2013 multi-park trip

[StevenXI Guess Donkeys Are Okay]

Hi all, I'm new to the forums having been an occassional lurker for some time.

I'm contemplating the idea of a theme park based trip to the north-east of the US next year with my partner and thought you guys might be able to offer some advice. I'm aware TPR stage a number of trips each year which sound like great fun, but I think we'd quite like to go it alone this time round and have a little adventure of our own.

I've had a quick look at the parks we'd like to go to and have come up with the following outline plan which I think would work out:

• Fly from London to Cincinatti, probably via New York.
• King's Island, then approx 4 hours drive that night to...
• Cedar Point, then approx 3.5 hours drive that night to...
• Kennywood, then approx 4.5 hours drive that night to...
• Knoebels, then approx 1.5 hours drive that night to...
• Dorney Park, then approx 1.5 hours drive that night to...
• Hersheypark, then approx 4 hours drive that night to...
• Kings Dominion, then approx 1.5 hours drive that night to...
• Busch Gardens WIlliamsburg
• Fly from Richmond, Williamsburg or Norfolk to London, probably via New York.

So as you can see, I've selected 8 parks. I'm currently thinking it would be achievable to drive directly between cities after the park each night or at least to drive about half way between the two parks each night and get a hotel there for the night. Not sure if this is realistic, or a little bit too ambitious?

What do you think to the lineup of parks I've come up with? Have I missed out anything obvious I should try to include if we decide to do this? Likewise are any of the above not really worth it? Do any parks require 2 days (Cedar Point?)? I was thinking we'd get Cedar Fair Platinum season passes to save on parking at the 4 Cedar Fair parks, and so if we did that we could afford to do do some of the Cedar Fair parks twice.

Likewise, is there anything non park related along the route we'd be tracking that might be worth seeing? Particularly things along some of the longer drives, where it might make more sense for us to take a day off parks, not drive in the evening, and to drive during the next day and see something else.

What time of year would be best in terms of park hours, business of the parks and weather? I was thinking late May to early June might be relatively quiet and decent weather.

Any other advice or tips gratefully received!..

[CPFanBoyI Guess Donkeys Are Okay]

That sounds like fun. I've been to all of those parks except for Kennywood, and if you go on a weekday in June (May would be even better) there aren't really any lines. As long as you avoid July or August you should be good.
In terms of other parks, you should consider getting a Six Flags season pass and hitting up Six Flags Great Adventure and Six Flags America. Great Adventure is 1.5 hours east of Dorney, and SFAmerica breaks up the drive between Hershey and Kings Dominion.
One day sounds good for everything except Cedar Point. I'd suggest two there just so you're not driving to Kennywood at midnight after the first day. Leave early the second day to give yourself enough time to make that 3.5 hour drive.

[StevenXI Guess Donkeys Are Okay]

That sounds like fun. I've been to all of those parks except for Kennywood, and if you go on a weekday in June (May would be even better) there aren't really any lines. As long as you avoid July or August you should be good.
In terms of other parks, you should consider getting a Six Flags season pass and hitting up Six Flags Great Adventure and Six Flags America. Great Adventure is 1.5 hours east of Dorney, and SFAmerica breaks up the drive between Hershey and Kings Dominion.
One day sounds good for everything except Cedar Point. I'd suggest two there just so you're not driving to Kennywood at midnight after the first day. Leave early the second day to give yourself enough time to make that 3.5 hour drive.

Woops - forgot to mention in my first post that we've both been to Six Flags Great Adventure before (June 2011) so we wouldn't be too bothered about going there again. The Six Flags America is a great suggestion; overlooked that one but it looks to have some pretty worthwhile coasters there, and will really break up the journey as you say, leaving the only long drives between Kings Island and Cedar Point, Cedar Point and Kennywood and Kennywood and Knoebels - looks like those will still have to be long, late night drives! I'd also considered a second day at Cedar Point and leaving early on the second day; sounds like a great idea!

Thanks for the input - really appreciate it, particularly the Six Flags America suggestion Any further suggestions are more than welcome!

[molemaster43A not-so-awesome title]

I went to Kennywood in June on a Friday and it wasn't bad, crowd-wise. The lines really didn't affect me until we hit the Exterminator at about 11:50. What we did is we got there before opening and got in the park at 10:30. We immediately went to the Jack Rabbit and waited for it to open at 11:00. After that, we got rides on Racer, Log Jammer, and Thunderbolt in that order in about 30 minutes. The lines on Phantom's Revenge at this time aren't that bad. Also, the line for the Exterminator will be long throughout the day. Sky Rocket should have a solid line throughout the day as well.

[sspaz1000I prefer to mate with donkeys over humans!]

I'd skip over SFA honestly, while yes it does break up the trip from Hershey to KD, the coasters aren't that spectacular (except Ride of Steel). While SFA isn't horrible, it just won't be as nice as any of the other parks you have listed on your trip.

And yes you need two days at Cedar Point, if you really want to enjoy the park. I mean you can purchase fastlane, and that will get you a lot of the coasters, but it's pretty big and will leave you exhausted if you only have one day, and then have to drive after that day.

[dhubbuchI Love Donkeys!]

Agree on SFA. Looks like a great trip, but I would find a way to fit Waldameer into your schedule. Well worth the trip to ride Ravine Flyer II.

I agree with the Waldameer, if you leave Cedar Point early, and drive 2.5hrs and get to Waldameer at open and ride Ravine Flyer 2, then drive to Kennywood you should be fine on time, and if you were worried Kennywood's fast pass is very very cheap!