Suit against Adventureland Amusement Park says processing fee is 'cheap trick' on customers buying tickets
The Adventureland Park landscape from the top of the Ferris wheel on Sept. 18, 2022. Credit: Newsday/Reggie Lewis
Two lawsuits were filed this week against the Adventureland Amusement Park alleging the Farmingdale-based facility is in violation of state law for how it charges an online processing fee for tickets.
Both suits, which seek class-action status, were filed Thursday in state Supreme Court in Mineola naming L.I. Adventureland Inc. as the defendant. They allege that while consumers seeking to purchase tickets to the amusement park are initially quoted one price for their order, a “processing fee” to complete the transaction is then added to the bill once the tickets have been placed in their electronic cart.
The suits allege that the added fee violates a 2022 amendment to state law that, as one suit claims, “requires that all ticket sellers list the total cost of a ticket, inclusive of mandatory fees, before the consumer selects the tickets for purchase … ”
One suit was brought by Dapeer Law P.A., in Ocean, New Jersey; the other was filed by Bursor & Fisher P.A., of Manhattan.
Reached for comment Friday, Dapeer attorney Rachel Edelsberg declined to speak with a reporter. A representative of Bursor & Fisher did not respond to a voicemail request for comment. Representatives of Adventureland also did not respond.
The Dapeer lawsuit was filed on behalf of a Nassau County resident as the lead plaintiff. The suit by Bursor & Fisher was filed on behalf of a woman from Franklin Square and one from Brentwood.
Both complaints allege Adventureland violates a statute of New York Arts and Cultural Affairs Law enacted June 30, 2022, to regulate the sale or resale of entertainment tickets by ticket resellers. According to Experian Powered Business Data records, Adventureland had $29,736,000 in actual sales in 2023.
That suit alleges: “For over a year, Defendant has been nickel and diming visitors to its amusement park, Adventureland, on its website in violation of the New York Arts and Cultural Affairs Law … ” And, it alleges, when a customer selects a park ticket on the site “he or she is quoted a fee-less price, only to be ambushed by a 'processing fee' at checkout after clicking through the various screens required to make the purchase. This cheap trick has enabled Defendant to swindle substantial sums of money from its customers.”
The Dapeer suit claims that plaintiff Danielle Leighley, who is described only as a resident of Nassau, purchased “at least one General Admission ticket” to Adventureland from the amusement park website on Sept. 17, 2022 — and upon checkout was charged a $2.66 “processing fee” in addition to the $41.99 admission price and a 91-cent amusement park tax. That amounted to a bill of $45.56 — a figure higher, the suit charges, than “Defendant's lower misleading representation of the price when a consumer selects this ticket.”
Likewise, the suit filed by Bursor & Fisher claims plaintiff Kimberly Watson, of Brentwood, “on or about” Sept. 2, 2022, purchased three general admission and two adult admission passes to Adventureland — and “was forced to pay Defendant's 'processing fee' in the amount of $5.31.” It also claims the second plaintiff, Elizabeth Bonnot, of Franklin Square, purchased one general admission and two adult admission passes to Adventureland “on or about” May 6, 2023 — and was “forced to pay” a processing fee of $7.36 added to her order.
The suit says that, according to the state Division of Licensing Services, state law, as amended, “is clear and specific that the price of a ticket 'shall not increase during the purchase process … ' " and notes that “all service charges, fees and surcharges to the prospective purchaser must be disclosed in the ticket listing prior to the ticket being selected for purchase … "
According to court records, Adventureland has 30 days to answer the suit summonses.
A check of the online Adventureland ticketing system Friday by a reporter showed the processing fee was not disclosed during the initial ticket selection — and that it and an amusement park tax appeared only after selected tickets were placed in the online order cart for purchase.
John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”
