Do ride Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART).. Parking will set you back $15 before you even walk up to the gate, and, trust me, you will want to spend those $15 on games, rides, and, of course, the fried food. Additionally, parking is first come first serve, so chances are, if you are not one of the first ones there, you will have to make a long trek to the gate. DART is relatively inexpensive with two stops at Fair Park at Parry Avenue and Martin Luther King Station.
Don’t eat before you go. You will immediately regret eating breakfast as you begin to smell the fair food. Believe it or not, the fair actually offers an assortment of breakfast options like breakfast tacos, fried chicken bacon, fried bacon cinnamon rolls, and waffle balls (strawberries covered in chocolate coated in waffle mix, fried and topped with powdered sugar). Any of the aforementioned choices are the perfect way to kick off your day at the fair.
Do split the food with friends. The fair is fairly generous with their portion sizes. Actually, they charge outrageous amounts for large amounts of food, that you probably don’t want to consume. Instead of eating $5 worth of fried Oreos, it’s better to split that with friends, and also have to opportunity to try various other fried foods and only eat small amounts of each.
Don’t buy your coupons all at once. You may end up not wanting to spend all the coupons you bought, and you can’t sell them back for money. Extra coupons are just a temptation to spend more than you really need to, and they attract you to buy more food or pay for the rigged games.
Do convert coupons into dollars when deciding whether to purchase something. 14 coupons might not sound so bad to ride the Ferris Wheel once, but $7 probably seems a little pricey. Two coupons equal $1, and the majority of the fair food is between $8 and $14, with the turkey leg coming in at a whopping $10.
Don’t forget to check the state fair concert calendar before deciding on a date to go. The concerts at the Chevrolet Main Stage are all free, so you may end up seeing a big name performer simply for the cost of your admission ticket. You can check to see who’s playing by going here:
http://www.bigtex.com/sft/Entertainment/MainStageSchedule.asp.
