In Tight Times, the Day Trip Appeals

[GAcoaster]

From the New York Times:

 

In Tight Times, the Day Trip Appeals

By MICHAEL WINERIP

 

JACKSON, N.J.

 

IN recent summers, Rebecca Shaneck, her husband and three children, who live in Stewartsville, N.J., have rented a beach house on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. But not this summer of 2008.

 

“Not with these gas prices,” said Ms. Shaneck, a teacher. And not with these airfares. “We’re not flying anywhere,” she said. This summer, the family’s trip to the shore was an hour and a half drive to Point Pleasant Beach, N.J., for a one-night stay. Ms. Shaneck went on the computer, using Priceline to find a motel for $55. They arrived in the late afternoon, when parking at the beach is half price and admission is free, and picked a Thursday because there was a free fireworks show that night.

 

Next morning, they drove here, to Six Flags Great Adventure amusement park, using coupons for reduced-price tickets and packing a cooler. “We’ll eat lunch out in the parking lot,” said Ms. Shaneck.

 

And while the kids were having a ball (“Excuse us,” said Ms. Shaneck, “we have to go on the merry-go-round now”), it was a way-closer-to-home, less expensive ball. Nor were they alone at the busy park. Attendance at Six Flags is “trending up so far this summer,” compared to the last two summers, said Mark A. Kane, the park president, and he says a major reason is parents like the Shanecks, adjusting to a bad economy by taking their fun nearby.

 

Walking the park, even with all the loud music and the roar of 13 roller coasters and the Great American Scream Machine screaming, you could still hear the biggest economy in the world shifting into a lower gear. Parents repeatedly described making vacation adjustments, giving up Yellowstone National Park or Caribbean ports for Bugs Bunny National Park and Looney Tunes Seaport here at Six Flags.

 

Ray Raya, a lawyer, and his wife, Mary, have made trips in past summers to Alaska and Hawaii, but this summer, when a friend offered them and their two young children a free time-share in Hawaii for a week, they turned it down. “We priced flights and they were $2,300,” said Mr. Raya. “Even though the time share was free, we said no.” This summer, their splurge was a season ticket to Six Flags.

 

In past summers, George and Lynn Oldenhage of North Arlington, N.J., who were here with their daughter and three granddaughters, had vacationed in Las Vegas and Aruba. “This summer, we haven’t been able to go any distance,” Mr. Oldenhage said.

 

Elizabeth and Farley Mohammed, of North Coram, on Long Island, have taken their family to Disney World in previous years. But this summer, they said, the three-hour drive to Six Flags was as far as they’re going. “We’re not even going to Hershey Park,” said Ms. Mohammed. “It’s four and a half hours, and we’re not going any place we have to stay overnight.”

 

John Stracensky of Forked River, N.J., who had just been to see the dolphin show with his 2-year-old son, Cole, said he was spending most of this summer on land. “We have a boat but we’re not using it much — a fill-up is $500 to $600.”

 

Anticipating the bad economy, Six Flags has reduced the basic admission ticket $10 this summer, to $49.99; has offered two-for-one specials; and given additional discounts on ticket packages purchased online.

 

A sign of the effect gas prices are having: the number of visitors to the park taking New Jersey Transit buses is up 20 percent over last year, according to Mr. Kane, the park president.

 

While people come to an amusement park to be amused, it was striking how many parents expressed serious worries about the economy and how many had made adjustments to cope. Carol Burroughs of Colonia, N.J., who was soaked after getting off the Flume ride with her three daughters, Kelly, 9, Erica, 7, and Chrissy, 5, said her husband, an EKG technician at a hospital, had taken a second job, nights, in a doctor’s office. “Oh, yeah, it worries me,” she said. “But we don’t talk about it with the kids. I feel it’s my and my husband’s responsibility.”

 

As he stood in a spot of shade at Wiggles World, Mr. Oldenhage, a manager for an air-conditioning company, said that because of the housing crisis, his firm’s business is down 25 percent.

 

Ms. Mohammed said she wasn’t sure if she’d be able to send her 11-year-old daughter back to classical dance lessons this fall. “I’ve explained it to my daughter to a certain degree — we can’t spend money on everything we used to,” the mother said. “Have we told her all the hard facts? No. She really wants to go back to dance. Hopefully we’ll be able to afford it. They are our future.”

 

Though the sun was bearing down and it was in the high 80s, when asked what she was worried about, Ms. Mohammed, who works for Cablevision, said, “I’m worried whether I’ll be able to afford to heat my house this winter.”

 

For many of the parents, this is the first time they’ve experienced a bad economy as adults. “Yes,” said Mr. Raya. “We’re really, really worried.”

 

Still, they’d come to be amused, and on this day, it was working. As Mr. Raya pushed the carriage forward he shouted to his 2-year-old son, “Wiggles World, here we come.” And after talking so soberly about home heating prices, the Mohammeds rushed off, laughing, to ride Kingda Ka, because it is supposed to be the tallest roller coaster on earth.

 

Ms. Shaneck’s children didn’t know it was a $55 motel room, because it had the one essential every child needs: great beds for jumping on. Indeed, the next morning, when they woke in that $55 room, 7-year-old Kate uttered the words that no parents ever think they’ll hear, the words that keep parents going even when gas is $4 a gallon, when the roundtrip airfare to North Carolina is $900 and a bag of groceries is $50. “Thanks for taking us, Ma. This is so much fun.”

[JetsDevs4Lyf]

I tell you what, even without this article being about Great Adventure, or even amusement parks in general, it is still a slightly heartbreaking story which is pretty much resonating around the country right now. I remember as a child it being difficult to understand when things were just a bit too far out of reach of m parents for us to do, and this story also makes me think back to all of the things my parents allowed us to do, that probably strectched their dollar a bit further than they would have liked. I know as a non-married recent college graduate things are tough even for me, so I can't imagine having to support kids and let them do the thigns they enjoy while taking care of necessities at the same time. It is a nice story about how the park offers a nice alternative close to home, but at the same time it's a story that seriously reinforces the problems many people are going through right now.