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Hyde Park Winter Wonderland: General Discussion

Matt N said:
People travel to HPWW, don’t they? I’d assume it attracts custom from all across the country (even from abroad in some cases), so surely high attendance at HPWW won’t only come from London itself?
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Yeah my co-worker is going with his wife and son to London on the 16th to 18th and his not into theme parks but they going to Wonderland for the food, market, ice rink and entertainment.
 
Stabbing right outside the event (no surprise) and ride failure hasn't been the best week for their PR department,

Thankfully there was no injuries from the ride failure but the video is absolutely petrifying.
 
Very fortunate there that nobody was hurt. I don't like the look of those types of rides either and I definitely wouldn't go on one.
 
Well my work co-worker went and could not believe how expensive it was.
They did the ice skating, magical ice Kingdom and had a couple of drinks while watching the entertainment.
He could not believe that the big rides cost more than a pint.
 
My parents use to take me and my sister to funfairs in the 90’s and every ride Except the Dodgems cost 50p each with the dodgems been a £1.
Thinking back when I started work in 1997 I was on £1.75 ph.
 
I've said it before and I will say it again, Hyde Park winter wonderland is daylight robbery, I get it's central London but at the end of a day, it's a Christmas market and some fairground rides. The prices are ridiculous. I've never been because it prices me out, and I'd be willing to pay what most people would regard as fairly expensive. I certainly would be the same as @AstroDan 's dad, in that I simply wouldn't pay the F&B prices, they're worse than the rides, and I didn't even know that was possible.
And I still fail to accept it's a premium event, it's slightly more premium than your average village fair, I get that, but it's not a posh event at a nice hotel or something.
 
JAperson said:
Hyde Park winter wonderland is daylight robbery ... The prices are ridiculous. I've never been because it prices me out,
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Never been and experienced it...knows it's a ripoff. Not sure you are best placed to say that!

It's an incredible set up, the costs involved are insane, the quality of what they are doing is on the whole very very high.

It wouldn't have been running for the time it has been, with the continuing success it has, if people left feeling ripped off. It might not be for you for whatever reason, but it isn't a con.
 
pluk said:
Never been and experienced it...knows it's a ripoff. Not sure you are best placed to say that!
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I mean you don't have to experience something to know it's a ripoff, I've seen the prices in Waitrose but never bought anything from there and I still know it's a ripoff.
pluk said:
It's an incredible set up, the costs involved are insane, the quality of what they are doing is on the whole very very high.
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I don't doubt it, but it's no excuse to rip people off.
pluk said:
It wouldn't have been running for the time it has been, with the continuing success it has, if people left feeling ripped off. It might not be for you for whatever reason, but it isn't a con.
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I don't doubt it's success, it is indeed very successful so they must be doing something right but that doesn't mean it's fairly priced. People will pay prices that are very expensive for convenience and bragging rights on social media. I don't know many people who've been to winter wonderland who haven't made at least one social media post about it. There's nothing wrong with that, but it's now part of the reason they can charge so much and get away with it.

There's also the fact that people who live around Hyde Park tend to be more well off than people outside of London, so effectively they are pricing out non-Londoners.
 
If it is busy and very successful, it absolutely means the prices are right.
So imagine if they drop the prices by 50% to keep some skinflints happy, but the already crowded, busy, successful park gets dangerously congested, and the ride queues are three times as long, making everybody miserable.
Capital city, capital funfair, capital prices.
Like it or lump it, lots of people seem to like it.
 
rob666 said:
If it is busy and very successful, it absolutely means the prices are right.
So imagine if they drop the prices by 50% to keep some skinflints happy, but the already crowded, busy, successful park gets dangerously congested, and the ride queues are three times as long, making everybody miserable.
Capital city, capital funfair, capital prices.
Like it or lump it, lots of people seem to like it.
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Not going to happen with pre booked tickets though, that solves the problem. Not all capital cities are overpriced, I'd expect more because of London prices though, just not that much more.
 
Yes, it's expensive. Yes, it may be a "rip off" to some, but that's a subjective term - that's the point @pluk is making. If you've not been, you can of course comment on the pricing of things, but it's difficult to justify slating the whole thing having not experienced it. The fact is every single tourist attraction in London is a "rip off" because the sheer cost involved in running them is absolutely insane. Wages are higher, rent is higher, the level of security (especially with terrorist attacks at similar events in recent years) and organisation required for something so high profile in such a central location is crazy. Of course there's profit being made, but I doubt it's as much as you'd assume.

The term "premium" doesn't necessarily have to mean luxury either. An event can be referred to as premium because of it's location or the selection of rides it attracts. Winter Wonderland actually gets a LOT of flack from Hyde Park residents, they're certainly not visiting the place that's for sure! Like most attractions in the city, it's a tourist attraction pure and simple. It's not a community event, they're a business at the end of the day. Unfortunately all Christmas Markets have gone up in price in recent years, Edinburgh was the same when I was there last weekend.

I would argue you can experience the event without spending a whole lot. It's entirely possible to pop along, do a ride or two (which covers your entry), have a wander and then head off somewhere else for food and drink if you really wanted to. You'd struggle to find many places in that area of London which are remotely sensible in terms of pricing though!
 
Craig said:
I would argue you can experience the event without spending a whole lot. It's entirely possible to pop along, do a ride or two (which covers your entry),
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Agree here. When I go, I usually go on Wilde Maus XXL twice, Olympia Looping once and one other attraction once. This costs less than a day ticket (with no MAP) at Towers.
 
JAperson said:
I mean you don't have to experience something to know it's a ripoff, I've seen the prices in Waitrose but never bought anything from there and I still know it's a ripoff.
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Wrong twice in one sentence. Well done!! 😆😆

The definition of a rip off is to cheat someone, particularly financially. There is no cheating or trickery going on here. They offer you a service and tell you what it costs, you pay it if you want to, and they deliver on what they offered.

You wouldn't know because you haven't been, but for your free entry there's a wonderful atmosphere, bands and entertainment, firepits. No-one is making anyone go on any particular ride, buy any food or drink. Some are a bit highly priced for what they are, some are pretty reasonable.

If it's not for you that's one thing, but to say others who do go are being ripped off is simply wrong.

Oh, and Waitrose does some brilliant craft beer at excellent prices, much better value than other supermarkets and bottleshops. But again, you wouldn't know.
 
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