From GTA to New York City

[who's ur daddy?]

Hi all:

Before the kids go back to school, we're thinking of doing a driving trip to NY City. So the question is what to do to break up the long drive.

What's good outlet shopping between these two points (other than Buffalo, of course)? Grove City, PA outlet mall is not necessarily on a direct line to NY City, but doesn't seem that far out of the way.
http://www.primeoutlets.com/locations/grove-city.aspx

Considering the Water Safari Enchanted Forest water park in Old Forge, NY. http://www.watersafari.com/attractions/index.cfm?fn=Rides_Attractions

Six Flags Water Park:
http://www.sixflags.com/greatEscape/index.aspx

How about something nice and relaxing in Vermont? Could do Boston too...

So, basically wide open right now with NY City as the end point, but open to suggestions as to everything in between!

Help!

 

[Nahanni]

We usually drive straight to NYC in 9 hours.

An interesting side trip is Howe Caverns near Albany - you walk through caves then ride a boat in on an underground river.

Outlet shopping preference is Woodbury Commons just before entering NYC.

 

[bluebelle99]

There's the Waterloo Premium Outlets. We stopped there on our way back from New York Last time -- unfortunately it was Sunday and they had already closed (at 6:00 pm). I haven't shopped there myself, but my friends have and loved it.

http://www.premiumoutlets.com/outlets/outlet.asp?id=9

 

[GrtWtNorth]

select amusement parks in New York:
* Seabreeze in Rochester (small, quaint, inexpensive)
* Six Flags Great Escape near Lake George (mid-sized park, lots of trees, The Comet is a great roller coaster)

select amusement parks in Pennsylvania:
* Knoebels Grove, Ellysburg, PA (small, very friendly place, with world class wooden roller coasters and awesome food.)
* Hersheypark, Hershey, PA (major amusement park, with a huge variety of attractions, plus adjacent Hershey Chocolate World, Zoo America, and lots of outlet shopping)
* Dorney Park, Allentown, PA (major amusement park, not quite as big as Hershey or Canada's Wonderland, but still a nice place to visit. Just an hour from NYC.)
* Kennywood in Pittsburgh, PA (while not really en route to NYC, it's a very good park, a national historic landmark. The roller coasters are a mix of classic woodies, and modern steel speed machines.)

Select amusement parks in New England:
* Six Flags New England in Springfield, MA (major amusement park, Superman Ride of Steel is one of the worlds best steel coaster, better than the Darien Lake version with the same name)
* Lake Compounce in Bristol, CT (mid-sized park, with very family-friendly operations policies, including free Pepsi soft drinks for all guests. Boulder Dash roller coaster is unique.)

Select amusement parks in New Jersey:
* Six Flags Great Adventure - perhaps the busiest Six Flags park, this park requires a good plan to enjoy. It hosts an impressive collection of roller coasters including Kingda Ka (holds the current record for tallest and fastest roller coaster), and fan-favorites Nitro and El Toro.
* Morey's Piers - I haven't been there yet, but it's sea-side location is very tempting. Great White looks very impressive.

If you're considering detouring north, here are a couple other worthy detours:
* Boldt Castle (access via Gananoque, ON or Alexandria Bay, NY)
* 1000 Islands day cruise
* Ben and Jerry's Factory Tour, Waterbury, Vermont
* Lake Placid -- it's a tourist town with lots of shopping, dining, and outdoor adventures.
* check out some (or all) of the mansions and parks along the Hudson River.

If you haven't been to Knoebels Grove or Hersheypark, I would suggest putting those on high on your "to-do" list. Six Flags Great Escape is OK, but not operated as well as the two I just mentioned. (When I lived in Ottawa, I typically went to SFGE each fall when the leaves were brilliant colours and they were running Halloween events at the park.)

 

[who's ur daddy?]

Wow, thanks for all the great suggestions.

So far, thinking:

Syracuse for the State Fair
Albany for the underground caves
Woodbury Commons for shopping
NYC for a couple of days
Six Flags in NJ
Great Wolf Lodge in the Poconos

And then home...

Ideally, I would have another stop in between GWL in PA and Buffalo...

 

[GrtWtNorth]

My only suggestion is to plan your day at Six Flags Great Adventure very carefully, especially if you're going to be there on a weekend.

Other web sites have collections of trip reports you may find useful. I post most of my coaster trips on CoasterBuzz. Here's a link to the CoasterBuzz collection of park-specific information, including my trip report from October 2005. (My wife and I visited again on Labour Day weekend 2006, including experiencing a front-seat ride on Kingda Ka. But I was busy and didn't bother to write up a trip report.) Note: to beat the crowds, on both visits, we paid an extra $100 (in addition to admission) for a Gold FlashPass / Q-bot (a pager-like device that behaves like a FastPass dispenser). Without it, we would not have been able to experience all of the coasters on a single day. Hopefully, their ride operations have improved since then, and you won't find this necessary.

 

[who's ur daddy?]

My friend recommended staying in Newark and then training it in to NYC. This is the better way? Where to stay in Newark?

 

[GrtWtNorth]

My friend recommended staying in Newark and then training it in to NYC. This is the better way? Where to stay in Newark?

I guess you could park at Newark Penn Station or Newark Airport, paying $15-20 per day for parking plus whatever the transit costs are.

However, IMO, driving in Manhattan isn't that difficult. (Easier than Montreal, more challenging than Toronto or Chicago.) Watch out for double-parked fools, and don't honk when the cops are watching. Most parking lots are valet (they take your keys so they can squeeze in lots of cars). If you can find Manhattan parking for $30/day, there really isn't much point to keeping your car in Jersey for two days.

We drove to NYC twice -- once parking near a hotel in Midtown ($80 for 3.5 days over a long weekend). Another time we parked outside Manhattan in Brooklyn (Conney Island) for around $12. On both trips, we left our car alone and used the subway and/or taxis to get around.

Tip: no matter where you park, it's not a bad idea to show that your vehicle is empty of all valuables. We folded down the seats so potential thieves could see our empty trunk. Vehicles with Ontario license plates are tempting targets.

 

[who's ur daddy?]

Thanks for all the recommendations and suggestions. We had a great time.

The New York State Fair in Syracuse was huge! CNE x 10 it felt like.

Howes Caves was great. Pretty neat. Kids were probably a few years too young to really appreciate the place...

Woodbury Commons Outlet Shopping was meh (so says the wife).

NYC was pretty cool. Has changed quite a bit since the last time we were there (20 years ago). We decided to stay in Manhattan (midtown) - paid thru the nose it seems - $225/night @ Hampton Inn - but that's NYC for ya). NYC seems much more civil these days! We visited that big Toys R Us on Broadway three times...lol. The Museum of Natural History was great fun.

Then we hit Great Wolf Lodge in Scotrun, PA. It is an EXACT carbon copy of Niagara Falls! I was hoping that the waterpark would be a little bit different. Wife approves of tax free clothes shopping at the Premium Outlet near Great Wolf.

The Rochester Strong Museum of Play was a pleasant surprise. Kids loved the place.

Did about 1,800km round trip. Weather co-operated beautifully until the last afternoon!

 

[Nahanni]

Glad to hear you had a nice vacation with a variety of experiences - I thought you were only planning a long weekend getaway!

 

[who's ur daddy?]

Glad to hear you had a nice vacation with a variety of experiences - I thought you were only planning a long weekend getaway!

Spread it out over 6 nights... the road trip part was part of the experience!

But in my heart, I would have preferred to have been in Orlando. You all know what I am talking about!!!