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Best park for thrill rides near NY

wormword

Roller Poster
I'll be spending some time in New York in August, and I'd like to spend a day in a theme park with good coasters. Thing is, I need to be able to do the trip and visit on the same day, or in a day and a half.

I was thinking SFGAdventure, since it's only a bus ride and has some decent rides (yay for Kingda Ka), would you agree or is there a better park to do?

I might also be in DC for a 2 days, in which case i could take half a day to do SF America, although it seems to be kind of unpopular and small...

Thanks for any suggestions
 
Six Flags Great Adventure is a great choice considering it's only an hour at the most outside of New York City I believe. It has one of the best coaster lineups at any park, in my opinion, despite lacking flat rides. You could do it in a day, but if you were to only spend one day there, you should definitely invest in the Flashpass!

You could also do Coney Island, which is a classic..
 

wormword

Roller Poster
Thanks for confirming that. And yes, I should have mentioned that Coney Island is on our todo list anyway.
Last time I was at a Six Flags park there was no Flashpass, but that might be a good idea indeed. The SFGA webpage says you can get them at a Flashpass booth but that they have limited quantities - any idea HOW limited? Is it risky to go there to see if it's really worthwhile before buying it?
 
^ They're not THAT limited, trust me. If you want one, get there at opening and you'll be golden as long as you go to th Flashpass building first. I suggest getting one for sure though, because I went on two weekdays in August and it ended up being pretty busy despite everyone saying it wouldn't be. If you want to make the most out of your experience, pay the extra 30-40 bucks.
 

Snoo

The Legend
Unless you are there on a CROWDED day, you'll be fine getting one in the morning.

Two parks come to mind:

Six Flags New England
Six Flags Great Adventure

If you are looking for traditional parks, those are your best bet. SFNE is a bit of a stretch, but worth it for Bizarro alone.. and we've talked about SFGAdv already.
 

madhjsp

Giga Poster
Don't try to make a day out of Coney Island. It's definitely worth visitng, but it's really only good for a couple hours at most.
 

ECG

East Coast(er) General
Staff member
Administrator
Coney Island is indeed only good for a few hours, so SFGAdv is about your only choice. Just keep in mind that Kingda Ka is down for the long haul, so don't get your hopes up for riding it. I also don't think you'll need a flashpass if Ka is down. The lines for the other coasters might be long, but you can still get them all in without the Q-bot. If Ka is running, then go for the flashpass. Just make sure that you ride Superman first, as that line will be the shortest when the park opens. It will remain the longest line throughout the day, so if you want to reride it you might want to consider getting a flashpass (even if Ka is down).
 

wormword

Roller Poster
Wow thanks for all the advice guys. I didn't realize there had been further answers, must have erased an e-mail alert.

Damn... I was still somehow hoping Ka would reopen before we arrive, but after reading Almost's post, I googled and read that indeed it seems to be a long-term downtime. But I've still decided to go to SFGAdv instead of SFNE, for Toro, Nitro and Great American Scream Machine because it's a near replica of Shockwave, for the nostalgia headache!

So Superman first, I'll write that down. Keep the advice coming if you know what other rides i should go for first. :) I'm guessing El Toro...
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
definetly sfga they have great rides bizzaro is open now and that supposed to have great affects during the ride
 

wormword

Roller Poster
Well since I'll be in DC for two days as well, can some of you east coast Six Flags experts tell me what to do at SFAmerica if you don't have all day? I'm guessing it's important to run to SROS first, but then?
 
^ I've heard you don't need all day to do that park, but I dunno. Probably just like any park, go to the back and work your way to the front, or start with the biggest coasters you want and just chill for the rest of the day.
 
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