Helpful Traveling and Amusement Park Tips Thread

[Thrill Reconnoiter]

Any tips or advice you've picked up over the past in regards to traveling (best hotels, how to pick a good restaurant, etc), or tips for amusement parks (what to wear, where to get a discount on your ticket, etc), feel free to share them with everyone!

Please be somewhat thorough and explain what you mean instead of posting three words, "I bring sunscreen."


I figure this would be a really useful thread in the long run if we keep adding. :)

[Dan]

Wait Times

1) Always try and get to the park you are visiting early, especially on weekends, holidays, or during the middle of summer. You will have the shortest wait times in the morning.

2) Don't follow the normal route guests take around the park. Try and go in the opposite direction to minimize your wait.

3) Avoid going on crowded days (weekends, holidays, July, August) altogether.

4) If a ride breaks down while you are waiting to ride, stay in the queue if you don't have very limited time. Chances are the ride will be back up relatively shortly, and if a lot of people leave, you might be able to get a few rides in without much of a wait.

5) Search the park you are going to before hand, and find out which popular attractions have low capacity. Their lines will almost always be shortest in the morning, and sometimes later in the evening.

6) The easiest way to pass the time while waiting is to talk to friends. If you aren't with any, you can watch the ride, take pictures, meditate...whatever works for you.


Meals

1) There is no avoiding expensive food unless you leave the park, so bring a lot of food money.

2) Avoid eating at regular hours, as lines for food will be extremely long. Try eating a snack in the late morning, and have lunch in afternoon.

3) Sometimes having a sit-down meal seems unappealing because it takes longer (you get less time on rides), but give your body a break. It is nice to relax during a long day at a park.

4) Most parks have the standard hamburger, fries, chicken fingers, etc. However, some parks offer unique food. Try and go for that to complete your park experience.


Health

1) Most of your time in a park is spent standing and walking. Be sure to drink a lot, and take rests if you feel at all tired.

2) Start drinking water a day or two before your park visit. You will feel much better during the day of your trip if you do.


I'll come up with some more later...of course, none of these have to do with a specific park. Maybe RCPro X should have a traveling advice section, unique to parks. With everyone combined who could contribute, you could get a lot of parks...

[Top Thrill Dragster]

If you are alone, see if any of the parks attractions offer a single rider line.

If you are waiting in line for a B&M, and you want a front row ride and want to reduce the wait. Wait for the second row and when you board see if the front has empty seat and take it.

You get off a ride, and you want to buy an on ride photo, but you dont want to pay for a locker and don't want to keep up with the photo. What should you do? Go to the employee at the photo booth and ask how long do the photos stay on the computer memory. If it is a day, type in the number of your photo into you cell phone and come back later in the day to purchase.

[Michael]

Here are some things I have learned from visiting amusement parks:

Health and Saftey:

ALWAYS wear sunblock, no matter how cloudy, the sun might come out. A day at an amusement park is almost entirely spent outside and exposed, do not learn from your mistakes here, it hurts, and you can get sun poisoning - not fun! :p
Be sure that if you go on water rides early in the day and your wearing shoes and socks, always bring a spare change of socks. Blisters are not too fun while standing in line and walking around for an entire day.Line and Waiting:

Find someone or something to talk about. It gets insanley boring to just sit and do nothing for long lines, especially when there is little to no theming (aka Cedar Point ;))
STAY HYDRATED! Waiting in the summer sun, it's 90+ degrees out, it sucks. You absolutley need to keep hydrated, buy a water, bring your own, any way you can. And do not fall for the vending machines placed in the queue, the soda will just make it worse as it gets hotter.
If you have a samera, the best way to pass the time is to take photography. It's a great way to relieve boredem, plus you can get some good stuff while your at it. Also reviewing your photos in your memory card is a good way to pass time.On the Rides:

Put your hands up, open your eyes, enjoy it. Your not going to die, I can assure you that. Don't wimp out, no one is going to make fun of you for puting your hands up and screaming, it's a rollercoaster :p. (I often go for the "rock on" hand gestures for on-ride pics as well :)).
If you feel sick, just stay calm, relax (however hard that may be on a coaster), and hold it in, it's not fun to loose your cookies on the person in front of you...
Try not to list coaster facts while going up the lift hill, I know all the cool kids like Mike do it for POV's ;), but your going to get made fun of - trust me. I know we're all coaster nerds around here, lol, but when your sitting next to a hot girl, that's not the best way to impress her ;). (I kid, I kid) Just enjoy yourself, your not making a documentary for 60 minutes...
On stand up coasters, bend your knees a bit before the harnesses lock, this is an issue known as "racking", it's not so fun when you hit a bump :eek:

[Nate]

Never pay for drinks by asking for a cup of water. Parks are required by law to give you a cup of water if you ask for it at no charge. You can save a lot of money by drinking water instead of soda.

[Renegade]

Here are some Disney World tips: :p

RIDES
-If there is a "Single Rider Line", take that option instead of using a FastPass or standing in the stand by lines. If you don't mind splitting up from your group this saves a lot of time!

-Avoid the Land at Epcot on busy days! For some reason, the Land is always wall-to-wall on a busy day, and wait times can reach 4 hours +.

-Don't let the line deceive you! Disney has hidden some of their lines within the ride buildings themselves, so the line may be longer than it looks. This is true on Space Mountain, Dinosaur, Soarin', Tower of Terror, Rock 'n' Roller Coaster (which takes 30-45 minutes inside no matter what the line length because of the lengthy pre-show and load times), and any other attraction where the line is mainly inside.

-Line waiting times may be behind. This happens a lot. Once, RnRC was around 60 minutes, and it suddenly hopped down to around 15. There's really no way to avoid this, so that's a disadvantage.

HOTELS
-Value might sound good, but it's not for a family of 4+! If you've got a family of 4+, stay in the Caribbean Beach (Moderate). It has the largest rooms of the three Moderate resorts.

-If possible, eat light (not sit-down). You've wasted a load a money on a room, so why waste more on food? Most Deluxe hotels have a fast-food place, but some may not be to cheap (I believe Grand Floridian's place costs $20 bucks+/per person).

-Avoid "unnecessary entertainment" like boat rentals, mini-golf, or any other activity that costs per hour/half-hour/min. When you get your bill, you'll see what I'm talking about.

-Overall, just go with Moderate. Moderates are the best to stay in, as they feature just as many amenities as Deluxe does, but at a much, much more cheaper price ($100-500!)

FOOD
-Avoid sit-down!!! UGH! I can't stress this enough!!! There are plenty of great fast-food places. If you can stand up to order, carry a tray to the table, and throw your stuff away, you will save your self TONS of money! If possible, only eat out once or twice during your trip, or you will have a large amount of money on your bill.

-If doing a sit-down, get a table in advanced. How? Just go to any phone in the park, hotel, bathroom, etc., dial 407-WDW-DINE, or visit the restaurant and make the reservation.

SHOPPING
-The one and only thing I have to say...Little Billy and Sally don't need everything in their sight. Be a good parent. Don't spoil your kids. If you buy all this crap, just realize that you'll have to haul it back in every extra space in your luggage.

That's all I can think of. I'm sure I could think of more, but I'm sure people wouldn't like that.

Hope that helps for those who travel to Disney sometime soon! :)

[Thrill Reconnoiter]

Hotels
-Definitely the cheapest method is reserving a hotel online where you can compare prices.
-If you're planning on finding a hotel as you go, don't just take what they quote you at the front desk. Call the hotel chains 800 number and ask to be connected to the hotel you're at-chances are you'll get a better price on the phone that what front desk quoted you in person.
-Try and find a hotel with complimentary breakfast. If there are a group of you (three, four, etc) it really will be cost beneficial in the long run opposed to eating out-plus you can stuff yourself before the park and hold off on lunch until after the crowds.

[Voyage100]

Those tips are so useful, as we are going to plan some theme park trips, so we all can get the credits with no big troubles. It's so good to know about how the queue time would be like, or how the food is like, so we can make the trip 'more blissful thing' and valuable.

[sirloin]

Flights

-If there is an airline who has a hub at your local airport, they're definitely one of the first airlines you should consider. You'll likely have a better selection of flights due to the higher number of frequencies out from your airport.

-The other smart choice is an airline who has a hub at the destination you're heading too. Again, they'll likely have more frequencies.

-See if the airline has package deals with the parks to allot for better discounts.

-Don't always go for the cheapest airline. Granted, some low cost carriers (Southwest primarily, though Airtran is another one) don't nickel and dime you, but airlines like Spirit and Skybus will. There's often a reason for it. In my experience, Southwest and Delta are the best value by a long shot.

-Flights in off-peak times are cheaper.

-Fridays and Sundays are the busiest travel days. Avoid if at all possible.

-For some locations (I'm referring mainly to New York City and Los Angeles), the primary airports are not always the best idea. While New York is problematic at practically every airport, the LA area has several good alternative airports, such as Ontario or Orange County. Also, those smaller airports may have lower landing fees and taxes associated with them and as such, lower fares.

-For your reference, here are some hubs or focus cities for given airlines (bear in mind that Southwest only has focus cities, but many have enough flights to be a hub). I've also mentioned the airport name and code for cities with more than one airport, and just the code for cities with only 1 primary airport. Here is the format:

City - Airline (Airport Name, 3-letter airport code - hub or focus city)
Here they are:

Atlanta - Airtran (ATL-hub), Delta (ATL-hub)
Baltimore - Airtran (BWI-focus city), Southwest (BWI-major focus city)
Boston - American (BOS-focus city)
Charlotte - US Airways (CLT-hub)
Chicago - American (O'Hare, ORD-hub), Southwest (Midway, MDW-major focus city), United (O'Hare, ORD-hub)
Cincinnati - Delta (CVG-hub)
Cleveland - Continental (CLE-hub)
Dallas - American (Dallas-Fort Worth, DFW-hub), Southwest (Love Field, DAL-major focus city)
Denver - Frontier (DEN-hub), United (DEN-hub)
Detroit - Northwest (DTW-hub)
Houston - Continental (Bush Intercontinental, IAH-hub), Southwest (Hobby, HOU-major focus city)
Las Vegas - Southwest (LAS-major focus city), US Airways (LAS-hub)
Los Angeles - American (LAX-focus city), Delta (LAX-hub), Southwest (LAX-major focus city), United (LAX-hub)
Memphis - Northwest (MEM-hub)
Miami - American (MIA-hub)
Minneapolis - Northwest (MSP-hub)
Nashville - Southwest (BNA-focus city)
New York City - American (Kennedy, JFK-focus city), Continental (Newark Liberty, EWR-hub), Delta (Kennedy, JFK-hub), jetBlue (Kennedy, JFK-hub), US Airways (LaGuardia, LGA-focus city)
Orlando - Airtran (MCO-focus city), Delta (MCO-focus city), Southwest (MCO-focus city)
Phoenix - Southwest (PHX-major focus city), US Airways (PHX-hub)
Pittsburgh - US Airways (PIT-focus city)
Salt Lake City - Delta (SLC-hub)
San Francisco - United (SFO-hub)
Seattle - Alaska Airlines (SEA-hub)
St. Louis - American (STL-focus city)
Washington, D.C. - United (Dulles, IAD-hub), US Airways (Reagan National, DCA-hub)

There are also some parks whose closest airports don't have a big enough presence from any one airline for me to consider them hubs or focus cities, but they do have somewhat decent presences from certain airlines. Those are:

Ft. Lauderdale
Louisville - Southwest (SDF)
Oakland - Southwest
Raleigh-Durham - American (RDU), Southwest (RDU)
Tampa - Southwest (TPA)

Pittsburgh also maintains a decent Southwest presence, and there's a decent Virgin America presence in San Francisco (but I didn't want to re-list those cities in this second list).

Granted, it seems only a couple of you actually spend the money and fly out to a park, but I hope the above helps.

[p0tat0]

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