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A family outing doesn’t have to be a pain. Yes, even in Los Angeles. And yes, even with teens. Families planning fun day trips around LA don’t have to settle for long lines, be met with sold-out venues, or pay a fortune to entertain their kids. There is another way.
We discovered an innovative ticketing platform called Tiqets after they reached out to our family to tell us about the entertainment technology they created for a hassle-free entrance to enjoy cultural attractions worldwide. I had never heard of the Amsterdam-based digital booking platform, so I dug into their website.
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What Is Tiqets?
Turns out, four savvy guys in the Netherlands realized buying tickets for museums and attractions was not easy. Having to go and find each website and scour it to find all the ticket options, availability, and cancellation clauses was time-consuming and inconvenient. Throw in multiple venues, and it’s a mess. Plus, having to do all that in a foreign city – on a website using a foreign language – can curtail the best intentions of any type A mother.
How Tiqets Started
So, nine years ago, these guys created a booking platform website for digital ticket delivery and reached out to museums and amusement parks to join them on it.
“Our goal was to enable tourists to easily browse, book, and access tickets to their desired cultural experiences using just their smartphones,” said Leurink.
The response was terrific! Museums and attractions all over the world loved the idea of enabling visitors to have a better experience and making it easy for family travelers to enjoy them. It changed the travel industry. Now family travelers can easily use a variety of payments methods to book a wide range of fun things in one place with instant ticket delivery. And not only that! When a family orders their tickets through Tiqets, they can often receive a discount or other perks like “skip the line” access!
All this can now also be done through any smartphone through their free app.
Tiqets Vlog
How To Use Tiqets
I’m always trying to enrich my boys despite their resistance and heavy sports schedules. It’s tough. Especially now that they’re both teens. I thought the toddler years were hard, but now they’re loud in a different way. Yet, I am stubborn and insist on broadening their perspective whether they want it or not.
When I saw that my son, Kaleb’s soccer schedule would take us into Long Beach on a Saturday, I hopped on the Tiqets website to see what I could find. I remembered the Aquarium of the Pacific was there, but we hadn’t explored it since they were too little to understand anything about the Pacific Ocean-based marine exhibits. All they took away was the fish wore pretty colors.
Fall in love with the sea animals. © Rina Nehdar
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So, I booked tickets for the day we would be there, and a suggestion popped up on the site for a museum I’d never heard of, the USS Iowa, a battleship docked in San Pedro. Well. What boy wouldn’t love exploring a battleship?
Is Tiqets Legit?
Since they were new to me, I wasn’t sure. So, even though I had the mobile tickets on my phone, I printed them just in case. When we arrived at the Aquarium of the Pacific, there was a sign in front of the doorway that said SOLD OUT. Ugh. That would have been me, bringing my kids to see the incredible aquarium and not buying tickets in advance to find this sign blocking our good time.
Fun with a small bill! © Rina Nehdar
But not on this day! Our “Skip the Line” tickets took us right to the front of the line and straight into the aquarium. No problems at all.
Yes, Tiqets is an upstanding company that makes life easier on curious consumers who also want to save money. As a trusted service, Tiqets has sold admission to 3,700 attractions and theme parks around the world through more than 30 million ticket sales.
There are 14 cities in the United States where family travelers can discover cultural attractions: Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, San Diego, Las Vegas, Chicago, Tennessee, Miami, Orlando, Houston, San Antonio, Georgia, Atlanta, and Pidgeon Forge.
Discovering New Museums For Kids: Battleship Iowa
After spending a couple of hours at the Aquarium of the Pacific, it was time to get to the Battleship Iowa before they closed that Saturday at 5 pm. So, we skedaddled about 7 miles to the harbor in San Pedro, where it is docked.
Seriously the bomb. © Rina Nehdar
I already knew my tickets from Tiqets would be fine, so this time, I opted to use the Tiqets app and showed my QRC code at the entrance. Because we weren’t doing a tour, I wanted the boys to learn a bit about the battleship in another way. We could have done the free included audio tour, but my boys aren’t patient like that. So, we found a gentleman who had worked on the battleship and was willing to answer our questions. He told us a bit about the history of the ship (see video for more!).
Then we walked around the deck and got a tiny taste of what it must have been like to live on board the USS Iowa over the six decades of its service from WWII to the Korean War. The boys went below into the belly of the boat and peeked into the bunkhouses of the enlisted men, the officer’s quarters, and the captain’s cabin.
Into the belly. © Rina Nehdar
We went through the mess hall and the commanding bridge. It really was a great way to get a feel for what we read in history books. I loved that I never even knew this existed until I started exploring the Tiqets website, which is, I guess, part of the reason for its creation.
Tiqets for Amusement Parks
As LA residents, we are lucky to have convenient access to many theme parks around our city. We often buy a desired ticket to a selection of local theme parks, have season passes to some and accompany friends whenever possible (sports schedule, ehem). The boys are now at the age that they can visit without parental supervision, but I still like to tag along because I, too, love the rides and the magic!
All the fun! © Rina Nehdar
The last time Kaleb went to Universal Studios Hollywood, he went with a friend. We bought his ticket through the park website and forgot about it until his friend, who has season passes, decided to go the following day. Now, the problem with pre-bought theme park tickets is they’re only good for the day for which guests buy them. My indifferent teen seemed ok with sacrificing the money we paid for his ticket without any effort to remedy the situation. This did not work for me. So, I called and talked to a person who told me she couldn’t help me (in a very nice way) and passed me along to someone else who also very nicely said the same thing and then I asked for the supervisor who put me on hold for about a half hour while she investigated the situation. The good news is that she was able to move our ticket to the next day, but that was a good hour from my life I’ll never get back, and most days, I just don’t have anything even close to that.
Major Tiqets Perk
When we bought our discounted tickets to Universal Studios Hollywood, a different situation happened. Our season pass holder friends wanted to go on a day that was sold out to the public. Yet, when we went onto the Tiqets website, there were tickets available! So, we were able to join our friends!
[ctt template=”8″ link=”_dcPT” via=”no” ]A family outing doesn’t have to be a pain. Yes, even in Los Angeles. Explore how the @Tiqets app or website makes getting tickets easy![/ctt]
Our favorite studio. © Rina Nehdar
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Why Should Families Use Tiqets?
As an active mom with multiple kids, the road less obstructed is the one for me. Please give me easy over challenging and keep the time-consuming at arm’s length.
“Looking ahead, I see Tiqets expanding its global presence and becoming the go-to platform for travelers worldwide,” said Leurink. “As we continue to expand our partnerships with museums, attractions, and other travel-related businesses, our clients and customers can look forward to a growing selection of experiences and services. From exclusive access to renowned exhibitions to seamless integration with transportation and accommodation options, we are dedicated to enriching the overall travel experience.”
Using one source to buy tickets to all the places we want to visit at home or traveling makes life roll by at a pleasant pace. I know now that when I want to take the boys to Hollywood to visit an area they’ve not experienced, I can book a Hop-On-Hop-Off Bus Tour to take them past the homes of celebrities and combine it with a ticket for a hike to the Hollywood sign so we could get close enough to get its autograph. All this access at discounted rates is the reason we’ll be using this platform.
By Rina Nehdar
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