Many parents have slammed the new Christmas with Paddington Santa's Grotto experience at the Trafford Centre as a "rip off".
The new festive adventure is based inside Hamleys shop within the centre, and visitors get to walk through a Christmassy recreation of the London street where Paddington bear lives with the Brown family, before heading into their home to meet Santa's elves and Paddington himself.
Families then get to individually meet Santa where children are given a gift. But some parents said it left children "questioning if Santa was real", the MEN reports.
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Mums and dads have also hit out at the price of the experience, from £15 for children and £5 for adults, with an extra £10 for official photos. Families are able to take as many of their own pictures as they like in the lobby where there's a Paddington snow globe and inside the snowy London street, but once inside the main grotto photos with Paddington and Santa are not allowed to be taken.
One dad who took his three children along said they were "noticeably rushed" through. He said: "Considering the cost, this is the worst Santa experience I have ever witnessed. I am so angry that my kids left feeling rushed, underwhelmed and questioning if Santa was real."
There have also been a string of negative reviews on TripAdvisor. One critic, named Gaz S, said: "Absolutely awful, such a rip off terrible value for money. You basically pay £40 to have a photo that then costs £20. Nothing else to it. Just in and out shocking value for money."
Natalie said: "Honestly the worse [sic] Santa experience I've ever been to. It was disorganised and Santa was not very believable. My five year old son did not think he was the real Santa and called him an imposter! They just want to get as much money from you as they can. You cannot take your own photos and they charge you £10 per photo."
Many parents also hit out at the experience with Santa himself inside the grotto. All children are given the same present, a Paddington movie book, which is handed to youngsters unwrapped.
Posting on the Trafford Centre's Facebook post, one mum said: "Got a present from Santa whose beard was falling off and they couldn't even be bothered to wrap the present. My five year old got a book that he will probably be able to read when he's about 10 shocking experience."
The Trafford Centre said in response that there had only been "a very small number of negative reviews". They said they have had a "huge amount of positive feedback" including comments in their visitor book and emails from customers. They added that they had been in touch with the dad who contacted the MEN about his experience to discuss his feedback.
A spokesperson said: “ Christmas with Paddington has already welcomed thousands of guests who have all thoroughly enjoyed it. The event is a high-quality experience which has been hand-crafted by our small team and we really do care about all our visitors.
"The vast majority of our guests have been really complimentary about their time with us; meeting Paddington, our amazing elves and the magical moment with Santa. We are excited to welcome many thousands more families before Christmas Eve.”
Prices for photos in the gift shop are from £8 for a keyring or magnet photo, £10 for a photo with Santa, £10 for a photo with Paddington - or 2 for £18. There's also a snow globe for £12 or the option of a "big bundle" with bauble, magnet, keyring and photo for £40 or a "mega bundle" for £50.
Christmas with Paddington runs daily at the Trafford Centre until December 24, but all sessions are completely sold out.
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