Fury at wait to see Peppa’s 30-second stint
Wednesday 15th April 2009, 6:00PM BST.
Angry parents today branded an appearance in Telford by children’s TV favourite Peppa Pig an organisational disaster which left some toddlers in floods of tears.
One couple who travelled 54 miles with their two youngsters to see Peppa in Telford Town Park yesterday said they were forced to pay £20 and queue for two hours to see just a 30-second appearance by the character.
The appearance had been advertised on posters displayed around the park and in local chip shops.
The posters made no mention of a charge to see the character but Peppa actually appeared in the Mitchell’s Funfair in the park, to which visitors had to pay a £4.99 admission fee.
Louise Mason, who travelled to Telford from her home in Heath Hayes in Cannock, with her two daughters, aged two and three, said her husband agreed to take an extra day’s leave so the family could make the trip.
She said they were shocked to be asked to pay to enter the fair to see Peppa. She said: “Luckily we just about had enough money and so we paid as we did not want to disappoint our eldest daughter.
“We then stood in a queue with other disgruntled parents for over an hour until our daughters got to see Peppa for 30 seconds, if that, and had their photo taken with her.
“By this time they were both exhausted and their early excitement had gone. The noise from the rides was starting to frighten our youngest child and she was in tears by the time she met Peppa.”
Paul McMahon, of Horsehay in Telford, took his two boys, aged four and two, and his three-year-old daughter along to see Peppa. He said: “Our main complaint was paying £25, and not being able to go on any rides because we had to queue for two hours to see a character for 30 seconds.”
Jenny Mitchell, of Mitchell’s Funfairs, which was responsible for the appearance, said the admission fee entitled youngsters to go on all the fairground rides all day and Peppa had made five 40-minute appearances during the day.
She said: “Mention of the admission fee was made clear on leaflets distributed in and around the park but not on the big posters and we recognise that was a mistake.”
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I took my son who is 3 and we got there for 1030 as it said on the posters from 1030. Peppa Pig didnt arrive till 1230 and we still didnt get in to see her till 2pm. My son was tired and exhausted as we had a long wait. It should of been mentioned when Peppa Pig was going to be making appearances.
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I agree with everybody who thought peppa pig day out was a farce. I had told friends about this and they were all looking forward to going. I had a text message from a friend that was up there and she said that you had to pay £4.99 each. I could not believe this as i thought it would be a free fun day out. I had thought that the peppa pig show would be like the noddy show at weston park. How wrong was I! I got there at 3.30pm and was disgusted to find loads of teenagers hanging around the fair lots of swearing and drinking. The music was dance music. To me i took one look at it and thought I am not paying to go in there as it was a complete farce. I bet that someone hired a peppa pig suit out that was with the fair and made out that it was a free fun day out. As soon as i got there i made a decision that i was taking my daughter to wonderland which by the way would not find a load of teenagers hanging around and dance music. I can not believe teenagers were aloud in there unless they had little ones with them. never will i trust a poster like that again!
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Talk about Swine Fever!
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My partner and I took my son and his sister to see pepper, we had walked about 20mins from malinslee they were both really excited, when we arrived we realised there was an admission fee so we had to walk back in to the centre to get some cash, £19.96!!! I thought well if the kids have a good time it will be worth it? I was very wrong, the loud music really upset my 3 year old son and after an hour of queuing he was crying to go home, as we approached pepper my son started to cry at her as I took a picture of his sister with pepper I turned to get my son, the staff had already let the next children in this was very disappointing, the whole day was a shambles, my partner had to retrieve his daughter from a pile up of children in the bouncy castle as there we no staff monitoring it at the time!!! Earlier on in the year we visited the Telford white house to meet sporticus and sporticus we got! he was fantastic and posed for as many pictures as we wanted, and talked to the children, this event was free and very well organised both by the council and the hotel staff, finally to round up I thing the fair’s owners should be ashamed of them self’s for taking advantage of families especially in the current economic climate.
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I took my 4 and 3 yr old down to the town park yesterday and was horrified when i realised it was in the small fair area, all of the ride WERE NOT free there were only a couple the rest were £2 per go , and for children the age of my kids there was only really one ride they could go on! the others were too big!, this was disgusting, it ruined a day out for myself, my very upset children and our friends who were there with us and their children, people should be able to claim their money back, when one of my friends complained to someone there the reply was Good luck on finding someone your able to complain to, its disgraceful
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£5 to see peppa pig by a funfair which had not many smaller rides was a joke! ok you could use it allday,why didnt the council let the organisers parade peppa pig through the park and centre for nothing, my wife took our 3yo who by the way enjoys peppa on tv and dvd’s to wolverhampton mander ctr to see postman pat for £0 also peppa pig was there for £0 and many other characters for £0 on different days
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I arranged to go to this event with my 3 year old daughter and two friends with their children. We had seen the poster and knew nothing about the charge. I can almost understand a small fee for children but why should the Parents pay for this farce as well! I did not have enough money on me to go in so although my daughter got upset I chose not to take her in. She was happy to play in the park but judging by the comments made by others I am glad I did not put her through it. She hates rides and had I known it was going to be in the fair ground I would not have made the trip. The advertising was worded incorrectly and gave parents the impression Peppa would ‘appear’ around the park. I have received a letter of apology from the organisers which I found insulting as she stated it was unfortunate that I felt there was nothing suitable! They need to think about who their audience is which I would say is four year olds and under and the location and amount of time you had to wait is a disgrace for this age, not just the price of admission.
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