How feasible is a three week trip?

[VGplay]

After I graduate next year, I want to go on a big amusement park trip. How big really depends on a few things but right now I want to go on a three week trip that covers almost 5,000 miles in the eastern part of the country. I've been talking with a few friends and they would be interested in something that big, but before any real planning starts I'd like advice.

 

I live in Akron, Ohio and my Grand Prix gets about 30mpg on the highway. I put about $75 of gas into it to get to Hershey to Pittsburgh and back (I say $75 because before I left I used $50 to top off, but when I got home had over three quarters of a tank left).

 

My school's graduation is May 31st. We would leave a day or two after that. Here's my plan:

 

Day One (6-3-09):

Conneaut Lake*

Waldameer

Darien Lake

 

Day Two:

Seabreeze

Sylvan Beach

 

Day Three:

Great Escape

Drive

 

Day Four:

Funtown Splashtown USA

Canobie Lake

 

Day Five:

Six Flags New England

Lake Compunce

 

Day Six:

Six Flags Great Adventure

 

Day Seven:

Clementon Park

Dorney Park

 

Day Eight:

Knoebels

 

Day Nine:

Hersheypark

 

Day Ten:

Six Flags America

 

Day Eleven:

Kings Dominion

 

Day Twelve?:

Busch Gardens Europe

 

Day Twelve:

Drive

Camden Park

 

Day Thirteen:

Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom

 

Day Fourteen:

Holiday World

 

Day Fifteen:

Six Flags St. Louis

 

Day Sixteen:

Silver Dollar City

Celebration City

 

Day Seventeen:

Worlds of Fun

 

Day Eighteen:

Adventureland

Arnold's Park

 

Day Nineteen:

Mall of America

Valleyfair

 

Day Twenty:

Mt. Olympus Theme Park

Adventure Falls

 

Day Twenty One:

Six Flags Great America

 

Day Twenty Two

Indiana Beach

 

Day Twenty Three:

Michigan's Adventure

 

Day Twenty Four:

Cedar Point

Home

 

About the question mark for Busch, I'm going to leave it to my friends to decide if they want to go or not. After this trip I'm going on a trip with my family that includes the park, so it doesn't matter to me. And if we do go, would it be better to add the extra day at the beginning and end up going to Six Flags New England and Lake Compounce on a Saturday, or on the end and go to Worlds of Fun and Cedar Point on Saturdays (Cedar Point isn't too big of a deal, living so close).

 

I would like to spend the whole day at parks when possible, so for most days I would try and find lodging within an hour of the park. We'd do a combination of camping and hotels. Camping most of the time, when available, and hotels when affordable and as breaks after long days.

 

I think the longest day is the one in Iowa. A three hour drive to Adventureland and a four hour drive from there to Arnold's Park. But other than that I don't see any long hauls where we'd be doing a lot in one day.

 

And is Clementon worth an hour or two stop for HellCat? Without it we'd have a full day at Dorney and we wouldn't have to drive through Philadelphia.

 

Any advice is welcome. I think this would be an awesome trip but it might not be feasible, I don't know. Thank you.

[sugart]

Sounds like an awesome trip and you have gotten off to a good start. First let me say that you can almost count on at least someone backing out, your trip is about a year away and things come up. I can really only comment on parks I've visited. Busch Gardens is a must, might even be the highlight of the trip, dont skip it. Clementon might be a skip. Hellcat is really worth the price of admission.

 

Also driving thru Philly isn't bad at all. If you take the Walt Whitman Bridge over and stay on I 76, it takes you around Philly, not thru it. You can then jump on 476 north which will take you to Dorney/Knoebels. Finally you cant judge gas that far in advance. Its going to be a huge part of your budget and who knows how expensive it will be by then. I wouldn't be surprised if its over $5 per gallon.

[lizzybear]

Sounds like an awesome plan! With such a heavy itinerary i'd recommend taking a break at lunch time if you can, so you don't end up feeling burnt out from all the driving, walking and long days by the end of the second week.

[SharkTums]

Do you plan on just credit whoring or seeing parks? Some of your days seem a bit tough if you want to do more than coasters. Your SFNE/Compounce and drive to SFGAd day comes to mind.

[TPDave]

As for being feasable, of course it is You might only get the coasters at a couple of parks, but as long as you and your friends are up to the pace, it should be an awesome trip!

[BeemerBoy]

Well, you're young, and if you do manage to get several friends to share the driving, then it could work out....but man, you've got alot crammed in there. If BGE wasn't a big deal to you, personally I'd take that day and REST. In fact, I'd try and put another day of rest somewhere in there too.

 

Always take into account the weather and crowds. They can easily wear you down much more than you expected. And after a long day of fighting both of those, any size drive can seem daunting.

[cfc]

Kings Dominion has it's own campground, and there are a couple of KOAs in Williamsburg (just 10-15 minutes from BGE via I-64).

[carolinacaniac]

I would also suggest that you consider taking the day you planned for Busch Gardens as a day off. Driving through West Virginia can take a good chunk of time as it is pretty much all mountains in the state, and you would drive across a bit of VA before you get to WVa, and then Huntington is on the other side of the state.

 

If you are going to stick with going to Busch, then you may consider switching it with Kings Dominion, so that you have an hour or so less to drive to Camden.

 

Looks like a great trip to make! I am sure many here would love to see the trip report.

[VGplay]

Thank you for the comments everyone. A few of the parks will be mostly for the credits. Great Escape, Funtown, Six Flags New England, Clementon, Adventureland, and Mall of America stick out just looking at the list. A day of rest instead of Busch might be a good idea because that would be at the end of the busy northeast leg.

[BamBam36]

Seriously,

Just make a list of the top ten coasters you want to ride. Make a 7 day trip hitting either your #1 and the other parks close to it or try to hit as many in a general area that are on your list.

Three weeks is too long IMO

Also you dont have enough time for some of the parks in your trip.

[Yellow Jacket]

I know from experience that days 15-21 work quite well in that sequence. I did that as part of a trip in July 2005.

 

The drive around/through New York to SFGadv might be challenging depending on your timing.

 

On a week day, you could easily double up SFKK and Holiday World if you don't plan to do the waterparks at either location (you gain an hour with the time change which essentially covers the drive time).

 

Closer to your trip, be sure to check for major road construction that may impact your route.

 

Do you have experience pitching your tent in the dark?...in the rain?...in the dark and the rain?...when you are tired?

 

Can you sleep in a tent at that time of year? I know July (when I normally do coaster trips) is way too hot for me to camp and June probably would be as well. YMMV

You need to sleep well to keep up that schedule. My traveling partners hate it when I sleep while I drive

 

Remember that many campgrounds frequently close the gates at ~10pm or so.

 

Whether you choose motels or camping get reservations. Nothing is worse than driving from say Front Royal, VA all the way to Roanoke at 2am looking for a room and feeling lucky to get the last spot at the "it's not much, but it's a room" motel; unless it's driving from Cleveland to Buffalo during the same time frame when there is nothing but Polka music on the radio and getting "the last room from here to Syracuse"...not that I would know from personal experience or anything like that

 

I say go for it while you are still young and obligation free.