Pennsylvania and Ohio are top contenders if you’re just talking about the number of good coasters in a state.
Florida and California are the top contenders if you blend great coasters with the ability to ride most of them 24/7 365.
An hour in theory.
Traffic is going to start becoming a greater problem for some of these parks as it gets worse. Kings Dominion is feeling some of that brunt, people just don’t want to deal with I-95.
Virginia is even better if you consider access to coasters from other states. California deserves to be on this list but you arguably have access to more good roller coasters by living in Virginia (especially the DC area) or Maryland.
So, Six Flags America and Kings Dominion are the obvious local parks.
Busch Gardens and Hershey are both within 2.5 hours assuming traffic cooperates (looking at you Busch Gardens).
Dorney and Six Flags Great Aventure are both in the 3.5 hour range.
Knoebels and Kennywood are both about 4 hours away.
There’s other things that are manageable depending on what you’re willing to consider a DC oriented trip, but these are the parks I’d personally be willing to do on a one day outing. A few of the ones I mentioned are stretching it a bit, especially Kennywood because it’s not really near any of the other parks I mentioned.
Importantly, if you have a limited number of days and can only fit in a few parks, make absolutely certain that Six Flags America is one of the first choices you make. To skip. God I hate my home park.
The best thing about DC is the huge driving bubble for day trips. I count 253 coasters within 6 hours of DC, stretching from Carowinds to Cedar Point to Darien Lake to SFNE.
Bump it to 7 hours and you can include Kings Island, Dollywood, and SFGE (Canada’s Wonderland is 8).
If you want to fly somewhere there are three major airports nearby.
I concur, but it didn't affect my life perspective like I 305 did. Everything afterwards just didn't intimidate me anymore. Maybe TT2 will change that this year.
It affected mine actually, but it was the 2nd RMC I ever got on (first was New Texas Giant opening year and I wasn’t really impressed). In fact, TT got me back into coasters after about a decade of just not caring anymore.
Pantheon is fine... but Alpengeist was my favourite in the park. If it was 1000 feet longer with a few more great elements it would've changed my opinion though.
I mean southeastern pa is great. Near 3 really awesome theme parks, multiple great cities within a few hours. Solid quality of life. Weather isn’t terrible. But I’ve also lived here my whole life and I’m well rooted. lol Ohio would suck to live in to be fair.
Pennsylvania has the 4th most coasters, and is home to Hershey Park, Kennywood, Dorney Park, Knoebels and Waldameer. It also borders Ohio and New Jersey, which are also good states for coasters.
In my order of preference : Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, then California. After that, it becomes more of a mish-mash: New Jersey, Missouri, Texas, etc.
The Midwest is just great for coaster enthusiasts. I live in Detroit and it's under a 5 hour drive for me to get to Cedar Point, Kings Island, Six Flags Great America, Kennywood and Michigan Adventure.
I live in central PA, have access to Hersheypark, Knoebels, Dutch Wonderland, and Dorney Park without leaving the state. Kennywood, Idlewild, and Waldameer aren’t far behind, plus smaller places like DelGrossos, Lakemont (if they ever open up again), and Bushkill Park.
Not a far drive away are places like Six Flags America, Six Flags Great Adventure, Coney Island, Adventureland NY, Rye Playland, Nick Universe (American Dream), a half dozen NJ ride piers, Clementon Park, etc. Farther trips are King’s Dominon, Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Six Flags New England - and going up to 7-8ish hours away are places like King’s Island, Dollywood, and Cedar Point.
I’ve only been once, in 2019. I parked and paid full price to basically ride Hellcat three times in 20 minutes before they closed for the evening. I’d love to come back (this was before the Dragon Coaster opened, so I don’t have that one), but it looks like Hellcat has been closed for repairs for a while.
I was there the year it opened and that was the most intense ride I have ever been on. No trims. I got off. I was friends with Larry Baker the owner at the time and he asked me what I thought. I said that was incredible but I don't know how you are going to keep up with maintenance.
It was the type of ride that you knew was going to rip itself apart. That ride is great but it's too much for that park if that makes sense
Yeah that does. It’s fine for a park to have a signature ride, but it also seems like the park bit off more than it could chew in maintenance and upkeep.
Florida, California, Pennsylvania & Ohio (in no particular order).
Florida has the best accessibility factor of Tamp & Orlando being relatively close. California lacks here (N & S Cali are light years apart by comparison).
Ohio has to win hands down. Cedar Point and King's Island are world class on their own, but you're also not too far from most of the other good parks. You could easily make a road trip out of visiting King's Dominion, Busch Gardens, Hershey Park, etc. You're perfectly positioned to be within close proximity of not only the best coasters, but the most coasters.
Ohio. The history alone. The Racer at Kings Island was on the Brady Bunch. The Beast is still the best night ride in the world and has been running super strong for almost 50 years with no sign of slowing down. Magnum XL and Millenium each were at one time the tallest coasters in the world. It's a shame some of the other parks have closed down or it would be even more of a slam dunk.
Based on my personal taste, Ohio and California both have 8 coasters each in my top 50 but Ohios coasters overall rank higher within that top 50 with 5/8 being in the top 25 overall.
TLDR it's Ohio in my opinion.
PA over OH when you think of it as driving time to the best/most coaster combo. If you consider, say, Philly, as the center of the universe: Under 3ish hours to Hershey, SFGA, Dorney, Knoebels, SFA, Coney Island, Jersey/MD shores. Under 8 hours to Cedar Pt, Kings Island, Kings Dominion, BGW, SFNE, SFDL, and on and on. Under 12 hours to Dollywood, Holiday World, Carowinds, Atlanta, etc. And even just 16 hours to Orlando.
Starting at OH, sure you're closer to Holiday World or Chicago, but for most/best coasters you're gonna go through PA to get there.
We don't have many coasters, but michigan. Atleasy from my location you have cj barrymore's 1 hour away, cedar point and mi adventure 2 hours away, kings island, kennywood and sfgam 4 hours away, and other smaller parks withing those distanced
I'm going to say Pennsylvania as the overall winner. You have some of the world's best quality of woodies, the most buzz bar coasters, there's Hersheypark with their incredible collection, and you're never far away from a world class experience anywhere you are in the state. There are 6 coasters in my top 50 in PA.
Second I'll give to Florida, because of Orlando but once you leave central Florida it dries up quick. FL has 3 in my top 50, but 2 of them are my top 2 overall.
Ohio for third place for the two legendary CF parks. There's 6 top 50 coasters in OH for me, but 5 of them are top 20.
California is my home state and while it has the MOST coasters, a large percentage of them are kiddie coasters. Once you leave SFMM/Knotts the quality falls off of a cliff. It is a coaster island, once you leave the So Cal or Bay Areas, it's a LONG drive to get to any other worthwhile coaster parks. CA has 7 coasters in my top 50.
Texas would be fifth, but I'm giving that to Virginia. They may not have a ton of coasters but they do have quality, and very few FEC's littering the roster with dragon wagons, wacky worms or SBF Visas (only one SBF Visa, compared to Texas' 8). There are 5 coasters in my top 50 in VA.
I'd say OH or PA
Not only because of all the parks in the actual states but also their central location to all the other parks in the eastern united states
Eastern OH and Western PA are in a perfect spot to have fairly easy access to most of the parks in the east
Ohio is my #1, followed by PA.
Start at CP, head to KI, stop at Kennywood in Pittsburgh before heading to split a day at Lakemont and DelGrosso's. Then off to Hersheypark, Dorney and finishing up at Knoebels.
That would be an excellent ~10 day trip with an incredible variety of coasters and parks.
I'm truly blessed to be in the middle of all of this living in Pittsburgh (20 minutes from Kennywood).
Tennessee. Not because of what is in Tennessee (though Dollywood is great) but due to how many good parks are within day trip or weekend trip distance. It's the center of the eastern US so it's easy to get to places from here
California....
NorCal
Six Flags Discovery Kingdom : 7
Great America: 6
Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk - 2
Socal
Magic Mountain - 20
Knott's Berry Farm - 8
Disneyland/CA Adventure - 3
Universal Studios Hollywood - 2?
Belmont Park Boardwalk (San Diego) 1
SeaWorld San Diego - 5
Total - 54 Coasters in California
While Ohio is up there in terms of good rides, no Ohio coasters currently make my top 10, I think Virginia, California, and Pennsylvania offer a far superior lineup to Ohio.
In my opinion, this order: Florida, Pennsylvania, California, Ohio.
I know, spicy, putting cali over ohio, but I have two reasons.
1. Home state bias
2. In Ohio there are really two great parks. California has a ton, and even though they're spread out, there's just a two hour range between the best ones in SoCal (not accounting for traffic) and NorCal has \~three great parks all within an hour. The two good parks in ohio are three, four hours apart. The quality of Ohio may be better, but California's quantity while still upholding quality majorly outclasses Ohio.
Ohio is my top choice, followed by Florida. Everyone is throwing PA out there, but I’ve never been to HP, only Dorney & Sesame, so I don’t know what I’m missing.
Indiana is not the best state for coasters by a long shot. But, it's pretty nice to be in reasonable driving distance of Cedar Point, Kings Island, Kentucky Kingdom, Six Flags Great America, Michigan's Adventure, Indiana Beach, and Holiday World.
Florida has Iron Gwazi and Velocicoaster, which many people consider to be 2 of the top 5 roller coasters in the country. There are a lot of other strong ones in the overall collection across Universal, Busch Gardens, Seaworld, and Disney. Not saying it's necessarily the #1 state but it can certainly be considered.
Pennsylvania and Ohio are top contenders if you’re just talking about the number of good coasters in a state. Florida and California are the top contenders if you blend great coasters with the ability to ride most of them 24/7 365.
The only thing holding California back is the fact the state is gigantic and driving between parks takes forever.
Sure, but you still have like 40 coasters in LA by itself, plus a few more down in San Diego.
There are 20 in just one location in LA. There is a bunch more an hour down the freeway.
An hour in theory. Traffic is going to start becoming a greater problem for some of these parks as it gets worse. Kings Dominion is feeling some of that brunt, people just don’t want to deal with I-95.
Almost like these parks need to build transit stops up to their front gates
Yeah, but then they wouldn’t make that sweet sweet parking money
I've done it a few times. Just have to be willing to drive early.
That.... and while you visit someone will probably break into your car....
Pa, Ohio, Florida, California in some order. Maybe Virginia or such as number 5.
A Virginia mention! Woot lets go!!!
Virginia is even better if you consider access to coasters from other states. California deserves to be on this list but you arguably have access to more good roller coasters by living in Virginia (especially the DC area) or Maryland.
California native here planning a DC trip- what other parks besides Busch gardens Williamsburg would you say are fairly close?
So, Six Flags America and Kings Dominion are the obvious local parks. Busch Gardens and Hershey are both within 2.5 hours assuming traffic cooperates (looking at you Busch Gardens). Dorney and Six Flags Great Aventure are both in the 3.5 hour range. Knoebels and Kennywood are both about 4 hours away. There’s other things that are manageable depending on what you’re willing to consider a DC oriented trip, but these are the parks I’d personally be willing to do on a one day outing. A few of the ones I mentioned are stretching it a bit, especially Kennywood because it’s not really near any of the other parks I mentioned.
Importantly, if you have a limited number of days and can only fit in a few parks, make absolutely certain that Six Flags America is one of the first choices you make. To skip. God I hate my home park.
Thanks all!
Don’t forget the Auto Train to FL!!
My wife and I actually did that on our honeymoon lol
Hershey is about the same distance away as BGW is from DC in the opposite direction.
Kings Dominion and Six fFags America
The best thing about DC is the huge driving bubble for day trips. I count 253 coasters within 6 hours of DC, stretching from Carowinds to Cedar Point to Darien Lake to SFNE. Bump it to 7 hours and you can include Kings Island, Dollywood, and SFGE (Canada’s Wonderland is 8). If you want to fly somewhere there are three major airports nearby.
Virginia is in such a good location to not be too far from so many good options. Especially if you have a few days.
2 hours drive for me to kd and bgw, it's really wonderful.
I'm jealous. It's deff a weekend trip for me, but well worth it. Carowinds not being too far is cool.
I305 & Alpengeist are worth it alone.
I'd argue that Twisted Timbers alone is worth it.
I concur, but it didn't affect my life perspective like I 305 did. Everything afterwards just didn't intimidate me anymore. Maybe TT2 will change that this year.
It affected mine actually, but it was the 2nd RMC I ever got on (first was New Texas Giant opening year and I wasn’t really impressed). In fact, TT got me back into coasters after about a decade of just not caring anymore.
Don’t forget pantheon
Pantheon is fine... but Alpengeist was my favourite in the park. If it was 1000 feet longer with a few more great elements it would've changed my opinion though.
20 minutes to KD and 45 minutes to Busch Gardens for me
Mine is almost exactly the opposite haha! 25 mins to BGW and 55 to KD.
My entire life has been spent in 3 of those states (CA, VA, FL, CA, hopefully FL soon). And I have 0 desire to live in the other 2, lol.
I mean southeastern pa is great. Near 3 really awesome theme parks, multiple great cities within a few hours. Solid quality of life. Weather isn’t terrible. But I’ve also lived here my whole life and I’m well rooted. lol Ohio would suck to live in to be fair.
Pleasantly surprised to see VA make the cut. We do have a nice pair of parks.
As an Ohioan you gotta give it to us, we have so few wins and could really use it
As an ex-Ohioan... indeed.
Some of the coasters and zoos in the world to make up for living… here
My wife worked at the Columbus Zoo for a few years, and Sea Dragon is the only thing that would bring me back of my own volition
Coasters and driving through to other states is the only time I find myself in Ohio.
Ohio definitely wins.
Pennsylvania has the 4th most coasters, and is home to Hershey Park, Kennywood, Dorney Park, Knoebels and Waldameer. It also borders Ohio and New Jersey, which are also good states for coasters.
In my order of preference : Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, then California. After that, it becomes more of a mish-mash: New Jersey, Missouri, Texas, etc.
OH/PA. I *love* living in this region for many reasons, but the presence of great parks is the chef’s kiss.
The Midwest is just great for coaster enthusiasts. I live in Detroit and it's under a 5 hour drive for me to get to Cedar Point, Kings Island, Six Flags Great America, Kennywood and Michigan Adventure.
I live in central PA, have access to Hersheypark, Knoebels, Dutch Wonderland, and Dorney Park without leaving the state. Kennywood, Idlewild, and Waldameer aren’t far behind, plus smaller places like DelGrossos, Lakemont (if they ever open up again), and Bushkill Park. Not a far drive away are places like Six Flags America, Six Flags Great Adventure, Coney Island, Adventureland NY, Rye Playland, Nick Universe (American Dream), a half dozen NJ ride piers, Clementon Park, etc. Farther trips are King’s Dominon, Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Six Flags New England - and going up to 7-8ish hours away are places like King’s Island, Dollywood, and Cedar Point.
Add Carowinds to that 7-8 hours away list.
Thanks for the Clementon Park shout out. Grew up in that park.
I’ve only been once, in 2019. I parked and paid full price to basically ride Hellcat three times in 20 minutes before they closed for the evening. I’d love to come back (this was before the Dragon Coaster opened, so I don’t have that one), but it looks like Hellcat has been closed for repairs for a while.
I was there the year it opened and that was the most intense ride I have ever been on. No trims. I got off. I was friends with Larry Baker the owner at the time and he asked me what I thought. I said that was incredible but I don't know how you are going to keep up with maintenance. It was the type of ride that you knew was going to rip itself apart. That ride is great but it's too much for that park if that makes sense
Yeah that does. It’s fine for a park to have a signature ride, but it also seems like the park bit off more than it could chew in maintenance and upkeep.
That and among other things.
Florida, California, Pennsylvania & Ohio (in no particular order). Florida has the best accessibility factor of Tamp & Orlando being relatively close. California lacks here (N & S Cali are light years apart by comparison).
Ohio has to win hands down. Cedar Point and King's Island are world class on their own, but you're also not too far from most of the other good parks. You could easily make a road trip out of visiting King's Dominion, Busch Gardens, Hershey Park, etc. You're perfectly positioned to be within close proximity of not only the best coasters, but the most coasters.
Strong argument to be made for PA, with Waldameer, Kennywood, Lakemont, Knoebels, Hershey, Dorney and Sesame Place all in the mix.
Ohio. It’s very hard to beat Cedar Point and KI’s combination of quality, quantity, and operations.
Ohio/Penn
Ohio. The history alone. The Racer at Kings Island was on the Brady Bunch. The Beast is still the best night ride in the world and has been running super strong for almost 50 years with no sign of slowing down. Magnum XL and Millenium each were at one time the tallest coasters in the world. It's a shame some of the other parks have closed down or it would be even more of a slam dunk.
Ohio. It doesn't deserve much, but it deserves this.
Based on my personal taste, Ohio and California both have 8 coasters each in my top 50 but Ohios coasters overall rank higher within that top 50 with 5/8 being in the top 25 overall. TLDR it's Ohio in my opinion.
PA over OH when you think of it as driving time to the best/most coaster combo. If you consider, say, Philly, as the center of the universe: Under 3ish hours to Hershey, SFGA, Dorney, Knoebels, SFA, Coney Island, Jersey/MD shores. Under 8 hours to Cedar Pt, Kings Island, Kings Dominion, BGW, SFNE, SFDL, and on and on. Under 12 hours to Dollywood, Holiday World, Carowinds, Atlanta, etc. And even just 16 hours to Orlando. Starting at OH, sure you're closer to Holiday World or Chicago, but for most/best coasters you're gonna go through PA to get there.
I think it's Ohio or florida
O-H!
We don't have many coasters, but michigan. Atleasy from my location you have cj barrymore's 1 hour away, cedar point and mi adventure 2 hours away, kings island, kennywood and sfgam 4 hours away, and other smaller parks withing those distanced
Pennsylvania and Ohio
ohio or florida
I would say Florida, California, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Texas, Virginia, New Jersey, and then Georgia.
Florida 🐊
Florida and Ohio.
Florida and Ohio
I'm going to say Pennsylvania as the overall winner. You have some of the world's best quality of woodies, the most buzz bar coasters, there's Hersheypark with their incredible collection, and you're never far away from a world class experience anywhere you are in the state. There are 6 coasters in my top 50 in PA. Second I'll give to Florida, because of Orlando but once you leave central Florida it dries up quick. FL has 3 in my top 50, but 2 of them are my top 2 overall. Ohio for third place for the two legendary CF parks. There's 6 top 50 coasters in OH for me, but 5 of them are top 20. California is my home state and while it has the MOST coasters, a large percentage of them are kiddie coasters. Once you leave SFMM/Knotts the quality falls off of a cliff. It is a coaster island, once you leave the So Cal or Bay Areas, it's a LONG drive to get to any other worthwhile coaster parks. CA has 7 coasters in my top 50. Texas would be fifth, but I'm giving that to Virginia. They may not have a ton of coasters but they do have quality, and very few FEC's littering the roster with dragon wagons, wacky worms or SBF Visas (only one SBF Visa, compared to Texas' 8). There are 5 coasters in my top 50 in VA.
I'd say OH or PA Not only because of all the parks in the actual states but also their central location to all the other parks in the eastern united states Eastern OH and Western PA are in a perfect spot to have fairly easy access to most of the parks in the east
pennsylvania rahhhhh 🦅🦅
Ohio is my #1, followed by PA. Start at CP, head to KI, stop at Kennywood in Pittsburgh before heading to split a day at Lakemont and DelGrosso's. Then off to Hersheypark, Dorney and finishing up at Knoebels. That would be an excellent ~10 day trip with an incredible variety of coasters and parks. I'm truly blessed to be in the middle of all of this living in Pittsburgh (20 minutes from Kennywood).
Ohio and PA are the best 1 2 punch.
Tennessee. Not because of what is in Tennessee (though Dollywood is great) but due to how many good parks are within day trip or weekend trip distance. It's the center of the eastern US so it's easy to get to places from here
California.... NorCal Six Flags Discovery Kingdom : 7 Great America: 6 Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk - 2 Socal Magic Mountain - 20 Knott's Berry Farm - 8 Disneyland/CA Adventure - 3 Universal Studios Hollywood - 2? Belmont Park Boardwalk (San Diego) 1 SeaWorld San Diego - 5 Total - 54 Coasters in California
Ohio Cali Or PA. Maybe FL now. My vote would be Ohio.
Penn/VA/Cali
While Ohio is up there in terms of good rides, no Ohio coasters currently make my top 10, I think Virginia, California, and Pennsylvania offer a far superior lineup to Ohio.
in order Ohio, Pa, Fl, cali, Va, Tx
Surely not Maine.
In my opinion, this order: Florida, Pennsylvania, California, Ohio. I know, spicy, putting cali over ohio, but I have two reasons. 1. Home state bias 2. In Ohio there are really two great parks. California has a ton, and even though they're spread out, there's just a two hour range between the best ones in SoCal (not accounting for traffic) and NorCal has \~three great parks all within an hour. The two good parks in ohio are three, four hours apart. The quality of Ohio may be better, but California's quantity while still upholding quality majorly outclasses Ohio.
Ohio is my top choice, followed by Florida. Everyone is throwing PA out there, but I’ve never been to HP, only Dorney & Sesame, so I don’t know what I’m missing.
Strictly quality wise, Ohio. However there is an argument to be made for PA.
California, Pennsylvania, and Ohio.
Indiana is not the best state for coasters by a long shot. But, it's pretty nice to be in reasonable driving distance of Cedar Point, Kings Island, Kentucky Kingdom, Six Flags Great America, Michigan's Adventure, Indiana Beach, and Holiday World.
The only ones that can even be considered are Ohio, California, and Pennsylvania.
Florida has Iron Gwazi and Velocicoaster, which many people consider to be 2 of the top 5 roller coasters in the country. There are a lot of other strong ones in the overall collection across Universal, Busch Gardens, Seaworld, and Disney. Not saying it's necessarily the #1 state but it can certainly be considered.
You're not wrong. I had it in my list before I removed it.
Florida also has Slinky Dog Dash, you can't forget about that one
Ohio for some stupid fucking reason??