Eastern US coaster trip

Next July/August I plan on taking 40+ days to visit theme parks around the country. The trip currently includes 26 parks and 205 coasters. I was wondering if anyone has any money saving advice for me as it is not a cheap expedition. here's the list of parks:

King's Island, SF Kentucky Kingdom, Holiday World, Beech Bend, Dollywood, SFoG, Hard Rock Park (assuming someone buys it and it opens next season), Carowinds, Busch Gardens Europe, King's Dominion, SF America, SF Great Adventure, Coney Island, Adventureland, Lake Compounce, SF New England, Dorney Park, Knoebels, Hersheypark, Lakemont Park, Kennywood, Waldameer, Darien Lake, Canada's Wonderland, and of course Cedar Point.

I plan on sleeping out of my station wagon to eliminate the cost of lodging, plus i am staying with multiple friends along the way. I have already purchased a Cedar Fair and Six Flags season pass for next season. Any other advice?

Pinned: Travel Tips

Other advice? Lock your doors. And figure out where you're going to shower.

Valleyfair Enthusiast said:

I plan on sleeping out of my station wagon to eliminate the cost of lodging, .... Any other advice?

Buy lots and lots of baby wipes. :)

I could never do something like that I feel terrible after spending the day at Cedar Point yesterday and sleeping in my own bed (which is normally ok for me, but yesterday there just wasnt any lines, eventually your body will start to complain when you ride 43 rides in one day,) I cant imagine doing so many parks and then sleeping in a cramped wagon. Why not spread out the experience? It looks like you have three main groupings, the Midwest parks, the PA, NY and New England parks and the SE parks. Why not do 3 seperate trips, or save some parks for other years?

If you do go about doing this though, my suggestions are these:

-Something to keep you awake and alert when driving (my suggestion is an iPod)

-Screens for your car windows, Walmart parking lots are lit up quite a bit and if you are like me, you cant really sleep with all that harsh light

-Find out where some public parks are that allow some grilling, and bring a camping stove with you because you arent going to want to eat out every day.

-Allow yourself a few days in a hotel, just as a break.

-Make sure someone knows where you are at all times, traveling across the country and sleeping in cars could mean it could be a while before someone knows you are missing. Better safe then sorry.

-I know you are there for the riding, but dont wear yourself out. You will get a vast majority of your riding done during the first and last two hours the park is open, go back to your car mid day (or retreat to a waterpark) and take a nap.

Thank you everyone for the advice thus far! I already planned on putting up sheets around my windows as blinds, and i have one of those silent generators i plan to use to power a portable a/c unit. And I can stretch out in my wagon as much as i need to, its got a lot of room. throw in an air mattress and its better than the dorm room mattresses im used to. Plus I have about 10 friends along the route lined up to spend a night or 2 with. One of who, is in Buffalo, thus my trip including Darien Lake. That, and its not too far from Canada's wonderland.

Showers will come in water parks at the parks that include them.

And I have every intention of locking my doors.

You might want to try and visit Canobie Lake after you hit SFNE. The Yankee Cannonball has a special spot in my heart (see sig). Plus, it's a great little park to relax in.

Taking a trip like that doesn't sound fun at all. Do you plan on taking soap with you into waterparks where you plan to take a shower? Anybody want to start a pool on how many times the cops are called for a suspicious person sleeping in his car?

Actually I regularly bring in soap and shampoo into an amusement park, you have no idea how refreshing a mid afternoon shower (after a 2-4 hours relaxing in a water park) can be. And if he sticks to Walmart lots there will be no issue, loads of RV people do that all the time.

Never thought I'd see apologists for people who sleep in their cars to ride coasters on the cheap.

This won't be the first time ive done a road trip out of my car, its absolutely perfect for it. Last trip I went on was 19 days and I spent 13 of those nights in a car. I never had any problems with police calls or anybody bothering me. Touchdown hit the nail on the head with Walmart parking lots.

This is the most awesome thread ever.

There's a settling of the cosmos when you hear "sleep in car" and "Wal-Mart" in proximity to each other. All seems logical and right in the world.

Find any place where trucks are parked for the night & you'll be okay. Plus, truck stops off good showers, usualy about 7-8 bucks. For truckers, they're usually free when you get 50 gallons of fuel or more.

Check out this site for Couch Surfing. It is a great way to meet cool people, save $$, catch a shower and sleep in a real bed (sometimes a couch). http://www.couchsurfing.com/

Also, Darien Lake is a cool park with a bizarre feel to it, Moto Coaster is a fun ride and Ride of Steel was running really well last July. Not far from DL is Seabreeze in Rochester NY which is a cool old style park with 4 coasters. Another great park is Rye's Playland Park in Rye NY. This is a gem of a park that has amazing art deco architecture. They have and amazing Church coaster called the Dragon. You will be traveling close to it when you go between Coney Island and SFNE.

If you need a place to shower and crash for a night in Lakewood/Cleveland OH (about 50 mins from CP) you are welcome to stop at my place. Have hosted a few couch surfers and find it is a cool way to meet some interesting people.

^^ I've heard about that from assorted sources, so I plan on taking advantage of truck stops for showers and safer sleeping locations.

^ Thanks for the invite, but i have a friend who lives about 15 minutes away from Sandusky whom will be joining me for a week at the Point.

i will also look into the other parks you guys have mentioned and see if i can fit them into the schedule. Thanks a lot everyone!

Give me your tears, Gypsy, or I shall be forced to take them.

Sounds like it will be an awesome trip. It would be cool if you posted a trip journal under the Trip Report section.

I take offense to being called a gypsy, but i must admit I do sort of sound like one.... hmmm..... oh well.

And I plan on doing a decent job documenting it and will be keeping a journal along the way to post trip reports and perhaps post updates along the way.

Just out of curiosity, whats the longest trip anyone has ever heard of?

143 days