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Hyde Park Winter Wonderland: General Discussion

Matt N said:
I always wonder when Hyde Park Winter Wonderland comes around; is it only me who doesn’t really get the hype?

I went in January 2020 (so it was the 2019 event), and while I had a nice time and I’m glad I went to experience the likes of Olympia Looping, it’s not somewhere I’d rush back to.

While I admit that Olympia Looping is impressive, I didn’t overly rate it as a ride experience, and the other coasters there are all variants of wild mouse coasters, a ride style which I don’t rate at all. I’m also not generally a massive fan of flat rides either. I admit HangOver was very good, however; that was probably my favourite ride there!

It’s also very expensive compared to a regular theme park; I seem to remember 7 rides costing over £60, and that was back in 2020.

In general, I think it’s not really my sort of thing. It’s not somewhere I’d make specific effort to go back to annually, and to be honest, I think I’d only go back if another of the big, significant travelling coasters came over, like Alpina Bahn or Hollenblitz.

Is it only me who feels this way about HPWW?
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Matt, come on now mate.
Thoosie site.
Expect it.

Swore blind I saw a negative E.P. review on here recently as well...
 
I'd like to go sometime - mainly for Olympia Looping or whatever they're calling it now - but honestly when you factor in the cost for return travel to London, an overnight stay, ride tickets, food and drink costs and how insanely busy it's likely to be unless you book annual leave and go off-peak, I think I might as well just go abroad to somewhere like Liseberg or Efteling, have a much better time and probably not spend an awful lot more.
 
Matt N said:
I always wonder when Hyde Park Winter Wonderland comes around; is it only me who doesn’t really get the hype?

I went in January 2020 (so it was the 2019 event), and while I had a nice time and I’m glad I went to experience the likes of Olympia Looping, it’s not somewhere I’d rush back to.

While I admit that Olympia Looping is impressive, I didn’t overly rate it as a ride experience, and the other coasters there are all variants of wild mouse coasters, a ride style which I don’t rate at all. I’m also not generally a massive fan of flat rides either. I admit HangOver was very good, however; that was probably my favourite ride there!

It’s also very expensive compared to a regular theme park; I seem to remember 7 rides costing over £60, and that was back in 2020.

In general, I think it’s not really my sort of thing. It’s not somewhere I’d make specific effort to go back to annually, and to be honest, I think I’d only go back if another of the big, significant travelling coasters came over, like Alpina Bahn or Hollenblitz.

Is it only me who feels this way about HPWW?
Click to expand...
Whilst I found Olympia/Munich Looping to be worthwhile, I do agree that there should be a better variety of coasters as the last 3 events had an near identical coaster line up and 3 of the coasters are variants of Reverchon Spinning Wild Mouse coasters.

The other one is a Mack Model which one year is the big unique XL one and the other is a smaller travelling variant.

I definitely think they should consider bringing in Hollenblitz or Alpina Bahn alongside Olympia to offer variety and bring in more guests. (In place of Euro Coaster, that's just a SFC Wild Mouse which is insanely rough 😅)

The travelling fairs do seem to be predominantly Wild Mouse and Wacky Worm models and it'd be good to get a bit of variety. I'm sure some of the Gerstlauer compact models could possibly travel.

I do think that once Olympia reaches the end of it's life, the variety of travelling coasters will suffer unless fairgrounds/manufacturers start looking at offering more thrilling coasters on the fair circuit.

I'd also feedback that it needs a day ride wristband.
 
I see they managed to build Looping without killing anyone. Well done I guess.

I like the event, I think the scale and quality make it worthwhile, and I really don't see it as a rip off. Carting that kit across Europe costs an insane amount, as does the site logistics. There are exceptions but the food and drink is of decent quality for the volumes required. It's not cheap but it's understandable where the money goes and how much you spend is up to you. Just taking in the atmosphere with a mulled cider around a firepit is no bad way to spend an evening, or you can splash the cash and try everything if that is worth it to you.
 
So that is clear then...more for rich people, or at least the reasonably afflent, who can do it as a day trip.
Tight northerners with need for an overnighter get what they deserve...

But my last funfair in Hyde Park was around 1983.
 
It's a major event in the capital. I'm not sure why people are surprised it is expensive?

Want to do the rides for less per ride? Fly to Dusseldorf or Hamburg when most of them rock up, except Looping now does Prater that's also pricey as surprise surprise, it is in the capital (of Austria)

owenstreet7 said:
I'd also feedback that it needs a day ride wristband.
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I'm not sure how that would work, considering they are all different operators. I think the Charity/Preview night only works as the Royal Parks basically force them to do it.
 
Matt N said:
I always wonder when Hyde Park Winter Wonderland comes around; is it only me who doesn’t really get the hype?

I went in January 2020 (so it was the 2019 event), and while I had a nice time and I’m glad I went to experience the likes of Olympia Looping, it’s not somewhere I’d rush back to.

While I admit that Olympia Looping is impressive, I didn’t overly rate it as a ride experience, and the other coasters there are all variants of wild mouse coasters, a ride style which I don’t rate at all. I’m also not generally a massive fan of flat rides either. I admit HangOver was very good, however; that was probably my favourite ride there!

It’s also very expensive compared to a regular theme park; I seem to remember 7 rides costing over £60, and that was back in 2020.

In general, I think it’s not really my sort of thing. It’s not somewhere I’d make specific effort to go back to annually, and to be honest, I think I’d only go back if another of the big, significant travelling coasters came over, like Alpina Bahn or Hollenblitz.

Is it only me who feels this way about HPWW?
Click to expand...
You aren’t the only one at all, I don’t get the excitement for it either. I’ve never been though to be fair but after going to the fantastic Munich Oktoberfest last year and seeing the incredible atmosphere there it killed any desire I had to go to HPWW.
 
Went yesterday, having not been for a few years, and was slightly disappointed to see that it's all essentially the same as before.

Only did Looping and Hangover as they're the only good rides that aren't spin and spews.

Good atmosphere, but it needs shaking up with some different rides and attractions.
 
Yes we have not been for a few years now, and this year it's £12 to ride looping...

The event is closed tomorrow, all the royal parks are due to weather I assume
 
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Haven't been here for almost 15 years. When i did it was incredibly grim, overcrowded to the point of misery.

It looks like they have some pretty cool rides now though. What's Ice Mountain? Is it a Mack spinner or am i being optimistic? Is it just an indoor wild mouse?

What are the queues like? I see they offer Fast Track for some rides which isn't a good sign...

Guessing better to go in the morning as entry slots are timed so crowds will just accumulate as the day goes on?

How is Munich Looper, is it pretty rough? OTSR i presume?
 
We went last year for the first time, right in the middle of school holidays. Entry time was 2pm, and it was busy but not terrible. We got on the coasters we wanted, I don’t think ice mountain is a Mack spinner - but someone more knowledgeable than me can confirm. Olympia looping has OTSR but they’re like nothing I’ve seen elsewhere recently - it’s a good ride - less rough that other Schwarzkopfs I’ve ridden.

The food isn’t great though, and you can’t can’t get proper pop anywhere - it’s all the sugar free stuff which is no good for a tired and flagging chimp. We’re going back this year as there’s a few creds we’ve not done, but we will be eating and loading up on sugar beforehand, and escaping quickly before it gets too busy.

Edit to add: Dr Archibald isn’t a cred but I found it very good, especially considering it’s travelling and not permanent
 
Ice Mountain is basically one of the generic travelling spinning wild mouse coasters inside a big tent. They've gone to town with the theming though, think I enjoyed it more when I rode it at Fantasy Island though.

Usually the ride queues stay pretty reasonable until the evening, but as its pay per ride the ride ops do a good job of shifting the queues.

During the day it's the bars and restaurants doing more of a trade than the rides.

In 2018 I did the charity night which was about 4/5 hours the Thursday evening before the official event starts on the Friday. I believe it was about £70 for a wristband this year, so if looking at going next year and you want to hammer the rides that's your best option. Think I did all the coasters that year and Olympia Looping 9 times.
 
Bowser said:
It looks like they have some pretty cool rides now though. What's Ice Mountain? Is it a Mack spinner or am i being optimistic? Is it just an indoor wild mouse?
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Ice Mountain is a Reverchon Spinning Wild Mouse that Mellors Group run. Mellors owns Fantasy Island and Ice Mountain operated there for a couple of years.

Ice Mountain - Fantasy Island (Ingoldmells, Lincolnshire, England, United Kingdom)

Looking for statistics on the fastest, tallest or longest roller coasters? Find it all and much more with the interactive Roller Coaster Database.
rcdb.com

Bowser said:
How is Munich Looper, is it pretty rough? OTSR i presume?
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Munich/Olympia Looping is a strange restraints system. It's a lap bar and a shoulder restraint just goes over your shoulder.

Not as rough as Infusion but be careful with the shoulder restraint, it goes down as you ride making it uncomfortable.
 
Bowser said:
How is Munich Looper, is it pretty rough?
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I find Olympia Looping to be fairly rough (more so than the likes of Saw) although last year was an exception, but I am in the vast minority on this.
 
Olympia Looping is an incredible ride. Well worth the trip even if it's just for that, once.

I've never made it back unfortunately - but even if I don't I was so excited to get the chance to ride her in the UK. Same with BMR[X]/Knightmare.

Schwarzkopfs are beasts. Still gutted I missed out on the Flamingoland pair.
 
Think we'll give it a go then, even just for one or two rides as it's under an hour for us anyway. Can you literally just queue up and pay when you get on old school style or is it token nonsense or something?
 
You have to buy tokens from the ticket booths. It's a good few years since I've been, but said "tokens" are, in fact, just thermal printed receipts. They can blow away very easily. You have been warned.
 
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