30k ain't too much to drop on a lifetime ticket if you fight a few battles outside Corel. The Gold Saucer is an interesting anachronistic place; doesn't seem to make sense that a theme park could exist in a world where most people are on the cusp of poverty or absolute smurfing miles away from it and without viable transport.

I don't mind it though. It does some interesting things. But mostly it just seems like a convenient dressing for some minigames. Still, I like how they worked the Desert Prison and other plot related things into it.