Thrifty theme parks

If you're planning to take the kids to Alton Towers, Chessington or any of the other theme parks this summer, find out how to save a fortune, here!

A good friend of mine took her son to Legoland for the day a few summers ago and came home swearing never again.

After paying for the entrance fees (around £60!), a barely edible fast-food lunch, and a couple of rain covers to protect them from a surprise shower, she came home with her purse more than £100 lighter! Eek!

Fortunately, if you are planning to take your kids to a theme park this year, there are some great ways to save money. All you need to do is a little planning.

2 for 1 Vouchers

For a start, there are 2 for 1 vouchers around - you just need to keep your eyes peeled. These offer the maximum flexibility as you don't need to book in advance - simply turn up, and when you buy one entrance ticket, you'll get another free.

Persil washing powder is offering 2 for 1 vouchers to Chessington, Alton Towers, Legoland and Thorpe Park, amongst others. Simply snip the voucher from the packs themselves.

On the other hand, if you fancy a day at a Sea Life Sanctuary, then use this voucher - it'll give 2 for 1 entry at the sanctuaries in Hunstanton (Norfolk), Gweek (in Helston, Cornwall) and Oban (Argyll, Scotland).

The Daily Telegraph is also offering a 2 for 1 deal; this time for Chessington only - simple enter your details and you'll be able to print the voucher. The offer is on until 31 August.

Alternatively, sign up to passonthecurse and you can print out a 2 for 1 voucher for Thorpe Park. But hurry, as this voucher is only available to print out until Monday (13 July) and is only valid Monday-Friday until 31 July.

Walkers Crisps

Every pack of Walkers crisps has a 10 digit code in it. Sign up for Gary's Great Trips and every time you find a new code, enter it and bank those points.

The points can then be used for days out. For example, 15 points can be traded in for a voucher that'll give half price entry to Alton Towers (saving £18) or Thorpe Park (saving £17.50).

GMTV offer

If you're a family of four heading to Chessington, check out GMTV's offer. You can currently book a family ticket (two adults, two children under 12) for £49, which works out at just £12.25 each. Compare this to the gate price of £33 each for anyone over 12 (a whopping £132 for 4 people!) and you can see how much you'd save.

If you have a bigger family you can also buy up to two extra tickets for £12.25 each, which are valid for adults or children.

You need to book the tickets for the date you want in advance over the phone, and tickets are sold on a first come, first served basis. There's a maximum of two family tickets per household and you must visit the park before 7 September 2009.

Loyalty points

Tesco Clubcard

If you have some Tesco Clubcard vouchers to spend, you can currently trade £9.50's worth for a one-day pass to Alton Towers or Legoland, and £9 is worth a one-day pass to Chessington.

However, if you plan to go more than twice in the year, an annual pass could be worth paying the extra for. Trade in £18 of Clubcard vouchers, for example, and you could get an annual pass for one person for Legoland. Not only does this allow you to go back as often as you like, but it gives discounts off at the restaurants and shops, too.

Tesco Clubcard points can also be redeemed for entry to hundreds of other theme parks and attractions.

Nectar points

For those with Nectar points, 4,800 can be traded in for a day's pass to Legoland/Alton Towers, 4,700 for Thorpe Park and 4,400 for Chessington.

However, you need to weigh it up - 4,800 points is worth £24 in Sainsbury's, so it's worth checking whether you can do it more cheaply via other methods.

A Legoland annual pass costs 9,400 points (£47 in Sainsbury's), and if you fancy a Merlin annual pass (which gives entry to all of the above, plus Madam Tussaud's, Sea Life Centres and much more), that costs 20,000 points (£100).

Lastminute.com

You can currently buy discounted advance tickets for Alton Towers, Thorpe Park, Legoland, Chessington, Drayton Manor, Lightwater Valley, Adventure Island, Camelot and Diggerworld through Lastminute.com.

Entry for an adult or child to Alton Towers, for example, is £22 (compared to £36 and £27, respectively, at the gate).

Theme park sites

And finally, don't forget to sign up to the theme park websites themselves - they often email out special offers and deals.

So which offer should you choose?

The best thing to do is to decide how many people are going and where you want to go. Don't forget that children less than one metre tall typically get in free anyway (check individual websites for rules). And think about how often you'll be going - would an annual pass be better value?

Now check the offers available and mark the ones relevant to you (for example, if you don't have any Tesco points this isn't an option).

You'll then be able to compare the offers and see which one will cost you the least.

Example

For example, if a family of four (two adults, two kids over-12) fancied a day out at Chessington, and you had two, 2 for 1 vouchers, entry on the day would cost 2x£33 - so a total of £66.

With the GMTV offer you'd pay £49 in total (although you need to specify a date in advance).

You don't have any Tesco vouchers and the Sainsbury's deal would work out more expensive - 4,400 points is worth £22 if spent in Sainsbury's so it would effectively cost you £88 for the four of you.

And Lastminute.com has advance tickets on sale for £23 each (so £92 in total).

The cheapest option is clearly the GMTV offer at just £49, or £12.25 per head. Bargain!

So there you have it - now there's no excuse ever to pay full price at a theme park again.

And as a final note, don't undo all of your hard earned savings by having to buy a greasy, over-priced meal once you're there. Pack a delicious picnic - it'll be much cheaper and far tastier, too!

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