Ever wish you weren't a fan of theme parks?

[Ghost of Pretzel Kaiser]

So apologies if this sort of self-reflective post is not welcome on these forums. Today I was getting wound up in trying to (successfully) work out a trip to Knoebles for their Halloween event and it dawned on me that this can be an extremely demanding hobby and I kind of started doubting myself. Between balancing when I'm meeting with friends to do other parks, the small window of the event, and dealing with how to pay for the trip and most effective way to get there, I had spent a good chunk of my work day and quite a bit of stress on this overnight trip.

I figured that there might be some discussion here about if you ever got to a point with doing parks that you kind of wish you weren't a fan at some point. It's a hobby that can get quite involved and resource draining, so I would imagine that a few other people here got to the place with the hobby as I have.

 

[Merboy]

I find that happening with wanting to go to parks other than BGW. Williamsburg is a fairly easy trip for me but some of the best parks are in Florida and that's simply too much to try and work out every year, in addition to other trips that aren't theme park related. But yeah I can definitely see your point in having to plan all the logistics of making it happen and then paying for it. Especially if you have several people going with you.

 

[Ghost of Pretzel Kaiser]

I agree with you that BGW and KD are much less work. Not only are they local, I would imagine most of us don't rush to do as many as the rides as possible because we've been so much.

One thing I found really frustrating about the Knoebles trip is that Friday they are only open four hours and its a five hour drive. I had to justify the drive time vs play time in my mind so I had to do an overnight thing for more play time the next day. Justifying the play time in a trip is certainly one more stressful thing to worry about because you can easily start to question if the trip is worth it at that point.

 

[phurst]

I could see how it could turn into a source of frustration, for sure. Thankfully my family and I aren't there (yet), as our park adventures are kind of dictated to us, instead of a driver for us.

KD is only about 25 minutes from home, so we maintain season passes there, and those trips are easy, even if we only want to pop in and ride a couple of things.

BGW/WCUSA is about 40 minutes, and also an easy trip, though we tend to try to make more of a day of it. We maintain Platinum passes for BGW, because we spend the week of Thanksgiving in Orland/Tampa, and it's incredibly convenient to be able to hit SWO/Aquatica/BGT/Discovery Cove while we're there. Of course this year we're doing 4 days at Universal's 3 parks with "down time" at the local SEAS parks, but we're going to be there anyways, so it's just a matter of what parks to visit each year.

We have friends outside Harrisburg, so we try to hit Hershey when we visit them. We have friends in Cleveland, and are planning to hit Cedar Point when we visit them next summer. We have family in Charlotte and Knoxville, and so occasionally hit Carowinds and Dollywood when we are there. You get the idea.

I assume that simply means we're not as obsessive about hitting parks as some people, but for us, combining a trip to a park with a trip we're already making anyway saves some stress, and I can delude myself into thinking the only extra cost is park tickets Really though, that's the only stressful part for me. Going to Orlando and hitting parks we can get into "free" is expensive enough as it is. This years decision to hit Universal has indeed required planning and sacrifice, but we all know why we're doing it, so it does help make it less stressful, for us at least.

 

[Thomas]

I have people who plan my park trips for me.

 

[Zimmy]

PK I completely feel you.  For me the past few years, this year in particular have been very difficult on the park front.  With my ex hating parks and then everything that came after (I will spare the details) cash for parks, or really any fun has been completely striped from budget.

Florida is not very hard for me as my parents have a place nearby in Melbourne and I can go whenever I want.  Personally I am not excited by Uni or Disney but I do miss BGT.  Frankly when I am there I am mostly interested in KSC.  I enjoy Discovery Cove, Aquatica, and Seaworld so they are also a good option.  Also When I am there I like to spend a day or two at the Brevard County Zoo.

I still have not been to any parks north of the Mason/ Dixon since high school.  (err... sometime in the 90s...  cough...)  So I REALLY feel like I have missed out there.  I did go to 6 Flags Federal (outside Seattle) Way when it was a thing.  (It no longer is, aaaaaand you are not missing anything.) and I did go to Disney land back in... hum... 2005 or maybe 2006... It was the E3 trip)

 

[SLC Headache]

I already spent the money for the Kings Island trip on something not park related. Oh well, winter will be a time of scrimping.

EDIT: Looks like the flight sold out. My wallet sighs in relief.