topic Re: Royal Melbourne Show in Community Spirit

Royal Melbourne Show

springyzone — Thu, 22 Sep 2022 23:01:36 GMT

Yesterday I had the pleasure? of going to the show with my daughter and 2 young grandchildren.

Things have changed since last time I went when my own children were younger.

No longer can you just rock up and buy a ticket to enter, You have to buy online and tickets for yesterday were sold out a few days beforehand. Hold that thought.

You could also buy a ride ticket package online. This was $110 for $150 worth of rides. I'd say just about everyone must have bought this.

I have never been to a poorer organised function than this, Well, I have, but not a big public function.

Firstly, we left home quite early 8.30am, as the show doesn't open till about 9.30am I think it is.

We were within 1km just before 10am. We were still in that traffic grid at 11.30am. We were in the street running alongside the show grounds and could see further bad news. The gate that was open had a crowd on the right hand side that stretched right to the end and round the corner, at least an hour's wait for those folk to get in.

But we had time to notice another thing. Those approaching on the left of the gate or crossing the road were just milling right in and going through.

In the end we gave up on the carpark, my daughter turned in the opposite direction and we parked a km away and walked.

Not a policeman in sight helping with traffic.

We saw another entrance with a queue stretching for miles but used our knowledge to walk back to the middle entrance and got through fairly quickly. There was no one there helping out the crowd. If I had been in the right hand queue waiting for an hour and saw others rriving and going through on the LHS, I would have been livid.

Once inside, we could not just go on any rides. The ticket card had to be redeemed at a special ride concession stall. My daughter waited for an hour in that line. An hour. No one in that line was happy.

Once you have the card, you then had to line up for a ride, which is normal but another wait.

But given the organisers knew how many ride concession cards had been sold, why did they not have more booths open for people to collect these? I know a little bit of a wait is expected but one hour is too much.

To add insult to injury, each time you used the card, an 8% fee was charged so you didn't actually end up with $150 credit to use.

I wanted to take the kids to the animal nursery but the wait line for that was about 90 minutes in the hot (to us) sun.

All in all, the hold ups-traffic, getting in, getting the ride concession card etc took up half our day and we hardly got to see anything. The rides were good when we finally went on some.

The show bag pavillion was not crowded, that surprised me.

Prices were high. A small soft drink $5.50. Ouch.

If you live in Melbourne and plan on going, feel free to PM me for the name of the closest streets where you can park for free and no permit is needed.

The whole thing could and should have been better organised, given everyone there already had pre bought tickets and the organisers knew what to expect.

Re: Royal Melbourne Show

janeababe — Fri, 23 Sep 2022 00:37:12 GMT

Oh Springy, the whole thing sounds like a $hit-fight. What a battle!

And the 8% fee sounds fraudulent to me. Was it mentioned in the T&Cs?

I couldn’t think of anything worse than waiting in line of traffic, at the gate, at the ticket booth exchange, at the ride, to get food, to use a toilet, to then go home exhausted and wishing you had just stayed home! 😩😩

And surely it can’t be fun for the kids either.

Hmmmm…. Will you go again next year? 😂

Re: Royal Melbourne Show

countessalmirena — Fri, 23 Sep 2022 00:46:33 GMT

springyzone - thank you! That head’s-up helps me to decide it’s no show for me.

What a mess.

I do not want to decide in advance whether I’ll go on a ride. I don’t want to queue for hours. I don’t want to be charged a surcharge for rides. It all sounds disorganised and outrageous.

Re: Royal Melbourne Show

domino-710 — Fri, 23 Sep 2022 02:01:23 GMT

Thank you Springy - I'll pass.

Re: Royal Melbourne Show

imastawka — Fri, 23 Sep 2022 04:03:33 GMT

Disgraceful. Call Channel 10's The Project.

People need to be warned.

Re: Royal Melbourne Show

papermoon.lady — Fri, 23 Sep 2022 04:35:18 GMT

Are they on Facebook? Leave a negative review.

Re: Royal Melbourne Show

domino-710 — Fri, 23 Sep 2022 05:03:48 GMT

I'd do it.

How do I email The Project Channel 10?

Send us an email to stories@theprojecttv.com.au - our producers will be in touch from there if they can help! Keep up the good work!

Re: Royal Melbourne Show

springyzone — Fri, 23 Sep 2022 21:47:20 GMT

@janeababe wrote:
Oh Springy, the whole thing sounds like a $hit-fight. What a battle!

And the 8% fee sounds fraudulent to me. Was it mentioned in the T&Cs?

I have no idea. Probably. My daughter knew about it so I suppose it might be mentioned on the website. I guess it still means you pick up about $27 in free rides. It would be worth it if the queue to pick up the ride card was only short & to be fair, perhaps on some days it will not be as busy. One thing that I did think was a rip off with it was I saw on some rides at the ticket booth, there was a sign that the card could not be used on rides after 6pm.
The show closes about 9.30pm and I can't for the life of me see why, if someone buys such a card and then queues for an hour to collect it, that it can't be used at any time during the day.

I couldn’t think of anything worse than waiting in line of traffic, at the gate, at the ticket booth exchange, at the ride, to get food, to use a toilet, to then go home exhausted and wishing you had just stayed home! 😩😩

No, it wasn't our ideal day out either. My daughter said she will never go again.
And yes, you had to have a good bladder. 😂It is a mystery to me why toilet blocks and those portable toilet traliers always devote equal space to men/women. Then there is always a queue for the ladies while for the men, never. It's time for this nonsense of equality in the bathroom to end and for women to be given 3/4 of the space.
On the plus side, one of those trailers had really lovely hand soap pumps at the taps. Great quality brand, beautiful fragrance.

And surely it can’t be fun for the kids either.

They didn't complain and when we got home to my place, they spent about an hour going through their show bags and opening everything, trying on everything . The excitement was palpable. My 5 year od granddaughter chose a showbag that had a little tutu type skirt, glitter headband, slippers, necklace, bangle. My grandson chose a slime showbag.
They loved a couple of the rides too. One I thought was very politically incorrect. Animal safari. The kids sit in a little car that travels along a flat track and they use toy guns to 'shoot' the jungle animals.
Hmmmm…. Will you go again next year? 😂
Pigs might fly. It's about $40 per head to get in. I was looking forward to seeing maybe the decorated cakes and the animals but it was 1.45pm before we could even collect the ride card.

Re: Royal Melbourne Show

springyzone — Fri, 23 Sep 2022 21:52:45 GMT

@countessalmirena wrote:

I do not want to decide in advance whether I’ll go on a ride. I don’t want to queue for hours. I don’t want to be charged a surcharge for rides. It all sounds disorganised and outrageous.

You don't have to decide in advance, you can just queue and pay for a ticket as you wish. It is just that if you do buy a discounted ride card online, you need to collect that at a booth so you can use it to purchase ride tickets. It's like a little credit card.

Re: Royal Melbourne Show

papermoon.lady — Sun, 25 Sep 2022 17:47:02 GMT

This year seems to be doomed:

https://www.news.com.au/national/victoria/young-woman-suffers-serious-facial-injuries-after-being-struck-by-ride-at-melbourne-royal-show/news-story/fde60f68ce1e8377704ca0a83eb140ea

Re: Royal Melbourne Show

springyzone — Sun, 25 Sep 2022 20:49:51 GMT

Thank goodness we were not on any ride like that. I am surprised anyone from the public can just wander onto the track, you'd think gates would be closed off while a ride was in progress.

Re: Royal Melbourne Show

papermoon.lady — Sun, 25 Sep 2022 21:41:03 GMT

Absolutely - just like gates are closed off at railway stations when a train is approaching so people cannot cross the road.

Re: Royal Melbourne Show

janoon-2008 — Mon, 25 Sep 2023 07:33:19 GMT

Next year take a train. Drops you at the gates then straight into the showgrounds. Less stress to cope with the crowds.

Re: Royal Melbourne Show

sandypebbles — Mon, 25 Sep 2023 07:56:37 GMT

This is next year, since springy posted the comment in 2022

Re: Royal Melbourne Show

springyzone — Mon, 25 Sep 2023 23:16:21 GMT

@janoon-2008 wrote:
Next year take a train. Drops you at the gates then straight into the showgrounds. Less stress to cope with the crowds.

I suggested that last year but my daughter didn't want to. She lives a long way from the showgrounds and didn't fancy 2 train trips with 2 kids and a handful of showbags.

But you're right, would have been better for that particular day.

We're not going this year. I don't think she will go back there in a hurry. I think she may go to something like the Dandenong Show instead.

Re: Royal Melbourne Show

*sons_n_daughters* — Thu, 28 Sep 2023 03:26:27 GMT

@springyzone wrote:

We're not going this year. I don't think she will go back there in a hurry. I think she may go to something like the Dandenong Show instead.

I live in a regional/rural area in NSW. Frankly, our local show sucks. It often clashes with larger shows in the city areas, so everyone goes there due to earning a higher income. That said, most years I'll still go to ours, because I like to see the animals, plus I like to see the cookery and handicrafts. The fruit and vege displays are pretty good too.

The show in the next town is much bigger, even though our population is similar. It's a "royal" show, which generally attracts more carnies and whatnot. Ours is just a regular show. The other show has way more rides, plus a lot bigger displays. Most years ours doesn't even have a ferris wheel! Although it did this year, so I went on that. It's nice being able to see over the town and I thought quite good value given it went for over 10 minutes.

We have very little in the way of events, like show jumping or wood cutting. You get a few, but not like the bigger shows. Parking can be an issue, but if you don't mid a bit of a walk (usually well less of 1km), then it's ok. Tickets are usually sold at the gate, although I do believe you could get them online here. Depending on the time of day, depends on if there is much of a line up.

If you just want a few rides, carpy show food (which I really love!), showbags and displays, then you can't go past a show outside of the city. Despite ours being quite small, there is a bit of something there for everyone. Plus, there's rarely long lines for anything (except the coffee vans!).

I would seriously consider it if you want a day out with the kids. Have a look at this link that tells you when the shows are coming up. Scroll down to get the full list that goes up to May 2024. I'm sure you could find a suitable one somewhere within a reasonable distance! Yes, they are agricultural shows, but often they are the best, especially if you like looking at the cooking and handicrafts.