an Amusement park vacation

The kids are at that in-between stage: too old for what they consider baby rides (Disneyland), but too young to appreciate things like the Getty Museum.  We decided to make this year's vacation an amusement park extravaganza :-). How can an amusement park vacation be frugal? It can, with enough planning and flexibility.

We started planning about 6 months out.  We decided that we'd rather go fewer places if it meant a choice between a hotel vs a motel.  This turned out to be an excellent decision.  We ended up with hotels for very reasonable prices anyway.

Read our notes about hotels here.   

First, we set a budget.  Paul would've preferred that it was an absolute budget, but I knew it would end up being a "guideline".  We exceeded it by about 25%.  The biggest underestimation was food. I grew up in a family that took many, many trips. We were able to do this because we usually packed our food and took it with us. For Paul, the food is part of the experience. I hadn't counted on that when we were planning :-X.

Here's how we afforded our vacation on one income:

Hotels

Holiday Inn, Portland  -- mystery shop, no charge! Even dinner was reasonable because of the Kids Eat Free policy.
Holiday Inn Express, Grants Pass -- $85.  A big $ night, but it included an extra family suite room for Grandpa, so it was worth it. For dinner, we brought in Little Caesar's pizza.  And the free breakfast was good the next a.m.
Navy Lodge, Lemoore -- only $54 total price.  No breakfast, and shopping at the Commissary was a lot more expensive than I planned.  Next time, we'll hit McD's $1 breakfast sandwiches! 
Marriott, Norwalk -- fabulous, luxurious hotel.  Excellent staff, and a superb included breakfast.  We booked the Stay For Breakfast rate, which was $10 more than the cheapest rate.  We used Bonus Bucks Pounds, so received $170 off two nights' stay.  Even adding in the $10 Internet charge (UGH) and the cost to obtain the certificate, the cost per night was just over $50.
Palm Springs area (Yucca Valley --.  Even though we had relatives in the area, because we were going to be staying for three nights, we went ahead and got a motel (yes, Elisha cried at the word. lol).  I was dreading it, but need not have.  It was lovely, poolside, and twice the size of the hotels we stayed in.  Part of this was Uncle Frank flirting with the girl at the front desk (some things never change *sigh*), and part of it was simply that they were just very nice people.  I definitely recommend the Yucca Inn if you're headed out way.  They were remodeling, so it was only $60 per night.  Very limited continental breakfast included.  Awesome service.
Marriott, Fremont --- Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. One of the least expensive hotels you'll find in Silicon Valley, but also one of the nicest. It's huge, with a grand feel on the inside. The staff was fantastic and very attentive. The included breakfast (Stay For Breakfast was $10 more) was a fine dining experience. We will ALWAYS stay at this hotel when we are in the area from now on. Our best friends live only 5 miles from it, but it was worth the $ not to impose -- especially when the breakfast was added, and the Premium Pounds were taken off.
Red Lion Inn, Medford -- We booked this through Priceline. For what we paid, I guess it's hard to complain. But having been spoiled at some of the other hotels along the way, this was pretty disappointing. The lobby and main building are very plush and nice, and they do have a business center, but their rooms looked like converted Motel 6 rooms and had outside entrances. I certainly wouldn't pay full price for a stay here, but Medford's pretty expensive anyway. Better to drive the extra 45 mins and stay in Grant's Pass.
Holiday Inn Express, Weed (Mount Shasta area) -- Extremely clean hotel. On the smaller side, no pool. Very nice staff, but the manager seemed annoyed that we were using our free rewards night. There's a good Mexican restaurant across the street, and you get 10% off if you're a hotel guest. I suspect people stay here because of the location rather than the ambience.

Amusements and Attractions

Six Flags - When you're at a Six Flags, buy the refillable soda cup. We aren't big soda drinkers, but it's an occasional treat. Refills are only a buck, and the cup is almost a quart. It's especially good since ICE and water are then free refills. When it's 110 degrees outside, you'll pay practically anything for ice. Keep the cup for your next trip. We were able to use the Magic Mountain one at both Marine World and Wild Waves.

Six Flags Magic Mountain - If you're planning to visit more than once in a year, get a season pass. For $50 each, we bought 3 season passes to Magic Mountain. They came with coupon books which offered a free friend admission. That gave us 6 tickets for $150 -- cheaper than buying individual one day passes. The only drawback is that for $50, they have to be validated at Magic Mountain. Other parks have much higher prices ($90 in Seattle). We liked Magic Mountain, but there was a big gang fight at night on the day we went. The police had things under control, but it wasn't the best feeling. Better to get the pass, then spread your visit over several daytime visits.
Six Flags Enchanted Village/Wild Waves - A great place in spring and summer. Season passes are about $90 apiece. We used a combination of our MM season passes (above) and tickets purchased for a mystery shop. Special homeschool days are $12.50. Click here to read our review.
Six Flags Marine World - Again we used our passes and tickets from mystery shopping. See http://www.volition.com/mysterylist.asp and search for amusement parks; it'll cost you ~$8 a ticket. Your fee for filling out the mystery shopping form is the difference between the admission price and the $8. 4 tickets can be used at any Six Flags. This is a great choice for the 5-15 crowd. Don't miss the dolphin show.

Legoland- If you can only make it to one amusement park, make it Legoland. It's almost worth the whole trip. Again, this can be mystery shopped (see above). There are FREE children's tickets inside the Legoland Anniversary Buckets. W*M had them just before Christmas for $15; you can probably find them at online auctions now.


We spent about $2000 for a two week vacation for six, including gas and a plane ticket so Paul would be home on time.