Trying to get to the point...

I'm looking for ideas on how a carless 16 year old from Illinois could get to Cedar Point this summer. Neither of my parents can ride coasters, (one won't ride coasters, the other used to go all the time when I lived in southeastern Michigan, then had surgery that makes it impossible to ride coasters) and I might be able to find someone (maybe over 18, maybe with a car) to go with depending on how much this would cost. Really, I'm wondering if there's a way I could travel there by bus or train and spend a full day at the park without staying in a hotel.

I haven't been to the park since 2007, and was there 14ish times in the three years before that. I'm desperate for a decent coaster - SFGAM just isn't cutting it.

I'd look up greyhounds man..that's probably your best bet..otherwise, find a friend!

Actually, after looking up both, Amtrak was surprisingly cheaper than Greyhound. Round trip to Sandusky with Amtrak was $40-$60, with Greyhound it was more than $100. Going by myself (even with Amtrak's reputation for delays) would be cheaper that if I went by myself with a car, and it would still be pretty close if I got a person my age to come with (a pretty good possiblity.) The plan would be to leave around midnight-2am depending on how long the train ride is on average, find a way to get to the park (is there a shuttle?) around 10 and spend the day in the park til closing. Then, find a way to get back to the train station and head back. This leaves the opportunity to sleep on the train, as getting a hotel would be pretty much impossible with my age.

I don't think there is a shuttle..but you could find a taxi no problem i'm sure..they have trains that depart sandusky going back to Illinois after park closes? Or will you have to wait until morning?

mrdeedsatl23 said:
I don't think there is a shuttle..but you could find a taxi no problem i'm sure..they have trains that depart sandusky going back to Illinois after park closes? Or will you have to wait until morning?

I just checked, and the latest train that leaves Chicago is at 9:30 pm arriving at 4:12 am in Sandusky (means waiting about 5 hours, but as little as 2 or 3 with Amtrak's delays) and the earliest train leaving Sandusky is at 4:02 am, meaning another 5ish hour wait, except in the middle of the night at a small train station. Would sleeping at a train station (more like a nap) be an acceptable/safe thing to do? If anything, I don't see how sitting at a bench reading a book for 5 hours at a public train station at night could be that much of a problem, considering it's completely indoors. Greyhound tickets were more than $100 round trip, and the schedules were even more inconvienent than Amtrak's.

At Sandusky's station, according to wikitravel, I can "during dark hours or bad weather, you can call the Police at +1 419-627-5900, they will come and unlock the well-maintained passenger waiting room" A good book and an iPod, I'd be set. Just curious to see what you guys think about a 16 year old doing this (alone or possibly with a friend of the same age.)

All of those seem like pretty good options..I personally wouldn't want to sit in a station for 5 hours, especially after a long day at the point. If the greyhound times were more convenient, I would say do that even if it is a little more expensive.

Greyhound's way more expensive, and would result in, according to their website, a trip more than a day long back to Chicago (I don't get it either.) That's pretty much out of the question. I'm willing to spend 5 hours in a train station to get back to my favorite place on the planet, I'm just wondering if it's safe/legal for a 16 year old to do so.

Well, personally I've never traveled Amtrack. But, If you're 16 and that's your only option, I wouldn't go alone..especially if you have to wait 5 hours in a station.

Sandusky's Amtrak station is in a pretty terrible part of town. I wouldn't want to spend any more time there than absolutely necessary.

It looks like at this point I will be going with someone if I go at all, and preferably with a car, considering every source I've seen says that the station is in a high-crime area. If I go with three potential others (one who's 18) driving there, staying a night, going to the park, staying in hotel, park, hotel, drive home, it comes out to be about 30 bucks a person for all 3 nights, 60 bucks a person for tickets (CP has $30 tickets for any specific day in June if ordered online before May 31), and about 20 bucks a person for gas, according to a mileage calculator (taking one car with 4 people.) Add in tax, food, and parking, and it comes out to about $160-$170 a person for two days in the park and three nights in a hotel, one car. I just have to convince the others...

And I double-checked Greyhound; they have a bus that arrives in Sandusky at 6:30 in the morning, but the only one that leaves is at 1:50 pm, which wouldn't work. I don't see Amtrak being too much of a problem getting there because, with delays, it would likely arrive between 6 and 7 in the morning, which is not too bad. I just can't figure out a way to get out of Sandusky once I'm done.