How to save money and time in amusement parks

Фото: Depositphotos

Popular amusement parks are always crowded with people and are quite expensive. On how to avoid crowds of visitors, as well as opportunities to save without sacrificing the quality of rest told employees of amusement parks in the US.

1. The best way to avoid a long line is to arrive an hour before opening

Come to the park an hour before the opening, get inside at the time of opening and ride first on the most popular roller coaster. At Disney's Magic Kingdom, every minute after opening will mean two extra minutes in line for you.

2. Come in bad weather

Many people cancel park visits on rainy days, so bad weather means there won't be any queues.

3. To shorten the waiting time, stand in line for a single-seat ride

Most large parks have such slides (although they are not always informed about this), so if you don’t mind sitting with a friend or child, your waiting in line will be one third of the usual, that is, 15-20 minutes instead of an hour. And you and your friends will still spend time together in a queue and get off the attraction with a gap of a few minutes.

4. Do not exclude the months of "high season": they are not as bad as they seem

Contrary to popular belief, wait times are not necessarily shorter at the beginning or end of the "high season" at amusement parks. The lines do tend to be longer in the summer, but this is when the most staff work and the fully staffed attractions operate at their most efficient. It is best to come on weekdays at the beginning of summer, when university students are already working and schoolchildren are still studying.

5. Working days are always better than weekends, and the worst time is school holidays.

If you are going to Disney Park or Universal, check the attendance calendar on the site. touringplans.com. If you are already in the park, then ride the popular roller coaster during parades or fireworks, go for lunch earlier or later than lunchtime and take a pause after lunch, when the crowds are the biggest. In the evening, you can once again return to the park.

6. Never in your life buy a ticket at the entrance, only in advance

Almost every amusement park offers discounts when purchasing tickets online.

7. Plan your vacation strategically

You can reduce the cost of living in the hotel, changing the dates of rest just a few days. Each park has its own seasonality, which roughly corresponds to the schedules and holidays in educational institutions. Usually tickets are more expensive when schools and colleges go on vacation. As a rule, the season ends around the first or second week of August. So if you can move your five-day summer trip from the beginning of August to the middle or the end of the month, you will save hundreds of dollars.

8. Want to try to win a plush toy in the game? First check the price!

First, see how other visitors play until you see that they are winning. And remember - prizes of very low quality. From a financial point of view, it is better to save money and buy a stuffed toy in the store. Here are some more tips how to win in these games.

9. Do not be seduced by expensive hotel rooms: expensive does not always mean better

Expensive rooms in Disney hotels are not always better than cheap ones. They are a few minutes closer to restaurants and buses, but many of them overlook the swimming pools, from where the cries of splashing children last until late. Here you can find out more secrets from hotel administrators.

10. Paying for an express ticket costs only at the height of the season.

In most parks, prices vary with demand. The lower the price, the greater the likelihood that you will not need an express ticket. But if you are going to have fun on Independence Day or during spring break and do not want to spend two or three hours in a queue, buy such a ticket.

11. Slides safety data is incomplete

This is because no federal agency is engaged in data collection or the introduction of standards. The 2013 study of the year showed that from 1990 to 2010 years more than 93 000 children were hospitalized with injuries in amusement parks (more than 20 children per day during the summer months).

12. Darkness does not mean privacy

Each centimeter of each slide is monitored by security cameras, including infrared, operating in the dark. If you decide to have fun with your loved one, it’s not just that the employee at the control tower sees it - he will also call for his colleagues to look at you.

13. In long shifts, the parks have fun playing “guest lotto”

To win, you need to find a specific type of visitors: a family dressed alike, a man in a cowboy hat, or someone in a bathing suit, in which it is impossible to be.

14. Slides are closed for the most unexpected reasons: for example, because of a spider

Of course, in most cases, the slides are closed during a security check or during stormy weather, but sometimes it happens that a large insect falls on the sensors of attractions, which is why the attraction can stop.

15. Costume characters are very hot, so respect them.

Inside each costume, the cartoon character is a real sauna, so the characters are in the park for a limited period of time. When the curators tell them to leave, please do not ask for another photo with little Johnny. This is a safety issue.

16. Stuck on the rails? Most likely, this is a frightened child: because of them the rides stop

Park employees cannot run a train if there is a screaming child in it because of the risk that he will try to jump out at the last moment.

17. Visitors are lured through music: it changes throughout the day.

In the morning, when visitors want to take you as far as possible to the park, the staff includes fast marching music. Toward the end of the day - waltzes, so that visitors linger longer and buy something before leaving. By the way, the stores do the same. force buyers to spend more money through music.

18. Take a picture of your parked car before entering the park, so as not to forget the parking place

You have no idea how much time parks staff spend on helping guests find their vehicles.

19. After the departure of people about a hundred stray cats are hosted in Disneyland

They are fed, vaccinated and sterilized there, because they have an important task: to help control the rodent population. This does not apply to Mickey Mouse.

20. To avoid contact with the medical center, take care and drink water.

Much water. And apply sunscreen and take breaks in the shade. More people suffer from heat and sun in amusement parks than from all other causes combined.

The authors of the material talked with a former employee. Walt Disney World Robert Niles, with editor themeparkinsider.com Len Testa, and also with former and current employees of parks Cedar Point in Sandusky Ohio Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California, and Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida.

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