Kings Dominion vs Six Flags

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kings Dominion.
I think Six Flags has a worse safety track record meaning safety of rides .

is the wild one still there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Please no commentary on how you would never ever. I don’t really love amusement parks but promised my kids we would go this coming week.

Can anyone knowledgeable give pros and cons of each? This is for a 9 year old and 12 year old.

If you are only doing 1 park this summer and plan on making a full day of it, I would do Kings Dominion. Overall it's bigger and has more rides.

However, for next year, consider getting a season pass to Six Flags in the spring when they are on sale. It's stupid cheap (~$75 per person). I started doing this when my kids were a little older and wished I had figured that out sooner. We invite friends and I get them lunch before we go and they eat in the car on the way. Plan to arrive 1/2 hour before the park opens on weekdays - parking is easy, sort yourself out at the car (sunscreen etc.) and be ready when they open the gate. We all head to the water park and I stake out my spot for the next few hours and the kids drop their bags (I like the wave pool and lazy river and reading a book.) Then the kids either go to the rides in the main park or stay in the waterpark. We will spend 4-5 hrs, and they are ready to go by 4pm. During the weekdays this summer there really haven't been crowds - longest lines reported were 15 min. What is nice about the season pass is that they get to know the park, know favorite rides to take a new friend on, but don't feel like they have to exhaust themselves and stay until the park closes. We go 3 or 4 times each summer, plus there are special things in the fall or holidays if we wanted to try out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please no commentary on how you would never ever. I don’t really love amusement parks but promised my kids we would go this coming week.

Can anyone knowledgeable give pros and cons of each? This is for a 9 year old and 12 year old.

If you are only doing 1 park this summer and plan on making a full day of it, I would do Kings Dominion. Overall it's bigger and has more rides.

However, for next year, consider getting a season pass to Six Flags in the spring when they are on sale. It's stupid cheap (~$75 per person). I started doing this when my kids were a little older and wished I had figured that out sooner. We invite friends and I get them lunch before we go and they eat in the car on the way. Plan to arrive 1/2 hour before the park opens on weekdays - parking is easy, sort yourself out at the car (sunscreen etc.) and be ready when they open the gate. We all head to the water park and I stake out my spot for the next few hours and the kids drop their bags (I like the wave pool and lazy river and reading a book.) Then the kids either go to the rides in the main park or stay in the waterpark. We will spend 4-5 hrs, and they are ready to go by 4pm. During the weekdays this summer there really haven't been crowds - longest lines reported were 15 min. What is nice about the season pass is that they get to know the park, know favorite rides to take a new friend on, but don't feel like they have to exhaust themselves and stay until the park closes. We go 3 or 4 times each summer, plus there are special things in the fall or holidays if we wanted to try out.

This is good advice about Six Flags. I'm pretty sure you can still leave the park, go to your car, and sit and have a lunch there(cooler that you bring in the car), then go back in.

[Anonymous]

Check the schedule. We just went to KD on a weekday and the water park was closed (for the season? Or maybe still open on weekends?).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please no commentary on how you would never ever. I don’t really love amusement parks but promised my kids we would go this coming week.

Can anyone knowledgeable give pros and cons of each? This is for a 9 year old and 12 year old.

If you are only doing 1 park this summer and plan on making a full day of it, I would do Kings Dominion. Overall it's bigger and has more rides.

However, for next year, consider getting a season pass to Six Flags in the spring when they are on sale. It's stupid cheap (~$75 per person). I started doing this when my kids were a little older and wished I had figured that out sooner. We invite friends and I get them lunch before we go and they eat in the car on the way. Plan to arrive 1/2 hour before the park opens on weekdays - parking is easy, sort yourself out at the car (sunscreen etc.) and be ready when they open the gate. We all head to the water park and I stake out my spot for the next few hours and the kids drop their bags (I like the wave pool and lazy river and reading a book.) Then the kids either go to the rides in the main park or stay in the waterpark. We will spend 4-5 hrs, and they are ready to go by 4pm. During the weekdays this summer there really haven't been crowds - longest lines reported were 15 min. What is nice about the season pass is that they get to know the park, know favorite rides to take a new friend on, but don't feel like they have to exhaust themselves and stay until the park closes. We go 3 or 4 times each summer, plus there are special things in the fall or holidays if we wanted to try out.

I think their biggest sale is over Labor Day - PP is right; stupid cheap. We did season passes with food a few years about which also included parking and got plenty of friend/guest passes during the year. If you buy in September you can also use this year until the park closes for Halloween, etc. (unless that part had changed.) IMO the best time to buy season passes is over Labor Day weekend.

[Anonymous]

Busch Gardens has a water park too. It’s actually a lot of fun.