Got a Six Flags membership for the family

[bcla]

My wife was bugging me about it since our kid seems to be bored.

So we got monthly reoccurring membership. Seemed like a good deal. We needed a $20 refundable deposit, but it's $7.89 a month for each of us good for admission and parking at any Six Flags park, although we need to activate at our home park. I guess they have that as a hedge against someone buying membership at a different Six Flags park with a cheaper rate. We can't cancel for 12 months, but if we go once a month we figure it's still a good deal.

We also got their dining package, although only two of them since our kid isn't a big eater. It was the $6.99/month deal with lunch/dinner/snack. They say that's also valid at other Six Flags parks, but only if attached to a reoccurring membership. Not sure where we might do that except for Magic Mountain. If anything, that will sort of encourage us to visit more often. It might even make

It's also good at the local waterpark - Hurricane Harbor in Concord, CA although the complimentary parking is only on weekdays.

Anyone have experience with this? I remember a few years ago I was thinking of perhaps getting their season passes near the end of the year. They were as cheap as $60/person with 4 passes. The season pass prices don't seem to be as competitive any more, and I'm guessing it's to try and get more people to go for the reoccurring membership.

 

[Julie's Haircut]

Six Flags is really pushing those membership plans. I have what was once considered the top pass: Gold Member. But now they have Gold Plus, Platinum, Diamond, and Diamond Elite, I believe. I haven't really looked into upgrading yet. My pass suits my purposes. It still includes entrance to any Six Flags theme park and standard parking. Also includes admission to the water park in NJ, but never did include entrance to any other separately-gated 6F water parks. And it also includes about half a dozen "Bring A Friend for Free" or $9.99 or $19.99 perks. My wife doesn't go as often anymore so she stopped buying a pass about five years ago and we use those free or discounts admissions for the one or two times she accompanies me.

I usually buy Labor Day weekend when they run promos. Last year the cost was about $75. I rarely eat there so I'm not interested in dining plans. The promo last Labor Day included the plastic bottle for free soft drink refills.

The membership plan holders have their own dedicated entrance gates, and at Six Flags in NJ, those gates open about 15 minutes before park opening. My pass was reduced to gaining admission about five minutes before day tickets could enter. I think the memberships include discounts on dining plans, larger than standard discounts on merchandise, games, and a few other perks. The higher plans give one or two "Fast Passes" per visit.

 

[eebadeeba]

I have had a membership for several years, along with a couple that I had bought for my kids friends birthday presents.

Mine were without the deposit. I went to cancel after the 12 months (it is closed for about 6 months here, so I figured I would start again when the park opened. But - if they give you better monthly prices if you cancel. If you refuse the first price, they give you a second one. So for the non-deposit memberships, on the second offer, it went down to $5 per month. I had paid the deposit for a friend's membership that I ended up actually cancelling. The final offer was $3 per month (maybe it was 3 and change, I can't quite remember.

Anyway, this was a few years ago, so not sure if it is still their policy, but worth a try.

 

[bcla]

So we’re trying it out for the first time at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. Haven’t been here in over 20 years. Parking was OK, but a bit of a walk. They accepted my voucher for parking and we waited a bit for the security line with metal detectors and X-rays. We used the member entrance where our fingers were scanned.

The food is OK. I got fish and chips with a regular $12.99 price. As long as we come it seems like it’ll pay off. It might even make sense just to drop by for the meals if we’re passing through.

 

[kdonnel]

Six Flags runs crazy cheap specials around here. You can buy an annual pass for $60 and the food plan for $30.

If I were homeless and lived near a six flags, I would beg, borrow, or steal $90 and have all the food and entertainment I needed for 8 months out of the year.

 

[Yoshi]

I have bought a season pass to Great Adventure every year since 2008. I'm hoping for another deal in a few weeks if they sell season passes and don't force everyone to a membership. I'd rather pay around $65 once for the year and get a gold pass instead of paying monthly. If I lived closer I would have considered a membership, probably Diamond Elite. I bought the dining pass every year since it has been offered. It's a great value for a frequent visitor. 2 meals could be $26 total plus a snack up to $10 (like funnel cake). When I was visiting close to 30 times per year it was working out to under $1 per meal and snack. Now that I'm 2 1/2 hours away and don't visit as often (only 2 trips to the park so far this year), I don't find the dining pass as much of a value.

 

[fractalpotato]

I didn't even realize Six Flags had these, I grew up going to Great Adventure before Disney became a recurring trip. My parents, aunts/uncles, cousins and of course my sister took a 2 hour drive there one day every summer, usually with no warning from my parents! It was a tradition, so much fun, back then the parks were much nicer and Warner Bros themed. They had shows, fireworks, all kinds of cool things. We did a sand bottle (fill a glass soda bottle with colored sands) every year we went and displayed them. Then the cousins got older, my sister moved out, money got tight for my family and it just stopped. I went back last year and while I had a good time (employed rope drop strategy with a middle of the week trip early June, we nailed every ride with almost no wait!) I was a little heartbroken. The parks have almost no theming now, everything looks so run down and unmaintained. The rides were fun, but they seemed disjoint, the lack of WB characters was stark and made it seem desolate. They renamed Medusa and repainted it and now it feels and looks cheesy. Kingda Ka is so rough it isn't any fun for me and it breaks down a lot! I miss my childhood memories, I know SF went through a few bankruptcies and ownership changes, so I'm not surprised, but wow.

Matt

 

[powellrj]

Sounds like lots of fun!

 

[bcla]

Six Flags runs crazy cheap specials around here. You can buy an annual pass for $60 and the food plan for $30.

If I were homeless and lived near a six flags, I would beg, borrow, or steal $90 and have all the food and entertainment I needed for 8 months out of the year.

Strangely enough I saw someone there who apparently entered with several grandchildren and used their passes to get food just to take home.

My wife was also a bit peeved that I only got two dining add ons. We marched over to membership services to see if we could add it to her membership. How to change it had to be explained to us because it didn't make that much sense. Apparently there was no way to modify a membership. We could upgrade, but only as a full cancellation and then re-do with the upgrades. Then they would have to manually waive the cancellation fee and refund the deposit and any payment already made. They said it should be a no-brainer since we bought our original membership the same day. We upgraded to a Platinum pass for me (mostly for the beverages and some additional benefits) and Gold Plus for my wife and kid with the deluxe dining package. I got that too, but with Platinum it was a little bit cheaper. They said I would have to wait for the refund.

Not sure about any kind of season pass deals. It's getting to the end of summer. When I mentioned getting them at the end of the year, it was because that was when they were heavily discounted and they were typically good for the remainder of the year, plus the entire next year. But really my kid was getting a bit bored at the end of summer and we thought it might be something to do until school starts. It's only about 20 miles there.

 

[superme80]

Going there on Monday. Very glad I have family and friends who have season passes. I can just go when they have a bring a friend day. We don't usually do a lot at the parks. My kids don't like roller coasters. The food has improved a lot in the last couple of years. Much then when I worked there 20 years ago. If we were closer I might consider a season pass. I always think about it, but we are 2 hours away, so it doesn't make much sense right now.

 

[bcla]

My local park is Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, which I have a bit of a difficult time trying to say. I still think of it as “Marine World”. It used to be the relocated Marine World Africa USA, which was actually a nonprofit educational park with animal shows. They still have them, but it’s not the focus any more. I heard they ended up moving their last orca because they couldn’t get another tank mate as required by law.

We got in somewhat late and couldn’t get that much in. Our kid might also be a bit small for some of the rides. We just wanted to get a feel for the place since we can come back.

The only other practical alternative around here would be Great America in Santa Clara. All they have is their season passes, which aren’t too bad. But they don’t have discounts now and their multi park pass is over $200. They also don’t have a dining pass.

 

[bcla]

My local park is Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, which I have a bit of a difficult time trying to say. I still think of it as “Marine World”. It used to be the relocated Marine World Africa USA, which was actually a nonprofit educational park with animal shows.

They also had a water ski show. The venue is still there and it seems to be fairly well maintained but obviously not used. I heard it had to be cleaned up. The old orca show stadium is also empty.

 

[RedAngie]

I stopped buying a separate pass several years ago too. DH gets one and we go on Bring A Friend For Free (or cheap) days, two or three times a year.

 

[bcla]

I stopped buying a separate pass several years ago too. DH gets one and we go on Bring A Friend For Free (or cheap) days, two or three times a year.

That probably won't work for my immediate family, but I'm thinking of bringing my parents. They were talking about bringing my kid for a birthday, but this deal seems pretty good if we can cancel or perhaps get them to give a discount after 12 months. One of the limits of that is that many of the friends-free days seem to only be on weekdays, but there seem to be some free friends Sundays on our plans.

My big worry is that we'll get bored of it. However, I kind of like that we're not too concerned with getting "everything in" for one day since we can return any time. And maybe we'll use it some day at Mag Mountain just to mix things up.

 

[RedAngie]

That probably won't work for my immediate family, but I'm thinking of bringing my parents. They were talking about bringing my kid for a birthday, but this deal seems pretty good if we can cancel or perhaps get them to give a discount after 12 months. One of the limits of that is that many of the friends-free days seem to only be on weekdays, but there seem to be some free friends Sundays on our plans.

My big worry is that we'll get bored of it. However, I kind of like that we're not too concerned with getting "everything in" for one day since we can return any time. And maybe we'll use it some day at Mag Mountain just to mix things up.

True, my strategy works best for a couple who don't visit all that much.

Yes, most of the free friends days are during the week. However, this year Mother's Day and Father's Day were included. We went on Father's Day (very crowded) and the last Friday in July which was strangely uncrowded for some reason. Almost all the rides were walk-on or at most a five minute wait. We'll likely go again during Fright Fest and Holiday in the Park. I don't know if there are any free friends days during those periods, but there are cheap days, at least at the beginning of those seasons.

If you get bored with it, you'll probably get your money's worth if you visit at least two or three times. Then you can cancel after the twelve month commitment.

 

[bcla]

If you get bored with it, you'll probably get your money's worth if you visit at least two or three times. Then you can cancel after the twelve month commitment.

I didn't have to go to work the last week, and I literally used my pass 8 times (4 times at Discovery Kingdom and 4 times at Hurricane Harbor) in 9 days trying to get off some major damage before my kid started school today. I've only paid for the first month, and I alone have accounted for 16 meals at an average of maybe $12 (plus tax). I'm wondering what the catch is, because (thinking of the "rip off" topic) this is the total opposite. Are they going to cut me off like the guy who managed to polish off over a hundred oysters at an all you can eat buffet?

At this point we're way ahead. What the admission and meals would have cost at discounted prices is more than we're going to pay in 12 months of this membership. Also - I'm kind of sad that there are no more weekdays before Fright Fest. Even only when open 11-6, the lines were so short that for several rides we could just exit and be back on the same ride.

Also - I double-checked our other "local" theme park, which is Great America in Santa Clara. Apparently they do have season dining passes that include lunch and dinner, although no snack. They also apparently have a daily dining pass for $29.99, although I'm not sure how to make that work. They say that one can return for the next meal in 90 minutes. So someone really intent on maximizing it can manage 8 times for a day they're open 10 AM-10 PM. I'm not sure who could manage to eat that much in amusement park food.

My kid seems to love the snack angle at Six Flags - even if it's just something like a rainbow popsicle. It got to the point where it was senseless to go for the most expensive or the most calorie dense items. But the selection has been crazy good, including Dippin' Dots and any number of things. But my wife sometimes said just get a bottle of water with the snack credit since we'd get sick maximizing our intake of junk food.

 

[Klayfish]

We have memberships to Six Flags over Georgia. The place is an absolute dump, I hate going there. But the kids like it, so...

 

[goofy4tink]

I bought the season pass late in the season for the next year...it was pretty cheap. Did that for two years. Our park is a bit over an hour drive for me. But, I tended to go a few times a month because my dd was working entertainment there. And, I really liked that free parking!!!

 

[RedAngie]

We have memberships to Six Flags over Georgia. The place is an absolute dump, I hate going there. But the kids like it, so...

I haven't been there in close to 30 years. Even back then it was kind of sleazy. Or more sleazy than other 6F parks. Although I did like one coaster in particular; I think it was called the Mind Bender.

 

[PollyannaMom]

We did a season pass a couple of years ago to Six Flags New England, and it worked out great for us! We used it a few times ourselves, used the reciprocal benefit at the one in upstate New York while on vacation, and took several of DS's buddies on one of the bring-a-friend-free days. (We rented a large van, and they still talk about that trip.)