Need advice for planning trip from Indiana to Maryland

This coming summer my wife and I are going to Maryland to visit her brother for a couple days. I will naturally want to hit a few parks on the way there and back. I'm not planning on stopping at all in Ohio. I've been to those parks plenty of times. I have also been to Kennywood and Conneaut Lake Park so I'll probably just pass those up this time to see some new places. I was planning on stopping by Idlewild and Lakemont on the first day then continuing east. I love small traditional parks like conneaut Lake, Lake Winnie & Indiana Beach. I love big parks also, but normally have more fun at a small park. I know there are many choices so I thought I'd ask for some advice in planning my trip.

I thought I'd add that we will have 8 days to make the journey there and back. *** Edited 1/26/2005 11:57:39 PM UTC by Wabash Cannonball***

I don't know if you are aware of this or not, but rcdb has this "nearby park" feature that is very useful in planning coaster trips. Just go to a park you will be near, click on the nearby existing parks link, and you will get a list in order of closeness of a bunch of parks. Miles are as the crow flies, but they do give you the direction too so you can pick some that are in the same general direction. I have added a park or two to trips using that tool.

Yes I have used that many times. It is a very helpful feature of rcdb.

Why not take the PA Turn pike all the way out and hit up Hershey 90 miles south of that is Six Flags American in Maryland. I don't know how much time you have but Hershey and SFA can be done in 2 days. Also you might wanna think about hitting PKD. Good luck and have a safe trip.

Depending on where in MD Wabash Cannonball plans on visiting I believe a trip to PKD may be a bit too far out of the way for him.

HP & SFA might be do able as the distance from Hershey to Baltimore to SFA isn't all that great.

You might wanna check out DelGrosso's, Dutch Wonderland, or William's Grove. They should all be relatively close.

You could do DelGrosso's, Lakemont, and Idlewild all in one day if you wanted. Delgrosso's and Lakemont are about 15 minutes apart, and Williams Grove could be done the same day as Hershey, or Dutch Wonderland.

Now, if you plan on taking I-64 through Kentucky, you might want to think about visiting Camden Park in Huntington, West Virginia. The park is located near the freeway just after you enter the state.

This is one very small, very funky park with some normal and unusual amusement rides, but well worth the visit. The classic NAD Big Dipper is an intersting woodie as well as the NAD Kiddie Coaster which is a woodie that adults can ride.

Depending on who flies in and out of your airport, I find that flying to BWI can be inexpensive even with a rental car, and it's central to a half-dozen parks.

Thanks everyone, I'll probably go ahead and hit SFA. Not sure about what else yet except for Idlewild and Lakemont.

By the way, I'm coming from the Ft. Wayne, IN area across the bay close to Ridgley in eastern Maryland.

Flying to BWI sounds interesing. I might plan that for a future trip; it wasn't an option that I had previously considered.

I'm going to do a seperate trip to Camden in the future, but it was nice hearing from someone who likes the park and recomends it. It makes me want to go that much more. *** Edited 1/28/2005 3:39:14 AM UTC by Wabash Cannonball*** *** Edited 1/28/2005 3:40:13 AM UTC by Wabash Cannonball***

I agree with Crashmondo. I would pick up the PA turnpike where you can access plenty of parks. To get to SFA from the PA turnpike, you could get off at Breezewood, which intersects with rt. 70. From rt. 70, then take rt. 270, which drops you on to the west side of the Capital Beltway (495). From there, it's about 45 minutes to the front gate depending on which direction you travel the loop.

If you're gonna end up on MD's eastern shore then why not take 50 west(across the chesapeake bay bridge) & onto the capital beltway?

From I-270 it'd probably be easier & quicker to take the eastbound stretch of the beltway straight into PG county & to RTE 214(where SFA is located) instead of driving westward & through VA. via I-66 to 495 to 214,that way you don't end up in some of the slowest traffic in town just outside Washington DC