Parents queued for up to an hour for their kids to have 15 minutes on the computer game
FAMILIES have been left furious at a “shambolic” £40-a-ticket Fortnite Live festival featuring a cave inside a trailer and kids forced to play with sticks in a field.
The two-day Norwich event was also marred by 90-minute queues for the underwhelming attractions that had been billed as the “Fornite event of the year”.
Now hundreds of fans of the online survival game are demanding refunds after it was blasted as “a shambles”.
All tickets for the Fortnite Live event were sold in advance for between £13 and £22 but most paid an extra £20 on the day for wristbands to try out activities like a “cave experience” which turned out to be a tunnel through a trailer with a slide.
Despite there being 2,800 festival goers on the first day on Saturday, there was only room for two people at a time to try out automatic BB guns firing plastic pellets at targets.
There was also only space for four children to practice archery at the same time and just one climbing wall tower with room for only three climbers.
My husband and son have just left, I can’t believe you have charged people for that absolutely shocking non-event.
Angry parent Lula Phillips
Parents claimed they had to queue as long as an hour to get into the festival at the Norfolk showground.
Staff shortages meant they then had to wait up to another hour to buy wristbands.
Several of the attractions including the 72 computer consoles available for fans to play Fortnite also had hour-long queues, it was claimed.
Organisers finally agreed to refund the cost of the wristbands after being flooded with complaints that the event was “a rip off”.
But parents then faced waiting an hour in another queue stretching 70 yards to get their refunds before heading home in disgust.
Avoid! Avoid! Really not worth it, my boys were miserable, queuing is shocking for everything
Sharmagne Spencer
The limited attractions which did not require a wristband included a bouncy castle, basketball shooting and a flossing dance competition on a small stage.
One disgruntled mother said: ““Fortnite is all about hunting people down and killing them. I felt like doing that to the people who organised it.
Others took to social media to express their fury.
Facebook user Lula Phillips posted: “My husband and son have just left, I can’t believe you have charged people for that absolutely shocking non-event.”
Sharmagne Spencer also posted on the event’s Facebook page, saying: “Avoid! Avoid! Really not worth it, my boys were miserable, queuing is shocking for everything.”
There are a lot of people who have told me they have had a fantastic time and their kids have thoroughly enjoyed it.
Shaun Lord, owner of Exciting Events
Oliver Phillips said he and his son Theo, 10, were at the front of the queue when the event opened at 10am, by which time early-bird ticket holders were already leaving.
He took particular aim at the cave experience, saying it was: "a trailer, no bigger than a car, with a tunnel through it".
Philip Hinchliffe, from Norwich, who brought his 11-year-old son, said: “He’s out in the field playing with sticks, he’s having more fun doing that than he did at this event.”
Shaun Lord, owner of Exciting Events which organised the festival, admitted there were problems with queues as eight of his 19 staff had not turned up on Saturday.
He admitted that he had given a refund to everyone who had asked, but he refused to say how many people had claimed one, saying: “We are dealing with people on an individual basis.”
IT’S a sign of the times that kids are nearly twice as likely to hurt themselves gaming than falling from a tree.
High numbers of under-15s have had treatment for injuries such as repetitive strain in the past decade, NHS Digital figures show, while accidents outside have plunged.
Campaigners warned of raising “battery children”.
Education Secretary Damian Hinds is one of many calling for kids to spend more time away from their screens. We heartily back his call — and schools and parents alike should listen.
We reckon climbing trees is a lot more character-building than playing Fortnite.
But Lord added: “There are a lot of people who have told me they have had a fantastic time and their kids have thoroughly enjoyed it.
“We will take everybody’s feedback into consideration and we will act on it.”
His company is planning further Fortnite events in Spalding and Newark, Nottinghamshire.
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