US Road Trip Help

[mpmbee]

Hello all, I'm doing a roadtrip in a couple of weeks and have a couple of questions. I thought it'd be easier to start a new thread than spam individual pages with loads of questions.

 

The parks we will be visiting are:

 

Sun 31st: SF Fiesta Texas

Mon/Tues 1st/2nd: SF Over Texas

Thurs 4th: SDC

Fri 5th: SF St Louis

Sun 7th: Holiday World

Mon 8th: Kentucky Kingdom

Tues/Wed 9th/10th: Cedar Point

Thurs/Sat 11th/13th: SF Great America

 

1. The first day we visit SF Over Texas we are staying in Austin and travelling up to Dallas and plan doing the JFK Sixth floor museum before hitting the park in the afternoon. Has anyone here ever done that and have any idea how long it takes? Do Six Flags stop selling flash passes after a certain time if we don't get there till late afternoon?

 

2. SF St Louis are there any don't miss rides/attractions at the park apart from the obvious coasters? Only added this park to the trip as an afterthought due to having passes for it.

 

3. What to do in St Louis? The Gateway Arch we've got planned but anything else not to miss?

 

4. SF Great America we will be driving to from Sandusky and visiting Thursday 11th after we drive and then again on Saturday 13th before we fly home. Am I right to assume the park will be totally swamped these days? i am hesitant to drop big money on flash passes there the first day we go considering we won't be arriving till fairly late and the park shuts at 9.00.

 

Thanks for taking the time to read, can't wait to finally try out some of these amazing looking RMC's!

[Genx24]

I've done the JFK museum. It is outstanding and while it is a take at your own pace museum, plan to spend at least two hours. It really is that amazing. Can't answer any of your other questions unfortunately.

[GCI Wooden]

All I can add here is that Great America is completely unpredictable when it comes to crowds. If you're just going for a few hours at night, I'd recommend just using the normal lines Thursday night, and then splurge on either Gold or Platinum Flash Passes on Saturday.

[coasterbill]

Well damn, there's no way I can shoehorn Knoebels into this one. I'm of no help. Peace out thread.

[Arthur_Seaton]

3. What to do in St Louis? The Gateway Arch we've got planned but anything else not to miss?

Isn't City Museum supposed to be amazing? I've never been, but it's on my bucket list.

[LiftThrill]

SFFT - hit Superman w/ VR first. Goliath's line gets really short late in the day but it's mobbed earlier. Unless Iron Rattler night rides are an absolute must, you can also leave the park early and head up to Seguin for ZDT's and use their last 3 hours deal. Switchback is awesome and it's only $12 per person for the "do everything" wristband. It's also sort of halfway to Austin so it's not too far out of the way. There's not that much to do at SFFT anyway so it won't be hard to squeeze ZDT's in at all. The place rocks and even if you're not into arcade games or waterslides the food is better and cheaper than SFFT (except Old Blue's BBQ at SFFT which is actually priced pretty fairly and better than any of the other food at the park) and the coaster is worth it by itself and better than most of the coasters at SFFT. Definitely consider checking the place out.

 

SFOT is sort of a hit or miss. If you're getting a Platinum Flash Pass you should be fine with lines, even with putting other stuff into those days so instead I'll give you tips on where to sit on rides:

-NTaG, Runaway Mountain, Runaway Mine Train, and ShockWave are all back row rides. All except ShockWave are good in other rows too, but ShockWave's front row ride has nothing on the awesomeness of its back row ride

-Mr Freeze is equally weird and amazing in any seat but front and back are probably both better than the middle.

-Judge Roy Scream is a front row ride.

 

SDC is amazing and the only tips I can give you are ride all the coasters in the front and the back, eat cinnamon bread and skillet food, and do the cave tour if you have the time.

 

SFStL doesn't have that much and I got Justice League, all of the wooden coasters, the mine train, and Mr Freeze done in 3 hours when I was there during Fright Fest, so it shouldn't be too hard to get everything done. Ninja is probably skippable if you don't care about credits. The Boss is very fun but you might want to ride it Mean Streak style and sit in the front leaning forward. It's nowhere near smooth. Screamin' Eagle in a non-wheel seat near the back of the train is amazing, and ride American Thunder multiple times. The mine train in the back row is hilariously fun especially with that last drop. As for stuff to do around the St Louis area, the Gateway Arch, Ted Drewe's, and the City Museum all come to mind.

 

Holiday World - Get there at park opening, do Voyage and Thunderbird first, then change and go to the waterpark. Hit Mammoth and then Wildebeest. Then change back and go do Legend and Raven. That seems to be the best order to do things from the day I was there. Others probably have better advice though.

 

I haven't been to KK but I've heard the general consensus of riding Lightning Run first as apparently Storm Chaser is sort of hidden in the back of the park and doesn't really get lines? I don't know but that's what I've heard.

 

Cedar Point advice is all over the forums but anyway here's a few tips: Early entry to get to Maverick, then Millennium Force. If you're not going to be using early entry then just go ahead and do whatever as I assume you've budgeted for FL+. Valravn, Gatekeeper, and Raptor lines all get shorter later in the day. Maverick and Valravn will usually have the longest waits. Mean Streak is strictly a front row ride and it's generally advised that you lean forward. Magnum is best ridden in either the second or third row of the first car, or the first row of the last car with your seatbelt tightened to the point where you physically cannot tighten it any more.

 

I did a similar trip during mid-June, which might have some things you could use to your advantage. I'd also recommend asking each individual park thread as many locals know their parks much better and can give you more detailed advice that will help you maximize your days spent at the parks.

 

Have fun with your trip!

[SharkTums]

Absolutely hit up City Museum in St. Louis.

[mpmbee]

Wow, thanks for the tips, very helpful. We are definately buying flash pass at Fiesta Texas on the first day as we'll be pretty exhausted by mid afternoon with jetlag (12 hours flying the day before) so not too worried about queues there, ZDTs sounds like a good shout, I'd totally forgotten about that park.

 

I've already bought fast pass+ for Cedar Point both days there. Pretty expensive but I don't want to be flying halfway round the world to stand in queues all day ha.

 

Thanks to everyone elsewho has commented, much appreciated.

[PhantomPoster32]

You could always add WOF on the 6th - do you have a CF pass since you are going to CP?

 

St. Louis: the City Museum, the Zoo, Anheuser Busch Brewery Tour

[ytterbiumanalyst]

Yes, if you have 2 days in St. Louis, absolutely spend an entire day at City Museum. It's more fun than Six Flags is. Honestly.

[CPGemini08]

I'll add to the thread for City Museum. Visited a couple years ago and planning to take a trip out in spring again. Love it!

[ArgoZ]

I've done a very similar road trip. The driving will tire you and your craming a lot in. Personally I would end the trip in St. Louis and spend more time at each destination, but you traveled far, I get it. I think you are not spending enough time in San Antonio though. Seaworld and especially Schlitterbahn (world's best water park) are awesome. The Alamo and River Walk are a nice day/evening also.

 

JFK is very good, you only need half a day MAX. I am a bit of a history buff and only spent 3 hrs there, but it was fantastic.

 

I have never pre bought a Flash Pass / Fast Lane and have never seen them sell out. I would recommend waiting until you enter the park before deciding. SF sells them all day.

 

St. Louis has a very nice Zoo. Ted Drews Frozen Custurd is an American tradition. The Archway is quite disappointing, but nice to look at anyway. The city has great baseball fans and an eye catching stadium.

 

Your driving right past Kings Island, one of the better Cedar Fair parks.

 

Top of my head stuff.

[mpmbee]

I've done a very similar road trip. The driving will tire you and your craming a lot in. Personally I would end the trip in St. Louis and spend more time at each destination, but you traveled far, I get it. I think you are not spending enough time in San Antonio though. Seaworld and especially Schlitterbahn (world's best water park) are awesome. The Alamo and River Walk are a nice day/evening also.

 

JFK is very good, you only need half a day MAX. I am a bit of a history buff and only spent 3 hrs there, but it was fantastic.

 

I have never pre bought a Flash Pass / Fast Lane and have never seen them sell out. I would recommend waiting until you enter the park before deciding. SF sells them all day.

 

St. Louis has a very nice Zoo. Ted Drews Frozen Custurd is an American tradition. The Archway is quite disappointing, but nice to look at anyway. The city has great baseball fans and an eye catching stadium.

 

Your driving right past Kings Island, one of the better Cedar Fair parks.

 

Top of my head stuff.

 

Thanks for the advice, we did another coaster trip last year with similar amounts of driving so we should be OK on that front.

 

We aren't stopping at King's Island as we went there last year and apart from The Beast and Banshee weren't really worried about a visiting there again.

 

The City museum in St Louis does look really cool, we'll probably go there then.