Staying onsite at a theme park can be very steep because of you paying for a premium experience and being at the centre of the thrills (looking at you Disney and Universal) which is why many of us choose to book a cheap Premier Inn or Travelodge nearby instead to keep the costs down. However, last year I managed to find an amazing deal where you can stay 1 night in the Thorpe Shark Cabins at Thorpe Park, get 2 days park entry, breakfast, 1 hour unlimited fastrack and free parking for less than £37 per person.
This is a ridiculous deal seeing as on a lucky day you could be paying that price for just a Travelodge room but then this also includes park entry for 2 whole days and the other benefits. This package deal can be done by pretty much anyone, however there is one catch…
This Is A Student Deal
Before frowning, only one of you in the party has to be a student as you have to validate your student status via UNiDAYS or Student Beans when taking out the booking on the Thorpe Park website. Thorpe Park also state that with this promotion and also student day tickets that they will check for a physical ID card upon arrival for you and all other guests but in all my time going they have never done this.
There is another catch to this and that’s from what it seems, they only run this promotion on select dates in the months of September and October. This is likely due to it being during the quietest period of the year for the park however it’s a blessing as the park will be VERY very quiet on these dates meaning multiple re-rides and very little queues.
Another (Relatively) Minor Catch To This
To get this promotion as low as £37 per person, you have to be 4 people sharing 1 room for 1 night at the Shark Cabins. If you can gather 4 people that want to do this deal (I don’t see why they wouldn’t as it’s an outrageous bargain and a very fun couple days) then this is the most cost-effective way to do it. However if there is only 2 of you, it can still be done for £99 total (so around £50 per person) which is still a bargain and around the price of an on-the-gate 1 day park ticket.
Here is a screenshot from this promotion showing the dates in yellow for when they were running it in 2024. These seem to be the quietest days of the year just after the end of the UK school summer holidays and the start of their yearly halloween event Fright Nights.
Having done this deal last year, it is a fantastic promotion worth doing especially for the price and low queues. If you know anyone who is a student and would volunteer forward their student status to do this, you can be guaranteed a very budget-friendly (and fun) couple days at one of the UK’s best theme parks.
Dan
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