Believe it or not, you can save money at amusement parks and and still have fun!  I recently had the opportunity to enjoy a day at the amusement park with a friend.  I had not been to an amusement park in about 13 years I figured.  Why you might be wondering?  Well, I do not like riding roller coasters so as I got older there was not a lot for me to do; however, I decided to give it a try again.  Since we only live about 2 hours from Cedar Point in Northern Ohio, we took a beautiful Sunday to go up there.  (My family keeps Shabbat on Saturday.)

Discount Tickets

Roller Coaster! © by AJU_photography

We began by having my friend pick up tickets thru his work which offered a discount on tickets.  That saved us $10 each.  Interestingly enough, you can often get discounts thru your work which can purchase in bulk and pass the savings on to you.  Or you can look for discount days or coupons online.  Also, there are sometimes savings clubs or “birthday clubs” offered by some attractions which give you a discount around your birthday.

Lunch

Then we packed our lunch.  Picking up some sandwich meat, bread, and chips was not that expensive or difficult.  The park offered picnic pavilions; however, we ate in the car to save the time of going there and back.  We wanted to get into the park as soon as they opened.

Parking

Paying for the parking was quite expensive – $12 a vehicle, but there was no way to avoid it.  Hence, going as a group and loading up the vehicles as much as possible is a way to lower the cost.  If you go with a group of 6 people, parking would cost each person only $2…that’s much better than $12!

Pay Per Play

Once we got in the park, everything was included except for our food.  They also offered pay per play arcade type games.  We avoided those as they could have easily racked up.  Why not spend more time enjoying the rides!  And enjoy them we did.  Plus watching some of the really crazy roller coaster rides…like the one that literally went straight up and back down!  You had to wait in line for about 30 minutes just for a 1 minute ride because it was so popular.

Picking a Strategic Day

Thankfully, we had picked a day that was a beautiful fall day where the crowds would be less due to children being back in school.  (Hint: Pick your day to visit strategically.  Tuesdays are often a slower day as well as Sundays for a weekend day.)

Snacks and Food

We did purchase some snacks in the park; however, we chose only what we were going to eat and something we knew we would enjoy.  Shop around for meals.  Prices varied quite a bit in the park.  We found that you could get a hamburger, fries, and drink at the 50′s restaurant for about $15 or you could go to the all you can eat buffet for $13 plus your drink which would run another $2-$3!  So do not hesitate to look around before buying.

Souvenirs

Also, go light on the souvenirs.  They are always marked up in the park, so only choose something you are really going to use and would mean a lot.  My family has often planned to pick only one thing which would mean a lot thereby cutting down on the “souvenir grab.”

Season Passes

If you decide to make that your special treat of the year or season, season passes can save you money.  In our case, if we were going to go to Cedar Point three times or more, season passes would be the most cost savings.  Also, their souvenir cup while expensive at $10 offered 1/2 price refills…so if were going to be going all season long, that could also be a cost savings.

So, an amusement park can be quite fun.  You can also still make wise choices while there to help save money and still have a great time!