Amusement parks are the biggest ripoffs on earth

[RandySF]

Just got home after taking my kid and his friend and swear I've never spent so much cash as quickly asI did today. I can only imagine what it would be like to take an entire family. *ugh*

[Beakybird]

1. First they take your cash

And then they flip you upside down so the change falls out of your pockets!

[2naSalit]

2. They are too!

[rusty quoin]

3. Historically, they had been an underworld thing ripping off people.

Now, like Vegas, they rip off people legally.

[Snarkoleptic]

4. When Snark Jr was a little fellow, Mrs. Snark and I took him to Disney World 9 times

at around $5K/trip. This was all-in, airfare, car rental, room, park tickets, souvenirs.
It's not cheap!

[madaboutharry]

5. Disneyland on a summer weekend

could be as much as $135 a ticket age 10 and up. For a family of 4 that is over $500 just to get in and before you spend any money for food or any souvenirs. It’s ridiculous.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

6. I am so sorry it was that way for you.

Back in the 1990s I took my sons to Worlds of Fun in Kansas City, and while I no longer recall what I paid for the tickets, I do recall that it was a fair deal.

But I was already over 40, and each year we went there were fewer and fewer rides I could go on, as they were all becoming Spin and Barfs for me. Damn! When I was a kid and a young adult I could go on the worst of the Spin and Barf rides and walk off happy. My brothers couldn't join me, my boyfriends couldn't, nor could my husband. I eventually had two sons and they got old enough to take to Worlds of Fun. And right around then I was too old. Damn.

It's been a long time since I've been to such a place, but I recall thinking back then that they needed a special ticket for adults who wanted to bring their kids or grandkids but didn't want to go on any rides. Yes, there should be a charge, but it should be pretty nominal, maybe five or ten dollars, and you get a wristband that does not allow you on any rides.

Too bad I'm not in charge of figuring out these things.

Oh, and I will add that back then it was not the cost of admission that bothered me very much, but the cost of food. THAT was outrageous.

[mr_lebowski]

7. Raise your hand if you remember 'Marriott's Great America' in Santa Clara ... opened circa 1976

I.E. the Bicentennial Year ... everything was festooned with Red, White and Blue ... I remember I went the opening summer (for the first time) ... I believe it was $13.95 admission at the time ... and that was to ride ANYTHING, not like Disneyland where they still had "E Tickets" and such, like a carnival ... I liked Disneyland better overall, but man was it cool having something LIKE Disneyland ... so close. And they had the "Turn of the Century" coaster that actually went UPSIDE DOWN, TWICE! That was some SCARY stuff to me at 9 y.o. But I went on it, hell yeah I did. A couple years later they added the 'Tidal Wave' coaster ... upside down 2X again on that baby ... that was also awesome.

[pansypoo53219]

8. i figured that out at disneyland around 12. i saw all the kiosk shops. t-shirt land.

[Quemado]

9. Sticker shock

My wife and I went to Orlando last December. I could not believe how much it cost to enter any of the Disney themed parks. We wound up not going inside any of them. We did walk around Disney Springs, which is the free part.

The only park we paid to get in during our trip to Orlando was Kennedy Space Center.

[Rhiannon12866]

10. I love amusement parks - always have

I love the rides, remember begging my parents to stop at a local one every time we passed it, even as a little kid. And I had a summer job at an amusement park as my first summer job, worked there for six summers and it was my favorite job ever. I worked in "rides."

But I take your point. When I worked there in the '70s, it only cost a few dollars and that covered all the rides in the park. The price of admission still does, but it's since been bought by a national corporation, the entrance fee is prohibitive for your average family and they now charge for everything - including parking. It's been a long time since I visited, it's not the park I remember, though they have added some cool new rides.

[malthaussen]

12. Hey, I worked in the sideshows one summer...

... just before the local amusement park went bankrupt. I had nothing to do with it, I swear.

-- Mal

[malthaussen]

11. It wasn't always so...

... but I guess they have learned to squeeze every drop they can out of the ripe fruit.

It may be that the few locally-owned and managed parks are less of a ripoff than the big names, but there aren't many of those around anymore.

-- Mal