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Saturday, Feb. 11, 2012 | 4:29 p.m.

Updated: 3:11 p.m. Monday, Oct. 19, 2009 | Posted: 10:51 a.m. Monday, Oct. 19, 2009

Costumed Family Kicked Out Of Busch Gardens

 

TAMPA, Fla. —

A family was kicked out of a Tampa theme park because of their Halloween costumes (see images).

Bobbie Shay Lee took her family to Busch Gardens over the weekend to celebrate her daughter's birthday at the park's Howl-O-Scream event. The family decided to dress up as jailbirds, but they were asked to leave just minutes after they got into the park and took a photo, because they were accused of being a distraction.

“Today, me and my friends were being a chain-gang,” birthday girl Aidyn Lee said.

SLIDESHOW: Pictures Of Family

A security guard stopped the family shortly after the photo was taken.

"That we were causing a disturbance, the costumes were not warranted under any circumstances and that we were going to have to go,” Lee said.

Busch Gardens said they offered to refund their money. The park says its “no costume” policy is for the safety of their staff and so customers don't mistake people in costume as employees. The policy, Busch Garden says, is enforced all year long.

“Staff should have stopped them multiple times ... it is our fault that there is no sign ... that employees did not catch it,” Busch Gardens representative Jill Revelle said. “A security guard told them to talk to guest services about a refund ... they chose not to.”

However, Lee denies that.

“No, that is not true. Had he even offered us an opportunity to change our clothes, gave us some Busch Gardens t-shirts to throw on and continue on in the park. There were only three hours left in the day. We would have done that. We just drove an hour to get there,” Lee said.

Busch Gardens says they want to fix the issue and give them a full refund. However, Lee doesn’t believe that fixes the problem.

“That doesn’t take away the embarrassment, it doesn’t take away the birthday missed,” she said.

 

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