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USA Group Tour 2019 - Putting Feelers Out

ambe_bambe

By ambe_bambe,
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ambe_bambe Rookie

ambe_bambe

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I promise it's still coming! I had to rework the itinerary as there was one day where the drive was much longer than permitted for the bus driver, after a day of thought I really didn't like the alternative I had created. The new itinerary is actually based on a longer trip, removing Orlando and adding some Pennsylvania parks. Basically works out as Atlanta - Pittsburg for Tour A (this is completely aligned with QLD school holidays as there are a lot of family-friendly parks) Tour B is Sandusky - Dallas (and an optional San Antonio/Houston extension will be discussed). The only parks removed from the original itinerary were Busch Gardens Tampa, Wild Adventures, Adventure Landing & Magic Springs - but I've been able to add loads more such as Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Hershey Park, Kings Dominion, Knoebels and a handful of others. 

It's taking a lot of time due to the odd locations that my tour operator wouldn't usually visit & doesn't have contracted hotel rates for. 

The New Tour Dates are:

Tour A: Monday 1 July - Saturday 13 July

Tour B: Sunday 14 July -  Saturday 27 July with the optional San Antonio/Houston Extension to be discussed with group once bookings in. I really like the idea of finishing in Dallas as it's convenient to fly back to Australia

I expect that with the extension of the trip most people will be able to join only one of the other - for anyone on both - there would be an extra day in Cedar Point between the 2 tours. 

 

 

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XxMrYoshixX Community Regular

XxMrYoshixX

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You still open for interested people? I'm out of school next year and haven't been to anywhere in America outside of Orlando before, I'm in a position to afford such a trip and I'm likely to defer my uni course anyway.

If I don't defer, I'll only be in a position to go to Tour A (new semester starts on 23rd july so I have to be back home then), unless I can arrange to possibly leave early from Cincinnati after Kings Island because CP & KI are bucket list parks for me.

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ambe_bambe Rookie

ambe_bambe

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On 12/08/2018 at 10:17 PM, Charity00 said:

 

Do you have a rough estimate for each of the tours? As well as the parks visited in each tour?

I'm happy to provide the parks however I need to chat with admin before I'm allowed to post any info regarding book or prices - but I can't do that til I'm sure on the prices - it's definitely more than the 2-3k someone has suggested above as its included Top Tier Front of Line passes where available, as well as a majority of meals and anything else I could include in advance - I'm a big believer in paying as much as you can before you go so all you need to worry about is spending money. 

Tour A Parks: Six Flags over Georgia, Lake Winnie, Dollywood & Splash Country, Carowinds 1.5 Days,  Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Kings Dominion, Six Flags America, HersheyPark, Knoebels, Lakemont, Idlewild & Kennywood

Tour B Parks: Cedar Point 2 Days (Tour A+B participants 3 Days), Kings Island 2.5 Days, Kentucky Kingdom & Hurricane Bay, Holiday World & Splashin Safari, Six Flags St Louis, City Museum, Worlds of Fun, Silver Dollar City, Frontier City, Six Flags over Texas - optional extension to add Huston and San Antonio Parks to be discussed with group members after booking. 

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pazzap Explorer

pazzap

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55 minutes ago, Gazza said:

Could you go to SFFT yourself at the end?

From cleveland? Well I guess so.. I do have friends in San Antonio and also another couple close by... I guess I could fly there from CLE and then maybe even take the houston/Sydney route home. Food for thought. I've never done an organised coaster tour group.. i've always spent months planning my own, always starting in late May through end June.. I've only ever missed a couple I wanted to ride that way and lines were bearable in all cases, except SFMM, but i'd now probably get the paid flash pass thingie, I never want to wait that long for X again LOL. Anyway point being, would be nice for someone else to do all the work for a change.. 

Will we have any ERT? I would never go with TPR as I think i'd end up head butting Alvey, so no biggie if no ERT but would be good if OP is contacting parks to see if any can be arranged. 

Back to SFFT though, there are a couple of completely pointless parks in the tour where I am sure if a poll was made to lose them and add SFFT, SFFT would win. OP seems a bit resistant to interested user input? We'll see.

Hmm I do like the second tour a lot more.. still also sad neither has BGW which is another must.. Apollo's chariot in the back is one of the most underrated B&M experiences ever. I'd honestly add that and SFGA for el toro which is mind blowing and lose some others.. I'd design the first one totally different (and yes, I do understand he wants it to flow into the second).. I've done every park from Orlando up on the I-95 with a slight deviation for carowinds, and trust me, BGW and SFGA are musts. 

For me it's just not long enough to only do the second tour, which is why I would have liked to do both, but the first one is just not great.. Even wild adventures.. not needed.. magic springs.. not needed...

Beach, not needed...

Anyway that's my input..

PS believe it or not the new texas giant is not all that great..It's certainly better than what was there but it's kinda..meh.. which you'll see for yourselves.. However I've not ridden Steel vengeance so can't say for sure but by POV, steel vengeance literally looks twice as good. It looks amazing, actually, especially in the back seat.

PPS Maybe in my case I need to design my own first half and meet with you guys in Texas..That could work. I'll keep en eye out for more info, solid pricing etc...

 

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Gazza Veteran

Gazza

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3 hours ago, pazzap said:

Hmm I do like the second tour a lot more.. still also sad neither has BGW which is another must..

Im confused? 

On 15/08/2018 at 9:47 PM, ambe_bambe said:

Tour A Parks: Six Flags over Georgia, Lake Winnie, Dollywood & Splash Country, Carowinds 1.5 Days,  Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Kings Dominion, Six Flags America, HersheyPark, Knoebels, Lakemont, Idlewild & Kennywood

I mean, if you wanted to do SFFT, wouldnt you just do Tour B, which concludes at SFoT, then press on south to San Antonio? Why would you need to go from Cleveland?

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ambe_bambe Rookie

ambe_bambe

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9 hours ago, pazzap said:

From cleveland? Well I guess so.. I do have friends in San Antonio and also another couple close by... I guess I could fly there from CLE and then maybe even take the houston/Sydney route home. Food for thought. I've never done an organised coaster tour group.. i've always spent months planning my own, always starting in late May through end June.. I've only ever missed a couple I wanted to ride that way and lines were bearable in all cases, except SFMM, but i'd now probably get the paid flash pass thingie, I never want to wait that long for X again LOL. Anyway point being, would be nice for someone else to do all the work for a change.. 

 Will we have any ERT? I would never go with TPR as I think i'd end up head butting Alvey, so no biggie if no ERT but would be good if OP is contacting parks to see if any can be arranged. 

 Back to SFFT though, there are a couple of completely pointless parks in the tour where I am sure if a poll was made to lose them and add SFFT, SFFT would win. OP seems a bit resistant to interested user input? We'll see.

 Hmm I do like the second tour a lot more.. still also sad neither has BGW which is another must.. Apollo's chariot in the back is one of the most underrated B&M experiences ever. I'd honestly add that and SFGA for el toro which is mind blowing and lose some others.. I'd design the first one totally different (and yes, I do understand he wants it to flow into the second).. I've done every park from Orlando up on the I-95 with a slight deviation for carowinds, and trust me, BGW and SFGA are musts. 

 For me it's just not long enough to only do the second tour, which is why I would have liked to do both, but the first one is just not great.. Even wild adventures.. not needed.. magic springs.. not needed...

 Beach, not needed...

 Anyway that's my input..

 PS believe it or not the new texas giant is not all that great..It's certainly better than what was there but it's kinda..meh.. which you'll see for yourselves.. However I've not ridden Steel vengeance so can't say for sure but by POV, steel vengeance literally looks twice as good. It looks amazing, actually, especially in the back seat.

PPS Maybe in my case I need to design my own first half and meet with you guys in Texas..That could work. I'll keep en eye out for more info, solid pricing etc...

 

27

I think you might be looking at version 1 - there's a reworked version 2 I've posted which includes BGW. SFGA just isn't going to work into the plans for this trip though I agree it's a great park and I'm well overdue for another visit as my last was in 2013. As someone mentioned earlier, the hard thing with USA is that there's always something awesome that's just a little bit further so there's always going to be something you have to skip. 

Tour B will have an optional Houston & San Antonio portion after finishing at SFOT that will be discussed once I get an idea of numbers, I'm trying to keep the tours to a reasonable length each as not everyone can get away from work for such a long time. As it stands at the moment, Tour A is looking to be 13 Days and Tour B 14 Days, and I feel that adding an extra 3 (or 4) days onto the end of Tour B would just make it too long for many people to get off work, particularly factoring in that 2-3 days of travel is required from AU/NZ.

Regarding ERT - I'm not promising anything, I will be trying but I need an idea of group size first so I have something to take to the parks. If I can get some ERT, I don't expect it would be TPR level but fingers crossed I can get at least something...

I've been emailing with my contact in the USA again today, she is just waiting on confirmation from one bus company who was after clarification regarding some travel routes and times I requested - my contact is hoping to send me what will hopefully be much more reasonable pricing in the next few days. As noted in one of my earlier posts, everything needs to be run via admin first but once I get admin approval happy to share more details and pricing. 

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