It appears theme parks are worried about a slow summer. After all, this is the season in which most of them make their money for the entire year. Check special offer pages for the theme park you want to visit.
Some theme parks will allow you to purchase tickets online at a discount and then simply print out your tickets before leaving home. It saves you from standing in ticket lines as it saves you money. Six Flags has multiple offers along this line for all of its parks.
Passes can extend beyond a single location and apply to huge cities. For example, visiting New York can be expensive if you pay top price for each major attraction. Passes, such as the New York Pass, provide as much as Admission to 40 of New York City's top attractions, starting at $80 USD/day. Check the list of included attractions and determine if you'll be visiting enough of them to make the pass worthwhile. Sometimes, visiting just a few pays for the entire pass.
With that in mind, there is a Go Select pass for New York, Chicago, Boston, San Diego and Oahu that lets you build a custom pass based on attractions you are most likely to visit.
If New York isn't your intended destination this summer, check out a list of other city passes could save you money on admissions and time waiting in long ticket lines.
Still don't see a city to your liking? One more place to check for city deals is Go Card USA, where you'll find pass cards for sale for eight U.S. cities and the island of Oahu.
VIA also offers last-minute fares with Canada's VIA rail service for significant savings. Sample discounts: Toronto-Jasper, Alta. with sleeper $385 CAD, regularly $1,340; Montréal-Toronto $62 CAD, regularly $149. Fares vary greatly by destination and date, and most will sell out quickly. Read restrictions carefully.
If train travel in Europe is in your summer plans, take a look at Rail Europe's special deals and promotional discounts. Although many of these offers are good throughout the summer, some require purchase well in advance of your trip.
Rail passes are a time-honored way to see a lot of Europe on a budget. Check out rail pass options that will fit your time frame and bank account. It's always worth checking to see if passes actually save money on your particular itinerary by pricing point-to-point tickets first.
Travelocity car rental deals are tied into many of the major car rental companies. It's a starting point for your car rental search. Another good search is Kayak, which scans car rental sites in search of bargains. You can set Kayak to weed out all offers above a certain price.
If you're willing to take the bus in North America, Greyhound offers a Discover Pass allowing unlimited travel for seven days at $253, 15 days at $360, 30 days at $461 and 60 days at $564. If you opt for the 60-day offering, you can travel for just more than $9/day.
