Planning 2009 Roadtrip

[Reon]

This May, I'm planning to hit California armed with a Platinum and a SF season pass. Seeing as I live in Ohio, I'm more than likely going to fly in/out and get a rental. As far as parks, this is what I have so far:

 

California's Great America

Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk

Gilroy Gardens Family Theme Park

Six Flags Magic Mountain

Knotts Berry Farm

Six Flags Discovery Kingdom

 

Now heres where you come in, TPR members that want to help me. I need to figure out the most efficient route, and could use suggestions on where to stay and stuff like that.

[CreditCrazy]

There's a lot of routes you could take. You could:

Fly to California

Go to Knott's.

Go to SFMM.

Drive to Northern California and hit Gilroy Gardens.

Go to Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk and CGA (they can both be done in a day).

Go to SFDK.

Fly home.

 

Or you could do the same thing, just the other way around, depending on where you're flying in/flying out.

[Calicoasters]

No Disneyland?

 

If you fly into LA I would give both KBF and SFMM (As in don't try to do them both in one day) their own day. KBF has never taken me a whole day, but there are small credits near by such as Adventure City which is less than 3 miles away from KBF and on the same street! Pacific Park in Santa Monica also has a credit you hit. I think if you wanted to do all 3, they could be done in one day. You can shoot up the 405 to SFMM from Santa Monica. I would save SFMM for the last Socal park no matter what (Unless you started with Norcal), because it will make the drive to Norcal a bit shorter.

 

I think a SCBB and Gilroy trip could be done in the same day. CGA isn't really an all day park. I find that everytime I go to SFDK I never want to leave! SFDK is my favorite of all the parks you want to visit, the animals, and animals show + coasters = perfection in my opinion.

 

I don't recommend flying in and out of the same airport. I would hate to have to drive from LA to San Fran twice. Some rental car places don't charge you for returning a car at a different location. Good Luck, and Have Fun!

[jjeerr]

For a hotel near SFMM, I'd stay at the Holiday Inn Express (http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/ex/1/en/hotel/vacca)

 

Going from CGA to SFDK, take 680, it's much faster/prettier/smoother then 880.

 

Great America and Santa Cruz are about an hour apart, whatever-name-Gardens is 45min or so away from Great America.

 

Look at dates carefully, CGA/SFDK is only open the last week of may daily, weekends only before that. Knott's/SFMM/Disney are daily, but

[Reon]

Thanks for everyone's suggestions so far.

I figure no Disney since its probabbly going to be expensive. I'll be spending enough as it is on hotels, food, miniparks, and stuff like that. The only reason I'm planning to hit so many corperate parks is that I'm renewing my SF pass, and I get a Platinum every year (I live half an hour from KI and go to CP once or twice a year...)

[packfanlv]

I have a question that I have been wondering for some time. Since it is mentioned in this thread already, I figure that its best to post it here.

 

Does the Cedar Fair Platinum Pass work for admission to Gilroy Gardens? Checking out their website it is unclear. If anyone can shed some light on this for me it would be appreciated.

 

Thanks!

[Hercules]

^

Cedar Fair Platinum Passes are valid at all of the 18 Cedar Fair Entertainment Company-owned or operated amusement parks and outdoor waterparks, including:

 

Gilroy Gardens in Gilroy, CA

Canada’s Wonderland near Toronto, ON

Carowinds in Charlotte, NC

Cedar Point and Soak City in Sandusky, OH

Dorney Park and Wildwater Kingdom in Allentown, PA

Geauga Lake's Wildwater Kingdom in Aurora, OH

California's Great America in Santa Clara, CA

Kings Dominion near Richmond, VA

Kings Island in Mason, OH

Knott's Berry Farm and Soak City in Buena Park, CA

Michigan’s Adventure in Muskegon, MI

Soak City in Palm Springs and San Diego, CA

Valleyfair in Shakopee, MN

Worlds of Fun and Oceans of Fun in Kansas City, MO

[packfanlv]

^Thanks!

[Mechanic]

I don't recommend flying in and out of the same airport. I would hate to have to drive from LA to San Fran twice.

I agree. The drive up I-5 from SoCal to the Bay area is five of the most boring hours you will ever spend on this planet. LA is great, the Bay area is great, the stuff in between that's not near the coast is full-on suckville USA.

[darklingscribe]

^May I just say that if you are planning to take that prettier coastal route, your five hour drive will turn into a 10 hour drive. Interstate 5, while boring, is definitely the fastest route between San Francisco and LA.

[Sir Clinksalot]

10 hours on the 101??? I've made that drive MANY times for work and play. Granted, I'm already an hour north of LA, but I usually make it up there in 5 to 6 hours. So tack on another hour from LA.

 

According to Google Maps, it would take approx 5 1/2 hours from downtown LA to San Jose using the 5. And would take about 6 to 6 1/2 hours using the 101. NOT that big of a difference.

 

If your taking the "1" the whole way (going through Big Sur, etc) they yes, it can take that long. But just taking the 101 isn't bad.

 

Also, even though parts of it are a VERY nice drive, some parts of it are still crap. (The 101 that is)

 

Granted, if your at SFMM, then the 5 is surely the way to go.

[darklingscribe]

Yes 10 hours on 101. I was about a mile away from Universal Studios when I left at 2pm and didn't get back to the bay area until midnight. It was bumper to bumper in just about every major city 101 passed through. This was the 17th of August last year.

[Reon]

Thanks again for any Cali advice, but now I have some questions for the opposite side of the USA.

 

After KI's opening I'll have a car for the remainder of the school year and beyond. With the year winding down, and almost no real work/exams left to worry about, I was thinking of making a weekend trip on some upcoming week. My questions are these:

 

1) Coming from Huntington, WV, would Knoebels (one of my favorite parks atm and a 7 hour drive), or a Kings Dominion/BGE combo (2 parks I haven't been to that are about 6 hours away) be a better trip?

 

2) In either case, cheap hotels. Thanks to my Plat pass and Knoebels being cheap, I dont have to worry about admission for the most part, but I'm still a college student so I'm not THAT big on cash right now...

[Carnage]

If you're looking for cheap hotels just do some searches on expedia, travelocity, hotels.com, etc.

 

That'll give you some examples of what kind of prices are in the area. Just gotta do some amount of research.