Disabled Accessibility and Inclusivity at Funfairs & Fairgrounds

Everyone deserves the opportunity to experience funfairs, fairgrounds, carnivals and other big events, irrespective of their abilities or backgrounds. We at We Are Tricycle aim to ensure every guest feels welcome, valued, and understood. Accordingly, we have reams of information that should help you to promote accessibility and inclusivity at all your events.

The Equality Act 2010 and related legislation informs the expectations held by regulations. You should do everything reasonably practicable to promote accessibility and ensure that everyone can get involved in the fun!

Just some of the considerations you should keep in mind include:

• Ramp Access: Funfair rides and fairground side stalls can be equipped with ramp access to ensure wheelchair users and those with mobility challenges can easily access the fun.

• Designated Seating: Specific areas can be reserved for attendees with special needs, ensuring they have the best vantage points without any hindrance.

• Quiet Zones: These can benefit people with sensory processing sensitivities, by offering a respite from the bustling activity and noise of the fair.

• Visual and Auditory Aids: For guests with visual or auditory impairments, you could offer descriptive audio devices and sign language interpreters when required.

• Trained Staff: Our team undergoes periodic training on accessibility issues. They are equipped to offer assistance, answer queries, and ensure that every guest's experience is smooth and enjoyable. If you're involved in similar big events, ensure your team receives the same training!

• Braille and Large Print: Any event maps, schedules, and informational brochures should be available in Braille and large print.

• Online Accessibility: Make sure your website is accessible to all, including those using assistive technologies like screen readers.

We continually review and adapt our games to be more inclusive. From ensuring arcade games have varying difficulty levels to providing alternative game modes for those with specific needs, we strive to cater to everyone.

We believe in continuous improvement. You should encourage attendees are encouraged to provide feedback on their experience, and actively use this data to enhance accessibility features and training protocols.

By making our events more accessible and inclusive, we hope to ensure that everyone - regardless of age, ability, or background - can enjoy the fun of the fair! Check out our Health and Safety FAQs to see more suggestions, or speak with our team through our contact page to talk with the experts about your next funfair event.

Accessibility Extends Beyond Access to Individual Rides

An inclusive funfair is shaped by the whole visitor journey. Ride suitability matters, but so can routes through the venue, queues, seating, information, toilets, catering areas and the way event staff communicate with visitors.

Our Funfair Accessibility FAQs provide further answers about accessibility at fairgrounds and are a useful companion to the guidance above.

Start with a Suitable Mix of Attractions

Providing choice can be particularly useful when an audience includes people with different ages, abilities and preferences. Not every visitor needs to participate in the same activity for them to enjoy the same event.

How to Choose the Right Funfair Rides & Games looks at building an appropriate entertainment mix. Organisers can consider fairground rides alongside fairground side stalls and games, garden games and other activities that provide different ways to participate.

Plan the Route Visitors Take Through the Funfair

Accessibility can be affected by the relationship between entrances, attractions, queues, catering, seating and other facilities. This makes site planning relevant before individual rides even begin operating.

How to Place Funfair Rides Around the Site explores the positioning of attractions within an event site. How to Use Crowd Barrier Fencing at Events provides related information about using barriers as part of event organisation and pedestrian management.

Queues Can Affect Accessibility Too

The experience of waiting for an attraction can be significant for some visitors. Long waits, crowded queue areas and unclear information can create difficulties before a person reaches the ride itself.

How to Manage Queues at Funfairs looks more closely at queue planning. Organisers can also consider queue busters and waiting area games where suitable activities would complement the event plan.

Passenger Requirements Need to Be Considered Individually

Accessibility does not mean that legitimate safety requirements can simply be disregarded. Individual amusement devices can have passenger restrictions connected with their design, restraints and operating requirements.

Funfair Ride Health Restrictions and the Equality Act provides further information about the relationship between health considerations, accessibility and ride requirements. Refusing Access to Funfair Rides looks specifically at situations in which an operator may need to prevent someone from riding.

Height Restrictions Are Different from Accessibility Requirements

Height limits are another attraction-specific consideration and should not be confused with a general judgement about whether somebody can participate in a funfair.

Why Do Some Funfair Rides Have Height Restrictions? explains why these requirements exist. For families attending with younger children, How Tall Do Children Have to Be for Fairground Rides? provides additional guidance.

Offer Ways to Participate Without Riding

A funfair does not have to be built entirely around mechanical rides. Providing several types of entertainment can give visitors more choice over how they spend their time.

carnival games, indoor fairground games and retro arcade machines can complement mechanical attractions. Depending on the event and individual activity, options such as Giant Connect 4, Giant Jenga and Giant Chess can also add another type of participation.

Suitability should still be considered for each individual visitor and activity rather than assuming that a particular category is accessible to everyone.

Build Rest and Quieter Periods into the Visitor Experience

Some guests may benefit from opportunities to move away from busy ride and queue areas. Seating and quieter spaces can also help visitors who need regular breaks or simply prefer to experience the fairground at a different pace.

relax and chill out zones can form part of a broader event layout, while picnic benches provide one option for adding seating where appropriate.

Consider Children Who Are Unsure About Rides

Inclusion also means avoiding unnecessary pressure to participate. A child who is anxious about an attraction may prefer to watch, choose a gentler activity or try something else entirely.

How to Help Nervous Children with Funfair Rides provides further guidance for parents and organisers. How to Keep Children Safe at Fairgrounds looks at children's safety within the wider event environment.

Weather Can Create Additional Accessibility Issues

Conditions at an outdoor event can alter routes, waiting areas and the general comfort of visitors. Rain, wind, heat and cold may therefore need to be considered alongside the accessibility arrangements planned in advance.

How to Prepare Funfairs for Adverse Weather provides broader weather-planning guidance. How to Keep Funfairs Comfortable in the Summer and How to Keep Funfairs Comfortable in the Winter look at seasonal visitor comfort in more detail.

Include Accessibility in Emergency Planning

Emergency procedures should take account of the people who may be present rather than assuming every visitor will respond to information or move through the venue in the same way.

How to Plan for Emergencies - Funfair Crisis Management looks at advance planning, while What to Do in a Funfair Emergency provides related guidance about responding when an incident occurs.

More Guidance for Planning an Inclusive Funfair

Event Planning and Logistics FAQs provides further information for organisers considering the practical details of an event. You can also browse our Guides for advice covering guest safety, queues, children, weather, ride restrictions and event planning.

If you are arranging fairground and funfair hire and want to discuss your audience, venue and suitable entertainment options, contact us with your event requirements.