Grove Park now charging parking fee for Gingerbread Viewing?

[chrharris]

Originally Posted by QuilterChick

That does seem harsh.... I'd suggest writing a letter to the management describing your experience. (You didn't say if you were going there for dinner or not; but on such a busy weekend, it may have been a good idea to call ahead.)

No we were not going for dinner. I understand what your saying but for how ever many years they have had the gingerbread houses we have never called ahead before. It has been crowed every year prior but that was part the hub-bub of Christmas. And we always purchased Christmas gifts and orniments in the gift shops there so it wasn't like they made no money off of our visit.
I would think a good business would want as much shopping as they could get, but I am no expert on the matter.
They will not have our shopping ever again unless they welcome the community back anytime.

[noctiluca]

I'm sorry to say we had a similarly disappointing experience when we went a few weeks ago. We happily paid the $10 parking fee, for which we were given a card to the parking garage. The card didn't work, and there was nobody there to help us. (The car behind us seemed to have a similar problem). When we finally got inside, the staff member we asked could not tell us where the grand prize winning house could be found. He just pointed in a direction where he thought there might be maps, clearly none too happy to be dealing with non-guests. We were disappointed that they only displayed the top 10 houses from each category, and even more disappointed that many of the houses were lined up in dark hallways (we arrived at 6:30pm, with the understanding that they were available for viewing until 9pm. Why no lights on them?). A couple of the more intricate houses with details all around were pushed in corners where you could see only one side. To be honest, we had a better time viewing the non-winning houses that were displayed for free in the Grove Arcade. I do love the historic building and the views at the Grove Park, and the houses are wonderful, but I can't remember the last time I felt so unwelcome anywhere. I don't understand why they were advertising the houses as a tourist attraction when they so clearly didn't really want people to come.

[chrharris]

I guess this is what happens when big business takes over.