It's been over year since we have been on a roller coaster. It was last June right before my back surgery. It was so much fun, but it's been way too long.

We are in the process of figuring out annual trip that we take every year with our kids. Lucky for us the park we are visiting is located in sunny California and it's open all year long. It has fewer hours in the off season, but it's still open.

The plan right now is to head back to Six Flags Magic Mountain in early November for a few days. Here are the reasons we are choosing this park and that time frame ::

• It's one of the few parks open this time of year.
• It has the most roller coasters of any other park.
• It has a new ride we have not been on.
• We always go during the off season, keeps us from having to use a Flash pass
• With kids in high school trying to work around sports, activities and work gets trickier.  This is between sport seasons.
• It's an affordable time to fly.  It's not yet the holidays and it's no longer summer.
• We will probably really enjoy getting out of the rain into the sun for a few days by then.

So we start the process of watching airfare, figuring out tickets and hopefully using Hotwire to get us a deal on hotel and car. I really like where we stayed last time.

Stay tuned as we put this together, hopefully affordably.

I love roller coasters, thus the blog. I love looking at them, riding them and hearing about them. I love living the dream of heading off to my next roller coaster trip. So you can imagine how sad this makes me to see roller coasters just get abandoned.

This is a picture from Six Flags in New Orleans that was destroyed during hurricane Katrina. The word on the street is that it's too expensive to rebuild yet too expensive to abandon all together, so it just sits there.

There are several posts that talk about this and show all the pictures of the abandoned coasters, rides and walk ways. Check out this post. It's pretty crazy.

It's back! If you are looking for discount tickets to Cedar Point or Coupons for Cedar Point, I have found them.

I am an avid couponer and I make my way to Coupons.com often.  Just today I noticed that you can click and print a $7 off coupon to Cedar Point.

All you will need to do is install a coupon printer on your computer. This will do nothing to harm your computer. Trust me, my husband is an IT guy and he has even allowed me to put it on his so I can print more coupons.  I am not sure how many people can use the coupon.  Just know that if you need more you can print 2 coupons per computer.

Enjoy the ride!!

10. Seattle, Washington – I do love this place and yes, you do need to go in the summer, due to all the rain. Plenty to see.  We did the Underground Tour and loved it. We also hit Pikes place and the Space Needle, of course.

9. Europe – for those world travelers. Italy is a big destination as is Paris, France and Euro Disney. We have not been to Euro Disney, but we did pull up to the gates one time and longingly look in. We just didn't have time to go, yep, that's on the regret list too. At least we have done Paris a few times.

8. Alaska – Not only is this the time to cruise into Alaska, but it's also a time when RVer's make their way up. There are so many outdoor activities to choose from too. Something for everyone at this great out of the way state.

7. Vancouver, BC – We did this trip a few years back and had the time of our lives. Favorite part was biking around Stanley Park and walking around the, not yet complete, Athletes Village, for the Olympics.

6. Cedar Point – Yep, it's not open in the winter, so the summer is the peak season and many flock to this great attraction. I know we have.

5. Los Angeles/San Diego – both of these beautiful cities made the list. Not only are there plenty of beaches to walk, surf and swim, but the food around the areas is great too. Always a big plus for me.

4. Las Vegas – I just don't get this one. It's HOT there during the summer. But with all the great motels, great pools attached to all those hotels and plenty to see and do in and around the city, it also makes the list as a top travel destination.

3. Hawaii – With plenty of sunshine and lots of islands to hop and enjoy it's no surprise. Although I would choose this as a winter destination, not a summer, but it was on the list.

2. Disneyland/Disneyworld – Probably one of the busiest times to go, but many plan that Magical trip during the summer.

1. New York City – I have never been, but I would agree that this is probably a great summer destination.

What have I missed? What is one of your favorite summer destinations?

Here are 6 Steps to Planning the Perfect Roller Coaster Vacation

Use Hotwire to save you money. Here's how to figure out what hotel you might be booking.

Do you really need to purchase that FlashPass?

Make sure you get the most out of your park.

Groupon is a great way to find good deals. Not only on food, but hotels, entertainment and spa. Just to name a few things. Make sure you add the city you will be vacationing to and watch it for deals.

Take the time to research the park you are going to, and make sure it will meet all the needs of your family. Our family does like Disneyland, but since we tend to be more of the thrill seeker type family, we have to head to places like Cedar Point. But for those that don't like thrill, Cedar point is not the best place for you.

My favorite money saving tip of all when going to amusement parks to ask for cups of water at the restaurants. Both Cedar Fair parks and Six Flags will give you cups upon request for FREE. Which is a whole lot cheaper than $4 for a small bottle.

Forced to buy the bottled water, then buy it from a vending machine so you don't have to pay sales tax. Every little bit counts, right?

Need a few more ideas, check out Frugal Dad.

Loved this place and would go back in a heart beat, but read on for how to make it work best for you.  This place is busy, so be prepared.

Read  my previous posts to find out what all we did at the park and other ways to "discover" Magic Mountain.

First off I went directly to the site and looked for a room with breakfast included for the 4 of us.  With taxes and anything else added it came to $313 for 2 nights.  I did so much better than that.  Check out the whole thing HERE. I did call and have her offer me something a little better, but I did best with package deal.

Since this Hotel is near the park(actually it's the closest) I figured it would be run down and marginal.  I was so surprised to see that it was not only very nice looking, but it was very clean.  I was very, very surprised.  It makes going back to your hotel to rest a whole lot more fun.

Our breakfast was a cook to order, so I wasn't really sure what to expect there.  BIG TIP:  When we were there the place was busy, but not off the charts busy.  I am sure during the busy season this place is a zoo and you really, really need to plan accordingly.

This is a sit down breakfast.  There is a pastry/cereal/toast bar plus a fruit bar.  From there you wait for someone to come take your order for hot food which is eggs, bacon, sausage, potatoes, pancakes and waffles to name a few.  The kitchen cranks it out as fast as they can, but they do get behind. The servers are running like crazy.  DO NOT think you will eat in 15 minutes or less plan accordingly.  It will take some time especially if you have to wait for a table.

I really, really appreciated the shuttle service. I am sure that since they were not super busy that they accommodated us well.  You have to schedule what time you want to be taken to the park and what time you want picked up.  Spots fill up quickly, so book at departures to the park as soon as you arrive.

We had scheduled a pick up, but some other people waiting had not.  Had we not scheduled it, those people would have never gotten picked up.  The nice thing is since the Hotel is so close they can turn around and come back for the next group within 5 minutes.

I am not sure in the busy season how many trips they become willing to take.  They claim one trip every 1/2 hour, but they were doing more.  At $15 a day for parking this was a great benefit to our hotel.  No other hotels in the area do this.  Not only do you save the $15, but you don't have to walk all the way from the parking lot or back to your car at the end of the day. Drop off and Pick up are right there by the entrance.

Want to learn how to really enjoy and get the most out of your theme park trip?  I have some proven tips to share with you.

If you have already booked your trip there are still some tips to help you out.  Even if you can't use them all there are still some great tips in here to keep you happy while at the park of your choice.

1. Pack Light – If you don't have little ones, take as little as you possibly can.  This works great for places like Disneyland, because you can skip the bag check line and pass up all those people.  We load up the boys cargo shorts with things we might need, like snacks, phones, cameras and sunscreen.  You never have to keep up with a bag and in the end, we have never missed the bag.
   
2. Be Willing to Eat in the Park – This is a big one for me, because I like good food and good food is hard to find in a park, and it's expensive.  We try and choose a hotel with a big breakfast, then we pack snacks in hopes of just needing to eat a light lunch.  Try and find healthy food so you don't make yourself sick and miss out on all the fun of the park. We don't like to waste time leaving the park and re-entering, so we just try and find something there.
3. Don't be Cheap, Drink Lots of Water – Especially during the summer, stay hydrated.  You don't want to ruin your day and get sick because you didn't drink enough.  Try asking for a free glass of water at the counters.  I know Cedar Point has to give them out.  Other things we have done in the past is carry a reusable bottle and filled it for FREE at the water fountain.  Our kids also have fond memories of us buying a HUGE water bottle and walking from our motel to the Disneyland entrance, we couldn't enter until the whole bottle was gone.  That was our way of making sure they started the day hydrated.
4. Wear Good Shoes - There will be lots of walking no mater what park you are intending on going to, so make sure you have good shoes.  Our family runs from ride to ride, because we keep track of how many rides we can go on during the day and write it down when we get back to the hotel in the evening.   Here's a comment from my daughter when she wore the "cute" shoes instead of the comfy shoes.
   
5. Check School Calendars -  I mention this tip a lot, but it has given us some great vacations.  You pay so much money to go, you might as well try really hard to find out when the area is out of school or when they go back.  We have done Cedar Point late August a few times because they had gone back to school and we hadn't yet.  We also hit the California parks once we get out, but before they get out.  We almost always use this tip.  You can see from the picture above, that April is a great time to go to Great America in California, we had the place to ourselves.

I was reading over at Frugal Dad about his Disneyworld vacation and he mentioned what they did to keep the kids occupied while in line and it made my think of our games we "invented" for a lack of better words.

So here are a few Coaster Family games to play while standing in line.

1. Don't stop moving. This one is funny as we sometimes get into peoples space making ourselves laugh which also is a good time waster.  The way this game works is you take the smallest steps possible and you never stop until you are at the front of the line.
2. The Alphabet Game.  Pick a topic and go through the alphabet saying something within topic.  We usually do music, so we have done artists, bands and song tittles.  You can change things up for adults and do 70's songs(if you need the challenge) and you can also do this with little kids naming animals. If you get stuck you might need to ask someone in line.
3. Guess how many more coasters come buy before you get on.  This works well if you can see the coasters coming and going.  Then you count.  This is good in conjunction with the other games.  Winner chooses their seat.
4. Risky places to bounce a super ball.  Yep, it's exactly what you think it is. We get a super ball (or 2) and bounce it on the ground.  Sometimes the ground off to the side is a ramp leaving a ride.  It's funny to have people watch you and they will help you rescue your ball.  We like to see how long one ball will last.  It can last up to a day or two.  Bonus:  We entertain those around us.
5. Rock, Paper, Scissors.  It's simple, but fun.
6. Photo Guess.  We take a camera everywhere we go, so my husband made this game where we all had to turn our backs and close our eyes and he would take a super close up of something right there in line and we would have to figure out what it was.

Frugal Dad suggested in his post that kids should take along handheld gaming systems to keep them from getting bored.  I couldn't be more against that idea.  We have been taking our kids on roller coaster vacations for years and we have stood in a few lines here and there.  It's a time to talk, to hang out, to be together.  I have to deal with video games enough, I don't want that during vacations too. Plus I am not going to carry that thing for them.

What other games have you played while standing in line?  I know you have all gotten creative at some time or another.

Cedar Fair is doing something special to honor the military and that is giving them FREE admission to any of their parks.  For Memorial Weekend, May 30 and May 31 also  the 4ht of July weekend, July 4 and July 5 Military can get in for  FREE. This for active or retired military.  You just need your Military ID to get in.

It doesn't stop there.  They are also offering discount tickets to immediate family(max 6) those days as well.  For all the details check it out HERE.

Check out the 14 parks you can choose from.

Thanks for all you do!!!  Enjoy your day of fun with your family.

The memories we have created are priceless.  We started when my son was in 1st grade and last year, as a 7th grader was the first year we missed a coaster vacation.

It's my fault. It's not a money thing, it's a back thing, like I need back surgery.

Three years ago we went to Cedar Point Ohio and I accidentally mixed some medications and passed out while waiting in line.   Super, super embarrassing.

Me After I Passed Out

Two years ago I managed my drugs better and did fine, but last year I couldn't even walk the park and this year it's finally surgery time.

Biggest bummer?  Our kids still love doing that vacation with us and our time with them is running out.  It kills me.  But in honor of Mother's Day and my favorite vacations with my kids, I give you:

Through the Years

Great America '03

Disneyland '04

Great America '05

Six Flags Valencia '05

Magic Mountain '06

Great America '06

Cedar Point '07 - Maverick

Great America '08

Great America '08

Cedar Point '08 - Top Thrill Dragster

Kings Island '08

Update ::  We didn't make it to the park in '09, but we did manage a trip in 2010!!!

Goliath at Six Flags Magic Mountain 2010