Frugal Amusement Park Trip?

[Simplifymylife]

I've always been a fan of roller coasters and my daughters are too. My youngest, now age 7, has finally reached that magic height of 48"+ where she can now go on just about all of the really good rides. My 9 yo is a few inches taller.

They are in school through 7/10 due to their 12 month school year here in Las Vegas. They have been doing great in school, so I wanted to surprise them with something fun. As a reward for their good grades, I decided that I would take a vacation day (my first in 2009) and "kidnap" them on Friday morning.

I'm going to set the alarm clock in their room back two hours on Thursday night and have their clothes all laid out just like they are going to school for a regular day on Friday. Then I'll roust them out of bed, get them dressed and ready as usual, and drag them out to the car that will already be packed and ready to go.

They will have no clue until we drive past the school, but the plan is to take them to California to ride roller coasters with me for the entire day. I don't plan to tell them anything about where we are going until we actually get there. This should keep it exciting.

I'm packing breakfast for the the road, along with snacks and drinks for the trip up and back. We are four hours from the park, so if we leave at 5 am, we should be there before it opens. We can ride all day and then be back to Las Vegas around midnight. No hotel. Just a tank and a half of gas, the snacks, drinks, lunch and maybe dinner at the park, and the tickets.

My company has a membership in a service called "the recreation connection", so I was able to order discount tickets and print them out at home.

The tickets to Knotts Berry Farm seem to be the best value. They are $26.99 for anyone 48"+ vs $51.00 at the gate. Still expensive, but a pretty good deal for an entire day of unlimited riding. And Knotts has a lot of coasters that they can ride. We are lucky that we live close enough that staying over night isn't really necessary. We have the entire weekend to recover, and I don't mind the drive. I'm thinking that if we can skip souveniers, we will come in at just under $250.00 for the three of us to take this trip (not counting the snacks and drinks for the car ride that I already have):

Admission Tickets = $81.00 ($27 x 3)
Gas = $75.00
Food and Drinks in the park = $90.00 ($30 each or less)
Total = $246.00

I'm hoping this trip will make an impression on them and hold them over until our "real vacation" in August when we go back East to visit my family (using 3 free tickets from all my frequent flier miles this past year). I want the girls to see that if they behave and keep their grades up like they have been, I'll notice it, and I just might do something like this again.

[pollypurebred39]

Have a great time! It sounds like it will be fun family day!

[Ceashels]

I think you'll need to pack diapers for when they pee themselves as you turn into the parking lot of the Park.

LOL They will love it and I get the feeling so will you!

Bon Voyage

[DJ1972]

Sounds like you all are going to have a blast! We were able to get season passes to Six Flags for $45 each at our city hall. We only live about 2.5 hours from Six Flags, so I bought me and the kids a pass (DH hates amusement parks). Now, we can pack a cooler and head out whenever we like. It makes for cheap entertainment/mini vacation.

[lotsadebt]

We too are frugal amusement park goers. We have season passes to the Cedar Fair system. We pack as much food as we can. The food inside is what kills you. We picnic in the parking lot, carry in snacks, and drinks. My kids are so trained they don't even ask for the stuff in there.

[pat in east texas]

When mine were young, we used the change jar savings for a once-a-year trip to Six Flags. It was a safe place then, clean and very enjoyable. We'd spend the day and go home when the place closed. The kids had money to buy souvenirs and food (after the rollercoaster ride). The next day was spent resting, talking about the fun we had, and planning next year's trip.

[frugalfranny]

Have a great time!

Not sure about Knotts but while ours has a 'no food/drinks inside' rule I know people that take stuff in......the food is not only over priced at ours it isn't that great of quality.

[joyofsix]

Have a great time. You're an awesome mommy.

[McD]

Not sure if your city offers it, but our park and rec department offers discounted tickets to a local amusement park. I think the total saving is about 10$ per ticket.

[walker24]

Wow! That sounds like an awesome and well planned trip.

[strezzed]

You have got to be the coolest mom ever!

[MaryCarney]

Here in Indiana we have a great park called Holiday World (in Santa Claus, Indiana!!!) that has great coasters, FREE parking, FREE soda and FREE sunscreen stations in the terrific water park. Not a huge place, you can do pretty much everything in one day.

[Simplifymylife]

Thanks Everyone! The trip was AWESOME!

The girls didn't have a clue about what was going on when I got them in the car at 5:30 am. They asked why it was so dark out. I told them it was probably going to rain that day. I drove them past school and they didn't question anything until we were about 30 miles down the highway. Then they were all worried about missing their Spelling Tests that day (I cleared this with the teachers).

Knotts was great! There were long lines for a couple of rides, but they moved along quickly. Some were short enough that we could almost get right back on again.

We got our $27 each worth, that's for sure. We didn't spend as much on food as I expected to. We needed more drinks than anything. We could have gotten our hands stamped and gone back to the car to tailgate for lunch which might be an idea to keep the cost down a bit more.

We stayed in the park until 6:30, then I drove them to the pier at Huntington Beach and we got milk shakes at Ruby's (the diner right on the end of the pier over the ocean). We watched the sun go down into the Pacific and then started our drive back home.

And thanks for all of the "Cool Mom" comments, but I'm actually a "Cool Dad".

[joyofsix]

Ooops, cool gender neutral parent kudos!