Miniland at Legoland, Windsor
Always worth keeping an eye out for discounted hotel offers, here are some of our favourites;
Hotels for a tenner; check out the Millennium Madejski hotel in Reading that are offering 10 rooms every night of 2010 for only £10. With a gym, swimming pool and only a short distance from Legoland, this could be an ideal base and a great price. More details available from discount accommodation at Millennium Madejski.
London hotel for £1; look out for the Hoxton hotel sale on 9 September. At 12noon, they will release 595 rooms for £29 and 595 rooms for just £1! More details available at discounted hotel rooms.
News of the World £10 hotel offer; pick up 2 of the three tokens being printed in the News of the World on 5/9, 12/9 & 19/9 for £10 a night hotel deals throughout the UK.
Let me know if you see anything better?
Liz
A Lego Version of Vue Cinemas
Vue cinemas could hold the answer to a treat on a budget before the kids return to school. Each weekday morning, Vue cinemas offer tickets for both children and adults for just 95p a ticket!
This weekend’s selection is Where the Wild Things Are, PG. Movies generally start around 10am but check your local Vue Cinema for listing times.
For more cinema deals and discounted tickets, check out our Insider Guide to the Cinema.
Liz
Even a weekend in London does not have to cost the earth if you’re willing to put in the leg work in before you go. Here’s our top tips for a budget weekend in London and how we managed to enjoy it without spending a fortune:
Plenty of interactive exhibits at the Science Museum
Check out cheap fares on travel plus railcard discounts; we bought tickets through London Midland trains that are currently running a half price sale on off peak tickets. We discounted this further by using our family & friends railcard for a further third off adult tickets and 60% off child tickets. A return trip from Derby to London for three cost us less than £30!
Keep your eyes out for hotel sales and discounted rooms; we took advantage of the Travelodge sale that ran way back in April and booked a family room for just £12 for a Bank holiday Sunday. The London City Road Travelodge was a relatively upmarket travelodge, (and we’ve seen a few!) just off the Northern Line and it certainly did us proud!
Consider your breakfast options; we could have made use of the Tesco Express two doors down but opted for the all you can eat buffet breakfast at the Travelodge. Kids eat free on this deal and as we had booked in advance, this secured a further discount. Breakfast for three came to £13 and we didn’t need much for lunch!
There’s always free visitor attractions, it’s just finding them; cities are full of free attractions if you are willing to search them out before you go. Here’s a few of the free attractions we managed to fit in:
Diana Memorial playground
Check out the current deals & vouchers for eating out; there is an array of vouchers for eating out nowadays, just find ones that work for you. We chose to eat at Pizza Express Saturday night and managed to combine two seperate vouchers. Voucher 1 offered 2 courses for £10 whilst Voucher 2 offered a free kids meal with any adult meal. Thus a two course meal for three plus bottle of wine & a coke came to £37.
That’s a Topdog weekend!
Liz
Alton Towers on the gate price for an adult ticket is £38, however shop around and you can substantially reduce your ticket price. Here’s a few discounted options to consider;
Adult Towers for £19; Alton Towers are currently running an online deal on their family tickets that effectively works out at £19 per person for families of three up to families of 6. The beauty of this deal is you can bag Early Ride Time too!
Alton Towers for £15; Lastminute.com are currently offering Alton Towers adult and child tickets for just £15.
Alton Towers for £13; check out the Alton Towers toddler deal that offers a parent/carer and child under the age of 4 into the park for only £13. Further details available at Alton Towers; toddler deals.
For more deals, discounts and even free tickets to Alton Towers, go to cheap tickets for Alton Towers.
If you are paying full price, you’re not trying hard enough!
Liz
We’ve 100 copies of our Unofficial Guide to Alton Towers to give away.
Our Guide to Alton Towers is packed with deals, an abundance of tips to beat the queues at Alton Towers plus discount vouchers on local businesses & attractions. All of this to give you a day at Alton Towers that doesn’t cost you a fortune!
For your chance to pick an Alton Towers guides, just sign up to our new email newsletter using the form at the top right of the screen and the first 100 entries will receive a copy of this guide through the post.
Good luck!
Liz
Sonic Spinball at Alton Towers
Alton Towers for just £13 for a parent/carer and a child under 4 years! This toddler deal from Alton Towers is valid until 6 September and offers you and a child under 4 discounted entry to this popular theme park. For more information go to Alton Towers toddler deal. Whilst only one voucher can be used per transaction, you can always break into smaller groups and combine this with a parent queue share ticket so you can all enjoy the park.
It maybe worth waiting until peak season is over and the kids are back at school for a possible re-run of the £12 Alton Towers toddler deal that also offers free parking and a free tea or coffee to boot! Watch this space.
Liz
The sun was out and Topdogdays took their Thrill Hopper tickets to Drayton Manor today to check them out…it’s a hard life but someone has to do it! If you’ve never heard of a Thrill Hopper ticket, this is a great way to experience the thrill of Staffordshire’s visitor attractions for a substantially lower price! Included within the ticket is entrance to all of the following:
You can use the Thrill Hopper ticket throughout the season with a single ticket priced at £44.95 or a family ticket for £129.95.
So off to Drayton Manor Theme Park to we went. The Thrill Hopper tickets offers one visit to each attraction so our ticket was simply stamped to show we had used our Drayton Manor visit and were issued with Drayton Manor tickets for the turnstile.
Once in, we were away for a day of thrilling rides & experiences that kept us entertained the whole day through.. and for a sunny day, it wasn’t even too busy!
For more information on Drayton Manor, check out our Insider Guide to Drayton Manor that is full of tips to beat the queues as well as further deals for the park.
What a day we had and not only that we’ve still Alton Towers, Waterworld and the SnowDome to go!
For more information go to Thrill Hopper discount ticket.
Thorpe Park’s Fright Nights aren’t too far off for those of you with a strong constitution! Running 7-10 October, 15-17 October and 22-31 October.
See the return of the live action horror mazes; Hellgate, The Asylum, Seven & The Curse plus Saw, the Maze …all in the dark! There is free entry to annual passholders on 7 October only, after this there is a £5 charge for all other Fright Night dates.
Looking for a deal, check out Thorpe Park; deals & vouchers.
Who’s up for this one?
Liz
The best deal of all is free tickets! If you managed to get down to Alton Towers in June and kept hold of your tickets, then you can take advantage of a free trip in September! Just keep hold of your original theme park tickets and show them at the ticket barriers for your return trip, (some restrictions on dates, so check out the conditions before you set off to avoid disappointment.).
The full terms & conditions as set out on the Alton Towers website are as follows:
Free entry in September Terms and Conditions
1. Visit the Alton Towers Theme Park from 01.06.10-30.06.10 and return any time in September 2010 for FREE.
2. The offer is valid for the following ticket types:
• Tickets purchased through the official Alton Towers Resort website: www.altontowers.com
• Tickets purchased through the official Alton Towers Resort Contact Centre
• Tickets purchased on the day from the official Alton Towers Resort ticket booths
3. The offer cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer or promotion..
4. The offer is valid for the Theme Park only and cannot be used at the Resort Hotels, Waterpark, Spa and Golf.
5. Only tickets purchased through www.altontowers.com will be eligible for early ride time.
6. Guests must retain their June ticket to gain free entry in September.
7. We advise that 27.06.10 will be a busy day and recommend that guests choose a different date to visit. Tickets purchased on this date will, however, still qualify for a free visit in September.
I can remember some restriction on dates in September so best to check with Alton Towers before you set off.
If this doesn’t work for you, check out the current list of deals and vouchers for Alton Towers.
Blackpool Tower at Legoland Discovery Centre
English Heritage are supporting the nationwide heritage open days that are offering free entry to over 4000 settings from 9-12 September 2010.
Some of the highlights include free entry to;
Some of these events do need to be booked in advance. For further details, check out Hertiage Open Days; free entry weekend.
Free entry, that’s what we like!
Liz
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