US Trip: A few questions

[bobbass4k]

Hey, I'll be coming into some unexpected money soon, so I'm tentatively planning a US Trip (from the UK) for next year, based around visiting parks. The current plan is to fly into Orlando, do the Universal parks, Busch Gardens, SeaWorld, fly into New York, do Great Adventure, then fly to Cleveland and do Cedar Point. There's just a few questions that need the voice of experience.

 

How long should we allow for each park? My current thinking is 3 days at the Universal Parks, 2 days at Busch Gardens, a day at SeaWorld, 2 days at Great Adventure, and 2 days at Cedar Point. I've already set aside a day for the Kennedy Space Centre, and I'd like to do some of the touristy stuff in New York. Too much, not enough?

 

When should we go? Obviously weather isn't an issue for Florida (Although I'd like to avoid hurricanes...), but for Great Adventure and Cedar Point summer is presumably better, but also busier, is there any "perfect" time to go? The dates are completely flexible.

 

Would we be alright not renting a car? The shuttle buses in Orlando seem alright, and there's a bus from New York to Great Adventure, it's Cedar Point that I'm thinking might be an issue. What are the buses/trains from Cleveland to Sandusky like, and on a related note, would we be better off staying in Sandusky or one of the Cedar Point hotels? What are the shuttle buses from the Sandusky hotels like, assuming they even exist?

 

I've been considering the idea of renting a car (or getting the train) and going to Great America after Cedar Point, then flying out from Chicago, is Great America worth the extra time/money?

 

Is there anything glaringly obvious I'm missing? Thanks in advance for any info/advice.

[Homeboy23]

Honestly, unless you really plan on taking your time and doing a lot of re-rides, two days at Universal and one at Busch Gardens would be fine.

[SharkTums]

^Agreed.

[larrygator]

If you plan on two days at Great Adventure get some type of Fast Pass on one of the days, same with Fast Lane at Cedar Point.

 

Even you are traveling in October to SFGAdv, Flash Pass is a must both days.

 

Buses from Cleveland to Sandusky are not convenient time wise.

[biker7766]

Do you plan on purchasing the Flash Pass at Six Flags?

If so, you really only need one day.

If not, you may only need one day. If it is too crowded for your liking you can always go buy the Regular option and upgrade later in the day, if you feel it is needed.

[cmullin]

You absolutely need to get Fast Lane+ at Cedar Point one of the days. And same for Great Adventure, as it always gets pretty crowded.

[bobbass4k]

I was considering Flash passes at Great Adventure, I'd like to do all the big stuff 3 or 4 times (at all of the parks), would that be doable in one day with a Flash Pass at GrAdv?

 

The thing is, the flights and hotels are going to be so expensive that I'm not worried about saving money on park tickets or fast passes, getting a lot of re-rides on everything is more than worth an extra days park ticket, it would only matter at GrAdv because if we can definitely do it in one day then that's potentially one less day at an expensive NY hotel, which is worth the saving.

 

On Universal, I was planning 3 days because a friend of mine went and he did 2 full days and he said he really wished he had an extra day or 2, did he just go in a busy time (it was UK school holidays) or would we need 3 days for a decent amount of re-rides? And same with Busch Gardens.

[arby]

Although you are probably aware, if you stay at an on-site resort for Universal, it includes express passes. With the express passes, you should easily be able to do everything you want at Universal in two days. We were easily able to do Busch Gardens Tampa in less than a day. We went in early June and all of the lines were very manageable. If you want to save a few bucks, you might want to consider the Orlando Flex Ticket.

[yankeeman311]

As someone that has been to almost every park you mentioned, I think I can give you good advice. Assuming you're planning on going in the summer, here's what I'd suggest:

 

2 days at Universal, 1 at BGT, 1 at SeaWorld, 1 at GAdv and 2 at CP.

 

GAdv is my home park so I can say that with a flash pass, you can get all the coasters done in a day with plenty of re-rides. SeaWorld is very small so you'll be fine there. BGT you can definitely do in a day if you're just focused on the rides. If you want to explore other things then you may want to 2nd guess that. Universal you can do 3 days if you want plenty of re-rides. If you don't go to Wet n Wild though, 2 days should be fine at Uni. For CP you will definitely need Fast Lane at least 1 of the 2 days but I'd recommend getting for both days. Don't get Fast Lane/Flash Pass until you get to the park and see for yourself how bad crowds are.

 

I'm not sure if you have a days limit but I would recommend checking WDW out for 2-3 days if you have the extra time and $. Also Hersheypark is a great one to go to as well if you're willing to travel a few hours from GAdv. Good luck and happy planning!

[bobbass4k]

^ Thanks for the advice.

 

I did consider WDW but to be honest the coasters on offer don't really excite me, and with park tickets and the extra hotel time it's just not worth it. I considered a couple of days in DC to do Hershey Park and and Busch Gardens Williamsburg but again the extra flights and hotel time just make it too expensive, as it is I'll be lucky if it's under £4k for two of us.

 

On that note, if I may throw another question out there, it turns out the cost is pretty much the same if we go to LA instead of Orlando and do Magic Mountain, Knotts Berry Farm and probably Universal, which would you choose? I initially opted for Florida because it seemed a bit more Tourist friendly and I really want to do the Kennedy Centre (I'm a physicist and kind of obsessed with NASA), but Magic Mountain is looking very tempting. Both would be the ideal but just too expensive.

[azza29]

^As much as I enjoy the LA parks, if I was coming from the UK I'd pick Orlando. Universal East is much bigger and better and while SFMM and KBF are great parks I wouldn't cross the country just for them.

 

I'd add another vote for adding KD/BGW to your trip if time/budget allows. Both are superb parks with some great coasters. If it's definitely not an option you could look at Hersheypark, excellent park with a great selection of rides.

 

As far as renting a car goes, I'd say you almost definitely need one to get from Cleveland to CP, and I'd even recommend getting one to get to Great Adventure so you're not a slave to the bus schedule. I used rentalcars.com (they are UK based) and got some good rates with all the insurances included (tip: if you call up and ask politely, they'll usually knock a few dollars off the price). It might even be cheaper than a couple of bus tickets.

[rcdude]

On that note, if I may throw another question out there, it turns out the cost is pretty much the same if we go to LA instead of Orlando and do Magic Mountain, Knotts Berry Farm and probably Universal, which would you choose? I initially opted for Florida because it seemed a bit more Tourist friendly and I really want to do the Kennedy Centre (I'm a physicist and kind of obsessed with NASA), but Magic Mountain is looking very tempting. Both would be the ideal but just too expensive.

 

I've never been to Florida, but based on my knowledge of the So Cal parks, Six Flags Great Adventure, and Cedar Point, I'd say you should stick with Orlando. While Six Flags Magic Mountain has some great coasters, Six Flags Great Adventure and Cedar Point have many similar (and sometimes better) coasters, so if you're already going to them SFMM isn't worth it (X2 is the only major coaster with no equivalent at these parks). While Knott's is a nice park, it isn't really worth traveling to California just to visit the park, and Universal Studios Hollywood is one park that takes about 2/3 of a day to complete (and it's only coaster is an inferior version of Revenge of the Mummy). Also note that both SFMM and KBF are one day parks at best (especially with a Flash Pass/Fast Lane), and it is impractical to visit California's parks without a rental car, so you will have LA traffic to deal with. The only notable advantage California might have is that you could purchase a Six Flags pass and save money (a Cedar Fair Platiunum Pass probably wouldn't be worth it for just Knott's and Cedar Point). Honestly, unless you're going to add the Disneyland Resort (which would require 2 or 3 days), California isn't really worth the hassle given the other parks on the trip.

 

I won't comment on the Orlando parks as I've never been, but you should be fine with one day at Six Flags Great Adventure provided you purchase a Flash Pass. If you get a Gold Flash Pass, it shouldn't be difficult to get several rides on El Toro, Nitro, and Kingda Ka, and one or two rides on all the other coasters done in a day. With a regular pass, you might not get as many re-rides or have time for many flats, but you can definitely get all the coasters done and re-ride your favorites. If you don't get a Flash Pass, allow two days, or at least a day and a half. At Cedar Point, I'd plan two days if you'll be getting Fast Lane on at least one of the days, and three if not. If you do get Fast Lane for just one day, do only Fast Lane rides on the day you buy it and do all the non-Fast Lane rides on the other day. If you want to ride GateKeeper and/or Top Thrill Dragster more than once or twice each, buy Fast Lane+, but otherwise you can save money and just get regular Fast Lane. Definitely don't buy any skip the line system in advance as it may sometimes not be necessary and, especially at Cedar Point if you're only buying one day of Fast Lane, you don't want it on a bad weather day.