Has anyone been to Winter Wonderland in London?

I have.

Very, very busy, the crowds were still coming an hour before closing time.

Its free to enter but...

Some prices inside:

Rides are by tokens. Most rides are between 3 and 9 tokens per person.
Tokens are £1 each
Children need an adult with them on majority of rides, so double the tokens.

Portion of chips: £4
Corn cob £4
A sausage in plain mini roll: £5
Charge to use ATM £3
A kids balloon £8
5 marshmallows to heat on fire pit £5.50
Cup of mulled wine £4.50
Small portion of noodles in paper £5.50

Ticket for the circus show (45 mins) £14
Sooty £8.50
Ice Skating £15
Ice kingdom £10
Cirque Beserk £14
Nutcracker £19
Big Wheel Ride £8

Went last year...just an overpriced fairground, have no desire to ever return.

Thankfully London has so much more to offer for either free or reasonable prices.

I have to say, the kids thoroughly enjoyed it. The smiles on their faces while on the rides and the atmosphere made me forget for a while how quickly my money was being spent.

Would I go again? Maybe yes. But I would have a big meal before entering
I dread to think what a family of 4 with two teens would pay for the day out! £400-500 maybe?





Some more prices;

Burger (frozen) £9
Cheese pretzel £5
Some chesnuts £4
Pint of Beer £6
Hot dog £8

LEGOLAND entry prices:

Gift ticket:
Child £51.20
Adult £55.40

The frozen burger sounds tempting.

Buy a Merlin pass worth every penny.

It does but I think I would rather pay Iceland £2.50 for 10 quarter pounders, than £9 for one!

The cheapest pass which is £179 has restrictions that the pass cannot be used at London attractions for the month of August.

So if a family paid £179 each for a pass, they would be unable to use it for London attractions during the summer holidays.

I did have a Lifewatch pass a number of years ago. But there was only so many times the kids wanted to visit the zoo.

...

I would love to go to one of those shit winter wonderlands before they close down.

We went to winter wonderland last year and thought it wasn't all that great. Full of overpriced rides and other attractions. We had some food and wonder around but that's it. This year we went to the Birmingham market and that was much better. £6 for a half meter German hot dog I think is reasonable, we split it and shared it.We had some drinks, again reasonable enough and had a look round. Although I've been to parts of it before this was the first time I went at night and specifically for the market.

Very busy and stupidly expensive prices in London?

Sounds about right.

The crowd numbers and prices came as a surprise to you? Were you born yesterday?

It is a fun day out in London so what's the big deal ?

Fairs have always been expensive regardless of what time of the year you go. It's pulling in millions of visitors so it's clearly not that expensive. It's not a place you go to everyday and it's a treat.

Now I know where Edinburgh gets its extortionate prices!

You forget things like wooly hats, which the stalls sell for £25, but you can buy the same ones in Primark for £5.

Yet people flock to these events. More money than sense, I say.

Went last year, the most chavviest thing I've ever been to, never again.

Really? "Most chavviest" - what does that mean?

I went last year and loved the magic of it all especially as I'd already done a walk of Carnaby Street and Oxford Circus to soak up the atmosphere and enjoy the lights and festive windows. I bought a hot chocolate, and just walked around Winter Wonderland. . It does get crazily busy though

Cheap and tacky, yet charged a fortune for everything.

I had to go to the site and check.

I don't remember theme parks being that expensive in the past.

evetrything was cheaper in the past, I used to pay £1.50 to watch the Arsenal, £5 for a gig at Hammersmith and Glastonbury we just hopped over the fence great days, now long gone

£1.50...if only they were that price now

I often used to take my kids for days out to zoo,s theme parks etc. I was shocked when I looked at the entry fee, for some of the popular attraction,s now.

Most are aimed at kids, but unfordable for many parents to take them.

8 quid for a balloon?

Shit a brick!

They do flock to these places and they will continue to do so, probably no matter what prices were charged.

There were small white clay Christmas decorations at 3 for 19.99, these were purchased mainly by tourists though.

Though I took enough cash along, as I'm aware that these places aren't exactly cheap, I have seen many advertisements which may encourage others to go. The ads clearly say Free Entry Which is true, but could be misleading...as it a different story once inside the gate, as it would be near impossible to deny kids a few goes on the rides etc
It was the shows throughout the park which are shown on their free entry posters, that add up though more than the rides themselves.

This is the one item I firmly refused to buy, the 3 year old who was begging me for one had to be told "They are the mans balloons & not for sale".

He did have fun though, keep showing me the balloons that other kids had let go of, that were floating in the sky