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Mega coaster trip 2018 Photo Trip Report.


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It's that time of year again where we plan our annual MEGA park trip. This year we are focusing on the east coast parks with an emphasis on six flags and cedar fair parks. We already have season passes to both park chains with dinning plans as well. The plan is to try and stick to these park chains to control costs. There are only a few exceptions we are making.

There are a bunch of other great parks like knobles and Hershey, and busch gardens,but that's going to be for another trip later in the summer.

This is the tentative schedule as we leave from Michigan...

 

Day 1...cedarpoint

Day 2...niagra falls and seabreeze park

Day 3...Darien lake

Day 4...sf great escape

Day 5...six flags new England

Day 6...Rye playland

Day 7...Half day at sesame place/ Half at Dorney park

Day 8... Six flags great adventure

Day 9...six flags America

Day 10...kings dominion

Day 11...myrtle beach/family kingdom

Day 12... carowinds

Day 13... Dollywood

Day 14... Kentucky kingdom

Day 15... kings island

 

Any input or suggestions would be greatly appreciated! We could possibly fit Busch gardens into the mix. We are seaworld Orlando season pass holders...does anybody know if there is a discount on tickets for BG? I know that there is a discount for sesame place, but can't seem to find anything about a bush gardens discount.

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It's that time of year again where we plan our annual MEGA park trip. This year we are focusing on the east coast parks with an emphasis on six flags and cedar fair parks. We already have season passes to both park chains with dinning plans as well. The plan is to try and stick to these park chains to control costs. There are only a few exceptions we are making.

There are a bunch of other great parks like knobles and Hershey, and busch gardens,but that's going to be for another trip later in the summer.

This is the tentative schedule as we leave from Michigan...

 

Day 1...cedarpoint

Day 2...niagra falls and seabreeze park

Day 3...Darien lake

Day 4...sf great escape

Day 5...six flags new England

Day 6...Rye playland

Day 7...Half day at sesame place/ Half at Dorney park

Day 8... Six flags great adventure

Day 9...six flags America

Day 10...kings dominion

Day 11...myrtle beach/family kingdom

Day 12... carowinds

Day 13... Dollywood

Day 14... Kentucky kingdom

Day 15... kings island

 

Any input or suggestions would be greatly appreciated! We could possibly fit Busch gardens into the mix. We are seaworld Orlando season pass holders...does anybody know if there is a discount on tickets for BG? I know that there is a discount for sesame place, but can't seem to find anything about a bush gardens discount.

I would recommend going to Lake Compounce and Quassy instead of Playland. Although its historical aspect is interesting, the park is sadly run down, and the majority of the rides are mediocre. LC and Quassy are much nicer, and Boulder Dash and Wooden Warrior are fantastic rides. There are efforts to help renovate playland, and plans were revealed last year that detailed a significant flat expansion for 2019, including a unicoaster and chance revolution. For now, however, the park is not worth the 30 dollar admission.

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I'm not going to go too much in detail as I feel like we argue about this every year but you have some long drives on this list and I don't understand when you'll be doing them.

 

The one that stands out the most is a day at Kings Dominion and then the next day you're doing Myrtle Beach. That's a six hour MINIMUM drive with no stops. Depending on what day and time you do it, it could be much worse. I get it if you're just going to go and do Family Kingdom as a credit whore stop, but then that's a minimum of 10 hours out of the way driving for some credits?

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I'm not going to go too much in detail as I feel like we argue about this every year but you have some long drives on this list and I don't understand when you'll be doing them.

 

The one that stands out the most is a day at Kings Dominion and then the next day you're doing Myrtle Beach. That's a six hour MINIMUM drive with no stops. Depending on what day and time you do it, it could be much worse. I get it if you're just going to go and do Family Kingdom as a credit whore stop, but then that's a minimum of 10 hours out of the way driving for some credits?

 

Yep...close to six hours.

We have been to KD several times already, so the plan is to leave around 6 or 7 and get at least half the drive done that night. The remainder of the drive would be done in the AM. That would get us into myrtle beach around noon the next day. The plan once we get there is to spend a few hours on the beach, check out a few shops, hit family kingdom for a few hours and try to be on the road to carowinds by 7.

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It's that time of year again where we plan our annual MEGA park trip. This year we are focusing on the east coast parks with an emphasis on six flags and cedar fair parks. We already have season passes to both park chains with dinning plans as well. The plan is to try and stick to these park chains to control costs. There are only a few exceptions we are making.

There are a bunch of other great parks like knobles and Hershey, and busch gardens,but that's going to be for another trip later in the summer.

This is the tentative schedule as we leave from Michigan...

 

Day 1...cedarpoint

Day 2...niagra falls and seabreeze park

Day 3...Darien lake

Day 4...sf great escape

Day 5...six flags new England

Day 6...Rye playland

Day 7...Half day at sesame place/ Half at Dorney park

Day 8... Six flags great adventure

Day 9...six flags America

Day 10...kings dominion

Day 11...myrtle beach/family kingdom

Day 12... carowinds

Day 13... Dollywood

Day 14... Kentucky kingdom

Day 15... kings island

 

Any input or suggestions would be greatly appreciated! We could possibly fit Busch gardens into the mix. We are seaworld Orlando season pass holders...does anybody know if there is a discount on tickets for BG? I know that there is a discount for sesame place, but can't seem to find anything about a bush gardens discount.

I would recommend going to Lake Compounce and Quassy instead of Playland. Although its historical aspect is interesting, the park is sadly run down, and the majority of the rides are mediocre. LC and Quassy are much nicer, and Boulder Dash and Wooden Warrior are fantastic rides. There are efforts to help renovate playland, and plans were revealed last year that detailed a significant flat expansion for 2019, including a unicoaster and chance revolution. For now, however, the park is not worth the 30 dollar admission.

 

Thanks for the suggestions!

Lake compounce is a great park, but we have already been there before. Quassy looks like a great park(wooden warrior), but since most of our group has never been to sfne, we opted to skip quassy untill the next go around. However, after looking into a few things, it "might" be possible to do quassy in the am and playland in the evening. I just have to look into drive time. I'll have to check out if playland has a twilight ticket.

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Yep...close to six hours.

We have been to KD several times already, so the plan is to leave around 6 or 7 and get at least half the drive done that night. The remainder of the drive would be done in the AM. That would get us into myrtle beach around noon the next day. The plan once we get there is to spend a few hours on the beach, check out a few shops, hit family kingdom for a few hours and try to be on the road to carowinds by 7.

 

It's been a few years since I've been to Myrtle Beach but if I recall traffic getting into and or out of the place can get pretty bad certain days of the week/times of the year. May wanna look into that if you're going to be there around a weekend or holiday or some sort.

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It's that time of year again where we plan our annual MEGA park trip.

 

I remember your ideas for last year and wooooo they were a thing so let's see what you've got this time.

 

(BTW you know it cost absolutely nothing to get into Knoebels, right?)

 

Day 1...cedarpoint

Day 2...niagra falls and seabreeze park

Day 3...Darien lake

 

Double backing a little bit here. In terms of driving, you'd be better off flipping Darien and Seabreeze, but if Day 2 is a Saturday, I get it.

 

Also, did you check the calendar for Darien Lake to ensure there's no concerts? You really want to do that especially since everything is one train operation only (minus Tantrum...maybe).

 

Day 4...sf great escape

 

Lots of weird stuff in town but I can't recommend all of it (the last Howard Johnson's restaurant is here but it is by most accounts AWFUL). Good mini golf though.

 

Day 5...six flags new England

Day 6...Rye playland

 

Stop at Quassy on the Rye day. You can go individual tickets here and skip everything that isn't Wooden Warrior. But Wooden Warrior...yooooo

 

Also I don't care if you skip Lake Compounce because fahgettaboudit.

 

Day 7...Half day at sesame place/ Half at Dorney park

Day 8... Six flags great adventure

Day 9...six flags America

 

Weekend at SFA? Otherwise mix in some DC stuff.

 

Day 10...kings dominion

Day 11...myrtle beach/family kingdom

 

Dude, just go to BGW instead. If you want a boardwalk, stop at VA Beach. The dark ride there is dead but usually some carnies set up for the summer with a coaster or two nearby. You'll be spending a ton of money and time in the car to try and not spend a ton of money. Swamp Fox is cool, don't get me wrong, but what else is left there?

 

Rest is pretty chill IMO

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Lol...yea, last year's mega trip was quite the undertaking, but turned out Great besides a food poisoning incident.

 

Knobles is on the agenda this year. We are doing the fall freak out event. So we figured that we would check out someplace we have never been.

 

The seabreeze park has a $15 evening pass. The thinking was that we would do the falls for a few hours, and head to seabreeze at 5pm when the deal starts. We have never been to seabreeze park, but I can't see it taking more than 4 or 5 hours to do the park. That would give us a full day at Darien lake the following day. I'll definitely look into the concert dates, but it looks like we would be at Darien lake on a Monday.

 

Lol..I think the hojo was one of the hotels in the area tgat we were looking at.

 

We may try to squeeze quassy into the mix. I'll have to look at a map to see where exactly.

 

Sfa would be on a Sunday. We have been there in the past, so not gonna be heart broken if we don't get to everything.

 

As far as Busch gardens goes, I'm looking into if seaworld season pass holders get any kind of discounts on tickets. If it's a decent discount, we may add a day to the trip. I would love to return to this park.

 

What's nice about this year's trip, is that we have 4 weeks off of work. So time really is not an issue. The only barrier is budget.

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The seabreeze park has a $15 evening pass. The thinking was that we would do the falls for a few hours, and head to seabreeze at 5pm when the deal starts. We have never been to seabreeze park, but I can't see it taking more than 4 or 5 hours to do the park. That would give us a full day at Darien lake the following day. I'll definitely look into the concert dates, but it looks like we would be at Darien lake on a Monday.

 

Yeah, that's fine in terms of rationale. I kinda used the context clues and the only day between June 24-28 without a concert is the 25th. You might be dodging a bullet going the way you're thinking.

 

Lol..I think the hojo was one of the hotels in the area tgat we were looking at.

 

No...the restaurant. The restaurants predated the hotels IIRC and then they'd tack on a motel later.

 

We may try to squeeze quassy into the mix. I'll have to look at a map to see where exactly.

 

It's easy. You're gonna be taking I-91 out of SFNE to start with, so you get onto I-84 in Hartford and ride it all the way there. Then you just get back on 84, go back 15 minutes (and stop at Maggie McFly's for lunch before getting to the freeway) to the interchange with CT-8. CT-8 is a freeway that runs all the way south to the Merritt Parkway and I-95. You can do it in a little over an hour.

 

Sfa would be on a Sunday. We have been there in the past, so not gonna be heart broken if we don't get to everything.

 

Still worth considering something from the Smithsonian since it is literally free (Air and Space and the satellite location, National Zoo, etc). No matter what, do what you have to in order to be outside and south of the DC loop before Monday morning. Absolutely imperative.

 

As far as Busch gardens goes, I'm looking into if seaworld season pass holders get any kind of discounts on tickets. If it's a decent discount, we may add a day to the trip. I would love to return to this park.

 

Tickets on the site are $70 for advance sale. Wristbands at Family Kingdom are $28. But then if you go there, you're gonna want to play mini golf. You're gonna want to go to an arcade. You're gonna do this, that, and the other thing. Sure enough, it's gonna be comparable. And then you gotta put yourself and the kids in the car for another 4 hours after driving that extra 4-5 to get there. At least Wooden Warrior is on the way.

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Thanks for all the input!

 

The whole myrtle beach thing is my wife's thing. I've been there before, but she has not. The family kingdom part is just a bonus. They sell individual tickets along with wrist bands. With our club TPR discount, the wristbands are deeply discounted! The only things at this park I need to do is the 2 coasters, dark ride, and log flume.

 

By the way.....I was looking at attractions on family kingdoms website and ran across this picture. Is that Elsa and kid Tums?

After looking at quassys website, it looks as if we have a date with the wooden warrior. definitely going to find time for this place.

Screenshot_20180521-160030.thumb.png.a89143fa0166ecf66d3bb225b78bc7cd.png

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Lol...I thought that was you.

 

I agree about myrtle beach. Gonna try and talk the wife out of it. I did just found out that we get a pretty good discount at Busch gardens with our seaworld passes, so gonna try and make Busch gardens a stop instead of myrtle beach.

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Just so you know I would swap Seabreeze and Darien Lake, this is because Seabreeze is in Rochester which is a two hour drive from Buffalo with no traffic where as Darien Lake is only around a 50 min drive. Also unless you want to check out Lake George you can easily do TGE in a half a day and then drive 2 and a half hours to Agawam, this is my local park and the crowds all tend to go towards the water park leaving the dry area mostly empty.

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You will be so much happier choosing to do Busch Gardens instead! I know you said you've already been to both, but just as a reminder...Busch Gardens is one of the most amazing parks in the world and Myrtle Beach is absolutely wretched. lol

 

(but seriously)

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I've never been to Myrtle Beach, but Lake George has similar attractions around. Around the USA and Around the World Mini Golf are the two best mini golf courses I have ever played and then you also have historical sites, arcades, shops, and the scenic lake.

 

As others have said, passing Busch Gardens Williamsburg and not attending would be a crime. Even on a busy day, that park absolutely knows how to move lines.

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Have you given any thought to Doing Either Wildwood, or Rehoboth/Ocean City MD between Great Adventure and Six Flags America? That could be beach and also more interesting IMO than Myrtle Beach. Ocean City and Rehoboth both have amazing Bill Tracy darkrides. Wildwood has the Park, Credits and a large beach, and Gale Force in NJ ocean city is pretty close as well. I would pick either of those over Myrtle Beach for sure.

 

If you've never done Busch Gardens, make sure you do though. On this trip or make another one like you were saying.

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The good news is that I talked her out of myrtle beach and we can do 2 days at Busch gardens. The bad news is that carowinds and dollywood get removed from the list. That removed almost 11 hours of driving off of the trip.

 

Since we are planning on doing dollywood for Christmas this year, it's not much of a loss from this trip.

 

I like some of the suggestions. I'll look into wildwoods.

 

 

Edit....after looking into Morey's Piers, does anyone know how many tickets the rides take? The price would be pretty steep if we all got wrist bands. Can't seem to find the answer on the website.

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Edit....after looking into Morey's Piers, does anyone know how many tickets the rides take? The price would be pretty steep if we all got wrist bands. Can't seem to find the answer on the website.

 

Look at the individual ride pages for the answer. I think most of the big stuff is 8 tickets each.

 

If you don't do Wildwood, there's also Ocean City (comparatively convenient from Williamsburg) MD which I know has been brought up. That's a total blast too, and you can combine it with Rehoboth Beach w/its classic dark ride for a few days worth of entertainment and fun in the sun. You want to book soon though, especially if you're going around or near weekends (as they have multi-night minimums).

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Morey's Piers is stupid expensive if you pay per ride and honestly the two best rides in the park aren't even coasters ("It" and Zoom Phloom). Just buy the wristband. Going to Morey's and only riding the coasters should be a crime, but assuming you want to ride them all then you'll get killed trying to pay per ride.

 

Does your wife just want to go to Myrtle Beach because she wants to go to the beach or does she specifically want to go to Myrtle Beach for some reason?

 

Personally I'd much rather skip Six Flags America since it blows and you've already been there, then go to Wildwood, then take the Cape May Lewes Ferry and hit Rehoboth and maybe Ocean City, Maryland. You go to much cooler places that way and can skip the crappy DC traffic entirely if you don't actually care about visiting DC and don't mind hitting BGW before KD. Don't attempt this on a summer Saturday or Sunday though. Coastal Highway 1 will make you pray for the sweet embrace of death.

 

If you actually want to spend some time on the beach, go to Rehoboth as it has the nicest beach of the places I mentioned by far. If you don't care, Rehoboth is skippable. I love that town to death, but I also love the beach. If you only care about rides then you probably won't be all that into it.

 

Also, the Funland Haunted Mansion opens at 6:30 PM daily. Funland doesn't post closing times, but trust me... it's 11pm Sunday through Friday and midnight on Saturday. They occasionally close earlier if it rains, they occasionally open the Haunted Mansion early if it rains too but don't plan on that. It's a rare occurrence.

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Thanks for all the advice!

 

Moreys looks like a blast, and I can get (somewhat) discounted tickets/pop bands from tickets at work. Being that we are now not going any further south than Busch gardens, we were able to add it into the mix along with another small park. With that being said, here is our new itinerary.

 

1...cedarpoint

2....Niagra falls till 4, seabreeze park for twilight deal.

3. Darien lake

4. Great escape

5. A few hours at great escape, then onto canobie lake for the twilight special.

6.six flags new England

7. Six flags new England, and quassy in the pm.

8. Sesame place till 3 or 4, then Dorney to close out the day.

9. Six flags great adventure

10. Six flags America

11. Moreys pier/beach

12. Kings dominion

13. Busch gardens

14. Busch for half a day, drive.

15. Drive, Kentucky kingdom

16. Kings island...home

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I mean your drive from Williamsburg to Louisville is gonna take ya right through Huntington, might as well stop into Camden Park for a few hours if the dates/park hours/driving times work out. I've never been but I'd say the wooden coasters, dark ride, and log flume are worth the $14 Twilight admission.

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I mean your drive from Williamsburg to Louisville is gonna take ya right through Huntington, might as well stop into Camden Park for a few hours if the dates/park hours/driving times work out. I've never been but I'd say the wooden coasters, dark ride, and log flume are worth the $14 Twilight admission.

 

It's been a couple of years, but we have been there before. An interesting park to day the least. Great mix of classic rides.

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I mean your drive from Williamsburg to Louisville is gonna take ya right through Huntington, might as well stop into Camden Park for a few hours if the dates/park hours/driving times work out. I've never been but I'd say the wooden coasters, dark ride, and log flume are worth the $14 Twilight admission.

 

It's been a couple of years, but we have been there before. An interesting park to day the least. Great mix of classic rides.

 

At Camden don't skip the Whip. One of only two in the US run properly.

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