Saving Money on Park Admission

[Jarrett]

So I'm going to BGT this week and it being one of the more expensive parks out there (89 bucks...OUCH!!!!) I was wondering if there were any ways to get a good discount on admission without having to buy a season pass. I saw the 50$ weekday deal on their website, but are there any others?

I personally know how to get a good discount on Kings Island's admission. There's a Kroger close to the park where you can go and tickets for just 35$, and they're as low as 33$ online! But at the gate, they're a whopping 54$! Ouch! And if you have a bad day at Cedar Point and lake effect wind shuts everything down *cough*MyfirstCFlive*cough*, go to the customer service building and nicely ask if you could potentially get some sort of incentive to come back to the park because you thought the rides looked awesome and you could have had a lot of fun had lake effect not ruined everything, they'll probably compensate you for it. I got a 50% off coupon doing that once! It won't get your foiled visit back, but you'll be able to do a do-over for less!

So how do YOU save money when going to non-home parks?

(If this belongs in Q&A, I'd be more than happy if a mod would move it. The reason I started it off here is because I was looking more for a discussion on how you save money on your home park so that people visiting it could know how to save money on it.)

 

[caffeine_demon]

I find, if you climb over the wall, you save a lot of money on admission, and it gets you a chance to meet some lovely judges in a courtroom.

 

[Jarrett]

I find, if you climb over the wall, you save a lot of money on admission, and it gets you a chance to meet some lovely judges in a courtroom.

Better: Skydive in and land on a coaster's catwalk.

BUT I find judges and courtrooms distateful. There's usually lawyers and cops involved too.

Let me rephrase that; LEGAL ways to save money on admission.

 

[Hyde]

1. Park Websites are always a good go-to first step for ticket discounts. Cedar Fair and Six Flags, for instance, has shifted to a model of providing the cheapest tickets discounts online - often a few dollars over what can be found at local retail/grocery stores or travel agencies.

2. Travel Agencies, such as AAA, are the second best option. Regional stores such as Kroger, Drug Mart, or Meijer will provide discounted tickets to area parks. However they do not sell tickets to parks that are outside of their region. I have run into this problem when purchasing tickets for Dollywood and Hersheypark, where discounted tickets were only available at AAA.

3. Area Stores are the next best stop for discounted tickets. As mentioned, they will only sell tickets to area parks, which is a disadvantage if you are traveling across state lines or regions (Such as Cedar Point - not Kings Island - tickets being sold at Meijer in Sandusky, Ohio). However if the tickets are available, that can be a convenient option.

 

[rtotheizzo17]

^I would add hotel combos to the above, for parks that are more than a few hours away obviously.

All of the Orlando parks have hotel packages that feature accommodations plus park tickets (and some other benefits depending on time of year like kids eat free). A lot of the regional parks will have partnerships with local hotels for discounted tickets or combo packages.

 

[Hyde]

^ But at the same time, it is always important to shop around when needing a place to stay. I have had a lot of success in finding a cheaper deal outside of park/park hotel combos.

 

[Jarrett]

1. Park Websites are always a good go-to first step for ticket discounts. Cedar Fair and Six Flags, for instance, has shifted to a model of providing the cheapest tickets discounts online - often a few dollars over what can be found at local retail/grocery stores or travel agencies.

2. Travel Agencies, such as AAA, are the second best option. Regional stores such as Kroger, Drug Mart, or Meijer will provide discounted tickets to area parks. However they do not sell tickets to parks that are outside of their region. I have run into this problem when purchasing tickets for Dollywood and Hersheypark, where discounted tickets were only available at AAA.

3. Area Stores are the next best stop for discounted tickets. As mentioned, they will only sell tickets to area parks, which is a disadvantage if you are traveling across state lines or regions (Such as Cedar Point - not Kings Island - tickets being sold at Meijer in Sandusky, Ohio). However if the tickets are available, that can be a convenient option.

Haven't tried travel agencies but I'll look. And does Busch Gardens have tickets on sale at Kroger/Meijer/Walmart?

I know that at one point the Courtyard-Marriott near Carowinds offered a decent hotel package.