Restaurant's “Bluey” Day Causes Upset After It Turns Out to Be a 'Poorly Planned' Event with a 'Dude in PJs'
“My kids kept saying, 'Why is that guy wearing the outfit? Bluey is a girl!'” attendee Maria Hardly tells PEOPLE
Customers at a Las Vegas restaurant are outraged over a “Bluey Day” that turned into a “disgrace," according to one attendee.
On Saturday, May 11, patrons gathered at Dirt Dog Las Vegas for an event centered around the popular kids TV show. It was marketed on the eatery's Facebook page as a day to “celebrate Bluey" with a “marathon of all the Bluey episodes,” character visits from “Bluey & Friends,” face painting and games.
Customers who took their children to the event are now using the restaurant’s Facebook discussion page to claim it was a “scam.”
“This place knows it dead wrong for having all these kids and moms, dads show up and it’s some dude in PJs !!!!” one social media user wrote on the event’s page.
Maria Hardly took her children to the weekend event and tells PEOPLE that it was not what was promised.
Related: Parents React to Emotional Bluey Episode ‘The Sign’: ‘My Therapist Isn’t Gonna Know What Hit Her’
“It was extremely crowded and was very clearly a cash grab at the expense of families interests,” she says. “A poorly planned and executed event that left so many children and families disappointed.”
Hardly reveals that “many traveled across town to this event and waited for employees dressed in Amazon pajama Bluey onesies.”
She added: “My kids kept saying, 'Why is that guy wearing the outfit? Bluey is a girl!'”
Along with the man in the onesie, Bluey can be seen playing on the bar screens as sparse decor from the show was strung on the walls.
Hardly’s kids weren’t the only attendees disappointed. Another user wrote on Facebook, “Bluey costume and decorations from Dollar Tree featured at Dirt Dog Las Vegas Rainbow! Thanks for ruining my 3 year olds day!”
According to Dirt Dog’s event page, 341 people went to the event. Hardly wrote in her own Facebook thread that it was a “fire safety hazard,” claiming it was “unsafe and overly packed.”
Dirt Dog did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
Back in February, another disappointing children’s event was held in Glasgow, Scotland. The Willy Wonka-themed event that promised “a day filled with laughter, joy, and the irresistible allure of chocolate” was anything but that for attendees.
The "Willy's Chocolate Experience" was depicted in online advertisements as “immersive" and promised to “create lasting memories and redefine what it means to step into a world of pure imagination.”
The event, organized by the London-based House of Illuminati, was supposed to feature “whimsical performances” and “surprises at every turn” as part of “a celebration of chocolate in all its delightful forms.”
Related: Creator of Willy Wonka-Themed Experience Apologizes for Failed Event: ‘It All Looked Good on Paper’
Guests paid £35 (about $45) to attend, according to SWNS and the BBC. Images from the event, which quickly went viral, showed what appeared to be a large warehouse with decorations sparsely placed throughout the room.
Jenny Fogarty, an actor who was hired to play an Oompa Loompa, claimed that she received a 15-page script the night before the event, according to SWNS. Her costume was the “sexy” version of an Oompa Loompa, not the kid-friendly version she anticipated.
Paul Connell, another actor hired for the event, told STV News his “heart sank” when he saw the state of the facility, according to The Guardian. “I just felt sad because I was aware of how many kids were going to be coming through,” he added.
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Read the original article on People.