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Well, that was embarrassing...
Jun. 5th, 2006 02:35 pmI headed over to FairyTale Town today... but when I got to the admissions booth I was informed that adults must be accompanied by a child. D'oh!
I mean, it makes sense... and if I'd been thinking at all, I would have gone looking a litle deeper on the website for that info, but they don't really do a lot to advertise the fact. All the (many) signs around the entrance simply mention admissions prices, promise "fun for the whole family" and that shoes must be worn. That's it. When I told the lady at the ticket booth that it was just me, she looked at me as if I was some sort of pervert trying to sneak in, and then informed me in a rather nasty tone of voice that all adults must be accompanied by a child. I looked around... no signs anywhere about it on the ticket booth. I hadn't remembered seeing anything on the website, either. I mentioned this to her, and her tone and glare got even icier as she informed me there was a sign out front and that adults must be accompanied by a child.
Keep in mind, I had mostly been embarrassed up to this point, assuming that I'd missed something obvious along the way. I stammered out an apology, tried to explain that I had mostly just wanted to look around for nostalgia's sake. She interupted me at this point with a more insistent repetition of "Adults must be accompanied by a child" -- I wasn't arguing that with her, I'd just done the Embarrassed!Fen thing of trying to explain why I was even there in the first place -- so I didn't bother asking her if there was a penny squisher in the park gift shop (which, apparently, also doesn't allow adults not accompanied by a child) and if there was someone who could get one for me. I did mention that they might want to actually put that information up on their website and she replied, icily, that they had. Sheesh. You know, I made an honest mistake, was friendly and understanding when told of it, and she was incredibly rude from beginning to end.
When I left (followed by a very cold glare from Ticket Lady), I turned around to see if I could find this alleged sign. There were lots of signs around, as I described above... and then I saw it. Not quite locked in the bottom of a filing cabinet in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying "Beware of the leopard," but it was located well inside the entrance, down and to the right, halfway behind a brick wall -- fairly small and saying "Attention: Adults must be accompanied by a child." At least I don't feel as stupid for having missed it.
I just checked the website and figured out why I never saw anything there... you have to go the Admissions & Directions page THEN to yet another Admissions page, and it's in with some other text above a table with the various prices. I never went that far, because I hadn't really cared how much it would cost. There's no mention of this policy anywhere else on the website. I'm more than a little annoyed. Not that I don't understand why they'd have that sort of policy (and it's apparently a city ordinance), but that they certainly don't go out of their way to let anyone know and are rude if you happen to miss the footnotes somewhere along the way.
The zoo, OTOH, was pretty nice though a bit small. I did pick the wrong time of day to go: around lunchtime on a day when the temps are supposed to get up around 90. Not only was I a bit overheated, but the animals were mostly all napping in caves and various shaded (and hard to see) areas. Ah well...
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agilebrit was right about the anteater, though! Very pretty!
I mean, it makes sense... and if I'd been thinking at all, I would have gone looking a litle deeper on the website for that info, but they don't really do a lot to advertise the fact. All the (many) signs around the entrance simply mention admissions prices, promise "fun for the whole family" and that shoes must be worn. That's it. When I told the lady at the ticket booth that it was just me, she looked at me as if I was some sort of pervert trying to sneak in, and then informed me in a rather nasty tone of voice that all adults must be accompanied by a child. I looked around... no signs anywhere about it on the ticket booth. I hadn't remembered seeing anything on the website, either. I mentioned this to her, and her tone and glare got even icier as she informed me there was a sign out front and that adults must be accompanied by a child.
Keep in mind, I had mostly been embarrassed up to this point, assuming that I'd missed something obvious along the way. I stammered out an apology, tried to explain that I had mostly just wanted to look around for nostalgia's sake. She interupted me at this point with a more insistent repetition of "Adults must be accompanied by a child" -- I wasn't arguing that with her, I'd just done the Embarrassed!Fen thing of trying to explain why I was even there in the first place -- so I didn't bother asking her if there was a penny squisher in the park gift shop (which, apparently, also doesn't allow adults not accompanied by a child) and if there was someone who could get one for me. I did mention that they might want to actually put that information up on their website and she replied, icily, that they had. Sheesh. You know, I made an honest mistake, was friendly and understanding when told of it, and she was incredibly rude from beginning to end.
When I left (followed by a very cold glare from Ticket Lady), I turned around to see if I could find this alleged sign. There were lots of signs around, as I described above... and then I saw it. Not quite locked in the bottom of a filing cabinet in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying "Beware of the leopard," but it was located well inside the entrance, down and to the right, halfway behind a brick wall -- fairly small and saying "Attention: Adults must be accompanied by a child." At least I don't feel as stupid for having missed it.
I just checked the website and figured out why I never saw anything there... you have to go the Admissions & Directions page THEN to yet another Admissions page, and it's in with some other text above a table with the various prices. I never went that far, because I hadn't really cared how much it would cost. There's no mention of this policy anywhere else on the website. I'm more than a little annoyed. Not that I don't understand why they'd have that sort of policy (and it's apparently a city ordinance), but that they certainly don't go out of their way to let anyone know and are rude if you happen to miss the footnotes somewhere along the way.
The zoo, OTOH, was pretty nice though a bit small. I did pick the wrong time of day to go: around lunchtime on a day when the temps are supposed to get up around 90. Not only was I a bit overheated, but the animals were mostly all napping in caves and various shaded (and hard to see) areas. Ah well...
agilebrit was right about the anteater, though! Very pretty!
