Eye opener...

[lenshanem]

Experiences like this make me glad we own DVC and get to go to WDW more often -

DD, 6 got a free Six Flags ticket for completing a reading log last school year. I promised her we would go once she completed part of a summer workbook, too. Even though we're back to WDW in less then a couple weeks I thought our time was running out before school starts again so off we went today...

OK, so I had a buy one, get one free adult ticket and had to buy an extra child ticket. So even with the two free tickets we are up to around $70 for the four of us. Then $10 to park, $35 for lunch, etc. $115 we spent on FIVE hours at this place!

Here's the eye opener -
We go to WDW pretty often and like many have saw some things slip some here and there, but WOW! At least WDW has air conditioning! It was so hot and nothing was in air conditioning! Couldn't even find a place to eat in the shade for lunch. UGH! The bathrooms were like saunas. YUCK! They have been advertising new family rides opening this summer, but one of them still isn't open. And I asked FIVE employees where a certain ride was and NONE of them could tell me! AMAZING!
Dark boat ride looked like it hadn't been taken care of since I first rode it back in middle school, I could go on. We did EVERYTHING we could possibly do with a child 3 and 6 and were done with time to spare in less then five hours. I would have been pretty upset if I had paid full price.

They have something like FastPass, but you have to pay. I checked it out - $50 for a family of four! Are they kidding?!?

We won't be back there until our girls are old enough and want to ride all those intense roller coasters. That is about all they have. My youngest was so excited about riding a roller coaster, but even for their little one she was way too short. A big disappointment for her brave soul who went on BTMR last month!

I love WDW and my DVC.

 

[Goofyzgurl]

2-3 years ago we went up to Six Flags in ATL for our anniversary. Just something fun to do. Anyways, it was so hot, I mean HOT. Then we stood in line to ride some little roller coaster. As I was standing in line sweltering, I looked up and there were all kinds of webs and bugs hanging above my head. Okay, I'm not sqeamish-much-but it was the EWWWww factor. Then we walked around and got in line for the Batman ride. Gawd, who thought of the idea of putting people in a steel building as part of the "experience" with pratically no air holes, and I could have sworn there was no a/c in there. If there was I wasn't feeling it. Stood in line, in a steel building, for about 45-90 minutes just to get on a ride of about what 30 seconds?!!! I got hungry and thirsty, but standing in line for some food, I could smell puke. The trash cans were right next to the food carts. I get the idea of having trash cans so no trash on the ground, but it does get to smelly too if you don't empty it!!! I just couldn't get past the pukey smell all over the place either. We left after 2 rides in 3 hours. I told dh no more, it's either DW or Universal for us and we haven't been back to Six Flags since. Sorry, I've had to vent since we went there.

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

Slightly off topic but I hate it when schools or organizations allow giveaways to kids who do something good that will cause them to have to go home and get mom and/or dad to spend lots of money so they can take advantage of what they earned for "free".

I will now step down from my soap box. Thank you for listening.

HBC

 

[lenshanem]

Ya, that wasn't exactly free was it? Six hours of reading, too and she was in Kindergarten. Do you know how many early reading books that was?
We had to go cause she was so proud of that ticket and to be honest I put it off as long as I could.
I set her goal easier for the second half of her summer workbook - Chuck E Cheese!

 

[gritzel4]

Happy Birthday Cat: Slightly off topic but I hate it when schools or organizations allow giveaways to kids who do something good that will cause them to have to go home and get mom and/or dad to spend lots of money so they can take advantage of what they earned for "free".


ITA

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

Originally posted by lenshanem
Ya, that wasn't exactly free was it? Six hours of reading, too and she was in Kindergarten. Do you know how many early reading books that was?
We had to go cause she was so proud of that ticket and to be honest I put it off as long as I could.
I set her goal easier for the second half of her summer workbook - Chuck E Cheese!

I totally understand why you had to go. My issue isn't with parents who have to deal with this. My issue is with organizations who allow it. They really think they are doing something nice for kids when in truth they are falling prey to the marketing department at 6 Flags or the circus or the local hockey team.

But back to DVC. I agree that the things you describe makes you appreciate DVC and WDW more and more doesn't it?

HBC

 

[lenshanem]

Yes, TOTALLY a marketing ploy. How much extra money did they get? ALOT, cause we wouldn't have gone otherwise. I understood exactly what you meant HBC, I apologize if you took me wrong.

And going to Six Flags will probably make me appreciate WDW a whole lot more next week. And if we didn't have DVC I also probably wouldn't have been going to WDW twice this summer!

 

[ILPHIL]

We live 20 minutes from Six Flags Great America and I have gone once in about5 yrs. It aggravates my brother, (he has worked there for yrs) that I won't go there even if he offers me a free ticket but will drive 24 hrs to go to WDW every year.

There is just no comparison...

When my dtr was younger and got the free tickets for her reading we would get the freebies from my brother for us and get in & out of there spending as little as possible.

I agree that the schools are being used to the marketing department under the guise of promoting reading. We were lucky not having to buy our tickets and it still aggravated me.

Give me WDW any day.

 

[tjkraz]

Originally posted by lenshanem
OK, so I had a buy one, get one free adult ticket and had to buy an extra child ticket. So even with the two free tickets we are up to around $70 for the four of us. Then $10 to park, $35 for lunch, etc. $115 we spent on FIVE hours at this place!

I know the feeling. We took our son to Cedar Point in Sandusky, OH last Fall. We spent every bit of $150 on tickets, parking, lunch, snacks, and were in the park for no more than 6 hours ourselves.

I have to laugh every time I read one of those "does WDW cost too much" threads. Where are these people vacationing that don't realize Disney is no worse than Universal, Six Flags or even your local Major League baseball team (I'll save that rant for another day!)

 

[lenshanem]

or even your local Major League baseball team

This is the truth! I don't know how many families can even afford to go sit in even the cheap seats! My FIL is a season ticket holder to the Braves. Good seats, but last time we went by the time we paid for parking, bought drinks, hot dogs, etc. we were way over $50 and that is for two adults and two small kids! Gosh, if we had to buy tickets... And the fact is we had to leave early cause the girls got bored.

 

[tjkraz]

OK, you talked me into it.

Our last game was a trip to Detroit last month to see (of all teams) the Braves play an Interleague game. Took our son and a couple of friends bought tickets as well. 5 seats at about $35 a pop.

Weather wasn't looking too good. Sure enough, I'm off getting dinner for everyone in the 2nd inning and the skies open up. We wait it out for an hour. It's still raining steadily, and the reality is, even if the rain were to stop, they'd need time to get the field ready for play again. With a 3 year old in tow (who actually was a real trooper through all of this), we knew we had few options.

About 8:45 we threw in the towel and headed for home.

Rather than call the game and play a double-header after the next day's 1pm game, they had a 3 hour rain delay and started play again around 10:45pm. Since they finished the game, we had no recourse with regard to our tickets.

So, for our $200+, we got two innings of baseball, a few refreshments, and the joy of driving an hour each way.

Guess you can't fight Mother Nature.

Now back to our regularly scheduled thread...

 

[Figment22]

Originally posted by lenshanem
This is the truth! I don't know how many families can even afford to go sit in even the cheap seats! My FIL is a season ticket holder to the Braves. Good seats, but last time we went by the time we paid for parking, bought drinks, hot dogs, etc. we were way over $50 and that is for two adults and two small kids! Gosh, if we had to buy tickets... And the fact is we had to leave early cause the girls got bored.

Actually, the Braves have some GREAT deals for families. We went to a Braves game last season and took advantage of their Grand Slam Ticket Pack. You get:

4 Tickets
4 Hot Dogs
4 Cokes
4 Braves Bucket Caps
1 Program
1 Parking Pass

At a cost of: $49.00 (Upper Box)
$69.00 (Field Pavillion)
$89.00 (Lexus Pavillion)

We went for the $89 package and had a FABULOUS time in the Lexus Pavillion seats. That's the luxury box level and the amenities on that level are just amazing, but you can't even get onto that level if you don't have a Lexus Level ticket. We had a great time.

Additionally, at Turner Field, they have Skyline seats available for $1.00! Admittedly, these are the worst seats in the house but once you're in the stadium, you could just hang out at the Chophouse which overlooks the outfield. You can't beat seeing a Major League Baseball game for $1.00 regardless of the location!

I was just delighted with these prices. I was used to Yankee Stadium prices; no real bargains there. As much as I love my Yankees, prices at the Stadium have become too prohibitive for many families.

 

[Disney50]

My son recieved the same "free" coupon. Knowing that the experience was going to be Lenshamen described, I told him instead we would go to WDW in for Christmas. Not one iota of a argument.

(I don't think I have ever smelled puke while at Disney.)

 

[rocketriter]

It's worth mentioning that some of the Six Flags coasters are way too rough for little ones. My 8-year-old did fine on Mission Space ("Let's do it again!") and Rock and Roll, but we had to take her home after one round on the Viper--which also left me dizzy for an hour.