Am I tight-fisted, or have prices shot up?

[Shufflebumnessie]

I was looking at booking a day out/activity to do with DS and DD during the holidays as we've just had yet another Covid related disappointment. I am shocked at the prices!
A 90 minute swim session at a pool with slides etc would be £45 for 2 adults and 2 children.
Two games of bowling (approximately 40 minutes in total according to the website) is £52.
A day out at a local Country Park (which is lovely but nothing for the adults apart from walking around) is £70. It was £45 before lockdown.
A 90 minute session at a local farm for £42. Previously this was the cost for the full day.
Am I just being a miser, or have prices increased substantially?

[quote Beautifulday345]@Shufflebumnessie couldn’t mistake those extortionate prices! Have you considered the look out? I believe it’s free unless you go in the science museum[/quote]
@Beautifulday345 Haha! Extortionate is a very accurate description. We love the Look Out. Great for burning off energy.

@Meredusoleil

OP have you considered the Guildford Spectrum instead of the Coral Reef Waterworld? We much prefer to go there as it takes us about half an hour to both, but there is at least free parking at the Spectrum!

I've heard of it but had actually forgotten about it. Thanks for the reminder, I'll have a look.

We are family of five with tweens and teens. Everything now seems to be £100+ for a standard activity or meal. £200+ for a special activity like theme park or zoo. I just can't believe the cost of things. It must be completely prohibitive for so many families. And of course once prices have gone up, they'll never be reduced, even when full capacity and no restrictions return.

Thank you I thought I had forgotten how to find a decently priced family day out! Everything is really expensive for a family day out. We'll stick to the parks and reduce the number of trips now. Or we take picnics more often when we would have gone to a food chain for a bit to eat. It's a shame as this will price out so many people.

They have.

And a lot of places have got rid of free carer places. Which im appalled at.

Take swimming for example, our pool used to give one free carer place which they no longer do. So it now costs me £10 to take my ds who has a disability swimming. He's at the age where he should be able to go off swimming with his mates but obviously can't. That's fine, I don't mind paying a tenner although id prefer not to. (( or go swimming for that matter.))

My friends ds however has always paid £10 because he requires two carers. He now has to pay £15 for a 45 minute swim once a week.

We don't get value for money out of days out, we never have. We can rarely spend the full day for a start. These carer places are really. Important, we aren't just getting a freebie. It's making things affordable for the people we care for who are at a disadvantage. I'm now subsidising my ds with my carers so he can have activities and days out otherwise he'd be even more isolated..... It's not as if he can go. Off to the pub like most other 20 year olds. I can see this being a trend that isn't going to change. It really is such a shame.

Coral reef is epic tho

Whipsnade claim to have brown bears but I didn’t see anything. Maybe glimpsed some brown fur up the far end but could have been a rug for all anyone could tell

Off topic but the poor brown bears were shot after a possible escape situation when trees fell down. Very sad.

@SmidgenofaPigeon

I see. Wouldn’t have thought eight polar bears is that sustainable long term though.

Whipsnade claim to have brown bears but I didn’t see anything. Maybe glimpsed some brown fur up the far end but could have been a rug for all anyone could tell 😂

They have one brown bear. Two had to be shot earlier this year: a tree in their enclosure fell in a storm and they climbed along it into the wild boar enclosure and attacked the male wild boar. Very sadly, keepers had to shoot them for everyone's safety.

You usually get a good view of the bears as their pond and food are at the front of the enclosure.

I didn’t realise there was only one left!! That’s so sad.

@SmidgenofaPigeon - meerkats are gone. You usually get great views of the elephants - they're always outside and you can see them from all around their enclosure and get up close.

Otters are usually visible too - and there are newts in their moat, which are lovely.

@thelastgoldeneagle ah- we had an unlucky day then! We did see some rhinos grazing which was lovely, and some good hippo action (in their stinky shitty indoor pond, few people could bear it so we were lucky to get up really close. I never realised hippos enjoyed bathing in their own excrement so much )

If you register on the activity’s websites, they may send you offers and discounted prices.

@SmidgenofaPigeon - it is really sad. They only just got three young female bears when the last of the old bears had died, and the new ones were lovely and very lively.

But I agree that there are a few empty enclosures around. Instead the zoo has invested in animatronic dinosaurs, which seems a bit mad.

Owl wood is pretty sad, the sea lions have gone...

@SmidgenofaPigeon - I love the hippo, especially the Pygmy hippos. But yes, how can they swim in their own poo?!

@thelastgoldeneagle yeah, I was sad not to see sealions. I really enjoyed the bird display last time as the macaws got a really good fly but they don’t seem to be doing it. Don’t really get what they’re playing at with the dinosaurs, surely would make more sense to invest in the actual animals.

Farm park last year tickets £50 this year £90. This nana was shocked but I take them every year.

Chester zoo too expensive now. Cinema£10 per ticket. Add on sweets and drinks it's heavy on the pocket

YANBU things are insanely expensive.

I looked at Sandcastle water slide park in Blackpool - £70 for 3 of us for 2 hours!! To go down slides FFS.

The trick is to get smart - find discount codes, look out for cereals that come with 241 passes, get a Kids Pass trial, look at Groupon and Wowcher for deals etc. I rarely pay full price for anything now

The price rises are a sign of a booming economy apparently
www.theskimm.com/money/lets-talk-about-why-prices-are-going-up-3ZaYBZeHuv262M8GQJgXbR

I've never understood economics !

Went to fishmonger today thought would treat us to a guinea fowl, last time it was£7 post lockdown £13. I was so shocked said sorry not paying that.

Phoned a restaurant friend who checked with the wholesalers. £3 each, minimum order of 8

@SmidgenofaPigeon - they're not doing official bird displays atm but we were lucky the other week and caught one - they flew kookaburra, Harris hawks and whistling ducks!

[quote Parentingdilemmas]@Shufflebumnessie the bowling stands out, why is it so expensive?

Because it’s summer holidays prices have shot up for a lot of activities. Also places you could stay for an unlimited period have been capped to 2hr slots etc. It’s definitely a pinch to the pocket.[/quote]
Your last part is what annoys me these days - I don't actually mind paying £34 for the local farm park/soft play when we can stay for 6 hours and fill our boots. But I don't like playing the same price for 90 minutes

I fancied taking DC on what is allegedly the UK’s or England’s longest zip wire at Bluewater shooing centre this holiday. Until I saw it was £50 per person! My eyes nearly fell out.

My hairdresser took her DC, she said it was fun, but took about 5 mins and was definitely not worth £50pp.

@Mammyloveswine

Went to flamingo land the other week as got a cheap deal...noticed full price tickets for children aged FOUR and over is now £42 EACH!

Lightwater Valley is excellent and much cheaper! I only paid £52 for 3 of us and we were there for 8 hours.

Also. Swimming. Please arrive "beach ready" with swimwear under clothing because changing rooms are only available post swim.

And showers are only available pre swim.

We can't even make a day of it and go somewhere pre or post swimming as we'll either be incorrectly dressed or soggy and stinking of pool.

Yes, extortionate. Feel sorry for families these days. Unless you are rich you are so limited as to what you can do.