Disappointed patrons complained about everything from icy walkways to long lines to sparse entertainment, after shelling out, in many cases, more than $50 a person.
“I thought I was going to get a Hallmark movie,” said Kelly Shader of St. Charles. “Instead, it was more like a parking-lot carnival.”
The Jingle! concept originated in Kansas City, Kansas, where it drew 180,000 visitors last year, according to company CEO Mark McKee. This year, it expanded to O’Fallon’s CarShield Field and Springfield, Missouri. The event pledges 4 million lights, inflatables, snow-tubing, ice skating, vendors, food trucks, and photos with Santa Claus. Adult tickets for evening entry start at $34. Parking, ice skating, and snow tubing, among other options, cost extra.
Jingle! was set to kick off on Nov. 22 but construction was delayed a week due to high winds.
In an interview with the Post-Dispatch last month, McKee described the event, which runs through Dec. 30, as “an immersive holiday experience.”
He could not be reached for comment Saturday, and the company did not return phone messages or emails.
Shader attended Friday’s debut with her husband, children, and grandchildren. They spent $467 for seven people, she said, a splurge they justified since they didn’t take a family vacation this summer.
Everything seemed great at first. As they arrived, “you could see all the lights,” she said. “We had all the feels.”
A couple of hours later, they were headed back home. They took some photos, bounced on some inflatables, and had one trip down the snow-tube slide, Shader said. Mostly, they waited in line.
They skipped the ice skating because the rink — which she compared to the size of a backyard swimming pool — “did not look fun.”
“This was a lot of money,” Shader said. “It was a letdown.”
Two opportunities for skating had been advertised by Jingle!, but Friday afternoon the company sent an email to ticketholders that read, “due to an untimely port strike in Canada, the ice-skating (trail portion) arrived late … The trail portion is being assembled and should be completed over the next few days, but not tonight.”
The company offered a refund for the ice-skating fee and complimentary admission to a future night of Jingle!
Josh Hirner, who lives near Hannibal, Missouri, had already arrived after a two-hour drive into O’Fallon when he saw the message.
He and his wife skated on the rink, which he characterized as “cut up,” for about five minutes and then decided to leave. If the ice trail is added, they plan to return.
The video of the same attraction in Kansas City was amazing, Hirner said. But he wishes the change had been announced sooner, and the couple had not wasted a trip.
“We were looking at finding something new and fun,” said Hirner. “A new holiday tradition.”
Lee Faucett of Ferguson took his wife and mother-in-law to Jingle! but found navigating the stadium and field perplexing.
There were no signs, he said. Piles of ice had been shoved underneath a stage, which looked abandoned. About a third of the field seemed empty, and workers were still fixing lights.
“It was not in any way ready for people to be there,” Faucett said.
He was most concerned about his mother-in-law. The ground was covered with plastic squares to protect the grass. But the squares were coated with ice, even though there had been no snow or rain. Everyone was sliding around.
The family left after about 40 minutes. Faucett emailed the company on Saturday requesting a refund.
Cait Jones of St. Louis is also seeking a refund. She couldn’t find the light maze that was shown on the website. She paid extra for preferred parking, which was right next to the general-admission lot, she said.
The stadium bathrooms were closed, so visitors had to use port-a-potties, but there was no place to change a diaper, said Jones. She brought her 8-month-old daughter, along with her son, husband, and mother.
Nothing was as advertised, Jones said.
“We’re a big Christmas family,” she said. “We were super excited about it, and it was just horrible.”
Jingle! canceled Saturday’s activities due to the snow, it said, but plans to be open Sunday.
