How often do you visit a theme park?

[tom1944]

Not at all. One year my family did 11 different parks across the country. Last year we did 5 different parks.
Next summer planning on doing a week of the Pennsylvania parks.

Hershey and Great Wolf Lodge. I almost forgot Sesame place

What are the others?

 

[Jrb1979]

Hershey and Great Wolf Lodge. I almost forgot Sesame place

What are the others?

Knoebels, Kennywood, Waldameer and Dorney Park.

 

[tom1944]

Knoebels, Kennywood, Waldameer and Dorney Park.

Do you have a favorite? We are looking for small trips that will include a day or two at an amusement park.

 

[Jrb1979]

Do you have a favorite? We are looking for small trips that will include a day or two at an amusement park.

Knoebels and Kennywood are the 2. Very old charming parks.

 

[Pyxie]

I go about once a year, but they aren't always long trips. As a TA, I get discounted rooms and tickets each year so I will pop down for a couple days and utilize that. We do a longer family trip maybe every 2-3 years.

 

[drenalin'junkie]

2 hours away. We go to Orlando once or twice a month, mostly to SW or UO/IOA.
Disney has become a real pain to enjoy and offers far less value to APs and FL residents than the other parks.
Probably 30 to 40 days a year in parks, possibly a week of that in Disney.
Disney still holds an edge on food but the other parks rides just blow Disney out of the water and We've ridden every ride in FL multiple times.

 

[sheilafri]

When we have an AP, it is always the cheapest one, now the Pixie. We live in Florida, so if we are planning any WDW park visits, we will buy an AP.

We will take a 5-park day trip at the start of buying the pass and a 5-park day trip at the end. We will usually do a day or two in the middle of our pass ownership.

This year, we didn't buy a pass, but went to Disneyland and California Adventure for 2 days. I experienced the pain of being a non-resident and paying full freight for tickets!

We also have bought Universal APs in the past as well, using the same strategy of getting two vacations out of one AP. We have not had Disney and Universal passes at the same time.

Over the past 20 years, we probably have had 7 Disney APs and 2 Universal AP.

All this probably works out to about 6 days a year in a theme park. Some years more, some less.

We are lucky to live in Florida and get resident discounts. We can drive to Orlando. We can rent or stay in timeshares. We don't need to eat all our meals onsite. Having an AP takes so much pressure off "having to do it all."

The cost of a theme park vacation for us is much less than for some families, but still not inexpensive.

I’m with you. I am a seasonal FL resident and love the Pixie Pass. I like to drive in and go to a park on Monday pm and stay until Friday when I drive home after a morning in the park (usually AK).

 

[supercarrie]

We are about 10 mins from DL so go there at least twice a month, often more than that.

WDW is once a year for now, although I would love to bump that up to one short trip of 5 days and a longer trip of 8-10 each year. We have begun to pepper in Aulani instead of WDW occasionally as well. When do WDW, we will typically include at least one Universal day as well.

For Universal Studios Hollywood, we go about once a year. Knott’s Berry Farm, 4-5x a year or more, SeaWorld San Diego, 2x a year or so. We used to frequent LEGOLAND but my son is aging out of it.

We are fortunate to have so many wonderful theme parks near to us in SoCal.

Longer term, we plan to begin peppering in the non US based Disney parks along with US non-Disney parks just to experience them.

 

[jimim]

We are a 25-30 day a year family. I don’t know going forward with high school for my daughter and tennis. And then soon after her my son with high school and golf.

 

[frenchfryseagull]

HersheyPark is my favorite, we usually make it out maybe every other year. We do Morey's Piers (in Wildwood NJ) every year. We went to Knoebels for the first time ever this year, it's very charming. There is no entrance fee, you buy tickets for rides, which makes it very budget friendly

 

[_19disnA]

While I believe Disney is the one who coined the term 'theme park', I assume the OP is asking about 'amusement parks' in general based on the various comments. I think it partly depends on the age of your family and where you live. There are many local amusement parks that can be just a short drive away and with younger children can spend a day (or even part of a day) and still be home for dinner. Many offer reasonable annual passes, so if you are only there for a couple of hours can still be worth it. We never went that often to Disneyworld since it was originally only MK and regardless of what you called it, was too far to travel for just one 'amusement' park and the rides/shows don't change that often. Many apparently like doing the same things over and over, but that never appealed to us. Now with 4 parks there are more things to see and do.

 

[marmentrout85]

Out of state passholders for both Disney and Universal as well. We spend around 20 days at both Disney and Universal each year during 2-3 trips. Also typically will get an Annual Pass at Cedar Point as we live in SE Michigan. In 2022 I spent 45 day in parks (which I'll likely never touch again) but it sounds like you're about right on track with 14 days over 2 trips.

 

[Jrb1979]

While I believe Disney is the one who coined the term 'theme park', I assume the OP is asking about 'amusement parks' in general based on the various comments. I think it partly depends on the age of your family and where you live. There are many local amusement parks that can be just a short drive away and with younger children can spend a day (or even part of a day) and still be home for dinner. Many offer reasonable annual passes, so if you are only there for a couple of hours can still be worth it. We never went that often to Disneyworld since it was originally only MK and regardless of what you called it, was too far to travel for just one 'amusement' park and the rides/shows don't change that often. Many apparently like doing the same things over and over, but that never appealed to us. Now with 4 parks there are more things to see and do.

That's opposite of our family. Our travel for the most part is based on amusement/theme parks in the area we are going to.

This week we are visiting Myrtle Beach. We only chose it cause it gives us a chance to visit Carowinds. A park we've never been to. It's also included with our Cedar Fair season pass.

 

[ofcabbagesandkings]

We started going to theme parks when my eldest was 3. Our trend has usually been a visit every 2 years, alternating between either a long weekend in October or 5 day trips in December. There have been a few extras sprinkled in - like a special trip we made to see the very last Osborne holiday lights, or now we're tagging along last minute to my DH's business trip in December after just doing a 1-day park trip last week. But I really like to travel to other places too, especially now that the kids can handle international trips. Vacation days are limited, and theme parks can be exhausting. I wouldn't want to go to WDW or Universal for every holiday.

 

[SleeplessInTO]

We usually visit every 2 months or so, for a long weekend. Longer visits (2 weeks) for Christmas and March break.

We have the Incredipass, live in Canada.

But slowly starting to try other places. Last March break we went to Aulani and Disneyland California. (I know, I know, it’s not exactly breaking away from Disney, but it was a start for us.)

Eyeing Paris and London and a tour of Italy next year, now that DD is 8 and growing out of Disney. But we will probably spend 3 days in Disneyland Paris still.

 

[ExcitedForWDW]

Once we complete our December trip we will have done 3 trips and 24 park days in 14 months. We won’t be able to continue this trend annually. So hoping for a once a year 7-8 park days per year going forward. We live in Canada and would go weekly if lived closer