Theme Park Tips

maggiesoup

Would give Discovery Cove a miss. Had promised my little boy (10) so forked out the £120 for the day (£80 for me non-dolphin swim) and I just felt it was sell, sell, sell from the minute you stepped foot inside the place (photo opportunities!) added to the fact, that he only got to stand beside a dolphin for 20 mins and actually ride on one for under 1 minute in total. Also, they say they're proud to limit the number of guests to 1000 a day, but really 500 would be a more realistic figure - I just felt sorry for the poor fish, they must be absolutely sick & tired of seeing thousands of pairs of legs every day (Also, and I can't prove it but I wasn't anywhere else that day, I didn't wear the full wet suit as I found it too difficult to get on (size 12!) so went for the "jacket" only, leaving legs bare and my ankles and feet were covered in bites & blisters the next day! Ouch.

That was the only bad day in 10 days in Florida. Universal Studios is fabulous, as it Seaworld, and Wet & Wild was fun if you look aqua parks. We had bought one day in Disney and chose the Magic Kingdom but really it was for younger children, say under 8s, wished we had gone for MGM instead.

All in all, thoroughly enjoyed Florida and would go ahead - just not to Discovery Cove!

V.Lucky

I went to Discovery Cove the first year it opened, and had a terrible reaction to the stuff they used to clean the wetsuits in. My skin was cover in spots and blotches for days afterwards.

It was very quiet when we went (Xmas Day 2000), but that was many many years ago.

I take my 3 year old son to Alton Towers on monthly basis. I think the smaller rides are ideally suited to the under 5's (and it's free admittance for the under 4's). My son especially likes the tractor rides, the frog hopper and the runaway mine train.

I always use the priority parking. By paying £6 you could park in the disabled parking section which is literally less than a 1 minute walk from the park entrance. I didn't think £6 was a bad price to pay, as its £3 to park anyway. The cost went up to £10 last month - which I think is extortionate.

At least Legoland is free to park.

jellyhead

alton towers is free parking for annual pass holders, it might be worth you getting one if you go monthly?

V.Lucky

Thanks for that jellyhead, I don't like parking in the main car park, as they are so far away it feels like you are in the next county :mad:

I think you can get an annual parking pass for around £3.50, but I do like my priority parking.

jellyhead

lol! we park next to the monorail but then i suppose you have to wait ages for the monrail back, stuck in a small space with people smoking. my husbandwalks back to get the car and picks us up, aren't i lazy! couldn't have the baby in a queue full of smokers though.

gingerdad

http://www.youthfundays.co.uk/ a good link if you have kids or adults involved with scouts/guides or other youth club/team, you don't need to be going wth the group to buy the tickets.

my tips are this,

do the wet rides first, as never any que and gives you time to dry off, they do the bigger rides early afternoon as ques always seem less.

all ways have an ice cream,

causes i always say you can't have fun at a theme park if you've not been wet and had an ice cream.

(even though only now tend to go to alton towers for the fireworks, we still always get wet and have our ice cream (sad i know))

GD

Saffie_2

Lots of good advice in this thread!!

Just one word of warning...

Petree, i have worked for Tussauds and i know how it works, as i'm sure you do! I also know that probably just about everyone sells their DTs, (tickets). Although, as i'm sure you realise you put your job on the line by advertising this! Selling your DTs is in breach of your contract and you could loose your job for this. Now it's no skin off my nose, but you give a lot of clues to your identity, and it only takes someone who knows you who may have a grudge to spoil your fun...

You have been warned...

:shhh:

candyman67

I have the ideal, failsafe solution for getting on the rides quicker, and having less hassle over the whole day.
In fact I don't understand why more people don't adopt this simple technique.
You could almost guarantee to halve the length of time spent in any queue, irrespective of time of day or year.

BAN KIDS!!!

Personally I blame the parents!

jellyhead

banning kids would work for me, it's the under 18's who smoke in queue lines. not sure how popular places like chessington would be with the over 18's though ;-p

Nick_A_2

It appears the £15 offer for thorpe park has expired. Does anyone know where I can get discounted tickets for the coming bank holiday weekend? Even Bogof offers.

Cheers,

Nick.