University Of Derby Buxton reviews by real event-goers

Review of The Philosopher's Dome

Review of Unicon

Review of Unicon

been going to the event since the beginning! it's getting better and better every time. highly recommended

Review of Unicon

really enjoyed the event have spent a lot more money in the past on visiting attractions and not enjoyed it as much as unicon

Review of The Philosopher\'s Dome

Not quite what we thought it was going to be. Most of it was just to sell merchandise.

Review of The Philosopher\'s Dome

We enjoyed the day very much and whiled 4 hours away with no bother.
My son, 6, was really captivated by the scenery (Honeydukes sweet shop etc) and the Lego scene was fabulous.
I think a better idea of extra costs ahead of time would have been more fair - eg paying for autographs, selfies etc.
The announcements were not clear/ easy to hear.

Review of The Philosopher\'s Dome

We had a really lovely afternoon. Lots to see, lots of photo opportunities which we enjoyed. Really enjoyed meeting Chris Rankin - - truly nice guy!

Review of The Philosopher\'s Dome

I thought this event was extremely reasonably priced, in a lovely venue. Everyone enjoyed the day.

Review of The Philosopher\'s Dome

It was good for a first, although I thought there would be some cosplay stalls

Review of The Philosopher\'s Dome

Paying to get into a load of shops. Tickets for 10am arrival when some events weren't until the afternoon. Too long to hang about with Kids. Won't go again.

Review of The Philosopher\'s Dome

The stalls were very over priced for example to none authentic replica wands where £20 for what I bought else where for £5 the extra sets and props where a great addition that I have not seen at bigger comic cons the guests where all very friendly as when the staff some really great ideas from the organisers well done

Review of The Philosopher\'s Dome

On the whole we enjoyed it. However I felt once we'd got in and had our photos taken with various things there was nothing else to do other than spend money. We got in there after 1030 and gave up by 1145. The coloring would've kept my son entertained waiting for the quiz but there wasn't enough coloured pencils to share. The owl ladies and percy weasley were excellent I felt like we were just shelling out money to buy merchandise. Bit disappointed that we couldn't make the experience fill more time.

Review of The Philosopher\'s Dome

Good for fans of the films. Not really enough to keep you at the venue until 1.30 if you arrived on the first ticket of 10am, especially as the "eqvents" didn't start until then. I know you could come and go (we did!) but missed the draw for a HP cake to be drawn at 2.30 (we arrived back at 1.10) but was drawn earlier and didn't see the Owls free fly either. Enjoyed meeting some of the characters but thought £10 for a signed picture quite expensive. Also didn't like so many stalls not selling many HP items, felt some of them were 'cashing in'. My daughter enjoyed it as a mad Potter fan but as a mum felt it was expensive as it was a glorified market!

Review of The Philosopher\'s Dome

What a disappointment and an absolute rip off!! The dome was full of stalls selling Harry Potter goods, some of which were amazing and some were just utter rubbish and very expensive! We bought 2 chocolate frogs in the boxes like on the films for £5 my son was so disappointed that there was no wizard card inside and we noticed that the boxes had been photocopied from one purchased in Disney in 2008! Apart from a few photo ops with film props/scenery everything cost extra and after paying £26 for a family of 4 (one of which was under 5 so free) I would have expected something for the money. Basically we paid to go to an indoor Harry Potter themed market!! My son was so disappointed as he thought they would be people dressed up acting things out etc and it was mentioned that we would be able to collect points for our house (Griffindor) through different activities. We stayed until 11.45am and saw no opportunity to do this. Unless this was to be done if you paid for your child to take part in wand sessions and other things that were taking part at 1.30pm and after. However as we were given the 10am time slot for arrival and after walking round the stalls and spending lots of money there was nothing to do until this time so we left with a very disappointed child and Mum!!
This could have been amazing as the venue was perfect for a wizardry theme but it was just a money making racket!!

Review of The Philosopher\'s Dome

The day was amazing start to finish. I took my 6 year old niece and my friend - 27 years old, both die hard Harry Potter fans and they absolutely loved it! The photo opportunities were so much fun and there was lots going on throughout the day.

Philosophers dome

I brought my 8 year old son to this as his first experience of this type of exhibition.
He absolutely loved every moment. He met all of the guests and had his photo taken with them. They were all incredibly kind and friendly towards him.
It was an excellent experience for both of us and one that I would look forward to repeating!

Review of The Philosopher\'s Dome

Idea was great, execution was medium. Absolutely ages queuing to get in, despite Pre paid tickets for 10 am entry. Only recognisable character was Voldemort. Would have been a great touch to have Hagrid / Harry saying hello. Lots of fairly dull collectibles stalls. What about owl demo? Interactive Harry Lego where kids are allowed to touch ! Or colouring in, make your own mini broom or wand. Lots of kid friendly opportunities missed. Hope it develops into something more interactive and appealing to people who don't just collect figures !!!

Review of The Philosopher\'s Dome

It was so good and the stalls were really good.

The venue was just the right size and having timed tickets meant that it was never really that busy inside and you could have proper conversations with the guests.

The music matched the main theme of the event which was cool.

If thinking of a negative there could be even more stalls.

Looking forward to the next 😊😊😊

Review of The Philosopher\'s Dome

Fab event. lots of non generic stands.

Review of The Philosopher\'s Dome

This event should be free entry, because NOTHING inside the venue was included. It was essentially paying to go to market stalls, and the merchandise wasn't even official, it was homemade Harry Potter, Star Wars, comics, lego! (Some lovely creations, but not what I expected!!!) Selfies with the Harry Potter extras from the film was £5, £20 if the actor had a line in the film!!!!!!! At least 'Percy Weasley' said he would give that money to charity. But all the actors were approachable so we had a quick chat with some. You had to pay £20 to see what you look like flying on a broomstick. The car; a screen from the honeydukes set were the only Harry Potter film set props - the rest was all things made to be sold!

It was badly designed to have a 10am slot then 12pm slot; because the wand show and all the talks were 1pm until 330pm; but we had exhausted the market stalls by 12.

We wouldn't have been as disappointed if it was free entry; and it was a real shame that the talks were all 1-330pm for the people arriving at 10am.