Planning Theme Park Road Trip

[Daps]

Hey there all! First time posting! Have done a fair bit of reading around the site so far and really loving all the info that's available on here. I was just hoping with some help planning my road trip, mostly in case I've missed anything obvious or any good ways of saving money along the way! (Plus if my itinerary is too ambitious, too conservative, etc.) Any help much appreciated!

 

Just for background - this trip will be my younger brother and I, and we are from the UK. We're flying to Boston on May 28, and renting a car on May 29 in Boston, which then has to be returned back to Boston on June 15th (was too expensive to return the car anywhere other than the original location!)

 

My rough itinerary so far is as follow:

 

May 29 (Fri) - Pick up car, 2.5 hour drive to Bristol, CT

May 30 (Sat) - Lake Compounce (11am-7pm) - 3.5 hour drive to Jackson, NJ.

May 31 (Sun) - Six Flags Great Adventure (10.30am-9pm) - 2 hour drive to Hershey, PA.

Jun 1 (Mon) - Hersheypark (10am-8pm) - 1.5 hour drive to Knoebels.

Jun 2 (Tue) - Knoebels (10am-6pm)

Jun 3 (Wed) - 6 hour drive to Sandusky, OH (possible entry to Cedar Point if time permitting)

Jun 4 (Thu) - Cedar Point (10am-8pm) - 3.5 hour drive to Mason, OH

Jun 5 (Fri) - King's Island (10am-10pm)

Jun 6 (Sat) - 2 hour drive to Louisville, KY - day & night in Kentucky

Jun 7 (Sun) - 1.5 hour drive to Santa Claus, IN - Holiday World (10am-9pm)

Jun 8 (Mon) - 6 hour drive to Chicago, IL

Jun 9 (Tue) - day & night Chicago

Jun 10 (Wed) - 1 hour drive to Gurnee, IL - Six Flags Great America (10.30am-9pm)

Jun 11 (Thu) - 6.5 hour drive to Cleveland, OH

Jun 12 (Fri) - 8.5 hour drive to Agawam, MA

Jun 13 (Sat) - Six Flags New England (10.30am-10pm)

Jun 14 (Sun) - free day

Jun 15 (Mon) - Return car to Boston at 5.30pm

 

Passes:

I'm planning on getting the Six Flags Gold Pass and it's much cheaper if I start at SFGAdv which is why I'm doing SFNE at the end of the trip. I've gone through the process of booking it online just to check I can do it from the UK, which it seems I can!

 

It offers me a Season Photo Pass for $19.99 - with unlimited photos added to it for $1.99 each. Do you know if this park would be valid for all Six Flags theme parks or just the "home" park? - the information really isn't clear on the site!

 

I'm trying to figure out if it's worth getting the Cedar Fair Platinum Pass. I'm planning on a full day each at KI and CP, and ideally, another half a day at CP if all goes to plan. I can get one day at each for $65, plus $45 for the other day at CP, $15x2 for CP parking, $12 for KI parking totalling $152. Are the other perks of the Platinum Pass (an hour early entry, etc.) worth the $48 additional that the pass would cost versus paying for everything separately?

 

 

Accomodation:

This is the part I'm struggling with the most. We don't care about the standard of accomodation at all (or hardly at all!) - so the cheaper the better. But I've heard we'd save money by booking motels online in advance - but this removes flaxibility. If we have bad weather one day, or get lost, or the car breaks down, etc. and we need to push everything forward again it would be a nightmare calling hotels to cancel, and so on.

 

Any advice on the best way to go about arranging accomodation on this trip?

 

 

Theme Parks:

Aside from Cedar Point, do you guys think I'll be selling any of these parks short by devoting only one day to them? Are there any of them that really can't be fully experienced in a full day?

 

 

Overall:

Sorry I've asked so many questions! I wish I'd started planning this trip way earlier than I have, but still - I can't wait!!!

 

If anyone could offer any advice, tips or thoughts on the above plan, that would be massively appreciated!

[RaceBoarder]

There is a CP/KI combo ticket offered at each park for $65... You get a voucher for one day at each park... That will be your best option there...

[Coaster Hero]

I believe the photo pass is valid at all parks, at least Im 80% sure

[SoCal_Coaster]

It looks as though we are going to be at Holiday Park at the same day.

[DirkFunk]

This is the part I'm struggling with the most. We don't care about the standard of accommodation at all (or hardly at all!) - so the cheaper the better. But I've heard we'd save money by booking motels online in advance - but this removes flexibility. If we have bad weather one day, or get lost, or the car breaks down, etc. and we need to push everything forward again it would be a nightmare calling hotels to cancel, and so on.

 

Any advice on the best way to go about arranging accommodation on this trip?

 

IMO you should look into refundable hotel rooms, booking in advance whenever reasonable. That will give you enough flexibility to make changes on the fly, often until 4-6PM day of lodging. These will not necessarily be the cheapest rates available, but they give you some flexibility. Try to stick with a single chain and join their frequent stay club (all but Motel 6 have one). The cheapest option for lodging can often be AirBnB also, so you may want to look into that as well.

[thrillrider]

If you had a platinum pass, you could swing by Michigans adventure for a few hours as well. It;s worth a short visit for timbers, and the lines are not that bad.

[ejot]

Quassy Park is about a 1/2h from Lake Compounce and directly en route to Great Adventure. It's a free-admission / pay-per-ride park with a small but very fun Gravity Group woodie called Wooden Warrior. Open till 10pm on the day you're passing through. It would add less than an hour to your trip for a stop off and 1-2 laps on the coaster, so I'd definitely recommend it. The park is very small and nothing else is a must-do, although their new fully inverting frisbee-type ride runs a great program.

[coasterbill]

Quassy Park is directly en route from Lake Compounce to Great Adventure. It's a free-admission / pay-per-ride park with a small but very fun Gravity Group woodie called Wooden Warrior. Open till 10pm on the day you're passing through. It would add less than an hour to your trip for a stop off and 1-2 laps on the coaster, so I'd definitely recommend it. The park is very small and nothing else is a must-do, although their new fully inverting frisbee-type ride runs a great program.

 

THIS! Wooden Warrior is awesome and it won't cost you much extra time or much money.

[805Andrew]

Your plan looks pretty solid overall, but I would add Quassy at the end of the Lake Compounce day like others have mentioned, squeeze in Kentucky Kingdom into the driving to Kentucky day, and possibly shifting SFNE into the free day if everything else goes as planned so you can have an extra day on the way back to Boston to go to Kennywood if you are driving through/near Pittsburgh.