It’s no secret. I use Groupon all the time, and even more so now that they constantly have 20% off coupon codes. The problem is that we don’t always find a way to use them by the time they expire. Usually you don’t have a ton of time–and that’s how they get you. There have definitely been more times than I’d like to admit, that a promotional amount on my groupon has expired. Sure, they are always still valid for the amount that you paid for them, but it’s usually to a place that I’m not willing to pay full price for, so that defeats the whole purpose.

But the Groupon I purchased this spring to the Enchanted Forest Water Safari? Well, I was bound and determined to make this one work. Summer is slipping away so incredibly fast, and I was finding less and less chances to see our family sneak away for an overnight to visit the water park. I thought the deal we got was pretty good–with a 20% off coupon code, we spent $70 and got four tickets to the park (Sawyer was free!) and a $20 food voucher. We were also allowed to enter the park for the last three hours on the day before our “full day”.

This past week we were out in New Hampshire visiting family–our schedule was pretty tight though. I had to get back to do a series of photo shoots that I could just reschedule on a whim, so we were going to head right home after our visit. It turns out that the clients for the first photo shoot I was supposed to do when we got back had to reschedule because of something that came up. Normally this isn’t really “okay” if we are so close to their session date, but in this case, I was tickled pink. That means we had an extra day of vacation after our family visit, and we were able to head to the water park. I was super thrilled.

The moral of the story is to be prepared like a boy scout. I didn’t really think that I was going to be able to reschedule my session, but in the case that the weather in Rochester was going to be rainy and I would’ve had to cancel for weather reasons anyways (fat chance, but possible), I brought everything with us that we would need for the water park, and I’m so glad that I did. You better bet we will be keeping our eye for an Enchanted Forest groupon for next season!