If you and your family are regulars at Scarby.... no more Adult season passes

[lys1022]

My wife has, first by responding to the email which came back "unknown user."

She has also used the above conact email and has no response or even an acknowledgement.

Drac

I believe that Orvis has been on vacation for the last week or so.  Since the office JUST finished the Screams season, many of the folks there take some time off right after it finishes, just as they do once Faire finishes.  Everyone gets vacation time, and they can't take it during the four months of faire (yeah, four months for those who work it) or the two months of Screams (again, two months for those who work it).

[Drac]

Deciding where to spend our money - now, that is personal. 

Luckily for us, new faires pop up for us to explore.  Some will be tiny and die quickly.  Others will become competition for the big faires.

I really don't want to stir one fair against another nor anymore than I want playtron and workers, or vendors against entertainers.  Each one has issues that they could tell the others how bad they have it and just suck it up.  Once that sort of fighting happens might as well not even bother going.

I believe that Orvis has been on vacation for the last week or so.  Since the office JUST finished the Screams season, many of the folks there take some time off right after it finishes, just as they do once Faire finishes.  Everyone gets vacation time, and they can't take it during the four months of faire (yeah, four months for those who work it) or the two months of Screams (again, two months for those who work it).

That I can understand.  We'll give them some time to respond.

I just wanted some avenue to see if I can get a response and maybe have a reasonable discussion.  Of course being human we will always have a certain amount of gripping but I had hoped that maybe the management would use this as a forum to cool things off.

Drac

[Ryk Rakham]

I just spotted this thread and am going to jump in. I think we all see the business side of things. There is the bottom line. But, as in any "service" industry the business is all about the people. Word of mouth advertising and a loyal customer or fan base is vital to the bottom line. Hopefully, Scarby's Board has thought long and hard about how this will affect folks. My wife and I have done 1 FOF pass and 1 Season pass for years and years. I agree with Drac in that I think that the unseen print says that this is a way to force those of us who have been doing this to buy 2 (or more) FOF passes, which we will...for now. We have attended Scarby because we have always felt like "part" of the story, part of the show and part of the fun. We have, for the most part, felt appreciated. The huge increase in FOF passes a few years back was a blow to us. Still, just having to buy one was worth it for the parking and gatorade/water and shady spots to rest and meet friends. This is another blow, and no doubt directly aimed at situations like ours. This year, we will purchase our FOF passes in advance and hopefully still feel like part of the festival. But, if changes continue and Scarby becomes the "big theme park" that forgets why she is successful then Oklahoma Renaissance Faire is a wonderful Faire right up the road, one we try to attend at least once a year. We can fill April up with Four Winds, Norman, and other small Faires, then attend OKRF in May. There ARE other choices. Just please, you folks at Scarby don't make us choose. Keep our favorite acts (don't understand the "alternating" Don Juan and Miguel, or why Hey Nunnie Nunnie was there only once in 2010), keep us part of the fun and don't look at us as a cash cow. If you take our renfest.com folks and other loyal folks out of the village of Scarborough, you have a theme park with no heart. And again, no need to preach about the business end. I am a Manager with extensive education in business, marketing and HR. People matter...if you remember that, you will remain successful. Here's to a wonderful 2011 season and to remembering that we are all in this terrible economy together!

[Merlin the Elder]

I certainly wasn't intending to insult anyone, Drac. I know price increases aren't fun, especially these days!  What I was attempting to do was to put things into perspective, and maybe ended up being a bit more pragmatic than anyone likes. Scarborough, and just about every other faire, are businesses—first and foremost. Just because we love to go doesn't change that basic fact.

Personally, I don't see what could be so costly about keeping season passes around, but not being part of the Scarby administration, I don't know what the particulars are. There may be something that none of us is aware of, though it seems unlikely.

While we're worrying about how expensive our fun is, we're not considering what the cast is dealing with. As our good King Henry posted, they're all paying for their own costuming. That totally blows me away. I've also been told by another source that most aren't even paid to be there. All I have to say is, they must really enjoy what they are doing if they pay to work.

The best thing to do is make your displeasure known to the management. Maybe they will reconsider, maybe not.

[angusmacinnes]

Here is something to ponder.

I've actually done the math. Drinking only 2 drinks per day - and we all know we need much more than 2 - it's $5 per day times 17 days is $85. Subtract that from your FoF pass of $135 and you're only paying $50 to attend Faire. When you factor more than 2 drinks per day as we should, your attendance could easily be free in the end. That's why I've always gone with the FoF instead of the season pass. We're all talking about finances, so here's the simple money laid out for you. It really is cheaper to get a FoF than the season pass anyway. We don't tend to think of those things when we have to write the big check for the ticket up front, but I'd rather suck it up in the beginning and spend my money shopping for fun stuff instead of expensive bottles of soda and water.

Plus if you buy early the FOF pass is $115.00 you save another $20.00 making the cost as low as $30.00 to attend fair.  Just sayin.

[Stalkwell]

Here's something else to ponder...

Gator-aide and other mixed electrolyte drinks make me wretch.  Not worth it to pay $5 a day to have the privelege of that.

Now if they served soda/tea or lemonade... might be worth it to me.

Our break even point for tickets is going to be attending about half of the days... that's with some mix of FOF and regular tickets.  We do have other things to do/shows and events to see, many of which we have neglected for years.  This may be a good year for a break from 100% Scarby, and that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Stalk well...

[Lady Kett]

Gator-aide and other mixed electrolyte drinks make me wretch.  Not worth it to pay $5 a day to have the privelege of that.

I will chime in on that. Gator-aide is not my favorite drink either. But free ice water all day long when its 100 degrees outside in late May is worth the FOF pass right there. Granted most vendors will give you ice if you ask, but the convenience is well worth it in my book.

I pretty much agree with Merlin on several fronts. I'm really surprised there just wasn't an increase in price on the regular season pass. If it were increased to be within shooting distance (so to speak) of the FOF pass, then I think a lot of people might just jump to the FOF pass.

On the other hand, as I learned this year TRF doesn't have season passes, they just have ticket packs where you buy 17 tickets in a bundle, which if you went every day is a season pass and gives you a discount. It actually gives you a little more flexibility to bring friends here and there and then miss a day but still use all your tickets. Not a bad arrangement if people understand it. And TRF had me very confused till someone pointed it out to me. However, Scarby's "group pricing" of $18 per ticket for 17 tickets would be almost 3x the FOF price which works out to $6.76 a day so Angus' math on price per day with cost of drinks is a eye opener too.

Well, enough rambling. I bought our passes and I'm content and ready for a countdown thread.

[cyberrennie]

Ryk- what are you referring to in the statement "don't understand the "alternating" Don Juan and Miguel,"? I'm confused....

[LadyStitch]

I think he meant that in past years that Don Juan and Migel have usually shared the stage with the Pyro Jugger and One flaming Idiot.  It seems this year that performing opposite Don Juan and Migel will be a weekly  guest performer instead of set person.  This may be a good thing, in that it brings in acts that normally do not get to come to scarby due to over lapping gigs.  This will also encourage people to come back multiple weeks to see the different performers. 
On the down side it is a kick in the wallets for the people who use to work opposite them.  That is a NICE STAGE  and you can get bigger crowds than the other stages.  This forces the performers to smaller stages where, honestly they don't make as much in tips.

[Merlin the Elder]

Gator-aide and other mixed electrolyte drinks make me wretch.  Not worth it to pay $5 a day to have the privelege of that.

Now if they served soda/tea or lemonade... might be worth it to me.

I can't deny that Gator-aide is some kind of nasty, but being at Scarby for closing weekend this year, Nim and I spent a LOT of time in the FoF area drinking water and Gator-pee-aide.  The folks at Scarby had an aid-station full of people that were stroking out from the heat.  Had it not been for the FoF pavilions, we would not have been able to stay around. In case you hadn't noticed, bottles of water are $2 per outside of the FoF pavilions.

I'd much rather deal with the nasty taste than a nasty heat-stroke.  Tea would NOT be good under those circumstances, lemonade might, and only clear soda would be good. In the extreme heat, caffeine and alcohol are both very bad ideas.

[tad78]

It just makes me sad that for the first time in years, we may not be able to be there every weekend. Scarby is more than just something to do a couple of weekends - it's our life for 2 months out of the year. My kids grew up there, formed relationships and friendships, worked in shops, walked in the parade every day, we all learned the country dances and participated in the dancing every day and every year we have managed to turn 1 or 2 friends or family members into rennies. The Faire made this possible for us by offering the season pass and now they are yanking it away. I just feel cheated - like they are saying "we don't really care if you are here or not but if you really want to be here, you'll pay"

I agree that the FOF pass is still a good deal if you break it down per day, but it all has to be paid up front. That's 5 passes for us for a total of $575 - that's $240 more than the 1 FOF and 4 regular season passes that we usually buy. The weekend pass would allow us to come only 4 days for the same cost as the regular adult pass. My husband and a few friends are so put off that they are talking about not going at all. I'm not sure what we will do...if we can manage it, I guess we'll buy the passes, but won't buy ANY food (we have always purchased our food at the faire) or spend any money in the shops. Otherwise, we'll just come a couple of weekends and spend what we would normally spend. Either way, the faire won't be making any more money on us.

[Nicolas-Antoine]

I posted this in our TM forum but I thought it was appropriate here regarding the "savings per day argument"
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Yes if you break out the cost on a day to day basis - the FOF a good "deal" compared to a daily ticket - especially now that Scarby has raised the daily price to enforce that it is a good deal.

But like I told someone else who made the argument - Scarby doesn't offer an installment plan so folks, many who are honestly living paycheck to paycheck, are having to come up with this extra cash up front. That's and extra $70 per person which yes will make or break some people.

As another board pointed out - it's the way they "increased the price" that is pissing people off. For people who used and relied on the season pass, this is not an incremental increase, this is a $70 dollar ticket increase. How that is good business sense I will never understand except for the fact that yes, they are the only faire in the area and obviously the board is banking on that.

Honestly this move just tells me that Scarby is aspiring to be a renaissance themed shopping mall.

[raevyncait]

It kind of makes me wonder if their plan of "limiting to 2000" the FOF & raising the price the way they did a couple of years back simply backfired on them because people who used to buy enough for the whole adult-priced family at the really early discounted price (it seems to me that the year that I had a FOF, 07, the early price was something like $75, and the following year it went up to $110 for the early-bird pricing when they first started limiting them) stopped buying multiples and started buying just 1 FOF & the rest regular Season Passes, so they are not making the $ that they have already earmarked for various "FOF-sponsored" improvements, thus they've decided to FORCE the FOF purchases. 

In my own household/family (7 adults & 1 child), it will cost them over $500 in unsold passes alone, before you factor in what we normally spend on food (yes, we all eat once a day out there, purchasing food from the vendors to do so), sodas, games/rides for the kids, items purchased (over the course of the season we spend several hundred dollars out there, at least, with various shopkeepers), and tips for performers.

I understand that Scarby is a business, and one to whose financial dealings I am not privy, however as much as I love faire, and Scarby in particular, the way that they seem not to care about those of us who are willing to pay to be part of the magic, week in and week out, and they've dropped several acts that are popular (Hey Nunnie Nunnie, The Rogues, Noble Cause), makes me wonder if it's worth my money, time and energy to support a festival that doesn't seem to care that it is alienating its largest group of dedicated fans... 

[Merlin the Elder]

I'm getting really curious about ticket prices all around for next year. Nobody seems to be posting prices... How much did anyone pay for season passes at other faires this past year?  TRF doesn't look like they even have such things.  I've seen other faires at $75-110.

[cyberrennie]

I think Sherwood is $90 (6 wknds?). Includes camping and a pin, but not preferred parking or drinks. TRF has no pass, not sure about the others.