Summer Coaster Tour - Day 11 - Going Home - 2026/05/31

Well it has certainly been a very busy trip. It's Day 11 of our big summer roller coaster tour. We've visited 5 different amusement parks, the National Zoo, lots of Chuck E Cheese restaurants, a few Lidls here and there, and lots more. It's time to head home. Last night we left Kings Dominion in Virginia and drove 5 hours to South Carolina. Enjoying a hearty breakfast at the hotel before hitting the road. 

We opted to stop for the night. Our traveling partner Jacob though sent this text at 5:20am. 

"What a sight to behold!"

He drove all night and made it back home early early in the morning. Someone is going to need a nap later today. 

For us, there's 7 hours of driving and about 500 miles between us and home. We'll break it up with some fun things along the way though. 

It started as a rainy morning of driving. 

Passing into Georgia. 

We didn't stop at the Welcome Center, but I've heard that some of them hand out Georgia specific treats, like peanuts and Coke products, similar to how Florida gives out free orange and grapefruit juice samples at their welcome centers. 

For lunch, Arby's sounded good to all of us. 

Then it was back on the road and into our home state. Florida Welcomes You! I like our state welcome sign. 

How best to break up a long day? I know. Let's go to Chuck E Cheese? There's one that's not far off the freeway on the drive home in Jacksonville! Ooh, reserved parking, just for us. 

Will this be a good CEC or a bad CEC? Let's find out. 

They had a few games to play, but we were underwhelmed by the ticket payouts, especially on some of the skill games. We ended up spending 77 credits here and leaving with only 390 tickets, which averages out to be about 5 tickets per game. 

After about 25 minutes or so, we decided we'd had enough. Hmm. What else can we do? 

Well about an hour down the road is ANOTHER Chuck E Cheese, this time in Port Orange Florida. 

At this new Chuck E Cheese, we saw many of the old games we're used to. 

But also a few of the newer bigger games! Some that we're more used to seeing at something like Dave & Busters instead of a Chuck E Cheese that is usually aimed at younger kids. 

Theresa and Ian can usually clean up on Nerf Arcade, at least a few times until the High Score gets too high and out of reach. 

Ticket drop has the chance for big bonuses, if you can get the timing right. 

Games like Dodgeball and Basketball Connect 4 are huge cabinets! Definitely surprised to see them at a Chuck E Cheese, but we're happy to play them! 

The kids enjoyed a couple games on Connect 4, at least until the basketballs wedged themselves at the top and then stayed stuck for the rest of the game. 

It also made the end of the game unfair because a ball would get stuck in one position, then on the other person's turn, get knocked and come loose, counting for that person's turn instead of the first person, which made it the wrong color tile. 

I ran up the score on basketball. No big ticket payouts for beating the high score, but it's always good practice. 

Another unique game we haven't found at a CEC before. Wicked Tuna, based on the TV show. I battled Theresa and was able to pull in the biggest and best fish! 

First place! And for that I earned... 0 tickets, and pride I guess.  

Second place comes away with 10 tickets. That's an odd payout. 

Next Theresa would battle against Alli. 

Another fun new game. Feed that Yeti Alli! 

Though the high score to win the bonus on some of these is a little ridiculous. Just for fun, I looked online to see what top players score. In the regular 45 second round, many can get 2500-3000+ points. Here at Chuck E Cheese, if you want to win the bonus, you need to score above 4450 points. Oh yeah, and do it in only 25 seconds instead of the standard 45. Crazy.  

We didn't come away with too many more tickets, but we did have a fun time playing all the new games. 

Back on the road and we need to get some dinner. Jet's Pizza? It's like we're back in Michigan. 

Ah, no pizza. There we go. Theresa was really hoping for some rice, chicken, and vegetables. 

Alli checking to see what soup they have. The girl loves soup. 

Enjoying a nice meal of chicken, rice, California rolls, and wontons before making the final push and heading for home. 90 minutes or so to go. 

As we got closer, we checked in with Jacob, who has had the whole day to recover. Want to get together one more time? Sure! 

He met us at the nearby McDonalds (we had points expiring at the end of the month) to get a treat. 

Well that was certainly a big driving trip! Around 2500 miles (thank goodness for the Prius), and at least 37 hours of driving in the car over the last 11 days. 

In total, we visited 5 theme parks (Six Flags Over Georgia, Carowinds, Dorney Park, Six Flags Great Adventure, and Kings Dominion), the Smithsonian National Zoo, 10 unique Chuck E Cheese locations, and 5 different Lidl stores. Whew! How about a little break before the next big adventure?