News Digest

Bad Santa: ‘Utter disgrace’ UK Christmas attraction shuts down after one day

A Christmas-themed attraction in the UK has been forced to close after just one day. Fronted by celebrity designer Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, The Magical Journey, at The Belfry hotel in Birmingham, said they were temporarily closing the attraction for three days while “improvements” take place. The venue’s Facebook page saw hundreds of messages posted, with some visitors describing how disappointed they were with the attraction. The company has hired more staff and offered refunds for guests who visited opening day on Saturday, as well as those due to attend while it has been temporarily closed.

Llewelyn-Bowen should be ashamed of himself my eight-year-old could have designed a better magical journey!

Emma Birch, on the attraction’s Facebook page

A statement on The Magical Journey’s website said: “Following our opening this weekend, we have taken our customer feedback seriously and this, combined with the recent weather conditions, has resulted in us taking the difficult decision to temporarily close The Magical Journey from Sunday 23 November to Tuesday 25 November, reopening on Wednesday 26 November. We are extremely sorry for any disappointment this may cause and would like to assure our customers that the journey will be what has been promised when we reopen on Wednesday 26.” The row comes as parents in Dundee, Scotland, complained after the Overgate Centre replaced visits to Santa’s Grotto with a live video link to Lapland, where children instead talk to Father Christmas on smartphones and tablets.

This place is an utter disgrace I didn’t see one Xmas decoration, heard no songs, no clues to find, train broke down three times on its short journey kids were so bored. It states it lasts 90 minutes but doesn’t say 80 minutes of that is waiting time. There’s nothing magical whatsoever about this so all prepare yourself for a big disappointment.

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