I had been excited about taking the children to ‘Winter Wonderland’ at the Bombed Out Church in Liverpool all week, images of fake snow, Christmas trees and garlands came to mind. 1st December, what a better way for us to get in to the Christmas spirit...but boy, were we disappointed. I had never witnessed the Bombed Out Church, that in itself was impressive, the food outlets and drinking facilities around the outside certainly gave off the feel of Christmas markets, it was entering the event itself when it all went downhill. ‘Winter Wonderland’ promised to be a two-hour interactive Christmas experience with elves leading us through art classes, story-time, games and Santa’s Grotto. We were in and out in fifty minutes. All the activities, bar Santa’s Grotto, took place in one big tent, and that was part of the problem as the noise transference from activities affected others.
Firstly we entered Mrs Claus’s Art Studio. Mrs Claus’s costume was impressive, but that was about it. I would have expected a character led activity, possibly learning a craft together, making an ornament etc… instead my children made a Christmas card and wrote a letter to Santa, something they had already done at home. They also did it independently, with no real interaction from anyone apart from ourselves. Moving on, I thought it had to get better, story time with an elf. The elf herself interacted with the children well but you could hardly hear her due to the other activities that were taking place. She also had the story written on a piece of paper that she held inside a book of ‘A Christmas Carol’ completely unprofessional, it wouldn’t have taken much to buy a prop book and write it in or type it up and stick it in. Two stories later and the ‘dong’ sounded out to move on to the next activity, playtime with some elves. The elves were fun and got the children trying out costumes etc… we were just starting to play some games when the ‘dong’ sounded again. They seemed surprised, as were we. On to the silent disco, I thought this may be fun but the area was hardly dressed and only one song in and the ‘dong’ sound occurred again. I questioned the elf about this and she was unsure as to why it sounded. My only thought is that a child must have been hitting the tyre that they were using to make the sound. This is something that can be easily remedied and must be in order to give children the full experience. Yes, it was the first day and there will be a few teething issues that will need looking at, this being a major one. Lastly, we went to visit the big man himself, Santa. As we entered a separate tent for this experience I thought, surely they cant get this wrong? Once again I was disappointed, all the children were in the room at the same time, not too bad I suppose, but then they just lined up, sat next to him, said their wish, had a photo, then out. All in about four minutes.
I left ‘Winter Wonderland’ completely deflated, and so too did my children, my ten year-old left after the storytelling as it really wasn’t age appropriate for him. I would say under 6’s only, if you are to attend. I left feeling frustrated and slightly robbed. If I hadn't have been reviewing this event I would have most certainly been asking for my money back. Enchanted Productions seriously need to go back to the drawing board and think hard about how they can provide value for money, I certainly left with lots of ideas. It could be such much better. Lackadaisical planning and thought have gone in to this. Here is a Christmas treat, save your sixty pounds, stay at home, do some crafts, read your child a Christmas story, play some games, put some Christmas music on and have a boogie and find a local Santa to visit. Keep the money and treat yourself to something nice!
Reportage - Cathy Owen
on - 1/12/18
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