Cost while at Ringling Circus?

[mlwear]

Curious to know from others who have recently attended a Ringling Bros. Circus how much did you spend while you were there?
We already have our tickets (yikes $$$), but know there are plenty of extras that I will need to have in a budget.
I have two boys and anticipate they will want a snack and probably a toy. What do you think is the best souvenir? About how much are the goodies? Did you get a program? If so, do you remember the cost and if it is worth it?
TIA

 

[Mouse House Mama]

When we went we had 2 kids and we bought a program (waste of money) 4 pretzels, a couple of bottles of water, a cotton candy, and 2 toys (spinny light things). It cost $100. We left after the first act because the kids were not even interested in the show. Bring lots of cash!

 

[jackdis]

This might be comparing apples to oranges, but to give you somewhat of an idea....just talked to a relative who took his kids to see the Sesame Street show (NYC) and the helium balloons were 10 bucks each. (Three little kids to buy them for.) And then, once intermission was over and the show started again, they were asked to put them under their seats. Makes sense as to not block the view of the people behind you. (They were big.) BUT.....try telling one and two year olds they can't have their balloons. Needless to say, the rest of the show was not enjoyable for them. Makes you think they could have sold them at the END of the show. Also, they were being sold in the front of the theater right by the stage, so they were in plain view for all the kids to see (and want!) Anyway, 10 bucks per balloon.....I just digressed!!

 

[fabshelly]

YMMV. I bought a DVD of the show, because Alice (six, then) liked the singing Ringleader and the elephants. It was about 20 bucks, I think. Five for snacks and drinks, ten for a program. You get the picture.

 

[thompson princesses]

Yikes is right! We went last November. Family of 4. We spent about $400.00. I tried to be frugal and bring gummi bears, granola, juice boxes etc..The joke was on me. All the toys light up, the popcorn comes in a cute hat, snowcones in clown mugs etc... I found out the circus was coming to town 2 days before the event. My kids had never been. The only seats left were the nosebleed section where the elephants look like the poodles, so I bought vip tickets online. That set me back over $200.00. Then there's the parking fee. I can't remember but I think it was $10.00. I think the snowcone in the clown mug was $10.00, most light up toys $20.00 and the popcorn $10.00. The light up toys are cute and they use them in the show. We also ate lunch there. MISTAKE! A hotdog, chips and drink (kids meal) were around $10.00. I figured this was an experience that they probably were not gonna get again any time soon but sheeesh!! Try to get there early. They put alot of kids in the show. They get to ride around the rings in a car thingamajigy and it's really cute.I didn't buy the program but took lots of pictures. I hope I didn't scare you! Have fun!

 

[briannesmom]

We went a few months ago. The tickets were pretty cheap but the extras were $$$$$$$$. We paid $10 for cotton candy in a paper type hat and $10 for a snowcone in a cup that looked like a horse (some other cups were a bit cheaper). At least we got some type of souvenier for our money. They had lots of light spinners and stuffed animals. We kind of rushed past them so I didn't really notice the cost.
We went to Nemo on Ice last year and the light spinner DD picked was $20. I imagine the circus ones are pretty similar in pricing.

Have a good time, we really enjoyed the show.

Amy

 

[It's A Happy Day]

1st I see you already have tickets but for anyone else out there looking to buy, The Entertainment book has a coupon for buy 1 get 1 free up to I think 8 tickets so that is a HUGE savings for a family of 4!

If you look at http://store.ringling.com/ you can check out prices for items on sale. There is of course usually concessions for items like soda, popcorn, pretzels and they are priced similar to movie theater pricing

When Ringling comes here, if you get there I think 1 hour before start time you can go onto the floor and mingle with the clowns and circus folk. We purchased 2 programs and in the middle is a place for the clowns to do autographs. This was a great photo op for us!!! So the $10 at the time was worth it to us. We also got the snow cones in elephant cups $9 but 2 years later we STILL use them every week. They have held up great, are dishwasher safe, and the kids LOVE them. The toys were basically junk - both kids got lightup toys - 1 wand and 1 sword and both broke/would not light up within 3 months. We still have them but the light up mechanism is faulty. We also got them the coloring books. We spent about $100 at the circus not including the tickets.

 

[swilshire]

Just say no. We never buy anything at the shows. The tickets are costly enough. Our kids have grumbled, but learned to cope through the years.

All the toys, mugs and sometimes even the programs will show up at yard sales this summer.

The only thing we ever pay extra is for parking, and sometimes we can find a meter spot for that.

Sheila

 

[BarbWB]

We have 4 kids. By most standards, we are upper-middle class and fairly comfortable. NO souvenirs anymore except pictures. They have enough cr** at home. We do scrapbook pages together as our souvenirs. I could have a day at Disney for the price of buying souvenirs at the circus!!!

(Now when they go places with grandma -- who is ALWAYS strapped for cash-- she buys those things. It's kind of a family joke. I just roll my eyes.)

 

[sk!mom]

NO souvenirs anymore except pictures. They have enough cr** at home. We do scrapbook pages together as our souvenirs. I could have a day at Disney for the price of buying souvenirs at the circus!!!

(Now when they go places with grandma -- who is ALWAYS strapped for cash-- she buys those things. It's kind of a family joke. I just roll my eyes.)

I could almost have written this myself- even the part about grandma. We take pics and buy a snack but none of the junky other stuff.

 

[PatsMom]

DD and I went to Ringling Brothers in Portland ME last fall. We had a wonderful time and she is a teenager! Only souvenir we purchased was the program and she got it autographed by lots of performers. All her practice with Disney charachters showed! We ate right before we went to the show so the only snack bought was a bottle of water that we shared. And we did buy the DVD just because we loved the show. Total spent was maybe $45. No light up toys, etc. for her - she's used to being told no to those from the time she was real little and we started taking her to Disney! If your show allows it, get there early enought to join the cast on the floor. Even if you don't have a program you are getting autographed like we did, they are really fun to watch up close.

 

[torinsmom]

Well, if your city has group shows, find one or two other families and buy group tickets. My class goes every year(just went Friday as a matter of fact) and we got tickets for $11 each! Our class of 25 bought 75 tickets. EVERY child actually had at least one parent with them. And no, we were not in the nosebleed section, we were front and center. Some of our kids even got to ride the little train buggy thing around the center area. Of course, we sent in our money for tickets in September to get such great seats. If you have 3 or more kids in a vehicle, you even get to park free.

As far as food, at the group shows, you are allowed to bring in lunches and they have an intermission. The kids ate their lunch during that time. I had parents pay $1 if they wanted popcorn and we bought the huge buckets and then divided them into cups. I think the large buckets were $5.25. Cotton candy was $6. DVD's were $12. I bought a DVD for the class.

By the way, it is a whole different show this year with only one ring! They had some of the regular acts and some new stuff that the kids really liked.

Marsha

 

[LoriNSC]

We just went to the circus Jan. 29th here. Snow cones are $7-$12 depending on container it's in. We didn't get a program. (It was a waste of $ last time.) Popcorn was $3.50 20 oz. drinks-$3.00; personal pizzas $5.00. Souvenirs: big (nice looking) elephant w/ Ringling banner-$30 (too much for me); lighted swords $12-$15; stuffed animals $10-$25; DVD $12 (I bought-kids love) we bought a little white tiger in a pink purse (my DS 4 got the tiger & DD 19 mos. got the purse)-$12. Bring lots of $! Oh yea-cotton candy w/ a cheap hat was $10. I think we spend about $60. But we had a ball!

 

[samanthacatangel]

We went last year in NYC with another couple and their kids. Bought a program and cotton candy (cc was $12). That was it.

I did, however, bring in a light up twirly Tinkerbell thing, and my DD was quite happy with that. I also took it to Disney Princess on Ice, and no problems there either. Better than wasting $$ on something she would care less about within 48 hours.

I do not know if you are actually "allowed" to do this, but I had no problems. If you are not supposed to, then of course I do not condone this awful behavior.

 

[caribear]

We just went last month........dd asked for several items, but we discouraged her and told her if she didn't buy anything at the circus then we would go out afterwards for ice cream. This worked great!! The items at the circus are so ridiculously priced! The light spinners were more expensive than Disney's and the quality was poor.

 

[2mickeys1minnie]

We go to the circus every year and plan to go again this year. The one thing my kids always want are the light up toys (they are $22 each x 3 kids...yikes!). The lights are low and all you see are thousands of the light up thingies going off. My kids beg for them every year. Last year I went to kbtoys the day before and bought similar light up spinning toys for $3.75 each on clearence...AND these were filled w/ candy. We didn't show them to the kids and when DH went to buy some cotton candy he magically came back w/ their souveniers. They were thrilled with them and even commented ..hey, cool ours have candy in them! Thanks Mom!! WOOO HOOO! Needless to say, I'll be doing the same thing this year.

 

[zoemurr]

We go to lots of shows and never buy anything.. (and my kids never ask..)

We bring snacks, and glow sticks from the $ store. I do seem to remember a $6 popcorn that we split the last time we were there.

And about the balloons at Sesame Street.. they bring them out during intermission and wave them in the kids faces. (To the kids they look like they are giving them out to everybody, so if they don't have one it's hard to understand.. of course we still didn't buy one..) it is mean, mean MEAN.

Lucky for me my kids don't like balloons.. so I was ok on that one.

I would definitely look aroud for some cheaper light up twirly thing before you go. The prices are crazy.

Have fun!

 

[jessica52877]

Just say no. We never buy anything at the shows. The tickets are costly enough. Our kids have grumbled, but learned to cope through the years.

All the toys, mugs and sometimes even the programs will show up at yard sales this summer.

The only thing we ever pay extra is for parking, and sometimes we can find a meter spot for that.

Sheila

I say no too! My son doesn't ask for much (yet), thank goodness, but I don't buy any extras no matter where we go. He doesn't know better to want them then. I like to look, but the prices, oh the prices, TOO MUCH! We eat before leaving and after exiting. He was actually bored to pieces along with myself and we ended up leaving after the second half started when they still didn't bring any tigers out and I said forget it!

And YEP, balloons at SS were $10! Outrageous! Although snow cones only $3!

 

[Disneykarem]

Related question: How long does the circus usually last? I'm taking a group of about 20 kids next week and was curious. I haven't been to the circus since I was a kid so I really don't remember much about it. Thanks.

 

[torinsmom]

The group show we went to started at 10:30 and was over at 12:50. There was a 20 minute intermission right in the middle. I think the regular show may be a little longer though.

Marsha