To be shocked at cost of hotel and theme park tickets?

[grumblinalong]

We want to visit a popular theme park in England for the day for DS1's birthday (July) enroute to our main holiday with added bonus of the long journey being broken up into chunks for baby DD. We planned to stay 2 nights in/around the theme park.

The theme park has a hotel resort in it so for 2 nights accomodation and park entrance tickets the cost is a whopping £459 (for a family room too). If we want the themed pirate room it is £621!

A normal 1 day entrance only park family ticket is £75.60. To stay in a premier inn for the night it is £70.00 (9 miles away) so for 2 nights and a bit of petrol for driving it amounts to approx £225.00. How can the latter option be £200 cheaper than the former? Or £400 cheaper than staying in a room with pirate stickers on the wall?

Is it me or is the cost of crappy 'themed' hotels in the UK totally inflated? Also AIBU to think that if you are willing/able to pay the hundreds of pounds difference you must be living a very different life to me or am I just a tight wad?

I agree

It's is so pricey - often you can get deals on the atcual tickets tho

Why don't you see if the theme park does Clubcard rewards? Many of them do, and it makes them much cheaper. Google for a Travelodge near by, they usually have good offers for booking ahead of time. I've always got cheaper bookings with them than Premier Inn.

If you go for the package then it is always way more expensive than building the break yourself. its as true as a couple of days at a theme park as it is for a 2 week hol abroad. on the other side though (as a small business owner myself) i have to say that business rates in the UK are horrendous and VAT at 20% just puts us at a complete disadvantage before we start.

It's £42 per person over 12 to go to Thorpe Park.

I know what you're saying mummymeister, but I firmly believe that the rates have become ridiculous, and it prices people out completely. So do they want more people through their doors / repeat custom or do they want less people paying more money? We recently went to Cornwall, and the average attraction was £30 or more for 2 adults, one child and a toddler just in entrance fees. Result being that we only went to one which was better value.

I went to the same theme park (I think), stayed in a family room, 2 nights hotel and 2 days theme park for 2A 2C and it was £340 so I thought that was ok really, we wanted to make the most of our time there without travelling to and from another hotel. It included breakfast too.

Probably cheaper than a weekend at Center Parcs to be honest.