PA Trip?

[Jayjay719]

Elissa or Robb, my friend's and I are thinking about doin a PA trip this summer. Do you guys have any tips or advice? What parks are a must? Dinning....anything you guys can help with would be awesome. How close are the parks to each other? Thanks!

[Meteornotes]

Well, you need to narrow this down a bit, as PA is rather large. Do you want to go to all the major parks in the state, or do you have a specific destination in mind? How much time are you going to spend there? Answer this, and I can better give you some ideas of where to go and such (I lived in PA for over 25 years, and have been to all the parks there many, many times).

 

dt

[Jayjay719]

Sorry Dave lol. Well....we are going for a week and want to hit the major parks. Any other parks that are decent. Thanks..

[Meteornotes]

OK, so it sounds like you would want to at least visit:

 

Hersheypark

Knoebel's

Kennywood

Dorney

 

With some others along the way. Hershey/Dorney/Knoebel's are all an hour or so apart from each other, so they're easily done. Kennywood, while awesome, is on the other side of the state (near Pittsburgh), so it's a bit of a drive. But it certainly worth a visit. Plus there are a couple of other small parks along the way (DelGrosso's, Lakemont and Idlewild). There's also the pair of Conneaut Lake and Waldameer, which are both reasonably close to each other, up near Erie. So as you can see, you have a lot of places to choose from.

 

Personally, I'd go to the Hershey area for a few days, and make that my base camp for day trips to Knoebel's and Dorney. I don't find Dorney any more than a half day park (unless you do the water park), but if you've never been there, you might want to spend more time. I personally love Knoebel's and would recommend a full day there, but this depends on the type of parks you like. The amount of time you need to spend at Hershey depends on the time of year you're there. First time visitors should really take advantage of their twilight plan, where you can buy your ticket for the next day after 6 PM or so, and go into the park that evening.

 

If you have the time, I highly recommend making the trip from there out to Kennywood, with perhaps some stops at the other nearby parks. Lakemont and DelGrosso's are very close to each other and are both pretty small and could be knocked out in a couple of hours. Kennywood is another place I highly recommend spending a full day at, as it is one of the best parks in the US.

 

So there's the basic idea. More specific questions, ask away. As always, consult the website for any park you want to visit, as times and ticket plans can change from season to season.

 

dt

[Jayjay719]

Thanks so much! Question, I want to do Kennywood but how far a drive is it from hershey? I think I want a full day at all those parks you listed, well the major ones. I haven't been to any of them and I'm looking forward to the trip. Maybe a dumb question, is July a bad time to go to these parks? I want to up my credit count obviously. I don't do water parks so no worry there. But I really want to visit Hershey, Dorney, Knoebels, and Kennywood. Thanks for all your help!

[Guest]

Kennywood is roughly a 4.5 hour drive from Hershey. Most of those parks will be in full swing, but Kennywood you can easily get everything accomplished in one day.

[Carnage]

July is the worst time to go to any theme park. Partly why I rarely go anywhere during July.

 

You'd probably enjoy your trip much more if you moved it to early June, or late August.

[Jayjay719]

Well, we are coming from Connecticut. But I don't think driving to Kennywood would be a problem. But I would love to do those parks I listed. Thanks for your help guys. Any more questions I have, I will ask. But any other info anyone has would be great.

[Bubba83]

You might want to get in contact with DerekRx (Derek) and The Rugged One known as Heath.

 

They live there! You can find them in the beer thread, haha.

[DerekRx]

Did someone mention beer? Oh, a Pennsylvania question, ok...

 

Dave knows what he's talking about. For best results, I would suggest the following just to break up the driving more:

 

Day 1 (NOT a weekend day!): Leave from CT early in the morning, head thru Jersey (keep your windows rolled up to prevent toxic fumes from entering the car), taking I-78 straight to Dorney. Do Dorney in the morning and early afternoon, then continue driving on I-78 to Hershey (but watch what time of day you leave Allentown, a stretch near Hamburg is under heavy construction and causes major delays, try to head out of Dorney before 4pm). After checking in at your hotel near Hershey, head over to the park to enjoy the twilight admission.

Day 2: Return to Hershey

Day 3: Head West, hitting Lakemont, Delgrossos, and possibly Idlewild if you want. Get a hotel in Monroeville, right off the Pittsburgh exit of the turnpike

Day 4: Spend the day at Kennywood, back to Monroeville hotel

Day 5: Head up to Conneaut Lake and Waldemeer if you want, hotel somewhere off of I-80

Day 6: Knoebels (drive towards home)

Day 7: Finish drive home

 

If you want to knock a few days off, you can skip Conneaut and Waldemeer, as well as Idlewild, Lakemont, and Delgrossos and save them for a future trip. Just remember, Conneaut has been in trouble of opening for several seasons now, but at the same time, Waldemeer is supposedly getting a new woodie next year, as is Delgrossos getting an Arrow looper.

[larrygator]

Derek's plan works great if you have a full week as you state. Travel one way on I-78 and I-80 the other way

 

I did a similar trip in a backwards manner over fours with fewer parks two summers ago.

 

Things to keep in mind are that many of that parks have wacky operating schedules. Waldameer was closed one day of the week and Conneaut was closed another day each week. So make sure you check operating schedules and plan the trip in advance.

[crazyrider06]

I am so excited for this trip I cant wait to go, can it be july already lol

[Jayjay719]

Yes we will have a week. Thanks for all your help guys. Is mapquest something I can trust getting me where I need to get to? IN the past mapquest hasn't geared me to where I was going. But that was my fault...and Derek thanks! I may just use that trip idea.

[Carnage]

Is mapquest something I can trust getting me where I need to get to?

 

Yes, and no.

 

When using mapquest/google maps make sure to proofread the directions. Read them in detail while looking at the map to make sure they make sense.

 

I've had mapquest directions that have sent me WAY out of the way. And I have had mapquest multiple times tell me to miss my exit, get off the highway, get back on going the other direction, and then take the correct exit.

 

Just make sure it doesn't tell you to do something strage.

 

Watch out especially for when you're in the middle of nowhere.

 

Actually I used mapquest going to Conneaut and it really screwed them up. The directions were written based off a wrong exit.

[Meteornotes]

I'd use mapquest and yahoo and google maps, especially for somewhere that's a bit tricky to get to, like Kennywood or Knoebel's. I've had mapqust give me some really screwed up directions, so now I always consult multiple sites before going somewhere totally unfamiliar. Parks that are right near major roads like Dorney or Hersheypark will likely have better results. You can also look at the website for the park. I can never remember what exit to use for Knoebel's, so I have to look at the website every year before I drive up there.

 

Also be advised that PA is the Construction State, and the state symbol seems to be the traffic cone. You will experience construction delays, especially on the PA turnpike. I'd ask locals closer to your trip time about any major projects in the area and how to avoid them.

 

dt

[Carnage]

The problem I had with Conneaut is that the Mapquest directions were written using the wrong exit number.

 

Basically it said "Take exit A". But the directions after that were based off the assumption that you had taken exit B, which was one exit earlier. Meaning turns were backwards, and I had to first get to the point where the real directions were supposed to pick up.

 

So naturally reading the rest of the directions was really confusing.

 

Might be good to get a physical map to look at.

[larrygator]

Mapquest is a good starting point, but whenever going to parks I've never been to before I always visit the websites and print their directions since they usually have the best routes from all major highways. You have to go to the sites anyway to get the hours and confirm the parks are open.