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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Price of funfair rides!

44 replies

bedraggledmumoftwo · 03/10/2015 14:20

Happened across a massive funfair yesterday when out with dds -.toddler and 3yo. Thought it might be nice to go and show them the lights and sounds and maybe take them on a few rides but was shocked to see the price for the kiddie rides, £2.50 pp for the teacups or little train rides, so £5 a pop to put them on, or more likely £7.50 as I would have to go on with them. WIBU or rather showing my age to assume it would be more like a pound a pop. Is this actually the going rate these days or is this one just particularly expensive, as I think it would be a really expensive trip for a lot of families.

And if that is the cost of the little rides how much are the big ones, is it going to be even worse when they are teenagers?!

OP posts:

DontOpenDeadInside · 03/10/2015 20:49

Ouryve, i think that might be the same one that is there now, at seaburn where the fair used to be. I was on about South Shields ^ up there with the cheap tickets. The big ferris wheel was £10 for a family of 4 and fecking terrifying

TheSnowFairy · 03/10/2015 20:59

We were in Brighton recently and they've changed the payment system for rides on the pier, you either buy wristbands - £20 each, or a prepaid card (rather than tokens).

We are a family of 5 and £100 is ludicrously expensive. We didn't buy them. Bring down your prices people...

littledrummergirl · 03/10/2015 21:33

My kids have never been to a fun fair because of the extortionate cost of rides. We have been to a few theme parks though.

I have always said that at 50p a ride the three of them can ride,I would probably spend £10 eachish.At £2.50 they would only have four rides so really not worth it. I spend my money elsewhere.

Pandaremote · 03/10/2015 21:48

The Brighton wristbands are pretty good because there are hardly any queues so when we go we go on each ride at least twice so get to go least 20 times on various rides which would be £80 each unlike a theme park where you can queue for up to an hour a ride and have to hike to get everywhere. Obviously a theme park is brilliant but getting to go on rides non stop in Brighton is also pretty amazing fun.

katemiddletonsothermum · 03/10/2015 21:54

Oh god, it's not Hull Fair is it? That's extortionate.

CloakAndJagger · 04/10/2015 10:30

There's probably hardly any queues at Brighton as people look at the price of wrist bands and go elsewhere!

ohtheholidays · 04/10/2015 10:52

The fairs that visit around the area where we live are usually between £6.99 and £7.99 for a band that they put onto your wrist and that gives you unlimited rides either for the afternoon or the evening so if you get there from when they open you usally get about 2 hours.

It's handy for us as we have 5DC it still works out quite alot for us though.We buy 6 bands so DH can go on any of the rides the children want him to go on with them so that works out between £41.94 and £47.94 for the rids.Our 3 youngest DC always want to have a few goes each on the stalls as well and they're usually about £3.50-£4.50 a go so that normally adds on another £31.50-£40.50(ouch wish I hadn't worked that bit out)and we usually always buy lunch or dinner whilst were there and then sweets as well,so a trip to the funfair usually sets us back £130.

Some of the fairs we go to also offer the pay per ride and some of the older rides are £3.50 per ride but surprisingly they still get some people paying per ride rather than getting the wristband if we did that it would probably add on another £100 just for a couple of hours at a fair.

Eminybob · 04/10/2015 11:02

There is one in our town at the moment and I haven't been but the posters all around town are advertising rides for 99p. Which I think is a fair price, but how bloody ridiculous, just have it as £1 rather than having to give out pennies to everyone.

I think is cheap because it looks rubbish. It's in the bloody train station car park ffs. Every year I think about the poor commuters who can't conveniently park thier car for 2 weeks.

MardyBra · 04/10/2015 11:03

It's called supply and demand. HTH.

BondGate · 04/10/2015 11:07

Those sound like fairly standard travelling funfair prices to me.

I think it's better value to go to a proper theme park for the day if the family are going to want lots of rides (especially if you get a quiet day at the theme park).

Hygellig · 04/10/2015 11:21

I spent a fortune on a funfair this summer with two children. £3 each for Hook a Duck and £2 each for most rides, at least. A trip to a theme park looks quite good value in comparison.

Puzzledandpissedoff · 04/10/2015 12:07

Interesting point about the theme parks - I sometimes wonder if the huge prices people will pay to go to Disney et al have encouraged the fair operator to think "I'll have a bit of that"

I've always been confused about this "wristband" thing, and how the operators divvy up the cash. IME most of these things are run by different families and I can well imagine friction over how it's shared

After all, since when did anyone ever see a poor showman??

Dieu · 04/10/2015 12:13

The rides (big wheel, etc) that come to Princes St. every year are so expensive that Edinburgh residents get 20% off!

yomellamoHelly · 04/10/2015 12:16

Is the reason we don't do fun fairs (and tbh the dc don't know what they're missing out on as they've not really ever done them as a consequence).
My mum used to give us £5 each when we were kids and the fair came into town. Would go on the cheap day and it would pay for a good few hours fun and a sickly thing to eat. Used to find theme parks expensive. Now they're extortionate.

WorraLiberty · 04/10/2015 12:21

I know this sounds ridiculous but I just don't trust travelling fun fairs.

When I'm up in the air on a high ride, I just keep thinking of how many times they must have dismantled and rebuilt the rides that year.

Then I start thinking about worn treads on screws and nuts and bolts

I spend the whole ride in terrified silence...just praying we'll make it back to the ground safely, so there really is no point at all for me, is there?

Puzzledandpissedoff · 04/10/2015 12:30

Worra I hate to bring this up, but on the subject of trust maybe it's also worth considering some of the people who work on them?

Let's not forget that, given the obvious attraction to children, employees are supposed to be CRB/DBS checked - and given that many showpeople are unable to read and write, I sometimes wonder just how thoroughly they deal with the process

WorraLiberty · 04/10/2015 12:40

I get what you mean Puzzled but I wouldn't let my kids go alone anyway.

Especially around here as travelling fairs seem to attract local gangs and trouble makers.

Dowser · 04/10/2015 12:42

Lightwater valley was brilliant this year. Over 60 , take a grandchild and you only paid for the grandchild.

So three of us for £28 was a bargain.

They also offered half price tickets in July...so £14 each. If you live nearby or visiting the area look out for next year. Excellent park.

We don't bother with travelling funfairs. If they'd charged less the rides would be full.

Dowser · 04/10/2015 12:45

I hope worra because they are being rebuilt constantly that nuts and bolts are tightened and replaced more often than fixed rides.

But that's just inmy fantasy....

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