Snowland in Perth melts away
A snow-themed city playground that had parents queuing for hours may not return to Perth because of concerns it could be too popular.
Fuelled by the popularity of Disney movie Frozen, this year's free Snowland school holidays event led to 300m queues and crashed a ticketing system in July when about six times as many children as could be accommodated tried to get in.
There were also complaints that the event did not live up to expectations and about the way it was marketed.
A report to the City of Perth's marketing and sponsorship committee has recommended against a similar event next year, even with plans to boost capacity from 11,700 people, or 900 a day over 13 days, to 18,720, because of concern demand would again outstrip supply.
The report said the prospect of a sequel to Frozen and a stage adaptation of the movie would "further heighten interest". If the event did return, the report suggested charging for tickets to discourage no-shows. It said the level of interest "simply can't be accommodated in the existing venue and budget".
"It is recommended the city does not present a snow event for July school holidays in 2015, based on the level of demand … greatly exceeding the capacity of Forrest Place," it said.
"The negative feedback and press received during the 2014 event can damage the city's reputation and outweighs the positive of bringing people into the city, if they are unsatisfied or disappointed."
Held in a marquee in Forrest Place, Snowland used a snow-making machine to produce artificial snow and included a snowslide and areas to make snowmen and throw snowballs.
Families from Esperance, Bunbury, Geraldton and Narrogin attended.
A committee will consider the report on Tuesday and make a recommendation to full council later this month.
Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffidi said the level of interest in Snowland had "exceeded everyone's expectations" but there was a need to minimise the chance of disappointing children.
She said the city did not want to start charging for school holiday events.
"The city provides a variety of popular free school holiday events . . . so kids certainly would not be missing out if Snowland doesn't return," she said.
"To increase the capacity of Snowland to meet demand would require significant extra expenditure and there is the problem of available space to accommodate it. That's an issue for the council to consider."
