Parents’ anger over My Little Pony bus queues
PARENTS have voiced their anger after being caught up in up to four-hour queues when the My Little Pony Friendship Tour rolled into Cardiff.
The tour’s Facebook page has been inundated with comments from people criticising Wednesday’s free event, with some saying they had to wait for hours and others disappointed about the lack of goody bags which had been promised.
Hasbro, the American multinational which owns the My Little Pony franchise, has refused to comment.
The tour bus has been visiting towns and cities across the UK to promote the forthcoming My Little Pony film.
Queues for the bus, which was parked on The Hayes started building at 7am, despite the fact doors didnt open until 10am.
By 11am, families were being turned away due to expected waiting times of four hours. Hundreds of fans turned up, and some had travelled from Swansea and The Valleys.
Tanya Connolly attended with her friend, along with five children under the age of eight – including a four-month-old baby. They claim the event was falsely advertised.
She said on Facebook: “After waiting ages, the face painting took five minutes for the kids. The bus was packed and you couldn’t move in it and finally on the website goody bags were promised and when questioned they only gave out magazines. Very disappointing and I feel false advertising. The children were upset that there was no goody bag as this was promised.”
On Facebook, Maryann Morgan wrote that it was a “waste of a day”. She said: “Worst decision ever, started queueing at 10.15, to get on the bus at 2.45.
“After queueing for 4.5 hours my daughter was more excited that we did the park and ride, than the fact that she went on the My Little Pony Tour Bus. The staff on the bus had obviously had enough by the time we got there as there was no interaction with the children at all. The trailer for the new film was so quiet nobody could hear it over the music playing outside.
“What a waste of a day. Ah well we live and learn, we will never be doing anything like this in the future.”
Sian Rob Jones was “extremely disappointed”. She said: “My little girl loves My Little Pony and we arrived at 11 and she got turned away. I think it was disgusting that they can treat little girls in that manner, she was crying and devastated. I am extremely disappointed.”
In response, Hasbro said: “Hasbro won’t be providing a comment on this occasion but thank you for approaching us for a response.”
Security from St David’s handed out car parking passes to people in the queue, to ensure shoppers weren’t out of pocket.
Steven Madeley, general manager for St David’s Cardiff, said: “The My Little Pony bus was one of a number of national brand activation tours that takes place across the city each year.
“The Hayes is a public space where brands and companies can apply to host an event or installation, and My Little Pony came to Cardiff as part of a UK tour that has already stopped in Kent and Portsmouth.
“We were sorry to hear of the lengthy queues and the team handed out car parking passes to ensure that shoppers weren’t out of pocket for waiting longer than expected.”