The Ohio Renaissance Festival Protest

Here Comes the Cover Up

Please note the following quote, visit the link and see if it has changed.  The following is accurate as of 11:30 PM EST on August 26, 2008

“Shop space rental is $35.00 per linear front foot, with a minimum rental of RATE: $700.00. Each shop is also charged a yearly service/utility fee of $150.00 which Covers real estate taxes on your shop, water, trash removal, privies and electricity for the 8 weekends.”

http://www.renfestival.com/pdfs/vendor-application-2008a.pdf

More information on the Real-estate Tax issue (click here)

So many things at the Ohio Renaissance Festival Inc. home page have been changing shortly after they are commented on here that I figure this one is the next to go.  I wouldn’t be surprised to find Peter Carroll in the office right now shredding papers in the middle of the night.  I think the cover up has begun.  In this case, I think he wants to cover up the Real-estate Tax issue that I mentioned earlier.  We will see, if that web page stays up, if the quote does not change, well I guess I was wrong on this one issue.  But I don’t think so.

I think Peter Carroll is so afraid that the problems with ORF Inc. are becoming public that he is freaking out just a wee bit.  In fact, I think he is responding to this blog faster than I ever imagined.  Lets look at a few of the things that have changed quickly after I have pointed them out.

Ticket Prices - Click here to read how WE pointed out the error FIRST.

If you check that web page, you will see that the gate prices are now recorded properly.  This blog reported that incorrect prices were previously listed and ORF Inc. fixed their bungling.

Lease Prices - Click here to read how WE pointed out the error FIRST.

If you check that web page, you will see that the lease prices are now recorded properly. This blog reported that incorrect prices were previously listed and ORF Inc. fixed their bungling.

Virus Links & Dead Links - Click here to read how WE pointed out the error FIRST.

If you check the links page at the ORF Inc. website, you will notice there is no longer a link to the page we identified as spreading malicious software.  The dead links have also been removed.

Feast Royale - Click here to read how I pointed out the error FIRST.
Within hours of the time I reported the problems and misinformation about the planned late lunch for $69.95 being bungled by ORF Inc, they changed their ticket page to include:

“***Please note: The Feast Royale has been cancelled for the 2008 season. The Festival hopes to re-introduce this event next year. Please take advantage of one of the great ways to save and enjoy over 400 years of fun in a single day!***”

You heard it here first.  Almost as fast as I point out what the Ohio Renaissance Festival bunglers have screwed up, they try to fix it.  But it seems like unless I hold their hands, they still can not get it right.  Not that it matters, but you can not “re-introduce” an event that you have not previously introduced.

So here are a couple things you could go fix now.

This page lists Marietta Marcin as the person to send the vendor package to.  You fired her and replaced her with Dan Roth.  Now don’t say that the page just hasn’t been updated.  Of course you didn’t update it.  It wasn’t until I pointed out that this page contained the wrong ticket prices that you went back and fixed that problem.  Now go fix this problem so I can move on and tell you what else you screwed up.
http://www.renfestival.com/pdfs/vendor-application-2008a.pdf

The ticket page is not clear what the price at the gate is.  There is a reference to the price on the two for one weekend, but it doesn’t come right out and say that this year the price at the gate is $19.99 (about 20% over last year).  It is also not clear that he price for a kids ticket is $9.95 at the gate.  A person has to read through the information and do a bit of math, adding the savings to the discount price and yada yada.  To demonstrate how confusing this is, I have found many, many, many places online which are citing lower prices for the 2008 season.  Of course I have corrected most of those with comments and emails.  One of these can be found at: http://touring-ohio.com/forum/?p=110#comment-305

There are so many web sites reporting a lower rate and your ticket page is confusing enough that I am starting to wonder if you are not deliberately misleading the general public in the hopes that hey will be willing to pay the ticket price hike if they had already made the trip.

Now go fix your latest bungles and I will let you know where more bungles are.