How do you resist buying food at Six Flags/other parks?

[crazelion]

Eat a huge breakfast and bring a empty water bottle to the parks. My kids never eat the parks becasue they are too excite about the rides. We only go for a couple hours at a time any how. We home before 7. Six Flags over Georgia is two hours away from us. Okay its hour and half the way I drive. LOL

I sneak in ceral bars in my cargo shorts for them snack on.

 

[Becc1]

We have gotten Six Flags passes for years now and we never eat in the park. We only spend a few hours at a time there so I make the kids eat a big breakfast before we leave and I throw a few juice boxes and maybe fruit snacks in the back pack to snack on while we are there. I also get the refillable cup on the first day we go, fill it up with iced tea or lemonade before we get there and get 1 or 2 refills while in the park. Our Six Flags America also is park water park so we split the days up, one day we'll do the water side, the next the dry rides.

 

[kirstenb1]

We have season passes to Busch Gardens/Water Country. We have 2 kids, and I take them once a week during the summer. I'll admit, I do buy them lunch there. There's no way I'm going back to the car in the middle of the day. However, I do pack a cooler for dinner on the way home.

 

[PatMcDuck]

We used to only buy the big pretzels, and split them, or get a whole pizza. They also used to give coupons for food with the annual passes if you bought them early.

We live in the next town over to Six Flags, but we rarely go because of the lines. When we had the APs we would try and go on the poor weather days.

 

[Bete]

With a big meal at home before you leave, maybe you should consider a shorter day if you don't want to brown bag it and go back and forth from your car (if necessary). When everyone gets hungry just leave. I assume you are nearby; so, just have shorter days. You can always have something ready in the car for everyone to eat while driving home.

You have all year to enjoy the park; so, what's so necessary about being there for long periods of time?

Many take a break at Disney World and go back to their resort and then return later in the day to park. Honestly, doing this takes a lot more time then going back and forth to your car to eat lunch and return back into Six Flags.

 

[NeverlandClub23]

We have had season passes to Busch Gardens Williamsburg every year since I was 3 (we live within 10 minutes and the passes were always our Christmas present; I'm 29 now). Most of the time we would eat an early lunch at home and my Dad (the cook in our family) would prep dinner before we left. Then we would go have a fun afternoon at the park. Sometimes we would stop at the Wendy's on the way home for a Frosty or McD's for a hot fudge sundae. We would get home about 6 p.m. and dinner would usually be something easy like burgers or hot dogs on the grill. Maybe once a year (if that) we would get a funnel cake for us (my brother, my parents, and I) to share or my brother and I would have to split an ice cream cone. We didn't complain as it was just the way it was. I guess it makes me appreciate it even more knowing my parents are debt free and have a secure financial future and I can afford my very own $4 ice cream cone now .

 

[wishesuponastar]

WOW you have an excellent idea to stop on the way home for a Frosty Sometimes my mind goes blank for ideas, thank you. This should make it real easy for my kids to understand we are not paying those prices in the park. We will go to the car to eat lunch and I will also have frozen iced tea and water in the car too so we are good to go

 

[design_mom]

We have had season passes to Busch Gardens Williamsburg every year since I was 3 (we live within 10 minutes and the passes were always our Christmas present; I'm 29 now). Most of the time we would eat an early lunch at home and my Dad (the cook in our family) would prep dinner before we left. Then we would go have a fun afternoon at the park. Sometimes we would stop at the Wendy's on the way home for a Frosty or McD's for a hot fudge sundae. We would get home about 6 p.m. and dinner would usually be something easy like burgers or hot dogs on the grill. Maybe once a year (if that) we would get a funnel cake for us (my brother, my parents, and I) to share or my brother and I would have to split an ice cream cone. We didn't complain as it was just the way it was. I guess it makes me appreciate it even more knowing my parents are debt free and have a secure financial future and I can afford my very own $4 ice cream cone now .

I think I was in college before I ate "park food" anywhere besides WDW. We always went back to the car for a cooler meal. We usually got one funnel cake or snack for the whole family to share as our treat for the day (my mother loves funnel cakes!). I agree with the previous poster that it was our family's habit, and I never really thought to question it. The first few times might be rough if your family is used to grabbing something at the park, but after your family gets into a new habit, I bet things will be fine.

I once told my mom "We used to take the best vacations." She replied, "No. We took *cheap* vacations." But my sister and I thought they were great.

 

[wishesuponastar]

Nice memories

 

[SoonerSarah]

We usually go to Six Flags once a year, we get discount tickets, I think last year it was $25 for us. DH is a Youth Minister so we take a big group and will usually eat one meal out of a cooler, we pack everything to make sandwiches, some apples and chips and then drinks. DH and I buy the refillable mug and we share it within our family, so that really makes it cheap. You can also ask for no ice, we usually drink the one mug fairly quickly, or we will find a vendor that will give us a cup of ice.

 

[lunalibre]

We've had season passes to our local Six Flags (Six Flags Over Texas) for several years. Their standard food is not good and insanely overpriced. DH has digestive issues and truly can't eat most of the food at the park. Our kids understand that we're always going to pack a cooler and eat that for either lunch or dinner. If we eat lunch at the park, we eat at a really good nearby Mexican restaurant for dinner before heading home. It's at least half the cost of what it would take to eat in the park.

Even by the time we include a dinner out and gas, we can still go to Six Flags for a day for not much more than it would cost to go to a movie.

WRT kids asking for food at the parks, explain to the kids beforehand that you're just not going to do that. You're there to ride the rides, not to eat. We may split a pretzel sometimes (and even those are dry and crumbly, ugh), but in general we don't buy things at the park. Just getting to go is the treat.

 

[Mom_Rides]

Two years ago for Christmas, my MIL got us season passes to Cedar Point. Our first trip of the year, we got lunch for everyone at the park. It cost us around $100. Right then and there, DH and I said that we couldn't afford to do that everytime we went to the park or that would have been our only trip there for the summer at that cost. We sat the kids down before our next visit and explained that if they wanted to go to the park that we would need to park our lunch and/or dinner to take with us. The kids were A-OK with it!

So from that trip on, we packed a picnic. I invested in a nice picnic tablecloth and clips, we got a new cooler and Bubba Keg thermos. We packed lunch meats and cheeses, different rolls, buns and breads to keep it interesting. We'd do chips, pretzels, pasta salad, fruits, veggies, fruit snacks, Cheez-Its, string cheese, frozen yogurt tubes, etc for our sides. I'd do lemonaide or Kool-Aid in the thermos. Cedar Point has picnic areas on both sides of the enterences and we always found that if we drove up to drop our things on a table, there were always parking spots open right there!

During the rest of our trips, we allowed everyone one snack per trip but the snack couldn't be more then $5 per person and if they wanted pop, that was their snack. Most of the time, I would share a snack with DD so our total OOP for the day was gas + $20-$25 for snacks. MIL bought us season passes again this year and we plan on doing the same thing. DH got a little charcoal grill on clearance that we are going to try out to see if we can do hot dogs or brats on this year.

 

[littlezar]

We have season passes for Busch Gardens and live about an hour away. We buy the refillable drink bottle & popcorn bucket and then get refills for 99 cents all season. The only time we eat in the park is if family or friends are visiting and want to do a full day, open to close. Most of the time we go at opening and leave between 2 and 3 and eat when we get home. Usually it's so hot that nobody's really hungry anyway. I keep a cooler with water bottles in the car and if anybody wants a snack for the ride home, they're responsible for bringing it.

 

[LBIJim]

How do I resist buying food at Six Flags? Easy. The food is inedible and way overpriced.

Bring a cooler with you and return to your car for meals. Yeah, it's a hassle, but so are the food lines at Six Flags that are glacially slow.

Jim

 

[Yoshi]

I have bought meals at Six Flags twice in the past 3 seasons (47 trips total so not that often), paying $6.50 for a slice of pizza, $10.99 for a burger and fries isn't happening. I rarely stay for more than 4 - 5 hours (I try to pick slower days so I can get a lot of rides in without waiting much), so I either eat before I go to the park or right after. I usually go to WaWa (NJ) and spend around $6 on a hoagie, chips and a soda. In the park that same meal would be around $15!

If the food prices were more reasonable, like $10 total for a burger, fries and a soda, I'd be willing to eat in the park.

 

[LBIJim]

Most of the rides were either too little or too big. Some rides were removed & replaced by "pay to play" activities, like bungee jumps, and go-karts. The games used to be confined to one area of the park, and they are now everywhere, with the people running them on microphones trying to lure you in. I thought the whole point of a pay one price admission park was that you could ride anything all day long....not at SF Great Adventure!

I left there thoroughly frustrated & with a massive headache! And to get back to the OP's topic of food...We each had 1 hot dog (Nathans) & shared an order of fries for lunch, with 2 refillable sodas......$60.00 for a crappy lunch, and that was after the "Discover Card" discount.

Never again! SF may be only 30 minutes away, but I'll save my $$$$$ for Disney instead.

Great Adventure is pretty much roller coasters and kiddie rides these days. Not much in between. I go for the coasters. And yes, there are many games and up-charge attractions. Around 10 years ago they had many more rides, but a lot of them were sitting idle. Yet EVERY game and up-charge was staffed.

The service and atmosphere has improved greatly since then. But they still continue to remove rides. Or place tall potted shrubs in front of them and pretend they don't exist.

I usually only go for 3 or 4 hours at a time, so food isn't an issue.

The coaster selection outweighs the negatives for me, however. They have some awesome ones.

Jim

 

[Yoshi]

Agreed, 34 rides removed or closed but not operating in the past 10 years! (I added them up last year when it was being discussed on a coaster site). Tango is reopening this year but the past management removed way too many rides.

I sometimes want to take a break from riding coasters and usually have trouble finding other stuff I want to ride.

 

[LBIJim]

Agreed, 34 rides removed or closed but not operating in the past 10 years! (I added them up last year when it was being discussed on a coaster site). Tango is reopening this year but the past management removed way too many rides.

I sometimes want to take a break from riding coasters and usually have trouble finding other stuff I want to ride.

Wow....has it been THAT many rides removed? I would have guessed maybe 20.

Yeah, sometimes I need a break from the coasters too. I might go to Houdini's Escape (if it's open) or the Ferris Wheel or perhaps see a show. Nothing else really appeals to me anymore.

One night last October Fright Fest was so crowded I didn't get on ANY rides. Even Skull Mountain has it's line OUTSIDE the mountain.

Jim

 

[Yoshi]

I decided to add up the rides again, I was wrong it is 36 rides removed/closed since 2000/2001.

1. Autobahn
2. Music Express
3. Flying Wave
4. Chiller
5. Movietown Water Effect
6. Viper
7. Stagecoach (kiddie)
8. Michigan J. Frog's Fun Flotilla (kiddie)
9. Yosemite Sam Flight School (kiddie)
10. Stuntman's Freefall
11. Hydro Flume (2nd log flume)
12. Monkey Around (kiddie)
13. Jungleland Express (kiddie)
14. Royal Elephants (kiddie)
15. Pirate's Flight
16. Evolution
17. Simulator Theater
18. Eruption
19. Pendelum
20. Daffy's Duccaneer (kiddie)
21. Chaos
22. Time Warp
23. Spinnaker
24. Rodeo Stampede
25. Jumpin Jack Flash
26. Taz Twister
27. Wile E. Coyote Speed Trap (kiddie)
28. Hand Crank Cars (kiddie)
29. Koala Canyon (kids water play area)
30. Bugs Bunny Barnstormers (kiddie)
31. Bugs Bunny Great Western Railroad (kiddie)
32. Space Chase Ferris Wheel (kiddie)
33. Daffy Duck's Motorcade (kiddie)
34. Road Runner's Beep Beep Buggies (kiddie)
35. Pepe Le Pew's Pleasure Cruise (kiddie)
36. Great American Scream Machine

Houdini will be open all season

I avoid Frightfest except for Friday nights, those usually aren't that crowded except this year there is no Friday night opening the first weekend (which is always the emptiest) and they open at 5:30 instead of 5:00. I read last year a couple of Frightfest Saturday's, the main lot was full, the overflow lot was full and they had the Hurricane Harbor lot full and people were parking on the grass.

 

[indimom]

Two years ago for Christmas, my MIL got us season passes to Cedar Point. Our first trip of the year, we got lunch for everyone at the park. It cost us around $100. Right then and there, DH and I said that we couldn't afford to do that everytime we went to the park or that would have been our only trip there for the summer at that cost. We sat the kids down before our next visit and explained that if they wanted to go to the park that we would need to park our lunch and/or dinner to take with us. The kids were A-OK with it!

So from that trip on, we packed a picnic. I invested in a nice picnic tablecloth and clips, we got a new cooler and Bubba Keg thermos. We packed lunch meats and cheeses, different rolls, buns and breads to keep it interesting. We'd do chips, pretzels, pasta salad, fruits, veggies, fruit snacks, Cheez-Its, string cheese, frozen yogurt tubes, etc for our sides. I'd do lemonaide or Kool-Aid in the thermos. Cedar Point has picnic areas on both sides of the enterences and we always found that if we drove up to drop our things on a table, there were always parking spots open right there!

During the rest of our trips, we allowed everyone one snack per trip but the snack couldn't be more then $5 per person and if they wanted pop, that was their snack. Most of the time, I would share a snack with DD so our total OOP for the day was gas + $20-$25 for snacks. MIL bought us season passes again this year and we plan on doing the same thing. DH got a little charcoal grill on clearance that we are going to try out to see if we can do hot dogs or brats on this year.

We do the same thing when we go to Kings Island. Make sure the picnic lunch is full of foods you enjoy or don't get to have often (like cold fried chicken. Oh so bad, but of so YUM) and it doesn't seem like a bad thing to leave the park for lunch.