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Don't Want to Wait? Get to the Park EarlyRobert Viands reiterates the number-one piece of advice for having a satisfying, enjoyable trip--Get there early in the day!
From Robert Viands
I’ve read many messages asking for advice on visiting amusement parks, an attack plan if you will. We’ve heard it over and over. Get to the park early.Posted September 9, 2002 at 9:57 AM Lately, I’ve seen many coaster fans that don’t follow this advice, and then write a bad TR (trip report). Why is this? You’d think that a coaster fan would get up early, be first at the gate, and run to their favorite ride. Yet, I hear about people arriving at 1pm, in the middle of August, and then complaining that the biggest ride had a 2 hour wait. What did you expect? The problem is that many wake up late, under estimate their driving time, encounter traffic, the line for parking, putting on sun tan lotion, and the walk from the parking lot to the ticket window. These little delays add up, especially when dragging kids. Let’s take a typical visit to IOA by me. I wake up at 3am, drive from South Florida to Orlando thru the night, watching the sunrise. I’m in the parking garage of IOA at 08:00am, get to the gate at 08:30am, and I’m first in line. The gates open at 09:00am (sometimes early) and I’m in the front row of Hulk. I take a lap around the park getting walkon rides. When I visited Cedar Point in May, I stayed onsite at Breakers Express. I was at the park 30 minutes early, got in early (onsite perk), and went on Millennium Force 5 times before the GP (general public) was let in, including a front row ride to start. The attack plan is simple. Get to the park early, try to be first at the gate, and go on the biggest attractions first. That means going online to find out when the park opens, getting detailed directions for the drive, and leaving with plenty of time to spare.
Comments in chronological order. Most recent at the bottom. Scroll down to respond. From Adam Swaisland
It is the obivous thing to do. I'm now into coasters quite a lot now but even before i was into them like i am now i was at the gate before opening time. It really is common sensePosted September 9, 2002 at 1:21 PM
From David Allen
We arrived in the parking lot at SF Magic Mountain an hour early. We were among the first in at the gates. Posted September 9, 2002 at 2:33 PM They chose to open "X" at noon, so all of that effort was in vain. Well, almost. We were on the first car out on "Deja Vu". It does pay to get there early, though. Better parking is just one benefit.
From Robert Niles
Has anyone ever tried going the nocturnal route?Posted September 9, 2002 at 2:55 PM The time between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. is typically the most worthless time of the day for visiting a theme park. Crowds are packed in, queues backed up and no one's having a good time. Plus, you're dealing with the hassle and expense of eating over-priced, poor quality food for lunch and dinner. Why not spend that time, say, sleeping? That's right, get up at 6 p.m., grab a donut and head to the park to hit the rides while the place clears out before closing. When its lights-out at the park, find a late-night joint off site for "lunch," or close a local bar, if you prefer the liquid refreshment. Then its back to the hotel for an evening of Playstation, Skinemax or whatever else you can think of to kill the rest of the night. At first light, head back to the diner for an early dinner off the breakfast menu, then over to the park for choice seats on the top rides, until the place starts to fill up again, and you get out to catch some sleep. If I were a 22-year-old coaster fan, I'd find this damned close to being the perfect day. Needless to say, though, I've never done it. Anyone have?
From Terry Fedigan
I don't think that is the best theory. First of all, who wants to pay 35-50$ just to spend 3 or 4 hours at the park? Secondly, Not that many people leave at 6 or 7. Sure, maybe a few but I don't think the numbers are that considerable to make that much of a difference. Thirdly, if you got there early enough, before closing as was previously noted, you could get in a couple of rides without too bad of a wait. Then, even when the afternoon rush hits, you still can ride some of your favorite rides even if there is a long line. I mean, would you rather go for about 3-4 hours waiting the average time for rides, and still not get to ride all the rides, or would you rather go all day and wait in the afternoon so you can ride all the rides you want to? Your theory might work for people who live close by to a theme park and have season passes. But for the rest of us, it just won't work. Posted September 9, 2002 at 3:46 PM
From David Harrison
Both the AM and PM routes work well. I use the PM route with parks where I am an annual passholder. Posted September 9, 2002 at 8:26 PM If you hit Seaworld in the late afternoon/early evening, you can walk up and ride Kraken and JTAtlantis... and still make the Shamu Rocks America show. At Busch Gardens in Tampa, We arrived 2 hours before the park closed, and rode all the major coasters 3 times each! If you venture to IOA, I like to get there in the Morning, but this past weekend, the lines in the ladder part of the day were short. Walk on to Dueling Dragons, and only a 5 minute wait for the front seat of Hulk. Though Spiderman still had a 30 minute wait, but the single rider line had no wait. Universal Studios is a good afternoon/evening park, as everything is inside and in the air conditioning. Longest wait was 15 minutes for MIB after 4 PM this past weekend. If you head to SFOG, there is no good time. The park is too small and there are too many people. Add rides breaking down all the time, and you have one big crowd of sheep doing the same thing, waiting in line. That's my 2 cents, happy coastering.
From DJ VICDOGG
SHHH!! What's wrong with you guys? (That secret is a little too good to give out!)Posted September 9, 2002 at 9:07 PM Move along people. There's nothing to see here...
From samuel frank
go to a theme park on sunday when it first opens. i went to six flags magic mountain they open at ten i had half the rides done by one save x for last because of the brake downs done by fivePosted September 10, 2002 at 1:32 AM
From Robert Viands
The nocturnal route can work depending on what time of year you visit a park. On my May visit to CP, MF had 15 minute waits at the end of the day, but that was at the very end. During the summer, this does not happen, it's 2 hours. Posted September 11, 2002 at 6:52 AM I still think being at the gate first gives a huge advantage, even if the major ride is down. You can always run to something else, just like someone posted with the X/Deja-Vu example. It just boggles my mind when I leave the park at noon to see the line of people trying to get in, many with kids. Going to BGT Thursday morning, waking up at 3am. Yep, I'll be first at the gate even on a slow day. Check into hotel in Orlando, rest, then IOA at night. Only negative here is they close at 7pm, so I'll only have a few hours. The tired will be leaving. I'll be back the next morning first thing for a walkon lap around the park. Then over to USF to see the movie rides. Another tip. I print school calendars of the parks I'm going to visit. For example, Orlando kids are out of school October 17th and 18th. Not a good time to visit IOA for HHN, the place will be packed. I moved my trip to October 10/11th.
From Mr. D. T.
If Deja Vu at GA is ever operates at park-opening time, get there right away! Enough said.Posted September 12, 2002 at 11:21 AM
From Christopher Atkins
My wife and I are HUGE coaster freaks! Plus we take the kids to the parks too...LOL! Anyway, yes, we leave early, arrive early, wait for everyone to take lunch breaks and dinner breaks, when it starts to get late the schools or camps leave...etc. Take your own food and drinks... We are planning a trip to Cedar Point for next summer. We are taking one day just for travel and sleep, so that we can get up early to be first in line. Perfect advice by Robert....Posted September 13, 2002 at 4:40 AM
From Robert Viands
For Cedar Point, stay at Breakers Express. Gets you in 30 minutes early. Posted September 17, 2002 at 11:46 AM Well, my plan worked last weekend. Got to BGT at 09:30am when the parking lot opened, and there was already a line at the turnstiles. Everything was a walkon with Montu only running train. Many front seat exit re-rides here. Drove over to IOA that afternoon when a tropical depression was moving thru. 5 exit re-rides on Hulk, then both sides of DD in the rain in the front seat. Dispatcher comes on and says, "Ladies and Gentlemen, Dueling Dragons has offically become a water ride." What a blast, rain hurt but it was fun. Many exit re-rides on Doom Drop as the park was closing. Got to IOA the next morning at 08:30am and there we're already people in line. They let us in at 08:50am, cool. If you wanna be first at the gate, you gotta get there 1 hour before opening time, but it's worth it.
From Anthony Stotlemyer
I don't believe that its hard to manage time at an amusement park. For example, even my small local park Kennywood is no exception. We're leaving for it tomorrow at around 10:20. The park opens at 10:30 and the rides start operating at 11:00. It takes us about 40-50-60 mins. to get there (to get all the way to downtown, through the hills, etc.). Parking usually isn't long early in the morning, so we can get through parking ($5 all day, better than WDW, huh?) and walk to the main entrance in about 5 mins. We wait in line for about 2 mins. at the ticket booth (it moves fast, everyone buys FunDay tickets at the local grocery store up the hill), and by the time we get into the park it's about 11:10-20-30. All the lines are short, and they stay very short until the park gets hoppin' at about 1:00. We usually stay until a few hours before closing. That's how we manage our time. Posted May 31, 2009 at 7:12 AM
From Nick Markham
Yeah, I have been wondering where all of these bad TR's come from too! I mean, Every park I go to, I plan on getting there from 15 minutes to half an hour early. I used it when I went to Disneyland and it was great. Even being about the 188th in line, I still got to ride Space Mountain, Matterhorn Bobsleds, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Pirates of The Caribbean, and rode each of those over again in just ONE HOUR! I would have gotten Indie and Splash in too, if they had been unbroken!Posted May 31, 2009 at 9:18 AM
From steve lee
Seven years...Posted May 31, 2009 at 10:46 AM
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