Stay-and-Play Can Cure Theme-Park Burnout

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It’s 11 p.m., and the kids are exhausted after a day of roller coasters, water slides and too much junk food. But instead of putting them to bed, you’re herding the cranky gang around the enormous theme-park parking lot in search of your car.

I’ve been in theme-park lots late at night, more times than I care to remember. As if it weren’t enough to spend 10 hours at a hot, crowded park with kids on a sugar high who can never agree which rides they want to try. If only you were in a nice, cool hotel room, drinking a glass of wine. If only you didn’t need to find that car.

Some wishes can come true. Taking their cue from Walt Disney World, growing numbers of theme parks are building and refurbishing hotels and offering more stay-and-play packages so that tired families can extend their experience overnight. Other hotels near theme parks offer an array of hotel-and-park packages.

“It’s definitely a trend,” says Brett Lovejoy, president of the International Assn. of Amusement Parks and Attractions.

Many of these theme-park hotels offer great perks and discounts to their guests.

If you book a two-night hotel-and-park package at Disneyland this summer, each child will get a three-day park-hopper ticket free with each paid adult ticket. Packages include breakfast and start at $403 per adult. (This rate saves $90 per child.)

You can split a six-night stay between Disneyland and San Diego for less than $800 per adult, double occupancy required. The Land-and-Sand package includes hotel and admission to the Disney parks--Disneyland and California Adventure--plus Sea World, the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park. Call (877) 700-3476 or visit www.disneyland.com.

If you stay at one of the three Loews hotels at Universal Studios Orlando (including the new 1,000-room Royal Pacific Resort), you can bypass lines at the park by showing your room key. Four-night packages start at $99 per adult per night, including three-day parks admission and a day at Wet ‘n Wild. The package costs $120 for kids up to 17, and just over $100 for those younger than 10. If the kids have at least one “A” on their report cards during the past year (bring a copy of the report card as proof), they can get free drinks and other goodies at all Loews hotels this summer. Call (800) 711-0080 or visit www.universalstudiosvacations.com.

Jump from 18th century Virginia to the 21st century with Summer Wild Card packages that include hotels and unlimited admission to Colonial Williamsburg, Busch Gardens Williamsburg and Water Country USA. Two-night packages for a family of four can cost as little as $547. Call (800) HISTORY (447-8679) or visit www.history.org. For more packages, call (800) 395-4386 or visit www.buschgardens.com.

Some hotels have special themes, so the fantasy doesn’t necessarily end at the theme-park gates.

If you stay in the Snoopy wing at Knott’s Berry Farm Radisson Resort in Buena Park, Snoopy will come tuck in the kids at night. He’ll also leave a chocolate dog bone on their pillows. Two-night packages that include breakfast and admission to the park and to Knott’s Soak City start at $299 for a family of four. Call (714) 995-1111 or visit www.knotts.com.

The great thing about these on-site accommodations is that you almost certainly won’t feel as rushed or get as tired. If you have at least two adults along, perhaps one can take the baby back to an air-conditioned room for a nap while the other takes the rest of the kids for their third ride on that new roller coaster. Grandma and Grandpa can return to the hotel whenever they like.

Booking a room on site, even for one night, can turn that long day at the park into a mini-vacation. With the time you save, the family can explore the lesser-known attractions. A midafternoon siesta will be just the ticket to get everyone ready for a serious night of coaster-riding and fireworks.

Last summer at Disneyland, my teens took an afternoon nap in the air-conditioned comfort of Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel, adjacent to the California Adventure Park, while I took the younger kids on their favorite rides.

Later, when the little ones were ready to call it a night, the teens were glad they didn’t have to leave with the rest of the family.

Forget the roller coasters. I’ll see you at the pool.

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Eileen Ogintz welcomes questions and comments from readers. Send e-mail to eogintz@aol.com.