Sleeping Bear vs Kelley's Island / Cedar Point

How about you do trip A and include a stop at Michigan's Adventure? It will be on your way from Holland to Sleeping Bear Dunes. If I am not mistaken there is a camping resort very close to the park. You could also move to Hoffmaster or Muskegon State Park to be closer for that day.

Michigan's Adventure probably isn't as grandiose as Cedar Point, but they have some good roller coasters and a great water park. Lines probably would be shorter than Cedar Point. The park is actually also owned by the same company that owns Cedar Point.

Another vote for Sleeping Bear Nat'l Lakeshore, probably because we've volunteered there and know how fantastic the whole area is. If you go, definitely take the gentle float trip down the Platte River across from the Platte River campground. It ends at an awesome beach.

Bottom line...you know your kids better than us. Would they go for lovely beaches, dune climbing, a ferry trip to South Manitou Island as a day trip, the float trip or just being kids in nature surroundings or would they go for the amusement park better?

Have done both, although maybe 20 years ago. Tough choice. Agree with Bob806 that Sleeping Bear has some major dunes and natural areas. But Cedar Point has the most amazing roller coaster collection, probably in the United States, but definitely better than any in my area. Coasters at Cedar Point were two to three times the length of any at Kings Dominion, the best alternative in VA.

Look again at the schedule. Neither area seems to require 5 days in my opinion. Why not 3 days of quiet and family time at the Dunes and then two days for Cedar Point area. When the children are young, a good approach is to attempt to have a variety of experiences for them to remember and someday replicate for their own family. Really tough to avoid a tight schedule when you only have a week or two of vacation.

My wife and I are retired now and we have been revisiting some locations to see things in more depth. Too bad our careers don't offer the choice of doing things at leisure when the children are young.

Trip A is what we did, and would still do (the kids are grown and gone now). My kids had just as much fun running down the dunes into Lake Michigan as they did on a day trip to Cedar Point. Plus you have Empire Beach, Crystal Lake, etc. nearby. You can rent an inner tube and float the nearby river that empties into Lake Michigan too. Campfires at night in peace, saving some $$ cooking instead of amusement park concessions, you get my drift.

I'm a bit biased I suppose. Cedar Point is only an hour away from us. I never understood the desire to spend a bit of money to go stand on hot pavement and wait in line for a thrill ride. Just not my cup of tea.