Mum’s tricks to save money at UK theme parks – including advance booking
The cost of living crisis means many Brits are trying to cut back on spending.
But, even when we hope to slash our budgets we all deserve to have fun – and you can try and slash the money you spend at theme parks this year.
So you and your children get to have fun without breaking the bank.
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Mum-of-two Emma Stretton, 37, is a copywriter and content creator from Manchester and describes herself as a ‘savvy saver’ who likes to show how to make your money go further.
And, she’s put together some of her top tips for getting the most out of family days out at theme parks with small children.
Blackpool Pleasure Beach is the most ride-intensive amusement park in the UK as it has the most rides per acre compared to any other park, making it a hotspot for many families, so Emma based her advice on the Northern theme park.
Play rollercoaster ‘Bingo’ & avoid queues
Queues tend to start getting longer after midday. From my experience, the rides at the back of the park tend to have fewer people in the morning as visitors go on the rides nearest to the entrance as soon as they arrive.
So start at the back of the park first and make your way forward. It can be tricky to get little ones to walk past all the rides and not go on anything as you walk to the other side of the park, so sometimes we play rollercoaster bingo to see who spots which rollercoaster first – we write down all the rides we want to see and go on during the day and cross them off as we go.
It saves time in the long run as you avoid some of the longer queues and the kids can get excited spotting all the rides they’re going to go on.
This system also applies to the most popular rides in the park, as the queue for these will build as the day goes on. Planning your route strategically can avoid getting caught in queues.
Plan your route with small children
Getting value for money isn’t just about saving money, it’s also about saving time and fitting more into the day. Planning your route around the park is a great tip to avoid dithering about and wasting valuable ride time.
We always plan ahead by using the website to check which rides our children can go on. That way we don’t waste time waiting for rides that they were too small for.
When we went to Blackpool Pleasure Beach, the kids were most excited to go to Nickelodeon Land, so we got there early to make sure we got on all of the rides.
Take advantage of photo opportunities
Kids love taking photos and theme parks are a great location for selfies and family photos. Whether it’s posing in front of your favourite rides or taking pictures together, there’s plenty of fun photo opps to be had at UK’s theme parks.
Photos really help us treasure the day we’ve spent together and kids love making scrap books of their day, which they can then show to their friends when they go back to school.
At Blackpool Pleasure Beach, there’s also a selfie trail on offer, which essentially guides you across the park to different hotspot photo opportunities so you can get the best pictures. This is great for breaking up the day as you can snap pictures in between going on rides and it helps keep the kids busy whilst you queue.
Make the most of the meet & greets
Lots of theme parks put on extra activities to keep kids entertained. At Blackpool Pleasure Beach, the theme park offers the chance for kids to meet and have their pictures taken with popular TV show characters like Chase from Paw Patrol and Wallace and Gromit.
It’s lovely seeing how excited they get posing with characters they’ve seen on TV. You just can’t buy moments like that.
Enjoy the full theme park setting
Most theme parks are set on acres of land and are pretty impressive sights on their own, so there’s always plenty of fun to be had on the sites themselves, from exploring forests to green spaces to run and play on during lunch.
At Blackpool Pleasure Beach, the park has a set of water fountains which are perfect for a hot day – the kids loved playing with these in between going on rides and it was a nice way to break up the day. Just make sure you pack a change of clothes!
Make the most of theme park staff
When you think of theme parks most people don’t think of customer service, but in my experience theme park staff are some of the best for offering extra help and enabling you to get the most out of your day.
Make sure you ask staff on the day for their advice on which are the best rides to go on and when, as they’ll have insight into how the park is running that day. Staff are often theme park enthusiasts as well, so they’ll be happy to share tips and tricks for getting the most out of the park.
Book tickets in advance
Booking tickets in advance is a lifesaver for families looking after the pennies. Blackpool Pleasure Beach charges a standard gate price of £46.00 for adults and £40.00 for children (11 years and under).
However, buying tickets ahead of time reduces admission costs and doing this 7 days or more in advance saves even more. For a family of four this can be as much as £42.00
Get a season pass and save
Blackpool Pleasure Beach offers a Platinum Club Season Pass, which allows holders to an eTicket for every day of the season, as well as all on-park events such as Late-Night Riding.
The Platinum Club Season Pass also includes a huge range of exclusive discounts, 25% off character & location photographs, discounted Hot Ice show tickets, and 10% off speedy pass, meal deals, retail, adventure golf and more!
This is a fantastic money-saver for families planning to visit the park more than once a year! We only live an hour away and our kids are desperate to come back and see the lights and fireworks in the evening so a pass just makes sense.
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