When it comes to exploring your city’s attractions, there’s rarely a need to pay full price. Here are just a few of the ways to save on admission:
1) The Entertainment book is full BOGO (buy one, get one free) admission deals to everything from museums to water parks, plus when you buy the book, you can access additional offers online. Deals for the book vary throughout the year, but I’ve seen prices that range from $5 off to $7.99 per book, often with free shipping.
2) With amusement parks, deals vary by park (of course). Check the website of your local theme park before you go; they’re often good about making ticket deals available.A few things that I’ve learned from tracking promotions at Six Flags Over Georgia & Whitewater:
- If you’re going to go at least twice during the season, opt for the season pass (and the parking pass, if your park offers it). A season pass generally pays for itself in two visits. And if your area, like Atlanta, has multiple parks operated by the same company, be sure to check for a combo pass for both parks.
- Look for preseason deals. Six Flags often offers Early Bird pricing, dropping the price by about $10 per pass before the season gets underway.
- Check for extras that may come with the season pass. At Six Flags Over Georgia & White Water, the annual passes come with coupon books that include hundreds of dollars worth of additional savings, including free admission tickets for friends & family, concession discounts, & more.
- Look for extras that are included in the cost of admission to add value during your trip. At Six Flags Over Georgia, everything from concerts to themed holiday events are free with admission.
3) For attractions like museums, zoos, and botanical gardens, you’ve got quite a few ways to get in free (or on the cheap):
- With a
discount ticket book, like CityPASS, you can save up to 50% on the cost of admission to some of the city’s main attractions. CityPASS has books for Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Hollywood, Houston, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, and Toronto. To give you an idea of what’s included, in Atlanta, you’ll save 51% on admission to the Georgia Aquarium, World of CocaCola, Inside CNN Studio Tour, High Museum of Art OR Fernbank Museum of Natural History, and Zoo Atlanta OR Atlanta History Center. There’s even a Southern California book that’ll help you save at Disneyland Resort + SeaWorld, Universal Studios Hollywood, & the San Diego Zoo or Safari Park. Most books are valid for at least nine days, so if you time it right, they even work well for a staycation, as you’ll have two weekends + the weekdays in between to get to everything without feeling rushed. - You’ll
also find attraction deals mixed in with Goldstar’s offers. In June 2011, the Atlanta page included a half-off deal for The Breman Jewish Heritage & Holocaust Museum, San Francisco had deals for Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, and Washington, D.C. featured Madame Tussauds Wax Museum and the International Spy Museum. And there are deals for ghost tours, sightseeing tours, & more.
- Several programs enable you to get free & cheap admission to museums, botanical gardens & even performances throughout the year. Check Bank of America’s Museums on Us, Target’s Arts + Culture, Blue Star Museum, & Smithsonian Magazine’s Museum Day for deals near you.
- And don’t overlook your public library. The benefits of a public library card often go beyond checking out books. At Georgia’s libraries, you can check out a family pass to Zoo Atlanta that’ll get you in free, and there are parking passes for state parks, too.
Other freebies pop up throughout the year, so be sure to subscribe to email updates, follow @citiescheap on Twitter, like Cities on the Cheap on Facebook, or add us to a Google+ circle to save even more.
