When You Just Cannot Afford to get to WDW this Summer.

[jjsmom]

Which theme parks East of the Mississippi do you go to for a short trip. Does it end up being as costly as WDW?

 

[GatorMama]

We liver near Williamsburg and we think Busch Gardens is fun enough for us to buy 2 year passes. And we had annual passes to Colonial Williamsburg too. And the beach at Yorktown is nice too...

 

[crazelion]

Let's see near is Dollywood, Spalsp country USA, Six Flags Over Georgia, Water Water and Lake Winnie.

I am taking the Kids to Lake Winnie because on Friday nights it buy one get one free for the parks. Basically down the street from my house.

The other place is only a two hour drive for me. Okay Six Flags is one hour and 30 minutes with the way I drive.

 

[RitaE]

We usually do a long weekend at Cedar Point in Ohio once a year. No - nowhere near as expensive as Disney and the kids enjoy the more thrill ride theme.

 

[GatorMama]

Also wanted to say that last year we went to King's Dominion near Richmond, VA one day and we found a hotel that had an offer where if you stayed one night, you'd get two one day passes to the park for free for each room you'd booked. Since we wanted to get a hotel room anyway, it saved us the cost of the ticket! (With DS only being 9 months old at the time, we didn't want to be driving home at the end of a day at a park... we'd have all been miserable!)

 

[HM]

I'd choose either Busch Gardens Williamburg or Dollywood. Busch Gardens is closer so is more likely.

 

[scrapquitler]

We bought season passes for Six Flags New England (I think they were $60 each, plus $50 for a season long parking pass). We will go to Six Flags New England probably at least every other week all season long (it's less than an hour away). We will also go to Six Flags at Lake George at least once (maybe twice) during the season. Also, we are going to try to get to Great Adventure in New Jersey at some point this summer. So we'll really get our money's worth from those $60 passes. It's nowhere near like WDW, but that's what the budget allows for this year, so we'll make do.

And we won't eat while we are at Six Flags. Too gross and too expensive. Well, we did buy a refillable cup ($14 I think?) and we'll get 99c refills while we are in the park.

 

[umaangel00]

We live 45 minutes away from Michigan's adventure so we go there alot. Also, if we get a cedar fair annual pass we can get into places like Cedar Point as well. I am also sort of close the Six Flags Great America so I can go there too!

 

[mom0299]

Let's see near is Dollywood, Spalsp country USA, Six Flags Over Georgia, Water Water and Lake Winnie.

I am taking the Kids to Lake Winnie because on Friday nights it buy one get one free for the parks. Basically down the street from my house.

The other place is only a two hour drive for me. Okay Six Flags is one hour and 30 minutes with the way I drive.

Where do you live? Lake Winnie was practically in my back yard when I was a kid. We could walk through the woods and across the street and there we were! I loved that little park. I'm sure it's changed a lot since the late 80s.

To the OP: I would second the vote for Dollywood. It isn't WDW, but it is a nice, clean, family-friendly park. We were there a couple of weeks ago and Dolly was actually there!

 

[LaDonna]

Holiday World in SantaClause Indiana! Great Fun Family Park! and Water Park! I think the prices their are cheaper as far as food etc

 

[NYEmomma]

We're doing Idlewild & SoakZone in western PA. There's also Kennywood right near there too.

 

[bigmama67]

We got 3 passes to Six Flags Great Adventure and Hurricane Harbor (they are two separate parks here). DD didn't need one yet. We also got a parking pass but unfortunately it's only good at your "home" park this time. (ARGH!) The passes will get us into all the other Six Flags parks so we are heading up to SF New England this weekend (and I wish we could go again, it's really charming!) Unfortunately, I'm not employed at the moment so we will go to Great Adventure at least once a month.

We're also getting a combo ticket for Hershey Park and Dutch Wonderland. DS still uses a kids' ticket this year, and DD doesn't need one, so for a total of $200 we will get a full day at each park, plus the preview night (3 hours the night before) at each park, and mini-golf at Dutch Wonderland, and ZooAmerica in Hershey. I think that's cool. We are making it into two separate camping trips so that'll be the bulk of our summer vacations this year.

Next year we are determined to go to Florida, but we will ALSO get the Busch Premium Passes for 2 years of unlimited admission - Sea World, Busch Gardens, and Sesame Place. I hope they don't raise the prices too much! I'll do Flex Plan though.

 

[crazelion]

Where do you live? Lake Winnie was practically in my bag yard when I was a kid. We could walk through the woods and across the street and there we were! I loved that little park. I'm sure it's changed a lot since the late 80s.

To the OP: I would second the vote for Dollywood. It isn't WDW, but it is a nice, clean, family-friendly park. We were there a couple of weeks ago and Dolly was actually there!

I live in Chattanooga, TN. Basically on the Georgia state line.

 

[mom0299]

I live in Chattanooga, TN. Basically on the Georgia state line.

Yep, we were on the Georgia side of the line, but we could easily walk to Tennessee

 

[kydisneyfans]

Big thumbs up for Holiday World in Santa Claus, IN.
The prices are downright cheap for an amusement park, with free drinks throughout. Look for discount tickets, we bought 3 tickets for $80 last year. A meal inside the park cost less than $20 total for all of us.

Lodging is sparce unless you want to drive into Louisville to stay, but the park is fantastic.

We also visit Kings Island in Cincinnati, it's nice but we like Holiday World better.

We stopped Cedar Point trips since we realized we were spending more there than at Disney with the inflated lodging and food costs.

 

[englishteacha]

Some of our favorite places:
Hersheypark
Knoebels (it's a very different type of experience!)
Busch Gardens Williamsburg
Cedar Point

In 2005 we did a big roller coaster trip and went to Hershey, Cedar Point, Geauga Lake (used to be a true theme park, now just water park), and Dorney Park. We got a Cedar Fair season pass that got us in everywhere except Hershey. We camped out and had a really great time. None of the parks allow in outside food, so a couple days we packed lunches and ate in the truck with the AC on! Other days we ate in the parks. It was one of our more frugal vacations and lots of fun!

 

[DISshopkeeper]

Some of our favorite places:
Hersheypark
Knoebels (it's a very different type of experience!)
Busch Gardens Williamsburg
Cedar Point

Ditto all these parks!!!

 

[KBW]

My DD6 said to me last week, "Mommy, I just don't understand why we can't go to Disney this year?" (Sigh.) As a consolation, we are going to do a day trip to Hershey Park...Better than nothin'!!

 

[Styx Fan]

If you really like thrill rides, and especially roller coasters, you have to try Cedar Point! It's well run, clean, and very nicely landscaped....but the big thing is the big rides. I can't quote the stats, but they are known as a major player in the coaster world. There is also plenty of smaller rides for the little ones.

Food costs are crazy, but if it's just for a day or 2 we always managed to function. While you can't take in food, there is a picnic shelter just outside the gate (just get your hand stamped) and you can use that. It's pretty big. We always tried for a big breakfast, then ate lunch in the park, and had dinner after we left at night. I really don't want to eat too much when it is warm and I am getting my guts slung around all day.

Speaking of warm....it does get hot in the summer, but as it is on a point that sticks out into Lake Erie, if there is a breez, CP gets it.

I have heard lodging in the area is expensive, but we usually stayed a bit away or drove back after. Pretty much have stopped the late night drive home as we have gotten older and wiser. We always close the park and ended up driving home several times when we totally shouldn't have....we were totally nuts about that as younger people

 

[SookieStackhouse]

I will throw in another vote for Holiday World in Santa Claus, IN. It is pretty cool and fun. As far as I know, they still do free drinks.