Queen City EX — Attraction in Regina

To small of a venue, ALOT OF pic pockets, and the games are terribly over priced, and yet the kids receive a dollar store toy for winning a game that cost $10 per player times anywhere from 5-15 players they are easily making WAY more then their operating costs.

For instance the water target game where you squirt water at a target and make the thing go up, at 10 ppl per side that’s $200 for 60 seconds. Now I realize there isn’t always someone at each “station” every time the game is played. I was waiting for the kids to go on a ride and sat and watched for just shy of 2 hours, and I seen an average of 12 times it was played per hour and had an average of 8 ppl per game. That’s $960 in one hour. And you’d assume the “Carnie” is making minimum wage so that atleast $900 profit per hour (during the busy times). I think the city should be negotiating a WAAAAAY better deal for its citizens, because we are most definitely getting the short end of the stick here. I could get behind the cost more if it were to improve the city in some way or had a significant donation to a local charity, but for an American company with the sketchiest rides I’ve ever seen. It’s not even worth going too.

Not to mention the ball toss game where you can win a pocket bike or e scooter is rigged as I accidentally threw my keys when playing as my wristband caught my landyard when throwing, and they got stuck to the wooden blocks, proving there are magnets holding the blocks to each other and to the pedestal they sit on. So it’s almost...

I was going to give this 1 star, but I'm giving it 2 for the amusement company who brought the food and rides. Excellent job, as always. The Exhibition Association... what did you contribute? We arrived at about 7 pm on Friday, had something to eat, then realized there was absolutely nothing going on in any building. In fact, we were being shooed out. I guess if you did have something we must have missed it, because apparently - on a Friday night, the market shut down at 8 pm and we were outside probably by 9 pm! 12 degrees and nowhere to warm up, unless you could get back into the Tim Hortons area. That was the only indoor bathroom available, for the full Exhibition after that. The only other option left was a row of porter potties a long stroll down b the entire midway, and a dark walk across the beer gardens. So after 8 pm, on a Friday, there was nowhere to go inside and nothing to do outside besides drink in the beer gardens, go on rides and eat. The Exhibition can no longer claim it's dialed back for COVID, life has returned to normal for most of us. I'm just confused and disappointed, and I miss the Exhibitions of 10 or 15 years ago where the midway was packed with things to see and the whole complex seemed to be full of entertainment and exhibits. I looked at website for Saskatoon, being from that area it passed my mind to ask my family if they were going. They actually have entertainment after 9, for one! So much more entertainment for the same price, we might just drive...

I am not sure if it is due to the new contract for rides, or perhaps the new CEO of REAL, and their evergrowing financial issues, but.. This year, 2025, the exhibition was a bust. Ridiculously expensive, with very limited attractions. Kiddieland was not great; one loop of the rides and my daughter had lost interest.

I don't mind forking out the dollars for the typical fair take-home goodies (cotton candy and candy apples), but the food was outrageously priced for the quality. Lack of quality, actually. I understand the mark up of food at these sort of events but there should be some sort of quality control in place. $20 for a plate of soggy, undercooked fries and a few oblong shaped nuggets passed off as chicken strips is wild. Not allowing folks to bring their own food in really puts pressure on those trying to stay on budget and/or maintain a healthy diet.

I did appreciate the amount of RPS officers on site, though, along with the increase in security measures taken at the entrances. However, I had stopped a kid from stealing the tip jar at Subway, inside the Affinity Plex, and when I approached security about the issue, they barely batted an eye. The kid was free to roam, and potentially steal elsewhere.

I have a feeling we will be taking our family to the Saskatoon Ex next year, or even on a family camping trip.

You would be better off taking your child to Klimers/Apex Adventure Plex/Chuck E Cheese/etc. with the prices at the...