Midwest Trip Summer 2020

[camfansler]

Hello, my brother & I are planning a road trip across the midwest this summer. We did a road trip a couple of summers ago through New England but we are still pretty new at planning these. I'm just looking for any advice or suggestions that anyone would be willing to offer.

 

Our trip will start in Philadelphia (where I live) and head westward.

 

Our rough itinerary is:

 

Day 1: Kennywood

Day 2: Cedar Point

Day 3/4: Kings Island

Day 5: Kentucky Kingdom

Day 6: Holiday World

Day 7: Six Flags St. Louis

Day 8: Travelling home

 

Kennywood & Cedar Point are the only two parks that we've been to before. We generally like to spend an entire day at a park rather than do multiple parks in the same day. We try to enjoy as much as possible that these parks have to offer while getting all of the coaster credits of course.

 

One thing we are debating about is whether we should do 2 days at Kings Island or Holiday World, or both and scrap one of the other parks, or neither and possibly add a park. I know Holiday World is a smaller park but we definitely want to be able to enjoy both the park and Splashin' Safari. Is this doable in one day? Also, will we be able to get all 15 credits at Kings Island in one day?

 

I've read different people suggesting getting the Fast Lane. That's something I've never done before and was wondering if it's worth it, they seem pretty expensive. I guess we would only be worried about it at Kings Island if we're only there for one day. I'm not particularly worried about Cedar Point, Steel Vengeance is the only new credit for me and we can just focus on our favorites there without having to worry about riding everything.

 

Here's a link to our map:

 

https://goo.gl/maps/pypxf5mRPCgBrzCx6

 

Should we scrap one of these parks in favor of another one? Are there any small parks that we would be able to squeeze in without adding any days? Are there any can't miss attractions at any of these parks outside of the rollercoasters? Food recommendations?

 

I would also appreciate any and all suggestions regarding booking hotels. That is a skill I have yet to master. Or any overall suggestions for making this trip as cheap as we possibly can.

 

I apologize for all of these questions. Thanks ahead for any and all input!

[coasterbill]

What types of hotels are you looking to stay in? Are you looking to go the budget-friendly route or splurge a little bit?

 

The drive back is a marathon (14 hours direct). If you add an hour and take 64 you'll pass right by Camden Park in West Virginia and Adventure Park USA in Maryland. Neither park requires much time and neither park is that good but it seems easy enough (Adventure Park USA is like 30 minutes tops).

 

Idlewild, Knoebels and Hershey exist but I imagine you don't care because they're all easy trips for you to take whenever you want. I bring up Adventure Park USA only because the way Google maps is taking you you'll be so close that you'll see the coasters from the road. No sane person should ever drive more than 45 minutes out of their way to go there but you'll be driving right by it.

 

You'll also pass the Columbus Zoo and they have a family coaster but unless you're zoo people that seems kind of insane. I left out a bunch of SBF spinners in strip malls probably but... lol

Edited January 30, 2020 by coasterbill

[camfansler]

Actually, we will be renting a car and flying back from St. Louis. We're trying to keep hotels as cheap as possible. Thanks for the heads up about the Columbus Zoo. We might consider that. You're right, we normally go to Knoebels and Hersheypark every year regardless so I didn't want to waste a day of our trip on them.

[camfansler]

We've never been to Idlewild. We could probably stop there on our way to Kennywood.

[coasterbill]

Okay so fair warning: I'm about to push credit cards again because I love them. If you're not into that or if you know yourself well enough to know that you'll overspend then ignore all of this but if you want to stay at hotels without paying much (or anything) then this is how to do it. You could also look into Airbnb but I find that annoying if it's a road trip with a lot of one-night stops where you get in late.

 

Anyway I would strongly suggest getting a hotel credit card (or just a good travel card with some flexibility). Putting expenses that you'll need for this trip like the flight, rental car and park tickets on the card, hitting the signup bonus by doing so and then using your new mountain of reward points to book a lot of the hotels.

 

Choice Hotels and Wyndham are the best options for people on a budget since they're cheap brands, they're absolutely everywhere and the signup bonuses are easily hit with trip spending and regular spending but I lean towards Choice since the annual fee card on the Wyndham card is dumb since the card just isn't good enough to justify it and their free card sucks. The Choice card has no annual fee.

 

If you want something nicer then the IHG Premier card is at an all-time-high offer right now too (They own Holiday Inn and a bunch of other brands). If you hit that bonus you can probably cover every hotel for the entire trip of you stick to 10,000 and 15,000 point hotels. PM me if you want a link to any of these, especially the last one since there are different offers circulating. Make sure you click on the 140k offer and if you want that one, apply now because it's an all-time high.

Edited January 31, 2020 by coasterbill

[bert425]

if you're ending in St. Louis, it seems a shame to not make a trip to City Museum (itself an amusement park-like attraction).

 

if you're at SFStL on a Friday or Sat, I believe City Museum is open until midnight. . . but we really loved it when we were in the city.