For the price of a yearly pass, a California man got free meals at Six Flags Magic Mountain in California.
A California man saved enough money to buy a house, pay off his student loans and get married — all by eating nearly every meal at an amusement park.
For the price of a yearly pass to Six Flags Magic Mountain, the electrical engineer got two free meals a day. So for seven years, that's exactly where he filled up his stomach.
“You can pay around $150 for unlimited, year-round access to Six Flags, which includes parking and two meals a day,” the 33-year-old, identified only as Dylan, told Mel Magazine “If you time it right, you could eat both lunch and dinner there every day.”
In 2014, new to his job that was just a five-minute drive from Magic Mountain, he watched the towering rides through his office window. Being a roller coaster fan, he wondered about package deals to the park. Then he stumbled upon the option that included food.
“That entire first year, I don’t think I ever went to the grocery store,” he says. “I timed it so I was able to go there during my lunch break, go back to work, then stop back for dinner on my way home.”
And he soon found that he was actually saving money. A lot of money.
“One of my coworkers said she spent $1,500 a month on eating out, I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m not going down that road," he said.
It was not the most varied of menus. Initially, Dylan ate a lot of junk food.
“The first year, the menu was kind of lame — all you could get was a burger and fries, or a pizza and breadsticks, or this pathetic sandwich and a refillable soda cup,” Dylan recalls. “It wasn’t healthy at all, which was rough.”
Eventually, the park's fare expanded to include salads and some meatless entrees. And Dylan found himself eating there less frequently because his wife was not as avid a fan of roller coasters.
But Dylan estimates his amusement park diet ended up costing him about 50 cents per meal. And he still goes there for a quick bite.
“We just bought a house here, so I’m not really going anywhere,” he said. “As long as they keep changing the menu, I’m happy.”
