A temporary fun park, dubbed "The World鈥檚 Largest Bounce House," was in Vancouver on Saturday (Aug. 23) to start a week-long run, but the event has been cancelled due to a beef with Technical Safety BC, the province's independent safety regulator for technical systems and equipment.
XL Event Lab was to bring giant inflatables to Concord Pacific Place for only a few days, until Aug. 31, but the Vancouver dates have been scrubbed from the .
On Saturday, eight air-filled attractions, some 32 feet tall, involved timed entry and age-specific sessions, but by Sunday the attraction was closed, the inflatables remaining deflated on the north shore of False Creek.
Ticket-holders on X (aka Twitter) complained about "angry parents," disappointed kids and receiving emails promising refunds that were slow to come.
On Tuesday (Aug. 26), a Big Bounce Canada media rep emailed a statement to Black Press Media that blames Technical Safety BC for the early closure.
"This Vancouver event was the last of seven back-to-back Canadian cities that we鈥檝e visited over the past 12 weeks. In each of these cities, we鈥檝e worked hand in hand with local and regional safety authorities to deliver safe, successful, and hugely popular events to tens of thousands of Canadian families," the statement reads.
"Unfortunately, Technical Safety BC adopted a different position from all the other regional authorities, requesting last-minute changes to the exact same operating program and schedule of attractions that had run without issue across seven other Canadian cities."
The safety authority's "unnecessary and unrealistic demands made the event unviable for the rest of our scheduled stop in Vancouver, and we subsequently took the difficult decision to cancel. All affected ticket holders will be refunded to their original method of payment. Please note that refunds can take up to 10 business days to process."
The statement ends with this: "We鈥檙e sorry that British Columbia was the only region that didn鈥檛 get to experience this amazing event, and we hope to see you again soon."
The touring attraction features photo-op slides, ball pits, climbing towers and basketball hoops, along with oversized characters of various colours, shapes and sizes.
Such "bounce parks" are big right now, with , a new Inflatables Adventure Park at Greater Vancouver Zoo in Aldergrove, the long-standing Harrison WaterSports water park and also , recently opened in Surrey inside Central City Shopping Centre, among other attractions.
For Big Bounce in Vancouver, green turf covered the parking lot across the street from BC Place Stadium.
During our 6 p.m. session Saturday (Aug. 23), an on-site medic was busy tending to sore ankles and bruises, as Big Bounce-goers do knock into each other inside the inflatables. The last session of the night was cut short by 40 minutes due to "technical difficulties," according to a crew member, and some of the inflatables were unplugged early.
Tickets were sold for $39 and up on for Toddler, Junior, Bigger Kids and Adults Only three-hour sessions.
