Jump to content
  TPR Home | Parks | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | Instagram 

How do you afford your pilgrimages?


erinys

Recommended Posts

I'm sorry if this is a duplicate - I only reviewed the searches back a couple months since there were so many matches for "cost" or "afford." Please point me in the right direction if I'm annoyingly duplicating.

 

Visiting theme parks is not a cheap proposition (oh, and you need not respond if you accept other propositions to finance your ventures). With admission and travel costs my budget is tight just sticking to parks within a 3 hour drive (mid-Atlantic).

 

Do you sacrifice, is it a comfortable expense, or not even a consideration? With the assistance of my long-suffering husband, a little plastic (I was unemployed until recently), and a regular hunt for cheap admissions, we get by but cut back a little in other areas. How do you do it?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 9
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

I have pretty much the same answer as Elissa...

 

I don't use high speed internet because since my mom has a high speed account with AOL, she gets a dialup account free (which I use).

 

I watch about an hour and a half to two hours of TV a day (a little more on weekends) so I don't pay for expensive cable. I just watch over the air TV.

 

I split costs where I can, especially driving and hotel costs...usually this is split with my mom!

 

I work for a hotel, so I use almost exclusively hotels in that chain when I travel so I can get a hefty discount (this doesn't apply to everyone, I know)

 

Always use coupons...always always always. I probably haven't paid full price for a one day theme park admission in 10 years.

 

When I travel, I don't generally eat in full service restaurants so I can save money (the big exception to this is WDW, where the food is so good that I specificaly budget in lots of full service meals). I especially don't frequent places like Chili's, Olive Garden, Steak and Shake...places I have at home, and can eat in any time I want.

 

And I always keep my eyes open for ways to save for the future. When I came back from Spain, my flight from Philly to Nashville was oversold by one, so I volunteered to be bumped to a flight two hours later. They did ultimately bump me, so I got a free round trip ticket anywhere US Airways flies! For my trip to California in the fall, that two hours of inconvenience saved me $450!!!

 

-Julie

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In more detail:

I always travel with a friend, who's as budget-challenged as I am. We have SF passes, and lean towards those for a fix when money is tight. We Priceine'd a room for $35 for SFGAdv's opening weekend. Hershey & Dorney we've done on coupons or cheap pre-season tickets. We like flats and spend time in a park doing them making our days longer, requiring food & drink. We also make quick trips to the beaches for rides (mostly flats, pay-per-ride). We don't buy many souvenirs, never play games, and have yet to have a sit-down meal in a park. We can't call the cable company for fear they'll figure out we're getting the full 60 standard channels rather than the 20 we ordered & pay for. I guess we do buy prepared food too often, but pizza, Subway, & McDonald's usually. I take OTC Pepcid rather than pricey acid reflux prescriptions now, and switched a long acting prescription to a 3 times a day generic to save cash.

 

I'm dying to get to Busch Gardens Williamsburg, but the 4.5 hour drive seems to require a room. I really want to find the cheapest way possible to do that.

 

Perhaps the difficulty is my husband has different hobbies - NYC & baseball, neither cheap. Other than his lack of coaster enthusiasm he's perfect, so not trading him in. He would murder me if I turned off the DSL, and won't let me disconnect the home telephone.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use https://themeparkreview.com/forum/topic/116-terms-of-service-please-read/