Am I being dumb? Road trip '25

[KBrylczyk]

I'm trying to plan a trip around Lake Erie but these darn new coasters are making it difficult.

My plan is to visit Michigan's Adventure, Canada's Wonderland, Darien Lake, Waldameer, and Cedar Point.  My intention was to take this trip after Alpenfury and Siren's Curse were up and running but it seems there's no idea on when that may be.  With Six Flags being involved I'm guessing they'll be New For 2027 but a man can dream.  My problem is I need to make some more concrete plans than "this summer" and I don't know when would be the smartest time to go.  Honestly I'm only expecting crowds at CW and CP but I'm paralyzed by the choice between visiting early to beat summer break and probably miss the new rides or visit later and deal with crowds and heat.  I'd love to say I can just wait until September but my autumn is pretty solidly booked already and the operational calendars of these parks make it difficult to have an efficient trip after labor day.

Also, while we're on the topic, I've got the all-park passport loaded on my Six Flags app and it's updated to the latest edition, yet it refuses to show anything Cedar Fair related.  I noticed Cedar Fair apps are for each park, so do I have to annoyingly download three separate apps and load my pass onto all of them to get into the parks, or will they accept the one loaded on the Six Flags app?  Anyone have any experience with this?

Thanks for the help!

[SharkTums]

You have to wait.  It's just the way all parks are nowadays. Plan for late summer for sure and there will be a lot less stress and anxiety! 

[AmyUD06]

Yeah, like Elissa said, planning later in the year would the safest bet if you really want those two rides.  I booked my trip to CW for October based partially on the uncertainly around AlpenFury's opening date.  If it's any consolation, CP's website does say that that Siren's Curse is scheduled to open "early summer" and with the track work being (edit: nearly done) I see no reason to doubt that (barring any sort of TT2-esque nonsense).  Remember that the new "Six Flags" parent company is like 99% old Cedar Fair employees and Rapterra was good to go at King's Dominion on their opening day 3 weeks ago.

And yes, the "legacy" CF parks all have separate phone apps, and you need to log into each separately.  It's been so long since I've done it I can't recall if its a single account/login (I'm pretty sure it is but I could be wrong) or if you need to load your pass in to each one separately.

Is your pass purchased from a SF park with the All-Park add on, or from a CF park with the All-Park add on?

I bought my pass with the add on through a CF park, and when I load it into the SF app it doesn't show up as an actual season pass, but rather a "Gold Pass Daily Ticket" that doesn't expire.  Not sure if that would work the other way around too.

[thepoint4life23]

 Siren's Curse track work is not done yet. I would say with in a week or so. 

Could you do a trip say the last week of August or like the 22nd to the 29th something like that. The bigger parts still have weekly operations. You would just need to book end Michigan's Adventure and Waldameer for the weekend days. How many miles is a trip like this. Michigan Adventure is pretty far from everything else. 

[KBrylczyk]

12 hours ago, thepoint4life23 said:

How many miles is a trip like this. Michigan Adventure is pretty far from everything else. 

I'm starting from BloNo, Illinois, so Michigan's Adventure is a short detour from the route to Canada's Wonderland.

[thepoint4life23]

So looks like the first half is heavy driving a 4 hour then a 6 hour trip. I think last August should be fine if you can work it around the parks calendars.  

I would love to do a trip like this some day. Mine would need to be more the middle of the country as i have done most the midwest. Beside the two bigger six flags parks. 

 

[thrillseeker4552]

My buddy and I are actually doing a very similar trip this summer. We are starting in Chicago and going to Six Flags Great America, Michigan's Adventure, Cedar Point, Kennywood, Waldameer, Six Flags Darien Lake, and Canada's Wonderland. We are doing this the last week of July and into early August. This is the timeframe I usually plan road trips like this and it usually works out well if you can deal with the heat. We did a Dallas to Chicago coaster road trip that same time frame in 2023 and it worked out perfectly.

In terms of new coasters opening by then, the only one I am somewhat concerned about is AlpenFury. I think by late July it will be open but I'm remaining skeptical. Wrath of Rakashakalaka is already testing so that will be fine. I'm fairly confident Siren's Curse will open by then, and hopefully TT2 will make it longer than a few weeks. This will also be my first visits to MIA, Kennywood, Waldameer, SFDL, and CW.

If I could recommend any time frame to do a trip like this, it would be late July or up until the last week or two that parks are still open daily.

[Zand]

I'm planning a similar upper-midwest trip this summer with a lot of new-to-me parks. Michigan's Adventure, Indiana Beach, Great America, Mt Olympus, Valleyfair, MOA all for the first time. And then Cedar Point (not the first time lol). Never been to CW either but will save that for another Toronto/Buffalo based trip.