Fun With My family

@webeishere (36313)
United States
July 29, 2007 3:37am CST
Well Saturday was so much fun taking my daughter & grandsons to the Anoka County Fair. I have gone many years in a row & have missed very few fairs here. I usually go alone therefore I don't ride the rides on the midway. Nothing like standing in line alone getting stares from onlookers. Anyhow the cost has gotten outrageous for these carnival rides if boughten individually. They have days and hours where you can buy a wristband for $20 and it's all you can ride for about a 4 or 6 hours time frame. They don't have thAT ON Saturday as it's their busiest day. Anyhow I had spent $30 and my daughter $10 towards tickets. Most rides cost you $4 per rider for a 2 maybe 3 minute ride. A family of 4 buying just tickets not the wristbands could easily spend $100 just on rides. This is nuts I tell you. I am glad I don't have little ones around all the time when I see carnivals or when the county fairs start. Just this one a year is a killer financially. I spent around $130 in an 8 hour span I think on food rides drinks and the caricature of the grandsons. Tyler & mandy rode the Zipper & Power Surge. Hunter & I rode the Tornado which is a super fast version of the Scrambler. Both grandsons went down the Super Slide. Then to finish off the riding all 4 of us rode the huge Ferris Wheel enjoying the midway lights from the top of the Ferris Wheel. I've always loved the view from the top. All in all I had a blast as did my daughter & grandsons even with the cost of everything there. HAPPY POSTINGS FROM GRANDPA BOB !!~
5 people like this
15 responses
@blackbriar (9076)
• United States
29 Jul 07
Glad to hear you had a great time at the fair with your daughter and grandsons. But your right on the financial part of it. Not cheap to even take one child, specially when they get older and want to do more. A circus came to the area last Tues. and Wed. Wanted to take my daughter to it. I had oodles of free kids tickets and buy 1/1 free Adult tickets but being I was the only adult, I couldn't use that one. We drove 20 miles only to turn around and come back home. Adult tickets were $20 just to get in. No way was I going to pay that much to see a circus, no matter how big it is. Pony, elephant, camel rides were $4, $5, $6 respectively which is a crock I think. Needless to say, we both walked away very disappointed. There will be one that comes to our town later on which is smaller but also cheaper so will take her to see that one. Plus there are the two county fairs we go to every year and the festival in town next week.
2 people like this
@webeishere (36313)
• United States
2 Aug 07
This is one of the discussions I could not see the responses to therefore could not comment. But I am here now. So on with the show. HAHAHAHA!! I recall seeing Circque Solie before they were famous here at the Mall of America. I opaid $45 apiece for the wife and I. It was the best $100 plus I had ever spent on a show of any type. This show was put on in 3 different tents and was actually a Shrine Circus presentation. They announced this show was soon to become a Hollywood type circus. The following month we saw the same show on TV. It was great with a meet and greet before hand. The food was the typical circus fair type, peanuts, hot dogs, cotton candy etc but....They also has Italian dinners, Asian cuisine as well as many other tyope dinner foods sold. The seats were sofas not the typical bleachers. It was unreal to see. Now days a show for Circque Solie is now over !00 dollars in Vegas. HAPPY POSTINGS FROM GRANDPA BOB !!~
• United States
3 Aug 07
$45 a ticket is wayyyyyyyyyyy to rich for my blood no matter how big or glamorous the circus is. The thing with the circus we went to go see is I only had $20 to spend there. I was figuring $10 for my ticket and a lil extra for cotton candy and a drink plus a pony or elephant ride for my daughter.
• United States
18 Oct 07
Thank you for the BR, Grandpa Bob. Btw.. we went to the circus here in town last month. Just not the same as it used to be.
@mamasan34 (6518)
• United States
29 Jul 07
It is horrendous to see how much it costs at these state and county fairs anymore. I remember that when I was a kid, you could get on any ride for very little money. That it was the working mans amusement park. These days you have to give over your pension for the day hahaha! I know I spent close to $250 for three people at the last state fair I went to. That happened to be the last one I went to. For those prices I could afford to go to an amusement park.
2 people like this
@webeishere (36313)
• United States
2 Aug 07
Thanks a lot. We all had a BLAST. Wished my wife was with us though. She'd have spent her money and we would have ridden more rides. HAHAHA! HAPPY POSTINGS FROM GRANDPA BOB !!~
@mamasan34 (6518)
• United States
29 Jul 07
BTW, I am very glad you had such a good time with the family, sometimes money isn't everything and at least you had a good time with the grandkids!
1 person likes this
• United States
29 Jul 07
They are getting expensive, back in Feb and March they have a huge event here called the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo, a bunch of top line singers come and they have a huge carnival that we always try to take our girls to, it is so expensive, even with the wrist bands, but they sure do love it.
2 people like this
@jennybianca (12912)
• Australia
30 Jul 07
I wholeheartedly agree with you regarding the cost of rides at fairs. We have the Adelaide Show once a year, in early September. It is a huge event & runs for 7 days. There are entrance fees, which are very high, but it is the cost of rides that are terrible,. Most are $5.00. My daughter LOVES these rides, has done since the age of 2 years. I don't go on any except the freeris wheel, & will give that a miss this year to save money. Usually hubby, myself & my daughter go for 10 hours. It costs us well over $200.00. I bring drinks & sopme food. They have showbags, but Bianca is limited as to how many she can buy. Anyway, glad you & your grandsons had great fun.
1 person likes this
@webeishere (36313)
• United States
2 Aug 07
When I go to the Minnesota State Fair I only ride the high adventure, andrenaline filled costly rides like the bungee ride etc. Those run $45 usually and are well worth it if your not afraid etc. Anyhow the day was a fun filled adventure for the daughter, myself and the grandsons. Seeing their eyes all lit up was worth every dollar spent and then some. Can't spend too much when it comes to kids be it children or adult kids. HAHAHAHA!! HAPPY POSTINGS FROM GRANDPA BOB !!~
@Fishmomma (11378)
• United States
29 Jul 07
The price of attending our county fair has gone up also. Ours is in August for 10 days and we skip the rides, as Bob and I have no interest in the rides. The only ride I have missed for the last few years is the Ferris Wheel, but planning a trip to an amusement park in the winter or should I say later in the year, as my area doesn't get cold.
@KrisNY (7590)
• United States
30 Jul 07
Wow—sounds like so much fun! I’m lucky because here in this area they run those wristbands on a weeknight and always on Saturday also- Saturday day- from like 12-6PM. That is when we go- How fun for you and your family- I bet the boys had a blast! And got their caricature- that is too cool! Still $130 for 1 day of fun (locally) is a lot of cash to be spending- what did you have to eat? I love fried dough with cinnamon sugar on it- Good thing we only go a couple times a year! : )
@maryannemax (12156)
• Sweden
29 Jul 07
hello grandpa bob! good that you spent a day full of fun (and rides) with your family. doesn't happen everyday so, good to know you went with them. i lived in the philippines for my first 28 years (and i am now in sweden for just a month) and the rides there are also expensive. so, we don't go to carnival rides very often, too. once a year is good enough for us. we also get the ride all you can wrist band. thing is, here, when you get it, it's ride all you can from opening till closing. so, it's really good! there are times when friends or cousins plan to go to carnivals together. so, we plan it atleast 2 weeks before so we can have time to save for it. then we pay for the ride all you can band on our own. so, it's really good, too. happy myLotting grandpa bob! anne
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (157050)
• United States
29 Jul 07
It seems like something you almost need to save up for all year. I never went to county fairs, but we did go a few times to the state fair. Same high prices. We have a little carnival that comes to our town every May for a celebration we have, and it seems to be the same even there. I am glad it is not an everyday thing. So you got something to keep didn/t you, the charicture?
@vanities (11395)
• Davao, Philippines
30 Jul 07
Well thats great then!! its nice spending time with grandsons and family..a good way of bonding with families
@creematee (2810)
• United States
30 Jul 07
Where's the picture from the top of the Ferris Wheel? LOL! I thought you'd have the camera with you up there. (I couldn't help it, Bob, sorry!) Those midway rides are just outrageously priced anymore. Even theme parks are getting so unaffordable these days. I'd hate to see the price tag when my kids are old enough to go to "AdventureLand" in Des Moines. I'm trying to talk my hubby into going to the combine demo derby this week at our local fair. I've never been to a demo derby and thought it would be kind of entertaining. LOL! I'm really glad that you and the kids had a good time.
1 person likes this
• United States
29 Jul 07
I would have loved to see photos from the top of the farris wheel. You forgot your camera. I know a fair is not the place to take your camera but what a great photo it would have been. I am so glad you had such a great time with the family. Yes it is so expancive to go the county fairs. I am glad they are only once a year. It is so much fun to go with family then alone. I use to take my mom in her wheel chair. It was hard pushing my mom in her chair she was almost 400lbs. I did it for her and I know now she did not appreciate any thing I did for her, she expected it of me. Oh well some people you cannot please.
@squaretile (3778)
• Singapore
30 Jul 07
that sounds quite expensive, though not in the league of disneyland. it's amazing how much a day there can cost. and the food and gifts there are so expensive too! people should just pack sandwiches when they go. they are building a large air-conditioned ferris wheel in singapore. something like the London eye. it's called the Singapore Flyer. we always have weird names for things!
1 person likes this
@Feona1962 (7526)
• United States
29 Jul 07
I am glad you still had fun, despite the cost..We have a fair coming up August 3rd..We take our grandsons so they can have fun and see the animals..It isn't a huge fair but it is big for our community..thanks for sharing..
1 person likes this
• United States
29 Jul 07
I too, love the fair. I love the way it smells, I love the sounds. I don't like many of the rides as they make me sick, LOL, but I can walk around the fair all day and not get tired of it. I was in 4-H when I was a kid, so we got to get in free. I agree with you that the prices are getting extreme. Not only that, but it seems as if less is offered every year. You pay more for less.
1 person likes this
• China
29 Jul 07
I'm a Chinese senior high school student. In our city--it's too small--there is no such big fair you had visited before. It's a pity that I haven't even rode the Ferris Wheel because I have had car sickness for a long time. I'm very afraid of taking a taxi--I even would like take a walk instead of taxi even when I was too tired to walk.HHHHH~~Wish you have a happy day. This is my first msg on this forum. My english is not very good--I guess you may know Chinese education is very hidebound--so I know there must be some mistakes in my msg.And thank you very much for reading it or just giving me a good stage so that I can be brave enough to show my own opinion about this discussion. Thanks again
1 person likes this