planning Ohio trip for late Spring/Early Summer 2017

Odds are very good that Mystic Timbers will be running by early June. I've seen construction photos and I think it will be ready for opening day. If you enjoy animal parks and zoos, Columbus Zoo is one of the best in the country. As far as Cedar Fair or Six Flags parks, I can't think of any in the area. I live near Pittsburgh PA and my home park is Kennywood, which is about 3 1/2 hours east of Cedar Point. Indiana Beach is about 4 hours Northwest of Cincinnati. The closest Cedar Fair Park I can think of is Michigan's Adventure, which is about 4 1/2 hour northeast of Cedar Point. There are a few very small parks in Ohio, Memphis Kiddie Park, Sluggers and Putters, Coney Island, and Strickers Grove. None of them merit a special visit, but if you are looking for something different to do, other than Cedar Point and Kings Island. Hope this helps and hope you have fun.

Those parks are worth 2 days each. Lots of walking though, don't plan too many other things. An Indians game would be a nice break.
Hotel Breakers and Lighthouse Point are attractions in themselves. Little pricey but worth it I think. So nice to park your car and not worry about it. Easy walk back to the room for a nap or shower or whatever.
I'm hoping Timbers will be open in April..

NotSo said:

Those parks are worth 2 days each. Lots of walking though, don't plan too many other things. An Indians game would be a nice break.
Hotel Breakers and Lighthouse Point are attractions in themselves. Little pricey but worth it I think. So nice to park your car and not worry about it. Easy walk back to the room for a nap or shower or whatever.
I'm hoping Timbers will be open in April..

Yes, we're hoping to stay at Hotel Breakers, as we did on our previous visits to Cedar Point. Definitely nice to be able to duck back to the room for a rest, or to escape a storm or something.

frontrow said:

Odds are very good that Mystic Timbers will be running by early June. I've seen construction photos and I think it will be ready for opening day. If you enjoy animal parks and zoos, Columbus Zoo is one of the best in the country. As far as Cedar Fair or Six Flags parks, I can't think of any in the area. I live near Pittsburgh PA and my home park is Kennywood, which is about 3 1/2 hours east of Cedar Point. Indiana Beach is about 4 hours Northwest of Cincinnati. The closest Cedar Fair Park I can think of is Michigan's Adventure, which is about 4 1/2 hour northeast of Cedar Point. There are a few very small parks in Ohio, Memphis Kiddie Park, Sluggers and Putters, Coney Island, and Strickers Grove. None of them merit a special visit, but if you are looking for something different to do, other than Cedar Point and Kings Island. Hope this helps and hope you have fun.

Thanks for the info. It sounds like those other big parks are probably too far out of the way, unless we fly into or out of a different airport that is near one of those. Perhaps we'll just stick to CP and KI, along with some non-amusement park area attractions. We spent part of a day at the Columbus Zoo on a prior trip, and might go back there again. I think I heard good things about the Cincinnati Zoo too, but I'm not sure.

Yes, traveling and time in each park would take 2 days in each. While no longer part of the Six Flags chain, Kentucky Kingdom is down in central Louisville which is a two hour drive. It is not a full day park, so the trip and the time there would be day five. The world's only underground zip line is under Louisville's Zoo. That I would actually do again over going to Kentucky Kingdom again.
While Mystic Timbers should be running on opening day, there may be down times because it's new. I grew up in Columbus, so welcome home. I spent tons of time at Cedar Point, Kings Island, and the Columbus Zoo. If you have any more questions, go for it.

glutton said:
I think I heard good things about the Cincinnati Zoo too, but I'm not sure.

It is reputed to be one of the better zoos in the country. They used to have some unique species (white tigers and such) but in later years they loaned them out to other zoos, so no one know's there's anything "unique" about them. You can always say you want to visit the place where Harambe's life ended.

Another "attraction" is the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame. An interesting building for sure. It takes probably at least an hour to get through it if you're walking fast.

It's about an hour to the East of Cedar Point, me and my friends came from NJ and went to the RR HOF the day before we did CP.

Depending on when an Indians game is you might be able to do both a ballgame and the hall of fame in one day.

Thanks for all of the suggestions so far. We've made 2 prior trips to Ohio to go to CP and KI, and on those trips, we spent some time in Cleveland (R&R Hall of Fame, Jacobs Field) and Columbus (Zoo, nature hike.) We haven't set foot in Cincinnati on the prior trips, so we want to include that this time. Hopefully, a Reds game, and I'm not sure what else. We might go back to Columbus again also, but I think we'll probably skip Cleveland this time.

Hello,
I live near KI and we have had season passes for many years. based on what we saw of the construction of Mystic Timbers at the end of last season(mid October)I am very confident that it will be fully up and running by opening day and certainly going strong in May/June. At that time the lift hill and first turn were already finished. We took the train ride which circles that area and the trees had been cleared and footers poured and piles of lumber already laying ready. I was by there the other day and could see multiple hill tops but you can't see a lot of it from the road due to its location in the park. You would have a great time at Great American Ball Park for a Reds game, and the Cincinnati Zoo is really nice as well, both great choices and a very short drive from KI.As mentioned before, Louisville is about an hour & a half or so south & the Louisville Slugger factory and museum is well worth visiting if you were to venture down that way. You would drive right by Kentucky Speedway as well but I think their big races are in early July. Anyway I wish you the best here in our area and hope you have a safe and wonderfull trip here to Ohio.

Our57 said:

Hello,
I live near KI and we have had season passes for many years. based on what we saw of the construction of Mystic Timbers at the end of last season(mid October)I am very confident that it will be fully up and running by opening day and certainly going strong in May/June. At that time the lift hill and first turn were already finished. We took the train ride which circles that area and the trees had been cleared and footers poured and piles of lumber already laying ready. I was by there the other day and could see multiple hill tops but you can't see a lot of it from the road due to its location in the park. You would have a great time at Great American Ball Park for a Reds game, and the Cincinnati Zoo is really nice as well, both great choices and a very short drive from KI.As mentioned before, Louisville is about an hour & a half or so south & the Louisville Slugger factory and museum is well worth visiting if you were to venture down that way. You would drive right by Kentucky Speedway as well but I think their big races are in early July. Anyway I wish you the best here in our area and hope you have a safe and wonderfull trip here to Ohio.

Thanks for all of the info, Our57. Can you suggest a good area where we should look for a hotel that is convenient to KI, but also not too far a drive from the ballpark and zoo? (One close to Graeter's Ice Cream is a bonus too!!) Also, how popular are Reds tickets? Should we choose which game to attend and buy tickets in advance? We'll probably be in Cincy when the Dodgers are in town, in case that makes a difference in ticket availability.

Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner. There are a few motels right off the exit at Kings Mills Road (exit 25 I think),right by the beach water park and only about a mile or so from the park entrance. If not that I would go on south to the Mason Montgomery/ Fields Ertle Rd. exit (19 I think). There are several nice motels and lots of places to eat in that area (Pizza Tower is one of my daughters favorites). That exit is only three or four miles south of KI. Shouldn't be any problem getting decent Reds tickets, some weekend games against rivals St. Louis and of course Cleveland) fill up pretty quick, but other than that I don't think it would be a problem. You could always go a few hours early on game day park,walk up to the box office, get your tix then go over to the Reds hall of fame and museum which is right there then grab something to eat at one of the many places across the street (the Banks,etc.)and of course you can always take a walk down by the river. Weekend game days are nice down there. One thing that might or might not be a problem is road construction at the exit that takes you right down by the Ball Park, we were down there last weekend and that exit was closed, had to take a different one and added about 10 minutes to our trip. Anyway hope this helps. Oh also, there is the Newport Aquarium across the river in Kentucky.

One more thing, there is a Graeters ice cream shop on International street inside the park at Kings Island now.

Our57 said:
There are several nice motels and lots of places to eat in that area (Pizza Tower is one of my daughters favorites).

Bad news for you. Pizza Tower closed, but did relocate to the Milford/Loveland area. The original building has been demolished. Which seems to be the growing normal around here. The Burger King,the Old Fuddruckers and Tumbleweed buildings and a Marathon gas station. Have all been torn down in the Fields-Ertl area within the last few months.

I would agree that the Columbus or Cincinnati Zoo would be a great way to spend a day away from the parks. There's also the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, if you are both fans. It's a little under 2 hours from Cedar Point. I myself enjoy visiting the Sign Museum in Cincinnati. It will only take a couple of hours at most though, but it's a unique experience. There's also Art Museums and the National Underground Railroad Museum all located in or near the downtown Cincy area.

I can't imagine that Reds tickets will be hard to come by at all this year. I'm a fan and have no interest in paying to watch them "rebuild" the next few seasons. Just avoid a Saturday bobble head give away and you'll be fine.

d-lo775 said:
I myself enjoy visiting the Sign Museum in Cincinnati. It will only take a couple of hours at most though, but it's a unique experience. There's also Art Museums and the National Underground Railroad Museum all located in or near the downtown Cincy area.

IIRC there's also an interesting fire museum in Cinci... Cincinnati had the first paid fire dept in the nation.

Interesting news on the demolition at Fields-Ertel... no surprise since they re-worked the interchange. I worked in the original Governors Hill office park in the 1980's when the third building (later Luxitica) was under construction... we're now retired and living in Florida.

I can't imagine that Reds tickets will be hard to come by at all this year. I'm a fan and have no interest in paying to watch them "rebuild" the next few seasons. Just avoid a Saturday bobble head give away and you'll be fine.

Hmm. The week that we'll be there, the Reds games we're choosing from are a Fireworks night and a Saturday Pete Rose statuette giveaway game. Would those be games we should buy in advance?

Thanks for the museum and other activity suggestions.

Hello, I have also heard many good reviews about Cincinnati zoo.

We're still considering both the Cincinnati Zoo and the Columbus Zoo, but I'm not sure if we'll have time for both. We're flying through Columbus and spending one night there, but we'll have 4 nights near Kings Island & Cincinnati, and 3 nights at Cedar Point. I hope we get good weather!

Hi, thats good.

Not exactly a theme park question, but how serious are the Ohio sports fans? Is it safe for me to wear a Golden State Warriors t-shirt at Cedar Point or Kings Island, or would Cavs fans be too nasty about it? I don't mind a little playful banter, but I'm not looking to stir things up if fans there would be over the top obnoxious to someone wearing Warriors garb.

I was there at Hotel Breakers and Cedar Point for my birthday from June 1st to the 10th.