2022 Trip Planning Question

On the heels of an unforgettable trip to Cedar Point this July, my daughter and I are making plans to go even bigger in 2022. We are in the Atlanta area and have family in the northern end of Michigan's Lower Peninsula. We are thinking of taking a 1.5 or 2 week roadtrip, stopping at Cedar Fair parks along the way.

Early Plans are for:

* 2 days at Kings Island

* 4 days at Cedar Point

* 2 days at Canada's Wonderland (assuming the border is open by then)

* 2 days at Michigan's adventure

( 2 days at Carowinds, but as part of another trip )

We would be getting Platinum Passes, with the All Season Dining and All Season Drinks addons. Since we'd be hitting Kings Island first, our passes would be on KI Cards... but one thing I noticed is that the All Season Dining is about $20 cheaper at Cedar Point, compared to KI. If I understand correctly, the dining and dining passes are valid across all Cedar Fair Parks. So, would it matter if we bought the CP Dining pass, but did our initial redemption at KI?

(Looking deeper into it, it appears that Carowinds is even cheaper... $30 less than KI for the all season dining pass... so we may make that our first stop)

Recommendation would be to buy the passes where you plan to redeem them. I know historically there have been issues trying to redeem a pass at a different park than you bought it. That's assuming that you are not current pass holders. If you do already have passes and it's just a renewal, you don't need to redeem anything. It automatically just updates your existing passes.

One unrelated note... 2 days at Michigan's Adventure is a lot. I recently made my first trip there, for a day, and I have basically no ambition whatsoever to go back any time soon.

You seem to plan your trips like me. Spend three hundred dollars to go to another park so you can save $60 on your pass! All joking aside, sounds like a great trip. Have fun. And look into also spending an afternoon and evening at the Cedar Valley's Wild Frontier Fun Park in Northern Michigan, if your family lives near.

I agree with Dvo on Michigan’s adventure. If you have a little extra cash to spend I’d spend that extra day to stop at Waldameer in Erie (half day is perfect there) . It’s not that expensive and literally on the way to/ from CP and wonderland. It’s a fun little park and Ravine Flyer II is right up there or even better than the top coasters at the CF parks.

Why not buy from Canada’s Wonderland? You’ll save about $35 per pass due to the conversion rate (partially countered by higher taxes). Then do your add-ons via whoever has the best deal.

Without looking all the prices up I think you are confusing the All Season Dinning plans between regular/gold and Platinum. The all season Dinning for Platinum Passholders is generally about $20-$30 more than for the a Regular/Gold pass that is only usable at the one park you purchase it for.

I just checked 2022 Dinning plans at CP and KI. Platinum All Season All Park Dinning plans are $145 through both parks. Gold/Regular plan prices will vary by park.

I am not positive on this but my understanding is if you have a Platinum Pass you must purchase the Platinum Dining plan and cannot choose a Regular/Gold level for just one park. Also the 2021 Dinning plans still seem available so make sure you select a 2022 plan when making your purchase. :)

I didn't realize there was a Platinum vs. Gold option for all season dining. That would definitely explain the differences from park to park.

Justin keeps his consolidated CF pricing page fairly up to date so it is a good source if you are interested comparing. Notice the Platinum dining has already gone up $10 from $135. If you are interested in the all season funpix it is cheaper to buy through other parks as well.

DVO makes a good point about redeeming at the park you purchase through. It should not be a problem any more as renewals and replacement passes can be easily obtained at any park, but most of us here are renewals so little first hand experience with new customer purchases.

https://cpfoodblog.com/2022-cedar-fair-season-pass-news/

Looking at your travel route, with no idea what your actual travel route is (or other priorities are), I would recommend finding a way to replace Michigan's Adventure with Dorney Park. There is no way MA is worth two days of your time, or even most of one. But to each their own.

Keeping your same starting path along with a way home, I would toss out the following alteration:

1) 2 days at Kings Island

2) 4 days at Cedar Point

3) Head north to Canadas Wonderland for 2 days (you could even pit-stop at Niagra Falls along the way)

4) Then head south for Dorney Park for a day (it's a one-day park but I can see someone stretching it out to two)

5) Based on how east you are at this point, hit up Kings Dominion for a day on your way back down to Atlanta.

If it's a bucket-list kind've thing I totally get it, but if you go to MA after spending lots of days at KI, CP, and CW....walking around that park is going to feel like flying coach on a prop plane with one engine out after spending more than a week flying first-class.

Do yourself a favor and skip MA, and hit up Dorney like Kevin said. The line up at MA is horrible, and Dorney has some pretty good rollercoasters and Demon Drop if you are feeling nostalgic. We just visited for our first time last Friday and enjoyed it much more than MA. 2 days at KI, 4 days at CP, 1 or 2 days at CW ( the border is open now if you are vaccinated), 1 day at Dorney, and 1 day at KD or Carowinds would be the ultimate Cedar Fair road trip.

As far as Michigan's Adventure goes: Shivering Timbers is a great world class coaster. Other than that, there isn't really anything remarkable that's worth going too far out of your way. If you're looking for a slow day, there are some good public beaches along Lake Michigan not too far away: Holland State Park, et. al.

My priorities for a trip like that would be (not in order/sequence of travel)

most important-cedar point

2nd-carowinds

3rd-kings island

4th-kings dominion

5th-dorney

6th-michigan adventure-only 1 decent coaster there

didn't include Canada as who knows what the border situation will be then

The border is open for fully vaccinated Americans to enter Canada, or with a negative covid test. The American border is still closed to Canadians. I'm missing me some Cedar Point real hard right now.

I went to Michigan's Adventure about 10 or 11 years ago. It was fine but I probably won't ever go again. Pretty long drive for a fairly lackluster park.

MA is the kind of park you visit when you are already in the area, not a destination itself. But Muskegon and the surrounding area is quite nice, so could be a nice place to take a breather and while you're there pop in to MA for a few credits.

Thank you to all for your feedback on pricing and routing. I think we will cut back Michigan's Adventure to a single day, based on what I'm hearing. Since our eventual destination is my sister-in-law's house in the northern end of the Lower Peninsula, MA is "on the way" so I don't think we will skip it entirely though.

I had one additional question on the Gold vs. Platinum Season Long dining.... is the only difference that Platinum dining can be used at all parks, vs just the park where it is purchased?

That's correct. If you add dining to a PP it is usable at all parks. Apart from that, it's no different.

djDaemon said:

MA is the kind of park you visit when you are already in the area, not a destination itself. But Muskegon and the surrounding area is quite nice, so could be a nice place to take a breather and while you're there pop in to MA for a few credits.

Yeah that's what *I* was thinking. I've never been to Muskegon and I'm not sure I will ever get there, but I think most of the Great Lakes towns have something unique to offer - whether it is a particularly picturesque view or a nice lakeside park or walking trail or some local eatery or museum on or near the water, etc. Certainly Port Clinton/Marblehead/Sandusky/Huron/Vermilion all have that to offer. I would probably go more for that than anything else.

But having said that... There are already so many places within a 20-30 minute drive from me in Sandusky to experience that small lake town ambiance and the multitude of worthwhile rides at Cedar Point. That makes it less enticing to even bother traveling up north - even if there are hidden local treasures to discover.

Yeah, I get that. We love spending a week or two at Cedar Point's beach every year, and had done so several times up until 2020.

We spent a week in Muskegon this past June, renting a quaint cottage just across the road from the beach at Pere Marquette Park, and it was fantastic. The kids were endlessly entertained by the beach, the water, and the surprisingly awesome playground, while the Wife and I were entertained by how relaxing it was compared to spending a week at Cedar Point. Plus, there was a great place to eat and drink - The Deck. And all of it was within walking distance from our cottage. Highly recommended.

The only downside was that, at the time, MA was not open during the week, so we weren't able to pop in there for a visit. Next time we're going to plan around MA's schedule so we can squeeze that in as well.