Luminadrones Avis 202

Very poor show at ardingly. Nothing as advertised. Drones not working. completely blackened skies for the finale. Scary story for young children. No santas grotto as advertised. Charged many for parking when it was supposed to be free. Extortionate food prices. Very poor “fire” show. Never again would I book through this company

We attended an event on Sunday at Ardingly. It was dreadful and shambolic. We were promised Santa’s grotto Carole singing Christmas stalls and much more none of this materialised. Food was overpriced £12 for a small bowl of chips fun fair rides were extortionate £5 to hook a duck and £4 for a small child to go round a small merrigoround 3 times. Staff were rude unhelpful and miserable. Staff were helpful at the food stores and had no idea about allergies. They were also unhygienic. People in wheelchairs were stuck in mad and there was no access to stewards. The drones had missing drones in the sky therefore we could not work out what the images were supposed to be. terrible waste of money and do not recommend anyone going to this awful show and future events that they put on. awful company not providing any refunds for a miss sold and miss advertised event. Blocking people on Facebook and answering people with a generic chat GTP email. .

Over 50% of the drones did not work
Could not work out the words, displays and the last minute the sky was black.
No xmas grotto and no Xmas markets as advertised.
No xmas Carroll’s and the warm up act didn’t deliver.
The issue here is that the company are refusing to refund for a show that did not happen!
Really bad customer service all round.

Was at the diabolical show in Ardingly.
No grotto, nothing festive, cars stuck in muddy fields, no safe walking for children just weaving through cars.
Then the drone show that consisted of hardly any drones, playing guess who of random shapes. Lasted 11 mins and the finale was a black sky!!
To be told no refunds.
Shocking. Nothing as advertised.

Horrific experience. Drones didnt work, overpriced food, didnt receive what they advertised. No refunds offered. Disgusting

Absolutely diabolical show, it was so bad it was embarrassing.
Half the drones didn’t work, terrible commentary, half the Xmas stalls were not there as advertised. A glorified expensive fun fair with some crappy light show at the end, couldn’t even work out what half the things were meant to be.
Don’t waste your money on this!

What a scam!!! Absolute Carnage!! Rude staff,expensive food that was cold,no Santa's grotto,not a bit of festive cheer,we left frozen & upset,Shame on you!! Every part of the event was appalling.

If I could give 0 stars I would. An evening of complete disbelief, disappointment and empty promises. Awful organisation awful display nothing like the promotional material complete rip-off scammers!

Paid for VIP tkts for Rudolph Drone Show. This included meals. No meals available from vendors. Christmas sing-a-long was out of sync karaoke, when the microphone worked, with the singer admitting to not knowing the words. Drone show was 30 mins late, majority of drones not working. Most of the time just random dots visible. The drones completely failed 5-10 mins before the end.
All refund requests are being rejected. Avoid this company, they are con artists. Shouldn't be allowed to trade

By far the biggest con around. The whole evening was a disaster. From the muddy field car park at £10 through to the drones not working. DO NOT waste your money.

I’d rate it with zero stars if I could. We were miss sold an event by Lumina Drones/Sky Theatre. What should have been a delightful xmassy experience for children and families was nothing short of a money grab. They are not interested in the customer experience they are only interested in making money. We were promised a Santa’s Grotto, Xmas Markets and a 600 Drone Show lasting 30 minutes. What we got was no grotto, no markets and an embarrassing 50 drone show lasting 10 minutes😡. You couldn’t make out any of the picture. The storytelling wasn’t in sync. Kids were crying. It was just awful. The weather was beautiful. They claimed the usual “technical issues” which would have been fine if they did the right thing and refunded everyone. They didn’t even offer it. Just want to offer everyone an alternative show miles and miles away on another date. I never want to see another so-called show put on by this events company ever again. They just con men. Sell you something will no intent on delivering. Be wary. Because any issues you will not be refunded by this company. I’d avoid at all costs. At least the Willy wonka experience as abysmal as that was had the decency to refund all 850 customers when they messed up. This company nothing short of thieves. They also rescheduled it from 29th Nov to the Sunday 30th Nov and bullied everyone to attend with no offer of a refund. My son missed out on seeing Santa because of that! Just expecting you to cancel your plans which at Xmas is so difficult. I wouldn’t ever do business with them again.

Appalling - if no stars was an option I would have given that. Do not attend this companies performances. The lack of organisation and communication made it feel unsafe. The show was rubbish

Do not waste money on this company. Thought Early Bird VIP tickets would be cheaper than those bought on the day! Not a VIP experience at all was supposed to include food but only 3 difficult to find vendors accepting tokens VIP field was just a pen Drone show diabolical as advertised as 600 drones but only approx 100 that worked for 15 mins. Only came away with a glow stick and sick feeling I'd been scammed!

I paid for tickets to “Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer – The Drone Light Show” held at the South of England Showground on 30 November 2025. This was advertised as a 30 minute, high quality drone show supported by festive entertainment including Santa’s Grotto, Christmas carols, pre-show performances and a fire display.

The event did not match the organiser’s description and major parts of the advertised experience were missing. The drone show contained large gaps with many drones missing, which resulted in images of characters such as Santa, elves and other scenes appearing broken and impossible to recognise. The actual show lasted approximately 11 minutes and minutes before the ending, it suffered a full technical failure where all drones went out and the show never restarted. The soundtrack continued with nothing in the sky. Santa’s Grotto was advertised but not present at all. Christmas carols and major elements of the festive entertainment were not delivered. The fire performance was not delivered as advertised and the overall organisation was poor, including excessive queues and long delays in parking. The service was not delivered with reasonable care and skill, did not match the description, and was not delivered in full.

Yes. I contacted the organiser and requested a refund. The organiser has refused to refund customers and instead offered alternative dates or no resolution. This has happened to hundreds of attendees. As a result, the organiser is not willing to resolve the matter.

The show was not delivered as described. Booked this costly event in the hope for a magical moment before Christmas with the children and turned out complete opposite with a huge technical fault with drones - up to 250 not lifting from the ground. Santa's Grotto as described was completely absent as well as Christmas carols being absent resulting in a failure of an event and upset children 😢

False advertising, no Santa's grotto or market stalls as described, half the drones were not working so we was unable to make out the pictures in the sky , it started 25mins late and finished early , and the ending was everyone looking up at a black sky , the organisation was awful getting out of the disabled parking carport took us over an hour , food was well over priced , I will not see another one of these shows ,waste of time and money and they are not giving us refunds its not exceptable

One of the worst events i have paid for in my life ! Do not waste money ... sadly customer satisfaction is not on there strategy plans so will not grow sadly for them .. no refund for misselling service is shocking and should be against consumer duty !!

Shocking from the very minute we entered the car park. Charged £10 when the email received said it was free.
•No Santa's grotto.
•Fire show was like two women on a night out at a karaoke, could not sing.
•Food and rides absolutely disgusting prices and awful quality.
• Then the drone show.... Could not make out what anything was, went on for 10 minutes and not the 30 minutes show promised, although probably for the best!We left after a few minutes to exit without absolute chaos.
Do not attend one of these events because you will waste your money and have some very upset children.

I would have given them a 0 rating if they had one for the shambles of the Ardingly show

If only I could give a lower score. Terrible from start to finish. Could park, VIP food tokens only usable at very limited stalls, no santas grotto if Christmas stalls, painfully awful Christmas sing along (& I love a sing along)! And on top of that the drones weren’t working!!!!