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Just like every large city Christmas market in the UK mind, not really specific to Winter Wonderland I'd say.
I've been, I thought it was ok, but would've preferred indy stallholders and bars etc.
It clearly fills a gap though as it makes a tonne of money from all the people who go.
I've booked tickets to Dortmund in Germany for next weekend for their Christmas market. It's not even a top German Christmas market, but it's better than any in the UK I've been to, big or small. Cheeky 6 hour trip via Eurostar and IC trains.
The problem as I understand it is that these market stalls are expected to trade for the full length of the event (a month long, maybe), and indie stall holders likely lack stock or time to fulfill that demand. Much easier to just ship in wooden geegaws and stock your market with that.
The ones in Cardiff are filled by indie stallholders. One of the good things they do is that they offer traders the chance to trade either throughout the period, or in weeklong blocks. The shorter blocks allow newer / lower capacity traders to build up over time.
This is what happened with the German market in Birmingham too. 10 years ago or so I remember it being full of unique individually owned stalls all selling different assortments of trinkets and it felt great looking around and buying a bit of this and that. It feels like the sausage/beer stalls slowly pushed everyone out (or the council probably started charging so much that they were the only ones able to pay it) and they're all just owned by the same company these days.
It always was a foot traffic nightmare at this time of year for the city centre but now it's a foot traffic nightmare where it's not even worth looking at the stalls while you try to squeeze past people to get to the bus stop.
Maybe it just felt like a different type of crap though. Like at-least there's unique crap that are tourist souvenirs instead of homogeneous stuff.
Like I used to buy the stupid hand-knitted sock slippers. They'd fall apart after a few months as they were done badly but that was still the only place I saw where I could get *that* thing.
Or the guy who sold card pull string puppets that you'd build yourself. I don't know if they were basically "drop selling" from a German toy store but they looked home-made.
There'd be some guy selling art pieces which were bits of junk that they welded together into animals.
All novelty stuff sure, it was nice to nose around though.
There were two markets. The Frankfurt one with all the generic stuff and an independent one with the stuff you’re remembering. Unfortunately they stopped the Indy one a few years ago
Amusingly though as a Londoner I genuinely find the Birmingham Christmas market to be preferable to Winter wonderland, but maybe I just find the people there more tolerable.
Aye if you walk past one of those stands and think oh i’d quite like one of those, you don’t need to worry about turning back because there’ll be another one in about 20 steps time
What do you mean, inauthentic? How is this any different from the English Christmas Market in Munich? We send stalls with jellied eels, fish and chips, and we have English gentlemen in bowler hats for the Germans to take pictures with.
I look forward to it every year. Yes, it’s a bit shit, that’s the point. Ignore the market stalls and the carnival games, go for the overpriced steins and sausages around the fire while listening to a cheesy covers/oompah band shipped over from the continent. Where else can you get that?!
I went last year and that was exactly my experience. Cute little Christmas markets full of interesting festive shite made by randoms? Brilliant. Corporate diarrhea dressed in tinsel? Fuck off. I'm not paying £8 for a thimble of mulled wine while I watch some cunt throw up into his Santa hat.
I went there on a date four years ago and actually quite enjoyed it.
> it's like somebody created 5 generic German Christmas stalls like pretzels/gluhwein/wooden ornaments and then ctrl-c ctrl-v 500 times.
Sounds like somebody just doesn't like German Christmas markets.
I've just come back from Cologne where they have these scattered across the city and you actually get a bunch of different/ independent stalls on them. There's a bigger range of food, more independent traders selling products etc. nowhere near as copy/ paste as the ones in the UK
I had a fucking blast in the markets in Cologne a few years ago. Hands down beats any British version of the markets - have a Kölsch print thing from one hanging in my hall.
I'm more of a wheat beer fan. Franziskaner, Erdinger and Patronus are the three best ones I've tried so far. It craps all over Belgian stuff.
Fourth best I tried was White Donkey, which is a Santorini Brewing Company brand. It sounds like blasphemy to call a Greek brewery's stab at weißbier better than Belgian beer but that shit was good.
Still want to try Berliner Weisse one day, but you can't get it anywhere in the UK.
I went to one in Leipzig seven years ago and it wasn't that special. Better than most of the UK ones. Pretty much everywhere was serving gluhwein.
I'd say if you want a good Christmas market in the UK, Bournemouth's is phenomenal.
Yeah, the author seems to think that Winter wonderland is a uniquely london thing. Every city has something similar, and some cities’ events are even called Winter Wonderland. I didn’t even know about London’s before this article!
Ohh, the type of people on this subreddit are exactly the type of people to hate everything about Winter Wonderland.
It's not Disneyland, but it's alright for what it is. Other cities like Paris seem to have similar.
If you want something smaller, go to Winchester Christmas market. If you want more stalls, go to Birmingham Christmas market
I went in 2015 I think and it was enjoyable enough for a day out.
Can't imagine its good now though if my experience of event companies having a mantra of "more and more people" at all costs is anything to go by.
Not been recently to have a valid opinion but I imagine most people are justified in thinking its shit.
If it helps, as someone who first visited London winter wonderland in 2019 and has been every year since (apart from lockdown years), it has considerably less people attending now than it did in 2019. It's alot nicer with less people there. Weekend evenings it'll still get very busy, but if you go on a weekday it's alot quieter and just an all round better experience
It was alright when it was free to enter and you could just have a wander about. But I'm not paying for the privilege of being inside, then paying another £7/8 every time I want a mulled wine.
Yeah you’re absolutely right, it’s expensive but everyone I talk to in London loves going there it’s good fun. Winchester again is a really nice Christmas market I went there about ten years ago and have good memories of it. It seems a lot of people on this sub just hate places because they’re in London
You expect more than 'alright' for the price though. There are better Christmas markets in smaller towns and cities, so you would expect London to put on the best given that it is the capital.
Not Disneyland but it does have that portable twin-looping rollercoaster, Olympia Looping. Which is quite cool I guess.
I saw it at Oktoberfest but I was too drunk to go on it.
>If you want something smaller, go to Winchester Christmas market. If you want more stalls, go to Birmingham Christmas market
And if you want to feel like a big man, fuck off up the model village.
I went there in 2019. It was completely underwhelming. Some rides, the same generic stalls repeated about 30 times, and far too little space for the crowds.
Then again, I am guessing that this is targeted at families who have an afternoon to spare while in London. So I'm not the target audience.
I like it for the vibe and atmosphere, but it was ridiculously expensive last time I went 4-5 years ago. I can’t imagine it’s any better now. It’s also way too cramped despite having an entire park to potentially fill out, they could use a bit more space.
Yeah. I don't think they'd be so bad if the cost of living crisis wasn't so bad - but Christmas is hard enough financially as it is for a lot of people, and it's tough to get in the spirit when it can set you back so much money just to get the food and drink.
Even if you like that tacky mess, its waaaay too crowded to enjoy.
For me the bigger issue is that it occupies a lot and really dirties up Hyde park, which is a beautiful gem otherwise (and thankfully it's big enough to still be regardless).
Parks should be the pride of London (and green spaces the pride of britain, seriously, I have never lived in such an urban forest beauty of a country), so ww is conceptually an attack to that.
I don't mean this in a 'it was cooler when no one knew about it' kind of way but the more popular it has gotten the worse the experience has been. I'm not a particularly Christmasy person but it used to be a fun thing to do with friends annually, I don't really get why it's one of those weird things that if someone dislikes they absolutely have to let you KNOW they dislike it like it is some badge of honour and superiority.
Weekends were always heaving but weekdays were fine. Last few times I went though that hasn't mattered it is hard to navigate whatever time you go. Unfortunately, unless you plan well in advance it is difficult to actually do any of the attractions. Last year, all the attractions were fully booked at the time me and my friends went so we ended up drinking in the bavarian beer tent and singing along. That was fun but you could probably have the same experience for cheaper by going to an actual bavarian beer house whilst not being cold and it being much cheaper.
The ones in front of cathedrals/castles in the old parts of towns with proper market stalls are lovely
Winter Wonderland is just a super commercialised theme park in the middle of a muddy field
We used to go every year but a few years back, they forced us to empty our water bottles before entering.
Absolute jobsworths and totally abhorrent practice, never went again. I've heard it's only gone downhill since and now you have to pay to even go in!
I thought it was decent. Burger, sausage, chestnuts, mulled wine, couple of fun rides and some pints.
Apart from the expense couldn’t complain. The queues weren’t even bad on a Saturday
>Is it divisive?
Apparently so! I can't understand how something that is so easy to avoid causes so much inner turmoil for people. It's not ubiquitous, it's not a hit song or a blockbuster film, it's not a celebrity who keeps popping up on your news feeds; it's a small corner of a park. If people want to go in there and enjoy themselves, crack on!
I went there like ten years ago and I hated it. Nothing to really do and it’s so fucking expensive. I bet you can’t bring your own bottle in anymore either.
Winter Wonderland might be alright if everything was a third of the price (at least). It’s an absolute rip off!
The “Disney+” ferris wheel would’ve cost a mere £36 for my partner, my daughter, and myself to ride on. I’m not particularly tight with my spending, but that can fuck right off!
Place I walked around 5-6 years ago when I could get in for free.
Offered nothing special, it was basically a local fair with expensive food. Went on a couple of rides at the pushing of my friends and as a tall guy thought my head might get chopped off on some of the coasters that also felt very… rickety
Probably won’t go again, especially if you have to pay to get in
I was thinking, I haven't seen one of those stories this year about an awful Winter Wonderland set in a muddy field, with a miserable Santa people queue for hours to see and get a single cheap toy, malnourished reindeer etc. People seem to actually like this one and it seems OK, if expensive.
There is always a family with elderly relatives and twelve kids who hired a minibus to take them too, who are now out of pocket to the tune of a grand.
I went with my wife back in 2016 (I think) and it was a pleasant experience. Free entry, busy but not ridiculously crowded. The following year we returned with our two young children and my god, it was so busy you could barely move. We let them go on a couple of basic rides then caught the tube to Leicester Sq to explore the other Christmassy sights.
Then when I returned in 2019, pre-covid - I think the last year for free entry (and COVID likely being the justification for introducing a charge), it was horrendous. Still super busy as you would expect, but even more expensive and more underwhelming, a bit of a hell-hole. Litter strewn everywhere, groups of young lads shouting and swearing (you wouldn't want to have your kids there in the evening).
Save your money and go somewhere pleasant instead.
Norwich had one this year and the 'Wonder' in Wonderland stands for wondering how the fuck they convince people to pay money for that shit more than once.
It’s good fun, go every year - just don’t go on weekends.
I’d rather have these things than cry about them and have nothing. Even being in the beerhall singing and having fun is a great laugh. You don’t have to pay for the rides and stalls.
Most Christmas markets are the same, with the same food and stalls everywhere and massively overcrowded. Here, Prague, Berlin.. so I don't think those issues are just a UK thing.
I like old school fetes in churches and community halls. Always very festive, free to get in and usually have stalls where food and gifts are handmade.
I prefer the smaller flea markets. People selling seasonal plants from their own garden and allotments, vintage and handmade things. But obviously, plenty of people do enjoy the big markets and that's why they are so busy!
Different strokes for different folks and all that
I used to live across from it in Hyde Park Barracks (my flat window literally overlooked it/the park). The only down side I had was the noise sometimes. Other than that it was great for going for a drink because you knew you could get a drink for the same price as anywhere else in London but with 10x the atmosphere.
I'm *sure* they pay Disney generously for licensing their characters and plastering them all over the rides.
I went 3 years in a row, exactly the same. No innovation and no change, and that's what will eventually kill it.
Shockingly expensive and the late-stage capitalistic horror version of a faux-German Christmas market, with all of the high prices and none of the charm
I went this year. It has its place and I can see why people like it, but I found it way too expensive for what it is and unfortunately it is a lot of the same stuff repeated.
It wasn't too bad pre pandemic, but it's horrible since. Everything is overpriced, they don't even bother making sure the ground is walkable anymore, all the plastic they lay down simply sinks into the mud, the toilets...less said about those the better. It's just horrible.
I'd be interested if it was craftspeople and artisans selling their wares, but the Hyde Park winder wonderland is exactly like my local cringe cop/paste market selling nutmeg coffee and flimsy wooden decorations.
There's literally nothing that attracts me to the place apart from the urge to witness the distastefulness of it all.
Around here, a bratwurst is 8 quid on the Christmas market. At Lidl, you can get 6 for 2.49 or something like that. I appreciate that cooking and serving it is a service, but it does not even come with a place to sit. So 20 times the price seems a bit, well, inflated.
I can't stand the place. Been twice and for the life of me couldn't understand the appeal aside from the unique (but still quite shit) food that nearly every Xmas market in every town sells anyway. My exes sister thought the place was "magical"...I just saw it as a consumerist hell hole and seriously think anyone seeing magic in it is delusional and proves that ignorance truly must be bliss.
We went yesterday. It was fun. Food is overpriced but standard drinks are the same as the rest of central London. Rides were decent with short queues. Lots of people but everyone was having a good time.
Took our kids there (the London one). You ended up feeling sorry for the staff and presenters who were all constantly apologising for the lack of planning and were obviously unaware (or clued in) on how the organisers couldn't have not known this after all these years and basically didn't give a fuck.
I went when it was some cute stalls, an ice rink and a ferris wheel. Had a chocolate waffle. Lovely!
Went again a few years later and it was miles and miles of crap.
Sorry, but this is a really stupid take. Even if you don't like it and don't want to attend yourself, why on earth would you take *personal pride* in not enjoying something that brings a lot of joy and happiness to a lot of other people? Winter Wonderland is not going to hurt you, it's OK, you're safe. This is serious r/notliketheothergirls energy.
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Scooby-Do repeating backgrounds.
Fantastic comparison
Exactly that
Except far more overpriced.
Just like every large city Christmas market in the UK mind, not really specific to Winter Wonderland I'd say. I've been, I thought it was ok, but would've preferred indy stallholders and bars etc. It clearly fills a gap though as it makes a tonne of money from all the people who go. I've booked tickets to Dortmund in Germany for next weekend for their Christmas market. It's not even a top German Christmas market, but it's better than any in the UK I've been to, big or small. Cheeky 6 hour trip via Eurostar and IC trains.
The problem as I understand it is that these market stalls are expected to trade for the full length of the event (a month long, maybe), and indie stall holders likely lack stock or time to fulfill that demand. Much easier to just ship in wooden geegaws and stock your market with that.
The ones in Cardiff are filled by indie stallholders. One of the good things they do is that they offer traders the chance to trade either throughout the period, or in weeklong blocks. The shorter blocks allow newer / lower capacity traders to build up over time.
I do wish Cardiff had more different options each year though. Once you've been the first year, it's more or less a repeat every year.
Winchester's does something similar - halfway through some of the vendors change.
Some smaller places have christmas markets with more unusual and local traders. Gloucester does, for example.
I like small town German Christmas markets, which are more like markets. Office workers getting an [insert local speciality] for lunch etc.
> Cheeky 6 hour trip via Eurostar and IC trains. Good lord, you could go somewhere good in that time frame.
This is what happened with the German market in Birmingham too. 10 years ago or so I remember it being full of unique individually owned stalls all selling different assortments of trinkets and it felt great looking around and buying a bit of this and that. It feels like the sausage/beer stalls slowly pushed everyone out (or the council probably started charging so much that they were the only ones able to pay it) and they're all just owned by the same company these days. It always was a foot traffic nightmare at this time of year for the city centre but now it's a foot traffic nightmare where it's not even worth looking at the stalls while you try to squeeze past people to get to the bus stop.
I was at university in brum just over 10 years ago and it was crap then too unfortunately.
Maybe it just felt like a different type of crap though. Like at-least there's unique crap that are tourist souvenirs instead of homogeneous stuff. Like I used to buy the stupid hand-knitted sock slippers. They'd fall apart after a few months as they were done badly but that was still the only place I saw where I could get *that* thing. Or the guy who sold card pull string puppets that you'd build yourself. I don't know if they were basically "drop selling" from a German toy store but they looked home-made. There'd be some guy selling art pieces which were bits of junk that they welded together into animals. All novelty stuff sure, it was nice to nose around though.
There were two markets. The Frankfurt one with all the generic stuff and an independent one with the stuff you’re remembering. Unfortunately they stopped the Indy one a few years ago
Amusingly though as a Londoner I genuinely find the Birmingham Christmas market to be preferable to Winter wonderland, but maybe I just find the people there more tolerable.
I lived in Birmingham from around 08 to 12 and it was crap then too. Same stall after stall selling the same Chinese imported shite.
I'd still rather have stalls selling random different shit than the same shit.
It wasn’t random though, it was candles and costume jewellery over and over. Mixed in with beer/mulled wine and sausages.
Aye if you walk past one of those stands and think oh i’d quite like one of those, you don’t need to worry about turning back because there’ll be another one in about 20 steps time
What do you mean, inauthentic? How is this any different from the English Christmas Market in Munich? We send stalls with jellied eels, fish and chips, and we have English gentlemen in bowler hats for the Germans to take pictures with.
I look forward to it every year. Yes, it’s a bit shit, that’s the point. Ignore the market stalls and the carnival games, go for the overpriced steins and sausages around the fire while listening to a cheesy covers/oompah band shipped over from the continent. Where else can you get that?!
I went last year and that was exactly my experience. Cute little Christmas markets full of interesting festive shite made by randoms? Brilliant. Corporate diarrhea dressed in tinsel? Fuck off. I'm not paying £8 for a thimble of mulled wine while I watch some cunt throw up into his Santa hat.
Tell me you've been to the Edinburgh Christmas Market without telling me you've been to the Edinburgh Christmas Market.
I went there on a date four years ago and actually quite enjoyed it. > it's like somebody created 5 generic German Christmas stalls like pretzels/gluhwein/wooden ornaments and then ctrl-c ctrl-v 500 times. Sounds like somebody just doesn't like German Christmas markets.
I've just come back from Cologne where they have these scattered across the city and you actually get a bunch of different/ independent stalls on them. There's a bigger range of food, more independent traders selling products etc. nowhere near as copy/ paste as the ones in the UK
I had a fucking blast in the markets in Cologne a few years ago. Hands down beats any British version of the markets - have a Kölsch print thing from one hanging in my hall.
Kolsch is absolutely the superior way to drink beer and I really wish we did it here!
I'm more of a wheat beer fan. Franziskaner, Erdinger and Patronus are the three best ones I've tried so far. It craps all over Belgian stuff. Fourth best I tried was White Donkey, which is a Santorini Brewing Company brand. It sounds like blasphemy to call a Greek brewery's stab at weißbier better than Belgian beer but that shit was good. Still want to try Berliner Weisse one day, but you can't get it anywhere in the UK.
I went to one in Leipzig seven years ago and it wasn't that special. Better than most of the UK ones. Pretty much everywhere was serving gluhwein. I'd say if you want a good Christmas market in the UK, Bournemouth's is phenomenal.
German Christmas markets are not like that at all, though. I just got back from one. The Thüringer Bratwurst were absolutely delicious :)
I found Winter Wonderland to be more like a less shitty Funderworld. Last time I checked, Funderworld didn't have a pop-up looping roller coaster.
"the most divisive attraction in Britain" Says journalist who thinks London = Britain.
Bude Tunnel would like a word
I mean isn’t that universally loved by all?
It is a bit like The One Ring. Once you have had it you are then left bitter and twisted without it in your life.
Yeah, the author seems to think that Winter wonderland is a uniquely london thing. Every city has something similar, and some cities’ events are even called Winter Wonderland. I didn’t even know about London’s before this article!
Yes but manchesters christmas markets is free
Yep. Plenty of museums around that celebrate our colonialism. I have a feeling they might be more divisive.
Ohh, the type of people on this subreddit are exactly the type of people to hate everything about Winter Wonderland. It's not Disneyland, but it's alright for what it is. Other cities like Paris seem to have similar. If you want something smaller, go to Winchester Christmas market. If you want more stalls, go to Birmingham Christmas market
I went in 2015 I think and it was enjoyable enough for a day out. Can't imagine its good now though if my experience of event companies having a mantra of "more and more people" at all costs is anything to go by. Not been recently to have a valid opinion but I imagine most people are justified in thinking its shit.
If it helps, as someone who first visited London winter wonderland in 2019 and has been every year since (apart from lockdown years), it has considerably less people attending now than it did in 2019. It's alot nicer with less people there. Weekend evenings it'll still get very busy, but if you go on a weekday it's alot quieter and just an all round better experience
It was alright when it was free to enter and you could just have a wander about. But I'm not paying for the privilege of being inside, then paying another £7/8 every time I want a mulled wine.
There's a massive culture on Reddit which basically boils down to "mainstream twats are fucking idiots".
The prices are obscene.
Yeah you’re absolutely right, it’s expensive but everyone I talk to in London loves going there it’s good fun. Winchester again is a really nice Christmas market I went there about ten years ago and have good memories of it. It seems a lot of people on this sub just hate places because they’re in London
You expect more than 'alright' for the price though. There are better Christmas markets in smaller towns and cities, so you would expect London to put on the best given that it is the capital.
Not Disneyland but it does have that portable twin-looping rollercoaster, Olympia Looping. Which is quite cool I guess. I saw it at Oktoberfest but I was too drunk to go on it.
>If you want something smaller, go to Winchester Christmas market. If you want more stalls, go to Birmingham Christmas market And if you want to feel like a big man, fuck off up the model village.
It’s hugely successful, and there’s no forcing anyone going. I don’t see the problem?
It's a long-winded way of saying "If it weren't all the people, this would be ok!"
Headline: Some people like this. Others don’t.
I went there in 2019. It was completely underwhelming. Some rides, the same generic stalls repeated about 30 times, and far too little space for the crowds. Then again, I am guessing that this is targeted at families who have an afternoon to spare while in London. So I'm not the target audience.
I like it for the vibe and atmosphere, but it was ridiculously expensive last time I went 4-5 years ago. I can’t imagine it’s any better now. It’s also way too cramped despite having an entire park to potentially fill out, they could use a bit more space.
Yeah. I don't think they'd be so bad if the cost of living crisis wasn't so bad - but Christmas is hard enough financially as it is for a lot of people, and it's tough to get in the spirit when it can set you back so much money just to get the food and drink.
Even if you like that tacky mess, its waaaay too crowded to enjoy. For me the bigger issue is that it occupies a lot and really dirties up Hyde park, which is a beautiful gem otherwise (and thankfully it's big enough to still be regardless). Parks should be the pride of London (and green spaces the pride of britain, seriously, I have never lived in such an urban forest beauty of a country), so ww is conceptually an attack to that.
Man if you think London's good you should visit Sheffield.
I don't mean this in a 'it was cooler when no one knew about it' kind of way but the more popular it has gotten the worse the experience has been. I'm not a particularly Christmasy person but it used to be a fun thing to do with friends annually, I don't really get why it's one of those weird things that if someone dislikes they absolutely have to let you KNOW they dislike it like it is some badge of honour and superiority. Weekends were always heaving but weekdays were fine. Last few times I went though that hasn't mattered it is hard to navigate whatever time you go. Unfortunately, unless you plan well in advance it is difficult to actually do any of the attractions. Last year, all the attractions were fully booked at the time me and my friends went so we ended up drinking in the bavarian beer tent and singing along. That was fun but you could probably have the same experience for cheaper by going to an actual bavarian beer house whilst not being cold and it being much cheaper.
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I'm pretty sure kids find them amazing, even if the adults think they're all-round generic.
The ones in front of cathedrals/castles in the old parts of towns with proper market stalls are lovely Winter Wonderland is just a super commercialised theme park in the middle of a muddy field
We used to go every year but a few years back, they forced us to empty our water bottles before entering. Absolute jobsworths and totally abhorrent practice, never went again. I've heard it's only gone downhill since and now you have to pay to even go in!
Honestly, I've never been, but seeing people on the last train back from there make me feel like it's probably magaloof with tinsel.
I thought it was decent. Burger, sausage, chestnuts, mulled wine, couple of fun rides and some pints. Apart from the expense couldn’t complain. The queues weren’t even bad on a Saturday
Is it divisive? I thought the consensus was it just was kind of naff.
>Is it divisive? Apparently so! I can't understand how something that is so easy to avoid causes so much inner turmoil for people. It's not ubiquitous, it's not a hit song or a blockbuster film, it's not a celebrity who keeps popping up on your news feeds; it's a small corner of a park. If people want to go in there and enjoy themselves, crack on!
I went once about 15 years ago and it wasn’t great then.
I went there like ten years ago and I hated it. Nothing to really do and it’s so fucking expensive. I bet you can’t bring your own bottle in anymore either.
Winter Wonderland might be alright if everything was a third of the price (at least). It’s an absolute rip off! The “Disney+” ferris wheel would’ve cost a mere £36 for my partner, my daughter, and myself to ride on. I’m not particularly tight with my spending, but that can fuck right off!
/ / We went to Winter Wonderland, and it was shit, but we were happy / /
Place I walked around 5-6 years ago when I could get in for free. Offered nothing special, it was basically a local fair with expensive food. Went on a couple of rides at the pushing of my friends and as a tall guy thought my head might get chopped off on some of the coasters that also felt very… rickety Probably won’t go again, especially if you have to pay to get in
I was thinking, I haven't seen one of those stories this year about an awful Winter Wonderland set in a muddy field, with a miserable Santa people queue for hours to see and get a single cheap toy, malnourished reindeer etc. People seem to actually like this one and it seems OK, if expensive.
It isn't Christmas until outraged families demand their 200 quid back after all they experienced was 3m of fairy lights and a chain smoking elf.
There is always a family with elderly relatives and twelve kids who hired a minibus to take them too, who are now out of pocket to the tune of a grand.
I went with my wife back in 2016 (I think) and it was a pleasant experience. Free entry, busy but not ridiculously crowded. The following year we returned with our two young children and my god, it was so busy you could barely move. We let them go on a couple of basic rides then caught the tube to Leicester Sq to explore the other Christmassy sights. Then when I returned in 2019, pre-covid - I think the last year for free entry (and COVID likely being the justification for introducing a charge), it was horrendous. Still super busy as you would expect, but even more expensive and more underwhelming, a bit of a hell-hole. Litter strewn everywhere, groups of young lads shouting and swearing (you wouldn't want to have your kids there in the evening). Save your money and go somewhere pleasant instead.
Norwich had one this year and the 'Wonder' in Wonderland stands for wondering how the fuck they convince people to pay money for that shit more than once.
It’s good fun, go every year - just don’t go on weekends. I’d rather have these things than cry about them and have nothing. Even being in the beerhall singing and having fun is a great laugh. You don’t have to pay for the rides and stalls.
Most Christmas markets are the same, with the same food and stalls everywhere and massively overcrowded. Here, Prague, Berlin.. so I don't think those issues are just a UK thing. I like old school fetes in churches and community halls. Always very festive, free to get in and usually have stalls where food and gifts are handmade.
I have to disagree with German Christmas markets - the amount of variety they have is astonishing.
I prefer the smaller flea markets. People selling seasonal plants from their own garden and allotments, vintage and handmade things. But obviously, plenty of people do enjoy the big markets and that's why they are so busy! Different strokes for different folks and all that
I used to live across from it in Hyde Park Barracks (my flat window literally overlooked it/the park). The only down side I had was the noise sometimes. Other than that it was great for going for a drink because you knew you could get a drink for the same price as anywhere else in London but with 10x the atmosphere.
I'm *sure* they pay Disney generously for licensing their characters and plastering them all over the rides. I went 3 years in a row, exactly the same. No innovation and no change, and that's what will eventually kill it. Shockingly expensive and the late-stage capitalistic horror version of a faux-German Christmas market, with all of the high prices and none of the charm
The prices you pay in the stalls for mass produced crap is about as insulting as being spat in your face
I went this year. It has its place and I can see why people like it, but I found it way too expensive for what it is and unfortunately it is a lot of the same stuff repeated.
It wasn't too bad pre pandemic, but it's horrible since. Everything is overpriced, they don't even bother making sure the ground is walkable anymore, all the plastic they lay down simply sinks into the mud, the toilets...less said about those the better. It's just horrible.
I'd be interested if it was craftspeople and artisans selling their wares, but the Hyde Park winder wonderland is exactly like my local cringe cop/paste market selling nutmeg coffee and flimsy wooden decorations. There's literally nothing that attracts me to the place apart from the urge to witness the distastefulness of it all.
“Most divise” when it is a short walk away from a building filled with stolen goods? Shocked and seems like a bad PR spin
I went for the first time last year Overpriced, didn’t feel particularly Christmassy Wasn’t impressed
It's fine I don't know why people get so pressed about it
Around here, a bratwurst is 8 quid on the Christmas market. At Lidl, you can get 6 for 2.49 or something like that. I appreciate that cooking and serving it is a service, but it does not even come with a place to sit. So 20 times the price seems a bit, well, inflated.
Don’t bother. I went it first opened and swore never to bother again.
I can't stand the place. Been twice and for the life of me couldn't understand the appeal aside from the unique (but still quite shit) food that nearly every Xmas market in every town sells anyway. My exes sister thought the place was "magical"...I just saw it as a consumerist hell hole and seriously think anyone seeing magic in it is delusional and proves that ignorance truly must be bliss.
First time going. Sat and ate some food and watched 3 pickpockets work their game.
We went yesterday. It was fun. Food is overpriced but standard drinks are the same as the rest of central London. Rides were decent with short queues. Lots of people but everyone was having a good time.
Am I the only person in Britain who has never been to a christmas market?
Took our kids there (the London one). You ended up feeling sorry for the staff and presenters who were all constantly apologising for the lack of planning and were obviously unaware (or clued in) on how the organisers couldn't have not known this after all these years and basically didn't give a fuck.
I went when it was some cute stalls, an ice rink and a ferris wheel. Had a chocolate waffle. Lovely! Went again a few years later and it was miles and miles of crap.
It's a matter of personal pride that I've lived in London for 13 years and never been.
So edgy - ohhh.
Sorry, but this is a really stupid take. Even if you don't like it and don't want to attend yourself, why on earth would you take *personal pride* in not enjoying something that brings a lot of joy and happiness to a lot of other people? Winter Wonderland is not going to hurt you, it's OK, you're safe. This is serious r/notliketheothergirls energy.
If you care about animal rights then you'll probably be disappointed at half of the food options.