A ‘SANTA’S Magical Drive Thru’ attraction has been slammed by furious parents who paid £13 for a “Christmas nightmare”.
Families were left raging after this year’s winter wonderland in East Park, Hull proved to be a flop that was “nothing like the description”.
One mum told the Hull Daily Mail that the Santa experience was “the stuff of nightmares” after forking out £38 to take her three kids.
She said the family had been greeted by a terrifying grinch in a day out that ended “faster than a McDonalds drive-thru”.
The angry mum, 34, said: “We paid £38 and the experience lasted no longer than a minute.
“I wasn’t expecting Disney Land magic but after the year we have had it was disappointing.
“It was nothing like the description. Half the characters were missing.
“We drove in and was greeted by The Grinch who to be honest was like the stuff of nightmares and at that point it felt like we were in one of those horror walk through things.”
Organiser Tom Holland confessed that things hadn’t quite gone to plan on launch day – but pledged to sort out the festive fiasco.
He said: “We organised this months ago with the council but we had to stop it and refund the money.
“Obviously, the government allowed drive-thru grottoes to go ahead and we had six days to put it together.
“We didn’t get it one hundred per cent right yesterday. Lessons were learnt and the problems have been sorted out today.”
He also defended the under-fire Grinch, insisting that the character had been well-received by other visitors.
Mr Holland added: “I think he was fine… He made people laugh.”
Marie Embling, 47, was also left “totally disappointed” by the event.
The mum-of-two said: “Don’t get me wrong for £12.99 each I was not expecting the North Pole but I must admit we were left totally disappointed.
“We drove up to the first part that looked nothing less than an abandoned fair.
“Not sure what was meant to be happening in the inflatable grotto but nothing was there.”
According to Marie, the shy Grinch didn’t even leave his house due to the rain – and there was no snowstorm in the globe as expected.
The event had promised a snow blizzard with Frozen’s princess Elsa – but she was mysteriously absent on launch day.
Beleaguered Holland admitted that he was “let down” on launch day as multiple characters didn’t turn up.
He added: “Mrs Claus didn’t turn up as she missed her bus and rang to say she couldn’t get here and I had to get someone else into the costume.
“Same with Elsa. She got her timing wrong and came after 3pm. It should have been earlier but apparently one of her kids was ill.”
But he insisted he was taking the criticism onboard and the festive experience was “back on track”.
