Must Visit Parks

[decyferite]

So my wife and I like to plan well in advance of vacations and our next 2 years are already planned out.  In 2022 we are planning a trip to visit multiple parks CF and others.  Trying to get ideas for must visit parks on the east coast and moving south.  As of right now the parks that we are definately visiting that are CF are Canadas Wonderland, Dorney, Carowinds and Kings Dominion.  Outside of CF we are considering Dollywood, Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Busch Gardens Tampa, Sea World Orlando, Kennywood, and possibly Six Flags parks along the way.  Again the CF parks are set in stone, but the other parks are open to whether we go or not.  Any experiences/feedback will be extremely helpful.  Even if a park is not on the list please feel free to recommend any parks.

[Benjamin22]

I absolutely loved Busch gardens Tampa when I visited, one of my all time favorite parks. I noticed you didn’t list Hershey Park but if you’re able to go I’d highly recommend it, the food and the coaster collection at that park is fantastic.

[Kingshaven]

4 minutes ago, decyferite said:

So my wife and I like to plan well in advance of vacations and our next 2 years are already planned out.  In 2022 we are planning a trip to visit multiple parks CF and others.  Trying to get ideas for must visit parks on the east coast and moving south.  As of right now the parks that we are definately visiting that are CF are Canadas Wonderland, Dorney, Carowinds and Kings Dominion.  Outside of CF we are considering Dollywood, Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Busch Gardens Tampa, Sea World Orlando, Kennywood, and possibly Six Flags parks along the way.  Again the CF parks are set in stone, but the other parks are open to whether we go or not.  Any experiences/feedback will be extremely helpful.  Even if a park is not on the list please feel free to recommend any parks.

When you do  Kings Dominion go ahead and plan  Busch Gardens Williamsburg since they are less than 75 miles away from each other.

 

What is your starting point for the trip(s)?

[decyferite]

I had Hershey on the list, but my wife is on the computer and cant pull up the excel file at the moment with everything.

Starting point would be Fairmount, Indiana.

[Kingshaven]

KI 2 Ky Kingdom  2 Dollywood 2 Carowinds or Six flags over Ga

 

If you are going for credits then beach bend in bowling green ky

 

Don't forget holiday world as well

[Honorarius]

As someone pointed out, BGW is just over an hour from KD, so I'd highly recommend doing one if you're doing the other... They may not have the most coasters, but there isn't a bad one in the bunch...

And if you can for any reason swing by Dollywood as part of your trip, I consider it another "don't miss"... It has 2 of my all time favorite wooden coasters, and some of the best theme park food I've ever eaten... If you can manage more than just a day or two in the area, try one of the alpine coasters and one of the local moonshine places...

[Kenban]

I am of the opinion almost every park has something special about it.  That is a VERY long trip you are planning, are you really sure you want to do both Canada and Florida in the same trip?  It just screams split me into two trips to me.  I am assuming home is somewhere within driving distance of Cincinnati based on the site you are asking.

For instance do Cincinnati > Kennywood > Conneaut Lake Park > Waldameer > Darien Lake > Canada's Wonderland > La Ronde > SF Great Escape > SF New England > Luna Park > Morey's Pier > Dorney Park > Knoebels > Hershey > SF America > Kings Dominion > Busch Gardens Williamsburg

which after that I would head home through West Virginia and hit Camden park on the way.  I skipped a bunch of smaller parks, including a bunch of New Jersey shore parks.  You are already looking at a 2 week trip from just that and frankly you would be missing a LOT of other sight seeing opportunities, I would not spend every single available second at theme parks do at least spend a few days do other activities.

The reason I split the trip here is that a second trip which starts by going straight to Carowinds (or just hit Camden park here on the way to the Carolina's) and then go south following the coast makes the most sense to me.  Disney has 4 parks, Universal has 2, plus Fun Spot, and Sea World, and that is just Orlando, add in stops at Busch Gardens Tampa, SF Over Georgia, Dollywood, Pigeon Forge,  Again if your doing everything that is likely another 2 week or longer trip, and if you are driving that far I would not skip that many parks.

 

I use Coast 2 Coaster when I am planning trips to make sure I do not miss a park.  Its a nice site to just scroll around and find coasters and parks you have never heard of before.