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Hyde Park Winter Wonderland: General Discussion

Unless you go by early afternoon, them entry is free.

I walked right on by yesterday, with lunch booked right next door we had free tickets booked for an hour wander and ride or two beforehand, but Lizzie Line falling over meant we didn't make that and after ir was a queue and a fiver which we didn't fancy. Shame. Maybe next year.
 
That must depend on the day - we’re doing 2pm on a Monday and still had to book £25 worth of rides each to get in “free”.
 
pluk said:
12 - 13 yesterday was free. Maybe that's the cut off, or more likely these days it might be dynamic.
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Yeah I had a look and there’s only a handful of free slots, the vast majority are paid (or free if attractions pre booked to a certain value as mentioned).
 
Enter Valhalla said:
The wind must be really bad, as Winter Wonderland never close for adverse weather. I think that this may literally be the first time in their history that they’ve ever done this?
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I don’t think it’s a case of the wind being really bad so much as it is a case of changing H&S; with the headwinds in UK theme park H&S going the way they are, I imagine HPWW’s tolerance for operation in wind is lower than it used to be in the earlier years of the event.
 
Visited Winter Wonderland today.

My sons favourite ride was Ice Mountain which we did twice. This was the most painful ride i've ever been on in my life, i genuinely thought i was going to injure myself and was distraught I then had to go on it again. Very glad i had some paracetamol in my pocket i'd forgotten about.

Euro Coaster was incredibly clunky but light relief after that. The queue line games are a nice touch too, the theme parks could learn from that!

Haunted Mansion was lovely looking from the outside but fairly meh inside. Still quite impressive for a travelling ride and the moving items in the queue were amusing.

Sadly my son didn't want to go on Munich Looper but tbh after the pain of the other rides we were probably dodging a bullet.

It's very much style over substance there, everything looks really cool but the ride quality is abysmal compared to basically any theme park. And of course it's not a theme park but good grief, no wonder there's so much alcohol for sale, it's the only way to numb the pain.

When we arrived my son started requesting rides from Southend Adventure Island which was rather astute of him.

It's an interesting novelty and you can certainly have a good time there. By travelling fair standards it is very good but it wasn't really for us.
 
If Munich Looping is still anything like I remember it being almost 5 years ago, you didn’t miss much if you wanted a painless ride experience, in my view!

It’s not rough in the slightest, but those shoulder bars are awful… I swear I got off it a few inches shorter from the compression!

I kind of agree with your thoughts overall. It’s certainly an impressive travelling fair, but I didn’t overly rate any of the coasters and it’s not somewhere I’m intent on rushing back to. It’s not really my kind of thing, seeing as I’m generally not a great lover of flat rides (which if we’re being honest, make up the bulk of the event, as with most travelling fairs).
 
Olympia is lovely and smooth still. Intense, very much so especially the back row but as with coasters of the time, you have to actively ride them, not passively or you will get thrown about.
 
Martin said:
Olympia looping isn't luxurious but it's in the top 5 coasters in the UK whilst it's here
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If it wasn't for the OTSR/Accordian restraints, maybe. But the restraints kill what would otherwise be a great ride. Very overrated though, unfortunately. Looks impressive but the ride experience is seriously hampered by the terrible restraints. Wild Maus XXL was more fun.
 
My overriding memory of Olympia, unfortunately, is how awful the restraints were. It certainly wasn’t rough in the slightest (although it’s the only Schwarzkopf I’ve ridden that I didn’t find rough, despite their reputation for smooth rides), but those shoulder bars made it very uncomfortable. I just remember how they really dug in and tightened during the ride and made every slight manoeuvre painful for me.
 
OL is ok IF you ensure the restraints aren't closed too tight when boarding then continually push them up throughout high-g sections, otherwise they will crush you
 
sillyrooster said:
I'm 196cm and find Olympia fairly comfortable and very smooth.
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I'm 198cm and it's hell towards the end however I don't think it discriminates against tall people as it starts of comfortable and gets tighter and tighter throughout the layout which people of any height report the same thing.
 
Genuinely don't know what everyone's on about with the Olympia restraints.

I've never found it painful nor particularly uncomfortable. 6ft 2 here.

Just sit straight and don't let them crush you.

Great coaster. 👌
 
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