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Driven right past on a road trip?

Ever driven right past a park that you could see from the road but couldn't make it in and still haven't?

From Ryan B
Posted June 22, 2010 at 10:09 PM
I've driven past Carowinds in November when it was closed.

The Great Escape on my way to Vermont in August but couldn't convince anyone to go.

Isla Magica in Spain on a school trip which wasn't part of the travel plans..

So what have you seen from the road and never been to?


Comments in chronological order. Most recent at the bottom. Scroll down to respond.

From Kathryn Leigh
Posted June 23, 2010 at 12:29 AM
Dinosaur World or whatever in Florida...I can't even remember where it is, I just remember countless drive-bys, seeing that sign that boasts just how many lifelike dinosaurs they have there...never stopped. Has anyone else been to Dinosaur World?

From James Rao
Posted June 23, 2010 at 4:08 AM
Six Flags Over Georgia. Driven past it several times on my way to Orlando (taking the 285 bypass), but never stopped. I did however stop at Wild Adventures (Valdosta, GA) this year and had a pretty good time.

Also, I have driven right past Frontier City in Oklahoma a time or two. It is right next to the highway, but looks okay at best, maybe worth a couple hours at most?

From David L.
Posted June 23, 2010 at 4:25 AM
There was some little park in Alberta Canada between Calgary and the Rockies that i have passed a couple times. James, you should stop at SFOG some time, especially if you have a season pass.

From Bradley Keith
Posted June 24, 2010 at 5:10 AM
I passed Kings Dominion on a class trip. There's no way I'd be able to go, but I saw Dominator and Intimidator 305 operating. I have also driven past Wild Adventures in Valdosta on the way to Tampa.

From Blake Nieman
Posted June 24, 2010 at 8:37 AM
Yeah James, I've driven by Frontier City a bunch of times. I can never tell if it's open or anything. I barely recall ever seeing any of those rides operating...maybe I've just gone past on the offseason or something. Always thought it might be worth a half day or something. Has anyone ever been?

From James Rao
Posted June 24, 2010 at 12:00 PM
Hey, Blake, there is a recent Frontier City photo trip report on Midwest Info Guide. However, take this report with a grain of salt as the author is very lenient on all the Midwest parks (much more so than I am) and he does not like the Voyage, Holiday World's premiere wooden coaster (that's two strikes, Swoosh@MiG!).

From Rod Whitenack
Posted June 26, 2010 at 8:34 AM
Kathryn, I've been to the Dinosaur World here in Kentucky which is owned by the same company and looks pretty much the same. The Dinosaurs in the park are anything but "lifelike", but that's not the fun of Dinosaur World. It's like a modern recreation of a 1950s -1970s roadside attraction. If you ever had a set of Marx plastic dinosaur toys as a child, just imagine those plastic toys blown up to approximately life size and placed in a park setting and you've got a pretty good idea of what strolling through Dinosaur World is like. They don't move. They don't make noises. There's absolutely nothing modern or high tech about this place at all. This ain't Jurassic Park, but that's part of the charm of Dinosaur World.

From Jorge Arnoldson
Posted August 17, 2010 at 8:03 AM
When I was on my way to visit relatives in Northern Virginia (November, 2009, and April, 2010), I passed Kings Dominion. My family considered going there on the April trip, but it was only open on Saturdays and Sundays at that time.

From Nick Markham
Posted August 17, 2010 at 9:35 AM
The only one I've passed is Elitch Gardens in Denver. Any other park we get near I make sure we visit, or avoid coming within a mile radius all together so that I don't have to see what I'm missing!

From Mike Gallagher
Posted August 17, 2010 at 9:22 AM
I don't know how I missed this post before...it's an interesting subject.

These are three instances off the top of my head, but the first two were just billboards I saw. And I limited myself to parks I haven't been to. For example, anytime I go to Hershey, I pass Dorney, but I've been there dozens of times.

In '07, driving to Holiday World, I passed a billboard for Indiana Beach, but I don't think it was very close by.

In '08, down south, I passed a billboard for Lake Winnepesauka (I MIGHT have spelled that wrong..it's commonly known as Lake Winnie, which is a heck of a lot easier) while driving from Tampa to Myrtle Beach (R.I.P. Hard Rock Park.)

In both of those cases, it was a "timing/don't wanna go out of my way" issue.

This past July 1, I passed Martins Fantasy Island in NY on my way from Canada to Darien Lake. I didn't stop because, A, I didn't know it was there until I was passing it; And B, I had just sat at the darn border for 5 hours getting out of Canada, and was way behind schedule and very hungry...

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