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[money35]

I am just wanting to vent alittle I guess. The tickets to Silver Dollar City are so expensive compared to what they have. Dont get me wrong I really enjoy Silver Dollar City as well as my kids but $60.00 to get in front door for adults and like $45.00 for kids that is a little steep When you can go to Six Flags for cheaper and they offer alot more to do. Does anyone know of any discounts to Silver Dollar City? They dont offer many discounts and dont allow anyone else to sale theirseason passes or give much discount either. Again We all really enjoy the park just with everything going up espicially this stupid gas that is alittle steep.

[shavethewhales]

Unfortunately, outside of utilizing the BAF pass system, there don't seem to be a whole lot of discounts right now - though I haven't been very observant lately. Reservebranson.com had a good discount last year, but I don't remember all the details and I haven't heard whether it will continue this year.

We've had this discussion many times before, but I'll say my piece again: if you think SDC isn't worth $60 for an entire day, then maybe the park, and theme parks in general, aren't the best choice for your vacations right now. SDC is a very good value vacation destination for all that it offers. Comparing it to most other parks is laughable, especially when you consider how much a trip to most other parks will actually cost when you factor in exuberant parking prices and outrageous food and drink scams. They hardly "offer alot more to do" either, unless you only go to parks to ride rides. SDC can be pricey on certain things, but it's still one of the best value parks in the nation. Other parks offer more rides, but when comparing overall prices and experiences it's no question where I'd rather spend my money, IMO.

I mean, what do you expect? Theme parks are massively expensive to operate, especially quality operations like SDC. So many people will unquestionably plop down $80 for tickets to a 3 hour ball game, but then balk at spending anything near that to get into a massive themed entertainment space for an entire day. With season passes, that same expenditure gets you in all year! And that access gives you unlimited rides on multi-million dollar thrill machines in an a huge, immersive environment with quality staff - way better than most experiences at ball games, IMO.

Bottom line is, theme parks and other entertainment venues are always going to be expensive if you expect any sort of quality. You have to put your entertainment expenditures in perspective to see where the good values are. There are certainly numerous reasons to visit other parks, but I hardly think value is one of them.

[joshblakebran]

Honestly...One of the reasons we do Branson and SDC every year is because it is so cheap for our family of six. We get our season passes when they first go on sale, so we get them for 70ish dollars for adults, cheaper than that for the kids. We, using our fifth wheel, stay in Branson for 3 weeks or so. We go to SDC everyday that we are there. This year we also went to the OTC festival over Thanksgiving for 3 days. When you figure all the rides that we have ridden, all the shows we've seen @SDC (we going to GAC almost every night we're there during Kids Fest), cave tours, the discounts we get on food both in the "City" and at the campground, Ride the Ducks, the Showboat, and this year Dolly's Dixie Stampede, the memories we are creating with our family in addition to the quality time we spend together I'd say the tickets are cheap. Here in Colorado, attractions such as the Royal Gorge, Seven Falls, etc. are very expensive in comparison to the SDC tickets when you take into account all that SDC and the SDC season passes have to offer. So let's see, each of us used our passes 25 times, we paid a little under 400 for the passes(3 adult passes, 2 child passes, 1 free as our youngest is 3)...that comes to about $3.20 per day (if you add in the 25 visits that my youngest gets in for-he rides numerous rides for free-your looking at 2.67 per day), not taking into account the discounts (adding those in, we probably should be paying more for our passes as it would be a negative number). Of course we have the fuel and camping, but honestly, the only way we could go on vacation for cheaper would be to just stay home. In other words, I don't SDC is too expensive at all...By the way, even though we do usually eat at once in a while at SDC and buy a Root Beer float or two during some of our visits, we are allowed to take our cooler with food and drinks in, something a lot of parks don't allow you to do, so that is an added savings as well if you choose not to purchase on site if you think that is too expensive..  

[money35]

You know I was expressing my opinion and to me it is a little expensive compared to other parks and to have some of you get rude and have make rude remarks to me does nothing I was asking if anyone knew of any discounts for the park since we have to get 5 tickets this year and gas is at ridicous price I didnt ask for any rude comments you can keep those to yourselfs....

[sarahdickson]

well, the passes are a little high, but not that bad you get discounts for buying early and if you buy more that 5 at a time.AND if you buy a season pass and never get to use it, they will send you a new one for the next year AAA has some discounts on them sometimes, if you are a AAA member

[joshblakebran]

Money35..I apologize if you feel like my response was rude...I promise it was never intended to be...I'm simply saying that for our family, with what we like to do and in comparison to other things available, I think SDC is cheap...Your likes and dislikes are different than ours...we love rides but with the age of our children, probably not the big thrill rides that your family probably enjoys that are found more at amusement parks which may have cheaper daily admission prices. I admit, if your buying a day pass, the SDC tickets are pretty steep, but with the season passes that we purchase and the number of times we use them, it's a great value...again, didn't mean to offend you or come across as rude...

[okiebluegrass]

The season pass is a good deal if you plan to go more than once. Otherwise, there are lots of places that offer two day passes

[rubedugans]

For reference these are rough numbers from the websites-these are minimum numbers, no high packages, many parks offer platinum and upgrade, multi park, etc...these are simple one park entry for a season, or a day.(Did the math quick it should be close enough to figure out)

WDW is (from what I found) upwards of $500 for a year (granted they are open 365...), and $87 for a daily pass
Universal is $160 for a season, and $82 for a daily pass
BOTH GIVE IN STATE DISCOUNTS!!!
SDC is $80 for a season, and $59 for a daily pass
WOF is $75 for a season, and $44 for a daily pass
SF StL is $60 for a season, and $35 for a daily pass

THAT MEANS...

Disney is 6.25 X the price of an SDC season (again...granted they are open 365...) and 1.48 x the daily rate of SDC
Univeral is 2 X the season pass of SDC and  1.4 x the daily rate of SDC

SDC IS 1.06 x a WOF season pass, and 1.3 X the daily rate of WOF
SDC IS 1.3 X a SF season pass, and 1.6 x the daily rate of SF

I think it is all relative to the location of the park. I took a trip with family to CA, and WDL was high compared to what I was used to. We knew several workers, and were able to use their employee discount/ free passes, so we came out almost unscathed. Universal was a different story, I knew it was more expensive, but we did not spend near the amount of time I would have on an SDC day-yet we still covered almost every inch of the place and it cost us more by almost 50%. Many East or West Coast parks can charge more since the cost of living is higher in these areas, and the parks have more of the draw than some other theme parks. Cali is charging 8-10% more on gasoline than the midwest, it is all relative to me. Yes $80 is a big expense for me, and making it double with my wife doesn't help fronting $160 for leisure expenses a year ahead of time. We skip movies, dining out, big gift exchanges in order to have our SDC time. We don't go to Disney, or the beach, we are land lubbers and proud of it!

[money35]

Rubedugans, Of course Disneyworld is going to be more expensive it is Disneyworld and you can get discounts. Sixflags even offers discounts and you can get season passes other places than just the park at cheaper rate unlike Silver Dollar city you can only get Season passes from them and pay the high price. Again I like Silver Dollar City but compared to other parks, and how much more the parks offer thats alittle pricey and again you can find plenty of discounts for other parks not for Silver Dollar city alot of companies in Branson say they are hard to work with about discounts, and season passes...

[money35]

Sixflags in Texas is like $55.00 for 1 day pass at gate but many stores, and banks sell tghem cheaper as well as the season passes you can get at stores or banks for cheaper..

[rubedugans]

Our SF in Stl offers most of the year-Children's entry fee/ price for all ages (this started after the most recent bankruptcy issues) They are also sold at 1 local grocery chain.

All I can offer Money35 as words of encouragement are to check the SDC sites regarding packages and specials:
http://www.bransonsilverdollarcity.com/offers-packages/
http://silverdollarcity.reservedirect.com/sdc_packages.asp
Currently it offers Spring packages bundling lodging, shows SDC and others in groups.

SDC offers Military Discounts
Discounts from regional McDonald's
AAA offers Discounts on multi day packages and sells season passes during the season
SDC and some hotels sell 2 day specials to SDC
SDC has an after 3pm entry= next day free incentive
There are incentives for pass holders etc (BAF coupons, food/ merch. coupons etc)
At one time Coca Cola Discounts were offered on cans/ bottles, but that was 20-30 yrs ago!

[money35]

What do you mean regional mcdonalds is that all mcdonalds offer discounts.

[Junior]

Blah...blah...blah....stop yer griping! In 1978 when I worked on park it was less than $8 a ticket to get in. We thought that was a high price then! When you add multi-million dollar roller coasters and high production stage shows with big casts the cost to operate the park skyrockets. You are paying a fair price for what you get. If you cannot hack it, may I suggest the little traveling carnival that comes to  your town twice a year, with ride tickets around $3 to $5 a pop. My wife, daughter and I went to Magic Kingdom in Orlando in 1996, and three hot dogs, three french fries, and three drinks cost $35.00! (And that was 15 years ago!) SDC is a special place, and has a loyal fan base that return not only year after year, but generation after generation. It's expensive to get into any theme park, and for my dollars, I'd rather go to SDC any day of the week. (OK, Off my soapbox now!

[sanddunerider]

As already pointed out the best deal is season tickets if you a going for 3 days or more, if you are going  2 days in a row there are plenty of 2 for 1 tickets available locally.

I really feel if you factor in the Atmosphere, the big rides, Marvel cave, the large assortment of "shows",  and the reasonable cost of food onsite/ ( we can eat at most of the eateries for about 8.00 each).   SDC is a great bargain.

Obviously IF you dont do the shows, or maybe dont do rides, or maybe dont like the 1880's theme, then maybe the price would seem excessive, since your not taking full advantage of the park

And as josh pointed out you can take in your cooler of food and beverages to save money if you choose to,

We As a group SDC fans get a great room rate at eagles lodge motel in branson, only 40.00 per nite. The manager there has the 2 for 1 tickets too. So that is a savings also.

[shavethewhales]

You know I was expressing my opinion and to me it is a little expensive compared to other parks and to have some of you get rude and have make rude remarks to me does nothing I was asking if anyone knew of any discounts for the park since we have to get 5 tickets this year and gas is at ridicous price I didnt ask for any rude comments you can keep those to yourselfs....

Nothing was said that was meant to be rude. You came on here to ask for info, but you also injected an opinion point, which I responded to directly with my own opinions and viewpoints. If you're going to hang around in these parts, you can't interpret every alternate viewpoint as rude.

There's no question that it's increasingly expensive to go to SDC, especially during times like these. All I can offer you is context as to why SDC is worth it in comparison to other parks. If it's not worth it, it's not worth it, but when it comes to theme parks in this region I'd take SDC or nothing.