As we seen to have stumbled onto Wednesday again, it means one thing and it is time for weekly Ramblings Of A StressedMum – 29/11/2023. What a week it has been.
Table of Contents
Christmas Is Coming
As you are all aware my gift guides are live, if you have not had a chance to look at them. You can find them at the top of the home page, just scroll along to see them all. Including my Advent Calendar Guide, as only a few days to go now until we can start the official countdown.
I do have one more gift guide, for those with dogs. We are still missing Max who we lost in May, so Bear is being extra spoilt these days.
Winter Wonderland
I know a lot of you saw my Instagram Post on Sunday regarding Winter Wonderland. C visited on Saturday with friends for one of her friends 21st birthday celebration. They had all been looking forward to going and had planned their day, and pre-purchased tickets for the rides they wanted to go on.
On the first ride they went on, they were shown where they could leave their bags while on the ride. When going on their second ride, one of her friends, whose birthday celebration it was. Asked where they could leave their bags. The ride operator grabbed her bag from her and threw it down. This resulted in her phone flying out and falling under the ride. This in itself could cause a danger, as it could have been on the track and resulted in a problem with the ride.
Reporting The Problem
They visited the information point, who really were not interested. Being told to go back, so wasted a lot of their day trying to deal with the problem. She explained that her train ticket home was on her phone, her card was on her phone so had no money, plus her ride tickets were on her phone.
All they kept telling her was that it was her responsibility. I seem to think differently, yes if she had dropped it herself. However, they asked the ride operator a question and he just grabbed her bag and threw it. He did not speak. I have been told could be reported to the police as assault.
Mums on the case
C contacted me, and her friend used C’s phone to contact her mum. Her mum ended up having to buy a new train ticket, which was printed by Winter Wonderland. I contacted them via social media, and was told that a lot of their staff do not speak English. This is fine, but customer facing and on the rides I would have thought this a health and safety issue.
Disability Discrimination
C kept messaging me getting more and more distressed. Her friend has Autism, C suffers anxiety so was not helped by all this going on. They were rude and condescending to them, just because they were a group of young girls. Once they found out her friend had Autism, their attitude changed and was even more condescending. I have met her friend and see no problem in why they acted like this.
They offered the girls a hot chocolate and kept moving them away from the information point. This was so no one else could see or hear what went on.
Even more worrying
On reading reviews, I found that someone on the exact same ride, on the same day had a safety issue. The shoulder harness came undone as the ride was going, and the lap restraint was moving. Luckily her husband was sat behind and saw what had happened. He spent the ride holding down the restraint. They reported it and they just do not care.
What will it take a serious injury or worse. I have spoken to this person and we are wanting to take this further. Currently, we are trying to speak to the media about this.
If you could share this, or even come forward with your own experiences this would be great.
Giveaways
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Win A Sustainable Christmas Stocking and Contents
Plus my Instagram giveaway to win lemon mints that ends today, you can enter here
Something New
I have been thinking about StressedMum recently. This usually happens at the end of the year looking forward to the new year.
I am thinking of starting a new feature. It is where we discuss a variety of things. Perhaps it is something you want to ask me, know about me. It could be something that has happened that week, maybe something you would like views on. Literally anything apart from politics or religion.
Get your thinking caps on and let me know what you would like to discuss.
That’s awful what happened at winter wonderland – so worrying!
It is very worrying, and more so the fact no one seems bothered, including health and safety.
That’s really so scary about what happened at Winter Wonderland. It looks like no one actually care that’s really very bad.
It was awful and they seem to be so big they can get away with it
The Christmas gift guides are a lifesaver, especially the one for dog lovers – giving that extra love to Bear sounds like a wonderful way to remember Max.
Thank you, Bear is being extra spoilt this year
What a horrible experience at Winter Wonderland! We have gone previously, but it sounds like they really don’t take saftey seriously 🙁
It was not the day they had expected, and they are still adamant that their is nothing wrong with how they acted and the safety side
You’ve got some lovely Christmas gift guides with some great gift suggestions. I did enjoy reading those. I can’t believe that The girls were treated so badly and that no one made any effort to retrieve the phone. That is such awful behaviour.
Thank you, the girls were treated badly, sadly a few people have messaged experiencing similar or worse
I’m really sorry to hear that something that was supposed to be fun and exciting turned into such a traumatic and stressful experience for all involved. I hope you are able to do something so this never happens again to any one else.
Thank you, the sad thing is they really do not care and think they were friendly and helpful and nothing wrong with the ride or staff
I’m truly sorry to hear about the loss of Max; losing a furry family member is never easy. Your dedication to creating gift guides, especially the one for our four-legged friends, is heartwarming. It’s evident that Bear is receiving some extra love during this time. I’ll be sure to check out your gift guides – they sound like a wonderful resource for the upcoming festive season.
Thank you, we lost him in May very quick and even now we are all finding we are still grieving him. Bear is certainly loving the extra treats and attention
What a bummer they had to deal with all that & even more so that the whole place didn’t seem the safest and they didn’t care about any of it. I would have been livid!
I am livid, so is C’s friends Mum. They honestly think they did everything right
That is so worrying and scary about what happened at Winter Wonderland. And the fact that no one seemed to care is so sad x
It is very scary and I just hope that no one is going to be seriously hurt as they just do not care
Omg! I’m sure that was traumatic too, but I’m happy that all are safe. Sometimes we don’t know what will happen.
Yes luckily everyone was safe, but it seems a lot of other things are coming to light, and makes you realise just how dangerous the place is
Oh dear! That is not good and I can see how distressing it must have been. I hope that it does get taken further as that is such unfair behaviour.
You would think so but seems everyone is not interested, I have even emailed the CEO who isn’t bothered
I’ve always personally avoided the place due to the crowds and my kids being quite young but I am so thankful you shared that experience so I can pass this information to my friends. I’m guessing they’re just a business purely focused on making money over Christmas. I doubt they even check health and safety of their rides before they open it again the next day. That is how the Rainforest Cafe shut down,
Poor Caitlin and her friend. They must have be traumatised! Being somewhere so far from home with the authority members there being condescending to them and also ignoring them. I am so glad they’re okay and they did not go on the ride.
Good luck with the media and reporting them. It is such a commercialised business that has grown so much over the years that it should attract media’s attention if you report them. Please keep us updated.
Myself and C’s friends Mum are not letting this drop, scarely enough Health and Safety who I have reported too are not interested. I just hope no one is seriously injured
We went to Winter Wonderland on Sunday and really didn’t enjoy it. We didn’t find it very friendly at all
I should show you one of the responses I have had from Winter Wonderland, at how wonderful and friendly their staff are
The shoulder harness thing is terrifying. I have seen stories of kids and adults being maimed or horribly killed on rides where the safety devices weren’t working properly.
I know, luckily for the person involved her husband was sat behind her and saw straight away
That kind of discrimination makes me so angry! I cannot stand for anyone to be discriminated against for any reason. That’s not the way the world should work!
Exactly this, and this really is one thing I will go for as it is not acceptable
Oh my goodness – what a distressing train ride for them when they are simply trying to celebrate a birthday. Glad everyone is OK.
It was not the train ride, it was what happened at Winter Wonderland
Sounds like they had a horrendous time on what should have been a lovely birthday celebration. Very worrying about the lap harness too.
It was also the shoulder harness, this really is an accident waiting to happen, and they just do not care. As for my daughters issues, they just tried to intimidate them as they were a group of young girls.