HOUSTON — Dozens of rodeo attendees said they have had issues with their digital carnival tickets over the weekend.
Ray Cammack Shows Inc., the company that runs the carnival, is making sure the tech glitch doesn't happen again.
Ever since 2020, the rodeo's been using the Rodeo Carnival app for folks to download their carnival tickets. But over the weekend, the Wi-Fi could not keep up with a historic number of people that came through the gates.
"We scanned over 200,000 people that day," said Chris Lopez, Vice President of RCS. "We experienced the largest opening Saturday in rodeo history."
But hundreds of people wanting to enjoy the carnival and use leftover 2020 tickets spent more time at guest services instead, unable to download their pre-purchased tickets on the app once they were on the grounds.
"It was the Wi-Fi that was overtaxed with the amount of people that were here," said Lopez.
Families told us some had no choice but to buy paper tickets in person, and now are looking for refunds.
"We will honor those if there were situations like that," said Lopez.
If that's you, RCS says you can email info@RCSFun.com or come by guest services at the carnival to get taken care of.
Since the Wi-Fi letdown, RCS says their programmers have more than doubled the Wi-Fi capacity on site. They say they're ready for Houston to come out.
"Is that capacity enough? asked KHOU 11 News Reporter Marcelino Benito.
"We are confident in what the programmers have done," said Lopez. "We've seen it tested and have seen great results since."
RCS expects large crowds over the weekend and next week during Spring Break but said the Wi-Fi is ready to handle the extra burden on the system.
Just in case, though, officials encourage attendees to download their tickets on the app ahead of time at home.