Jurassic Nark Families furious as ‘dinosaur day’ has one lonely dino
FAMILIES attending an event at a Weston-super-Mare theme park said they were “disgusted” after turning up at “dinosaur day” to find only a single dinosaur. The day, at Funland Tropicana, was billed as “a day of everything dinosaur-related with lots to see and do” but parents said their children were left in tears when they turned up to find just one small T-rex. The park apologised saying that part of its dinosaur exhibition was unable to attend due to last-minute transport issues but admitted its advertising might have “bigged up” the event too much. It said guests who complained at the park were offered free rides. Parents bombarded the event’s Facebook page with angry messages. Several said their young children had been bitterly disappointed at the lack of dinosaurs and left the park in tears. Mum Charlene Harris wrote: “Dinosaur day would suggest more than just one small dinosaur! Very disappointed.” Richard Pead commented: “Very poor. One dinosaur ... Nothing dinosaur day about it. Don’t waste your time visiting.” Charlie Rayner said: “Wow! What an absolute waste of time; disgusted that no one could even be bothered to tell the public that there is only one dinosaur. “So many disappointed children with dino T-shirts on. Brought my dino-mad 5-year-old as a well done for his school report but you left him in tears he was so upset! I’ll never be back to the Tropicana again!” Wendie Smith, from Bristol, said she had made the 50-mile round trip with her two grandsons, aged three and seven, to Funland Tropicana for Dinosaur Day. They were so excited, we had a sleepover and then went to see the dinosaurs. “When I got there and there was just one, I thought we were too early and they hadn’t set the rest up yet.” But Wendie said when she found out there really would be no more dinosaurs she had to break the news to her grandsons. “The eldest one was absolutely gutted. I think it’s disgusting, I won’t be going back,” she said. A member of park management said it had been an unfortunate accident, and they were sorry visitors had been let down. They said: “It was an absolute disaster, from our point of view. We really don’t like disappointing people. We had three dinosaurs booked. One, which was local to us, turned up but the others were coming down the M5 when the van pulling their trailer broke down.” He said the van had to be recovered meaning the dinosaurs couldn’t be delivered. “We were just stuffed – we didn’t hear they couldn’t make it until just before the event was due to start. We were as disappointed as the customers to hear that they weren’t coming.” The manager said he understood people had come from a long wayaway and staff had tried their best to deal with complaints made to them on-site, offering free rides to people who complained. “Our advertising this year probably bigged it up a bit too much,” he said.