Plans for 09

[Thelegendarymatthew]

I'm saving up a lot of money in the next year. If I can get enough, then I will get to do some fun things!

I am 13 so I'm responsible for babysitting, walking dogs and mowing lawns. In April 30th 09 I will turn 14 and were I live I can get a job at Subway, my friend works there. So mabey if I have enough I could get my family to get to do what I want to do.

I don't know how much I can make but I do have a few parks I want to do in order.

Six Flags Great Adventure - Well I've never been to a Six Flags park and this one may not be as close as SFA but it has a LOT more to offer. I know theirs a safari and I like safaris, but I also have never ridden a coaster that goes over 225 ft. So its at the top of the list

Cedar Point - It may not be SFMM but it has a lot of good stuff. I wish it had more wooden coasters though. I wanna ride Maverick and some nice coasters higher than 200ft. I also have a lot of family that lives in Ohio and we visit them a lot but we always were doing stuff around the area.

Kings Island - Its our sister park, If I do go I wanna ride Beast and SoB. I also have family around Kentucky so I don't pay for Hotel prices and some food prices.

Hershey Park - I've been to this park and I would miss the Boardwalk and Fahrenheit.

Hard Rock Park - I regret not going to MBP but we normally rent a condo around the area, and if if we do Hard Rock Park, I think we can also do the park were Swamp Fox is.

So that's the list, I would also need to buy a digital camera that actually doesn't delete the pictures in 10 days. So I have 20$ in my savings for the parks(I started it today) I'm getting 50$ for riding Shock Wave. I'm going to get paid 15$ an hour to watch an annoying 4 year old that screams as load as heck. So I should get a total of 595$ and I'm also doing some other stuff. So I can get 600$, and then there's Fall,Winter, and Spring. So I should hopefully get around 700$ - 1500$. Then I could get a job when I'm 14 and I could work at subway or at bloom. Late Summer 09 is when I will try to get some parks. I know I could at least go to one.

So any tips?

[Liseberg4ever]

Can americans start working in age 14!?!

[Hercules]

^ Yes

[larrygator]

Yes, but labor laws do prohibit the number of work hours.

 

Certain jobs (such as paperboy) can be performed legally at a younger age, at least that was the case when I was a kid.

[TheStig]

I would start by just trying to go to ONE park first. I would choose SFGAd as that park as (I think) it is the closest to you. Some of those parks are pretty far away from you, and some far away from each other. Just check out SFGAd first, or BGE maybe, just to cure your fix for now. Plus, you're 13, you have a heck of a long time to go to these parks! You don't have to go to all of them in one summer, spread it out!

 

I give you a lot of credit for wanting to pay for this yourself, but you have to remember you are 13 and either one or both of your parents have to come with you. Some of these parks are pretty far away that you want to go to, and even though you might pay for it yourself, your parents still have to take time off of work, pay their way, etc. Just keep that in mind. Also, don't just assume that because your friend works somewhere you automatically have a job.

 

I wish you the best of luck with this, hopefully it works out.

[Hercules]

^^ I was working 40 hours a week when I started working 10 years ago as a busboy in the restaurant of the golf course I used to play at. That was during the summer though. I don't think there are any summer regulations. If I remember correctly, people under 16 can't work more than 8 hours a day and can't work past 10PM on school nights - 12 PM on weekends.

 

^ I agree with Colin. When I started getting into this I was a poor college kid that had high aspirations when I saw people like larrygator getting to 5 parks in a weekend, or Robb traveling around the world. The first full summer I had as an enthusiast, I hit 4 new parks, and I believe 6 overall with multiple visits to Dorney and Great Adventure, and I had a job that paid more than minimum wage. Plus you have to remember I was about 19 or 20 at the time so I was able to drive myself around. I would say just hit up a couple of parks for now - you have plenty of time to go to the other places in your lifetime. Don't get too disappointed if you aren't able to do everything on your list.

[sixflagsguy5]

Both Colin and Hercules have good points.

 

I got into the whole coaster thing when I was 9. The first step was getting my parents to get season passes for Six Flags Great America. After that I was somehow able to talk my parents into going to Six Flags St. Louis (family near there) and Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom. Besides those parks we had only done parks in popular tourist areas (Florida). When I was 12 I talked them into a roadtrip to do Cedar Point and Darien Lake.

 

If I were you I'd figure out a small trip to Six Flags Great Adventure first. Maybe find a small park near there that would be cool to try out also. Just come up with a full schedule of driving times and what times you'd be at the parks and show it to your parents. You can also give them the talk about how cool Great Adventure is to try to convince them.

 

If you can get them to do that one trip and understand your coaster obsession, then you have a much better chance of doing all of these other trips to places much farther away.

 

Good luck

[ebl]

I worked as a paperboy in 1970 at age 11. It was hard work throwing those newspapers (carved in stone, as I recall), but I did work a couple of hours a day and made some money.

 

My daughter started working last year at age 17, but, as Larry said, she could not work beyond four hours a day (here in CA, at least). Now, she's 18, has a car, graduated from high school, and can work 40+ hours depending on the job she has.

 

Good luck to you on earning money to take your trip, Matthew. Also, I agree to start off small---one park, then more from there. I admire the work ethic you have, which, unfortunately, too many don't have.

 

Eric

[Thelegendarymatthew]

larrygator: I'm just getting a job at subway or a video game store the just opened

colincoon:True I should not go over board on the parks, those are the ones I want to go to, the best luck I have is Cedar Point and Kings Island because we visit my family for about two weeks every two years. I already been to BGE.

Hercules:Yeah I won't be disappointed I relay wanna do CP,KI, and SFGAdv. We get the passes that let us go to other Cedar Fair parks.(My hometown park is Kings Dominion)

sixflagsguy5: Nah, I just need to ask my grandmother for the parks that parks that are not in Ohio. She went to Hershey, Great Escape, and BGA. To ride the rides, and I didn't even get to go to the last two when they were FAMILY VACATIONS!

EBL: I guess I could save up some trips for 2010, but I know I can at least do 3.

Well if you didn't know now, I have family in Ohio that we visit and live close to Cedar Point and Kings Island and my mom loves to see her Cousins, so two weeks in Ohio with cedar fair passes and somewhere to stay that is not a hotel.I know I really wanna go to SFGAdv and that's a tough one to convince because theirs nothing over there that I know of that would be unique or cool. I had to watch the kid today. I got pudding on nice shoes.

[YoshiFan]

^^ I was working 40 hours a week when I started working 10 years ago as a busboy in the restaurant of the golf course I used to play at. That was during the summer though. I don't think there are any summer regulations. If I remember correctly, people under 16 can't work more than 8 hours a day and can't work past 10PM on school nights - 12 PM on weekends.

 

If you are 14 or 15, you can't work past 7:00 p.m. on school nights and can't work more than 18 hours during the week in the school year. I'm not sure if that is national or just applies to our area.