Mum slams posh lodge’s winter wonderland after paying £50 ‘for YouTube video on a wall’
A mother took a two hour round trip journey and paid a whopping £50 for a so-called Winter Wonderland experience – but was left severely disappointed with a basic ‘train experience’
A mother was furious after she attended what was promised to be a winter wonderland – only to be faced with huge disappointment.
Danica Archibald has vowed never to return to the Crieff Hydro Hotel near Perth, Scotland, after she and her family were left disappointed by their Christmas event. They claim the event left them watching a YouTube video projected onto a wall, and they had to pay £50 for the pleasure. The 23-year-old mum visited the venue with her mum, sister, and one-year-old daughter Florence on November 30th after booking onto the festive train experience.
Online, the event was promised to be a fancy interactive train ride through a glittering winter wonderland, complete with an interactive lighting and audio experience, fairy light tunnels, Christmas trees and music and customers could take home a keepsake bell. However, upon arrival, the family simply watched a YouTube video.
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Danica claimed the venue’s winter wonderland consisted of four stalls and an ice rink, while the garden light path featured a snowflake projector and ‘some fairy lights’. The interactive train journey was simply animals projected onto the wall, which the family had to take a two-hour round journey to view.
Danica said: “It was described as a sort of winter wonderland experience and we decided to go with the festive train. The pictures on the website looked amazing.
“We arrived a bit early and walked up to what they described as a winter wonderland to be met with four food stalls on a tennis court and an ice rink that you’d have to pay separately to use. All the food was more than £11. We had fresh donuts and they were raw – they weren’t cooked at all.”
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Danica had hoped the train would make up for the dire situation, but she was quickly proved wrong. “We get on the train and you went into a tent where they played a video for two minutes and 30 seconds. It was a projection onto the wall.
“It’s a rip off. They need to add more of an interactive experience on this train ride, not just a video projected onto the wall.
“We paid £50 for basically a video I could’ve watched at home. I’m a single parent – I’ve not exactly got money coming out of me. I wouldn’t even pay £5 for that again.”
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A spokesperson for Crieff Hydro Hotel said: “Having welcomed more than a thousand guests to our Winter Wonderland since its launch, the overall feedback from our Santa’s grotto, ice skating and festive train experience has been extremely positive.
“We are aware of a small number of visitors who felt disappointed by the train experience, and we aim to learn from that feedback for future events.”
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