Our 2016 annual mega trip planning.

[thrillrider]

So every year, we go on at least 1 mega park trip. This year is no exception. We are going to Florida from Michigan. We decided to do more than 1 day at a few of the parks because we are bringing our kids along with us (1yo, 2yo, 10,yo) This years park lineup is this.....

 

Day 1. Drive/stop by kings island for a ride on the beast and lunch at skyline chili. Continue driving and stay overnight just south of Atlanta.

Day 2. Drive to Tampa/clearwater Florida. Half a day at clearwater beach and half at Busch gardens Tampa.Staying outside of Tampa.

Day 3. 4th of July. Busch gardens Tampa. Staying in Lakeland Florida for the night.

Day 4. Seaworld. Staying near seaworld for 2 nights

Day 5. Seaworld/ fun spot

Day 6-8. Universal studios. Staying at Cabana bay resort

Day 8-13. Disneyworld. Staying at pop century

Day 14. Drive/ Daytona beach/ Boardwalk amusements for a quick credit on the sand blaster. Stay the night.

Day 15. Drive/ carowinds stay near carowinds.

Day 16. Drive/ hit cedarpoint for a few hours before we return home that night.

 

While in Orlando, we also want to check out the worlds largest Mcdonalds

 

Any suggestions of info that may help us out? Also, are there any other coasters in the area outside of the major theme parks?

 

Thank's for any suggestions.

[coasterbill]

Dammit no matter how hard I try I can't work Knoebels into this one so I have no suggestions. Lol

[thrillrider]

Already got that covered for spring fling.

[Nrthwnd]

...While in Orlando, we also want to check out the worlds largest Mcdonalds

 

I think with that planned, your trip is all set!

[SharkTums]

Day 2. Drive to Tampa/clearwater Florida. Half a day at clearwater beach and half at Busch gardens Tampa.Staying outside of Tampa.

 

Can't quite figure this day out. South of ATL to Tampa is about 6 hours which is half of your day, and then you want to do beach and BGT. That may be pushing it, especially with three kids.

 

What about adding in Legoland? 2 and 10 year old would love that park.

 

During your time in Orlando you're staying in three different hotels...how about skipping one of them and adding a night at the other two? The tourist corridor is pretty little and it would be easy to do Sea World from either the Universal or Disney hotels.

 

Edit - Just noticed you're also driving from Daytona to Carowinds and doing Carowinds that day? That's another 7 hour drive and I-95 sucks!

Edited March 28, 2016 by SharkTums

[djcoastermark]

As far as additional parks, there's Wild Adventures in Valdosta Ga, off I75 south of Atlanta. Yes, the drive from Atlanta to the beaches in the St Pete/ Clearwater area is a long boring drive. If you go to Clearwater beach, the sunset celebration at the pier is fun. Full of Buskers and trinket stands set up for sunsets.

I haven't been to the new "largest" Mickey D's, But I'm sure it will be just as crazy fun as the old one. The kids will go ape over it, it is nuts, busy, loud, it' s Mickey D's, on steroids, and when you do finally leave, you're going to want a good stiff drink when you get back to your hotel.

[KBrylczyk]

I'm not a parent, but I get the strange feeling that your crazy driving schedule will make them all quite surly. I wish you luck.

 

Might I suggest loading up on NyQuil and using it to knock them out whenever you start driving?

[ul9601]

i'm planning three weeks trip as well but this sounds pretty ambitious especially amount of driving you guys will be doing - not saying you can't but looks like there are way too many half day driving, you guys can keep this up for two weeks? good luck to you regardless.

[Tanks4me05]

Day 2: It's a 6.5 hour drive from Atlanta to Busch Gardens Tampa; that park can be done in one day, so it would be more feasible to just do Clearwater Beach in the afternoon/evening.

 

Day 14: It's only about an hour from Orlando to Daytona Beach, so to actually allow a full day at Carowinds on Day 15, it would be best that after your credit run there to just drive straight to your hotel at Carowinds, as that leg of the trip would take about 7.5 hours barring any traffic.

 

As others have said, everything in the Orlando/Kissimmee/Disney area is pretty close to each other, so it's best to just stay at one hotel. Which one is up to you as I don't know your preference.

 

If you want to primarily focus on the Orlando area and are able to handle the massive drives at the beginning and end, then it's okay. However, on your way down from Shelby Township, you're missing Dollywood, Lake Winnepesaukah, Six Flags Over Georgia and Wild Adventures. On your way up from Carowinds, Kennywood isn't super far away from your route, either.

[thrillrider]

Day 2. Drive to Tampa/clearwater Florida. Half a day at clearwater beach and half at Busch gardens Tampa.Staying outside of Tampa.

 

Can't quite figure this day out. South of ATL to Tampa is about 6 hours which is half of your day, and then you want to do beach and BGT. That may be pushing it, especially with three kids.

 

What about adding in Legoland? 2 and 10 year old would love that park.

 

During your time in Orlando you're staying in three different hotels...how about skipping one of them and adding a night at the other two? The tourist corridor is pretty little and it would be easy to do Sea World from either the Universal or Disney hotels.

 

Edit - Just noticed you're also driving from Daytona to Carowinds and doing Carowinds that day? That's another 7 hour drive and I-95 sucks!

 

We were actually considering Legoland, but we're afraid that we wouldn't be able to do Busch Gardens in 1 day. The beach/ Bush gardens day is more like a day at the beach and a couple of hours at night at Busch Gardens. The Daytona stop is the one part of the trip where I am really rethinking. We are doing a full day at Animal kingdom that day, and then heading to Carowinds after. Daytona just looked like a decent place to stop on the way for the night. However, it might be worth driving another hour or two so our drive to Carowinds is not so brutal.

 

I agree about the different hotels. The thing with that is that we are cashing in rewards points at different hotel chains. By doing this, the stays are free.

[thrillrider]

I'm not a parent, but I get the strange feeling that your crazy driving schedule will make them all quite surly. I wish you luck.

 

Might I suggest loading up on NyQuil and using it to knock them out whenever you start driving?

 

Lol...

My kids are a rare breed. The love to sleep in the car. We travel so much, that they are used to long car travel. We also have TV/DVD in the car . Mikey mouse clubhouse is usually in full effect.

[thrillrider]

As far as additional parks, there's Wild Adventures in Valdosta Ga, off I75 south of Atlanta. Yes, the drive from Atlanta to the beaches in the St Pete/ Clearwater area is a long boring drive. If you go to Clearwater beach, the sunset celebration at the pier is fun. Full of Buskers and trinket stands set up for sunsets.

I haven't been to the new "largest" Mickey D's, But I'm sure it will be just as crazy fun as the old one. The kids will go ape over it, it is nuts, busy, loud, it' s Mickey D's, on steroids, and when you do finally leave, you're going to want a good stiff drink when you get back to your hotel.

 

Wild adventure is a nice park. We were able to hit this park during our last trip. I don't think they have added anything new that justifies another visit this time around.

 

Lol...the new McDonald's looks great. Robb posted a great video for the media preview that looked insane. Kids will definitely love it. I can't wait to try the pizza.

[thrillrider]

 

If you want to primarily focus on the Orlando area and are able to handle the massive drives at the beginning and end, then it's okay. However, on your way down from Shelby Township, you're missing Dollywood, Lake Winnepesaukah, Six Flags Over Georgia and Wild Adventures. On your way up from Carowinds, Kennywood isn't super far away from your route, either.

 

We actually have separate trips to some of these parks planned this summer. I would try to squeeze another park in on the way home, but just don't have enough time to fit it in.

[DirkFunk]

So every year, we go on at least 1 mega park trip. This year is no exception. We are going to Florida from Michigan. We decided to do more than 1 day at a few of the parks because we are bringing our kids along with us (1yo, 2yo, 10,yo) This years park lineup is this.....

 

Day 1. Drive/stop by kings island for a ride on the beast and lunch at skyline chili. Continue driving and stay overnight just south of Atlanta.

Day 2. Drive to Tampa/clearwater Florida. Half a day at clearwater beach and half at Busch gardens Tampa.Staying outside of Tampa.

Day 3. 4th of July. Busch gardens Tampa. Staying in Lakeland Florida for the night.

Day 4. Seaworld. Staying near seaworld for 2 nights

Day 5. Seaworld/ fun spot

Day 6-8. Universal studios. Staying at Cabana bay resort

Day 8-13. Disneyworld. Staying at pop century

Day 14. Drive/ Daytona beach/ Boardwalk amusements for a quick credit on the sand blaster. Stay the night.

Day 15. Drive/ carowinds stay near carowinds.

Day 16. Drive/ hit cedarpoint for a few hours before we return home that night.

 

While in Orlando, we also want to check out the worlds largest Mcdonalds

 

Any suggestions of info that may help us out? Also, are there any other coasters in the area outside of the major theme parks?

 

Thank's for any suggestions.

 

A couple things north of Tampa that you might want to consider as replacements for Clearwater Beach:

 

Weeki Wachee: Yes, there's a water park and beach set up here. The stars of the show though are the mermaids. Dating back to the 1950s, they do an underwater choreography show which you watch below ground level through a sturdy aquarium style glass window. They breathe using tubes that constantly pump breathable oxygen. http://www.weekiwachee.com/

 

Crystal River to swim with Manatees: It doesn't get more self explanatory than "You swim with manatees". http://www.riverventures.com/

[SharkTums]

Day 2. Drive to Tampa/clearwater Florida. Half a day at clearwater beach and half at Busch gardens Tampa.Staying outside of Tampa.

 

Can't quite figure this day out. South of ATL to Tampa is about 6 hours which is half of your day, and then you want to do beach and BGT. That may be pushing it, especially with three kids.

 

What about adding in Legoland? 2 and 10 year old would love that park.

 

During your time in Orlando you're staying in three different hotels...how about skipping one of them and adding a night at the other two? The tourist corridor is pretty little and it would be easy to do Sea World from either the Universal or Disney hotels.

 

Edit - Just noticed you're also driving from Daytona to Carowinds and doing Carowinds that day? That's another 7 hour drive and I-95 sucks!

 

We were actually considering Legoland, but we're afraid that we wouldn't be able to do Busch Gardens in 1 day. The beach/ Bush gardens day is more like a day at the beach and a couple of hours at night at Busch Gardens. The Daytona stop is the one part of the trip where I am really rethinking. We are doing a full day at Animal kingdom that day, and then heading to Carowinds after. Daytona just looked like a decent place to stop on the way for the night. However, it might be worth driving another hour or two so our drive to Carowinds is not so brutal.

 

I agree about the different hotels. The thing with that is that we are cashing in rewards points at different hotel chains. By doing this, the stays are free.

 

I would absolutely skip Daytona in that case.

[thrillrider]

It's looking like we are going to try and squeeze in legoland. Instead of doing 2 days at seaworld, it would just be 1 day at sw. The bogo tickets for legoland are too hard to pass up.

 

I am also thinking of skipping Daytona and booking a room north of Jacksonville(about a 3 hour drive from animal kingdom). Just worried about being too tired to drive 3 hours after a full day at animal kingdom. I am basing that off of the fact that they will have the extended hours for the night time show in July.