Babies at Wolf Trap are Full Price

indamockwood

Hi all. I just wanted to post this in case anyone else had tickets to a show at Wolf Trap this summer. We had lawn tickets to a concert last week at Wolf trap, and decided that it was a nice enough night, a nice enough concert, and that DD was behaved well-enough that we could bring her in the Ergo.

The one thing we hadn't counted on, was that all children, regardless of age - two weeks, two months, two years, require a full price ticket. Now that I look at the Web site, it does say that, but I just didn't even think to look.

It's too bad for us, because DD did really well at the concert, and it would have been nice to go to a few more this summer (upon realizing that, we gave away our Sheryl Crow tickets). But buying three tickets takes it outside of that realm of affordable family fun. 

 

rnin02

Full price for a lawn seat for a baby? That's bizarre. I could understand them wanting you to pay if you were using an actual seat, but on the lawn?

zeptattoo

I used to work there.  Trust me, babies are a HUGE problem at concerts.  Some babies do very well, but some people think its a great idea to bring them to the symphony or a loud concert.  The Filene Center was never designed to be kid friendly.  It is designed as a theater.  When the kids start screaming, there is nowhere out of ear-shot to take them except the parking lot.  So, if they charge for the kids (and you will find that most around here actually do for certain shows), parents are less likely to bring them. 

Kid-friendly shows (like some of the festivals and the ICF) are free for kids a certain age and under.  That is the type of show to bring DD to.  Just my two cents...

Artslvr

Ditto pp.  I used to work there too.  They do this to deter people from bringing babies/little kids to concerts.  Unfortunately not everyone has a kid as good as yours, or use judgement like you did.  If your kid was a screaming mess you would have known not to bring her or would have removed her, but lots of people don't have common sense.

Useonfire

My experience is that if your baby cost full price, they don't want them. This is why we're not going on a family cruise after a wedding with Royal Caribbean in 2 weeks.  We were not going to spend $1000 for an 8 month old...

Karenbird

zeptattoo:

I used to work there.  Trust me, babies are a HUGE problem at concerts.  Some babies do very well, but some people think its a great idea to bring them to the symphony or a loud concert.  The Filene Center was never designed to be kid friendly.  It is designed as a theater.  When the kids start screaming, there is nowhere out of ear-shot to take them except the parking lot.  So, if they charge for the kids (and you will find that most around here actually do for certain shows), parents are less likely to bring them. 

Kid-friendly shows (like some of the festivals and the ICF) are free for kids a certain age and under.  That is the type of show to bring DD to.  Just my two cents...

I find the policy very regrettable.  I grew up going to Cleveland Orchestra concerts at an outdoor venue very similar to the Filene Center.  Children under 12 are free on the lawn, and *all* concerts are viewed as an opportunity for people of all ages to experience music.  Don't get me wrong, if you, your cellphone, or your children are posing a disturbance, you will be asked to leave.  But the policy and the atmosphere are welcoming to everyone, and I frankly think that attitude better serves the community and the arts.  

belizeitornot

Artslvr:

Ditto pp.  I used to work there too.  They do this to deter people from bringing babies/little kids to concerts.  Unfortunately not everyone has a kid as good as yours, or use judgement like you did.  If your kid was a screaming mess you would have known not to bring her or would have removed her, but lots of people don't have common sense.

 I would agree with this, and it's not just Wolf Trap that has this policy - the Kennedy Center uses it also.

It would be nice if all parents had the sense to remove their screaming child from a performance, but not all do. I once was singing a concert where my conductor had to stop the performance and ask the people with the crying baby to leave the hall. It's also disruptive to everyone around you to have an usher come tell you to leave, and there isn't always an opportune time to do so during a show.

In addition, I'll throw out there that in the case of an emergency, every person in a venue needs to be accounted for. In venues that use barcode scanners to count admission to the venue, how are they supposed to account for a baby being carried in? And when there is an emergency and they need to report to paramedics or police how many people are in attendance that evening, they need to be able to do so. So there are many issues at play.