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Call me Scrooge or the Grinch, but this news doesn’t sit right with me: In 2008, about 500 families abused the Santa reservation system at Phipps, either double-booking appointments & not showing for one or simply skipping their appointments.
So now for 2009, they’ve instituted a new policy: When you book your reservation, you’ll be required to pay $15–$10 will be applied to the photo/DVD purchase, while the other $5 covers things like the cost of the website & credit card fees.
$5 to see Santa? Bah, humbug. Maybe, just maybe, I would have agreed to that when the “real” Santa was at Phipps. But the new real Santa? Uhm, no. It’s not for me.
If it’s for you, you know that reservations to see Santa at Phipps fill up fast. They’ll start booking reservations online at 12:01 a.m. on October 7.
–Jennifer Maciejewski
Maybe block the people that didn’t show up for their appts. this year. That would leave 500 openings for us folks that weren’t able to get in!!!!
I’ll agree that it’s crazy to charge people, but I think it’s pretty sad that 500 (!!) people kept others from getting appointments. I think they should have just done a Hold Fee that would be refundable if you show up.