To wonder if family days out used to be a lot cheaper

[mrsbeeton999]

I’m sure days out like zoos and theme parks must’ve been comparatively cheaper when I was a child (I’m in my 40s). I remember my aunt who didn’t have much money taking us to Chessington and the Tower of London and they’re about £100 for a family now. Any show or day out is always £100. Luckily we love outdoor stuff and beaches and do lots of really low cost days at weekends mixed with the odd treat day but I was just thinking where my aunt used to take us and feeling guilty!

I remember Alton Towers had a kids "Fun Club" and annual membership was £5 - we did live within an hour so it may not have been everywhere.

Some of my fondest Alton Towers memories are the picnics in the Orangery inthe gardens.. where packed lunches were completely normal. This was in the 90s

I was born in the 90s and we did zoo/theme park type day trips only once or twice a year, soft play and bowling were for birthday parties only, cinema only for major films (eg Harry Potter) or birthdays. I was surprised when I joined here how many people seem to have annual passes to the zoo, no one I knew had that when I was growing up even though we didn't live far from the zoo.

Even restaurants and takeaways were for special occasions only for us and this was only 15-20 years ago.

Yes I think they are more expensive. And the food and whatever once there is very expensive now - so taking a packed lunch more necessary!

I think also there’s more expectation. There are so many pricey things going on, that just weren’t a thing in the 80s for instance. And they’re heavily advertised, and everyone else seems to be doing it etc.

We booked tickets to the cinema for my husband, myself and three kids and told the boys we’ll go McDonald’s too.

The cinema alone is £78. It will be £25 for McDonald’s. Over £100 and I wouldn’t say that is a particularly fancy day out. Obviously we could do it cheaper by not going McDonald’s and not getting popcorn but even still - I was gobsmacked.

Ronald McDonald was cancelled in the United States some time after the John Wayne Gacy trial in 1980. Gacy would dress as a clown for charity events, but also murdered at least thirty-three boys and young men,. It led to many clown horror movies, and clowns became scary for many young people.

McDonalds playgroups disappeared in the 1990s due to repeated lawsuits.

I'm pretty sure London museums were free entry in the 70s/80s. Have I just imagined that?

Everyone here says this is so expensive, who works for nothing? Everything is a business, they have to make a profit, it employs people, everything today is related to the price of living, Going to a pantomime I’ve read here with tickets 40£ ok so put a pantomime on yourself for free. You need electricians, stage builders, sound, a hall & so on, it all adds up

@Aderyn21

I'm pretty sure London museums were free entry in the 70s/80s. Have I just imagined that?

We had to pay when I was little, so late 80’s. I remember being desperate to go back to the natural history museum after a school trip but we couldn’t afford it. They became free in 2001.

I'm early 40s, from a financially comfortable family and days out to zoo or theme parks (more like local amusements rather than Alton Towers) were a really big thing and happened once a year, and you took along a picnic. Families now seem to go to these places every weekend and most people I know eat there or at least have coffee and cake. It's the same with Christmas, we used to go to a panto and that was the only event we did. Now there is a huge build up, with events on from beginning of December. Then everybody complains these things are so expensive.

According to Google...
The Tories made it so they could charge in the 80s. Then Labour made it free again after Blair was elected at the end of the nineties.

Going to a pantomime I’ve read here with tickets 40£ ok so put a pantomime on yourself for free. You need electricians, stage builders, sound, a hall & so on, it all adds up

It adds up cause your paying an ex soap star 200k

I think National Trust places must have been a lot cheaper because we often visited them on holiday and my parents were pretty tight. They weren’t members.

We did loads of day trips (80s). My parents were big fans. But it was generally free places like beaches and woods. The only time I went to a zoo, theme park or theatre was with Brownies and Guides.

@dorkfink

Going to a pantomime I’ve read here with tickets 40£ ok so put a pantomime on yourself for free. You need electricians, stage builders, sound, a hall & so on, it all adds up

It adds up cause your paying an ex soap star 200k

But if that was your good self you would want paying doesn’t,alter who you are. You do a job you get paid simple

I would do it for 20k, I reckon it's good fun!

You do a job you get paid simple

I'm not sure anyone has argued people should work for free?

I've only realised as I read this how little we did these kind of days out as a family when I was small. I went to Alton Towers loads as I lived relatively near but it was through a holiday club that ran every summer.

We had lots of days out but predominantly free stuff like going to the beach with one or two paid things like a bouncy castle or donkey ride. We did eat out as I got older but special occasions and holidays not just because we were out shopping pr didn't feel like cooking. Never had takeaways other than the odd chippie tea. Went to the cinema occasionally just me and DM (I'm an only) but not regularly until I was a teen and went on with friends.

We used to go to Blackpool and the illuminations every year but like a PP said you didn't have to pay to enter the theme park just for rides. So much less of an outlay - doubt my DM would have taken me if she'd had to pay £50 for herself.

Even when my DC were small, about 10 years ago, you could buy entry for Blackpool pleasure Beach for about £5. Think they might have stopped it after covid with limits on numbers

@Aderyn21

I'm pretty sure London museums were free entry in the 70s/80s. Have I just imagined that?

I don’t think you are imagining it. I’m a bit fuzzy on the dates but I remember museums not charging, then charging, then not charging again.

Also, I think it may depend on the museums as subsidies came from different groups/governments/councils at different times.

www.centreforpublicimpact.org/case-study/free-entry-to-museums-in-the-uk

A little bit of pricing history in there. It appears to have chopped and changed with political will. No surprise there!

80's child, MC upbringing. Our days out were NT, castles, meet family at country beauty spot for picnic and paddle with our dingy, museums (very basic a few artefacts in glass cases, lots to read). Parish Council summer coach trip to the beach, also my parents were keen hikers so lots of walks. We did do paid days out like theme parks or playfarms but these were saved for once a year on holiday or birthday, we stayed in Youth Hostels or a cottage.

We always took picnics and a flask, ice creams were a treat, had a pub meal for my Dad's birthday and a big family meal out for Mothering Sunday, Chinese takeaway once a year on mum's birthday, but did get fish and chips regularly when I was a teen. I've adopted this with my own children, we rarely buy food or drink on days out, I'd rather save the money for another day out!

When I was older we did go bowling and cinema, laser tag, ice skating, but these were once maybe twice a year each. Swimming a few times a year.

Our children are quite young still but we try to keep this approach and limit paid activities while they're happy with the park and an ice cream, plus it's lovely seeing how excited they get when we do something out of the ordinary

I'm mid 50s, the only time I went to theme parks or a safari park it was as part of a school trip.

A trip to the seaside was just that, drove to the see, went on the beach, ate packed lunch, if we were lucky some fish a nd chips before we went home.

@Aderyn21

I lived n London in the mid 1990s, I took my cousin to the Science museum and although his mum had given me money I was, "what?" at the price, the person on the desk looked at my walking stick, put me down as a disabled visitor and my cousin as my 'carer' it was still well over £10.

There were always some free museums but not the 'National' ones, I think they became free when Labour came into power, along with free bus passes for some groups.

@mogsrus I don't think anyone is saying it's not worth the ticket price. Certainly those lavish productions and those state of the art theme park rides cost a lot.
I think we are saying that ;
A) a generation ago there wasn't the same scope and scale of days out.
B) that expensive ticketed days out were actually quite unusual perhaps once or twice a year.
C) there is pressure to do these more frequently (although actually I think most people still do these a few times a year rather than monthly)
D) in the past there wasn't take away and convenience food everywhere and packed lunches were the norm for most families and remain so for many.
E) eating out is now a very common/ daily thing and isn't reserved for special occasions. So perhaps is in some cases is more not less affordable.

I guess the message to the OP is - it's always been expensive but these days there's a lot more on and a lot more pressure to do it. (But I think we all know the power of marketing as it is everywhere). The poorest are always left behind still . For every one of us who had warm sandwiches and squash in a windy National Trust in the 80s there were kids who never left their local area or had a day out or a proper meal...

I ate in a restaurant three times in my childhood and I remember all three times vividly.

We got a Chinese takeaway once after our house had been broken into and it’s the only time we ever had takeout food, I remember it was so exciting and we ate it on a mat on the front room floor.

We went on two UK holidays, once camping and once to a holiday cottage with extended family. We never went abroad, we never flew.

Days out were trips to the riverbank to paddle and swim, going to a friends house, to the beach to build a sandcastle or to put pennies in the arcade machines.

I went to the cinema once before I was 16 but did go to the theatre three times, two as a very young child then once to the ballet.

My DC probably go to a restaurant or cafe twice a month, get a takeaway probably the same amount, go to the cinema or theatre a few times a year, go on short holidays or breaks two or three times a year - nothing extraordinary or extravagant but with much greater frequency than I ever did.

For me I think it's a rip off to charge people for faster queue access when they've already paid entry to a theme park, or to charge for parking everywhere, even though people are supporting local high streets and facilities.
I got charged 20p to use the public loo the other day - it just seems unnecessary to see every facility as an opportunity to take money from people. No one is resentful of paying performers (and all the support staff) for their skills when you go to see a show but it does feel mean to charge parents full entry to theme parks if they don't want to use the rides.

I think if this had been the case when I was a kid, my parents wouldn't have been able to do so many things with me. It's the poorest families who miss out and they are the ones who arguably need access the most to facilities where they live, since they won't be going in lots of expensive foreign holidays