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The Parking Thread


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Your palms start getting clammy, your adrenaline is pumping from seeing the towering rides in the distance, you're so ready to get out of the car and get onto those rides. You're now taking the exit to the park, almost there. And before you know it, BOOM! "Welcome to your destination, now pay us $20 before you pay the $45 to get in." Then your stomach drops and the adrenaline is gone because you they only accept cash and you have none. Lets all try and avoid this...

 

What are some parks charging now to park? Some websites don't even post a parking price! What's the most you've had to pay?

 

If you post it here, I'll update this first post to have a list of that dreaded fee.

 

Alabama Adventure - $8

Beech Bend - FREE!

Busch Gardens Tampa - $13

Busch Gardens Williamsburg - $12 Reg. $18 Premium.

California's Great America - $12 Reg. $15 Premium.

Canada's Wonderland - $10

Canobie Lake - FREE!

Cedar Point - $10

Cliff's Amusement Park - FREE!

Disneyland Resort - $15

Dollywood - $8

Dorney Park - $12

Dutch Wonderland - FREE!

Hersheypark - $10

Holiday World - FREE!

Indiana Beach - FREE!

Kemah Boardwalk - FREE!

Kennywood - FREE!

Kings Dominion - $10

Kings Island - $10 Reg. $15 Premium.

Knoebels - FREE!

Knotts Berry Farm - $12

La Ronde - $15 Reg. $25 Premium. $20 Fireworks View

Lake Compounce - $7

Lake Winnie - FREE!

Lakeside Amusement Park - FREE!

Michigan's Adventure - $8

Mount Olympus - $5

Nickelodeon Universe - FREE!

Quassy - $5 weekdays/$6 weekends

Rye Playland - $5 weekdays/$7 weekends

SeaBreeze - FREE!

Silver Dollar City - FREE!

Silverwood - $4

Six Flags America - $15

Six Flags Discovery Kingdom - $15

Six Flags Fiesta Texas - $15

Six Flags Great Adventure - $15 Reg. $25 Premium.

Six Flags Great America - $20

Six Flags Magic Mountain - $15

Six Flags New England - $15 Reg. $25 Premium

Six Flags Over Georgia - $15 Reg. $20 Premium

Six Flags Over Texas - $15 Reg. $20 Premium. $30 Valet.

Six Flags St. Louis - $15 Reg. $20 Premium

Storybook Land - FREE!

Universal Studios: Orlando - $15 Reg. $20 Premium

Valleyfair - $10

Waldameer - FREE!

Walt Disney World - $14

Wild Adventures - $10

Edited by Twister II
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I understand why parks charge parking fees, but I don't understand why they are priced so high. To me, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth before I even enter the park.

 

If they are going to charge me $15 to park my car, at least throw in a wash and wax.

 

One thing is for sure, I will not be going to as many six flags parks this year because the parking fee is no longer included at other six flags parks with your season pass. It was always nice to swing by a six flags for a few hours.

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Lake compounce parking.

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^ I fully understand that Six Flags needs to make money, but that new policy is putting a damper on a lot of peoples' plans. The way I see it, if I'm going to be spending the money on air fare and rental cars, $15-$45 extra is not that much more.

 

I was going to purchase the extreme pass, but because of the parking, I will actually save more with just the thrill pass. I will probably only visit my home park (SFMM) twice this year.

 

If you want a good time without paying for parking, the following parks are a great option!

 

Waldameer: free

 

Holiday World: free

 

Kennywood: free unless you want preferred parking

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Awesome thread - I was actually thinking about where to look up parking prices today.

 

I totally understand why parks charge for parking (parking lot employees, trams, maintenance, security, etc.), but some of the prices go too far. It's funny how Disneyland can go from $12 to $15; not $13 or $14, but right to $15 (someones got to pay for the tram doors ).

 

Anyway.. less than $10 is much better.

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I think the reason that enthusiasts get so pissed is because we often travel in small groups going to parks, whereas for a family with 4-5 people, the difference per person between $5 to park and $15 to park is only ~$2.

 

Add Lake Winnie to the included-in admission list (no park REALLY has free parking), Dollywood is $8 IIRC, no additional charge with upper-level passes (much like it is at Universal Orlando, Busch parks etc)

 

Personally, I don't like the parks that include the price of parking in admission, it doesn't provide an incentive to those who could opt to use public transport.

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It's funny how Disneyland can go from $12 to $15; not $13 or $14, but right to $15 (someones got to pay for the tram doors )

Actually, the last time I was at Disneyland (September 2009), the price for parking was $14. So it's $15 now, huh? I'll just make sure to go with Diana---she has an AP with parking included.

 

This is one reason why I do get SFMM's Xtreme Pass.

 

Eric

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I understand why parks charge parking fees, but I don't understand why they are priced so high.

1. They can.

2. You gotta put it in perspective - Even the most expensive parking fees at theme parks are quite reasonable compared to most parking at a concert, sporting event, trade show, or even in a big city.

 

Cost me $25 last time I went to the Staples Center and I was only parked there a couple of hours.

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I also think Quassy Amusement Park and Rye Playland were free but I could be mistaken!

 

2011 Parking prices

Quassy $5 weekday $6 weekend

Rye Playland $5 weekday $7 weekend

both parks charge higher parking fees for Holidays

Edited by larrygator
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Personally, I don't like the parks that include the price of parking in admission, it doesn't provide an incentive to those who could opt to use public transport.

Agree with this. I always take buses/trains to theme parks in preference to driving, so why should a portion of my admission fees go into paying for "free" parking.

 

It's not just maintenance costs to be considered, parking is space intensive....the need to supply parking basically doubles the amount of land the park needs to use to operate, and worse still, the full amount of land needs to be set aside even though it probably only gets fully utilised on the handful of capacity crowd days per year.

This land has taxes associated with it, and there's a big opportunity cost associated with it. If they didn't have to provide hectares of ashphalt, they could be building more productive stuff on the land like hotels, 'citywalks', second gates etc.

 

Unfortunatley, accomodating cars takes a lot of space and money, and that cost has to be borne by someone.

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^Yep.

Unfortunately it's usually not that easy to take transit to most parks in the US. Obviously Coney Island is pretty well connected. Several large parks have some sort of shuttle operated by local transit agencies (For example here in Atlanta MARTA operates a bus from the nearest rail stop to SFoG, and I've taken the METRO bus to SFA).

I've also taken a bus to SFGadv from the Port Authority bus terminal in NYC. That worked really well and I recommend it.

 

I usually just suck it up and pay the parking, but it is annoying when you're the only person in the car.

 

Dixeland Fun Park has $5 parking.

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