Ocean City MD

[bonkos6]

We have been vacationing here for years and each night we walk down the boardwalk. We have 4 kids and that can get quite expensive. Those of you who vacation here do you do anything at night besides the boardwalk?

 

[CheapMom]

I go to OC several times a year- my parents have a condo on 68th st. Here are my tips for you- First thing you need to do is pick up one of those magazines with a discount card- It is called an VDC pass or something like that. It is free. They definately have them at Roses (94th St.) also at some groceries and hotels. Pick up all the free visitors guides you see there- they are full of coupons.
If your kids like rides you will save by going in the afternoon-
Trimpers rides has a wristband for $16 all-you-can-ride from 1pm-6pm (Get $1 coupon out of visitor guide) If you go at night and buy tickets it is very pricey- My kids go though a sheet of 40 tickets in about 4 rides.
(There is also a coupon for Jolly Roger rides wristbands if you prefer there rides)
For water parks- the one at Jolly Rogers is the best- You can use your DVC card to get $2 off - also if you go after 2pm or 4pm (can't remember) the price drops a lot- you still get 3 or 4 hours at the park and it is around $16 pp with the coupon.
These are not exactly cheap things to do but if you are planning on doing them anyway- this will be cheaper.
A fun free thing to do is drive to Assateague Island and look for wild ponies- we always see them- also there is a free nature center before you cross the bridge- free, educational and the kids love it.
Get glow sticks from the dollar store and go out on the beach at night. My kids love to play glow in the dark frisbee at night.
Hope this helps- I'll post again if I think of anything else.

 

[CheapMom]

http://ns1.vgnet.com/oc/amusements.php

 

[LoveWDW]

I no longer have young children, but have you tried giving them a fixed amount each to spend? Or having them use their own money- allowance they have saved or money from small jobs?

When the children were young we would only go to the boardwalk a couple times during the vacation. Other than that in the evenings we did miniature golf or let them play on the beach, or badminton on the beach or where we stayed.

 

[churchlady]

We just got back from 2 weeks in Ocean City! My family has a condo on 136th St. and I used to waitress at Libby's in Fenwick Island during summers in college. We live close to Atlanta now so the drive is waaaay long- we have to stay 2 weeks to make it worth it.

Anyway, I totally agree with all of CheapMom's suggestions, especially the wristbands. We always play putt-putt, get Thrashers fries, go to Billy's Subs, fly kites on the beach, eat at Phillips, crack crabs. This year we picked up a 500 piece puzzle at Edwards 5 & 10 and did it as a family. We just left it on a table and everyone did a little at a time. It was a fun activity. Ours had a dolphin scene and we glued it together when we were done, slid it in a trash bag and brought it home in the bottom of the trunk.

This visit was bittersweet because it will probably be our last. Mom's seriously considering selling since she and 4 out of 6 kids and their families now live in GA. I will surely miss it!! Leigh

 

[skiwee1]

We just got back from OC the other day. One week we spent is at the Holiday Inn and suites in the boardwalk. The other two weeks were spent at a townhouse on 84th St. While at the Holiday Inn we were out on the boards every day. I love the boardwalk! I think OC is more expensive then WDW anyway. We stay deluxe at WDW yet spend more on a room in OC and get nothing but a boardwalk for entertainment! LOL! If you are looking for other stuff to do I have no idea. We tried doing mini golf at night but the places were packed. We end up on the boardwalk most nights wasting our money At Sportland or Trimpers.

 

[LoriB]

If you don't mind driving a bit (maybe 45 minutes??) you can drive to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. It's a much smaller place. The rides are very inexpensive but more geared to smaller children. I usually buy 20.00 worth of tickets for my daughter and friend and we generally have to give some left over tickets away. The parking is a bit of a hassle because you either have to feed the meters every two hours or take the shuttle in from route one. I'm not sure where they stop anymore, but you could find out. I think that the shuttle service is called DART or something like that. You pay a flat fee per person (maybe $2) and leave your car there and they bus you back and forth. We have used this service at busy times and found it to be good. My dad lives about 20 minutes from Rehoboth and we have gone there for many years. There's also a nice pay beach with showers, etc. in Dewey Beach. It's much less crowded and very clean. Reasonably priced food there too. You could make a day of it by going to the pay beach (5.00 per car?) showering and changing there, and then driving another 5 minutes on to Rehoboth. As you can probably tell, I'm not an Ocean City fan. When I was a child there was no place like Ocean City. However, since I have experienced so many other beautiful beach communities, I have come to realize how much I dislike Ocean City. I guess I'm partial, but you might want to give Rehoboth a try.

LoriB

 

[CheapMom]

I am not sure how old your kids are but there are some great playgrounds on the beach right off the boards- they are at the south end of the boardwalk- they are at like Somerset St., Division, 2nd St.... My kids like them a lot and they are free. Also- the Christian sand sculpture is quite a spectacle. That artist is amazing - that is also free- but of course you can put a donation in for that.

The best arcade is Marty's Playland because they still have 10 cent skee ball! Considering it is a quarter everywhere else that is a bargain. (you get a smaller payout of prize tickets but if you are just playing for the fun of it- that does not matter) They also have dime claw machines that actually give you prizes. it is a bunch of junky little plastic prizes but it makes the kids happy to actually win something from a claw machine. I would say you win something 1/4 tries on the claw machine. That arcade is on Worcester St. and the boards- if you park at the inlet you are right there (it would be at the north side of the parking lot.

 

[MEM]

If you don't mind driving a bit (maybe 45 minutes??) you can drive to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. It's a much smaller place. The rides are very inexpensive but more geared to smaller children. I usually buy 20.00 worth of tickets for my daughter and friend and we generally have to give some left over tickets away. The parking is a bit of a hassle because you either have to feed the meters every two hours or take the shuttle in from route one. I'm not sure where they stop anymore, but you could find out. I think that the shuttle service is called DART or something like that. You pay a flat fee per person (maybe $2) and leave your car there and they bus you back and forth. We have used this service at busy times and found it to be good. My dad lives about 20 minutes from Rehoboth and we have gone there for many years. There's also a nice pay beach with showers, etc. in Dewey Beach. It's much less crowded and very clean. Reasonably priced food there too. You could make a day of it by going to the pay beach (5.00 per car?) showering and changing there, and then driving another 5 minutes on to Rehoboth. As you can probably tell, I'm not an Ocean City fan. When I was a child there was no place like Ocean City. However, since I have experienced so many other beautiful beach communities, I have come to realize how much I dislike Ocean City. I guess I'm partial, but you might want to give Rehoboth a try.

LoriB

Another vote for RB here! I have been vacationing there for most of my 45 years. Even though I now live about two hours from Cape Cod, we still make the trek to RB every year. My kids (and I) prefer the beach there. The rides are at Funland on the Boardwalk and even though my kids are now 9 and 11, they still found plenty to ride there. I give them a budget for each night at the Boardwalk and they have become very good at sharing treats. I also have a Thrasher's refillable cup -- used to be free refills, now 75cents but still very reasonable. The homes are priced out of sight in RB (the house my granddad built 65 years ago is listed at over $1 million). There are quite a few decent motels on Route One -- we have been camping off Route One but since the campground has just been sold to make way for McMansions, we are now looking for some where to stay next year. Ideas welcome!!

 

[WeLoveThePoly]

Wow, how neat to see a post about OC MD!

We used to vacation there every summer when I was a child. I have not been back there in years and just this weekend my sisters and I were talking about all of us going next summer.

I'll be interested to read the posts here to learn all I can about OC MD now to help plan our trip.

Thanks!
Debbie

 

[JerseyGirl84]

We stay in Ocean City every year, but always do the rides in Rehoboth once or twice during the week. This year we are getting a beautiful 2 bedroom plus den condo on the beach for less than $1,000 for the week. It has a full kitchen, w/d, etc. The condo has an indoor and outdoor pool plus tennis courts, playground and arcade room. It's tough to find anything that cheap on the beach in Rehoboth. So we stay in OC and pick the best from Rehoboth and the OC areas. There are also great outlets in both OC and Rehoboth (DE has no sales tax on anything!!)

 

[poohfan]

we've gone to OC 4 times and we love it... this thread is making me want to go back but this year we decided to go to WDW instead. When we've gone we stay at the Rainbow. I think it's around 112 th st so it's pretty far from the boardwalk so we don't go every night. We've gone to RB and also done the outlets. My DS and DD always lobby for at least one mini golf outing. I agree that OC can be expensive but it's so relaxing!

For inexpensive things definately check out the coupon books some other people mentioned. We've used them and the savings add up. We've always rented a condo and I budget that we eat breakfast and lunch in the condo to save some $$ and then go out at night for dinner and boardwalk or mini golf. By making 2 out of 3 of our meals in the room I save a lot.

 

[marcyinPA]

We usually do Ocean City MD on our "off" Disney years. We stay at the Flamingo on 31st st. We like it there because 1. we can get a suite 2. It is steps from the beach and 3. It has both an indoor and an outdoor pool.

We usually stay for only 4 days because that's all we can afford. Seriously, it's about the same price for us to go to Disney! We love eating at Higgins Crab House (love crackin' those crabs...and they always used to have a coupon for a free pitcher of beer or soda online). We usually go for pizza one night and breakfast at a Dough Roller. We do mini-golf, and the boardwalk once. My kids used to love Jolly Roger when they were little...but the place is such a rip-off!

Most of the time, when we're not on the beach, we're swimming in the pool.

We like Ocean City alot, and my husband grew up vacationing there, but I find it tremendously expensive!!

 

[poohfan]

When I was planning our trip to disney I realized that I'm spending a lot less on this Disney trip than I did on our last trip to OC. But my kids keep asking when they're going back to OC.

We've eaten at the Dough Roller too. I like the one on the boardwalk because we can people watch as we eat.

We've also eaten at the restaurant at the end of the boardwalk. DH loves the view.

 

[CheapMom]

we can people watch

the best free thing to do at the boardwalk!
Did anybody see the nice article in Family Fun about Ocean City, MD a couple of months ago? They did a whole thing on 'the best beach towns'. It was a really nice write-up- unfortunately I can't find it online.

 

[moopdog]

This is the first year in many that we're not going and it's because we're going to Disney instead... would you believe that my 4 year old told me he'd rather go to the beach instead - what?! Anyway, we usually stay in a 2 or 3 bedroom condo on the beach side in the upper 120 streets... it's much cheaper than a hotel! Last year it was the Capri and other years it's usually the "Sea Watch". Because of this we usually just bring the kids back to the condo and watch TV, hang out on balcony, swim in the pool, etc.

That being said... our alltime favorite thing to do that's FREE at OC...... 125th Street Northside Park!!! If you haven't been there - you HAVE to go. Bring bread for the geese & ducks... bring nets or fishing poles.... bikes if you have them... or just a camera for some nice pictures. There's a pier to walk out on over the bay. TWO playgrounds. A walking trail. Several fields to play soccer, baseball, etc. It's very very nice to do in the afternoon/evenings and never very crowded unless they're having a special event like an outdoor concert.

Other things to do for free:
*Head over to the shantytown lighthouse the end of the 50th street bridge and walk around looking at the boats if you go at a certain tiem of day, you can watch the fishermen weigh their catch which is interesting when you see the SIZE of some of the fish.

*Go to Assateague and walk the beach over there, seashell collecting is AWESOME if you go at lowtide. Also you can see the ponies right on the beach.

BTW - if anyone has a condo/timeshare or beachhouse etc that they're not using.... we really really would love to find someone who we can get a (okay I'll say it) cheap way to stay in OC!!

 

[goofiecrazy]

My family has had a condo across the street from Fenwick light house since 1992. Try taking the kids to the park down on 127th and hang out there. They have Sundae night at the park and other family things going on to .. You need to pick up a Beach Comber , its like a newspaper there that will tell u when and what is going on at the beach..Pick up the little book called the DVC and that has coupons plus the card in there to get discounts on food and activities down there. We play mini golf alot down there as well but try to play during the day many places will have all day play till like 6.

 

[YesI'mObsessed]

We too love Rehobeth. Just got home about an hour ago! Although we stay in Lewes, much quieter, and about 6 miles from Rehobeth. We always drive out to Assategue for the day. We could drive around and see the ponies all day. There are also lots of deer, rabbits, and other animals to look at and discover. We usually go to the island, drive for a bit, checkout the wildlife. Then spend a few hours at the beach, have a picnic lunch. And then head over to Frontierland. No...not that one...the one just outside of Assateague, you drive right past it on the way in. Their waterpark is only $12 for the day. Yea, it's kind of small, but perfect for a half day of fun. By the time you get back to your hotel, it's time for bed. Nice long day, and cheap too.

 

[MELISAZACK]

Wow we have a house in Ocean pines - right over the bay from oc md....
another small but very nice cheap water park in Frontier land on rt 636
i think that is what it is called it is the road to assteague....great family pool
small water slide lazy river and a new slide this year....
the race cars on rte 50 are now offering wrist bands too...cheaper than by the ride but still pricey.......
Mini golf of rte50 by the baja race way from 9 am to 4 pm is only $2 per person. and is still the cheapest at night too....all the way up rte 50 at rte 589 is Ocean downs race track and horse racing track....sometimes they have concerts there too....
Rehobeth is only about 40 min drive during summer - traffic can be bad though but at least it is a stright drive....
A cool family bar/rest. is Fish Tales it is bay side right behind Embers
I believe around 18th street....good food nice att..plenty for the kids to do and play on while you eat drink and relax.......they have a big playground pirate ship and a beach area for playing.....my Ds 7 loves it there.. and Mac and cheese as food is just a bonus...

 

[JRoglitz]

It was fun to see Ocean City, MD in the title. We live in Salisbury, MD...30 minutes from OC. Assateague is a great 1/2 day trip. They have a visitors center where you can touch live water animals and there is a park ranger there to answer your questions. Then go out and look for the wild horses and have a picnic lunch.

Definitely get the vacation guide book for discounts.