Review: CityPASS Attraction Cards

Earlier this year CityPASS offered me a pair of passes to try out their services, but I had no travel plans at the time. They were gracious enough to still provide the pair as a giveaway, which my readers were super excited for. Since I had used their services before, I knew how great they were to work with and wanted to pay it forward with my trip to SoCal this Fall and purchase cards so I could do a full-on review. My cards arrived quickly after ordering and I put them in a safe place in my travel bag. After all, these were going to get me into Disneyland, California Adventure and Universal Studios. (They also were good for admission to SeaWorld, but we didn’t have plans to drive to San Diego on this trip.)

Why CityPASS, you ask? It’s true. I could have just purchased 3-day park hoppers directly from Disney and 1-day admission to Universal, but the cost would have been quite different. CityPASS saves you a significant amount of money on attractions with their cards – up to 50%!  And you all know that budget travel is the name of the game, so the more money saved off the bottom line the better. Regular ticket prices for Disney are $250 for a 3-day hopper and Universal costs a whopping $80 to get in, making your total $330. CityPASS gets you into these two attractions (including a Magic Morning at Disney) and SeaWorld for just $279. It’s a potential total discount of $129 per person, but even the $51 we saved was a good chunk of change. We used the difference to purchase $49 front-of-the-line passes at Universal – and still kept a few bucks in our pockets.

CityPASS is super easy to use. You bypass ticket lines, stroll up to the gates and your PASS is scanned and a regular ticket is presented to you. You pocket both and continue with your day. It literally takes less than 30 seconds for them to scan your card and give you a ticket. No holding up the line or complicated procedures at all. Now, in Universal it doesn’t really matter if you have a real ticket, but at Disney, you need your ticket to be able to use FASTPASS machines that get you ahead in the lines and save you time.

Here’s how we used our Southern California CityPASSes – remember, you need one for each member of your travel party:

Day 1 – California Adventure

We arrived on a Saturday night and were able to check in, get settled, make a grocery store run that involved a spontaneous stop at Wienerschnitzel (pretzel buns are back???) which we don’t have anywhere at home, watched fireworks on the rooftop (of our lodging, not Wienerschnitzel) and then headed to bed for an early morning at the parks.

Sunday, we waited patiently for the ART bus and then waited not-so-patiently in line for security to check our bags. Turnstile lines were short, so we waltzed over to the shortest one and the wonderful cast member scanned our CityPASS, pushed a few buttons, gave us regular park tickets and reminded us that we needed to use those each time we came back on our visit. Easy!

Day 2 – Disneyland

Using our park hopper tickets given to us the previous day, we had absolutely no issues getting into the park a second day. We even used them to hop to California Adventure and back with ease. Once inside the parks, we used them to get FASTPASSes, too.

Day 4 – Universal Studios

Three days after we first used our CityPASSes, we arrived at Universal Studios Hollywood and presented our cards to the attendant and they were quickly scanned. They don’t bother giving you a regular park ticket, which saves some paper.

Day 7 – Disneyland

This is the day we used the remainder of our 3-day park hopper passes for the Disney parks. Again, we had no problems using them for entry and FASTPASS options.

If you want to save up to 50% off your activities on vacations, CityPASS should definitely be on your list of buys before you leave for any of these 11 destinations: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Hollywood, Houston, New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, Southern California or Toronto. The more you use it, the more you save. Like you needed an excuse to pack more things into your budget, right? If you have kids, you can purchase CityPASS for them at a lower rate and it works just as conveniently. When you save big on certain aspects of your travel, you can splurge on other things (like your hotel or food) or realize how you can have a great vacation with your allocated travel funds.

Mickey gives CityPASS a thumbs up!

CityPASS has generously offered to give me another pair of passes for one of my readers. While I normally would attach that giveaway to this review, it will be part of our Best of the Best Travel Gear Holiday Giveaway next month where we will revisit the awesome travel products and services of 2012 and give away a whole slew of prizes from those merchants. In the meantime, keep CityPASS in mind for any travel you have coming up to the cities they are available in as well as holiday gifts for the traveler on your list. CityPASS is also perfect for getting yourself or your family out of the house over the holidays. If you live in or will be visiting a featured city, spending every waking moment with relatives is not always stress-free. Use CityPASS to save your sanity.

More information:

Where you can buy them: CityPASS online

How much they cost: varying

Where they are available: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Hollywood, Houston, New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, Southern California and Toronto.

Other specs: CityPASS is good for one year from purchase and makes a great gift.

Doesn’t CityPASS sound cool? You can also find them on Facebook and Twitter

Disclosure: I was not provided with free CityPASS cards for the purposes of this review. My review is purely unsolicited, but the giveaway will be sponsored by the lovely people at CityPASS.

Review: GoCards from Smart Destinations

I love nothing more than saving money on my vacations. It makes me giddy to see how much I would have spent and the actual total for my trip getting lower and lower. I don’t care how long it takes me to find discounts, but lucky for me Smart Destinations makes it super easy to save big and do a ton on your trip. They offer GoCards (and GoCard Select) for 9 U.S. cities: Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Oahu, Orlando, San Diego and San Francisco. They bundle a bunch of travel activities and attractions into one card to help you save money, do more and prepay for your entertainment, so you don’t have to worry about how to pay for each thing you do once you get there.

GoCards allow you to skip the ticket queues and go straight to the turnstiles at most attractions. You present your card and either are admitted entry right away or get an admission ticket to use on your way in. I was provided with 2 two-day Los Angeles GoCards and we had more than enough things to choose from on our trip. In fact, there were so many options, we had to make some decisions about what we definitely wanted to do and what we could do without.

We planned to spend one day in Hollywood and another day on the coast – in between our theme park days and other activities – so we chose attractions in both places and set out to save as much money as possible (even if these things weren’t paid for by us). The more you use the cards, the more you save. Had I not been provided promotional tickets for this review, I would have purchased the cards on my own to do these things.

Day 1 – Los Angeles/Hollywood

We drove to Hollywood early in the morning to take in breakfast at the famous Mel’s Drive-In (not really a drive-in) after reading about how many diners enjoyed the morning selections. I also had a Groupon. Then we followed it up with:

Movie Star Homes Tour by LA City Tours – These tours are great, as they are in small groups (around 10), so you have time to ask questions and also aren’t crammed in a bus with a ton of other tourists and not able to get photos of what is being talked about. Not only did we see some amazing homes of stars, like Simon Cowell’s palatial estate, but we also passed by famous Hollywood landmarks like the Viper Room and places where celebrities have been spotted, like the El Pollo Loco where Brad Pitt once worked. This tour is generally $49 per person.

Tour of the Dolby Theater (formerly the Kodak Theater) – The Dolby is the permanent home to the Emmys and, during the two months they aren’t setting up and taking apart things for that, Cirque du Soleil. Right now they are performing Isis, a movie-inspired performance. What more would you expect from a theater in Hollywood? Tickets are normally $15. The tour is 30-60 minutes long, depending on how many questions are asked, and you learn about who gets invites to the Emmy’s, security, the red carpet and VIP areas. We showed our GoCards at the box office and got two admission tickets.

Eric making a deal he can't refuse

We had afternoon tea reservations at 3:30 at the London West Hollywood and then we returned to Hollywood and Highland to visit Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum. Usually, I avoid it because it seems terrifying. I figured since it was virtually free it wouldn’t be the worst decision in the world. At first, it was scary, but then I got into it and it was really fun. Eric thought it was hilarious when I ran away from the wax figures. Regular admission fees are $30 per person and even though it was a few minutes past the 5:30 pm cut-off, they still let us use our cards.

By now it was getting dark, so we checked out the hand and footprints in front of Mann’s Chinese Theater, appreciated the lit-up front of the El Capitan Theater owned by Disney and then went back to Anaheim.

Day 2 – California Coast

Several days later we headed to the beaches, since we always skip going to them when we are in California. This time we had many, many days to fill and we felt we should do it at least this once. Our first stop was in Long Beach at the Queen Mary. We got there super early – we were so used to everything taking forever to drive to – and we had a leisurely breakfast at the café on board. When we went to get our tickets for the tour we were told that our cards didn’t work.

Unfortunately, we weren’t told that our promotional passes were only good for consecutive dates (normally they are valid for two weeks from your first use), but on the plus side, Smart Destinations’ customer service is amazing and friendly and they let me know that even though our cards were deactivated, we could still use them by calling at each destination and letting the rep talk to the ticket office. We were a bit behind schedule at this point, so we left and headed to Venice Beach. If we had stayed, the Queen Mary tour tickets would have usually been $25 each.

After a nice stroll along the Venice Canals and the beach, we headed to Santa Monica where we used our cards and customer service to get wristbands for Pacific Park. We rode the only solar-powered Ferris wheel in the world, the only West Coast steel oceanfront rollercoaster on a pier and other fun rides. Unlimited ride bracelets are generally $23.

Because there was a party at Pacific Park that night, we skipped going to the aquarium and used our GoCards and customer service to get seats on the Santa Monica Hop-on, Hop-off Bus. If you’ve been reading Shereen Travels Cheap for any amount of time, you know how I’m obsessed with these. Instead of paying $40 for each of us, our tickets were included with our cards. We got a lovely ride on an open-top double-decker bus along the coast and through Brentwood, Rodeo Drive and Beverly Hills. The bus has running commentary along the route and you can stop off at a number of places along the way.

Even with the misunderstanding of how the promotional cards worked, the GoCards were super easy to use and gave us quick entry into every attraction we went to. Had the traffic into Hollywood not been so slow on Day 1, we also would have squished in the Hollywood Museum, which would have run $15 for regular entry. The GoCards Los Angeles allows you to gain entry into 39 attractions in total. A two-day pass costs $110 and we used $157 worth of attractions. If things had gone as planned (as if they ever do), we would have saved $92, instead of $47, but even so we saved 30% off the regular cost of all the attractions we did.

GoCards are great budget traveler take-alongs. They help you do more on your trips and stay within your vacation allowance at the same time. Who doesn’t love that? If you’re going to any of the cities where they are offered, you should definitely look into getting them for your travel party. You can get them for children, too, at a discounted rate.

More information

Where you can buy them: SmartDestinations online

How much they cost: varied

Other specs: GoCard and GoCard Select available for Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Oahu, Orlando, San Diego and San Francisco.

Like the awesomeness of SmartDestinations? Find them on Facebook and Twitter.

Disclosure: I was provided two GoCards for the purposes of this review, but all opinions are 100% mine.

Stress Free Sojourns: A Week in Agadir from Heathrow

Travelling slightly out of season is ideal for those who prefer a quieter time away. As the school term starts again in September and the heats of July and August cool slightly, getting away is both more calming and cost efficient. Agadir in Morocco is an excellent beach resort for a restful respite.

This photo of Travelodge Heathrow Central is courtesy of TripAdvisor

With the low cost and tranquil ambience cutting a huge amount of stress out of your stay, why not eliminate all pressures and look for Travelodge deals on Heathrow hotels. Booking into the hotel for a night before you fly can ensure you are right on the doorstep of terminal one.

When your early morning flight calls, say goodbye to last-minute packing and early morning jaunts on the motorway. Shuttle buses from Heathrow hotels take you right where you want to be in just a few moments; no more unnecessary early mornings, just an additional hour or two of rest before you head off for your flight.

Photo credit

During late September and October, you can expect temperatures in Agadir to reach into the mid-20’s degrees C. With averages hovering around 25 degrees C, sunbathing with a holiday read is definitely in the cards.

Many hotels in the resort have onsite spa facilities for that extra touch of tranquillity while you are away. Why not indulge in some treatments as well as making use of the typical spa amenities? Le Musee de l'Argan is a top spot in Agadir for massages and facials if you want to experience an authentic Moroccan spa.

This photo of Taddanga Surf School is courtesy of TripAdvisor

Surfing is a popular pursuit in Agadir. The seafront location is perfect for those who have a passion for the sport and are looking to spend their time abroad riding the curl. Complete novices are not forgotten; surf schools are on hand to offer guidance in how to master the waves.

The soft sands of Agadir Beach are met with twinkling clear waters. Those who like to laze in the sun and spend their stay rejuvenating from the humdrum of life at home will find everything they need nearby. Flit between the loungers, the watersports, and the beach side cafes.

This photo of Horse Back Riding & Camel Riding at Ranch Amodou Cheval is courtesy of TripAdvisor

Wherever you go in Agadir you are guaranteed striking landscapes. Venture outside of your hotel during your stay and make the most of the breath-taking beauty of the resort on horseback.

For under £20, Horse Back Riding at Ranch Amodou Cheval can arrange transport to and from the ranch from your hotel. Try sunset rides or swimming with the horses for a truly memorable excursion.

Bargain escapes in the sun are now online for October getaways in Agadir. Choose to travel towards the end of the season, during term time, to ensure you hit the beach during the quietest period.

Look forward to stress free sunbathing, top class accommodation and unforgettable excursions. Start your trip as you mean to go on with Travelodge deals on Heathrow hotels.  The best rates can be secured in advance online now.

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post brought to you by Travelodge Hotels.