Rodeo Bull and Multi Ride FAQs
These are the questions that come up on the phone before anyone books a rodeo bull or one of the other multi-rides. The product pages cover each ride in detail; this page covers the practical stuff that applies across the range - cost, space, power, ages, surfaces and what happens when it rains. The surf simulator is part of the same family and has its own surf simulator FAQ.
What does it cost to hire a rodeo bull?
Three hours with the standard bull starts at £395 plus VAT. That includes the trained operator for the whole session, the inflatable safety bed, the digital timer, safety matting and £5 million public liability insurance. Extra hours are £60/hr on a standard single-rodeo booking. If the bull is one item in a bigger event with several of our products, we quote the extra crew time as part of your overall quote, so nothing comes as a surprise on the day. The seasonal and themed attachments start at £395 plus VAT as well, the surf simulator starts at £345 and Billy the Bull for younger children starts at £325.
How many people get a go?
On a typical three-hour hire you'll get through 40 to 60 riders, depending on how long people last. The digital timer shows each ride time on a display the whole room can see, and we can run a leaderboard through the event and hand out certificates to the top riders. If you want heats, a final and a prize-giving, tell us when you book and the operator will structure it.
What ages can ride?
The full-size rides - bull, sheep, reindeer, bulldog, Christmas pudding, pumpkin and football - take riders aged 10 and over who are at least 1.1m tall. Our operator sets the speed per rider, so a nervous first-timer and a confident adult get very different rides on the same machine. For children aged 3 and up we run Billy the Bull, which rocks and bucks but never spins. The surf simulator is a bit different: children and adults both ride, with the operator dialling the intensity to suit.
How much room do I need?
It varies a bit by attachment, and each product page quotes its own footprint in the Size tab. The bull and bulldog need 18ft x 18ft clear with 10ft of headroom; the sheep, reindeer, pudding and Billy need 16ft x 16ft; the football, pumpkin and roulette disc need 20ft x 20ft, and the disc is the tallest of the lot at 11ft. The surf simulator needs 20ft x 18ft with 8ft of headroom. Access is a minimum 3ft 3in (1m) through doorways and gates across the range. Indoors, check your ceiling height before you book - a hall with 9ft beams won't take the full-size bull or the disc. If you're not sure, measure the space and give us a ring.
What power does it need?
Two standard 13A household sockets within 25m of the ride. No mains power on site? We can bring a 6kVA diesel generator for £86 - see the rest of our generator range for bigger sites. The Spider Marquee needs its own separate 13A socket, so tell us if you're having both and we'll plan the supply around it.
What surfaces does it work on?
Indoors, the rides go on hard floors or artificial grass. Outdoors, they need flat grass or hard standing. Bare outdoor concrete, wood chip and ground that's half grass and half hard don't give the inflatable bed a stable base, so we don't set up on those. A couple of the seasonal attachments can work on concrete and wood chip at Christmas markets and the like, so if your site is tarmac or gravel, describe it when you enquire and we'll tell you straight whether it'll work.
Is it safe? What happens when you fall off?
You land on a cushioned inflatable bed that surrounds the machine, with safety matting around the outside of that. Our trained operator runs the controls for the whole session and brings the ride to a stop the moment a rider has had enough. Every hire carries £5 million public liability insurance, and we email risk assessments and method statements to you or your venue before the day.
Can we run a competition?
Yes. The digital timer logs each ride, we keep a leaderboard running and we can hand out certificates for the longest riders. The pumpkin and the football have a second timer that holds the session's best time, so the target to beat stays up all event. We've run leaderboard competitions at Amazon warehouse fun days and college freshers events, and they work anywhere a queue forms.
What if it rains?
Outdoor bookings can add the Spider Marquee, a 22ft x 22ft inflatable cover that drops over the whole setup - ride, queue and operator. It costs £60 plus VAT on top of the ride and plugs into its own socket. In genuinely heavy weather we'd switch the ride off and wait it out, because water and electrics don't mix.
What attachments are there?
Seven figures bolt onto the same motorised base: the rodeo bull, sheep, reindeer, bulldog, pudding, pumpkin and football. The surf simulator and human roulette disc are separate machines with their own challenges, and Billy the Bull is the children's version. For Wild West events, the Saloon Bar Shoot-Out is the natural pairing - it went out on five bookings last year.
Do you cover my area?
We're based at a 25,000 sq ft warehouse in Rotherham, five minutes from the M1, A1 and M18. Sheffield, Doncaster, Barnsley, Worksop and Chesterfield are short runs - see our rodeo bull hire in Sheffield page for what the local hires look like - and we deliver nationwide across the UK for bigger bookings. In the last twelve months we've taken the rodeo kit to 17 Amazon staff fun days from Edinburgh to Swansea, the Nottinghamshire Scouts camp at Newark Showground and a Decathlon store opening in Glasgow.
Can we run it across two days?
Yes. Multi-day bookings are quoted as one job - tell us the dates and the venue when you enquire and we'll price the lot, including operator cover for both days. Colleges running freshers events and scout camps are the usual two-day bookers.
Do you supply the operator?
Always. Every rodeo and multi-ride hire includes a trained DB operator for the full session, and the operator is the only one on the controls. Staff work until 10pm as standard, with later finishes by arrangement. If you want a second member of staff to run the queue at a big fun day, we can add one.
How far ahead should I book?
Peak periods fill first: August for corporate fun days, December for Christmas parties - the reindeer and pudding are December kit, out at office parties and festive events all month - and September and October for the pumpkin. The rest of the year we can usually fit bookings in at shorter notice, but the earlier you ask, the more likely we can do your date.
Anything the page hasn't answered? Call 0114 345 0135 or send an enquiry and ask us direct.