We drive. It is about 11 1/2 hours, without stops…so more like 13 hours or so in practice.
Actually, that’s not quite true. We were going to Texas to see family for a wedding, and made a vacation of of it. On the way back from Texas, we stopped off in Branson for 3 days/4 nights. Then drove the rest of the way home.
We love Hulk and Spider-Man, I adore Hogwarts and FJ is amazing, Hagrid’s is the best ride in Orlando imo. We do a lot of shopping in both those areas! I love Seuss Landings, I like to meet Cat in the Hat and the Things and we ride Cat in the Hat. We don’t usually do the water rides in Toon Lagoon but we enjoy Jurassic Park.
Silver Dollar City in Branson especially at Christmas.
It is the best park! My mom grew up in Toledo so she and her brothers worked there and I grew up going every summer. It is a well cared for gem and the coaster selection is just completely unmatched. I would not recommend it to families that don’t love thrills because it really is dominated by thrill rides, but otherwise it even rivals Disney for me just because of the nostalgia factor.
When you get close to making definite plans and looking for tips on how to tour, definitely post here. I know there are few Cedar Point enthusiasts in this group - @ryan1 and I being two of them.
Pic attached of shirts we did for when we went for my mom’s 60th (yes she still rides all the coasters)
It really was one of the most awesome days of that trip.
They provide sunscreen and wet suits. That water is really cold. Breakfast and lunch. Snacks and drinks.
And top it off with the most amazing swimming experiences.
The only thing to expect is costly photo packages for the swim with dolphins.
We do not splurge for much but so so sooooo worth it.
Thanks @cjandres! I will definitely post here when we get closer to going! So far, I know we’re planning to go for a week and visit Cedar Point, Kings Island, Holiday World, and (maybe) Kentucky Kingdom. Things can always change once we get closer.
I love that that shirt for your Mom’s 60th birthday! That’s an amazing experience! My life goal is to be enjoying roller coasters at 60! Good for your family!
@Jedilogray - This sounds great! I wish we could do that today. What a wonderful experience! Thanks for introducing me to Discovery Cove!
That will be a fun little tour of the Midwest parks. I am originally from Louisville so KK was my home park. I would suggest hitting it first. Then doing Holiday World followed by KI and finally CP. Kind of work your way up from good to the best.
Holiday World is a cute little park. The water park there far outshines the amusement park, though, which is weird but fun!
Yellowstone. 
DH & DS21 are going to be gone over the Memorial Day holiday and I’m secretly glad so that I can pop down to see it by myself when so few people are going to be there.
So nice to live so close! My dad grew up in the area of Idaho Falls and worked on the Yellowstone Railroad that was destroyed by an earthquake in … was it the '60’s? He and his brothers spent a lot of time there.
I agree with @Julianne_fki! That must be so nice to live so close to Yellowstone @Pod . It’s so beautiful! I didn’t want to leave when our week was done.
Oh, gosh- that would be the earthquake that created Quake Lake! It was in the late 50’s- there’s a nice visitor center and memorial there now where the avalanche blocked off the valley and made the lake (and killed over 20 campers). It’s really something else- you can still see some cabins in the lake and the huge fault scarp- in some places it’s 15 ft high. And the massive avalanche, of course. It’s really hard to believe the scale of it.
If you are a geology or a disaster movie fan, it is a really interesting side trip.
It really is. I grew up a little further south, in WY and had to leave to go to school- I loved living all over the country getting my education but there was never any doubt where I’d end up- back home again. 
Aww! Happy to see some love for Busch Gardens Williamsburg! We live about 5 min from the park (if the stop lights are red!) and you can almost see our house from the top of Griffin. The landscaping is lovely and makes it a pleasure to just go and walk around. Plus the beer is great. Our kids learned how to polka in the festhaus when they were little. And it has a nice mix of rides. All the way around, it’s a great theme park.
Our other favorite, though we haven’t been in years, is Hershey Park. Oh - and the Harry Potter stuff and Universal. Can I count that as its own park? Lol…
I had to call my dad and ask him about this before sharing his story because I couldn’t remember the details. My dad, his parents, and one of his older brothers camped near the lake in the months prior to the quake. They didn’t camp in the campground (not that sort of family) but just found a likely spot off the road. My dad went back a couple of years after the quake and the spot where they camped was pretty much where the avalanche came down. He said there were boulders the size of cars that were thrown across the valley. Mother Nature’s power on full display!
I also asked him about working on the railroad into Yellowstone. He only did that one summer season (the railroad only operated in summer which makes total sense) when he was 19. I think it would have been 1954. He was on a extra gang that clear rocks and debris from the mountain sides so they wouldn’t fall onto the track. Also replaced some track at the turnaround inside Yellowstone. When I took my daughters to Yellowstone a few years ago, we went through Idaho so I could take them to his hometown (Shelley) and we stopped in West Yellowstone but didn’t really do any touristy stuff there. Now I wish we had gone into the museum that had info on the railroad, but at the time I did not know my dad had worked on it! Found out from my stepmom after the trip.
I know it’s kind of “enthusiast virtue signaling” to say this but Knoebel’s Grove and Holiday World are really great neat little parks. Fantastic rides, fantastic atmosphere. The 3 or 4 times I went to Phall Phun Phest at Knoebel’s rank among my best park days and the only time I’ve been to Holiday World was for HoliWood Nights and we got 5 or 6 rides on the Voyage in pitch black (like, you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face). Incredible times.
BGW also has a spot in my heart (see the screen name) as does Hershey Park and I’ll never turn down a day at Cedar Point. Just waiting for all the kids to hit 54"…
I went to Holiday World once when it was called something like Santa Claus Land, I think? Or am I remembering wrong? We had a BLAST there.
You are totally correct. It is in a place called Santa Claus, IN. Still there still with that name (fun fact - you can send your holiday cards stamped in a box to the post office and they will postmark them from Santa Claus, IN and send them on).
Most the rides and areas are themed around different holidays. (It has diverted a bit as they added things, but that was the original concept)
That reminds me of Reptile Gardens, in South Dakota. It’s a funny, quirky little place and I’m sure was part of the inspiration for DinoRama in AK. Classic roadside Americana.
But who can pass up a piano playing chicken?
Of course they had TONS of snakes and other creepy crawlies, actually it was very nicely done, and the animals well cared-for. DH used to take the Scouts over to the Black Hills, seeing Mt. Rushmore and Devil’s Tower en route, but by far the most popular thing with the kids was Reptile Gardens.
@lynnbo1693 - That’s so cool that you’re so close to BG! I love Griffin! Do you think they’ll open this year? I’ve always wanted to go to Hershey Park! My Dad grew up two hours away but we never visited the park when we were in PA! Ahh… goals.
@Pod & @Julianne_fki - This is a great history of Crater Lake and Yellowstone. I didn’t realize that the lake was formed so recently. I avoid doing too much research about some national parks because it makes me really want to visit and I won’t be able to for a while.
