Goodness, it's been over a year since I last wrote. Probably no one reading anymore, but I need to get my anger out, so this is probably the best place to do it.
I'm in Skåne and WiseKid was up with his family for a few days. He wanted WiseKidKid2 to see how nice the forest and the grass around the house and the fresh air is. WKK ran barefoot around and around the house a zillion times (they live in an apartment building in downtown Berlin). He found some frogs and oodles of slugs (yuck), enjoyed picking and eating blueberries and raspberries right away, and studied the flowers - and of course watering them, getting your feet wet is really important if you are 3.
We decided to go to Skånes Djurpark yesterday morning, that used to be a very nice zoo that focused on fostering local animals and teaching kids all about the forest.
The wierdness started when we checked the prices. There are different prices for every day, and it is cheaper if you buy it online, they are asking 399 SEK (around 35 €) at the door. Of course, the weekends are much more expensive than during the week, but we felt Monday was good. I don't like this "buy your tickets early for a particular date/time"-thing. It's horrible to have bought tickets and then someone is sick, or you miss a train, or the thing you were doing before is fun and you would have preferred to go an hour later. Anyway, they are to be 279 SEK a person (no discounts for children or senior citizens). But look what happens when you start adding people:
Even though the price on the calendar stays the same, they now want 299 SEK a person! Sure, that's only about 2 €, but it irritates me no end. I decided I was too tired Sunday evening and tried it again the next morning. Imagine my surprise to see that the price has now CHANGED, both in the calendar and in the basket they are now another 20 SEK more!
I gritted my teeth and paid the 319 SEK price, as WKK2 was babbling about going to see a moose today. Of course, I had to use a credit card. Must not let this valuable data point go missing!
We drove up, there were not that many cars there. They scan your license plate as you drive in and then you can pay at a station (with credit card) when you leave, or use an app. Sweden seems to have an app for everything.
WKK2 is so excited and runs way ahead of us, but Grandma is going to have words with the people at the cashier's desk. And indeed, they agree to refund me 160 SEK, that what I paid above the published price. Except that went on my credit card and has not shown up yet. The debit was taken momentarily. We'll see if it ever shows up, I demanded (and got) a receipt.
So, shall we now enjoy the park? I point to the left where the petting zoo is - and right behind it is "Shaun the Sheep Land". What on earth? Okay, at least there are some goats and sheep to pet, no rabbits or chickens or baby pigs to be seen as there used to be. We don't stay long, as WKK2 is racing up the hill to the tractors! They have an amusement park ride where two children can sit in the front, "steering", and two adults in the back. The tractors are on a track and are dragged though some cheesy figures, more than half of which don't work, WiseKid said. But the camera sure worked, and we were able to buy pictures and keychains of the event. At least the cost of the ride was part of the steep entrance fee.
On to the next animal place, except this is now a bunch of wagons for people who want to sleep at the park. O-kaaay. The pig is at least still there, fat and bored. And there are big signs with figures from the mole book and a big button to press - and the painted animal "shits". Yes, a big hit with the kids, but not about learning about real animals! I tug the door that used to go to the building for observing the storks - locked. I peer around, no storks visible. Maybe they got angry at all the beeping and pooping?
And now there is a truly awful plastic TREE and people are taking selfies with themselves in front of the tree! I go with WKK2s mom to the seals, and yes, they are floating under the surface in very dirty water. The place seems quite run-down, although a worker is sawing away at bushes that are quite overgrown. A seal pokes his head up and has such sad eyes. I am reminded of the seals we observed in Labrador a few summers ago, much more lively in their natural habitat.
We continue up the hill past overgrown and decrepit pens. Yes, there is a fox walking around, but nothing else. We come to "Dinosaur Land"! Oh my, these look like the stupid dinosaurs we saw in a little amusement park we went to when WiseKid was a pre-teen and his cousins were 3-5. At least they seem to have gotten a bit of paint, some of it perhaps not intentional.
I didn't go in, but sat at what I thought was just past the exit in front of the wild cats. Except they came out above the cats and there was another dino you could take a selfie with. The booth at the "archeological dig", as many of the other booths, were closed because in Sweden school started today so be damned if any foreign tourists are here. We looked for some wolves from the viewpoint, but everything was overgrown. On to the bears - in decrepit pens, just sitting there, waiting for food.
The place where you used to be able to pay 20 SEK to have your child ride a pony around and around is now just for children riding STICK PONIES! Pretend horses!
We pushed on, past more and more overgrown pens. We did see a wild pig in the pig stys, but there were no piglets. At least there were two eagles on a perch, but they were hard to see in the overgrown foilage. We saw some deer at a distance and finally finally finally found some moose!
You weren't allowed to feed them like we used to do, the branches for them to eat are behind a fence. I suppose too many people were giving them other stuff to eat. This was, of course, one of the reasons for coming, to see a moose, and WKK2 was very excited.
We waved at some bison on the way out, past some cabins now on the grounds of the place. WKK2 played in the water playstation (plastic) for a while, then we took the tractor ride again. The lines were not long, as there were not too many people here.
We made it past the collection of stuffed toys and ice cream on the way back to the car. The machine told me it would send me a receipt for the parking fee (50 SEK) by SMS. Of course, none has appeared yet.
Can I say something positive about the park? Yes, they have more toilets now.
The bottom line? WiseKid was very disappointed, he wanted his kid to experience what he had enjoyed as a kid. Of course, WKK2 had a wonderful time, but it was all plastic and figures from TV shows he watches, all commercialized. I'm afraid this is the last time I've been there, I have taken adult friends there previously without a kid and they enjoyed learning about the animals. The focus now is just on earning money and having fun fun fun.
I will be informing the Konsumentombud about the situation with the price gouging, I find it unacceptable that the price charged to you is different from what is advertised. We'll see if that gets any action.
Edit: WiseKid suggests that I include what he experienced after I haggled with the cashiers to get the 160 SEK back. They had heard us speaking German and me discussing in Swedish with a German accent. Once I left, one noted to the other that she found it so silly to worry about such a "small amount of money" (note: almost 15 €!). They didn't know that WiseKid speaks Swedish, too :)
Edit 2: The refund made it back to my account four days later, so that's taken care of. I still reported them to the Konsumentombud for price gouging. I wonder how much money they have made with this "error".
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