The Irn Bru Carnival 100th Anniversary 2019: dates, times, tickets and what to expect

Scotland loves Irn Bru and for the past 100 years, we’ve been celebrating our love with amazing rides, attractions, food and drink.

The ultimate indoor funfair, the Irn Bru Carnival is turning 100 - this is everything to expect from the 2019 celebration of the century of fun.

What’s the Irn Bru Carnival?

The Irn Bru Carnival is Europe’s largest indoor funfair and boasts the likes of amazing rides, stalls and an inflatable play area for under 12s.

Will you be getting tickets? (Photo: Irn Bru Carnival)

This year marks the carnivals 100th anniversary and promises to deliver more attractions than ever before.

What’s on?

Included in the line up of attractions is a combination of thrill rides, kid friendly rides and family rides, such as:

- 40m high Starflyer

- Drop zone

- Crazy frog

- Cups & Saucers

- Trampolines

- Ghost train

- Flying dumbo

In order to ensure the safety of all visitors, the rides include height restrictions - you can see the height restrictions for all the rides online here.

All rides cost one voucher each - included in each ticket is 10 vouchers. Additional tickets can be bought for £1.50 each or five for £6. You are permitted to share your voucher among your party.

“Vouchers cannot be used again on another day, so don’t forget to use them all up!” the event page says.

You can also use your vouchers on the stalls and the inflatable play area.

The stalls in attendance include a mixture of attractions where you can try your luck and see if you can win a prize.

These include:

- Hook-a-duck

- Darts

- Basketball

- Skittles

- Penalty shoot out

As well as prize stalls, there are also attraction stalls as well for your entertainment, including:

- Fortune telling

- Face painting

- Climbing wall

- Inflatable bumper cars

For the inflatable play area, this is on offer for under 12s, with eight inflatable attractions that kids can play with for up to 40 minutes.

On top of all of this, there will also be various food outlets selling all the carnival treats you’d expect, such as candy floss, hot dogs and chips. The Carnival menus will be published before the doors open, and these will also include dietary information.

Where and when is it on?

The carnival will run from 20 December to 12 January (not including Christmas Day).

The opening times range from 11am to 10pm, but vary throughout the run - you can check the opening times online here.

There are also autism friendly hours, on Tuesday 31 December from 11am to 2pm, and Tuesday 7 January from 4pm to 7pm.

It will take place inside the SEC in Glasgow.

Tickets?

Tickets are available to buy online now from the Irn Bru Carnival website. You can also buy tickets on the door as well, but these will be more expensive than online, and some options are only available online.

There are a few different ticket options to choose from:

- General admission (any date), online price £14, on the door price £15

- General admission (specified date), online price £12, not available on the door

- Group of four, online price £50 and on the door price £55

- Concessions (60+), online price £8, on the door price £9

- Young Scot/Kidz Card holders, online price £11, on the door price £12. The Young Scot/Kidz Card must be presented upon entry

- Groups of 10+ people, online price £12 (per person), on the door price £13.50 (per person)

Specific day tickets must be booked by midnight the night before your visit. Any bookings made on the same day as your visit will be at full price. All tickets are non-refundable.

Booking online will allow you faster entry into the hall via a separate entrance for those with pre-booked tickets.

Important information

As with all large scale events, there is some important information that you should know before booking your tickets:

- Accessibility: The Irn Bru Carnival states that it “has taken a number of measures to make sure that as many people as possible can enjoy their day out” but that there will be some areas and rides might still present a challenge for some. You can look at their accessibility guide online here, or you can contact [email protected]

- While there are no strobe lights in the carnival, some rides do have flashing lights. If you’re concerned about this and would like more information, get in touch with [email protected]

- There is a cloakroom located on the main concourse where you can leave your items for £2 per day

- No-one wearing football colours will be allowed entry to the carnival. The event states: “If attending following a football game, please ensure you have a change of clothing.”

- There will be gender neutral toilets on site in the main hall that can be accessed via a radar key. These toilets are also accessible

- If you require the use of a prayer room, there will be a multi faith prayer room that can be found in the hall one on the concourse of the SEC

Upon entry to the carnival, your hand will be stamped which means you can leave and return on the same day - the hand stamp changes daily

How to get there

No matter how you choose to travel, the SEC is an easily accessible venue.

Walking

The Clyde Walkway runs right past the SEC - there are two foot bridges, which cross the Clydeside Express Way at both the front and rear of the campus.

Three pedestrian bridges cross the River Clyde near the SEC - Bless Bridge and the Millenium Bridge connects the campus to the Science Centre and BBC, and a little further east, the Clyde Arc carries both vehicles and pedestrians.

Train

The SEC has its own dedicated station, the Exhibition Centre, which allows for easy access to the venue.

When travelling from Edinburgh, you can get a train to Glasgow and from Glasgow get a separate train to the Exhibition Centre - this will take roughly an hour and a half.

Bus

In Glasgow, the Riversider 100 service operates from George Square directly to the SEC. Alternatively, the X19 Stagecoach service will also get you to Finnieston Street which is only a few minutes walk from the venue.

Driving

Located at the SEC is a multi-storey car park, operated by City Parking LLP.

There are onsite pay machines on the ground floor or on level two of the car park. Payment can be made by cash or card on arrival or before departure.

Parking rates from Monday to Sunday are:

- 0-1 hour: £5.50

- 1-12 hours: £11

- 12-13 hours: £16

- 13-24 hours: £22

The car park has a height restriction of 2m.