UK, UK and Away!

[RevV]

Hi Guys,

 

Long term reader, just never got round to registering. Avid fan of the website - my lunch hour at work is 100% spent on the website! Nice to meet you all.

 

(Please let me know if there is already a topic explaining this, but i haven't seen my exact question recently, and don’t understand the search feature )

 

I, as you may gather from the title, live in the UK. I personally love roller coasters, though have never had the opportunity (bar a family holiday to Florida and all the theme parks in that area) I would love to gather the motivation to finally no longer have to resort to gawping at TPR's PoV videos and get on some myself! My problem is - finding the right way about doing it. Don't get me wrong, i would love a long term holiday, but sometimes it’s not viable expense-wise and ultimately, my ultimate intention would be to visit the theme parks around the world.

 

My question is... Has any fellow RC fans from the UK or around the world, have any tips on scheduling a theme park orientated holiday whereby money and time is taken into consideration?

 

I'm probably not summarising this up too brilliantly, so in short - (using the example of the theme park on top of my hit list) Cedar Point - What is everyone’s recommendation’s for the possibility of a short holiday trip to CP: average flight costs; hotel locations; hotel prices; best time to go; what else in the local area would help persuade friends for a reason to go with who are not as into RC fanboyism as I.

 

Thanks for the help!

 

Scott

[SharkTums]

First off, welcome to the posting part of the site!

 

Secondly, I think most people in your example would say that it's just not a good idea and use of your money to fly all the way to the US and only go to Cedar Point. Assume airfare to be at least $1000 (probably a bit more for times that Cedar Point is open), $100 a night for hotel (more if you want to stay right at the park), tickets are relatively cheap, but you'll also want to add in Fast Lane if this is your one and only ever visit to the park. Transfers to and from the airport would be around $70 each way as there are no real airports in Sandusky, you'd have to fly to Dayton or Cleveland.

 

Have you looked into one of the cheaper/shorter trips we offer? A trip like LeviaThon packs a ton of stuff in during a very short time and is our cheapest trip of the year. That way you at least get to several parks instead of just one.

[beatle11]

Tripadvisor is your new best friend. You can read guest reviews and compare prices for flights, hotels, restaurants and other attractions for pretty much anywhere in the world.

 

In terms of Cedar Point, I would highly recommend staying on property. You get early entry into the parks, and you can get great discounts on park tickets at the Cedar Point hotels. The Breakers Express is the cheaper option if your looking to save some money, but if you are willing to spend more, staying at the Hotel Breakers is just so convenient. There are plenty of other cheap options in Sandusky if your really needing to stay on a budget.

 

Welcome to TPR, and good luck in your travels!

[alanjonesbath]

We're also from the UK, and do a fair few trips to the US to visit theme parks. It's not worth the trip for just one park - you need to make it worthwhile by doing a few. This year we're going to Six Flags America & Great Adventure, Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Kings Dominion, Kennywood, Lakemont, Hershey, Knoebels, Dorney and Moreys Piers. That's a full two week holiday, 2000 miles of driving, but getting our money's worth from the flights! Flights will cost you around £500 - both BA and Virgin have sales, normally around November, so buy flight tickets then to save money. Hire cars are fairly cheap - we're paying £300 for two weeks, but as above budget £70 a night for decent hotels.

 

If you need to find other things to do to persuade others to go with you, then Cedar Point isn't ideal in my opinion, as there didn't seem like much else in the area. We did it as part of a road trip from Chicago to Boston, which included time in both those cities, Cedar Point, Darien Lake and a visit to Niagara Falls.

 

You could look at going to LA - plenty of non-coaster things to do, Knotts & Disney on your doorstep and Magic Mountain just up the road.

 

If you're looking at trips of less than a week, stick to Europe

[andybarnes84]

Just reiterating what everyone else is recommending, try to combine parks into a trip. We're doing a very similar road trip to alanjonesbath in June, and Tripadvisor was invaluable for checking hotels although it's worth noting that prices outside of Florida are quite a bit more but with the car you can be reasonably flexible.

 

We've done L.A. twice now in the past couple years and would strongly recommend this for starters. You've got Six Flags Magic Mountain which is my favourite park so far although i'm hoping CP and SFGadv will shatter that opinion. Knotts is great and then obviously Universal and Disney. It definitely felt different to Florida for us and there's just so much to see aside from the rides too.