Furious parents brand £5-a-go Grinch-themed ride a rip off

A new Grinch-themed ride at Glasgow's WinterFest Christmas market has been slammed as a 'rip off' by angry parents. 

The low-budget attraction has been described as 'the new Willy Wonka Experience' - after the disastrous 'immersive' Charlie and the Chocolate Factory event, also in Glasgow, that was subject to international mockery back in February.

The new minute-long 'The Grinch Christmas Adventure' ride costs £5 per person and went viral earlier this week, after one mum's TikTok of the ride garnered nearly 10,000 views. 

Children sit in what Glasgow Live reported looked to be an old ghost train carriage and are slowly carried down sparsely-decorated corridor, full of flashing Christmas lights, with what appears to be a Grinch t-shirt dangling randomly from the ceiling - leading one parent dubbed the attraction "a cart to take you round and show you the Grinch section of Primark." 

The ride then heads back outside for another 15 seconds, before heading up to 'Mount Crumpit'. 

The carriage heads through black curtains and down another corridor, where the iconic Dr Seuss character is waiting at the end, dressed in an ill-fitting Santa suit and thinning beard, with washing gloves balanced precariously on its arms. 

Writing on TikTok, the Daily Record reported, Katy O'Brien said: "The new winter Wonka experience. This ride should be shut down. It cost £10 for me and my son to go on. Disgrace."

One TikTok user said: "It looks like a 1990s ghost train has been recycled." While another wrote: "I'm obsessed with the fact that they're just took a ghost train and stuck a load of grinch Home Bargains gear in it."

Another added: "It’s like having a rollercoaster in your loft when you’ve spilt the Christmas decorations everywhere, I’m howling."

Elizabeth Hunter, 25, who paid her five pounds to go on the ride, said: "After spotting the posts online I was intrigued to see what the ride could have in store.

"I imagine the ride operators have also seen some of the posts - a hand-written note on the glass of the ticket booth reads "this is NOT a ghost train - this is a Christmas light ride!," as well as multiple warnings that phones should not be used while the ride is active.

"After paying my £5 entry fee - £1 for every ten seconds I spent on the ride - I hopped into a cart shaped like the Grinch's head and began my journey.

"The cart thudded into motion, as the safety bar flailed wildly and the whirring and clunking sounds of heavy machinery filled the ride - perhaps some Christmas music might have been more fitting?

"As the cart chugged along, I was greeted by two hanging jumpers and some socks with the Grinch's face on them, and an inflatable Grinch light taped to the ceiling - which looked eerily similar to a 6ft outdoor decoration found at Home Bargains for £25.

"Within 20 seconds, the cart had reached the upstairs level which provides you with a split second look over the market - and anyone unlucky enough to be waiting for their turn on the ride - before whizzing down a ramp and hitting a complete stop.

"I took the time to look around - a solitary plastic figure stood in the corner, draped in green fur and donning a Grinch mask and Santa suit, arms outstretched in front of him.

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"Despite the warnings that this is definitely not a ghost train, a closer look at the ride will reveal glow in the dark skulls decorating the walls - artfully hidden by a size small elf costume hanging in front of it.

"I briefly thought the ride had broken down, as I sat there for seconds as the whirring intensified to an uncomfortable degree - but the ride turned a corner back into the daylight, and my cart crashed into an empty one in front, before an automated voice told me to get out of the ride.

"With that, I left the ride, less than a minute after climbing on board - £5 poorer and in slight disbelief at the audacity.

"It seems the operators of the ride have taken a leaf out of the Grinch's book - and not just when it comes to their decorations!"  

John Thomson, of Thomson's Event Group, who organise the WinterFest event, said: "The grinch train is an outside operator that gave us images of what the ride would look like from the outside and we allocated them a space for this year's winterfest, we are delighted with how the attraction looks from the outside. 

"Having said that we have been made aware of the video from the ride itself and peoples comments regarding the ride. 

"We have gone to the operator and asked them to make the inside of the ride better for customers to get a better experience of the grinch train and they are working on it now. 

"I would like to add that we haven't had any complaints at the winterfest regarding this ride, it only seems like people want to complain on social media and the general feeling is that people are having fun whilst on the attraction."