please empty your brain below
It's worse than I imagined - what about the snow though?

Ken | 22.11.17 - 7:14 a.m. | #

No doubt one of the conditions for the concessions is that they must be open all the time, no doubt they make up the money at night.

London does have plenty of fairgrounds during the summer, I'm not sure how close they get to zone 1 - Battersea?, Finsbury Park?, Hackney?

Still anon | 22.11.17 - 7:29 a.m. | #

I hadn’t realised that so much of the infrastructure for WW came from Oktoberfest. Prost!

Dan | 22.11.17 - 7:29 a.m. | #

I have regularly visited this fair since the first one, but have not been for the past two years as it is pretty much the same each year, and being winter, for me the weather is not suitable for walking about outside.
Nice to see the bandstand lit up within the skating rink.

John | 22.11.17 - 7:33 a.m. | #

Thank you for visiting WW, so we won't have to. On reflection, I think I would rather perforate my own eardrums with a BIC pen.

Frank F | 22.11.17 - 8:10 a.m. | #

I remember taking my girlfriend to WW for a date back when we were students and had just started going out. Managed to bag a small toy on one of the games, but I remember both of us thinking £6 for a plastic cup of mulled wine was ridiculous and so we ended up leaving early and going to a proper pub for some drinks.

I have to say, it also stopped her from finding out about my total inability to ice skate until a few years later!

Marco | 22.11.17 - 8:25 a.m. | #

"redundant bloggers" ?

John Kelly | 22.11.17 - 8:32 a.m. | #

Drinks prices at the Bavarian Village:

1 pint lager £5.50
1 pint shandy £5.50
1 pint Guinness £6
500ml Weissbier £6
Bottle of Magners £5
200ml Mulled wine £5.50
Mulled wine with real cherries £6.50
Mulled wine with shot of rum £8
Single spirit £5.50
Glass of wine £5.50
Tea/coffee £2

diamond geezer | Homepage | 22.11.17 - 8:54 a.m. | #

I note your frustration on entry. Your first par is EXACTLY what football fans have to put up with every Saturday and they are probably the same security staff doing it!

Mark | 22.11.17 - 9:08 a.m. | #

In addition to the Oktoberfest connection, a lot of this - particularly the photo of the rollercoaster, but also some of the stalls - look familiar from the Dusseldorf 'Kirmes' fair in July. There's probably a documentary to be made following these guys around Europe, watching the signs get swapped out for the correct language and season, and seeing the prices get updated with every new stop . . .

Ben | 22.11.17 - 9:11 a.m. | #

It's about a year ago to the day that I was on an evening flight into City Airport which went quite a way across London before turning to make its approach from the west.
WW was immediately recognisable in its blaze of coloured lights and the striking thing was how large it seemed to be. Gotta say, it looked pretty impressive from the air!

RogerW | 22.11.17 - 9:39 a.m. | #

I've been a couple of times and have quite easily resisted the temptation to spend money!
I was almost tempted to buy a bag of roasted chestnuts on the last visit, but the price put me off. I figured I'd find a street vendor selling them elsewhere in London.
I didn't!
Chestnut braziers used to be everywhere when I was little - now it's all sugary peanuts and waffles!

Cornish Cockney | 22.11.17 - 9:59 a.m. | #

I dread driving my train through Hyde Park Corner and adjacent stations at 10pm. Absolute chaos!

I did visit WW last year and was amazed at the vastness of it all. Didn't quite resist the giant sausages and chips but it's important to develop my train driver's physique.

PiccDriver | 22.11.17 - 10:22 a.m. | #

I visited just the once when it first started and am happy to say I didn't spend a penny. Everything was a total ripoff.

Tetramesh | Homepage | 22.11.17 - 11:07 a.m. | #

*Drinks prices at the Bavarian Village*
...

Normal Aussie prices then ...

I scoured London, York and Manchester Markets on my Xmess visit and didn't find a single roasted Chestnut. Not one :(.

Antipodean | 22.11.17 - 11:54 a.m. | #

What with this in winter and the various music events in summer, I dunno why the Royal Parks don't just concrete the whole lot over and be done with it.

They can then change their name to something more appropriate to what they do, as they clearly don't seem to like parks very much.

Tim M | 22.11.17 - 12:37 p.m. | #

As others have said thanks for going so I don't have to. Sounds ghastly and as for the prices - eek.

If I was feeling even vaguely festive I'd probably prefer a day out to the proper German Xmas market in Birmingham. At least it's an excuse for a train ride, to see the new trams and wander round the stalls. I've been once before and thought it was nicely done and authentic.

PC | 22.11.17 - 3:17 p.m. | #

I found roasted chestnuts a few years ago at the Southbank Centre's market, but the chestnuts were dry and burnt so I didn't return.

I've visited WW for the past 3 or 4 years - it's not cheap, but entry is free and they have to pay the setup costs somehow. But unlike DG I am a thirsty traveller who always carries a (reusable) bottle of water on my day trips to London. Thanks for the heads-up about the new security rules - it does make me more reluctant to visit again...

Colin | 22.11.17 - 4:51 p.m. | #

"Do come if you like Instagramming misplaced apostrophes, you'll be spoilt for choice."

LOVE IT!!

SJM | 22.11.17 - 4:59 p.m. | #

My kids (in their 20s) love it but they are youngish and have some disposable income to burn.

And last year there was a bloke doing roast chestnuts on the east side of Westminster Bridge opposite St. Thomas'. I'm not a great fan of the things so I can't vouch for their tastiness or condition.

Chris | 22.11.17 - 5:02 p.m. | #

Roasted chestnuts I remember those from my youth in the 1950's.
Since I moved I have never seen or tasted them again.
Christmas has become more commercial over the last few decades, and starts earlier every year.

YDU | 22.11.17 - 6:31 p.m. | #

Jobsworths or anti-terrorism measures?

Also could we perhaps stop using the term? I think it has essentially been devised by the powerful to undermine the powerless. If your job depends on you following a procedure and you if you use discretion you could lose that job, what alternative have you got?

Anonymous | 22.11.17 - 6:46 p.m. | #

Of the six people I saw at the various entrances, only one was patting people down. Either he's a jobsworth, or the others weren't following the rules properly.

Whatever, there was a wholly inconsistent security experience depending on which entrance you chose.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 22.11.17 - 6:56 p.m. | #

There's often a roast chestnut stand under the south end of Blackfriars Bridge.

timbo again | 22.11.17 - 8:12 p.m. | #

I visited Christmas 2015 out of curiosity. Didn't spend any money. Won't go again, complete waste of time. Much rather visit St. James' Park on a weekday morning just after its snowed.

Paul | 22.11.17 - 11:12 p.m. | #

I went to WW a few years back now and the memory that has remained for me is that eventually you start to notice that you end up seeing the same stuff for sale over and over again. So most of the place is basically filler. I left feeling quite disappointed.

AB | 23.11.17 - 1:19 a.m. | #

The number of "that sounds ghastly, I wouldn't go" comments is higher than I predicted.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 23.11.17 - 8:32 a.m. | #

Let me counter the negative posts with some positivity - my friends and I look forward to Winter Wonderland every year. The giant Bavarian beer hall is the highlight, with fun live music and a great atmosphere. It's probably the best 'pub' in London to be in on an evening at Christmas, although you do often have to queue to get inside. The rides are also much better than your standard funfair, in particular the mousetrap rollercoaster.

Wasn't impressed with Winterville in Victoria Park before, but as it has moved to my neck of the woods (Clapham) this year, I'll give it another go.

Dave | 23.11.17 - 12:33 p.m. | #

DG readers expressing disdain for commercialised, trendy venture in London is not exactly a surprise.

It's fun to go and visit - pick carefully what you spend your money on and it doesn't feel excessive for a day/evening out in London.

Messiah | 23.11.17 - 11:13 p.m. | #

I can't say I'm a great fan of what it does to the park. Last year it took until early April for the whole acreage to be completely re-turfed and the last of the cordons taken down. As the blockades start in early November, this whole thing takes the most part of 5 months from beginning to end.

It's not right to be trashing the park for nearly half a year, year in year out. They should use a 'brownfield' site somewhere instead, but I suspect the earnings are too big for Royal Parks to let it go somewhere better. That's probably partly what's behind the high prices.

NickW | 24.11.17 - 12:15 a.m. | #











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