...to think attractions / events should offer better family tickets?

[SoozyWoozy]

So, I'm a mum of three. Planning some days out for Easter holidays. There are so few companies who offer a family ticket of 2 adults + 3 children.

Why can't families of ALL sizes be recognised? And OMG how expensive is it now to go out for the day? Peppa Pig world costs £100 just to get in. I think we'll be spending lots of time in the local woods and seeking out the freebies!

you know what the woods, bike rides, dog walks, picnics win anyday!! they will be the days the children remember most - one good thing to pay for is the national trust, (you can cash in tesco thingies) pricey but for the while year and some great places to go, cadburys easter egg hunts, walks - most of the have tea rooms and in the summer great gardens to explore, and no queues apart from for cream teas!!

I've got a larger then average family and I find that English Heritage and National Trust are pretty good days out. If you buy a yearly membership, you can get 6 kids in with an English Heritage card, and lots in with the National Trust.

I'll have a look, thank you. My parents are going to buy us RSPB membership - which is a voluntary annual donation so that's a good deal for a day out.

We always do the woods / beach / South Downs, but have got builders in over the holidays so was exploring the other stuff too. I guess because it isn't normal for us to go to the big attractions I genuinely didn't realise how much it cost. We have the same problem with hotels if we ever need to stay anywhere too... so few places cater for more than 2 children.

Now where do we order the good weather

Sorry but YABVU, a family ticket of 2+2 is effectively saying, 2 adults are paying for 2 children to go cheaper. Why would the business "recognise" families with more children when there is no reason or tangible benefit to them behind it? Besides, it's common knowledge - you chose to have that many children, you can't expect the status quo to change now.

I was looking earlier at seeing the Peppa Pig show at the theatre - £50 for a family of four

Think we'll stick with the dvds

I think all places are expensive no matter how many children you have. We are also NT members which is great value, and our two most local properties have great playgrounds.

There are all sorts of combinations available for family tickets dependant on where you go, but at the end of the day these places need the money from ticket sales to keep them going.

keep an eye out for offers on tickets, clubcard point stuff etc etc.

But aribura I thought the average used to be 2.4 children - although I believe that figure is now slightly reduced, but not down as far as 2.0

The ever reliable wiki says it was 2.0 as of 2010. Either way, from personal experience I find that 2 tends to be the norm. I find that it's only in parent-centric circles like here where you find a significant amount of 3, 4, 5 children families. Maybe others have different experiences.

I think, actually, the package prices are more of an incentive for families to go to the attractions.

I see your point that the children get in cheaper - but I did say that families of all sizes be recognised. Your family might be one adult with one child. Mine happens to be 2+3, and yes I did chose to have 3 children, and yes I realise that a family of my size can be expensive. There are so many families with more than 2 children, why should we not receive the same incentives as those with 2?

It would be beneficial for the companies to attract the most amount of people to their business, get them through the door / gate and benefit from the amount of money you spend once on site i.e refreshments, meals, gift shop, other attractions which are not included in entry price. Isn't that good enough reason / tangible benefit?

YABU

They are running a business.

If they thought that their attraction would make a better profit by offering family tickets for differently-composed families then they would.

If their prices were prohibitively expensive and they got no custom, the prices would go down (and/or they would go bust).

As it is, they are charging what the market would bear.

So YANBU to wish they would offer different family tickets but YABU to think that they should.

Thank you trills for the reply - I guess it is just a wish! I just thought the more people through the gate would equal more money in the pot.

15% of families in the UK in 2010 had 3 or more dependant children, compared to 39% who had 2.

That's a fair amount of coffee-drinking adults they're missing out on LOL!

Well, I will continue wishing that the prices were lower, but likewise will continue to be grateful for 3 healthy children who are happy running through the woods and exploring rock pools :)

why should we not receive the same incentives as those with 2?

Can I just ask - why should you? If they offer a "discount" for every variation on the planet then it's not a discount anymore, it's the standard price.

And honestly, I have no idea why you are complaining. You do get a discount. You get a discount on the price of 2 adults and 2 children, you are only paying full price for one child. But that's not good enough? Please...

You realise that there are group discounts for most things, school groups and stuff, yeah? That's the level where it becomes financially beneficial in terms of numbers. Not one extra child paying £2.50 for a pencil sharpener in the gift shop.

We are a family of 5 and make a point of writing a comment to places that dont offer 2 +3 tickets. it makes us feel disfunctional because we have more than two kids. it is particularly difficult trying to find rooms for 5. i dont think places should have to offer it i think it should just be something they have thought about. same thing for single parents 1+ 2 etc. what really gets me cross is having paid an arm and a leg to get in to an attraction they then start trying to nick a pound off you for the motorised boats or £2 for the climbing wall. if you have paid, then you have paid and there should be no adds on once you are inside. sorry rant over.

But you know they'd build it into the price anyway. And wouldn't you feel annoyed if you paid an extra £5 on the admission price to use the climbing wall and, say, your children didn't want to go on it or were too small?

I tell my kids you can have 2 weeks of Disney with real rollercoasters and magic or a handful of days out in the pissing rain at ALton Towers where the smell of weed of you walk through the children's farm section sends you higher than any ride could hope to.

I was reading some journal article the other day that said that museums which offered flexible family tickets actually found it to be beneficial and profitable.

It's not that hard to offer even a couple of different combinations, I.e. 1 parent and 2 children, 2 parents and 2 children, etc.

Or off a slightly reduced rate for additional children.

I wouldn't for one minute expect anyone to subsidise or pay for my third child, but you do start to feel a bit disfunctional for having three children. Trying to accommodate three children in a hotel is difficult, and impossible on the web, and you end up having to pay for an extra room, not just a bed, to get three children in.

Probably wouldn't have won them anyway, but I've lost count of the number of competitions I've not entered - including those promoted through Mumsnet - offering a prize of a family holiday for 2 adults plus 2 children. It'd find it too difficult to decide which child to leave at home.

I know, the cost is horrendous isn't it! Even with 4 of us we are put off going!
You can get vouhcers for "free" tickets with your Tesco clubcard (if you have one). USually kid goes free with a paying adult. So not a family tickets exactly but it might help keep the cost down?
Also, sign up to online vouchers with Tickles, Groupon etc, yuo can sometimes get cut price tickets.
Another suggestion: does your county cuoncil do an annual museums pass? Round here (norfolk) it costs £72 for a year, and you can visit all 11 council-run museums (including the big ones) as many times as you like, we find that very good value for money.
Finally if you do decide to splash out, take a picnic, you can save loads that way.
Hope that helps!

We are a family of 6- us and the 4 kids. I find it hard to get package deals for us for everything from events to holidays. If we want a package holiday we would need to book 2 seperate packages to cover us all. It shows limited thinking on behalf of organisers / corporations who deal with leisure and entertainment.

At least you get some incentive or benefit - for 2 of your 3 children at least.

I have one child - and most family tickets only benefit if you have 2 or 3 children. It is often the case that we pay the same as a family of 4, despite there only being three of us. Often we could take another child with us for no extra cost or maybe £1-2 more.

But they are a business. They don't have to offer these discounts at all if they don't want to, esp if they are a sought after place.

I have 3 children and when they were growing up family tickets were always for 'up to 4 children' (well the places we went anyway) Perhaps things are different now
The only thing that always rankled was the 'family rooms' in hotels which were strict on the 2+2s. Our 3 dds always slept in our bed at home so it seemed odd to us that we couldn't do that in a hotel! We turned to camping and caravanning for holidays or a villa if we were flush.

You need to get your dcs to write to Blue Peter, and hope they are awarded Blue Peter Cards. they get free entry into all sorts of overpriced attractions (such as Legoland and Warwick Castle) until they are 16.
Excellent.

I think things are going to have to change.

We live in Devon and I'm seeing more and more offers from venues.I think in tight times families just won't go and down here we have plenty of free stuff on offer to compete.

Some venues are utter daylight robbery and people are beinning to notice now they don't wack it on the cc. Crealy for example is shockingly expensive and it's shite.

We have NT membership and will get one other reasonable year membership eg Bicton which is only £45 for 4 with all other children an additional £10-reasonable rate and they acknowledge those of us with more than 2 kids. Soooo many of my friends are doing the same, going for venues like this that don't take the piss.

You can be too greedy at your peril.

On the bus earlier I saw prices for day ticket around the region and thought of this thread.

Adult: £4.50
Family: £10
Child: £3

So if I fancied a day round with, say, my mother it would cost £9 for two, but for your entire family of 5, 3 more people taking up seats, it would cost £13, if anything you are getting far better value than others. (Apart from the fact the buses are rip off to start with). Anyone got any similar or contrary examples of value/lack of?