Hyde Park Winter Wonderland Experience

Hyde Park - Winter Wonderland 2007


At Christmas 2007, we decided to take the family to Hyde Park for the Winter Wonderland Experience. It had been very well advertised and the flyer portrayed an image similar to what you might expect in Austria or Germany during the festive season. The website looked impressive too, so how could we not go and enjoy the festive delights of London.

Hyde Park is One of London's ...
...340 acres of green space, Hyde Park has plenty to offer with a variety of attractions, formal gardens and spacious woodlands. Bearing this in mind and with the advert looking so promising, I was eagerly looking forward to making the journey from Basingstoke to experience the park at Christmas.


This year (2007) during the 'Winter Wonderland' event from 19th November 2007 through to 6th January 2008, Serpentine Road, Hyde Park ... more

Hyde Park - Winter Wonderland 2007

At Christmas 2007, we decided to take the family to Hyde Park for the Winter Wonderland Experience. It had been very well advertised and the flyer portrayed an image similar to what you might expect in Austria or Germany during the festive season. The website looked impressive too, so how could we not go and enjoy the festive delights of London.

Hyde Park is One of London's finest landscapes, covering 350 acres of park land. In the summer months, there is something for everyone with over 4,000 trees, a lake, Princess Diana Memorial Fountain, a meadow, horse rides, abundance of street entertainers and the obligatory ice cream van; it is easy to forget you're in the middle of London. Amidst the fumes and smog of London, the park is a place for fresh air, vibrant seasonal colours and sun lovers.

With 340 acres of green space, Hyde Park has plenty to offer with a variety of attractions, formal gardens and spacious woodlands. Bearing this in mind and with the advert looking so promising, I was eagerly looking forward to making the journey from Basingstoke to experience the park at Christmas.

This year (2007) during the 'Winter Wonderland' event from 19th November 2007 through to 6th January 2008, Serpentine Road, Hyde Park will be inaccessible to all traffic. A huge safety bonus for pedestrians like us with young children.

*** HOW TO GET THERE***

We left the car at Hillingdon Station and took the train straight through to the park. Children travel free into London at weekends so it was only my hubby and I that bought tickets. The ride in only took 40 minutes and the trains were all on time. Travelling on a Sunday was so much easier and there was hardly any crush to fight for a carriage or a seat, even the car park at the station was free on Sunday.
As a station, I would not recommend Hillingdon for cleanliness (the toilets were foul), but for speed and convenience it gets full marks.
With virtually no parking facilities in or around London, I would recommend the following routes in:

Tube:
Lancaster Gate & Marble Arch - Central Line
Hyde Park Corner & Knightsbridge - Piccadilly line

Buses from:
North London: 6, 7, 10, 16, 52, 73, 82, 390, 414
South London: 2, 36, 137, 436
West London: 9, 10, 14, 19, 22, 52, 74, 148, 414
East London: 8, 15, 30, 38, 274

*** OPENING TIMES***

The park itself is open from 5 am till midnight daily but the Winter Wonderland is open from 10 am until 10 pm. It was closed Christmas Day. There is easy access into the park for disabled and pram users but some rides might not be suitable.
Cameras and video recording equipment were allowed inside as far as I know. I wasn't stopped with my camera so I presumed it was permitted.

*** FIRST IMPRESSIONS*****

The toilets are situated just by the subway close to the park entrance. It was here we all headed first especially as this was one very cold afternoon. The toilets by the way are kept very clean and there is CCTV for your safety. You do not pay for using them either.
It was around 3.00 pm we arrived there and it was just getting dusk so hence the lights were about to turn on. You do not get the full wow factor until it's really dark and its then that the trees along the Serpentine Road will sparkle with thousands of neon Christmas lights high- lighting the avenue of Hyde Park. With its plethora of colours, the trees looked quite mystical and enticing.

There is no entrance fee to get inside and no security checks either which I found a bit daunting. However there are many police roaming about, mobile and static CCTV plus security guards watching your every move.

***** THE EXPERIENCE*****

The first point of call as you enter the park is the Ice Rink. Even David and Victoria Beckham were snapped on here by the tabloids and from the paper it looked good fun and very large. Oh dear, how deceiving press photos are and also the advertisements.

On approach there was a long covered marquee type outlet where people were grouping in order to put the ice boots on. You were allowed to use your own skates but speed skates were not permitted. The queue was horrendous and people were pushing and shoving. With only subdued lighting by the rink, little ones were being pushed and it was hard to depict where the queue started and ended.
Skating is booked in sessions of 1 hour. Sessions were available on the following times:

10.00 - 11.00
11.00 - 12.00
12.15 - 13.15
13.30 - 14.30
14.45 - 15.45 16.00 - 17.00
17.15 - 18.15
18.30 - 19.30
19.45 - 20.45
21.00 - 22.00

Ice Guides:
For £30.00 per session, Ice guides were available to escort you on the ice.

Each Ice guide looked after 15 skaters and was exclusive to your
group for the entire 1 hour session. If you were brave enough to go it alone then tokens had to purchase from the token booth which was situated next door to the ice rink. It cost 7 tokens per person and one token was equal to a £1. Please ask at the time of booking if you require a coach for the 2008 season.
There is no minimum age for children and wheelchair users were also permitted on the ice. If you hurt yourself though, they will not accept responsibility.

I decided at this point it just was not worth the effort to even get my kids on there, they were not fussed either and were quite happy to just view. Many people were crowding around the edges of the open air rink and viewing was quite difficult. The rink was very small compared to the website picture and advert in the Uxbridge Leader. There was hardly any room on the ice and it was not practical for complete novices like us, it would have been a disaster if we had managed to get on. Nearly everyone seemed competent and I felt that wobbly skaters would not have been welcome. Above the chattering, you could just hear the background music of a few Christmas Carols, nothing very festive so far.

From the ice rink there is a raised platform where Santa sits on selected times. We saw no sign of him, obviously too cold to sit on his golden throne all day. The platform looked pretty enough, just a shame there was no Santa there to greet the children. Once again this was token entry only but as with all the tokens, they are universal and can be purchased at the other booths situated around the Winter Wonderland.

Alongside where Santa supposedly sat was a miniature German market. With its quaint wooden huts and heavy aroma of mulled wine, the crowds accumulated round here for hot food and drink.
There was probably around 30 or so huts selling handy crafts, even deer fur jackets (didn't think that was allowed anymore), crazy woollen hats, wooden cuckoo type clocks, German food and hot beverages. Food and drink would set you back at least £5 a person and this place took cash, not tokens.

My little girl left her gloves on the train and of all the stalls selling woollen items; we could not find any that had children's gloves. In the end we bought handmade knitted socks and placed them over her freezing fingers much to her delight.

Coming out of the corner where the German "market" was situated were the rides. Not that many to get excited about, just a handful which included 2 virtual rides (watching a film inside a moving pod). The films were B movie and the Snowman. A large carousel, a children's smaller carousel, a miniature roller coaster for under 10's, a dragon ride, a bungee trampoline (dome), a haunted castle ride, a toboggan slide where you sit in a doughnut and slide down and an octopus for both kids and adults. After that there is nothing, the experience ends and the vast remainder of the park looks dark and uninviting. It took us less than 30 minutes to take a slow stroll through, it would have been quicker if it wasn't for the vast amount of visitors.

*** THE WHEEL ****

This must be the star attraction and admittedly it looked amazing in the dark. The entire 180ft wheel was dressed as a snow flake, bathed in beautiful white lights. It was very similar in appearance to the London Eye and had the same check in points but not the queue as with the Eye. This ride was also £7 per person, payable by token again and each gondola or pod held 6 people in each of the 40 pods. Yes the views were amazing but the ride is over so quick, unlike the London eye, this observation wheel does move at a speed you can feel but not as fast as a traditional fairground wheel. I saw no wheel chair users or prams on board a pod so better ask if you go there next year prior to paying for the ride.

*** TOKENS ****

All attractions except the German market needed tokens as payment to go on the rides. There were about a dozen token booths dotted around the park and all took cash or credit card as payment. There is no cash point in close proximity to the park so make sure you have enough cash with you.

In exchange for your money you were given a printed piece of small square paper similar to a receipt with a token value on it. We bought ours in batches of 2 per receipt. The majority of rides were a minimum of 4 tokens each; some smaller kid's rides were 2 whilst the wheel was 7 per person.

*** FOOD AND DRINK***

Apart from the German market, there was also an ice bar close to the rink but full to bursting, a few huts selling sandwiches, hot dogs and drinks and a marquee which was also packed the tent pegs with customers trying to keep warm. A sandwich cost £3 upwards and a hot dog around £4. With no seating and freezing temperatures it was not worth the effort.

We decided therefore to not fight our way through the masses and set the tom tom to pedestrian mode where it found us an "Ask" restaurant 1 mile from the park, a welcome relief.

*** TICKETS****

If you really want to put yourself through it and visit the park next winter, you can pre-book tickets for attractions such as the rink and the wheel. To be honest the token booths didn't have masses waiting there, so I would buy when you get there are avoid the booking fee. However the details are for advance bookings as taken from the website for 2007 season:
Tickets available from:

0844 847 1771 0871 231 0824

Website:

http://www.hydeparkwinterwonderland.com

*** TOILETS****

When we were there, the majority of toilets in the park itself were locked. You had to use the public toilet just by the subway but close to the main gates. It was very clean and well maintained.

***CONCLUSION****

I adore the park on a hot and sultry afternoon, watching the world go by and devouring soggy cheese sandwiches by the Serpentine lake. It is at the Marble Arch entrance that the notorious speakers corner is found where many different views (some not so welcomed) are shared to the public.

However at Christmas, once is definitely enough and we will not be returning to the Winter Wonderland again. There were not enough rides or attractions, as with most of London it's expensive, not that many festive lights and no sign of Santa.

If you live right on top of the park, then maybe have a stroll over there just to see how pretty the trees look when the lights go on, but if not then don't bother wasting your time and money. All in all it was very misleading and a huge disappointment to my children.

Sorry guys but for the time being I am unable to download pictures, the gremlins are back with Ciao I think. I hope to publish them soon. 

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