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Hey all, I'm mike and I've been reading this forum for about 2 years. I'm planing 2 amusement park trips and I'm hoping to get the same great feedback that this forum has offered to so many others.

 

Ok, so on trip 1 I'm looking to do the week after Easter, and I'm looking to visit great adventure, SF America, kings dominion, Busch gardens, Carowinds, and Dollywood if I have time. But I've been to Dollywood multiple times before and I've never been to the other parks, so if I don't get to Dollywood it's no big deal.

 

So this is a rough draft of my trip.

 

Sat 3/31 drive from home (Detroit area) to the great adventure area and stay the night

 

Sun 4/1 (Easter Sunday) to to church like the good catholic boy that I am, then do great adventure and stay the night somewhere between great adventure and SFA.

 

Mon 4/2 do SFA and stay the night somewhere between SFA and Kings Dominion.

 

Tue 4/3 do kings dominion and stay somewhere between kings dominion and Busch gardens.

 

Wed 4/4 do Busch gardens and stay somewhere between Busch gardens and Carowinds.

 

Thu 4/5 do Carowinds and stay somewhere between Carowinds and Dollywood.

 

Fri 4/6 do Dollywood and stay in the area.

 

Sat 4/7 drive home.

 

Sun 4/8 recover

 

Mon 4/9 continue my miserable everyday routine

 

I figure I am leaving myself enough time for changes if for example the weather isn't cooperative on one of the days. If that happens I figure I can cut out Dollywood.

 

Ok, so what I am looking for help with..

 

1. Specific hotels to stay at. im really looking to spend as less as possible here but still get a clean room. And with this I'm comfortable driving 2 hours after I visit a park and 3 to 4 hours in the morning before visiting a park. Price is the main concern but I would like to keep my driving within those parameters.

 

2. A general idea of how busy each park will be.

 

And

 

3. Specific places to eat within each park.

 

Thanks. I know I said 2 trips, but I think its best to concentrate on this one and ask for help on the 2nd one later.

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I think it's a lot of driving, but since your every day life is miserable, I understand why you want to pack in as much as possible. I don't think it's an impossible amount of driving; just don't underestimate how tired you might be after a day at a park. Except for your drive to SFGadv, and your drive home, it looks like your longest drive is 5-6 hours between BGW and Carowinds. That's a lot, even when your break it up between driving a few hours after a day at BGW. My first piece of advice is to structure your trip so that the absolute bulk of your driving is in the morning, and not after a day at a park. It looks like you've already considered this by not wanting to drive more than 1-2 hours after a day at a park, but I'm just saying.

 

As for where to stay, I'm a huge fan of Airbnb. I never stay in hotels anymore. It's a little more effort, but it's worth it. But I know it's not for everyone. You can usually find a room to crash at for a third of the price of a hotel room, or a nice house or whatever to yourself, for the same price as a hotel room. However, there are good tips for getting affordable hotel rooms, like joining rewards programs.

 

On the day you go to SFA, I recommend knocking out the whole park in 2-3 hours, and then heading to KD for the rest of the day. If you go to SFA on Monday morning, you'll have the park to yourself, and be able to make it down to KD before traffic gets bad. Win-win.

 

As for food at parks, I'm excited for the new mac and cheese place at KD, but no one's actually tried it yet. BGW has some great food. My favorite is the smokehouse - specifically the smoked chicken.

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Hey all, I'm mike and I've been reading this forum for about 2 years. I'm planing 2 amusement park trips and I'm hoping to get the same great feedback that this forum has offered to so many others.

 

Ok, so on trip 1 I'm looking to do the week after Easter, and I'm looking to visit great adventure, SF America, kings dominion, Busch gardens, Carowinds, and Dollywood if I have time. But I've been to Dollywood multiple times before and I've never been to the other parks, so if I don't get to Dollywood it's no big deal.

 

So this is a rough draft of my trip.

 

Sat 3/31 drive from home (Detroit area) to the great adventure area and stay the night

 

Sun 4/1 (Easter Sunday) to to church like the good catholic boy that I am, then do great adventure and stay the night somewhere between great adventure and SFA.

 

You're getting a Q-Bot, right? Because otherwise you're gonna have a lot of problems squeezing in everything at Great Adventure in during a partial day. You'll be staying in Bordentown probably, 25-30 minutes away. If you leave in the AM from Detroit, you could try to do an Easter Vigil on Saturday night (Jackson's church says it's at 8PM) too rather than do the 9AM Easter mass that's gonna last 90-120 minutes in Jackson.

 

Mon 4/2 do SFA and stay the night somewhere between SFA and Kings Dominion.

 

Definitely possible. Your biggest issue is dealing wth traffic getting out of the DC area here. I'd actually think that staying until close is the best option. That or leave at like 1PM.

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That's doable but definitely an ambitious trip. I would do the full length drive from Great Adventure to Kings Dominion on 4/2, just making a couple hour pit stop at Six Flags America. That will be a very long day but at least you get to spend your days at Great Adventure and Kings Dominion without making any drives that morning or night. That entire stretch of I-95 is a pain in the ass so I'd say just rip the band-aid off real quick and get it all done in one day. Then you could even stay at the same hotel around those two parks for two nights each. That would give the trip a little bit more of a relaxed feel and you'd still get everything done. So it'd be

 

4/1: Wake up near Great Adventure. Park Open to Close. Stay at same hotel near Great Adventure

4/2: Drive from Great Adventure to Kings Dominion with pit stop at Six Flags America.

4/3: Wake up near Kings Dominion. Park Open to Close. Stay at same hotel near Kings Dominion.

 

For food I really like Trapper's Smokehouse at Busch Gardens. That's the only place that really sticks out to me out of the parks I've been to.

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Definitely possible however try to time your drives through major cities like Philly, DC and Baltimore at night others its going to be traffic hell with spring break on I 95 and all the people driving to Florida. Also take I 80 through PA, I 76 is major truck route, a toll road, and goes through Pittsburgh (and since you dont want to go to Kennywood its best to avoid Pittsburgh all together) I 80 on the other hand goes through no major cities and is free to travel on.

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I think it's a lot of driving, but since your every day life is miserable, I understand why you want to pack in as much as possible. I don't think it's an impossible amount of driving; just don't underestimate how tired you might be after a day at a park. Except for your drive to SFGadv, and your drive home, it looks like your longest drive is 5-6 hours between BGW and Carowinds. That's a lot, even when your break it up between driving a few hours after a day at BGW. My first piece of advice is to structure your trip so that the absolute bulk of your driving is in the morning, and not after a day at a park. It looks like you've already considered this by not wanting to drive more than 1-2 hours after a day at a park, but I'm just saying.

 

As for where to stay, I'm a huge fan of Airbnb. I never stay in hotels anymore. It's a little more effort, but it's worth it. But I know it's not for everyone. You can usually find a room to crash at for a third of the price of a hotel room, or a nice house or whatever to yourself, for the same price as a hotel room. However, there are good tips for getting affordable hotel rooms, like joining rewards programs.

 

On the day you go to SFA, I recommend knocking out the whole park in 2-3 hours, and then heading to KD for the rest of the day. If you go to SFA on Monday morning, you'll have the park to yourself, and be able to make it down to KD before traffic gets bad. Win-win.

 

As for food at parks, I'm excited for the new mac and cheese place at KD, but no one's actually tried it yet. BGW has some great food. My favorite is the smokehouse - specifically the smoked chicken.

 

 

Hey, thanks for the response. I think I will be ok with the driving. I go to cedar point and kings island all the time. CP is 2 hours and 15 minutes, and I always drive there and back in the same day. Kings island is 4 hours and I always drive there in the morning, and drive back the next day. None of my days are any worse than that. But if I do get tired I can always cut out Dollywood and push everything back a day.

 

Thanks for the Airbnb recommendation. I'm not sure that's for me. I used to work at a hotel so I know how to swing a good deal.

 

As for SFA, that's not even a Half day park? I usually like to hit every coaster for the credits and then the best flats, and then re-ride the ones I really like. And speaking of traffic in the DC area, I was thinking of bypassing DC altogether by taking the Crain hwy south and paying $6 to go over the bridge. Mapquest says it will add 30 minutes to the trip but I'm thinking/ hoping I won't run into too much traffic going that way.

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Hey all, I'm mike and I've been reading this forum for about 2 years. I'm planing 2 amusement park trips and I'm hoping to get the same great feedback that this forum has offered to so many others.

 

Ok, so on trip 1 I'm looking to do the week after Easter, and I'm looking to visit great adventure, SF America, kings dominion, Busch gardens, Carowinds, and Dollywood if I have time. But I've been to Dollywood multiple times before and I've never been to the other parks, so if I don't get to Dollywood it's no big deal.

 

So this is a rough draft of my trip.

 

Sat 3/31 drive from home (Detroit area) to the great adventure area and stay the night

 

Sun 4/1 (Easter Sunday) to to church like the good catholic boy that I am, then do great adventure and stay the night somewhere between great adventure and SFA.

 

You're getting a Q-Bot, right? Because otherwise you're gonna have a lot of problems squeezing in everything at Great Adventure in during a partial day. You'll be staying in Bordentown probably, 25-30 minutes away. If you leave in the AM from Detroit, you could try to do an Easter Vigil on Saturday night (Jackson's church says it's at 8PM) too rather than do the 9AM Easter mass that's gonna last 90-120 minutes in Jackson.

 

Mon 4/2 do SFA and stay the night somewhere between SFA and Kings Dominion.

 

Definitely possible. Your biggest issue is dealing wth traffic getting out of the DC area here. I'd actually think that staying until close is the best option. That or leave at like 1PM.

 

 

What's a q-bot? Fast lane system? I'm going to great adventure on Easter Sunday. According to their website they are open from 10:30 to 9pm. That's not a partial day, and I've been told the park will be completely dead on Easter. Is that not true?

 

Thanks for the Easter Vigil idea, I'm going to do that.

 

As for the DC traffic. Like I said in my other response I am planning on not going through DC at all. I'm going to take the crain hwy south and pay $6 to cross some bridge into Virginia. Mapquest says it will take me 30 minutes longer to get to KD, but if traffic is as bad as people say then it looks to be a decent detour.

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I like booking hotels on hotels.com. Couple reasons: decent reviews, easy (IMO) to search areas and find options in all price ranges, but the biggest draw for me is they have giftcards! I now usually tell friends and family members to buy me giftcards for travel, such as hotels.com, southwest.com, etc. Makes long coaster trips like these a little easier on the wallet when other people gift the hotel nights for you!

 

I booked hotels for a similar trip, but almost in reverse and I was able to find 2.5-3 star rated hotels for 45-65$/night. 3 of those nights paid for with gift cards.

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I mostly stay at Wyndham Hotels because that's where I have the most points. I stayed at a Knights Inn in Glen Allen for $38.52 (taxes included) last August after KD. Then we stayed at a Super 8 near BGW (304 Second St.) for $40.85 (taxes included) the next night after BGW. If I did a KD/BGW combo again, I'd probably just do the Super 8 for two nights b/c it's just about an hour between the parks. They were definitely nothing fancy, but were clean and quiet enough for me and my daughter. We have two 10 day trips planned this summer and SFA is getting a half day on the first one, hopefully on a Saturday.

 

I also recommend the Trapper's Smokehouse at BGW. We split the sampler and seemed like a good amount of food for $16 at a theme park and it was delicious. We sat on the patio and had views of Griffon's dive drop.

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As for SFA, that's not even a Half day park? I usually like to hit every coaster for the credits and then the best flats, and then re-ride the ones I really like. And speaking of traffic in the DC area, I was thinking of bypassing DC altogether by taking the Crain hwy south and paying $6 to go over the bridge. Mapquest says it will add 30 minutes to the trip but I'm thinking/ hoping I won't run into too much traffic going that way.

 

I always take US301. The Mapquest time is generally very accurate, You can count on making it in less than 2.5 hours. The I-95 is always subject to huge traffic delays says the 90 minutes trip could increase to over 3 hours and include lots of aggravation.

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That's doable but definitely an ambitious trip. I would do the full length drive from Great Adventure to Kings Dominion on 4/2, just making a couple hour pit stop at Six Flags America. That will be a very long day but at least you get to spend your days at Great Adventure and Kings Dominion without making any drives that morning or night. That entire stretch of I-95 is a pain in the A$$ so I'd say just rip the band-aid off real quick and get it all done in one day. Then you could even stay at the same hotel around those two parks for two nights each. That would give the trip a little bit more of a relaxed feel and you'd still get everything done. So it'd be

 

4/1: Wake up near Great Adventure. Park Open to Close. Stay at same hotel near Great Adventure

4/2: Drive from Great Adventure to Kings Dominion with pit stop at Six Flags America.

4/3: Wake up near Kings Dominion. Park Open to Close. Stay at same hotel near Kings Dominion.

 

For food I really like Trapper's Smokehouse at Busch Gardens. That's the only place that really sticks out to me out of the parks I've been to.

 

 

Thanks for the recommendations. You're the second person to tell me that SFA is just worth a pit stop. So if true I have no problem with leaving super early and going down to kings dominion. I was planning on getting fast lane at the cedar fair parks but if I have a day and a half at kings dominion maybe I want need to. And I'm not even going to mess with I95. From SFA I'm going to take 301 south and pay the $6 to cross the bridge.

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Definitely possible however try to time your drives through major cities like Philly, DC and Baltimore at night others its going to be traffic hell with spring break on I 95 and all the people driving to Florida. Also take I 80 through PA, I 76 is major truck route, a toll road, and goes through Pittsburgh (and since you dont want to go to Kennywood its best to avoid Pittsburgh all together) I 80 on the other hand goes through no major cities and is free to travel on.

 

 

Yes I will be in Philly during the evening. I've decided to not even mess with DC and Baltimore traffic. After great adventure I figure I can stay somewhere in Delaware and then in the morning I wil take the blue star hwy and cross this bridge by Annapolis which I'm guessing will get me around the Baltimore morning traffic. And like I mentioned to others, after SFA I'm going to take 301 south to Virginia instead of 95.

 

And yes I planned on taking 80 through PA because the turnpike looked ridiculously expensive.

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Thanks for the recommendations. You're the second person to tell me that SFA is just worth a pit stop. So if true I have no problem with leaving super early and going down to kings dominion. I was planning on getting fast lane at the cedar fair parks but if I have a day and a half at kings dominion maybe I want need to. And I'm not even going to mess with I95. From SFA I'm going to take 301 south and pay the $6 to cross the bridge.

Yeah especially when looking at the grand scheme of the trip. Maybe Jokers Jinx would be worth a reride, but you're gonna have Flight of Fear which is the same exact ride the next day. Other than that the only thing you'll probably wanna ride more than once is Superman, and possibly Wild One. So you should be able to knock off every coaster and get a couple of rides on those two all within a few hours.

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Since your more familiar with Dollywood, you might know some of these things already, but just offering if it will help. From Charlotte to Pigeon Forge you have to go through the Smokies. That drive could be a little intense at night if you have never done it before. I'd recommend taking I40 to Newport and then taking hwy 411 to Sevierville. The road is 2 lanes half the way and 4 lanes the rest. It would trim a good chunk of miles on I40 and dealing with Parkway traffic. This brings you on Dolly Parton Parkway near Veterans for a shortcut to Dollywood. There are also many hotels in the area. I definitely wouldn't recommend going through the National Park esp. at night if you haven't driven it before. There is also the chance weather will shut that road down anyway. That being said, the National Park has many great things to see if you haven't had the chance, even if you aren't the hiking type. I'd encourage maybe a morning or a couple hours the day before you drive home to see.

 

As far as hotels for the whole trip- I'd pick Wyndham or Choice Hotels and learn to work the rewards program. I personally do Wyndham, I find their points system and prices work better for me. With that many nights in your trip you'd earn at least a few go fast or go free Wyndham nights. Currently offering a promotion stay 2 separate nights get a free night at any property til end of summer. No matter where you say, if its a budget brand always check TripAdvisor to make sure it's not a dump before hand.

 

For Dollywood area hotels- prices fluctuate greatly based on the day of the week. I've stayed at most of every Wyndham hotel in town at least once if you have specific questions on any. If you don't care about any other touristy stuff I'd stay at the Baymont in Sevierville. It's one of the first hotels you get to if you come in via hwy 411. Their rates are normally good. If you are in town on a Friday or Saturday night the best Wyndham deal is the Pigeon Forge Howard Johnson go fast award for $35 plus 3000 points.

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Pick between Wyndham and Choice, join the rewards program for free, get the app, book through the app and exercise extreme brand loyalty.

 

Apply for one of their rewards cards too (TODAY, because you need to reach the end of the statement period, make a payment and have the points post before your trip). If you can hit the minimum spend of $1000 within one month, get this card. You won't pay for a single hotel during your entire trip. If you can't hit the minimum spend, go with Wyndham and get this card. Don't ever get this card since Choice has a better sign up offer and no annual fee. This is the only card with an annual fee. This card sucks. Honestly, Wyndham rewards in general sucks when they're not running a stay twice get a free night promotion. Choice does that too, but they're not doing it right now.

 

Basically, if they're still doing that promotion for your trip then go with Wyndham unless you can hit the minimum spend for the Choice Privileges Visa. Then screw Wyndham...

 

You don't need to get the card to sign up for Choice Privileges or Wyndham Rewards by the way, I'm just suggesting that because of the massive sign up offers. Some people freak out when I suggest that they sign up for a credit card, but honestly if you don't take advantage of them you're f*cking insane. I don't care if you hit the minimum spend and then never use the card again (or do what I do and make pathetic monthly purchases of like 2 bucks just to keep them open). There's no annual fee anyway, who cares?

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