To think £500 for a DAY out is "a bit" steep??

[LemmysMole]

Basically DP and I were hoping to take our children (his two and my two) on holiday abroad this summer. However after pricing it all up - plane fares and accomodation for two adults and 4 "boys" aged between 20 and 15 would cost us over £6k. We just can't do it - especially as we're getting married in May and all of the kids need their passports renewing etc.

So Instead we're looking at doing lots of fun days out/weekends away instead. One idea was Alton Towers Halloween Special - which is simply a day away at the theme park with a few 'horror' bits added on.

Now - tickets for 5 adults (my eldest doesn't want to go) would be £200 (£40 each). Now that's bad enough in my opinion for a day out (obviously not including petrol getting there, food and parking!) but DP wanted to go and buy the fast track tickets for everyone too - that's an extra £45 each!!! This would push the ticket price for everyone up to £425 - when you include everything else this would push it beyond £500 for the day.

AIBU to think this is just too much for a day out? Plus everytime I've been anywhere with his kids his 20 year old just mopes about and doesn't actually go on anything so I can see it being a waste of money and a source of tension on the day!!

AIBU?

I'm going against the grain a bit, but we took our little ones to Alton Towers for the Santa's sleepover just before Christmas. All that was really open was CBeebies land, it was raining and cold, and largely empty, but we still had to wait 20 mins for a lot of the rides - judging by the barrier lengths you could be waiting an hour if it was actually busy. The kids enjoyed it, but I don't think we'll bother again (food was a bit ropey too - not as bad as EuroDisney was, but not brilliant for the cost)

I think that the fast pass might be the only way you'd actually get a day worth having out of the place.

You should he able to get a holiday for half that.
Villas are a great option for a large adult group or a 2 bed apartment. You might find hotels are more expensive as will require 3 rooms.

If you look around you can get AI for a week for 5-700 pp all in. Ok, that could still be 4K but it works out cheaper in the end to not have to self cater.

You could buy camping gear and go camping for that sort of money.

Does the 20 year old actually want to go?
He's a man, not just "one of your boys", my 20 year old is in her own home, we tend to go shopping, or the Christmas Markeys/Meals.

Doesn't sound as though he's self sufficient, or being consulted, in any way.

No way would I spend that.

Have you considered centre parcs? You'd get a huge lodge with a games room and sauna for a price between the cost of the holiday and Alton towers....!

As for the holiday, you should be able to get something decent for around £600 each, it must be the way you are pricing it.

The night time Halloween specials are aimed at teens, my two do the Thorpe park one, where people chase you in the dark, it sounds terrifying. But very few have their parents with them.

If you didn't go for the Halloween special and just went on a normal day I would recommend not buying fast track on the day. We went one day in May and didn't wait longer that 20 mins a ride, some we even went straight on, this was before the accident too.

Another time we have been and qued for 40 mins a ride or longer. It is luck of the draw I guess.

We just can't do it - especially as we're getting married in May

Sounds like you're spending more than £500 on that one day though? It's just priorities and what's important to you.

I'd rather £500 on a day at Alton towers then £5k (or whatever) on a day in a white dress. But YANBU because each to their own!

But your 'boys' are effectively men aren't they? Do they really want a day trip with mum and dad ??

As people have said up thread, you don't need to spend 6k on a holiday. We went to Ibiza in high season last year. Flights were 150 pp via skyscanner and accommodation for 4 'adults'was around 75 pn via booking.com. The whole holiday, including car hire and spending (eating out, hire of sun beds & Parasols, boat trips etc and a headline gig at Ibiza Rocks) was well under 3k.

We paid £25 each for Alton Towers fright night on Halloween 2015 (using 2 for 1 vouchers on the back of Kelloggs cereal boxes).

It was a great day out. Fast track passes were NOT needed. There were only two or three big rides that had long queues (waited 1 hour). We only queued around 20 minutes for most rides. Some rides (like Congo River Rapids) didn't have a queue at all so we jumped straight back on.

No idea if it's usually like that on Halloween!

I'm sure you could get somewhere aborad for a week for 1-2k.

I went to Madrid recently. Flights were 30, airport bus 7 quid. Air b and b for 12 euros a night. 10 journey metro ticket was cheap.

Have a look at Italy. We've booked Gatwick to Pisa flights this summer for £150 each (with British Airways) and are staying on an agriturismo (farm stay) in Tuscany which is £1000 for two weeks. Car hire is £300 and there's a town with supermarket nearby to keep food costs down. Planning trips to beaches and mountains and to Pisa, Florence and Rome. Loads to do and hoping to keep it under £3/3.5k all in for 5 of us.

I've just booked a caravan in devon that sleeps 6 for £500 for a mon to fri break. No way would I spend £500 on a day out. But then I'm a sp on one income and it's not a huge income either!

There are 5 of us, three over 16s, 2 under 16s. We spent about £1800 last year on five days in Barcelona in a lovely air conditioned apartment which would have accommodated all of you.

Thanks for the advice guys, I never thought of centre parks so I'll have a look at that now.

Our boys are funny creatures. My eldest (almost 17) acts very much his age and is the most independant out of the lot of them. Dss (20) does NOT act his age, does not work, has no hobbies or friends and is still very much like a child so yes, he probably will want to come.

My youngest (15) would probably rather go with his mates but won't turn down the opportunity to go even if he is stuck with "the family" .

The holidays we were looking at were Kefalonia and New York (yes I know, that one didn't last long).

Merlin pass sale started yesterday not the 5th. You don't needed to live near a park you can get them posted out.

For the same price you can go to centre parks for four days

If you have a Tesco club card I save up my points and swap £2.50 worth of vouchers for £10 worth of days out vouchers.

New York would be fabulous for their ages! There are often good flight deals but if you can't go during term time I think it would be v v expensive

Kefalonia (unless it's changed since I was there 14 years ago) isn't great. Argostili the capital is horrible and Myrtle Beach was pink sand/pebble.

There are nicer and cheaper islands.

Centre parks screenshot is before most school holidays start.

Are you restricted to regular school hols OP?

1st time in history CP is considered a good idea for someone on a budget???

Yeah I wouldn't pick Kefalonia for teenagers either.

New York would be amazing but how about a European city as a compromise - Dublin, Amsterdam, Barcelona??

If you fancy Greece, you can fly to Athens for £170pp in August (avoid weekends). From there you could drive to all sorts of beach places, including the Peloponnese (lovely) where accommodation & food is inexpensive.

I'd like to see the CP's prices for 23rd July onwards!