Needed Advise on an East Coast Trip

[Brassinthegrass]

Hello everybody,

 

For many years I have dreamed of putting together a trip in which I could experience some of the great coasters I seem to be missing from my list. I have this schedule loosely planned out, but want to get some opinions on things to do around/outside the parks, how much time you think it would take to go through the park...

 

I will admit, me and my crew (4 total) are not large water park fans, although we do plan on packing accordingly for a chance to beat the heat on a hot day (and definitely at Holiday World). Nor are we spinning flat ride people... So mainly we will only be riding coasters and important things (like Eiffel towers and wind seekers).

 

Right now our dates are either Wednesday June 24- July 1 or Wednesday July 8- 15 hitting Dollywood, KK and Holiday World on the weekend.

 

Any points of view/advice/comments/known cheep(but clean) hotels/rages of jealousy are welcome!

 

DAY ONE

Leave Long Island

Drive to Six Flags America (5 hours) 262 miles

Six Flags America (10-2) 5 coasters

Hang out in DC for the afternoon/evening

Travel to Kings Dominion (1.5 hours) 98 miles

Stay in Hotel

 

DAY TWO

Kings Dominion (all day) (14 coasters) [i305 will be my 100 coaster!]

Drive to Carowinds (5 hours) 327 miles

Stay in Hotel

 

DAY THREE

Carowinds

Drive to Dollywood (4 hours) 215 miles

Stay in hotel

 

DAY FOUR

DollyWood

Drive to Kentucky kingdom (4.5 hours) 280 miles

Kentucky kingdom

Drive to Holiday world (1.5 hours) 80 miles

Stay in Hotel

 

DAY FIVE

Holiday World

Drive to Kings Island (3 hours) 193 miles

Stay in Hotel

 

Day SIX

Kings Island

Drive to Cedar Point (4 hours) 204 miles

Stay on site

 

DAY SEVEN

Cedar Point [something will be my 150 coaster!]

 

DAY EIGHT

Drive to Kennywood (3 hours) 191 miles

Kennywood

Drive home (6 hours) 410 miles

[CoasterLover]

I did a similar trip a few years ago, but it was spread out over two weeks. That's a LOT of driving for one week. I might suggest giving yourself a full day for Dollywood and a half day for Kentucky Kingdom and Holiday World. If you're just planning on hitting the coasters, you can get to Kentucky Kingdom when they open and on the three-ish coasters within an hour or two then head off to Holiday World. Remember that Holiday World is Central time, so if you leave Kentucky Kingdom by noon, it's a 75 min drive to Holiday World and you turn the clock back an hour when you cross into Central Time, so you would get to Holiday World at 12:15 local time.... plenty enough time to hit the coasters AND the waterpark.

[Tremindouz]

You're a machine if you can get that all done in a week. If you can get Kennywood and Holiday both done in a day, I'd consider adding Busch Gardens Williamsburg.

[XYZ]

This trip will get you very exhausted, so I'd suggest a day or two for breaks.

 

I did a similar trip a few years ago, but it was spread out over two weeks. That's a LOT of driving for one week. I might suggest giving yourself a full day for Dollywood and a half day for Kentucky Kingdom and Holiday World. If you're just planning on hitting the coasters, you can get to Kentucky Kingdom when they open and on the three-ish coasters within an hour or two then head off to Holiday World. Remember that Holiday World is Central time, so if you leave Kentucky Kingdom by noon, it's a 75 min drive to Holiday World and you turn the clock back an hour when you cross into Central Time, so you would get to Holiday World at 12:15 local time.... plenty enough time to hit the coasters AND the waterpark.

 

I did Holiday World for one day at Kentucky Kingdom the next day and I would not recommend doing both parks in one day. Especially since Holiday World is such a great park, you want to spend as much time there as possible.

[ArgoZ]

I have also done an East Coast and Mid America trip. Problem with this plan is your trying to combine both, which is making for some killer drives. Any chance of keeping it all East Coast with additions like SFNE, Lake Compounce, Hershey, SFGAd and Busch? Or even all Mid trip with SFGAm, Indiana Beach and SDC and dropping the Southern parks. SFA is not a good park. Unless your credit counting, I would swap that day for another park. After a long day at KD, I would hate to be driving that 5th hour. Have you been to Busch Gardens? Splitting up the drive by spending a day there and riding there good selection of coasters is a good idea. Unless your sharing ALL the driving, this is a burnout vacation, you might need a week to recuperate after.

[bert425]

Kennywood is well worth the full day. .they have some amazing flats that would be a real shame for you to pass up.

 

and you'll want to ride JackRabbit, Racer, Thunderbolt, and Phantom multiple times (but once was enough for us for Skyrocket).

 

so stay over in Pittsburgh, and drive back the next day. (there are cheap options (Hampton INN) on the Waterfront, less than 5 minutes from the park.

[rcdude]

That's a pretty ambitious trip. It is possible to do all those parks in one week, but you'll probably end up turning most of them into a credit run and will be worn out by the end of the trip. Personally, I'd recommend scaling your trip back a bit so that you enjoy the parks more and aren't in a mad rush to stay on schedule. I've been to most of these parks (never been to Six Flags America or Kennywood so I won't comment on those), and based on my experience I'd recommend the following time allowances (assuming you want to ride all coasters and major non-coaster rides, then re-ride your favorites):

 

Kings Dominion: I visited before Fast Lane and it was definitely a full day park. Even with Fast Lane, I'd still recommend a full day here.

Carowinds: I visited before Fast Lane and 6 hours was plenty here. You could definitely do this and drive to Dollywood in the same day.

Dollywood: If you're really in a rush, you could do the park in 4 hours with a Q-bot, but I highly, highly recommend a full day visit for your first time. If you need to drive somewhere after, then stay early evening and leave then. Don't try to do another park on the same day as Dollywood.

Kentucky Kingdom: I don't know how much they'll add next year, but based on what they had this year 2 hours is sufficient if you get there at opening and skip the waterpark (add 3 hours if you want to do Hurricane Bay). Other than the coasters it's all standard flats here.

Holiday World: If you want to visit Splashin' Safari, you absolutely need a full day here. If you're only doing rides, you'll be done in 4-6 hours.

Kings Island: I really recommend a full day here even with Fast Lane, but if you need to drive somewhere else you'd probably be able to do everything by early evening.

Cedar Point: If time allows, two days is highly recommended. If you can only spend one day at the park, definitely purchase Fast Lane and be prepared that you will likely miss stuff if bad weather strikes.

 

If you have the ability to extend the trip, I would recommend splitting Dollywood and Kentucky Kingdom into two separate days and adding a second day at Cedar Point. If you cannot extend it, I would probably opt for one of these two routes instead:

 

Option A:

 

Day One: Drive to Six Flags America, morning/afternoon at Six Flags America

Day Two: Kings Dominion, drive half-way to Carowinds

Day Three: Finish drive to Carowinds, morning and afternoon at Carowinds, drive to Dollywood

Day Four: Dollywood until early evening, drive to Kings Island

Day Five: Kings Island until early evening, drive to Cedar Point

Day Six: Cedar Point

Day Seven: Cedar Point until early evening, drive to Kennywood

Day Eight: Kennywood, Drive Home

 

Option B:

 

Day One: Drive to Six Flags America, morning/afternoon at Six Flags America

Day Two: Kings Dominion

Day Three: Drive to Holiday World

Day Four: Holiday World

Day Five: Kentucky Kingdom

Day Six: Kings Island until early evening, drive to Cedar Point

Day Seven: Cedar Point, drive half-way to Kennywood

Day Eight: Finish drive to Kennywood, Kennywood, Drive Home

 

Both of these options cut two parks from the original route but still have a good selection. Option A cuts Kentucky Kingdom and Holiday World to allow for more time at Dollywood and two days at Cedar Point. Option B cuts Carowinds and Dollywood in exchange for a less hectic trip overall. Both trips still require a bit of driving, but it's about 10% less than the original route.

 

One other question: Is there a reason for omitting Busch Gardens Williamsburg from the trip? If you have not been there, I would cut any other park to add a day at BGW, as it is one of the best parks I've been to.

[gerstlaueringvar]

You are Superman, real superman.

[bill_s]

You say "all day" and yet call for 5 hours driving afterwords. 3 AM? I personally think the closing hours are the best. I haven't done any marathon trips but seems to me it would be good to stay at some parks that night, so you can also take a rest in the same room that afternoon... even a single park trip can make for complex decisions. The mid-America part of the trip seems like a week in itself, I wouldn't drive it for single park trip from the East Coast (therefore I probably won't ever go to any of those places).

 

If you have previous marathon trip experience, maybe you know your limits, but otherwise might want to start a little smaller.

[Genx24]

Sounds like a lofty goal, but it seems to me that you're underestimating just how draining long distance driving can be.

[coasterbill]

Sounds like a lofty goal, but it seems to me that you're underestimating just how draining long distance driving can be.

 

Exactly... especially after a long day in the sun at a theme park. What I usually do with this kind of scenario is not book hotels on the travel days. That way when you leave the park you can drive as long as you want to and then stop when you get tired and finish up in the morning before the park opens. It's not that much more expensive... especially if you pick out a few potential hotels ahead of time.

[hey...hey]

Really considering an exact trip like this all within like eight days at the beginning of operating hours next year. Was going to also stop off at Beech Bend for a very short visit between Holiday World and Dollywood. Was going to get a CF Platinum Pass to save some money, plus it includes ERT and parking.

[Rai Fox]

No Knoebels, no Busch Gardens? Those are pretty big holes when it comes to an East Coast trip! Knoebels is skippable if you only want parks with lots of coasters (though missing Phoenix is nearly unforgivable), but Busch Gardens has some of the best coasters on the coast.

[BlahBlahson]

I go very hard on any trip I go solo:

 

-I took 6 different trains and Slept 4 hours at a bus stop bench in order to make Heide Park to Walibi Holland an overnight train ride.

-Last month I went to BGW and KD in the same day, and also did a day where I hit all the credits in Ocean City NJ, Atlantic City NJ, Rehoboth Beach Delaware, and Ocean City Maryland in 12 hours in that order.

 

That said...I definitely agree with what others are saying that your trip sounds pretty high energy, more of a run than a relaxing vacation, and you need to make sure to OK with your friends to drive that much and snooze in the car. You can absolutely do it, but it could be draining and even impossible for the wrong group. This trip has some time constraints in places that limit to just the coasters. Qbots and Fastlane would help.

 

The Dollywood day looks tough since your total time in that park is clearly going to be limited to like 9-3 or something less so you can get to KK in time to credit run that. 6 hours at DW is enough time for the coasters but not all of the Dolly Museum, the 4 big water rides, a show, cinnamon bread, lunch, Skyswing, Train ride, etc. The Kings Island Day leaves you without Beast Night rides, a bummer, but CP is for sure a FULL day getting there at opening with Fastlane. And also, BGW is absent from the list if you haven't been.

[mightypotato]

It's an ambitious trip, to be sure, but perhaps it's a bit too ambitious. To spend an entire day at KD and then drive the five hours to Carowinds would be absolute hell on your body. By the end of the trip, you'll have zero energy and probably hate everyone you're with.

 

The trip is doable if it's spread out a bit more. For instance, spend a night in hotel after big parks like KD or Carowinds. Also, parks like Dollywood or Kennywood aren't "run and gun" credit stops. They're places you should really take your time to enjoy and experience.

 

Just my opinion, of course. Your mileage may vary.

[Brassinthegrass]

Wow! I can not say thank you enough for all this info!!!

 

Way too much to touch on all of it, but I can answer a few comments: this past season we went to SFNE Lake Compounce and Lake Quassy on one trip and Knobles, Hershey, Dorney and Coney Island on another trip. Next year two of the four going will be going to Busch Gardens with a school trip (in which we spend 10am-10pm at the park, so we decided to exclude it from this trip.

 

In regards to spending all day and then driving a night to the next park: we tend to be "early birds" and seem to be done with a park earlier in the day than most... Also we plan on getting the Cedar Fair Platinum passes, so we will most likely be visiting a few of the parks the night before, then the day after (think: go on Beast and Banshee, then going to dinner, hotel, wake up do the rest of the park knowing we already got those night credits).

 

As for ALL the other info (and I do have to thank you all for the info) I have to do some thinking about all of it!

 

Another way you could help; know any good restaurants we HAVE to try outside the park? Local places we would never find otherwise?

 

Seriously, THANK YOU SO MUCH!

[marth555]

Dont count out Mammoth and Wildebeest at Holiday World there great rides maybe even better then the coasters

[aCoasterStory]

Dont count out Mammoth and Wildebeest at Holiday World there great rides maybe even better then the coasters

 

This. Holiday World IMHO is as much about the waterpark as the dry park, if not more so.