Sunderland Live — Attraction in Sunderland

I recently attended an event at the Rainton Arena, and my experience was far from satisfactory. Despite the hype surrounding this venue, several aspects of my visit left much to be desired.

First and foremost, the queue to get inside the arena was a nightmare. It was raining, and there was no shelter provided for those waiting to get in. It’s understandable that events can attract large crowds, but the lack of preparation for inclement weather was disappointing. We stood there, getting weter, with no attempt by the staff to expedite the process or offer any form of shelter. This oversight dampened our spirits before we even entered the venue.

Once inside, another major issue surfaced: the complete lack of mobile network signal. While it's not directly the arena's fault that mobile coverage was poor, their response to this issue was unacceptable. The arena’s management proudly advertised that they had Wi-Fi, but upon inquiring, we were informed that the guest Wi-Fi was reserved exclusively for the performing acts and not for the paying customers. In today’s connected world, this felt like a major oversight. Not being able to contact friends, arrange rides, or even post about the event on social media was frustrating and diminished the overall experience.

The arena itself became uncomfortably warm as the event progressed. Despite the rain and cool weather outside, the interior of the arena felt stifling. It seems the ventilation system was inadequate for the number of people present, making it uncomfortable to enjoy the event. Many attendees were visibly sweating and fanning themselves, which is not what you expect from a modern event venue.

As the event ended, the chaos continued. Exiting the arena was another ordeal. Despite having multiple doors, only a few were opened for exit, causing a massive bottleneck. To make matters worse, the arena staff decided to put on a football game on large screens as people were trying to leave. This led to further congestion as people stopped to watch, blocking the already crowded exit routes. The lack of crowd management and consideration for efficient egress was incredibly frustrating and borderline dangerous.

Overall, my experience at Rainton Arena was marred by poor organisation and a lack of consideration for the customer experience. The issues with queuing in the rain, lack of connectivity, uncomfortable temperatures, and chaotic exits overshadowed what should have been an enjoyable event. I hope the management takes these complaints seriously and makes necessary improvements for future events. Until then, I would hesitate to attend another event...

A lot of potential... but sadly the essential infrastructure is lacking. Positives are... main arena has superb sound and lighting rig, great size for large events. Negatives... A lot of visivle issues with water related damage/damp on main arena and teepee wedding venue. Main arena isn't very comfortable, offering fairly average seating etc... food and drink choices are poor and costly. Wedding teepee leaks and is excessively humid due to a lack of essential infrastructure (industrial dehumidifiers and appropriate ground preparation is needed - the solution currently is blasting hot air in) Drink prices are very high, £5.50 for a small bottle of budwiesser... I get the need for places to make a profit... but that's bordering on extortion. Especially as the massive profits don't seem to be reinvested into improving the site. Toilets for the wedding teepee are embarrassing... a small step up from temporary prefab festival toilets... or somewhere that drink prices aren't premium.

Strange curfew rules for teepee see music finished at 10pm!? This curfew makes no sense and creates a weirdly early lull in atmosphere... wedding guests can "enjoy" the remainder of their quiet event with the accompanying distant (but extremely loud) sound of the main arena next door, which is, for reasons unknown to me allowed to blast out music way beyond the Teepee curfew.

On the whole, staff work very hard and are friendly, but the stress levels are apparent, especially on those with responsibilities. I witnessed staff looking tearful and vulnerable to potential volitility from punters.

The Security I witnessed were okay... but I'm aware of the infamous clip of abuse.

On the whole the venue is not yet a place I would recommend... the ratio between costs/prices and delivered service are too disproportionate - but hopefully in the coming years it will iron out the issues and become a much...

Visit Santa at £22.50 a child was the worst experience. Turned up to the car park not much around apart from lots of overflowing rubbish we went into the old entrance to be told it was the wrong side. Huge guard dog going crazy through the glass. Walked to the actual entrance it all seemed just a bit botched. They let down the gate at 3.50 said we had to wait until 4 which was fine but they started using a grinder to fix the broken ramp in front of the little ones waiting: then told at 4 we had to wait whilst they did safety checks. U then have to walk the full winter wonderland rides and then the full food stalls, where most the staff were standing smoking just to reach the grotto so our 2 year old was cold and sick before we even reached it. One elf told us to go in and have a look at the decorations whilst the other elf was with the other family. When she came she took us to some interactive reindeers pressed the button and was off again. After that one minute we walked round the corner to some more decor, including red bull cans. All this was on old dirty carpet. When we arrived in santas room it was a bit nothing. He didn’t know how to be a Santa there was lots of awkward silence asking inappropriate questions to our 2 year old like do you have a boyfriend. It was just terrible. Really avoid if you want to keep the magic of Christmas alive. I’m so pleased our little one isn’t at the age of questioning is this real as it would...