* ~** ThemeParks megathread **~**

Glowing

Six Flags in Northern Holland!!!

karltimber

So,

need to get away in july (only time available) - 2 adults & 3 kids (3,6,9).
Most websites don't cater for 2+3, it's all mainly 2+2 so searching hasn't been great.

France would be nice but expensive for 2 weeks in july for a caravan.
Kids would love to do legoland beside London.

so, what about this.

Fly to london and stay 3 nights odd and do legoland.
Then fly out of london for a week of sun somewhere ? Would it be possible to book the week away as a last min deal from london or is that too full of uncertanties. would love a week away in a nice hotel with sun. any websites for london last min deals (lastminute.com ??)

was looking at a greek island for 2 weeks - thats family friendly (without lager louts) - any ideas on this ??

Thanks

K

H8GHOTI

Friends of mine are in Cambrils Park atm with their kids and love it. It's about an hour from Barcelona, so would easy enough to reach from London.
It was on No Frontiers one night, there's a review here. Looks perfect for families. It's also close to Port Aventura Theme Park.

iceman777

Does anyone know any deals to get the to Oakwood theme park from Rosslare? http://www.oakwoodthemepark.co.uk/home/default.asp?lang=

I'm looking to get the return journey included with the following:
- ferry
- bus to Oakwood from the ferry
- bus to the ferry from Oakwood
- entry to Oakwood

I can plan it all separately, but I'd liketo find a deal for it all if possible

eoferrall

stena line do day trips for cars (did this years ago when younger with parents!)

I also recall that bus trips were done, people got off ferry onto a bus - but we went in a car and it includes entry fee etc so thats the full cost.

http://www.stenaline.ie/ferry/day-trips/daytrip-oakwood-by-car

The Davestator

ive done the day trip with stena the last two years. Only 59 euro for ferry, coach to park, entry to park, coach to ship and return to rosslare. - dont know how they make money, but thats the price!

Sandardie

I am trying to organise this trip also for my family of 3 and my husband looking at the boat times do you get to spend much time in Oakwood or would you suggest an over night ?

M three

mcgrate wrote: »

nah rent a small car and you'll be grand. We flew into nottingham, stayed in stoke-on-trent for 2 nights and drove to alton towers each morning. About 40 mins away and you have the flexibility of your own car.
Great weekend - highly recommend it.

Was thinking about heading there soon with herself, whats stoke on trent like to stay in? Is it anyway dodgy, any good restaurants there?

Appreciate any other feedback, thanks all

errlloyd

Hey guys, I'm gonna be heading over to Marbella in the next couple weeks, was wondering if anyone has been over, and most specifically has anyone been to Tivoli world Amusement park.

Their website is shocking, and in my experience theme park websites are amoung the most misleading things in the world.

So basically just wondering is it much craic, is it expensive? How does it compare to other amusement parks? And is it difficult to get to.

!MAVERICK!

I was there when I was about 10, Its a good park alright theres plenty to do with a great selection of rides, You should go at nighttime, its more lively then. Dont know if they have added anything since but its a night I would never forget in my life.
Cant remember anything about prices as I was there 10 years ago.

coffeelover

I was in Marbella the last two years and absolutly loved it. Going again in a few weeks ..
I planned to go to tivoli world last year as my mother was there years ago and she loved it. But I didn't because it got very bad reviews on trip advisor and apparently it's quite expensive

errlloyd

Appreciate both answers, completely forgot about trip advisor tbh. I always find trip advisor a bit funny, because expectation is a huge influence on peoples reviews.

Spooky1666

WooPeeA wrote: »

Do you know any theme park in Ireland? Or any other place that one who loves them should visit in??

I'm big fan of theme parks. Especialy the rollercoasters and other extreme attractions. AMAZIG!

I'm with you too on that! It's so bad that this country doesn't have a theme park! If you want the biggest, fastest, holy **** that was amazing, rides in Europe then you need to go to PortAventura in Spain. Lots of fun rides but 2 AMAZING Coasters. Dragon khan, 8 proper massive loops, it's so big you can see it 12kms away on the motor-way driving up and Furious Baco, a launched roller-coaster that goes at 0 to 135 km/h in only 3 seconds!! and there is a twist! the seats arnt in the coaster they are hangin from the side!!!! I've been on both rides and they are truly amazing!! And if you like drops they have the hurricane condor!! The highest drop in europe!! which drops at 100 km/h and tutuki splash, a very fun boat water ride where you drop down a waterfall on a volcano and oh it also has a waterpark PortAventura exceeds any park you'd find in Britain. ITS TRULEY AMAZING

JeffCash

Hi All,

I'm hoping to head off to Disneyland Paris for 2/3 days in the first week of September. It's just myself and the girlfriend going. Can anybody recommend what's the cheapest way of sorting accomodation and park tickets?

Thanks

snowdaze

you will get varying advice here but this is what I always do:

book accomodation with www.activehotels.com you can choose between hotels like:

kyriad - no pool
magic circus - pool ok
explorers - great pool for kids and fun for adults too
dream castle - pool good for all

I have stayed in them all and favourite is Dream Castle but all are good and can be great value.

if you book with them, you give cr card details but pay how you like at the hotel, you can cancel it up until day before, you keep checking it up until when you go and it usually comes down in price so you book it again and cancel the first reservation!

shuttle bus from front door of hotel to disney every few minutes, which takes a few minutes

TICKETS:
I buy an annual pass - called the Fantasy passport approx €130 each - you get 10% off in all disney shops and hotel disney shops and the restaurants in disney parks and village - you also have unlimited entry to both parks for the full year (there are a few certain days excluded - check the dates but doesn't usually affect the Irish traveller)

Hope this helps....I didn't make it there this Summer and my passes have ran out again - will definitely be back again next year - been about 10 times

m.j.w

I would recommend staying in paris itself and travelling to disneyland on one of the days. Theres loads to do in paris and you could easily pass 2 days there and then do disney on the other day. We went to disney one of the days and got everything done and it would probably be cheaper this way. It takes about 45 minutes on train to get there and i think it was about 6 euro return. If you were going with kids maybe you could spend 2 or 3 days there but we just went for the rides and one day was plenty. We stayed in http://www.hostelworld.com/hosteldetails.php/Crowns-Etoile-Hotel/Paris/5071 its a hotel not a hostel but its very basic but tbh you will never be in it. We have stayed there twice and would have no bother going back. There is so much to see in paris that you will always be out and the location of that hotel is amazing. Its about 200m away from l'Arc de Triomphe and there is a nearby subway station. Id would defitely recommend doing it this way.

JeffCash

Thanks a million for the advice. I've never been to Paris before so the more I think about it I feel that doing both options (Disneyland and Paris) might be the best option. Would it be better to stay in Disney land and go in to Paris or vicea versa. Also do you know is the annual ticket transferrable as I have friends who will be going there during the year?

Fratton Fred

I stayed in the Tulip Inn, Marne La Vallee a few weeks back. It is 200metres from Bussy St George station, which is 5 minutes from Disneyland and about 30 minutes from Paris itself. We bought tickets in the Hotel for the park. They are no cheaper, but it saves queueing.

The Hotel was fine, but not much to doing the immediate area other than a couple of restaurants. it is only a ten minute drive from the park, so if you wanted a night out, you could go to Disney Village or Val De Europe and either get the train back, or a taxi.

We spent a day in Paris and caught the train to Charles de Gaulle Etoile, the station at the Arc de Triumph. From there we grabbed a hop on hop off bus, which was absolutely brilliant. The stop is at the top of the Champs Elysees by the subway and stops at all the main attractions where you can jump off and visit and then get back on the next bus. You get headphones and there is a running commentary in English. After that, we caught the train to Anvers and went up the Fenuculaire to Monte Marte.

I know it's not what you asked, but I thought it might help you plan.

Enjoy.

Stab*City

Going myself in october for the 5th time to paris and 3rd to disney.. if i was in your position id stay in paris and go visit disney.. especially if your only going to disney for one day.. the train to disney is very handy..

Fol20

If your going to paris especially for disney land,id stop planning right now.In terms of theme parks,disneyland isnt great.There are very few rides for adults as its geared more toward children.If your looking for a cheap holiday for a theme park,id recommend thorpe theme park in london.Its very compact and you could do the entire park in 1 day.It would be much cheaper as well because its just outside london.Thats my 2 cents about theme parks but i suppose paris city would be much more romantic if thats what you are looking for;)

phunkymonk

Hey,

Heading to Orlando in 2 weeks and just wondering whats the best way to get tickets to the theme parks?

should we wait til we get over or is there a good irish/english website we can order from that will deliver them within the next few days at a good price?

Cheers!

At this stage -get them over there.
I'd recommend getting the queue skipping express tickets even though they will be a lot more expensive.
If you like a ride,you can do it many times if you have that and you speed around the resort a lot lot quicker.Doing a ride a few times otherwise will mean 2hrs in a queue total or more at various times.
Waiting in a 30min queue each time in 90 degree heat is not what you want to do believe me.

Iirc they could be $150 each but worth it!

If you are staying at the in resort hotels near universal,then the room keycard acts as a queue jump so you'll only need the standard entry tickets.
Ask at your hotel or if not booked yet enquire and stay there.

lynchie

phunkymonk wrote: »

Hey,

Heading to Orlando in 2 weeks and just wondering whats the best way to get tickets to the theme parks?

should we wait til we get over or is there a good irish/english website we can order from that will deliver them within the next few days at a good price?

Cheers!

Heading over in two weeks myself. I ordered the 14 days pass from http://www.attractionticketsdirect.ie/ last week and they were posted on Friday to me so they are probably waiting at home for me today.

Dubdude

There would be no need to get the express fast pass tickets for the time you will be there, I have been to orlando in sept. for the last 2 years and the ques were grand as alot of kids are gone back to school.

The 1st year we got the tickets over there off our tour rep and last year we bought them in tour america before we went think it was 175euro pp for the 14 day 5 park universal flexi ticket.

I beg to differ having been there many years in a row and twice recently in september,but to each their own.
If you are happy wasting half the day queue'ing or going on some of the rides you like a few times easily with a fast pass,it's up to you.

You are only there the once,it's not as if you can hop on the dart and you are there again.

Pudding11

Went to Orlando with 3 others at the beginning of May. We got all our tickets through www.attractionticketsdirect.ie
Would highly recommend them, they have great deals and advised us on the best combination of tickets so we wouldnt be overspending on ones we didnt need. They also kept photocopies of the tickets so when a couple were lost during the holiday, they gave us the serial numbers so we could get them replaced at the park with no hassle.
I would definitely use them again as they do tickets for other destinations too.

phunkymonk

good stuff, think i will use that website aswell and just collect them from the office...

countin down at this stage and it cant come quick enough..dyin to hit the water parks ,whats the best one?stayin near aquatica so prob head there once or twice if good..what was the weather like in september when ye were there guys?

Pudding11

Aquatica was great fun, have to say I really enjoyed the Disney water parks as well. Worth visiting if you can. We went to pretty much every theme park in the area and had a brilliant time. At beginning of May there werent much in the way of queues so hopefully you will be lucky in September.

ncmc

Dubdude;67612260]There would be no need to get the express fast pass tickets for the time you will be there, I have been to orlando in sept. for the last 2 years and the ques were grand as alot of kids are gone back to school.

+1 on this, I've been there twice at the end of August/start of Sept, I don't think you would need the Express Pass, get there at opening, have a plan what you want to ride first and head straight there. I also recommend looking at a map before you go so you have an idea where the rides you want to see are. Don't waste time standing in the park looking at a map, I know that sounds anal, but it really does pay to do this. The queue at the popular rides an hour after opening could be 1 and a half - 2 hours. Whereas if you get there at opening, you should walk pretty much straight on. At Universal head straight to Rip Ride Rocket, then The Simpsons, then The Mummy. At Islands of Adventure, head straight for Harry Potter land.

With the Disney parks, you don't have to pay for an express pass, you use a free system called Fastpass. You go to the ride you want, insert your tickets and you will get a ticket with a time printed on it (normally an hour later, but could be later if the ride is very popular.) You then return at your alloted time and get to go via a much shorter line (in fact most of the time you walk straight on).

The weather in Sept should still be very hot, but not as humid as July/August. It can rain quite a bit, but normally it will rain torrentially for an hour or so in the afternoon and then clear, rather than drizzling all day.

Enjoy, I'm very jealous, I love Orlando!

Slunk

As was already mentioned, I got mine from ATD. Found them to be the cheapest. Also, theres no need to buy the fast pass in sept. Most I waited for a ride was ten minutes for Shiekra.