AIBU - children's ticket prices

[LassLassLass]

I know this isn't a new problem, but am I alone in being completely boggled by the prices of children's tickets for events/activities/attractions? Some examples - some Santa events cost well over £30 per child near me at Christmas. We're looking at planning a trip to London from the north later this year - it's £39.95 per child for the Warner Bros Harry Potter experience in London. My friend found out that it's £29.00 for Lego Land (£58 on the gate!). And it costs at least £20 to see Frozen in the West End.

There's apparently 4.3 million children in the UK living in poverty. Food bank use is through the roof. I grew up in poverty myself, so am very familiar with the free museums (in some areas) and events that children can attend. I am aware of the benefits of taking a picnic, looking for discount vouchers, taking public transport, and other tips and 'hacks' that can mean a cheaper day out. It just seems so wrong to charge such a high price for events, meaning some children will simply never have any chance of attending...AIBU?

Yanbu. I remember watching Jurassic park and Hammond saying he wanted every child in the world to experience his attraction … turned out the movie had softened him up quite a bit as in the book he adds “well the rich ones anyway” and I just thought wow the book is so much more honest

Yes, it's unfair. And it's unfair that I can't afford a massive ocean-going yacht. Or that we never went to Disneyland as kids.

It's a pretty fatuous sort of comment though, isn't it? It's an inevitable part of our advanced late-capitalist Tory economy.

Some people are billionaires while some can't afford food and heating. That's a bit more scandalous than "some people can't afford West End theatre."

Yes it does seem wrong. Yes some children will miss out.
I get that they need to recoup costs, and that this is capitalism. I don't moan too much but that's because it's husband who foots these bills.

I do lots of free stuff with my daughter, but we also have some good deals like her judo class is only £35 a term which I find very reasonable.

We live in a very cheap area of the country which helps.

I don't think it's anything new.

As a child we almost never went into ticketed events. Except ruined Welsh castles which was a waste of money as far as I was concerned.
We never went to professional theatre as a family, never went to theme parks (even if they'd have been free my parents wouldn't have taken us there). We once went to a sheepdog trial where we paid for entry...
Heck, my parents would do a 5 mile walk to avoid 20p car parking for all day, or a 20 mile detour to avoid a 5p toll, they'd never have paid £5 a ticket

LassLassLass I get you OP.My Son when at his Secondary School went to see "wicked" and this was in the West End .Subsidised tickets for all.I think its a crying shame too . With the recent increase in the cost of living ,it will soon be a treat for some DC to be watching a DVD or Netflix ,with sufficient food and warmth .Let alone trips out .My DC are older ,but we were lucky enough to be able to afford these trips to Chessington /London etc .As was I as a child myself .Trips to Madame Taussauds ,Tower of London and so on.As an Adult I dont vote Tory ,give to the Food Bank most weeks and Crisis and so on .Capitalism only benefits the rich sadly .Including their children !

The worst is when they hit 16. They're still at school and not earning but have to pay adult prices.
Can't get a student rate yet as they don't have university matriculation card🤷🏼‍♀️

When I was a child something like this would be a once a year treat, and certainly for my kids it was. Nowadays their seems to be so much pressure on parent spending fortunes on entertaining kids, going to the park is free . Walking in the woods is free , throwing pebbles in the river is free, and loads of fun

Yes the pricing of Ferraris means I can only afford my 7 year old VW. So unfair. You do realise that the majority of people in the arts and leisure industry aren’t paid very much? Perhaps they should be paid even less so all the kiddies can go to Harry Potter world. Some things are cheap, some things are expensive shocker.

Things like having access to theatre or galleries or historic attractions/museums is something that some children are able to take for granted, and can spur a lifelong interest/hobby, or provide inspiration for a career. The children who aren't able to go to these places as easily miss out. I don't have any answers, it's just an observation, and I wish more children could access things they would enjoy - that's all.

Some experiences are cheap and/or free and some aren’t. If you’re a child from a low-income family and you live in the countryside you can do lots of outdoorsy exploring stuff that you can’t do if you’re brought up in the inner city. If you’re brought up in the inner city you’ve got access to loads of different but equally great free stuff, like museums and play schemes, that kids in rural poverty can’t experience. If you live by the beach you’ll take it for granted but it’s completely alien to some children’s childhoods. And so on.

Our state education system is supposed to level these inequalities through school trips and opportunities in school. Funding has been cut to the bone though, and it’s only getting worse.

Charities do run schemes to try to offer access to particular experiences, but there’s always going to be things lots of children - or people in general - can’t access. My kids do loads, and also miss out on loads. I’ve travelled some places and not others. You cut your cloth.

Days out in the UK are very expensive however when DD was little she was just as happy going to see father christmas (often several times) at the local city farm open day, church hall fund raisers etc. We could do some 'big days' which were mostly run by commercial companies but looking back I do not thing those moment were any more 'special' for her. Parenting as a whole has been commercialised and the added social media pressure I suspect means some parents equate the big days out with (sorry to use this phrase) 'making memories'. The advertising is not aimed at the children.

We tend to holiday abroad because I am good at finding cheap flights and I think one of the big differences is the weather. Entrance to a water parks etc is probably just as expensive in lots of places and some families are happy to pay for loads of experiences, but is is so much easier to go to the beach, pool or wander around a small interesting towns and villages because it is not in the grey, pissing rain.

Theme parks, plays and experiences cost a lot to run. They are not subsidised and they obviously need to get their money back. We were 'genteel' poor growing up. It was just never an option or expected unless run by a youth group or school and then the cost automatically reduces because parents are not also having to pay to go along.

There will always be stuff that is unaffordable for some families - even if you make the attraction free, some people won't be able to pay the bus fare.

Of course it would be nice if there were more affordable attractions out there, but the money to run them has to come from somewhere.

We were well off when I was growing up, but even then days out like theme parks were a once a year thing - most of my childhood was days out to the park, bike rides, maybe a couple of days at the seaside with an ice-cream on the way home.

These organisations are not charities - they are businesses. And the market will decide, so if families just stop going then prices will drop. But obviously enough people can afford to go, currently.
A child takes up a seat in a theatre, the same as an adult, so one could argue that they should be charged at the same rate.

Wonderlab bugs me a lot. It’s SO expensive. Proper tourist prices, and they target the highest prices for the areas for children. We live in London but I have to say no.
Also, and I’ve fed this bad, it’s a double nightmare with an ASD child. It’s worth in when I have one with me for a treat, but there’s no way of knowing if it’s too loud until you’ve paid. Sometimes it’s ok, normal busy, other times it’s overwhelming pandemonium and I pay for 3 minutes in there. One time we when and they was more school children than seemed believable, with some of them barely supervised and running around high as kites playing tag etc.
On the other side though the National Gallery makes an amazing effort for children and focuses their high prices on adult exhibits.

It’s supply and demand, I’m afraid. Just as some people will never get to experience owning a Maserati or stay at the Ritz.

The only thing that is a bit different is those organisations that receive a public subsidy. If the RSC receives a grant from public money, then arguably it is incumbent on them to offer resources to schools, offer schools lower prices etc. But West End theatres and theme parks are commercial organisations.

I grew up in a well off family, my parents would never pay these kinds of prices, then or now. It doesn't ruin your life. Just gives you an idea of the value of money and what you think it's worth spending it on.

Mentioned earlier - here are more details .May help someone wanting to see a west end show officiallondontheatre.com/kids-week/ For the whole of August 1child goes free and 2 further children half price with one adult paying full price. Booking open in June and you need to get in quick.

The RSC and some of the ballet and opera theatres do have schemes for very cheap tickets to encourage young people to attend

The problem lies with the expectations that parents are somehow failing their kids if they don't do some type of experience every weekend and 3 or 4 extra curricular activities. And all in order to achieve that God awful phrase making memories.

You dont make memories as such, they just happen. You don't need to spend lots of money to have fun and enjoy yourself, but somehow you are made to feel bad, a failure if you don't. If you are only doing one or two big days out a year its not so bad, but soft play every week, cinema or bowling every week, theme parks a few times a year, theatre 4 or 5 times s year it is relentless, costs far too much and is nowhere near as appreciated as much as just the odd special treat.

These things are luxuries, the same as 5* holidays and designer clothes. So some families won’t be able to afford them often and some won’t be able to at all.

My DC would like to live in a large house with a pool and tennis court. I have said np, I’m not going to run myself ragged trying to provide such things but they are welcome to work really hard at school and get high flying jobs to pay for one when they grow up.

@sweeneytoddsrazor that's a lovely post much better than I could have written. I fit round my mum friends and multiple activities and as they joke, mean, I provide the nature, farm and outside stuff.

Except I do that every day, no regular activities due to money and lifestyle.

I perhaps should put this somewhere else but what gets me is adult price on top!! So it's rained forever and mine have been in lambing shed, soft play as a treat, very rural, 7.50 a child, 5 for me! I don't want to do that

Compared to Theme Parks like Alton Towers and Legoland, Blackpool Pleasure beach used to be much better value, with free entry and individual payment for each ride. A non-riding adult could supervise the kids for free. Even in 2009 when they introduced a £5 admission charge for non-riders it was still better value. The "non-rider" ticket increased to £10 in 2019 and now it is no longer available. The adult "coat-holder" must now pay between £37 and £44.

Why is there such a resentment towards paying for anything? £20 for a theatre ticket? God forbid the cast need to be payed, upkeep for the theatre itself as well as the front of house people. But hey it’s for children so of course everything for them should be free right? If you don’t want to pay don’t go. Simple.

if you take a child to the theatre, it occupies a seat - why should adult audience members subsidise the seat, or do you expect the actors and theatre staff to be paid less for a child orientated show?

if you take a child to the theatre, it occupies a seat - why should adult audience members subsidise the seat

Fair point for commercial theatres. The ones that do offer half price for kids do so because they must think it makes strategic sense for them (ie encourages more people to go, invests in new audiences for 20 years time etc). The subsidised theatres often are spinning their educational remit, though, so I do think this may be the quid pro quo for public money (ie make it more affordable for those in education).

Most of the big non-subsidised London theatres just charge per seat, though - and I agree, why wouldn’t you if you can sell them?

Plenty of things I can’t have because I can’t afford them: life’s not fair op or did you not realise that?