Amusement Parks

Marc and I have talked about an amusement park family vacation when the kids are older. Actually, we talk about two kinds: the close-to-home one, in which we drive down to Orange County, stay at a hotel near Disneyland for a couple of days, and hit Disneyland, California Adventure, and maybe Knott's. The other one involves flying across the country to the much more interesting amusement parks in and around Orlando. We also talk about drives down toward San Diego, involving Legoland and Sea World, but I'm getting off topic here. And the topic is: hitting the amusement parks without blowing a year's worth of savings. The Frugal Duchess has some great tips here. I note that some amusement parks don't let you bring your own food in (although they don't always check your bags). If that's the case, bring a cooler filled with sandwiches, fruit, snacks and drinks and head out to your car for a rest break.