I've been reading a lot of comments on news articles, facebook pages, and other places recently, with people complaining about pricing at the fair, some specifics are:

<ul><li>$3 rides on a major State Fair midway (by purchasing discounted advance sale tickets) </li><li>$5 rides on a different major State Fair midway</li><li>$5 fresh lemonade at another State Fair, with $3 refills </li><li>$15 gate admission at a major County Fair that has no parking charge and Under 12 is free (and cheaper advance sale tickets that are readily available) </li><li>$15 POP wristbands for 3 hours at a local community festival with no admission/parking charge </li><li>$25 POP wristbands for riding all day at a major State Fair (rides are normally $2-$5 each with tickets) </li><li>Ticketed grandstand shows with national acts for under $50 a seat</li></ul>

Usually mentioned with these complaints is that the pricing is not 'family friendly', and tales of woe about how much it cost them to go to the fair.

So my question is, how much is too much, and what is just right as far as pricing goes, realizing that different size events have to be priced differently? Or are these complaints just sour grapes from people who want everything handed to them on a silver platter, and would still complain even if everything was free?

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Tx State Fair
15 gate, 10 parking, rides startt 3 go as high as 45 per ride. Most in the 4 to 7 range.

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How much is too much for fuel, rent, dings, taxes, stock...etc? With all these budget deficits, governments are either shutting down fairs, or trying to squeeze us, to make up for their shortfalls.

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Whether the price is $10 or $20, I think some people are just destin to complain.

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We do wristbands for $20 right now (going to $25 next year I believe). We have just started them at some shows this season in addition to $2-$3 rides in tickets and a lot of customers at these shows still don't buy wristbands and will ride stuff 2 or 3 times and not complain about ticket prices.
The only rides I hear people complaining around for ticket prices is a super slide and mardi gras. But when your kid rides it about 10 times in 20 minutes at $2 a ride it gets expensive quick.

Most customers seem to realize a good deal that wristbands are and then are more likely to spend more money on food and games.

It is a dilemma. Most families have more than one child, so the total cost can be seen as expensive for a family. Is football and baseball cheap, no.

It justifies why a show should not buy the mega spectaculars. No return on the investment.

The next phase is fewer shows, independent rides and higher prices.

You can then expect to drive 100 miles to the next carnival. Will Missouri be bypassed?

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I think the pricing per ride from what is said above seems fair to me $3 - $5 seems perfiectly acceptable so long as they get a good well run long ride for their money

If you are just going to flip to a high ticket and cut the ride times down people are going to feel ripped off.

Never been a fan of POP systems it just runs the machines into the ground but then the public do seem to like that system.

POP was started in England about 5 or so years ago but its since gone out of fashion. What many do now is 10 ride tickets for £10 which gives you 10 rides at 1 ticket per ride. This seems to have become a popular system to replace POP - parents like it as they are not paying full price when they are not going on the rides.

Its a cheap system that allows for a faster turnover of visitors due the the fact that once they have spent their tickets they go home or buy more.

Maybe $10 for 10 ride tickets is a better idea than a $25 POP?

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quote:

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Originally posted by Matt C.

Whether the price is $10 or $20, I think some people are just destin to complain.

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As the saying goes, some people would complain if they were hanged with a new rope.

You could give it away and they'd complain.

The supermarket in Escanaba-cashier complaining about the cost of the wristbands. I ask how long it's been that much. "Oh, two years or so". My response "Everything in this store costs what it did two years ago?

Duh!!!!

People are going to think what they want to think, let's not let logic get in the way here.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Pizzagod

quote:

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Originally posted by Matt C.

Whether the price is $10 or $20, I think some people are just destin to complain.

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As the saying goes, some people would complain if they were hanged with a new rope.

You could give it away and they'd complain.

The supermarket in Escanaba-cashier complaining about the cost of the wristbands. I ask how long it's been that much. "Oh, two years or so". My response "Everything in this store costs what it did two years ago?

Duh!!!!

People are going to think what they want to think, let's not let logic get in the way here.

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+2. People are gonna complain regardless. Doesn't matter if the economy is good or not, high ride count, big name entertainment, variety of food, games galore. It's a part of human nature.

I started a topic here in April about this sort of thing. and i see in news articles and alot of big talk on here about how high do we go with ticket prices and wrist bands.

If shows keep ticket prices reasonable familys will keep coming back year after year. i like the 20 tickets for 20 dollars or 30 tickets for 25 to 30 dollars. most shows i hear single tickets go for 75 cents to $1.00 thats really good, Gillete shows has 50 tickets for 30 dollars thats a great deal. Wrist band prices should be $18.00 to $20.00 which i know most shows are doing that.

Once you go to $25.00 to $35.00 for wrist bands thats going over the top. Im also starting to become a big fan of the all week mega passes that some shows are doing. which lets you ride all the rides every day. I know shows do not like doing POP nights but it does bring in the big crowds even tho the equipment gets ran into the ground. Of course familys wish every night was family night and actually some shows are doing that here In pennsylvania.

If i was in business id probaly do a family night in the beginning of the carnival week and one towards the end of the week. If i was open on a saturday afternoon i would do some kind of a family day. I never wanted to be a prick about ticket prices and wrist band prices. But if it stops the familys from complaining to the office, and it what works best. then lets do it. But if things get to exspensive with fuel prices, repair on the rides, and so on and you know you wont be able to keep the prices reasonable for the familys then its time to fold the show and play golf for the rest of your life.

I might of never stayed in the carnival business but my heart always goes out to you all because its rough out their and i know your pain. Its very hard to make people happy these days.

I personally don't mind wristbands that are priced higher. I think they should be priced higher because of what you get for them. Especially when a show has million dollar rides like a Wave Swinger, Giant Roller Coaster, lots of 2 and 3 trailer rides.

The only thing that I don't get is this. If a show can hand over all their rides for $18.00-20.00 (many do)(and sometimes everyday!) why are tickets $4.00 or $5.00 for one (1) ride! It simply does not make sense.
In the above scenero, are the bands too inexpensive and the tickets too high, or both?

Mike

I can't stand the "POP's run the equipment into the ground" idealogy...

We have a

1972 Trabant
1954 MGR
1974 Swinger
1974 Wheel
1984 Tilt
1974 Round Up
1974 Hampton
1960's Skyfighter
1979 Slide
Plus a whole lot of stuff from the early/mid 90's

We've been doing daily wristbands and week-long wristbands forever... It isn't the riders that run the stuff to the ground; it's the operators and owners...

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I personally wouldn't be keen to make POP days common - I know its been common practice for years in America but if you have standard prices then a POP option the single ride prices will sound expensive.

I think you are best to do a POP on one night of the week when trade is poor anyway so its still a special offer rather than the accepted norm.

Another thing that as come quite popular here is all rides at one pound - some even do it for the duration but again seems to be most effective when its just one night of the event. The Eastern Counties of England have done it for years and the people really flock on that one day as I have seen at Kings Lynn, Peterborough and Great Yarmouth.

Lincoln started doing it a couple of years ago. They picked a tuesday and it was a massive sucess it really brought the people out on that one night and the fair was very busy. The system was it was £1 to get in then £1 for every ride apart from 2xtreme Capirola at £3. But the main thing was it didn't have an effect on the friday nights trade which was usually ok or the weekends which saturday day time at least was slow anyway.

Maybe its something that has been tried already in America but maybe all rides $1 as in $1 per ride might be the headline grabber to get peoples attention. They might end up spending the same cost as a wristband but the point is they don't see oh I have to pay $20 - $35 first.

Times are hard for many people they are watching their money and entertainment is always the first to get cut over the likes of bills food etc. The good thing with the $1 for $1 ride system is people spend what they want to spend. You can cut the rides very short - 1 minute - 2 at most when busy and they won't mind because its a cheap ride and the queues are hopefully long anyway they accept it.

But the key for these things to work is do it for one night a week not every day. Doing it every day just spreads the people across the week. For a $1 night to work you need sheer weight in numbers. A good selection of high capacity rides to swallow the numbers up - Boosters, Bungees, Speeds etc are no good at these nights they don't have the capacity to work alhough those kind of rides being on $2 - $3 do seem to get accepted by the public on a $1 night as does Dodgems being on $2 per car (effectively $1 per rider if they share the car).

Has this been tried in the States? I know tis ride tickets over there but again $1 per ticket, 1 ticket per ride its still the same you still adviertise for one night only att rides $1 * except Dodgems $2 per car, Super Mega Thrill Machine $3.

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It becomes the old supply and demand rules. If carnivals and fairs price themselves too high, they will get fewer patrons or there will be less money on the midway to spend. The issue I see, I don't ride but I like to walk around. Last night I paid $3 to park at a church to go to Etown fair which didn't bother me because I know it goes to the church. Admission was free. I may go to Ephrata, New Holland, or Denver Fairs if I am passing through and do the same thing. I bypass the York Fair because paying $6 to get in and $6 parking, I think is too much. Many people I know say the same thing and choose free events, even if they are smaller, than going to the big fair.

As far as rides, I think POP is the only way to go anymore. People are looking for a deal and most people don't want to worry about tickets. I never bought the "it runs the equipment into the grown" philosophy. There is probably only a very slight increase on some rides, if any. For a typical ride, I have seen ticket spots where the ride has only a handful of riders. If it is a POP and the ride is full there is only a small marginal increase in operating cost and wear and tear. Also, some argue that on a busy night you only want to use tickets. I think this is the wrong philosophy as well because if you had POP the customers may not be able to get a tons of rides because it is so busy.

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quote:

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Originally posted by mikecroaro

I personally don't mind wristbands that are priced higher. I think they should be priced higher because of what you get for them. Especially when a show has million dollar rides like a Wave Swinger, Giant Roller Coaster, lots of 2 and 3 trailer rides.

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I agree. I would pay a higher price for a wristband if the show was bigger. I have been at events with 12 rides (ex. Tempest, Gravitron, etc. style rides) and wristbands were $25. The go to a Belle City lot with 45 rides and the wristbands are $18. Crazy.

quote:

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Originally posted by mikecroaro

The only thing that I don't get is this. If a show can hand over all their rides for $18.00-20.00 (many do)(and sometimes everyday!) why are tickets $4.00 or $5.00 for one (1) ride! It simply does not make sense.
In the above scenero, are the bands too inexpensive and the tickets too high, or both?

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This is true of some people. I have friends that wouldn't dare have a car payment that's $200 a month, but they would gladly take the "deal" of paying $75 a week. I guess some people don't look at the big picture.

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