At the fair, but you can’t ride: Parents question PNE coupon system

It was opening weekend at the PNE and thousands of people came from around Metro Vancouver for the famous fair. But some families say they feel let down by the coupon system, which meant their kids couldn’t go on a ride.

When Lisa Clement showed up before the gates opened, her family had fair passes, but no ride passes.

“We did not feel we needed a $50 pass for our child to go on one little roundabout car ride and perhaps the Ferris wheel as a family,” she told CityNews. Her plan was to purchase coupons for only a couple of rides for her two-year-old child.

Well it didn’t work. Why not be clearer when buying admission online. Sell options with ride tix or a walking grounds pass only. Not that hard to say rides will only be available with advance tix. Don’t give allusion you can buy day of even though sold at time of opening gates. https://t.co/V99GcdBSr7

— Lisa MacPhail (@vanmediagal) August 20, 2022

“We were told on the loudspeaker that there would be ride tickets and passes and coupon options inside,” she said, adding they then had to walk over to the Playland side of the park to get to the ticket booth.

But she says by the time they made it inside and over to the ticket booth, there was a long line and ride coupons were sold out before she could make it to the front. She and other parents were left trying to explain to their kids why they couldn’t get on a ride.

“There was one father that offered the ride attendant cash. He wants to purchase coupons, he wants to purchase passes — but there were no options. That’s really not in the spirit of PNE. It should be a fun activity for the family. It’s to be an affordable experience. It shouldn’t be a race to get to the ticket booth to be told that your day is sold out or your day has a huge wrench put in the plan.”

PNE spokesperson Laura Ballance says while she can’t speak to Clement’s situation, she says they had staff members talking to guests at the ticket booths.

“We had staff at every single ticket lineup, telling people,” Ballance said. “They were literally at the end of the lineup, and moved with the lineup. So as somebody came up to the lineup, they were telling them that there’s a high likelihood that you may not get ride passes or in fact, ride passes were sold out. So it’s unfortunate this person got missed somehow.”

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Ballance says the ride passes and coupons sold out during the early afternoon hours on both days of opening weekend. She adds a cap on the number of passes and coupons available for sale each day helps with physical distancing at the amusement park, and reduces wait times.

“We have heard from our guests over many years that they really want to see ride lines no longer than one hour on our marquee rides. So, that’s always our target. In order to ensure that, we have put a cap on the daily ride tickets,” she explained, adding wait times in excess of an hour are not uncommon for some of the more popular rides.

While she understands this might leave some people disappointed, Ballance says “we’re really trying to be responsible in the number of tickets that we’re selling, in order to ensure guest experience.”

Clement wasn’t the only parent disappointed over the weekend. Others shared their frustration on social media.

What a disappointing experience once again. Playland is such a poorly run operation. Customers need to buy passes ahead and then show up to find out several rides are closed. No refund, no discount, longer lines, etc. What a mess of an amusement park.

— Nick Pena-Alvarez (@NickPenaAlvarez) August 20, 2022

Its a bit of a joke that you can’t even get coupons for rides today. We came to do the coaster and your staff say no individual coupons available either. Never seen/heard of this before and it’s a huge bummer

— Brent Eh (@WunderBrent) August 20, 2022

Clement says many of the toddler rides — the ones her child would be able to go on — were nearly empty.

“I think there were one or two kids on them. Everyone was there for the big rides,” she said.

“I actually spoke to a woman who was there with five or six kids and was completely heartbroken. The whole family was just in tears when they found out that they couldn’t go on rides. And she’d spent such a fortune coming in from Chilliwack — you know, gas and admission and parking and snacks. They’re sitting in front of the ticket booth and nobody can help. It’s just disheartening.”

While ride passes can be purchased online in advance, ride coupons cannot. Clement feels this puts up a big financial barrier for some families who want to ensure their child gets a chance to go on just one ride.

“Some families just cannot pay for a $50 pass. It’s just not an option for them. Being able to allow your child to go on one ride and letting them know that ‘This is your one and only ride’ … [it] makes it just a little bit easier for everyone. So I just don’t think selling out of coupon individual tickets is is the best plan for this summer.”

Ballance says while making more coupons available for sale sounds like a simple solution, “if we keep selling coupons or passes, we’re going to generate another problem, which is long ride lineups. So we’re trying to balance that.”

She says while having a more flexible system to perhaps have different rules for rides in lower demand, she imagines such a system would be difficult to staff and manage.

“But we’ll take in any ideas and assess them to see if they’re viable.”