This is a strange page for us to write, because most of it is advice on how to give us less money. We are writing it anyway, because families who feel like they got fleeced do not come back, and we would rather have you for ten years than for one afternoon.

1. Start with 2 hours. Do not pre-buy the extension.

This is the biggest one and it is the one almost everybody gets wrong.

A family of four with two small kids starts at $88. Adding 2 hours for everyone would put it at $130.

Here is the honest part. Most families with young children do not need the extension. Two hours at a waterpark with a six year old is a complete visit. They go down the slides, they do the lazy river, they get cold, they are done. The good news is that the extension is bought at the window, not up front, so you genuinely cannot lose here. Start at 2 hours and decide later.

2. Come at 10am

Not a money tip exactly, but a value tip. Our first two hours are the quietest of the day by a wide margin. A 2-hour pass used from 10am to noon gets you far more actual riding than the same pass used from 1pm to 3pm, which is our busiest window.

Same money, more waterpark. This is the highest-leverage thing on this page after the pass choice.

3. Use the multi-day pass if you are here for the week

Day 2 is 20% off. Day 3 is 40% off.

4. Parking is free, and that is not nothing

On site, no charge. If you have paid to park in Ocean City in July you already know what this is worth across a week. It is one of the real reasons the six mile drive up Route 1 makes financial sense.

5. Know the height rule before you pay

The children's rate is for kids under 42 inches. At 42 inches and above the adult rate applies. That surprises people at the window, and we would rather you knew standing in your kitchen than standing in our line.

Measure at home. It changes the math on your day by $16 per kid.

6. Eat before, or eat cheap

Food is where waterpark budgets actually die, and that is true everywhere, not just here. Hungry Viking does funnel cakes, fried Oreos, burgers, fries, pizza, hot dogs, chicken tenders and Coca-Cola products, and it is reasonable for boardwalk food. It is still money.

A family that eats lunch at the rental and comes for a 10am to noon pass spends $88. A family that eats everything on site spends well over that. Neither is wrong, but know which one you are choosing.

7. Do the free and cheap things on the same trip

The beach is free. Parking is free. Viking Golf is $13 for adults and $8 for kids under 42 inches, with ages 3 and under free with a paying adult. Viking Go-Karts is $10 per kart, not per person, so a double kart with a parent and a kid is $10 total.

A family of four can do mini golf for $42 and two double karts for $20. That is a full evening for $62 with free parking.

8. Come in June or September

Rentals on this coast drop hard outside of July and August, and the weather in early June and September is genuinely good. That saves you more than every tip above combined, and it is the one we would actually take ourselves.

What we are not going to pretend

There is no secret coupon. We do not run a code you can find on a forum. The prices on this page are the prices, and they are the same ones on our pricing page. The savings here are real but they are ordinary: buy the right pass, come at the right time, use the multi-day if it fits, and do not pay for parking.

9. Bring your own food and drinks

We are not going to build a wall around our own food stand. Bringing a cooler with sandwiches and water is fine, and for a family on a budget it is the single biggest saving available on the day.

Hungry Viking is there if you want it and the funnel cakes are genuinely good. But nobody at this park is going to make you buy them.

10. Water shoes save you a purchase

A small thing. Concrete in July is hot, and a family that arrives without water shoes buys them somewhere at beach prices. Bring them from home.

The real math on a week

Putting it together for a family of four, two adults and two kids under 42 inches, staying a week:

That hundred dollars is a round of mini golf, two rounds of go-karts, and ice cream for everyone, with change. Same trip.

Why we wrote this

A family that pays for four hours and uses two does not blame themselves. They remember the park as expensive and they do not come back. We would rather sell you two hours, have you leave feeling like it was fair, and see you again next July.

That is the whole strategy. It is not complicated and it is not charity, it is just how a family business survives on a small stretch of Route 1 for a long time.

Common Questions