Theme Park Trip! Tips?

Next year we are going to... Valleyfair, Mt. Olympus, Cedar Point, Kings Island, and Holiday World! We'll need some tips!

From Steve Pint
Posted May 14, 2009 at 8:03 PM
Next year, I have a trip planned for me and my future 13 year old son. He's always been into roller coasters and theme parks, so this will be quite a treat! We'll be seeing Valleyfair, Mt. Olympus, Cedar Point, Kings Island, and Holiday World! All of these are new parks to us excluding Kings Island, but we couldn't afford to exclude Kings Island of our trip especially after how much fun it was when we went this year, and it's right along the way!

So please, post all your tips for these parks, and for now, we're debating wether or not to hit Valleyfair, Renegade and Wild Thing look amazing, but is it worth a 3 hour detour??

Thanks!
Steve.

From James Rao
Posted May 15, 2009 at 4:46 AM
Only park listed that I have been to recently is Holiday World. Not sure if you are going to just pop in for a day, or stay overnight, but just make sure to ride The Voyage, The Legend, and The Raven before you leave. If possible, you should ride them in reverse order from what I listed as the rides become increasingly intense and amazing. The Voyage is quite simply the best wooden coaster I have ever ridden.

One thing to keep in mind: HW's water park is extremely popular and included with your park admission, so often the crowds are heaviest for the roller coasters until about noon, then everyone moves over to the water park and the coasters are walk-ons.

The rest of the ride side of the park is just okay, proliferated by standard midway fare. Pligrims Plunge is new and despite just being a really high shoot-the-chutes, it should be worth a visit.

For a touring plan I would do something like this:

Arrive :30 minutes before gate opening.
Ride The Raven.
Ride The Legend.
Ride The Voyage.
Ride The Voyage.
Ride The Voyage.
Ride The Voyage.
Ride The Voyage.
Ride Pilgrims Plunge.
Head to the water park for a few hours (don't forget the free sunscreen).
Ride The Voyage.
Ride The Voyage.
Ride The Voyage.
Ride The Voyage.
Ride The Voyage.
Ride The Legend.
Ride The Raven.
Leave.

=D

From Brandon S
Posted May 15, 2009 at 12:26 PM
What month is your trip going to be?

From Steve Pint
Posted May 16, 2009 at 2:01 PM
May probably, we'll still have to check park hours before we confirm this though.

From Audra Distler
Posted May 17, 2009 at 6:59 AM
I know Cedar Point doesn't open until middle- late May, (usually Mother's Day weekend, with this year an exception) so plan accordingly. I can give you a bit more suggestion about Velly Fair after July this year, as I will be making my first trip there. As far as Cedar Point and King's Island go, looking through some of the other discussions about those parks will probably give you a good idea of the best things to do. In general, get there early and head to the big rides first for the most rides in a day. If you stay at an of the resorts that are associated with Cedar Fair parks, you can get in an hour earlier than general public.

From Derek Potter
Posted May 17, 2009 at 7:02 PM
All of those parks will probably only be open on weekends until Memorial Day, which is a couple of weeks before your trip. You've likely taken that into consideration, but some aren't aware.

Did you think about hitting Six Flags in Chicago?

From Steve Pint
Posted May 18, 2009 at 9:26 AM
Yes May was just an approximate time to go, we weren't thinking on hitting SFC, we went there a while ago and it was the worst experience i've had, so it's not on our list. (Time wise it'll take up an extra day too which we can't afford because of my job)

From Brandon S
Posted May 18, 2009 at 2:27 PM
So since your going to 3 Cedar fair owned parks you should buy a platinum season pass because you get in at all the parks with that and plus you get free parking and other benifits such as early ride times on some of the best rides(Millennium,Maverick,Raptor at CP;Diamondback and Beast at KI) and some discounts on games and food. For Cedar Point do not go to Raptor first, as it's the first roller coaster in the park and people generally go there. I would suggest going to Maverick first because that is the newest and always has the longest wait times. Ride that a couple times before people make their way back there. After Maverick, I would either go to Millennium or TTD as those will be the other two rides with long lines during the day. After you get done riding those, head back towards the front of the park. Walk over towards Wicked Twister and MaxAir and ride those. Normally, Wicked Twister will be a walk on and for Maxair even if the queue is full it will usually be under half an hour because the ride does hold 50 people. Ride those, and then walk over to Raptor, which will be 45 minutes at the most, maybe even 15. After you ride Raptor, go as you please. After dark, though, you HAVE to get a night ride in on Millennium and if you have time TTD. Hope I helped. Let me know if you have any other questions.

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