US Trip Planning help needed

[mschisano]

Hi Robb,

 

First off, thank you for such a wonderful site! I have been a lurker for years but finally decided to start posting not too long ago.

 

I am in the process of planning a sizable road trip for early next season (early June 2017) and have the preliminary itinerary as follows:

 

Day 0: Fly from west coast to Nashville (red eye)

Day 1: Holiday World

Day 2: Kentucky Kingdom

Day 3: Kings Island

Day 4: Kings Island

Day 5: Cedar Point

Day 6: Cedar Point

Day 7: Kennywood

Day 8: Dorney park

Day 9: Hershey Park

Day 10: Hershey Park

Day 11: Kings Dominion

Day 12: Kings Dominion

Day 13: Carowinds

Day 14: Carowinds

Day 15: Dollywood

Day 16: Dollywood

 

With the exception of Cedar Point, all of these will be new parks with new credits for me. My first question is, does the distribution of days relative to the associated park look reasonable? I know it is impossible to predict crowds, and there will always be the option to get a fast lane pass, however if this spread works, I would rather save the money. My next question is, is this plan doable? I am confident that I will not get burned out however, although my girlfriend loves theme parks, I would not say she is at the same level as most of us on this site. Finally, is there anything in close proximity to these parks that would be considered a must visit should we want a break from the parks?

 

Thank you again, and I hope the rest of your European trip goes smoothly.

 

-Matt

[Henry M]

Hi,

 

I would recommend some 'rest days' where you could do some non-coaster stuff. I would do this at a place where there is something cultural to do and preferably on a peak time day like a weekend. Also, add another day to CP to make it more relaxed.

[mschisano]

Hi Henry,

 

Thank you for your comments. My girlfriend is already looking for non-coaster things to do. We might add another day to CP however that is the one park that we have already been to so we figured 2 days would be enough given not too much will have changed since we were there last (2015).

 

-Matt

[larrygator]

I moved this into the main forum where it will get more feedback and coasterbill (among others) will let you know that you need to add Knoebels.

 

To help everyone out.

1) Do you also plan to visit waterparks?

2) Are you amenable to purchasing Flash Pass, Fast Lane, QBot?

[ul9601]

I've just done KI-CP-CW-SFNE-LC-SFGAdv-DP-Knoebels-HP-KD over the past three weeks.

Depending on how many are in your party, you might want to go Flash Pass/Fast Lane etc (i.e. the more in your party the more expensive it gets with Fast Lane and the cheaper it is with rooms.

I definitely recommend Fast Lane etc except for HP (because it's not worth the money).

With Fast Lane, all the parks I've been were done in half a day (I didn't do many flats).

I'd would have loved another day at CP, which I planned for but the storm wiped out the first day.

And try not to go in early June - especially if you don't plan to buy Fast Lane (even then it's not pleasant) - school groups (more than a few different schools) will be swarming the parks...

[thrillrider]

It may be worth your wild to do 1 day at kings dominion, and 1 day at Busch gardens, They are only about an hour apart, and bush is a great park that shouldn't be missed if in the area. KD can be done in 1 day if done right, and if you were to get a fast lane you would get multiple rides.

 

Not sure if you would be interested in also adding beach bend into the mix as well. It's close to Kentucky kingdom and Holiday world. The admission is cheap, and it shouldn't take you more than a couple of hours to do. Kentucky rumbler is a great coaster. If your a club TPR member, you get an extra $10 off your ticket at the front gate as well.

[DefeatistNation]

I have one huge piece of advice. No matter how much you love rollercoasters, you can and will absolutely get burnt out. That many days in a row at a park is going to take a massive toll and you will end up resenting it.

[ejot]

Remove a day at KI, Hershey, KD, Carowinds. Do an evening->full day at Hershey (free 2.5h at park day before with a day ticket). Add a day at Knoebels. Add a few days of slower drives and other attractions, or at least have some in mind in case the themepark pace gets grueling for either of you.

 

Save up for skip the line passes and just plan on buying them as often as possible. They totally change the dynamic of the day. You're so much more relaxed and this makes it easier to accomplish an aggressive schedule.

[ul9601]

^^Absolutely - I thought I'd be fine but I felt I burnt out after the first week. But then you will be in a bit better position doing it with your gf.

Either that or I'm not a real coaster fanatic - having ridden around 100 coasters over the past three weeks so far, I'd say I can count the coasters I'd come back and ride over and over with two hands easy.

[ul9601]

+1 for Knoebels - it's not big on coasters but worth a visit.

HP is overrated.

[coasterbill]

Day 7: Kennywood

Day 8: Dorney park

Day 9: Hershey Park

Day 10: Hershey Park

 

 

No, no, no, no, no you're doing this wrong. Would someone, anyone stop the madness??

 

I'm not going to suggest Six Flags parks even though I want to because it's obvious money is an object here and you're getting a Cedar Fair Platinum Pass and paying for single day admission to the other parks, but if you're going to Dorney and not Knoebels you're doing something horrifically wrong.

 

Kings Dominion and Carowinds are one day parks. Hershey can be a one day park too. If I were you I'd cut a day at Hershey and spend a FULL DAY at Knoebels. I don't care about the Hershey preview crap... spend the entire day at Knoebels. If that's a weekday then you can buy a wristband. Personally I'd rather see you spend 2 days at Hershey and cut a day at Carowinds for Knoebels but Carowinds doesn't cost you anything so I get the appeal of spending 2 days there and cutting a second day at Hershey.

 

Don't even for a second think about skipping Knoebels. It's better than every other park you're going to. Don't look it up on RCDB and think it's just a credit stop either. If you do that you'll be rushing through Knoebels kicking yourself for wasting a second day at Carowinds.

 

You're welcome.

[larrygator]

^Who knew?

[coasterbill]

^Who knew?

 

I'm nothing if not dependable.

[mschisano]

First off, thank you for all of your responses!

 

I knew I would hear something about Knoebels. To be honest I did not want to leave it out but the trip was already getting to be on the long side. The reason I had 2 days at KD and Carowinds was based on the coaster count however if we are able to do both of these parks in 1 day, I will definitely add Knoebels.

 

There will only be 2 of us on the trip and fast lane passes are not out of the picture, we were just going to wait on those until we had the dates finalized and purchase accordingly.

[coasterbill]

I've got to be honest. Unless you hate lines I don't think you'll need Fastlane passes at any of the parks you're going to... even if you cut KD or Carowinds to one day. If you do want to treat yourself, I'd do it at Cedar Point one of the 2 days but even then it's not 100% necessary. You'll have plenty of time to do everything.

 

Also, I'm really, really tempted to bring up Six Flags Great Adventure even though I assume you don't have a Six Flags pass but I imagine you don't want to go down that road because of the added expense and the fact that you would actually need Flash Passes in that instance. If it were me though I'd cut a day at Carowinds for Knoebels and a day at Dominion for Great Adventure because they're both absolutely one day parks. I understand why you wouldn't want to do this though and you've already added Knoebels which is the most important thing.

 

The other thing you could do is add a day at BGW but again, it's an extra expense. The plan you have now is the most cost effective.

[mschisano]

I did think about adding SFGAdv, and the expense is not too bad given it would allow me access to SFDK and SFMM. The biggest concern right now is time. I am pretty sure I will be able to take up to 3 weeks off of work however I don't know about my gf. I had figured my next big east coast trip would hit SFGAdv and some of the smaller parks in the area.

[SFOG1991]

I would add Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Knoebels, Lake Winnie (quick stop) and Six Flags Over Georgia to this itinerary if possible. I'm not sure of your exact route. Also, you will never need two days at Carowinds unless you really want to marathon Fury more. It's easily a one day park and even a half day park on weekdays. You don't need two days at many of those parks, but if that includes driving time and half days, then maybe you do. I do understand it is nice to take your time in parks so if that's what you want then two days does make a lot of sense. BGW and Knoebels would be easy add ons anyways.. Great Adventure is hard to pass up when so close too..

 

Also keep in mind there are some small low cost parks probably along your route that may be worth a quick stop. Parks like Lakemont Park are easy one hour pit stops if you have time.

Edited June 23, 2016 by SFOG1991

[coasterbill]

But you're also spending extra days at single day parks. You don't need another day at Kings Dominion or Carowinds. So if you want, move things around and go to Great Adventure for a day. It's not essential though... Knoebels is. If you have one day at Great Adventure you WILL need Flash Passes though. Then it's entirely doable in a day.

 

Or you could take day 2 at Dominion and go to BGW. That's easier and cheaper and it's a better park except for in the coaster department.

[Password121]

I haven't read through everything in this thread but as great as Kings Dominion is (I frequent that park) and I really do enjoy the park you're going to get bored with two days. Other than Volcano you won't wait more than 20 minutes for anything ever and there's really only about three to five coasters worth re-riding. You can do the park in a half day and use the next several hours for re-rides and to enjoy the atmosphere but after that you're way better off at Knoebels assuming Bill isn't crazy as I haven't actually been myself.

[djmcbell]

You seem to be doing nothing but park-park-park-park-park, which would be great but...

 

... when the hell are you going to be travelling or relaxing?!?

 

We did a road trip a few years back (you can see my blog about it here). We did:

 

1 - travelling

2 - Six Flags Great America

3 - Chicago

4 - travelling

5 - Cedar Point

6 - Cedar Point

7 - Kelleys Island and Put-in-Bay

8 - travelling

9 - Six Flags Great Adventure

10 - Philadelphia

11 - Philadelphia

12 - July 4th

13 - travelling

14 - Six Flags America

15 - Washington DC

16 - Washington DC

17 - travelling

18 - Busch Gardens Williamsburg

19 - Water Country USA

20 - travelling

 

I would recommend doing Kelley's Island and Put-in-Bay if you want a nice, relaxing day whilst in the Cedar Point / Sandusky area. Two nice little islands, and Kelley's Island has a good beach too.

[coasterbill]

Also keep in mind there are some small low cost parks probably along your route that may be worth a quick stop. Parks like Lakemont Park are easy one hour pit stops if you have time.

 

I thought of Lakemont but he'll probably be driving by those parks when they're closed and he's in a hurry to get to the next destination.

 

Really I'd suggest the original plan plus Knoebels. Then if you want you can remove a day at KD and either spend it at BGW or Great Adventure but that's up to you. Other than that I wouldn't over-complicate things.

[mschisano]

Hi All,

 

To answer some of the questions/suggestions please see my current tentative itinerary. It still needs to be approved by the gf as she want to do a lot of non-park stuff:

 

Day 1: Holiday World

Day 2: Kentucky Kingdom

Day 3: Kings Island

Day 4: Cedar Point

Day 5: Cedar Point

Day 6: Kennywood

Day 7: Knoebels

Day 8: Dorney Park

Day 9: Six Flags Great Adventure

Day 10: Hershey Park

Day 11: Hershey Park

Day 12: Kings Dominion

Day 13: Busch Gardens Williamsburg

Day 14: Carowinds

Day 15: Dollywood

Day 16: Dollywood

 

In terms of traveling I was planning on driving to the next park when finished with the previous. I know this can be exhausting however the longest drive is about 5 hours, there will be 2 of us, and there is always the option to get a hotel room half way between the parks to sleep overnight.

[coasterbill]

That plan is perfect. You won't need a skip the line pass except at Great Adventure (go for Platinum... go all in) and Cedar Point if you feel like treating yourself.

 

If you can, get a wristband at Knoebels plus coasters obviously.

 

PS: See if the rental company has a toll option. If not, meet your new best friend. Enter whatever license plate number you want. Nobody cares what the plate number on the rental car is. It'll just read the transponder anyway and it'll be brand new so it won't die and use the plate for backup.

[SFOG1991]

Also keep in mind there are some small low cost parks probably along your route that may be worth a quick stop. Parks like Lakemont Park are easy one hour pit stops if you have time.

 

I thought of Lakemont but he'll probably be driving by those parks when they're closed and he's in a hurry to get to the next destination.

 

Really I'd suggest the original plan plus Knoebels. Then if you want you can remove a day at KD and either spend it at BGW or Great Adventure but that's up to you. Other than that I wouldn't over-complicate things.

I did Lakemont, DelGrossos, Idlewild, and Kennywood all in one day, but I'm kind of ridiculous (and I would've wanted more time at Kennywood but I've been to that park probably 20 times in the last 20 years, and I had been to Idlewild as a child a few times so I didn't need a lot of time to enjoy it again).

 

I personally hate going on trips and not hitting every park in the area, but with time constraints that does make a trip very fast paced and hectic too.

[7flags]

I would recommend traveling up north as well. The Connecticut/Massachusetts area has SFNE, Quassy, and Lake Compounce all within an hour of each other. At least hit Knoebles though if not those three.