Help needed with USA trip 09

[GazzaT]

Hi Guys,

 

My wife, two friends and I are visiting the US form the UK in June, July next year for a Coaster trip of our own.

 

We have a good selection of quality parks on our trip list, but are stuck for the best (and cheapest) accomodations as we live in the UK and dont have a great deal of experience with US hotels/motels.

 

Can anyone recommend good & cheap hotels/motels for the foillowing parks:-

 

Six Flags Great Adventure

Six Flags America

Kings Dominion

Busch Gardens Europe

Carowinds

Six Flags Over Georgia

Dollywood

Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom

Holiday World

Six Flags St. Louis Eureka

Indiana Beach Monticello

Michigan's Adventure

Kings Island

Cedar Point

Kennywood

Hersheypark

Six Flags New England

 

Any help would be appreciated and also if we have missed out any good parks for our 3 week trip, please let us know.

 

Many thanks,

 

Gary

[larrygator]

^Did you find your shopping list? Whether you did or not we won't stand for any that nonsense at TPR.

 

With that said what type of accomodations are you seeking? Are you looking for the cheapest possible? As the cheapest places aren't always the cleanest and well kept here in the states.

 

The best place to start might be to do a search at travelocity.com (or a similar site) compile a list of rates for each hotel near each park and then the masses here can respond with their thoughts if they have ever stayed at the hotel you mention.

 

The time of year and days of the week that you stay at each hotel will also influence prices.

 

Hotels listed with two stars are generally good if you are just looking for the cheapest place, but three stars tend to be a lot cleaner and more reliable which is probably what you want if you ask for good and cheap.

[cfc]

There are number of budget motel chains in the U.S., but you have to be careful with those, as the quality of such motels as Econo Lodge, Red Roof Inn, and Motel 6 are, let's say, "variable." It might help if you establish a budget of how much you want to spend per night on lodging, then use a travel site like Expedia or Hotwire.

 

For the two Virginia parks (KD and BGE), I'd recommend using Williamsburg as a base. The main tourist strip on Richmond Road is only 15 to 20 minutes from Busch and a little over an hour from KD. Hotels near BGE tend to be a bit pricey.

 

Carowinds--there is a pretty decent Super 8 about one exit north of the park. I stayed there a few years ago, and it was clean and inexpensive.

[larrygator]

Here is as much info as I can provide.

 

Six Flags Great Adventure - Not many cheap good places witihin a 30 mile radius.

Six Flags America - ?

Kings Dominion - you should have a lot of choices as KD is right next to a major highway. Using Hotwire.com I got a 3 star close 15 minutes away for under $70

Busch Gardens Europe - use cfc's advice

Carowinds - I can't remember the name of the hotel but there is one within walking distance (right across the street that was reasonably priced)

Six Flags Over Georgia - many options within a short radius as the park is close to a major highway

Dollywood - Pigeon Forge Vacation Lodge is a very clean 2 1/2 star hotel that is cheap and within walking distance to the Dollywood Trolley (saving on parking). About 15 miles form the park in Kodak is a Baymont Inn. 3 stars with an indoor pool, business center with free internet, fitness center and free continental breakfast with waffles. Just stayed there for $50 a night.

Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom - I got a good price at a Candlewood Suite close by a couple of years ago. I find the chain very clean inside.

Holiday World - Days Inn in Jasper, Indiana is about a 20 minute drive but fairly new reasonable price and clean

Six Flags St. Louis Eureka ?

Indiana Beach Monticello - I stayed in Indianapolis to get a better deal

Michigan's Adventure - not many options

Kings Island - plenty of options in the area depending on your price range

Cedar Point - with 4 people I would suggest staying on site. I have stayed at 3 different places in Sandusky that were small, dirty and cost too much. I'd gladly pay a little more for cleanliness and a chance to get in the park one hour early.

Kennywood - not much close by.

Hersheypark - nothing cheap close by, Try staying in Harrisburg. I have gotten good deals there through Hotwire.

Six Flags New England - ?

[Wood Dragon 1988]

Cedar Point - with 4 people I would suggest staying on site. I have stayed at 3 different places in Sandusky that were small, dirty and cost too much. I'd gladly pay a little more for cleanliness and a chance to get in the park one hour early.

 

Oh, so that explains why Maverick still had a two hour wait when I at Maverick 15 minutes after opening ( and Maverick is in the back of the park)

 

Based on that I would recomend staying on site too. The traffic getting to and from Cedar Point can be bad too, and I would think on site would help that a bit.

[Groteslurf]

In May this year, we did a similar tour and visited 10 of the parks in your list.

Except for 2 nights, we always stayed at Comfort Inn hotels. Most of them were quite cheap and clean. Very handy when planning, is that on the Comfort Inn website, there is a search function for hotels near themeparks.

 

Also, I presume you will be buying a CF platinum pass. With those passes you can also enter CP one hour before opening so together with the hotelguests. (at least this was the case this year, but I guess it will be the same next year).

 

EDIT : On our trip we also included a visit to Knoebels, Dorney and Canada's Wonderland. While the latter was quite a distance and we would not include that park if we would do the trip again.

Dorney & Knoebels however can be included easily.

 

I found back a list of the hotels we stayed in. If you want I can mail them to you.

 

Hope this helps.

[sclisso]

Near Dollywood in Pigeon Forge,TN is a Motel Called Americana Inn. My Family stays there every year when going to that area. Its on the cheap side but has a large pool, alright rooms with great air conditioning and even continental breakfast in the morning. Its located in a good spot too. you can walk to lots of food places ,stores and other attractions from there. Pretty Nice.

 

Shawn Clisso

[tedten]

Maybe look into Six Flags Great America instead of Kentucky Kingdom. There are plenty of reasonable hotels along I-94. I've been about 10 different years. Just don't stay at the best western, we have come to call it Worst Western.

[monsterfan99]

I was just at Six Flags St. Louis in November. We stayed at the days in about 3 miles from the place. Outside the room, the place was a dump, but the rooms themselves were nice enough. It was the cheapest place near the park and still cost $59.00 a night in November. The Holiday Inn (might be an Express one or something like that) is great but prices ran well over $100.

[Chris Benvenuto]

For Kennywood I recommend staying in Pittsburgh, because literally Pitt is about 20 mins away and really that's one of the better cities to stay in when going to Kennywood.

 

Cedar Point has onsite hotels and an offsite resort for you to use, which I mean by having Hotel Breakers and Sandcastle Suites as good picks and offsite I mean Castaway Bay (which will allow you early entry as well )

 

I personally stayed at the Johnson Inn in Sandusky last summer for a 2 day stay with my brother and they had really good rooms plus a small bowling alley and indoor waterpark.

 

Hopes this helps you out in your hotel search good sir!

[Speeddeamon128]

Have you considered going to the Jersey Shore at all? We have many great piers with a total of 27 credits if you go to Morey’s Piers, Steel Pier, Playland’s Castaway Cove, Gillian’s Wonderland, Casino Pier, Funtown Pier, Jenkinson’s Boardwalk, Keansburg, & Blackbeard’s Cave (I think that is everything ) Also Clementon Park is 15 minutes away from Philly & so you can get HellCat making it 28 credits. Definitely go to Morey’s Piers since Wildwood is such a great atmosphere & has lots of attractions along with the 6 decent coasters.

[snowboard83]

Suggestions,

 

1.You will be going thru right near Dorney Park between Hersheypark and SFNE. Dorney is a great park, make a stop.

 

2. Watch the neighborhood if you stay near SFA. SFA is in a notoriously bad county, Prince Georges (affectionately known as PG county). You will not find any quality, affordable hotels in this area. Try the super 8 and Ramada hotels down about 3-5 exits down right near the entrance to Andrews AFB. This is a "nicer" area than the one surrounding SFA.

 

Hope this helps some.