Suggestions for 3 weeks NYC -> Miami

[ing king]

Today i was thinking of changing my vague plans for a 2006 US-trip. First i wanted to visit Florida for the first time after 2000, hitting BGT and a few parks in the Orlando-area.

 

But then, this morhing, i was thinking it would be fun to maybe make a trip from New York City down to Florida (Orlando or Miami).

My roadatlas says it is about 1300 miles on a direct way, so i would assume it would be about 2500-3000 miles hitting parks on this route.

 

As i don't want to race in my holidays, there are always days off on my trips and each park gets at least one full day. The trip would be around 3 weeks. And i was thinking of two weeks driving from NYC to Orlando, hitting a few bigger parks and then staying in Orlando for one more week.

 

Which parks would you visit on such a route, and is there anything you would suggest not to miss on this drive?

[Nemmy]

Definitely go to Orlando and Tampa. Check out the Dania Beach Hurricane in, um...Dania Beach.

[larrygator]

my suggestion:

 

this is based on minimizing driving time on the trip (less than 2-3 hours a day ideally but 5-6 hours max a day) Also, there are many smaller parks near these bigger parks but again I wanted to avoid hours of side trips.

 

Day 1 - Coney Island and Lake Compounce (the Cyclone is better in the AM and Boulder is better at night) about a 2-3 hour drive between parks

Day 2 - Knoebels (about 4 hours from Lake Compounce)

Day 3 - HersheyPark (about 1-2 hours from Knoebels) this is an area where you could potential hit some smaller parks but only Williams Grove is within an hour of the itinerary)

Day 4 - Dorney Park (about 1-2 hours from HP)

Day 5 - Six Flags Great Adventure (2 hours from Dorney)

Day 6 - Morey's Piers (the best of the Jersey's Amusement Boardwalks) (about 2 hours from SFGAdv)

Day 7 - Six Flags America (about 3 hours from Morey's Piers)

Day 8 - Paramount King's Dominion (About 3 hours from SFA)

Day 9 - Busch Gardens Williamsburg (About 1 1/2 hours from PKD)

Day 10 - Paramount Carowinds (About 5 hours from BGW)

Day 11 - Six Flags over Georgia - (About 5 hours from Carowinds), if SFoG wasn'tan all day park I would suggest trying Lake Winnepesaukah also)

Day 12 - Wild Adventures (only because it is along the way and prevents a long drive between Atlanta and Tampa) (3-4 hours fron SFoG)

Day 13 - BGT (3-4 hours from Wild Adventures)

Day 14 - hit Orlando

 

the time between parks is based on my own recollections of driving and may not be accurate. Certain side trips could occur from certain places if you fancy such such Six Flags New England (less than 2 hours from Lake Compunce) or Dollywood (about 5 hours fron SFoG) but these would create longer drives on other legs of the trip. Rye playand is on the way between Coney Island and Lake Compounce, but not worth the money IMHO.

 

Also, while Dania Beach Hurricane is a neat little woodie I would not suggest driving from Orlando to the Fort Lauderdale area and back just to ride it unless you were planning to drive to Miami anyway. This total trip should put you on quite few woodies that are better than DBH in my opinion (Cyclone, Boulder Dash, Phoenix, Twister, Lightning Racer, Wild One, Roar, Georgia Cyclone)

Edited September 22, 2005 by larrygator

[ParkTrips]

Not bad but Wild Adventures is more like halfway between Atlanta and Tampa so I'd say 3-4 hours between Six Flags and Wild Adventures, and about the same to Busch Gardens. If you visit WA you might as well buy thier season pass and visit Cypress between Tampa and Orlando, since the cost is less than two invividual admissions.

 

Dollywood is also more like 4-5 hours from Atlanta, but leave it to Larry to screw the times up

[larrygator]

^damn Joe I didn't know you were here too. I can't keep track of all your screen names. Thanks for the comments on the time between Atlanta other places. Driving from Atlanta to North Florida always seemed to take forever to me. I'll update my suggestions per your notes

[ParkTrips]

It looks like we joined on the same day. Maybe that was the day Robb posted the link to his videos over at TPC...

 

Hey, give me a break for adding a hint of originality here! I've been BFL for a few years.. I need something fresh nowadays.

 

That trip does seem long, probably mostly due to it being boring as it is through sparsely populated areas for the most part.