4 Ways Buying an Annual Amusement Park Pass Actually Saves Me Money

If you're a parent, you probably already know that keeping your kids entertained can give your credit cards a workout. But in our family, we've taken an unusual approach to trying to save money on activities to occupy our children: We bought annual amusement park passes.

Buying an annual amusement park pass can be a big upfront investment (although some parks offer payment plans). But there are a few ways that biting the bullet and paying for season passes out of our bank account actually saves us money in the long haul. Here's what they are.

1. Buying a pass is cheaper than individual tickets if you visit more than a few times

In many situations, buying a pass ends up costing less than purchasing individual day tickets, especially if you plan to visit more than twice in a season.

For example, a small local amusement park near my house offers ticket prices starting at $39.99 for a single-day park admission good on a specific day, or starting at $44.99 and up for general admission good on any day.

On the other hand, a bronze pass -- the entry-level annual pass good all year except on a few blackout dates -- is just $99.99 when purchased online. So if you plan to go for more than two days over the entire season, the pass is the better bet.

This is true for just about any amusement park you visit, including well-known parks like Seaworld and Six Flags. Since our family rarely spends just one day at an amusement park, buying an annual pass is almost always the better deal.

2. Passes come with free parking

Parking can be extremely expensive at amusement parks. But most passes offer free parking as a perk of becoming a pass holder. If you can save $30 on a single day's parking, that savings brings down the number of times you'd have to visit to break even for your annual pass.

Since we tend to go to theme parks at least a few times a year, the savings on parking is well worth paying for the pass.

3. Other pass-holder benefits often provide great value

In many cases, pass holders also get other discounts -- including savings on food and merchandise and, sometimes, even guest tickets. If you get two free guest tickets plus free parking and a food discount, even if your family of four is visiting a theme park just once a year, it can sometimes pay to buy two annual passes and then use those guest tickets to get half your party into the park.

For us, we regularly bring my in-laws to the park with us at no cost to them, and they often treat us to lunch as a thank you. This saves everyone money.

4. Visiting the amusement park often means less spending on other activities

Finally, once we have an annual theme park pass, we tend to visit that park most of the time when our kids need something to do -- rather than spending money to go elsewhere. So we get an entire year's worth of entertainment from our cost and we end up spending a lot less than if we were constantly paying admission fees to different children's attractions around town.

For all of these reasons, an annual theme park pass helps me save a good amount of money every year. If you have small kids and any kind of amusement park near you that they like to visit, it's worth looking into whether becoming a pass member could provide you with savings as well.