Getting to Cedar Point without a car

[bobbass4k]

I'm pretty far into planning a US trip (from the UK), and everything's actually coming together nicely, except for Cedar Point. Neither of us drive so getting to Cedar Point from Cleveland is looking like it will be a major headache.

 

Does anyone have any experience of getting to Cedar Point without a car? Open to any options, train, bus, taxi, etc. There is a train to Sandusky from Cleveland but it only goes it at like 2am, are there any better options? If we did get the train, would we be able to get a taxi from Sandusky station to Cedar Point? Is flying into Cleveland even the best option? Obviously it's going to be easiest staying in an on-site hotel. Ideally I just need to talk to someone who's done it and can advise on the details, internet research can only take you so far with something like this.

 

Thanks

[robbalvey]

Flying into Cleveland is really the best option. If you don't drive, then you'll have to take a very expensive taxi. I would not recommend a train and probably not a bus either. But if you simply cannot afford the taxi, then you may have to look into one of those two options. I wouldn't recommend either, though.

 

USA is really not "public transportation friendly" other than a few major cities. You pretty much drive, be annoyed, or pay for expensive taxis.

[bobbass4k]

How much would a taxi be? Any idea how I'd go about pre-booking one, if it's even possible? Money isn't unlimited but unless we're talking a truly insane amount I'd rather go for a nice simple taxi than mess about on buses.

 

Yeah, America is definitely designed around cars, fortunately the other places we're going are Orlando and New York and they look alright. Ideally I'd like to do Hershey Park, BGW and Kings Dominion too, but that just isn't possible without a car.

[robbalvey]

New York has great public transportation, Orlando not so much, but at least in Orlando, there are plenty of taxi and shuttle options which are not too expensive if you are not staying on one of the resort properties.

[SharkTums]

I know we've had people on the board do the Greyhound bus or the Amtrak train to/from some city and Sandusky. They're usually at horrid hours, filled with scary people, delayed, and also require a taxi.

 

Out of curiosity, why won't you drive? Driving in the US is cheap and if you speak/read English pretty easy.

[bobbass4k]

A quick google suggests about $130 dollars for Cleveland airport to Cedar Point, which is pretty much what I expected, so I think I'll look into pre-booking and negotiating an up front price.

 

Re: driving, it's not that I don't want to drive in the US, I just can't drive (no full license). It's just different over here, you can get by pretty happily without ever learning to drive. Public transport is pretty good on the whole, I have my bike for getting around locally (usually quicker than cars), and anywhere in the country I'd actually want to go is no more than a few hours away on a train. Driving is a lot more expensive over here too, I'd be looking at at least £300-400 ($500-600) for even a crappy car, and then at least £1500 ($2500) a year to run it, I've just always found better things to spend the money on.

[caffeine_demon]

I did cedar point last year without a car.

 

I used the ridiculous hours train to get to sandusky - It was delayed by about 40 minutes, but the journey itself was comfortable and there was loads of legroom on the train - I'd certainly recommend it. Even if it was awkward getting a taxi from the station (i'd prebooked but that let me down, there were a few at the station so I used one of those), and it was cool seeing cedar point all lit up at about 5am! I got a taxi back to the airportwhich was about 120 dollars.

 

Although I have to say I don't realluy understand how when cedar point is one of the largest parks in the country, and is just a few miles out from the nearest town (with no way of walking there), why no bus or coach company has thought "hmm, maybe a bus service would be handy?!"

[robbalvey]

I did cedar point last year without a car.

 

I used the ridiculous hours train to get to sandusky - It was delayed by about 40 minutes, but the journey itself was comfortable and there was loads of legroom on the train - I'd certainly recommend it. Even if it was awkward getting a taxi from the station (i'd prebooked but that let me down, there were a few at the station so I used one of those)

No offense, but that sounds awful and it's not something I'd recommend to ANYONE. (and this forum is called Ask ALVEY, not Ask caffeine_demon)

 

Although I have to say I don't realluy understand how when cedar point is one of the largest parks in the country, and is just a few miles out from the nearest town (with no way of walking there), why no bus or coach company has thought "hmm, maybe a bus service would be handy?!"

Clearly if enough people NEEDED this service, they would provided. Let's be honest, how many people do you know that travel by "bus or public transportation" in America? Yeah, exactly. Parks don't provide services that most people don't require. That's just how it works.

Edited September 30, 2013 by robbalvey

[downunder]

If it's ok for me to chip in. I used www.tomscruz.com a while ago, and they were around $70-$80 for a ride in a sedan back when I used them and pretty good to boot. They might be worth getting a quote.

 

I've done the $10 flat fee cab ride from CP to Sandusky Greyhound and then Sandusky to Cleveland Greyhound. It was hell and a genuinely life threatening experience. Not recommended.