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Your favourite time of the theme park season?

Matt N

Matt N

CF Legend
Hi guys. Sorry if there's already a thread like this, but as many always seem to mention how the Halloween season is their favourite time of the theme park season, I was interested to hear some of your thoughts on what your favourite time of the theme park season is. Is it Halloween, with its scare attractions and spooky décor? Or is it Christmas, with its merry atmosphere and bright lights? Or is it the start of the season, when you can rush to your favourite ride after months of not riding it? Or is it even the off-season, where you can have a break from theme parking?

Now, I'm going to be a bit controversial here and say that Halloween is not my favourite time of the theme park season, simply because I'm not into scare attractions at all. So for that reason, I normally stay within the comfort of my own home during scare season! I went to Scarefest once and didn't do any scare attractions; it's mainly the décor and the prospect of night rides that appeals to me about Halloween events? For me, my personal favourite time is summer because I think it's so nice visiting the parks in the hot sun and seeing all the rides glistening in the hot weather! Parks also tend to open later during the summer, which is also a plus, in my eyes! Do bear in mind that I've never been to a Christmas event, though.

So, what's your favourite time of the theme park season?
 
Early autumn around September. At least for Britain, most parks still open during the week and weather still similar to most summer days. Usually shorter hours but since it's often considered off peak, the parks are dead allowing for numerous re-rides.

One of my favourite days I've had at Towers was a few years ago where there was one day between Scarefest and the Fireworks with officially no events on. Park was dead and Maze entry was half price. While park hours were much shorter than the surrounding days, it still got dark enough in the evening to enjoy night rides.
 
June and September

Not too hot but not too cold. Crowds aren't crazy. The rides are running at normal capacity. Most of my trips in the last decade have revolved around that time frame.
 
Yeah, I'd say September. The weather is perfect, the crowds are light, and best of all, the Halloween events start.

So essentially right now. Absolutely loving life. :D
 
March. All theme parks are empty in my country and all rollercoasters are walk-on and every coaster is operating.
 
For me it is really dependant on the park, for example I prefer the UK parks during Halloween due to the extended opening hours and the atmosphere in the parks. My favourite time to visit European park is probably around May/June as the queues are usually quite light and the weather is really good. It’s hard to say when my favourite time to visit the US parks is as I haven’t been to enough, but from what I have experienced, it is probably late August/ early September.
 
Halloween is probably my least favourite time of year in the theme park calendar. Hate it. Just waaay too crowded. Plus, 99% of all the Halloween attractions I've ever been on have been utter turd. "I just queued for 2 hours in the freezing cold... for that?"
Nah, I'm an off-peak kinda guy, I like my parks to be dead, with literally everything walk-on.
Favourite time is probably March/April when parks start opening up for the season in the lovely springtime weather. Can't beat that first ride of the year after a long, dark, credless winter. :)
September is usually pretty good too. Weather still nice (ish) but with all the kids safely locked up in school again, parks are usually nice and quiet until the Halloween season kicks off.
 
Snoo said:
June and September

Not too hot but not too cold. Crowds aren't crazy. The rides are running at normal capacity. Most of my trips in the last decade have revolved around that time frame.
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This, entirely.

The only thing I'd add to this is that it's a little dependent on where you're doing parks.
Europe/USA - June or September.
Middle East - Anytime October through to about March (too ****ing hot otherwise).
Asia - Probably whatever time of year you can avoid the peak heat/humidity and rainy seasons.

Basically, you can always be at parks at the best time of year, you just have to travel. :p
 
Seeing as I'm lucky if I get three park visits per year (and really lucky if one of them is one I haven't visited before), I mostly experience the coaster scene online. Actually riding a new coaster is a rare occurrence, but learning about new ones is always fun. So in that regard, the end of the season is my favourite time. Trip reports have been made for most new coasters that year, so I have reviews and pictures to watch, possibly even POVs. Parks are also announcing their new coasters around this time, giving us nice renders or at the very least some interesting speculation. Autumn is clearly the best time for indoor coastering.
 
Howie said:
Halloween is probably my least favourite time of year in the theme park calendar. Hate it. Just waaay too crowded. Plus, 99% of all the Halloween attractions I've ever been on have been utter turd
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Now Everland is in halloween season and had 150 min wait in T Express and 140 min wait on Safari
and one s**ky Arrow looper had 90 min wait. Vekoma family coaster had 60 min wait. All fastpasses were inavailable(seen in app) and that cycles every weekend on September and October.
I avoid going to parks on halloween season because it's too crowded to go.
 
Another topic that has quite a bit of potential for some great discussion!

This is actually a tough question to answer since a typical year in the industry is so dynamic. I can confidently say that June/July is my least favorite time of year because even though parks are open, the excitement for new rides has died down and it's not quite time to announce new projects yet. August/September/October are exciting months due to the onslaught of announcements during that time period, and as people have already mentioned, the weather becomes quite pleasant for visiting parks. I enjoy winter much more than I should because I enjoy following all of the constructions all around the world each offseason. March/April are exciting because we get to watch the parks begin to summer-ize. Finally, May is probably the best time of year (in my opinion) because everyone is discussing their reactions to all the new rides.
 
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