BEWARE of BILLY BOB'S WONDERLAND!

Billy Bob's Wonderland in Barboursville, WV is a popular hot spot for kids in the tristate area. Many parents choose their venue as a place to have their children's birthday parties as it offers pizza and a show-type of atmosphere. They have an arcade, games, and small amusement rides that are coin operated. Billy Bob's Wonderland also has a ball pit that younger patrons can have fun in, since their ages are restrictive when it comes to the amusements offered.

On Saturday night, February 23, 2008, my family went to Billy Bob's Wonderland for a fun evening out with some friends. They had brought their little four-year-old girl along to play with our two youngest children. Billy Bob's Wonderland is not cheap, either, when you bring your family there for a night out, you better be prepared to shell out at least $50-$60 for food and amusements. Their food is average, at best, and the service leaves much to be desired.

After spending $70 for our family to eat and play, we were winding down to the last ten minutes of our outing. The four-year-olds and our daughter, who is in kindergarten, were playing in the ball pit. I had left the children under the supervision of our friends for thirty seconds and walked to a game beside the ball pit. When I looked back, my kindergarten-aged daughter was weeping hysterically and frightened. It seems that as soon as I turned my head, an employee (a teenage boy) approached the ball pit and told my daughter to exit. She complied and he grabbed her hand and measured her by the height restriction chart. He, then, informed her she was too tall to be in the ball pit and would not let her go back to playing with her friend and little brother.

To be fair, there is a height restriction for the ball pit that is posted. However, my daughter was so close to the limit (being only in kindergarten) that we did not think a moment about it being a problem for her to play with her friend and brother. We were sure to tell our 9-year-old son that he was too tall to play in the ball pit and we did not allow him to enter. But, we honestly did not think our little daughter was any kind of a problem. She was following the rules, playing nicely, and was not causing a problem of any kind.

After identifying the teenage boy who had frightened her, I confronted him. He told me she was too tall and that she could not play in the ball pit. Our daughter was so upset and scared of him that I left and went back to the ball pit to stand with our friends. The teenage boy walked past us and spoke to a couple of ladies and then went back past us and looked at me. I pointed to my daughter (who was still weeping) and said, "I hope you are satisfied, you jerk!" He just rolled his eyes and walked on by.

My husband located the manager (who, as we understand it, is conveniently the owner's daughter) and I explained what had happened to her. She told me that age had nothing to do with it, that the boy was doing his job and that if she was too tall she was breaking the rules and could not play in the ball pit. Now, keep in mind, that we had witnessed HUGE children in the ball pit all evening and nothing was said to them. Children who blatantly were way past the height limit and would not even require measurement to decide if they were too large. We also witnessed children running up and down the skeeball lanes, which clearly had signs posted to keep off of, and nothing was done with them. But our young daughter (who this teenage boy wasn't even sure was too tall to be in there as he had to physically bring her to the chart and see) was singled out and frightened to the point of tears. I found out later that he had tried to remove our friends' four-year-old daughter until he saw her mother approach and then he left the vicinity. Just WHO is this ball pit for, anyway? Newborn babies?

The manager was rude and nasty. She also was sure to tell me that he had not touched my daughter and that they have video surveillance to prove it. My daughter, later, told me that the boy had lied and that he had grabbed her hand and made her be measured. After asking the manager how it was right that our child was done this way after we had just spent $70 in their establishment to have a "good" time, when she was being a well-behaved kid and not even within an inch over this posted height restriction, she just continued to tell me that she had broke the rules. I told her that this whole thing was crazy and she yelled at me and said, "YOU ARE CRAZY!" and walked away.

I had never been so angry with an establishment before in my life! If this so-called height restriction was so important that they needed to weed out kindergartners who were within an inch of it, then they should have had an employee stationed at the ball pit measuring children as they entered. But to approach a young child when their mother's back is turned for a moment and bully them around and frighten them? No, that is not acceptable. She is so young she is not even able to READ their height chart.

So parents, beware! If you live in the tristate area in West Virginia, think twice before taking your children to Billy Bob's Wonderland. You may end up "wondering" why you just spent all that money for a birthday party or a night out of "fun" after your child is terrorized by the ball pit gestapo. Drive another 20 minutes and go to Gattiland in Ashland, Kentucky or check out Chuck E. Cheese in Charleston, West Virginia. But whatever you do, avoid Billy Bob's Wonderland like the plague!