5 Parks, 10 Days Midwest Advice

[LiftThrill]

I'm going to be going on a ten-day trip from June 10th-20th that is going to include mainly parks, and we've planned it out to be within the budget so the parks and schedule is pretty much set in stone. The important days are:

 

• Silver Dollar City - Saturday 6/11 - My main concern with this is that it's a Saturday which means it'll be busier than normal. We are getting the normal, limited Trailblazer pass for this day. Any advice for approaching the rides, cave, food, etc?
   
  
• Holiday World - Monday 6/13 - Any tips on when to hit the rides, waterpark, etc? I'm not a huge waterpark fan but I do like water coasters and waterslides so Mammoth and Wildebeest definitely have my attention (just not as much as the coasters).
   
  
• King's Island - Tuesday 6/14 - We're buying the KI/CP coaster combo pass for the 14-15th. Any tips on hitting the rides, making sure to get Beast night rides, and generally how to approach the park? This day is also a huge marathon because we drive 2 hours to the park early in the morning, then 4 hours to Sandusky after we get that Beast night ride.
   
  
• Cedar Point Day 1 - Wednesday 6/15 - Above mentioned KI/CP coaster combo pass. We will not be getting Fast Lane this day, which is a bit of a risk. It is possible that we could afford normal FL this day if absolutely necessary but I'd rather avoid that if possible. We do have Early Entry due to staying at Breakers Express. Any tips on approaching the park and the rides are appreciated.
   
  
• Cedar Point Day 2 - Thursday 6/16 - We do have FL+ this day, so it's alot more open than Wednesday. How should we approach this day? Any tips are appreciated. We do need to drive an hour to Cleveland after we leave but the coaster stimulus should provide enough energy for that
   
  
• Dollywood - Saturday 6/18 - Another Herschend Saturday that I'm a little concerned about. Luckily the main thing we're here for is Lightning Rod, with some shows and other coasters sprinkled in.

 

any help is definitely appreciated, and I'm super hyped for the trip of a lifetime!

 

I'm also hyped to have actually ridden enough wooden coasters to actually have a decent ranking list for them

Edited May 27, 2016 by LiftThrill

[ytterbiumanalyst]

I can help with SDC and HW. I haven't been to the other three (but going to Kings Island and Cedar Point next week! )

 

SDC- Get the Trailblazer Pass. Saturdays in the summer are incredibly busy, and it's going to be the only way you're going to get to do everything. The regular one lets you skip the line 8 times on 8 rides, but it's not one per ride. For example, Thunderation usually doesn't have long lines, but it is on the Trailblazer Pass. You can choose to wait in Thunderation's line and use the Trailblazer Pass twice for Outlaw Run. The higher tier is unlimited entry to those eight rides. If you want to do each coaster multiple times, choose that; otherwise, the lower tier should be fine.

 

All the food at SDC is good. That's no exaggeration. They're best known for their skillets, so if you want the quintessential SDC experience, go for one of those. They're located near Wildfire, Thunderation, and Lost River. Crossroads Pizza is excellent, as is the BBQ place near Lost River. Just get whatever catches your eye; you can't go wrong really.

 

The cave has tours every 20 minutes all day, and you can reserve a special Lantern Tour, which is the last tour of the day (usually about an hour and a half before park closing, but with the park open until 10 that day, it's likely going to be around 6:30 or so). Just hit up the cave tour desk in the Hospitality House to make a reservation for the tour. The Lantern Tour is very special and very much worth the upcharge of $8. Other tours are included with admission and are first-come, first-serve.

 

HW- Mammoth and Wildebeest are absolutely phenomenal, and do not dare skip those. They are as good as or better than the coasters. Zoombabwe and Bakuli are also very good. One thing that I particularly like about Splashin' Safari is that (other than the mat racer) they have only tube slides. I've always been more of a fan of tube slides than body slides, so that's great news for me. Keep in mind if you're a single rider, ask them to pair you with another rider or a group, and they'll make arrangements so you can ride. They're awesome about this.

 

Do the waterpark first, then the coasters after that. Most people do the reverse, so that will keep lines shorter for you. They have a lot of good flats, too, and a great variety. Whatever you're into, they'll have something for you.

 

Have fun!

Edited May 25, 2016 by ytterbiumanalyst

[jarmor]

No Kentucky kingdom?!?!?!? Its right between Dollywood and Kings Island.

[MisterP]

Saturday at SDC in mid-June will be so crowded, it will take you 10 minutes to walk between rides. The thoroughfares are tight in many places and they get bottle-necked. That's a park that is much more appreciated when it's not a peak day. If you want to just ride the rides, get the T pass and go for it.

 

But that park normally requires a bit of a slower pace to truly take in all its subtleties and beauty. And it has way more of those things than any other park on that trip, other than Dollywood, which you are also visiting on a Saturday in mid-June.

 

I think that's a shaky itinerary, although with CP and KI in there too, I guess you don't have a lot of choice. So get the Trailblazers and have fun!

[LiftThrill]

No Kentucky kingdom?!?!?!? Its right between Dollywood and Kings Island.

 

If we had an extra $200 in the budget we would. KK got cut due to budget and time constraints. I was disappointed but we do have family and friends in Louisville so there's a high chance we'll be back there in the next few years anyhow.

 

SDC- Get the Trailblazer Pass. Saturdays in the summer are incredibly busy, and it's going to be the only way you're going to get to do everything. The regular one lets you skip the line 8 times on 8 rides, but it's not one per ride. For example, Thunderation usually doesn't have long lines, but it is on the Trailblazer Pass. You can choose to wait in Thunderation's line and use the Trailblazer Pass twice for Outlaw Run. The higher tier is unlimited entry to those eight rides. If you want to do each coaster multiple times, choose that; otherwise, the lower tier should be fine.

 

I think we can squeeze in the extra for the normal ones, but it would be a little tough to squeeze in for the unlimited one. Chances are that we won't do all 8 of the rides so we'll probably use some of the extra ones for rerides throughout the day.

 

HW- Mammoth and Wildebeest are absolutely phenomenal, and do not dare skip those. They are as good as or better than the coasters. Zoombabwe and Bakuli are also very good. One thing that I particularly like about Splashin' Safari is that (other than the mat racer) they have only tube slides. I've always been more of a fan of tube slides than body slides, so that's great news for me. Keep in mind if you're a single rider, ask them to pair you with another rider or a group, and they'll make arrangements so you can ride. They're awesome about this.

 

Do the waterpark first, then the coasters after that. Most people do the reverse, so that will keep lines shorter for you. They have a lot of good flats, too, and a great variety. Whatever you're into, they'll have something for you.

 

Have fun!

Thanks for the tips!

 

Saturday at SDC in mid-June will be so crowded, it will take you 10 minutes to walk between rides. The thoroughfares are tight in many places and they get bottle-necked. That's a park that is much more appreciated when it's not a peak day. If you want to just ride the rides, get the T pass and go for it.

 

But that park normally requires a bit of a slower pace to truly take in all its subtleties and beauty. And it has way more of those things than any other park on that trip, other than Dollywood, which you are also visiting on a Saturday in mid-June.

 

I think that's a shaky itinerary, although with CP and KI in there too, I guess you don't have a lot of choice. So get the Trailblazers and have fun!

Yeah it's kind of tight with time, but getting to go at all is awesome. If I could move the days around to able to hit all the parks on weekdays I would, but obviously no trip can be perfect

[PKI Jizzman]

I have actually been to all the parks on your list!

 

I won't touch on SDC because you have already been given sterling advice.

 

Holiday World - I'll echo what the others have said and do not skip Wildebeest or Mammoth. I haven't been on Mammoth yet but damn, Wildebeest is better than 90% of other coasters out there. This is a park where you can be cheap at - free drinks can help you stay full/hydrated all day and you can get a snack during the day, then eat on your drives. Enjoy Voyage!

 

Kings Island on a Tuesday shouldn't be bad. Ride the low capacity rides first - Invertigo -> a little bit of a walk to Firehawk, Flight of Fear, Stunt Track, then kiddie coasters of you want. Make sure to ride Diamondback in row 2 and row 15. I worked the ride and rode it a million times and I believe row 2 is the best! I'd get in line and time it to ride Beast around 9 or 930 so you're not leaving the park at 113 or 1130 like if you would be the last in line at 10. And they do pause operations for fireworks at 10-1015.

One thing cool about KI is the food - they offer many Cincinnati favorites: Skyline Chili Cheese coneys, Larosas pizza, Greaters ice cream, and Montgomery Inn BBQ. Don't eat cheap shittty theme park food and try one of the locals!

Also, ride Banshee in the front. Do it!

 

Cedar Point - if you have FL+ one day, no worries. Go over to the CP thread for more suggestions on the day to day schedule. There's tons of info in there.

[thrillrider]

You must ride the Beast at night. It is a religious experience.

[yay101]

I think the order of it is good. I never went to SDC or Dollywood but I have been to the others so here is my input.

 

If you go to Holiday World, the waterpark is a day in itself as there is a lot of stuff at Splashin Safari. If you must go on water slides either set aside a whole day for them or just do Wildebeest and Mammoth (if you have to choose one due to lines, then do Wildebeest). I recommend to ride in order, Thunderbird, Voyage, waterpark, Legend, Raven, along with sprinkling in other rides around the areas.

 

As for Cedar Point, go for two days, and stay at a hotel they own because you get to enter an hour ahead of time and ride select rides. Ride the popular ones during this hour if you can. When park opens, be at the back of the park to ride Magnum, Maverick, et cetera as Magnum will be a walk-on. Work your way down. On Day 2, fill in what you did not ride. Also try to ride TTD when it is open or maybe early morning or late at night when the lines are shorter. If you have money for their Fast Pass, whatever they call it, buy it as it will save lots of time, although the Fast Pass lines could be 20-30 minutes, which is long but still beats a 1-2 hour line.

 

Kings Island could be a two day park. I lucked out and went on a day it wasn't crowded in early June but lines could get very long. Beast is best at night as during the day it is just okay. I recommend going to Firehawk/Flight Of Fear first as they should not have as big of crowds in the early morning. Do Racer then as well. You could also go to Action Zone early and ride Invertigo first as that only runs one train, followed by The Bat, Banshee if the line is okay, and other rides (I recommend Drop Tower in particular as it is one of the tallest and best). Again if you want Fast Pass on a crowded day it will help. Also worth noting is that Kings Island is HUGE - it is MUCH bigger than the map makes it out to be - you will be walking quite a bit.

 

I never went to Dollywood either but I would try maybe to ride Lightning Rod as much as possible, possibly late at night because it would be PHENOMENAL at night. Maybe try to hit up Tennessee Tornado in the morning as I'm not sure it is a popular ride. I don't know what else to say for that park or SDC as I never went there but I hope my other advice helped.

[coasterbill]

As for Cedar Point, go for two days, and stay at a hotel they own because you get to enter an hour ahead of time and ride select rides. Ride the popular ones during this hour if you can

 

Good advice, though a Platinum Pass also gets you in and I assume you have one since you're spending 3 days at Cedar Fair parks on this trip.

[gp1086]

I went to HW last year. Great park and absolutely LOVED the waterpark. Would definitely recommend the water coasters (although the lines can get quite long).

[DILinator]

First off...

 

Wildebeest is better than 90% of other coasters out there.

 

So true!

 

My thoughts mainly pertain to Cedar Point...

 

If you're going to have FL+ for one day, and you're going for two days, both in the middle of the week, I don't think you really need to have any worries about getting to ride enough of whatever you'd want. Personally, if you were going for two days, I would have advised you to skip FL+ for either day, since two days, navigated properly, will be more than enough to enjoy the park. It sounds like you already bought them, however, so que sera sera...

 

Others have mentioned it, but it's SO true, so I'll mention it again... Start at the back of the park, entering through the resort/Soak City entrance, and go hit up Maverick first. Get a couple of rides in on that, prior to park opening, and then work your way down Frontier Trail to Millennium Force. Assuming no delays in the opening of the coasters, you should be able to do at least one if not two rides on Maverick, and an MF ride, all by the 10:00 regular opening time! At that point, I would go around the bottom of the lagoon area (where Iron Dragon is), and around to TTD, so get in that line before it spirals out of control (and the ride inevitably breaks down.) After that, do Magnum, Gemini, and Mean Streak (if you're so inclined), and you'll have essentially hit all the larger coasters in the rear of the park in likely just a few hours.

 

You're going to experience decent wait times given the fact that many schools will be out by then, but not epic waits like the weekends will provide. The key thing to note, is that all the front coasters are much more crowded first thing in the day, so avoid being up front early, on your non-FL+ day especially. Also, if you can handle waiting to ride Valravn until Day 2, I wouldn't recommend waiting in the inevitable 1 hour-plus lines for it the first day, if you'll be able to get on quickly with FL+ the next day. It dominates the skyline, and will be tempting you to ride it all day the first day, but I'd really focus on hitting the back coasters early that day, the shorter waits for the smaller front coasters later in the day, and then just use the FL+ to marathon Valravn, MF, Maverick, and TTD the second day, since you have it. Raptor and GateKeeper around dinnertime Day 1, should both be half hour or less waits, easily, even Day 1, so plan to hit those two then!

 

Any other CP questions, or clarifications, feel free to ask!

[LiftThrill]

Thanks for the awesome advice!

[gp1086]

In addition to my HW comment about the water coasters, been to CP twice and both times did two days with no skip the line passes. Didn't have an issue getting on everything I wanted to ride. Skyhawk is a beast and one of my favorite flats, so don't skip that. Also loved their elephant ears.

 

It's been 5 years or so since my last visit. Man I need to go back.

 

Your trip sounds awesome. I'm jealous.