My family loves going to big events that come to Jacksonville, but sometimes they can get a little pricey. Ticket cost, fees, and surcharges and then what you spend on parking, merchandise, and food. Yikes!
Even before we were a family of six, I was always looking for ways to save money: cutting coupons, price matching at Walmart, creating a budget, shopping at consignment shops and sales, meal planning. I was so excited when I discovered how much money I could save on live entertainment by simply organizing a group order. Group sales have helped me (and my friends) save money on tickets to Disney On Ice, Barnum & Bailey’s Circus, Harlem Globetrotters, Scooby Doo Live, and Monster Jam.
Most recently, my hubby and I put together a Monster Jam order. We sent out an email to some friends and found about 17 people that were interested in joining us for the show. I plugged our order into Ticketmaster – total price $532. Through our group order, we got those same 17 tickets for $333. Do the math. That’s a $200 savings, almost $12 per ticket! For fun, I also put in an order for seats at the price a step-down from our seats. The total for those was over $400. Wow!
Although it may be too late to buy tickets at discounted group rates for this weekend’s Monster Jam, there are several events coming to Jacksonville if you want to give a shout out to your friends and family and organize a group! Coming up: Disney Junior Live, Disney on Ice, Harlem Globetrotters, and MLS Soccer.
Things to remember:
- For most events, group orders are due 7 days before the event.
- Minimum for group tickets can sometimes be as low as 10 but usually requires 15 – 20 tickets.
- Handling fees apply to each order (NOT each ticket), currently $10.
- Allow time to distribute tickets to your friends and family before the show.
- Ask to subscribe to the email distribution list announcing upcoming shows.
Most of my experience with group sales have been through SMG Marketing for events at Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena. Even though Monster Jam is at Everbank Field, our order was still handled by them. They also are handling the Disney Live Show at the Times Union Center.
I have also purchased group tickets through The Artist Series (for Scooby Doo) with similar success, but I had to do it over the phone!
One year Jax had circus tickets for $80+(4 of us) I found Circus tickets in Orlando for $10 each in the suites section (coupon code), so we drove down and stayed Saturday night using my hotel points it only cost us the gas and we had a nice little vacation.