Disappointed visitors have been offered a refund after complaints of hour-long queues and lacklustre performances of superheroes during a bank holiday family fun day at a country park south Wales.
Parents demanded their money back and claimed that the Margam Country Park superhero fun day, which thousands attended, had been a “rip-off” and poorly run.
Its poster had promised appearances from superheroes such as Spiderman, Mutant Ninja Turtles and the Incredible Hulk. Yet instead, complaints of stinking toilets, “complete chaos”, and queuing to see “shoddy Olaf walking around” began to fill the event’s Facebook page throughout the day.
Katie O’Donoghue, one of the visitors said: “Honestly, if you were going, don’t bother.” She added: “Not enough food and drink stands, not enough toilets, queues everywhere a mile long ... basically went there and paid £19 to glimpse a shoddy Olaf walking around ... Really badly organised and a total waste of our bank holiday and money.”
Other visitors agreed there were inadequate facilities. Sarah Emma Louise Clarke complained on Facebook that there was a lack of ice cream vans, and other food and drink facilities. She added the toilets were “miles apart”, which is “very difficult when a family comprises of small children and toddlers”.
Guests also tweeted their reactions to the fun day:
#margampark been queuing for over an hour. #BankHolidayMonday pic.twitter.com/wpdjs1YQGq
— Matthew Ager (@ager_matthew) May 25, 2015
"A shame we didn't see a superhero" my 5 year olds verdict of #margampark after 3 hrs of trying :(
— Alud R Jones (@pieman31) May 25, 2015
Gutted at the event at @Margampark today. Walked around for ages looking for fun things to do. Not enough heroes and too many queues 👎👎
— ChristyMarie Newbury (@dinkyfairycakes) May 25, 2015
A spokesperson for Neath Port Talbot council, which is responsible for maintaining the park, apologised for the event not going as well as they had wished and said in a statement to the Guardian: “We’d like to apologise to those visitors who did not have a good experience. As with all events we review the day to see what can be learnt.”
The statement went on: “To put this in context, the previous highest bank holiday attendance was on Easter Monday 2015 when 5,500 people visited the park. Yesterday saw approximately 13,000 visitors.”
The spokesperson added that visitors who feel entitled to a refund from the event should enclose their original ticket and write to the park by the end of the week. “Each case will be considered on merit,” the statement said.
Traffic congestion was cited as a problem but rather than close the gates and possibly compromise safety, the council said its priority had been “to clear the M4 tailback as quickly as possible”, which had allowed the flow of traffic into the park to continue. Free parking had been advertised on the festival poster.
Cartoon Mascots RTC owner Lanleigh Payne, who was not present at the event, said families had been warned queues would be long. “From our point of view it was well organised. We were booked months in advance. I can’t comment on the other complaints – all we supplied were some of the superheroes,” she told Wales Online.
Alexandra Jones, another visitor to the event added on Facebook: “Absolute disgusted with the event. Left after an hour for how rubbish it was. I will be asking for a refund tomorrow. Very disappointed children and there were 100s of families leaving,” she said.
Before lunchtime, traffic cameras reported queueing traffic on the M4 at the exit for Margam, with congestion back on to the main carriageway. Traffic jams continued for several hours according to local reports.
Police were forced to close the A48 in both directions in the evening to allow motorists to leave Margam Country Park after the event ended.
The superhero family fun day, which ran from 11am until 4pm, advertised a vintage circus show with ‘Sideshow Sid’ at midday, a “WonderWoman hula hoop show” and “Anna and Elsa’s Magical Frozen Experience”. A family ticket cost £19.
Clare Thomas said on social media: “What a complete shambles – my kids were left very disappointed. Lack of organisation which resulted in kids being turned away from photos!!” She added: “Don’t mind paying for anything but when my kids are left upset I begrudge it. I’m disgusted.”
“What upset me most was the lack of staff on site,”said visitor Sarah Woolcock on Facebook in response to the council statement.
Paul Gibson left a comment and said: “You anticipated a good attendance but only had 1 burger van and 1 toilet facility?”, adding that this was a “joke”.
Some visitors were not satisfied with the apology, with one person commenting: “Laughing as you count all the money that you have made off all of our backs! This isn’t the apology we were all hoping for!”
Other customers complained they didn’t receive till receipts and were worried they would not get refunds.
