fdecarlo

My vote is for the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose. We were bored to tears.

A close second (at least in our book) is the Monterey Bay Aquarium. We were also bored to tears, and it has the look and feel of a botched attempt at a zoo. Those poor otters and penguins! Not to mention the jellyfish. Unless you're *really* into sealife I'd recommend spending the way-too-much-admission-cost on a nice lunch somewhere in Monterey.

Patrick

This is a generality, but I think some of the worst rip-offs are oldfashioned amusement parks and/or carnivals. We have been spoiled these days by the Disney idea of pay one fee for everything. While some people may gripe about how high those fees are, they should go to a place like an amusement park boardwalk where these days if you ride about 10 mediocre rides you've paid as much a day ticket at a really great place.

klw25

I'm with you Patrick. I took my three kids (ages 6 and under) to a dinky little carnival this summer. I bought the kids wristbands (so all the rides were one price, but there are only so many rides kids that young can go on--although it was still a much better deal than individual tickets), a burger or hot dog and a treat, and they played maybe 2 or 3 carnival games each. I spent more than $100 for a couple of hours of entertainment! And that was probably the cheapest I've ever come out of a carnival for, probably because I was the only adult, making us more limited in how much we could do. I'll take the cost of a Disney ticket any day. I think Disney's cheap in comparison for what you get.

wanderluster

Klw and Patrick, you are right on my friends. Another example, VEGAS baby!
Roller coasters for $10 each? I don't think so.
Give me Disney anyday!

tudorprincess

For those of you that think Salem is a rip off, we just came back from there on Saturday and I think it's a rip off that the city is turning into a yuppie suburb of Boston. We LOVE that town. I thought the Witch House was along the same lines as The House of the 7 Gables.
The biggest rip offs that come to my mind are:
Niagara Falls
Disney anything
Madame Tussauds- Las Vegas (haven't been to the one in London)
Tarpon Springs sponge dive boat
Drive-in volcano on St. Lucia
Rock 'n'Roll Hall of Fame Museum
Funny what others think are a rip off.

turn_it_on

I second the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, CA. Even as a young teen into spooky stuff I was bored to death. It's just a stuffy old house, and there's rooms they don't let you into but stop at and blather on about anyway and you have to crane your neck to see in through a tiny doorway. "Staircase to nowhere" is pretty lame once you're standing in front of it.

To a lesser extent, I'd also say the Space Needle. It was $12.50 each to go up in Dec 2003 and once you're up there and have looked around for fifteen minutes, you're looking at each other going "Now what?".

love
roxy

FainaAgain

I think it all depends on personality, age, gender, hobbies.

At the Hockey Hall of Fame I was so bored - just sat on a bench reading a book while my son had the time of his life!

Another mother was sitting on a bench across from me, visibly, bored, while her children explored the area. You should've seen the envy in her eyes when I pulled a book out of my purse

highbay

By far.....FOUR CORNERS!!!!! We could hear the natives laughing all the way to the bank when we paid our admission fee.

snowrooster

Not really anyone's fault, but CANCUN!! I was sick the entire time (how can you not consume any water? ice is made of water. vegetables are washed in it. ugh!). I spent the whole trip thinking about the others ways I could have better spent the money. I don't know if I'll ever have the stomach to return to Mexico again. If I do, it will definitely be an all-inclusive high end resort (we stayed at a high end resort previously, but it wasn't all inclusive).

gotribe

You can easily spend four hours looking at exhibits and listening to music at the Rock-N-Roll Hall of Fame. At $18.00, how is that a rip off?

droolpatrol

There's a DRIVE IN VOLCANO in St. Lucia?

tudorprincess

I've been to the Rock Hall twice and except for the Ronnie Wood special exhibit and the MTV room of t.v.'s I was underwhelmed. I love music but for some reason the museum doesn't do a thing for me. Especially, signatures backlighted on a wall. I don't know what I expected but this just wasn't it.

wsoxrebel

Graceland in Memphis

amatters

SOUTH of the Border. wow what a dirty little place. I stopped there about 10 years ago (ok so i was around 12) and it was clean and interesting but the past time i went it was dirty and run down

martytravels

It's not in the U.S. but the buffet at the Atlantis Resort in Nassau. $40 per person for some unbelievably bland entrees and some really awful desserts. (Not to mention a charge for non-guests just for the privilege of walking around some parts of the hotel)

Postal

I think Disney wins this category HANDS DOWN!

Meesthare

Niagara Falls is a rip-off??? You can look at the falls for free, and I would think that by now everybody has seen a picture of it, so you know exactly what it is you're going to be looking at - no surprises there!

Patrick

That description of Niagra Falls sounds like the same kind of thing you could say about Disney. How could anyone go to Disney World without a pretty good idea of what it is and what it costs. If you don't like that sort of thing, how could you be stupid enough to go? That's not a rip-off, any more than someone who hates meat going to a barbeque and saying I didn't like it -- what a rip off.

jacketwatch

Sorry SD fans but it has to be Wall Drug. This is a drug store/restaurant/souvenier shop in S. Dak. tha has to be the cheesiest, most over priced gimmick I have ever seen.

E

Alpine Helen, Georgia. Hey, it's exactly like an Alpine village in Switzerland, except that it's in Georgia, and there's no snow even in winter, and the mountains aren't much, and they sell fudge and funnel cakes to eat, and the hotel buffets feature mountains of batter-fried trout that taste like feet...but other than all that, it's exactly like an Alpine village!!!!

If you find yourself in its vicinity, RUN!