Everything else goes here, including discussion of parks outside of Carowinds and any off-topic discussion
#106869
9 parks (possibly 11), over 40 coasters, 3 zoos and aquariums, and lots of site seeing along the way! Just two weeks away!

Parks Visiting (in this order)
  • DelGrosso's Park in Tiptop, PA
  • Lakemont Park in Altoona, PA (oldest operating coaster in the United States, Leap The Dips)
  • Conneaut Lake Park in Conneaut Lake, PA
  • Waldameer & Water World in Erie, PA
  • Canada's Wonderland in Toronto, ON, Canada
  • Centreville Amusement Park in Centre Island, Toronto
  • POSSIBLY Michigan's Adventure in Muskegon, MI
  • Kentucky Kingdom in Louisville, KY
  • Holiday World in Santa Claus, IN for the HoliWood Nights Event
  • POSSIBLY Camden Park in Huntington, WV

Zoos/Aquariums Visiting
  • Toronto Zoo
  • Ripley's Aquarium in Toronto
  • Toledo Zoo

Sites to See
  • Niagara Falls
  • CN Tower
  • And anything else we decide along the way...
#106876
Get yourself into Canada before trying to see Niagara Falls. The US side is only preferable if you dont have a passport to cross the boarder.

How are you planning to visit that many places in just 10 days? It'll take half of that time just to get in each place's parking lot to say you were there before immediately leaving.
#106877
Glitch99 wrote:Get yourself into Canada before trying to see Niagara Falls. The US side is only preferable if you dont have a passport to cross the boarder.

How are you planning to visit that many places in just 10 days? It'll take half of that time just to get in each place's parking lot to say you were there before immediately leaving.

Yeah, we plan to head into Canada first before seeing the Falls. I remembered that from when I went in the 90s. Thanks for the suggestion, for sure, because it's a very important point!
It'll be a rough first day. Other than that, it should be pretty smooth and not too rushed. It's 2,100 miles and 33 hours of driving.
Here's the map of our route... https://tinyurl.com/yyfz3lad


Friday:
  • After work, drive 6.5 hours to Altoona, PA.
Saturday:
  • Saturday will be our only rush day. We only plan to ride the coasters at all the Saturday parks, with the exception of something that catches our eye, or a dark ride.
  • Saturday morning, we'll wake up and hit DelGroosa's (they open at 11:00 AM).
  • We'll then hit Lakemont park for opening weekend (they open at 12:00 PM).
  • We'll then head to Conneaut Lake 3.5 hours away.
  • Then, head to Waldameer, which closes at 10:00 PM.
  • If that Saturday wasn't bad enough, we will then push through to Niagara Falls for a quick look (the nightly LED show ends at 2:00 AM, so we should make that.
  • Drive 1.5 hours to Toronto, pulling in around 2:00 AM or 3:00 AM.
Sunday:
  • CN Tower in the morning around 9:00 AM or 10:00 AM.
  • Centre Island Park when they open at noon.
  • Then head to Ripley's Aquarium, which closes at 11:00 PM.
Monday:
  • Toronto Zoo
  • If we have enough time after the zoo, head to Canada's Wonderland for a few.
Tuesday:
  • Canada's Wonderland all day.
Wednesday:
  • We'll casually leave Toronto (maybe even hit up Canada's Wonderland for a few) and head to Toledo, OH.
  • This is where we might fit in Michigan's Adventure on the way to Toledo. We wouldn't be able to casually get up and drive, of course. We would need to leave at 6:00 AM to make Michigan's Adventure work.
Thursday:
  • Check out the Toledo Zoo to see the Tasmanian Devils (one of only 7 zoos in America with Tasmanian Devils).
  • After the zoo, we'll drive to Louisville, KY.
Friday:
  • Kentucky Kingdom
  • Drive to Holiday World for the HoliWood Nights event starting at 6:00 PM. Even though Kentucky Kingdom and Holiday World are about 1.5 hours away from each other, we won't need to leave Kentucky Kingdom till around 5:15 PM since Kentucky Kingdom is in the Eastern Time Zone while Holiday World is in the Central Time Zone (we gain an hour).
Saturday:
  • HoliWood Nights event at Holiday World all day.
Sunday:
  • Drive home with a possible stop at Camden Park.
Monday:
  • I took an extra vacation day here so I can relax before heading in to work. :D
#106904
[*]We'll then head to Conneaut Lake 3.5 hours away.

You won't need more than about an hour, 90 minutes tops here. You'll ride Blue Streak maybe a couple times, the dark ride/kind of coaster once or twice, and definitely ride the turtle. There's not much else. You won't need much time here. It's small and...meh.

[*]Then, head to Waldameer, which closes at 10:00 PM.

You'll definitely want to be here as much as possible. And at some point before getting there or for dinner, go to the burger joint on the way into Presque Island. Trust me.

[*]If that Saturday wasn't bad enough, we will then push through to Niagara Falls for a quick look (the nightly LED show ends at 2:00 AM, so we should make that.

Its cool, but you won't need a whole lot of time for it. The colors don't change very quickly. It is pretty, I just did it, but it gets boring quick.

Sunday:
  • CN Tower in the morning around 9:00 AM or 10:00 AM.

    Enjoy it. I just went. It's super cool. I love tall buildings. It was comparable to Skytree in Tokyo.
  • Centre Island Park when they open at noon.

    I didn't go here and there isn't much here from what I have heard. Its kind of a small family park.
  • If we have enough time after the zoo, head to Canada's Wonderland for a few.

If I may, instead of doing CW, do the distillery district in Toronto instead that evening.

Tuesday:
  • Canada's Wonderland all day.

Just an FYI, unless you just want to, you probably won't need all day on a Tuesday for the park. Its a lot of fun, and there are a lot of coasters and flats there. But it's likely to be fairly dead on a weekday. So keep that in mind if you decide you want to do other stuff in Toronto.

Friday:
  • Kentucky Kingdom
  • Drive to Holiday World for the HoliWood Nights event starting at 6:00 PM. Even though Kentucky Kingdom and Holiday World are about 1.5 hours away from each other, we won't need to leave Kentucky Kingdom till around 5:15 PM since Kentucky Kingdom is in the Eastern Time Zone while Holiday World is in the Central Time Zone (we gain an hour).

I wouldn't leave at 5:15. Only because yes, you're gaining an hour, but I'd Leave 4:30-4:45 so you get to HWN and check in.

Sunday:
  • Drive home with a possible stop at Camden Park.

You won't need much time here at all, trust.