Mega coaster trip 2017 help.

You might have a bit of difficulty leaving on June 31st.

Why is that?

Oh.....lol.

I guess it would be June 30th then.

You might have a bit of difficulty leaving on June 31st.

You might have a bit of difficulty leaving on June 31st.

How did I miss that?

You might have a bit of difficulty leaving on June 31st.

 

How did I miss that?

No....How did "I" miss that.

Ok...

So I crunched the numbers, and it looks like if I rearrange the order and routes, it becomes more realistic. Here is what I come up with....

 

June 31st...leave home around 5pm, drive 8 hours in the direction of vallyfair. I'll be driving past Chicago late at night, so traffic should be better than daytime.

July 1st...finish the drive to, and spend the day at vallyfair.

If you drive for 8 hours and hit no traffic on the Indiana Turnpike or the outskirts of Chicago on a Friday night (I put the likelihood of this at "minimal"), you'll still have around 3 hours of driving the day after you check into a motel at 1AM Central. If you take the Badger over on the late route, at least you and your family can take a nap in transit. When you arrive at Valleyfair (on the Saturday before 4th of July) you pretty much have no shot at arriving at opening, so you'll need to buy Fastlane bands in advance.

July 2nd...nick universe and Arnold's park. After roughly 2 hours at Arnold's park, start driving to My Rushmore.

July 3rd...Finish drive to mount Rushmore and spend about 2 hours there. Drive 8 hours in the direction of Lagoon.

Nickelodeon Universe opens at 11AM that Sunday. You have three hours of driving between Nick Universe and Arnold's. If you manage to ride everything at Nick Universe in one hour (which won't happen, BTW) and spend 15 minutes eating lunch, the best you can hope to arrive at Arnold's at is 3:15PM. If you spend two hours at Arnold's and leave, you have 6+ hours of driving ahead and you still need to eat and almost certainly get more gas before your next sight. In this scenario, you will spend 17 hours driving in your car to spend 5 hours actually doing stuff.

July 11th... Drive and spend day at Knotts. Drive about 4 hours tourds Amarillo.

July 12th... Drive tourds Amarillo and hopefully get to Wonderland park to grab some night credits.

Again: the drive is around 16 hours in length. If you drive 4 hours towards Amarillo and get to Needles or Kingman, you'll still have 11-12 hours left. You are also crossing two time zones and losing an hour each time you break one. To get to the park at 9PM (one hour before closing), you will need to leave your hotel that morning no later 7AM, and you will basically not be able to stop.

If you are driving this far and thus spending this amount of money on hotels and gas, why don't you just spend more time doing the parks in this region instead of spending your time going to parks that you've already visited multiple times? Yes, you have a Six Flags season pass and a Cedar Fair seasons pass. You're also buying two tanks of gas and multiple days of food/lodging while crossing half the continental United States for what purpose? So that you can rush back and go to Six Flags St. Louis?

If you are driving this far and thus spending this amount of money on hotels and gas, why don't you just spend more time doing the parks in this region instead of spending your time going to parks that you've already visited multiple times? Yes, you have a Six Flags season pass and a Cedar Fair seasons pass. You're also buying two tanks of gas and multiple days of food/lodging while crossing half the continental United States for what purpose? So that you can rush back and go to Six Flags St. Louis?

I tend to agree with this. If you're on a budget I'd really consider just flying a cheap ass airline like Allegiant from South Bend or Grand Rapids to Vegas or Phoenix or Frontier from Detroit to Phoenix / Vegas or LA. I was playing around with those dates (or similar dates) for like 5 minutes on Frontier just now and ended up finding round trip airfare for less than 250 bucks. Personally I'd shoot for LA just because car rentals there have always been absurdly cheap for some reason. You can rent a car near LAX for like 12 bucks a day.

This also saves you a TON of wear and tear on your car, may save you money and gives you more time to enjoy the California parks which is the entire point of the trip anyway. You can also do some other cool things like driving Highway 1 instead of I-5 or spending more time in San Francisco.

Even if you do want to make this a complete road trip I'd still take his advice and cut out some of the parks closer to home.

July 4th... Drive the remaining 2 hours to lagoon and stay there till around 6-7. Start the 10.5 hour drive to sfdk. Drive around 4 hours.

July 5th... continue drive, and get to sfdk for a couple of night rides.

July 6th... spend day at sfdk.

I don't know how crazy busy Lagoon is going to be on the 4th of July or how late they are open, but let's say your able to do everything you want and get out of there by 7:30, the furthest west you'd be able to drive in 4 hours with a place to stay the night is Elko, NV. You don't need more than a day at Discovery Kingdom (maybe not even a full day) so I would recommend making a detour to see Lake Tahoe on the way to Vallejo since it is right by the I-80 anyways. I think your kids (and your wife) would enjoy it. Lake Tahoe is beautiful and is completely different from the lakes in the Upper Midwest. Even if its just a detour from Reno to see the north part of the lake and back on the 1-80 in Truckee, with maybe a quick stop at a north Tahoe beach like Kings Beach, it would be a nice change of pace. If you are running good on time, I would recommend going down the west side (CA) of the lake (CA-89) with a quick view at Emerald Bay and stop at a beach like Sugar Pine Point or Baldwin Beach if your kids want to take a dip in the lake. From South Lake Tahoe, you could take US-50 to Sacramento and back to the 1-80 to Vallejo by night. If you leave Elko by 9AM, this can be done. If you drive down the east side (NV) of the lake its quicker and not nearly as scenic, but Sand Harbor is an excellent beach and one of my favorite spots of the lake.

For Discovery Kingdom I'm not sure if you'll need the Flash Pass, but I would play it by ear. I have visited on a Friday in June right after The Joker opened, a Friday in August, and a Friday during Fright Fest and the longest line I've seen was 35 minutes for The Joker and 45 minutes for Superman Ultimate Flight. I would go to the corner of the park where The Joker and Superman Ultimate Flight are right at park opening and if you can ride those with minimal wait, you won't need a Flash Pass. Discovery Kingdom doesn't get the crazy crowds that Magic Mountain gets.

July 7th... Do a tour of Alcatraz in AM, and Santa Cruz boardwalk in PM. If Gilroy is included with my platinum pass, I "may" try to squeeze it in after Alcatraz. The claim that Alcatraz is a 2.5 hour experience.

July 8th... California's great adventure, then drive a few hours tourds magic mountain.

July 9th.. continue driving, and spend day at mm

July 10th... MM

July 11th... Drive and spend day at Knotts. Drive about 4 hours tourds Amarillo.

The Alcatraz tour is basically taking a reserved time ferry to Alcatraz, then walking around Alcatraz at your own pace with an audio guide, and getting on a ferry back to SF whenever your ready to go back with ferries running every 15-20 min I think. Kind of like the Statue of Liberty tour in NYC, except only one island involved. Seeing Alcatraz is really cool, especially for the great views of the city and the bay. If you could squeeze it in, I would recommend spending the whole day in SF (especially if you've never been before) as there is plenty to see and you could just do one full day at Magic Mountain if you get the Flash Pass. Bring a jacket or sweater for SF by the way, its often colder there in the summer then some days in February.

If you were going to CGA during a weekday, you probably wouldn't need Fast Lane, but since its a Saturday (July 8th) I would play it by ear. Get there at park opening, hit Gold Striker first, then Psycho Mouse (low capacity) or Flight Deck, and then based on the crowds decide if you need Fast Lane or not. If you spent the previous day in SF, you could leave CGA around 5-6PM and head to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk since they are open until 11PM. The boardwalk atmosphere is awesome at night with all the lights, sounds, and smells. Spend the night in the Santa Cruz area.

On the 9th hit Gilroy Gardens if its included with your pass before heading down to Valencia (4.5 hour boring drive on the I-5 or 6 hour partially scenic drive on US-101). If Gilroy Gardens isn't included with your pass or you decide it isn't of much interest to you, may I suggest visiting the Monterey Bay Aquarium instead (which is 45 min-1 hour south of Santa Cruz)? Your kids will love it, and it's ranked one of the best aquariums in the world. From Monterey its about a 5 hour drive to Valencia.

On the 10th arrive at Magic Mountain before 10:30 park opening. I know you're on a budget, but if there is only one park where you splurge on a Flash Pass, this would be it. Magic Mountain is always crowded in the summer, even during the week. With all the rides (mainly coasters) Magic Mountain has to offer it's a full day park. After Magic Mountain I would drive to Buena Park and spend the night in that area. LA area traffic is a lot better at night then in the morning.

I can't help you after the Knott's day, but to drive four hours after Knott's towards Amarillo to a park I've never heard of sounds gruesome to me. If you drive four hours east you'll make it to Needles (just before the AZ border), but I think it would be a lot more enjoyable for you and your family to enjoy the day at Knott's and spend the night nearby in the same hotel/motel you spent the previous night in and to continue on east in the morning. Maybe cut out a couple of parks at the end of your trip that are closer to your home especially if you've been to them before. I would ask your family if they would rather see all these other minor parks or see some other sites like San Francisco, Lake Tahoe, Monterey Bay Aquarium, etc.

July 4th... Drive the remaining 2 hours to lagoon and stay there till around 6-7. Start the 10.5 hour drive to sfdk. Drive around 4 hours.

July 5th... continue drive, and get to sfdk for a couple of night rides.

July 6th... spend day at sfdk.

 

I don't know how crazy busy Lagoon is going to be on the 4th of July or how late they are open, but let's say your able to do everything you want and get out of there by 7:30, the furthest west you'd be able to drive in 4 hours with a place to stay the night is Elko, NV. You don't need more than a day at Discovery Kingdom (maybe not even a full day) so I would recommend making a detour to see Lake Tahoe on the way to Vallejo since it is right by the I-80 anyways. I think your kids (and your wife) would enjoy it. Lake Tahoe is beautiful and is completely different from the lakes in the Upper Midwest. Even if its just a detour from Reno to see the north part of the lake and back on the 1-80 in Truckee, with maybe a quick stop at a north Tahoe beach like Kings Beach, it would be a nice change of pace. If you are running good on time, I would recommend going down the west side (CA) of the lake (CA-89) with a quick view at Emerald Bay and stop at a beach like Sugar Pine Point or Baldwin Beach if your kids want to take a dip in the lake. From South Lake Tahoe, you could take US-50 to Sacramento and back to the 1-80 to Vallejo by night. If you leave Elko by 9AM, this can be done. If you drive down the east side (NV) of the lake its quicker and not nearly as scenic, but Sand Harbor is an excellent beach and one of my favorite spots of the lake.

 

For Discovery Kingdom I'm not sure if you'll need the Flash Pass, but I would play it by ear. I have visited on a Friday in June right after The Joker opened, a Friday in August, and a Friday during Fright Fest and the longest line I've seen was 35 minutes for The Joker and 45 minutes for Superman Ultimate Flight. I would go to the corner of the park where The Joker and Superman Ultimate Flight are right at park opening and if you can ride those with minimal wait, you won't need a Flash Pass. Discovery Kingdom doesn't get the crazy crowds that Magic Mountain gets.

 

July 7th... Do a tour of Alcatraz in AM, and Santa Cruz boardwalk in PM. If Gilroy is included with my platinum pass, I "may" try to squeeze it in after Alcatraz. The claim that Alcatraz is a 2.5 hour experience.

July 8th... California's great adventure, then drive a few hours tourds magic mountain.

July 9th.. continue driving, and spend day at mm

July 10th... MM

July 11th... Drive and spend day at Knotts. Drive about 4 hours tourds Amarillo.

 

The Alcatraz tour is basically taking a reserved time ferry to Alcatraz, then walking around Alcatraz at your own pace with an audio guide, and getting on a ferry back to SF whenever your ready to go back with ferries running every 15-20 min I think. Kind of like the Statue of Liberty tour in NYC, except only one island involved. Seeing Alcatraz is really cool, especially for the great views of the city and the bay. If you could squeeze it in, I would recommend spending the whole day in SF (especially if you've never been before) as there is plenty to see and you could just do one full day at Magic Mountain if you get the Flash Pass. Bring a jacket or sweater for SF by the way, its often colder there in the summer then some days in February.

 

If you were going to CGA during a weekday, you probably wouldn't need Fast Lane, but since its a Saturday (July 8th) I would play it by ear. Get there at park opening, hit Gold Striker first, then Psycho Mouse (low capacity) or Flight Deck, and then based on the crowds decide if you need Fast Lane or not. If you spent the previous day in SF, you could leave CGA around 5-6PM and head to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk since they are open until 11PM. The boardwalk atmosphere is awesome at night with all the lights, sounds, and smells. Spend the night in the Santa Cruz area.

 

On the 9th hit Gilroy Gardens if its included with your pass before heading down to Valencia (4.5 hour boring drive on the I-5 or 6 hour partially scenic drive on US-101). If Gilroy Gardens isn't included with your pass or you decide it isn't of much interest to you, may I suggest visiting the Monterey Bay Aquarium instead (which is 45 min-1 hour south of Santa Cruz)? Your kids will love it, and it's ranked one of the best aquariums in the world. From Monterey its about a 5 hour drive to Valencia.

 

On the 10th arrive at Magic Mountain before 10:30 park opening. I know you're on a budget, but if there is only one park where you splurge on a Flash Pass, this would be it. Magic Mountain is always crowded in the summer, even during the week. With all the rides (mainly coasters) Magic Mountain has to offer it's a full day park. After Magic Mountain I would drive to Buena Park and spend the night in that area. LA area traffic is a lot better at night then in the morning.

 

I can't help you after the Knott's day, but to drive four hours after Knott's towards Amarillo to a park I've never heard of sounds gruesome to me. If you drive four hours east you'll make it to Needles (just before the AZ border), but I think it would be a lot more enjoyable for you and your family to enjoy the day at Knott's and spend the night nearby in the same hotel/motel you spent the previous night in and to continue on east in the morning. Maybe cut out a couple of parks at the end of your trip that are closer to your home especially if you've been to them before. I would ask your family if they would rather see all these other minor parks or see some other sites like San Francisco, Lake Tahoe, Monterey Bay Aquarium, etc.

Thank you for that info. The aquarium sounds like it may be a hit with the kids. Also looking into winchester house as well.

So after long thought and reading all the suggestions, we have decided to cut out most of the return parks. We are focusing on California. So this is what we came up with.As far as flying, we decided against it for several reasons. There are 5 of us with lots of luggage. Plus the cost of tickets,parking, baggage,rental car, and just the challenge of 2 3yo kids on an airplane for 6 hours.

New itinerary......

June 30th, leave Michigan aroud 5pm(try to get 8 hours of driving in)

July 1st..Drive

July 2nd..Drive

July 3rd..Drive/Lagoon/Drive

July 4th..Drive/sfdk

July 5th..sfdk(Find something in the area to do in the eve)

July 6th..Tour of Alcatraz, spend a few hours in SF, and head to Santa Cruz Boardwalk for the eve

July 7th..CGA/Drive

July 8th..Magic Mountain

July 9th..Magic Mountain/Drive

July 10th..Knotts/Drive a few hours after

July 11th..Drive, Hoover dam, Drive about 6 hours

July 12th..Drive, lakeside park in pm

July 13th..Elitch gardens till 4pm, then drive

July 14th..Drive, Arnolds park, Nick universe

July 15th..Vallyfair, drive

July 16th.. Drive rest of way home to Michigan

On the return trip, I picked the parks that are more out of the way for us(Lakeside and Elitch). I also picked nick universe, Arnolds park, and vallyfair because they are the last parks in that part of the country that I have not been to yet.

I'm going to through Glenwood Caverns back in the mix again then.

Leave Hoover Dam and drive roughly 8 hours to Grand Junction or if you can handle it the 10 all the way to Glenwood. You are going a weekday in Summer so you should be able to knock out the rides by mid-afternoon if you show up at opening. The reason I recommend this is that you stated you might not be out this way for a while. Glenwood Caverns is a lot further out then Denver is and it is a very family oriented park with some very unique thrill rides. (I may be biased since I work there. ) If you do leave early enough from Glenwood it will put you in Denver plenty early enough. (I noticed Lakeside will close around 10 or 11 so if you leave Glenwood by 4PM you will have 3-4 hours at Lakeside.)

If you go with the direct route west to California, the obvious things to see on the way to are:

-Adventureland Iowa (I'll assume you haven't been if you haven't done Arnolds)

-Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha (very, very highly rated)

-The Archway in Kearney, NE (white elephant project, interior exhibits were actually designed by Disney Imagineers)

-Wyoming State Museum (free)

-University of Wyoming Geological Museum (dinosaurs)

-Natural History Museum of Utah (also dinosaurs but honestly one of the best natural history museums in the nation and an outstanding piece of architecture to boot)

Adventureland and the Zoo are going to require an hour or more, but the others should be more straight forward.

If you go with the direct route west to California, the obvious things to see on the way to are:

 

-Adventureland Iowa (I'll assume you haven't been if you haven't done Arnolds)

-Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha (very, very highly rated)

-The Archway in Kearney, NE (white elephant project, interior exhibits were actually designed by Disney Imagineers)

-Wyoming State Museum (free)

-University of Wyoming Geological Museum (dinosaurs)

-Natural History Museum of Utah (also dinosaurs but honestly one of the best natural history museums in the nation and an outstanding piece of architecture to boot)

 

Adventureland and the Zoo are going to require an hour or more, but the others should be more straight forward.

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll look into a few of them. We are also going to check out the salt flats as well. Noticed that it is right next to I-80. As far as adventureland goes, I stopped by there a couple of years ago. We did not have time to do Arnold's park back then, and it's been a girl ever since then.

Glenwood caverns is also a strong possibility. Looking into that now.

^Also note that you will be passing through lots of areas with high elevation, so wear lots of sunscreen! Cover every inch of yourself. I do not know if you have ever had a high altitude sunburn, but I know you do not want one.

If you are going to stop by Tahoe, maybe go to Heavenly? In the summer, they have a small park with some zip lines, ropes courses, and an alpine Coaster. But Heavenly is also on south shore, which is a good deal out of the way from 80.

Source: Tahoe local, and I go to college in Reno.

Cool....thanks.

Might have to add a night in Vegas. Circus circus has $29 rooms.

This trip sounds miserable! WAY too much driving for crappy parks! Fly into Northern California, go to their parks, and fly out of Southern california. There's no way you would finish this trip with the amount of driving. Just pay for airfare.

That's really not a fair statement at all.

Some people like driving and road trips, some people don't. If you're like me and Brit then long drives are second nature and they're actually kind of enjoyable. We routinely make a 12 hour drive each way to Dollywood or an 11 1/2 hour drive each way to visit her parents, sometimes on weekends without taking time off from work. It's only miserable if you don't like driving, plenty of people do.

That's really not a fair statement at all.

 

Some people like driving and road trips, some people don't. If you're like me and Brit then long drives are second nature and they're actually kind of enjoyable. We routinely make a 12 hour drive each way to Dollywood or an 11 1/2 hour drive each way to visit her parents, sometimes on weekends without taking time off from work. It's only miserable if you don't like driving, plenty of people do.

Exactly!

We enjoy driving, and the wife isn't too fond of flying either. We do fly sometimes, but only if we don't have the time to drive. We also have a 2yo,3yo(with behavior issues), and an 11yo to take on the plane as well. It's not exactly the best option for us to fly.

Yeah, I feel like we're sort of on the same page.

I fly when I have to but avoid it when I can. I have no fear of flying, but I find it annoying as hell. Flying from a major airport (for us) entails driving through New York City and dealing with traffic that makes it impossible to time so you have to leave really early, parking at an offsite lot, taking a shuttle, dealing with an annoying security line, spending a few hours in one of the 3 New York airports which are a national embarrassment and then when you land standing in line to rent a car (or taking a shuttle to a rental car place which is even more annoying).

I'd rather drive somewhere, save money and have my own car whenever possible. It's so much less stressful and sometimes you see some cool things along the way / get to make spontaneous side trips and stops.

Yeah, I'll drive a ways too. I wouldn't drive to California, but I've gone to Winnepeg, Denver, San Antonio, Sandusky, and Florida, all of which are a whole day's drive from me. In general, if I can drive there in one day, I do. Getting ready to go to Dollywood (10 hours for us) next month. We save a lot of money that way, thanks in no small part to being able to take a cooler and fill with good things. No stopping the van because kids are hungry or thirsty, and no relying on fast food. It really does help.

We usually hit up Costco before a road trip. Gatorade and beef jerky....you know, the essentials.

With all of the hassles and BS going on with airlines these days, I would prefer driving to destinations in the US, Canada and Mexico and save the airfare for the overseas trips (or for time savers in the US - only if I am running low on vacation days).

That's one of the main reasons we bought a used RV last year.

^Yea, plus we don't feel like getting booted off a plane because it's overbooked. Or even worse....beat up.

As much as I love road trips, this itinerary looks exhausting. Have you scheduled in extra rest time, just in case?

After much research and thought, we have decided to skip California on this trip and focus on the central states. We plan on doing an exclusive California only trip the following summer. So this is our final mega trip itinerary we came up with.

Day 1...leave Michigan in the afternoon, drive to kings island for a few nite rides, drive to mid Kentucky to crash for the night.

Day 2... Finish driving to six flags over GA, pick up season passes and spend day at the park. Stay the night.

Day 3... Get up early, drive to kemah boardwalk TX. Spend a few hours that night at the park(possibly head over to pleasure pier for a little credit horring). Stay the night.

Day 4... Drive to ZDT'S to hit up the coaster. Spend rest of day at six flags fiesta tx. Stay night.

Day 5... Spend full day at sfft. Stay night.

Day 6... Seaworld San antonio. Drive 2 hours. Stay night.

Day 7... Drive to six flags over TX and spend day at park.Stay night.

Day 8... Full day at six flags over TX. Stay night.

Day 9... Drive to frontier city and spend day. stay the night.

Day 10... Drive to Ozarks, hit up Lamberts for lunch, and then take advantage of the preview of sdc for the rest of the day. Stay the night.

Day 11... All day at sdc, drive to worlds of fun area.(sdc is only open till 7pm). Stay the night.

Day 12... Spend a few hours at world's of fun, then drive 2.5 hours to Adventureland park and do a few hours there. Stay the night.

Day 13... Get up, head to Arnold's park for 2 hours. Drive to Mall of America and Nick universe for remainder of day. Stay night.

Day 14... Spend day at vallyfair, drive 2 hours and stay night.

Day 15... Head to bay beach park for a quick credit, then head to six flags great America for remainder of the day. Stay night.

Day 16...Start heading back to Michigan, with a couple hour stop at Michigan's adventure along the way.

Some of the parks that we have been to before, we are not going to be spending a true full day at. The bigger parks we have never been to, we are staying more than 1 day at. Also, at most parks we are staying at hotels that are right next to the paks to Dave time and for convinance.

After looking at the parks in California, it just makes sense to dedicate a trip there at another time.

I think this is a much saner, more doable trip, and will be a lot more fun for your family. I'm scratching my head at the Georgia leg though, as that's completely in a different direction. I get that you'll want to do something between Ohio and Texas, but more directly on the way would be Magic Springs or Beech Bend. If you've been to Magic Springs before, then you don't need to go back. Beech Bend has the new SBF Visa spinner and last year's new waterslide complex with the saucer slide. It's a fun place to spend a couple of hours.