Winter Wonderland has been dubbed a pricey event over the years, receiving numerous complaints over food and attraction prices. But I wanted to try and find some of the more affordable options at the London event that attracts thousands of visitors over the festive period.
While it has been free to enter in the past, tickets are now required to gain access to the event and will instantly set you back between £5 and £7.50 – depending on what time you visit. I decided to go on a Saturday, with my time slot being between 12pm and 2pm.
The queue took around 40 minutes to get through the gates, with one person in the crowd referring to it as a similar experience to “The Hunger Games reaping”.
Once through, I decided to walk around the stalls to look at some of the stalls, and while I agree that some of the food options are more on the pricey end, I was surprised at how many affordable options were also on offer.
Despite the initial queue taking a long time, the wait times for food and drinks were at a minimum, with the longest queue taking me around five minutes to get through. After spotting the Lidl pigs in blankets that cost just £3 – with £1 being donated to charity – I thought this would be a great budget friendly option to start with.
For £3, I was impressed with the portion size and the choice of “festive sauces” that can be added on for free.
Next up I headed for the famous Winter Wonderland bar that offers a range of drinks from mulled wine to hot chocolate. There seemed to be a set price across the event, with “luxury” hot chocolate with cream setting you back £3.50.
I decided to go for this option, with it being a bit more affordable than mulled wine. At this point, I had just £3.50 left to spend so headed for some of the dessert stalls that were some of the most popular on the day.
While crepes and belgian waffles can set you back between £6 and £10 – depending on toppings – I found a small stand that was serving hot, fresh “sugar ring donuts” that cost just £3 for one.
These reminded me of being by the seaside and appeared to be popular on the day. In the end, I managed to stick to the budget and spent just £9.50 on the day.
One thing that did surprise me was the cost of attractions and rides – with the cheapest ride being the Waltzers that were £5 for an adult ticket. Some of the bigger rides, like the Munich Looping rollercoaster, will set you back £10 for one go – which seems a bit pricey to me.
Overall, there definitely are budget-friendly options at Winter Wonderland. But for larger groups of families visiting for the day, the prices will rack up pretty quickly.
