The Top 10 Hidden Fees for National Monuments and Other Popular Destinations

If you are a foreigner who hopes to travel to the United States, and if you are among a list of 36 countries targeted by the ESTA, or electronic system for travel authorization, then you will likely have to pay a $14 promotion fee to enter the country. Much of this money will be used to promote more tourism, critics are concerned that charging tourists enter the United States could have the opposite effect. However, the fees don't stop once you enter the United States, as a number of national monuments, government facilities and other tourist attractions have added on hidden fees for foreign tourists and US citizens. The top 10 are listed below.

1. If you plan on visiting the Grand Canyon, or even just stopping briefly to gaze down the steep canyon walls to the Colorado River below, you will be charged an extra $20 by the Park service as a "Gazing Fee", which will be used to help preserve the endangered population of woolly mammoths who live in the bottom of the canyon.

2. The the ornery, and increasingly powerful, Tea Party has commandeered the Statue of Liberty and the piece of land that it sits on. Foreign visitors to the national monument will have to pay a special seven dollar "patriots fee" to the Tea Party to help "restore honor" to the United States.

3. Visitors from foreign countries who decide to visit Walt Disney World will be charged an extra, "Mickey Mouse fee", which will help defray the cost of the use of translators in the park.

4. As a special 100 mile barricade has been constructed around Chicago, checkpoints will assess the national status of visitors to the Windy City, who may then be asked to pay a special one-time $30 " Lost Olympics fee" which will help the city recoup money that it spent trying to get the Summer Olympics to come to Chicago.

5. Police stations across the country, but especially in Southern California, have begun charging celebrities a $5,000 fee for "jail stay concierge service" which will help defray the cost of having a private jail cell and private chef during their stay. When asked about the fee, Lindsay Lohan said that she was glad that she got out of jail before it was enacted.

6. Foreign visitors to the White House who are from foreign countries will be asked to donate $20,000 to the Obama/Biden reelection campaign, which is perfectly legal since they tre not United States citizens.

7. Airports have begun enacting special "foreign traveler fees" which will be levied on people from certain Middle Eastern countries in order to defray the costs of extended and unnecessary body searches and seizures at security checkpoints.

8. Foreign visitors hoping to enjoy New Year's Eve in Times Square might be surprised to know that police will be checking drivers licenses and passports and will levy a $50 security fee which will help to pay for the cost of searching SUVs and cars parked in Times Square.

9. Foreign visitors who travel to Washington DC to see the Lincoln Memorial will be charged a $15 "Abe tax" to help publicize the upcoming third National Treasure movie.

10. Foreigners visiting Alcatraz will be charged a $120 "upkeep fee" and will be required to stay in the jail overnight if they are unable to pay cash on the spot.

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Sources:

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