com/r.htm?ot=3&no=4553&ec

The below parks are within 2 hours of Pittsburgh:
  • Lakemont Park for Leap The Dips (legendary and old)
  • Idlewild (two creds)
  • DelGrossos
  • Conneaut Lake (Blue Streak)
  • Waldy

Outside of that, you're looking for a trek.
It's good value though.
 

Snoo

The Legend
It's good value though.

Yeah.. but if he's going to Pittsburgh, he'd get better value going to Cedar Point, especially if he's never been, as the travel is easier and the amount of coasters is through the roof better in comparison.
 

oakdown

Roller Poster
This is probably going to be my only shot at an American park in at least the next 5 years so I don’t mind a trek! Just depends on whether the difference in distance/cost is worth it for better coasters.
 

Youngster Joey

Strata Poster
Well to Echo what was said,

While in Pittsburgh and around it the Parks I'd reccomend looking into are:
Kennywood (duh)
Waldameer (Ravine Flyer II)
Lakemont (if it's open next season Leap the Dips is an irreplaceable experience in the US)
Cedar Point (again a trek but hey it's Cedar Point)
Hershey Park (Worth the trek for a ton of creds and a lot of them quality coasters at that)
Knoebels (worth the trek easily in my mind for phoenix and Flying turns and the rest of the park isn't bad either, plus you can go the Pay per ride option and ride all the coasters for less the $20)

Those are the parks I'd start looking at.
 

Snoo

The Legend
This is probably going to be my only shot at an American park in at least the next 5 years so I don’t mind a trek! Just depends on whether the difference in distance/cost is worth it for better coasters.

Yes. Depending on how long you're there, I'd do the following:

1-3 days: Waldy and Kennywood
4-5 days: Kennywood, Waldy, and Cedar Point
5-6 days: All of the above plus going to Hershey and Knoebels

Waldy and Kennywood are doable in one day as I've done it before (Waldy is a 2 hour drive north). Cedar Point is a day trip as well or more as there are 17 coasters. It all depends on how much money you have and how long you're staying. :)
 

Antinos

Slut for Spinners
Expanding on @Snoo's and @Youngster Joey's lists:

Kennywood
Waldameer
Lakemont Park
Cedar Point
Conneaut Lake Park
Hersheypark
Knoebels
Idlewild
Delgrosso's
Dorney Park - If you're trekking to Hershey and Knoebels, you might as well go a bit further.
Dutch Wonderland - For similar reasons as Dorney, it's not much further than Hershey.
King's Island - I believe it'd be about the same distance as Dorney, but in the opposite direction.
Darien Lake - A bit of a hike north from Pittsburgh, but it's a +7 and can easily be paired with Seabreeze for a solid, although long day trek.
 

MestnyiGeroi

Giga Poster
Is Delgrosso’s worth doing for an enthusiast? I will be ending a coaster trip this summer in western PA and I didn’t think it was worth a trip to Delgrosso’s. Can anyone recommend the place?
 

Youngster Joey

Strata Poster
Expanding on @Snoo's and @Youngster Joey's lists:

Kennywood
Waldameer
Lakemont Park
Cedar Point
Conneaut Lake Park
Hersheypark
Knoebels
Idlewild
Delgrosso's
Dorney Park - If you're trekking to Hershey and Knoebels, you might as well go a bit further.
Dutch Wonderland - For similar reasons as Dorney, it's not much further than Hershey.
King's Island - I believe it'd be about the same distance as Dorney, but in the opposite direction.
Darien Lake - A bit of a hike north from Pittsburgh, but it's a +7 and can easily be paired with Seabreeze for a solid, although long day trek.

To further expand from Antinos, Darien lake is about 4-4.5 hours from Pittsburgh and Seabreeze about an hour from Darien Lake. Both parks are easily doable in a day (if you need any advice those 2 parks are my home parks so i'm well versed in both)
 
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