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Ouch, $90 to see the Chinese Lanterns at Ontario Place?!

theowne said:
What? Maybe you're thinking of the science center. The ROM is a major museum, not a theme park to entertain toddlers.
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Obviously you haven't seen the kids part of the ROM, which is definitely made to entertain toddlers. What they're missing is the appeal to older kids.

Yes, the museum is made for everyone, not just kids, I was speaking more of the dinosaurs in particular. The Zoo's dinosaur exhibit, again not a theme park, was far better than the ROM's. However, that's just my view.
 
I went to the Lantern Festival in its first summer and really enjoyed it, (pricing was a bit lower, and it was a fresh new thing to see and do), but I did not want to pay the prices they were asking last year. If last year saw such a huge financial loss, why do the decision-makers at Ontario Place have any reason to believe that they will do well this year without drastically altering the price? If they dropped the price in half they might get three times as many people going. I'd love to see it again, but at what they're charging? Is the place run by morons or do they have a contractual obligation to gouge? People sense when things are overpriced, and nothing kills business like bad word of mouth in that regard. It's not good for the park's reputation on the whole.

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interchange42 said:
I went to the Lantern Festival in its first summer and really enjoyed it, (pricing was a bit lower, and it was a fresh new thing to see and do), but I did not want to pay the prices they were asking last year. If last year saw such a huge financial loss, why do the decision-makers at Ontario Place have any reason to believe that they will do well this year without drastically altering the price? If they dropped the price in half they might get three times as many people going. I'd love to see it again, but at what they're charging? Is the place run by morons or do they have a contractual obligation to gouge? People sense when things are overpriced, and nothing kills business like bad word of mouth in that regard. It's not good for the park's reputation on the whole.
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I agree. It's unfortunate, and I'm glad I'm not the only one who sees the prices as set too high for something like this. A shame, really. I would think a $15 adult admission (children/youth perhaps $8 or $10) would probably be a fair price point. We are nicely spoiled with many free events during the May to October season, but it doesn't excuse this.

I'm not worrying too much as I'll be at the Mid-Autumn festival in Mainland China in a few weeks (second in importance to the New Year), and one reason why I've tried to spend less money otherwise this summer.
 
I have to agree with much of the sentiment here; it's just too over-priced, cheap student or not.

A few friends decided to take me for my birthday the first year, and we probably would have turned around at the gates if we had anywhere else to go. There were some great performances and the displays were incredible, but at the price it cost us we would have been better off going to a decent restaurant instead of leaving an hour and a half later to find some fast food.

I would have thought this year to be lower in price, but I guess they didn't pick up on the kind of thing interchange has pointed out.

(I say take a paddle boat. I once walked the circumference of the Zoolischer Gartens in Berlin and saw a good half of the species they house.)
 
I attended this event in the first year and while I thought it was a tad bit expensive (then) it was interesting and surely worth the money ... however based on suggestions above that admissions have 'further' increased and a lantern festival is still a lantern festival (3rd year in a row now), I would think the WOW factor would substantially decrease, at least in terms of being something new, unique and different, wonder what Ontario Place is thinking?

Would be nice if they did this once every five years or something ... that would draw more crowds I think
 
The lanterns have changed every year - I suppose they have been banking on hooking people into coming for each new set of lanterns. I think you're right though: at least a couple of years between each showing, and a lower price point, would bring a lot more interest.

42
 
^ Agreed, perhaps the lantern festival is coming to a point that it has run its course for now and should be given a rest for a couple of years. People won't necessarily go every year when the pricing is at a "premium" level.

Meanwhile I have to agree with the sentiments expressed regarding the ROM. I understand that new exhibits are being phased in, but having paid to see it once since the grand revamp, I won't go again until substantially all of the content is actually in place. Even with advance notice, there is inevitably some feeling of disappointment when confronted with one empty or closed-off area after another.

I am really looking forward to the AGO reopening. Now that will be an event.
 
Hydrogen said:
That fact's lost on some parents.
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The new Disney logo suggests to me that the ROM wants its new image to be a museum for the kiddies.



A serious museum.
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Somewhere to take the kiddies for an afternoon.
rom_logo.gif
 
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