To be annoyed at the cost of Alton Towers

[StarlitTrees]

My three year old really wants to go to cebeebies land. Obviously that means having to buy a ticket for Alton towers.
Even with a Kellogg's free adult voucher, it will cost us over £80!!!

People going to cebeebies land obviously won't be using the majority of the park. Why don't they do a separate cebeebies land ticket, or make a cheaper ticket for smaller children that are clearly too small to go on anything other than cebeebies land rides?

It's such a rip off and means we probably won't be able to take him. It costs £38 for our whole family to get into Thomas land/Drayton manor. £80+ is extortionate!

Can you still use Tesco vouchers for Merlin places that's how we did most of our annual passes .

flying so you buy the tickets, then you can upgrade them to the pass when you get there?

I costed it up & for three of us it was cheaper to buy tickets online in advance than using the BOGOF vouchers. But it depends if there's an odd or even number.
DH wanted to take DD but we compromised on Gulliver's because it was about half the price

We went to Paultons last week, I would highly recommend it. Peppa land was excellent, our ds age 4 went on loads of rides including some 'proper' rides in the main park as well as the peppa ones, and our ds 18 months was free entry and also went on several, even a small roller coaster, as he was over 12 months. Really good value, £90 ish for a family ticket for 3 & ds was free. Virtually no queues either so we went on loads. There's excellent play grounds and water splash area as well.

If you can't afford AT then you'll have to say 'no' and just accept it. All kids want to go to places that look amazing on TV, but they can't do everything.

Theme parcs are just silly money and not very good value for money either. We go to Blackpool pleasure beach ocaisionally with free Tesco points tickets but I wouldn't pay full price.

We went to Balamory (Tobermory) when DD2 was three, a long time ago. It was lovely at the time but she has no memory if it now.

Again it's not that he's begging me to go.
I WANT to take him and I know he would fancy it because I ASKED him if he would like to

Just read my OP back and can see how people are getting the wrong impression thinking this idea is all coming from him.
Apologies for how I've worded it.

I was just surprised/annoyed at the prices and thought mumsnetters might have some tips for me (which some have, thanks )

I get you OP

I would love to take my two to peppa pig world and cbeebies land.

Not because they want to go (which Dd would love to) but because I would get the enjoyment of seeing them there.

And it's a good family day out

Nothing unpractical about a hotel room , they provide travel cots.

We tend to use tescos vouchers for any of the Merlin places (Legoland, sealife places and Warwick Castle) - Alton Towers is £13 in vouchers if you have enough?

Thanks soubriquet! That's EXACTLY what i mean!!

The thing with all in a hotel room andnow is that baby still wakes for 1-2 bottles a night so will probably disturb the 3yo. Plus don't like the idea of me and DH having to sit quietly in the dark from 7ish so the kids can sleep.

A few people have said Tesco vouchers itchy. I'll have to take a look. Thanks.

I love AT and have a Merlin pass ... i also have no kids and therefore don't use part if the park (Cbeebies etc). As most of their recent investment has disappeared into Cbeebies with 2 new attractions this year and removal of some of the more adult rides maybe I should ask for a part refund on my ticket for the bit of the park I don't visit?

It's just the cost of theme parks we had 2for1 vouchers for flamingo land and costed us 80 quid for two adults, two children and DD got in free due to her age.

Take him to Thomasland instead. Drayton manor is half the price of Alton Towers if you book on line, even less if you can use Tesco vouchers. There's a zoo as well as Thomasland. Much better value for a 3YO IMO.

If you cannot afford it, then accept it and let it go.
What's worse than your DC not going is you being all eggy and upset that you cannot go, which will upset them more.
Accept it, and move on.
Be easy on yourself - you obviously adore your DC, so don't let this detract from that.

The sooner you take them to the 'big' theme parks, the less chance they have to enjoy the small ones. CBeebies land does look fun but will he really enjoy a day out there any more than one of the smaller parks? Save your money on Alton towers and look at Paultons or Wicksteed or any of the Gullivers or TwinLakes etc etc; obviously depending where you are in the country.
Years ago we had a really lovely day out at Gullivers at MK with our brood; at work on Monday one of my colleagues said that they couldn't take their kids anywhere like that because they had been to Florida and thought all the small rides were too babyish (their children were 8 and 6 at the time). It seemed such a shame.

YY to Wicksteed Park, it's absolutely lovely. Really gentle family place and enough rides even to keep our teens happy. Picnic area, nice walks, play park and only pay for the rides you use via tokens you can buy as you go along. The miniature steam train is a favourite.

Go to Nickelodeon land at Blackpool much better value for money. Or even one of the Gulliver's theme parks which are designed especially for younger children.

OMG cannot believe that I didn't mention SunDown Adventureland. It's near Retford. Perfect for your 3YO. It has loads of miniature houses for them to clamber through, big sandpits and picnic grounds, little rides, a castle made of sweets) buttons to press etc etc. .

Make sure your 3 year old is tall enough for wicksteed park

We went last year (it's about an hour away) and Dd was 3. There wasn't many rides she could go on even with me.

They wouldn't even let her ride a horse on the carousel. She had to sit in a wagon.

There was little flying jets aimed at small children that she couldn't go on because she wasn't tall enough and she found it very frustrating because at other fair grounds and parks she's been on rides a lot bigger

I get what the Op is saying and it does make sense. The theme park in Barcelona has two sections. You can do some of the smaller rides at the start for one price or pay to do the rest of the park with the proper rides and amusements.

You can book an advance ticket for much cheaper.

DS1 wanted to go for his birthday and take 2 friends, as well as DH and DS2. DS2 gets a disabled child place along with a free carer, but it took me ages to work out what the cheapest option would be for them.

It also makes me mad that an adult is 12!

I don't like the prices but then I don't know how much a theme park costs to run these days. I can imagine far more than 20 years ago. I bet the cost of public liability alone has shot up in cost with our claims direct culture. Without knowing how much profit margin they make on each ticket it would be hard for me to judge if the prices are fair or not.

But my experience is with kids of that age is all you need is a good play area or a beach and your time and attention to have a great day. Seems to me little point paying for the whole theme park if you only wanted to use one little part of it.

If you have any tesco vouchers I think you can get very cheap rates using those