In October 2018 I embarked on a big New England road trip which started with flying into Bangor, Maine to take a tour of "Derry." quick side note, the tour unofficially starts here since the airport is where The Langoliers was filmed. Stephen King fans know exactly what I'm talking about. And yes, it was not a cheap flight since this isn't the most popular or biggest airport, but it was worth it.
For the rest of you, let me explain. King is from Maine and Derry is a fictional town in Maine that King created and he's set many of his books there, or have characters that pass through Derry. Basically, Derry is Bangor. A quick search on Trip Advisor will show that there's only one sightseeing tour in Bangor and it's called SK Tours. SK as in Stephen King. A closer search will show you that the tour has 5 stars and 854 reviews. I'm one of those reviewers and I can unequivocally say that the $50 admission fee (at the time of writing) is worth every single penny(wise) and then some.
The tour company is run by couple Stu and Penney Tinker who live in Bangor and used to own a bookstore entirely dedicated to Stephen King books. They offer hotel pickup, and the tour lasts about 3 hours with one gas station stop for drinks and a bathroom break. The tour is in either a Ford E350 van or a Ford tour bus and I don't recall if either of them were wheelchair accessible or not. I would reach out to them first to verify. My tour guide was Stu and he was absolutely fantastic. His knowledge about King was mind boggling. Every character in every book, Stu knows.
We went by WKIT which is a local rock station in Bangor that's owned by Steven King. The K stands for King and the IT stands for, well, IT. Then we drove by the giant Paul Bunyan statue which might look familiar from the movie IT and it was mentioned in the book 11/22/63.
No tour would be complete without a stop by the Oriental Jade, which if you remember was called the Jade Orient in IT where some very creepy things happen.
We also went by the Mt. Hope Cemetery where the original Pet Sematary was filmed. This is where Gage was buried and where King makes his cameo as a pastor.
Maybe coolest of all was going to King's house which was beautiful! Also, it looked like he was home, but alas, he didn't come outside. Maybe next time.
If you're a Steven King fan this tour is a must. If you aren't a huge Steven King fan but find yourself in or near Bangor, ME this tour is still a must!