From free admission parks to discounted tickets, here’s how to spend a day at a Pennsylvania amusement park without breaking the bank.
A day at an amusement park may seem expensive, but there are ways to take part in this quintessential summer activity without stressing your wallet. Across the commonwealth, Pennsylvania amusement parks are filled with rides, games, and other diversions that can be enjoyed for an affordable price—you usually just need to make a plan in advance.
We’ve put together a guide to help you get to know the best low-cost parks in the state, as well as ways to hit up more expensive parks on a shoestring. Whether you’re looking for the classic atmosphere of century-old parks or the thrill of modern rollercoasters, there’s an amusement park in the state you’ll want to visit this summer.
Free admission, pay for rides parks
Some of the most affordable parks in the state don’t charge admission at all—you only pay for the attractions you actually ride. Knoebels Amusement Resort is king in this category, though the state is also home to a couple of other free admission parks. If you’re looking to visit an amusement park minus the hefty price tag, these options should be at the top of your list.
Knoebels Amusement Resort—Elysburg (Northumberland County)
Knoebels Amusement Resort in Northumberland County’s Elysburg continuously racks up awards, from the best coaster and the best theme park restaurant to one of the best theme parks in the country. Yet Knoebels is actually free to visit! It’s even free to park there.
A rare vestige of the era when amusement parks didn’t charge admission, Knoebels still issues old-school tickets that visitors use to pay for rides. That means your entire family can tag along (and enjoy the free entertainment), while only the ones partaking in the park’s more than 60 rides and attractions actually need to pay.
Those rides and attractions offer a mix of vintage nostalgia—like the wooden coaster the Phoenix—and more modern thrill rides. All rides cost between $2 to $6 per ride, with coasters being more expensive (the Phoenix is $5 a ride).
If you want to ride a lot of attractions, you can purchase unlimited ride passes, which start at $45 per day for adults and $31.50 for kids. Knoebels also offers specials like “bargain night” on select Wednesday and Friday evenings, when unlimited ride passes, excluding some big ones like the Phoenix, can be had for $18.
What’s more is that Knoebels allows guests to bring in their own food—you can skip including amusement park food in your budget and just bring in a cooler for a picnic!
DelGrosso’s Amusement Park—Tipton (Blair County)
DelGrosso’s Amusement Park is a small amusement park that doesn’t charge admission and also offers free parking. The park first opened in 1909 and was purchased by the DelGrosso family in 1946—yes, that DelGrosso family! The family added an Italian-themed water park in 2016.
DelGrosso’s has more than 30 theme and water park attractions, each costing between $2 and $4. The family-friendly park has plenty of rides for small kids, though note there are just three thrill rides.
Even though the DelGrossos own an Italian food company, you can bring food into the park! Coolers and personal food are allowed in a designated picnic area.
Waldameer & Water World—Erie
It’s free to enter the amusement park at Erie’s Waldameer & Water World, which first opened in 1896 and remains one of the oldest family-owned amusement parks in the country.
Today, there are nearly 50 attractions across the theme park and water park, including rollercoasters, kiddie attractions, and classic rides. Waldameer even has the tallest and fastest wooden roller coaster in Pennsylvania—the Ravine Flyer II. You can pay per attraction, with costs running between $2.50 and $6 per ride, or you can buy a wristband for unlimited, all-day rides, with costs depending on whether you want to visit both parks (visiting the water park does require purchasing a pass).
On the amusement park side, a one-day pass is $41, which drops to $30 if you’re visiting after 5 p.m.
You can also bring your own food into the amusement park—an additional way to save. Note, however, that you can’t bring outside food into the water park.
More low-cost parks
This second tier of Pennsylvania amusement parks includes parks that charge admission, though prices tend to be much less than at your typical theme park. Keep in mind that parking and food, depending on a park’s policies, can raise the cost of your day out!
Kennywood—West Mifflin (Allegheny County)
Kennywood is one of the oldest amusement parks still operating in the country, as it first opened in 1898. After a series of ownership changes in recent years, however, prices at Kennywood have risen—but there are still budget-friendly ways to visit the Pittsburgh park, which has over 40 attractions both classic and new. The most important guideline to follow: Never pay gate prices!
The gate price at Kennywood is $75, but if you buy your tickets online—especially during seasonal sale—you’ll pay much less. You can also get cheaper tickets if you can plan ahead. For example, online tickets for any day during the operating season are currently $60, but choose a specific day you’ll like to visit, and the price drops to $40.
You can also save money by packing your own lunch in a soft-sided cooler (though you may want to include room in your budget for Kennywood’s unrivaled Potato Patch fries).
As for parking, parking close to the entrance costs extra, but Kennywood does have a free lot—it’s just further away from the front of the park.
Idlewild & SoakZone—Ligonier (Westmoreland County)
Owned by the same folks as Kennywood, Idlewild & SoakZone has seen prices creep upward in recent years, but you can still visit the Laurel Highlands amusement park on a budget. After all, parking is free and you can bring outside food and drink into the park, which has more than 40 rides and attractions (including Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, based on the television series of the same name inspired by “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood”) as well as regular entertainment and shows.
Current ticket prices—which include admission to both Idlewild park and the SoakZone water park—start as low as $37 when purchased online.
Dutch Wonderland—Lancaster
Dutch Wonderland is a Lancaster County amusement park with a fairytale castle theme, geared toward families with young children. The park has more than 30 rides, and nearly all of them are suitable for toddlers.
You can get tickets online for as low as $40 (avoid gate prices!) but parking fees, which start at $25, and the cost of food (no outside food is allowed) will raise the price of a day at the park.
How to visit more expensive parks on a budget
Hersheypark—Hershey (Dauphin County)
Hersheypark is the largest Pennsylvania amusement park (and one of the largest in the country) with a wide range of coasters and attractions—and it has the prices to prove it, with gate tickets starting at $90. But if you plan ahead, you can visit the Hershey candy-themed park for much less, as online tickets are currently priced at $55. You may also be able to find discounted tickets through community partners like Giant Food Stores.
Parking and food costs can make affordability more difficult, but there are still ways to save. You’ll want to purchase your parking pass in advance, as parking is $25 if purchased online, but you’ll pay an additional $10 if you pay at the gate.
In addition, outside food isn’t allowed inside the park, and it can get expensive. You could pack a cooler and leave it in your car for a tailgate picnic. But you could also purchase a $40 “all-day dining deal,” which allows you to get an entree and side at most food vendors in the park every 90 minutes. Purchasing more than one of these deals for a family can add up, but guests online widely report one deal being enough for two people to split all day.
Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom (Six Flags)—Allentown (Lehigh County)
Allentown’s Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom is part of the Six Flags family, famous for its rollercoasters. While a Six Flags park sounds pricey, online tickets for Dorney Park currently start at just $39 for access to the park’s more than 60 rides.
And if you plan to visit more than twice in a season, you might purchase an annual pass, as it’ll pay for itself—and score you free parking, which is otherwise about $30. The current online price of a silver pass (the most affordable pass) is $75 for unlimited visits through Labor Day. A gold pass—which includes visits throughout the entire park season at all Six Flags parks on the East Coast—is $105.
More ways to save at Pennsylvania amusement parks
Consider getting an annual pass
If you think you’ll visit a specific amusement park more than twice in a season, it might be worth it to purchase an annual pass to the park. These passes also often come with tantalizing extras, like better parking and discounts on food or souvenirs.
Bring your own food
Many parks allow outside food to be brought into the park, meaning that you can pack a picnic lunch for you and your family and avoid paying for pricey, often middling park food. That doesn’t mean you should entirely avoid restaurant meals at the parks—but try to only purchase food that you really want—such as if you’d like to visit Knoebels’ award-winning restaurant—rather than paying too much for a sad peanut butter and jelly just because you’re too hangry to function.
Plus, even if a park doesn’t allow food, you can always pack a lunch in a cooler and leave it in your car, though note that this option is likely only worth it if you can park close to the entrance. Otherwise, your lunch jaunt may eat too much into your park time.
Get to the park early
You don’t want to just save money—you also want to make sure the money you spend is worth it. That’s why we recommend getting to a park as close to opening as possible so that you can hit up all your favorite rides before the lines get exponentially long. That way, you’re more likely to be able to experience everything a park has to offer, rather than running out of time because you’ve spent much of your day waiting in line. (This strategy may also eliminate feeling like you need to go to the park a second day, and thereby spending money on a second day’s ticket.)
