Another question for Harpo

[billybgate]

Tell me how much has it cost you to go to your 114+? parks? I'm just wanting an idea. I've always wanted to travel america and do all the coasters. Why? cos it's one of my things to do on "my things to do if..." list.

I've never been on a wooden roller coaster and hope that they do bring one to alton towers....

Jo

[Harpo]

The cost is really a bit tough to estimate. There's a factor that I have season passes for Cedar Fair and Six Flags parks, so that helps quite a bit on the costs. For those parks, I only have to think of parking and food costs.

For other parks, I generally budget about $40 to $50 per park. For small parks, that's usually more than enough. For bigger parks, that's a bit low. However, it generally tends to average out.

Then, I usually wind up spending about $70 to $80 per night for hotels.

To give you some idea, my 2003 Coaster Cruise stopped at 19 parks over a 13 day period. Although I didn't do an exact tally, I spent about $2600 for the entire trip, including food, hotels, admissions, souveniers (I buy a shirt at any park that I feel is worthy, assuming I find a shirt I like), fuel, and rental car. On this trip, a friend joined me, and she picked up the tolls and parking fees. If I had gone solo (as I've done in the past), it probably would have added about $100 to the price.

Keep in mind, that's a rough estimate. Also, the price could be reduced by staying at less expensive hotels, eating on the road instead of at the parks, doubling up on hotels if you've got a friend joining you (we always stayed in separate rooms), avoiding souveniers, and making wise choices on season pass purchases. My previous trips have also been less expensive due to using my own car instead of a rental, and avoiding airline fees. However, this one was farther from home, so flying to a starting point became necessary. The flight also added one night, and attending a wedding one day added another night.

I hope that information is helpful!

[billybgate]

Thanx that's cool! though i think i'll have to win the lottery or come into some major inheritance(that i don't know about) to get across from scotland, but it gives me a figure to gauge with!

Jo

[Xzentrificenceo]

So would my plan of 4 months $10,000 and an RV would get me to most of the parks? No hotel fees just campgrounds, which are a lot cheaper. Food is in the RV so no in park eats. I hardly buy momentos of my trips, that is why I have a camera.

[Harpo]

I can't say what campgrounds cost, so you'll have to make your own determination. (Don't forget gas! I'm sure an RV has higher gas costs than what I had to pay! Many parks also have added charges for RV parking.) Hopefully the data I provided is somewhat helpful. But, based on my typical expenses, 4 months would run around $20,000.

My planning for a 2 week trip generally requires about 40 to 50 hours. In that planning, I locate the parks, set the route, locate my hotels, estimate my expenses (based on data from the parks' web sites), reserve my hotels (once I feel reasonably certain about my route), complete my agenda (including start and stop times for each park, and, often, including some optional stops), and print my maps.

As for the shirts that I buy, I often try to get golf shirts, since I can wear those to work. As a result, my souveniers partially blend with my work attire budget.

Speaking of souveniers, I just picked up an interesting item from eBay. It's a Cedar Point 100th Anniversary Commemorative Token. Considering that Cedar Point's 100th was in 1970, which was also my first year visiting that park, I figured it was a good item for me to obtain! It just arrived in the mail yesterday, and has been added to my souvenier collection.