A family trip to the amusement park can be expensive—even if it's close to home. Tickets, food, souvenirs...it adds up quickly.
Whether you plan to visit Disney, Six Flags, Sea World, Cedar Point, or Busch Gardens this summer, there's definitely ways to stay on a budget and still have fun. Here's how you can save money at the amusement park:
- Buy tickets online. Some parks offer discounts on admission if you order tickets online. An added bonus of ordering online? You can by-pass the line at the ticket counter the day of your visit and get into the park quicker.
- Look for deals. Grocery stores, gas stations, fast food chains, soda and credit card companies often offer discounts on admission. Also, membership-based discounts (for example, AAA, AARP, military families, college students, members of wholesale clubs like Sam's and Cosco) are sometime available. A good Web site to help you find deals is the Theme Park Insider Discussion Board. Or you can even call the particular theme park to ask about deals if you don't see anything on its official Web site.
- Consider a season pass, multi-day pass, or second-day free offers. If you plan to go back more than once, you can save a lot of cash with these options.
- Get a big group together. Some parks discount tickets for groups of more than 20. You can also save on parking costs if you carpool with a big group.
- Bring your own food and drinks. This is a great way to save a ton of cash if the park allows picnicking. Also, bring a water bottle to refill from drinking fountains.
- Cut down on extra expenses. Tempting items like sourvenirs, games, and arcades add up quickly. Agree on an affordable budget with your kids ahead of time so they know what to expect.
Do you have any tips for saving money at amusement parks?
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Comments 11
we have an amusement park here. I know it is so much cheaper to buy season passes. they pay for there selves in 4 visits. plus it comes with the water park too. We do the regulat theme park in the cooler months, And in the hot months the water park is the bes. then we make sandwiches. and eat them at the tables right out side the park.
I would say if you have picky eaters like me,MAKE sure you are getting food they WILL eat.Or maybe you can buy 1 foot long and put it in half.(well-my children are 4 and 19 months old)(if they are small children obviously)
I was gonna say bring your own food but you mentioned that LOL! The last amuzement park we went to we packed a cooler and kept it in the trunk. Any time someone was hungry or thirsty we went to the car and grabbed a drink or snack. This place wanted $3 for a bottle water, yikes!!!
I worked at an amusement park and I have to say - the games are a ripoff - not because they're rigged, but because they're SO addicting! It's a great suggestion to have a 'cap' of sorts, maybe no more than $20. Remember to include DAD on this, it always seemed guys spent more trying to prove their manliness. I've seen people blow $100 easily at one time. If you're going to go to a game, I'd suggest going to the guess your age booth. Usually, you'll pay $5, but you ALWAYS get a prize.
Also, if you're going to get yourself a drawn portrait, get everyone together - otherwise seperately, the'll cost you an arm and a leg!
Don't take your kids.
I love Cedar Point :D
Save money at the amusement park -- bring your own food and water. that would be my only advice, cause the food is so amazingly overpriced its ridiculous. you'll go broke buying food that you won't be able to buy any souviners.
We have an amusement park in our area and believe it or not, the food prices are not that bad. We are a family of 5 and they always have a "deal" on something for the entire family, the last time we went got a x-large pizza and 4 large drinks for $20. Also, all summer they have a deal every friday, bring in a coca-cola product can and buy one admission get one free. We go a lot!
We brought our own drinks and still ended up buying more. We ate at the amusement park(6 Flags over Ga.) and that set us back about $30+ for a family of 5...that was an avg. of $6/person. I think this year, we'll pack twice as many drinks and snacks. We're going to Kentucky Kingdom in July...
My fiance and I have worked out a budget and we've been saving for the trip since April. To save money, his dad is renting the cars for us under his name so we don't have to buy the extra insurance. We're buying our tickets online since Busch Gardens has a special right now for 69.95. The hotel we're renting is 4 minutes away from Busch Garden and only cost us a total of 180 for two rooms/2 nights. My fiance is taking about $400 for spenting money and since my brothers and sister in law are going they will take care of gas for the cars. The trip is only a month away and we have all the money we need but my fiance and I are still saving. You never know what can happening when you're away for home.