Famfestlive Reviews 

A disappointment of truly epic proportions. In my experience, this was essentially a poorly run funfair that people had already paid to enter. The advertising led us to believe that numerous attractions would be included in the ticket price, but when we arrived, virtually everything we wanted to do required an additional payment, not just the food. We paid around £25 for early-bird tickets, only to meet people in the queue who told us they had bought tickets that day for £2.50, while others said they had received theirs for free.

Speaking of the queue, it took us well over an hour to get from our car to the entrance, all in baking-hot sunshine. The pre-event information had instructed attendees not to bring their own food or water, leaving us without either while we waited. Expecting families, particularly those with young children, to endure those conditions was completely unacceptable in my view.

I felt genuinely sorry for the staff, who were extremely apologetic and appeared to be dealing with the consequences of decisions beyond their control. As for the company operating the event, the whole experience left me feeling deeply misled and wondering how what we received could possibly justify what we had paid. Based on my experience, I would not give this organiser another penny.

If you are considering one of its future events, scrutinise exactly what is included, check which activities cost extra and be aware that other attendees may have paid considerably less. I certainly cannot recommend it. You have been warned.

Would give zero stars if possible. The management and organisation was the worst I have ever experienced. We managed to get into the car park after traffic was mismanaged after 2.5 hours. Immediately met with a queue that weaved around the whole car park and zero stewards managing it. Was told it was a two hour queue at that point so got in the car and left. It was a sunny day and there where no toilets or food/water facilities for a two hour wait in the heat. Baring in mind this was an event for people with children it was frankly a health hazard. Seems like a scam company using AI generated posters and taking money. Will be demanding a full refund!

Absolute shambles of an event!
For the price of your ticket you get a grand total of a few people singing, the grace of being able to walk around the event and overflowing toilets with no loo roll, that have been open for 2 hours..
Not to mention the extremely long queues to enter the carpark, then extremely long queues to enter the event.. It took an hour to get in…
Once you’ve finally entered, you are met with more wild queues for icecream, rides, fire engine ride, the inflatables..
You have to pay extra for the fire engine ride, which wasn’t advertised.
Pay extra for the inflatables and had to pre-book these tickets, which wasn’t advertised on the flyer. This area was also unsafe for little ones with no age restriction it appeared, no sections for ‘big kids’ and ‘little kids’.
Pay extra for the kids fare ground rides, also if you wasn’t to hold onto your child you paid as well…
Didn’t see any characters like dinosaurs or the children’s yoga area which was advertised…
Absolute money grab, false advertisement and they should be refunding everyone their tickets.

Extremely poorly organised festival and disappointing day for FamFest Live West Sussex.

We spent over 2 hours stuck in traffic getting there, only to join another huge queue with no loos and no food/drink facilities, despite being told we could only bring water.

After hours of waiting, we never even made it into the festival. We had to leave because our children were hungry, tired and distressed, surrounded by other poor families in the same position!

This is supposed to be a family festival, yet there appeared to be no thought given to families with young children or even basic welfare in general. The number of people complaining around us made it clear this wasn't an isolated experience, and we also heard from people inside that the toilet facilities were in a terrible state, the bars had run out of most stock, many stalls had packed up and left and rides were £6!!

A complete waste of time and money. The organisers should be embarrassed by how badly this event was managed.

Now they are trying to delete all the negative comments on social media and have made no efforts to offer a public apology or explanation.

UPDATED: THEY HAVE NOW BLOCKED ME ON FACEBOOK

Seemed like a wonderful family day out, but couldn’t have been further from that. Firstly, got early bird tickets which were £10. The event was advertised as dog friendly which was a bonus, as wouldn’t have to rush to get back to the dog. A few weeks after purchasing the free dog ticket, I get an email saying that dogs aren’t allowed at this event. But the website and all their platforms continued to say they are allowed. I message them to double check in which they confirm that dogs are not allowed. Ok fine, glad I checked. But get to the event, and the security are petting the dogs that people have taken in?? Loads of dogs around, so I could have taken mine. I messaged and emailed the event organisers and asked why this wasn’t policed as they insisted dogs weren’t allowed. Oh yes, no reply of course.

Access into the event was not managed well, so cars were cutting corners and the queues were insane getting in. When into the racecourse, one man was directing traffic which he clearly couldn’t cope by himself with the volume of traffic.

The event itself was poorly laid out with overpriced fair ground rides dominating the event. The main stage was shoved in a corner and it was very cramped for those wanting to watch the entertainment. There were like 2 stalls selling stuff.

The event was advertised as opening at 12pm then they decided to not open until 2pm, but this was not communicated to their customers and a lot of people were left clueless. Bluey and Bingo were then on at 2:15pm but again, a lot of people missed these due to them changing the event time but not communicating this. When Bluey and Bingo did the rounds again, I was told that my niece couldn’t have a photo with them as they’d been out for “too long”. I basically had to shove her in front of them to get the photo that she desperately wanted and had been looking forward to meeting them all day.

Overall, it was not the event that was advertised, far from it. The event organisers were only in it for the money and didn’t care about the logistics of the event, safety and care of their customers. In the lead up, there were doubts about the reality of this event, and the doubts were fair. The early bird tickets are advertised to the day of the event so you think you’re getting a bargain but in fact, it’s a huge huge disappointment.

Avoid this event and their others (Skyglow, This Ain’t Texas, etc).

The most badly organised event I have ever been to. After parking, we queued for over an hour by foot, (we got off lightly compared to others). There were two people checking tickets and doing bag searches on entry… two, for thousands of families. They weren’t even checking tickets properly. The bouncy castles was massively massively oversold. They said their limit was 180 kids across like 4/5 small castles, but people still couldn’t get on during their pre-booked slot as it was at capacity. People were queuing, again, for hours to get into the inflatable area, and then they all kept collapsing while kids were on them (I assume because too many people on at once). They left two teenagers to supervise and manage this situation (the girl was 14!).. I really felt for them, they were doing the best they could, but so unfair to put them in that position. The food options were horrendous, the worst I’ve ever seen at a festival. None of the advertised entertainment (yoga, facepaint, circus skills, stunt area, arts and crafts). Literally just overpriced carnival rides (with dangerous, inconsistent rules - no height limit at all on the waltzers, other rides they just changed their mind for every customer). They apparently sold out of beer less than half way through the event. Apart from the carnival, I think the only staff I saw were the 2 on the bouncy castles, one letting people on the fire engine rides, (which didn’t look safe), and the two on the gate. 5 across the whole event. Oh and one security staff member as we were entering, who tried to stop a family jumping the queue and just going straight in, and they basically just told him to F-off and walked in anyway, and he had no power on his own to do anything. They need to be inspected by some sort of H&S professional body, before something serious happens

Terrible.

Scam company conning people out of money.

No staff onsite, huge queues - over an hour to get in, toilets were filthy, none of the free activities advertised, inflatable course collapsed & was pre-book only despite not advertising that, food & drink was extortionate, no water available on site unless paying for it.

Basically a funfair with hugely inflated prices.

Mismanaged and dangerous, do not attend their events, even if you’ve already paid for it!

If there was an option to give NO stars I would have!
This event was the most poorly organised event I have ever seen, they would not be able to organise a p### up in brewery! Took and 1hr and half to get into the carpark from Worthing!!! Ive seen comments from them blaming an accident there wasnt, which in itself is disgusting!
Once we had got in the car park I asked if there was a disabled entrance to be told very rudely "No, ques over there" 1hr and half to actually get in to that shambles! My kids missed their slot on the bouncy castles! Which im sure the way that was run is a health and safety issue!
Toilets dont even go there!! Disabled one was actually vile and ive seen the rest weren't acceptable either!
They cant even justify the fact it actually started at 12 but didnt let people start heading in till 12!
People need refunds! And the organisers investigating and shut down!

We booked tickets earlier in the year, it was advertised as a paid family festival event with lots of free activities included- kids yoga, character meet and greets, arts and crafts, circus skills, stunt shows....
There was none of this.
It was nothing more than an over priced, glorified fun fair and some bouncy castles. You could ride in a fire engine for £10, which was skidding dangerously close to inflatables filled with children.
Zero security, zero first aid, zero staff.
Toilets were disgraceful.
Would not recommend this event to anyone.

Warning! They are deleting all negative comments on their fb page & blocking the customers that have left them. Seems like they are trying to sweep everything under the rug instead of addressing, apologising and refunding.
Shady, shady business, be warned.

Basically a fairground you pay to get in to.
Not all that is promised on the advisement posters are there such as kids crafts, yoga etc. basically the free things to do.
Most things that were there cost extra.
The fairground takes up the majority of the space with the actual stage in a cramped corner.

When I purchased the tickets the day was advertised as starting at 12 however, a few days before this changed to 2 meaning that the whole day was pushed back. The foam party which my child was looking forward to now started at 7:30pm instead of 5:30 that it was at for all of the other events. Sadly due to being so late now & having a tired young child we had to miss it.
Those that booked the 12-2 bounce slot asked what would happen on their fb page but received no reply.

This event is organised by the same people that did balloons & tunes and sky glow (which are overwhelmingly negative due to scam claims), beware.

**Have since found out this is run by NATIONWIDE FESTIVALS LTD
company no. 16711961 (useful information if struggling to obtain a refund)**

If you see some reviews about queues and think "eh, it can't be that bad" - DO NOT IGNORE THESE COMMENTS.

It was truly, truly, awful. Families queuing for hours, having to toilet along the way due to no facilities. Bag search like you're boarding a plane rather than seeing a terrible version of a funfair. Toilets that will probably start the next wave of the Plague. Severely poor quality, yet overpriced, food and rides... but it's alright because you can be fleeced by card. Most things advertised (facepainting, circus, animals, etc) were not present at all.

We queued for a bit over an hour (and apparently got off lightly), quickly realised we'd been scammed and left after 20 minutes. Since applied for refund, no response and it's obvious from Facebook / Instagram they just delete the tons of negative comments. Scamming adults is one thing, but children? They should be ashamed. Warning; they also operate skyglowmusicfestival.

You have been warned.