Saturday, August 2, 2008

Those free tickets costs HOW much?



We put it off as long as we could, and $238 and 12 hours later, we know why. I’m talking about Six Flags Over Georgia, the amusement park with the crazy commercials that air every 30 seconds.

Each year, my kids read like maniacs and meticulously document their reading time, ten minutes here, five minutes there, until they reach their goal—6 hrs. and a free ticket to Six Flags. For four years, my husband and I managed to find an excuse not to use it—too hot, too wet, too crowded…Shall I go on? I have four years worth.

After today’s visit, I no longer feel guilty. By the third coaster, my son exclaimed, “Why did I have to do all that reading?”

Actually, we had a great time. There were no crowds, and the day was somewhat cooler. We did have a few memorable moments, such as finding ourselves stuck at the top of Splash Water Falls, the last ride of the day, with a “healthy” chocolate salesperson.

It was 7:30 p.m.; we were exhausted, hungry, not to mention perched at the edge of the falls about to get soaking wet just in time for the ride home, and the saleswoman called it divine intervention. We were held captive for 45 minutes while she gave her spiel, encouraging us to sign up as sales representatives. Who knew that eating chocolate three times a day could lower a person’s cholesterol, triglycerides, and cause them to lose 25 lbs.? The kids were ready to sign up on the spot. Of course, we had already spent all of our money.

Here’s a breakdown of our how much our free tickets cost:

$60—Two adult tickets
$78—Flash pass (worth every penny, even on a day with light crowds)
$20—Parking (two aisles over from the $15 parking and worth it)
$40—Lunch in the park (not so much)
$15—Approximately three spoonfuls of ice cream a piece (also worth it)
$5—Souvenir postcard
$20—Dinner from Wendy’s drive thru outside the park (would have cost more, but they got the order wrong, ate it anyway)

Getting the kids excited about reading, plus spending the day with them while they still want to spend time with us--priceless

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Six Flags provides many offers on tickets...