Travel Niches: Theme Park Vacations
by John Hawks

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Plan ahead for the best ticket deals. When your clients have their family's vacation dates confirmed, ask them to give you a call right away so that you can search for the very best prices on theme park tickets (as well as airfares, hotel rates, and other trip expenses). Many times, you can save a great deal of money for your clients by buying tickets ahead of time or buying ticket packets or multi-day tickets that your clients can’t arrange if they wait until they get to the admission gates. You can also find lots of visitor information on theme park suppliers’ sites that you can share as family travel tips with your clients.

Tell your clients to arrive at each park about 30 minutes before it opens. Sounds simple, doesn't it? However, it's a different story when parents are struggling on that first morning to load kids and strollers and cameras and diaper bags into the car! By arriving early, your clients can avoid the last-minute parking crowds -- but they won't be standing in line with their kids so early that everyone begins to get anxious.

Break up their days into "park-lunch and rest-park" segments. Encourage your clients to plan to take a break around noon to leave the park (remind them not to forget to get their hands stamped or to keep their tickets so that they can return later!) to eat lunch at their hotel or a nearby restaurant. They'll save a lot of money, and they can recharge themselves to return in the late afternoon (when other guests may be leaving or slowing down).

Recommend that they visit the farthest attractions first -- and shop for souvenirs last. When they enter each park, they should go right away to the rides or shows on their list that lie farthest from the entrances. Then, they can work their way back towards the front of the park. Tell them not to buy anything until the end of the day, when they're planning to head home, so that they don't have to carry those purchases around with them all day!