Hi all,
I am looking for a rough idea as to what theme parks pay for a summer season magician. 3 shows a day , 7 days a week. If you've worked a venue like this I would love any input you have.

Thank
JD

Hershey Park offered me $350 a week several years ago. I turned them down, but if anyone here wants it I can get you the phone number of someone to talk to for next year. LOL

I think you'll find there is not set answer to this type of question as there are so many variables - who many days, how many shows per day, length of shows, main stage, secondary stage, or walk-around, type of act/performers, size of theme park, single act or multi-person act, name recognition or not, feature show or lineup performance, and so on.

To give you an idea I've received as little as $250.00 per show for a total of 12 shows per week to $850.00 per show for seven shows per week. The larger amount actually came from a smaller park venue, so it really just depends.

If I understand correctly, some parks pay very experienced magicians as packagers, to put together a script and set of effects, possibly even training, that can get "low-wage monkeys" to perform.

We worked a small park in southern Quebec a few years ago and were paid $3000.00 per week. That was for two shows a day, 1PM and 3PM. The first was 25 minutes long and the second was 20 minutes long. We worked seven days a week from the end June until Labour Day, 11 weeks all together. The daily routine of doing the same show was great, but the fun of it faded for a week in mid August and then the energy picked right back up again until the end. It was a very rewarding experience.

John

I worked at Carowinds which is on the South Carolina North Carolina state line in 2002. I made $400 a week. Four years later they booked me for a company picnic for one of there coporate clients for $600 for two hours. That particular park does not have any competion near by and spends most of there money on new rides. It was great performance experience.

I do a freakshow type of act, and Six Flags approached me to perform at their Fright Fest during the month of October. I turned them down, as they were only offering me $9 per hour.

The best advice I can say is to go audition when they start up each year.

You will be a an employee most of the time and as such, magic is not the only thing you will be doing. In between shows you will have other duties. Remember most of the employees are college students looking for summer work in the entertaiment field. So the park takes advantage of that as well.

They offer room and board as well, so that is figured into your salary as payment for your work.

You will not be just sitting around waiting to perform. You will have very little time to set up and break down after each show.

They want a set show, you cannot change anything during the full run. If something breaks you better have a back-up piece of the same trick. If you use supplies that that get used during the show, you better have stocks and stocks of the material on hand. These are all paid for out of your pocket.

They pay average hourly wages, minumim wage is now $7.35 an hour so that it is around that figure they pay as an employee.

OMG
Someone PMed me about the $350 a week job at Hershey Park. I did not expect that, and I am sorry to mislead you, but it was a juggling job that they asked me about. I will make more than that this afternoon, and I did not expect anyone to actually ask me for the phone number.

MY APOLOGIES

Lol. Nothing surprises me around here anymore.

If you sell a show directly then you will earn a lot more then working as an employee. (Veteran of over 5,000 half hour shows so I know).

However, selling a show directly to large parks requires you can back the production and it's self contained (including music costumes and casting). If you are a one man show the sad truth is that you are a commodity and there are plenty of other people they can hire at minimum wage. You need to offer an attraction before you can land deals

If you make $100 a show I think you will be doing extremely well. I live near theme parks and as said before, minimum wage to $9 a hour is about norm.

Decomp