Hyde Park Winter Wonderland

[OldFarmerDean]

I don't care how expensive it was, and how we had to queue for aabout half hour to get in...

Winter wonderland was amazing!!!

Alpen Hotel £5 best, longest and weirdest fun house ever.

Air £7 still consistently my favourite flat ride ever.

XXL £7 wow, so glad I went on it.

Rock Rage £5 highlight of the night, I'm definitely a fan, can't wait to go back tomorrow to go on again, and at a fiver makes it look great compared to air!!

.

[GladiatorFanKyle]

Power Tower 2 will not be attending Winter Wonderland anymore. It will be at a winter wonderland in scotland next xmas.

[pluk]

Top Tip. The 'Barrel of Laughs' floor dropping, wall sticking, fast spinning madness is a great ride for £3, do that instead of the overpriced tat around it.

[TPJames]

Power Tower 2 will not be attending Winter Wonderland anymore. It will be at a winter wonderland in scotland next xmas.

The Hangover-Tower is coming...

https://de-de.facebook.com/pages/The-Hangover-Tower/643884185634845

[pognoi]

now that, is disappointing. I don't normally enjoy drop towers, to the point detty is my least favourite ride at thorpe, however I absolutely loved power tower, the air time is ludicrous and it's so much fun. When number 3 is completed they better get hold of it.

[GladiatorFanKyle]

The Hangover-Tower is coming...https://de-de.facebook.com/pages/The-Hangover-Tower/643884185634845

I know. It was confirmed on facebook earlier. The power tower will be in Edinburgh next xmas and will now be travelled by Ewald's son

[TPJames]

I'm glad that Power tower 2 isn't being scrapped like the original power tower was when the new machine took over.

I do love power tower, it isn't anything intense however is great fun with plenty of airtime and is still a pretty scary and thrilling ride. It will be interesting to see the Hangover take over, a 100meter gyrodrop(330ft) sounds really interesting and I wonder how it will ride and will compare to other drop towers out there. Will also be interesting to see how popular the ride is at a rumoured £10 price at winter wonderland next year.

[pognoi]

ISN'T INTENSE? ISN'T INTENSE?

We must've been riding different rides, but by God this was one of the most intense experiences on a ride in my life. the float time you get is incredible, the heights you reach are insane, and the releases and pulls you get are arguably better then most drop towers. Power tower is great, I'm very glad SCB forced me onto it otherwise I may not have ever experienced such a magical ride.

But to call something SO EXTREMELY INTENSELY INTENSE is like saying Nemesis is a pretty tame coaster, or Kingda Ka isn't that tall. 

[Mitchada04]

Power Tower 2, I'm really sad it's going to be leaving I've ridden it every year it's been at WW!

Went yesterday and had a good day. Ice skating was broken which is annoying when you've booked tickets for it so we went and saw Zippos circus instead which was good.

Alpen hotel is brilliant, the bonkers ending scenes make it worth £5. Ski Jump was alright, didn't quite get all the hype about it (my opinion) Wilde Maus XXL is still wild and awesome! Starflyer was giving good long rides at the top giving a lovely view of London, Barrel Of Laughs was utterly insanse, so forceful! Thriller is still good in my eyes didn't do my shoulders in or anything and Air was as awesome as ever!

[TPJames]

ISN'T INTENSE? ISN'T INTENSE?

We must've been riding different rides, but by God this was one of the most intense experiences on a ride in my life. the float time you get is incredible, the heights you reach are insane, and the releases and pulls you get are arguably better then most drop towers. Power tower is great, I'm very glad SCB forced me onto it otherwise I may not have ever experienced such a magical ride.

To be fair I haven't ridden it for two years, however will be getting on it again this year when I visit winter wonderland as I simply loved it. However, I didn't find it particularly intense, the forces on detonator are much punchier and hurakan condor standup is so much more insane. After riding other drop towers which I feel are more intense, power tower is just a lot of fun.

However, saying that I haven't ridden it for two years so it's just a memory so getting back on it this year will be brilliant.

But to call something SO EXTREMELY INTENSELY INTENSE is like saying Nemesis is a pretty tame coaster, or Kingda Ka isn't that tall.

To be honest I found nemesis pretty meh when I visited scarefest this year. It's my opinion, but I find that most other B&Ms I've ridden have been superior. To be fair I haven't ridden that many B&Ms but I find; Nemesis inferno, The swarm, Air, Oblivion, Shambhala and Dragon Khan all superior to Nemesis. I think the experience was made worse due to the fact it wasn't as good as all the hype it received from this forum, however my ride in the dark was much better than the one in the day time.

Ski Jump was alright, didn't quite get all the hype about it (my opinion)

Ski jump is an odd one, it's a very opinionated whether people enjoy it or not. In my opinion, it is one of my favourite flat rides I've been on but it's really down to opinion and luck. The reason I say luck is because it depends if you get a good cycle or not and it also depends if you flip. If your carriage flips, it really adds to the experience and makes it so much more intense, I still love going all the way over the top though, the airtime upside down is absolutely brilliant!

[OldFarmerDean]

Ski jump had a relatively long ride cycle... I was watching it and thinking this is going to make me feel so sick, what am I letting myself in for!

But literally did not feel sick at all, the restraints are just too comfy, and the ride was just utterly amazing - when you flip and end up facing right down at the ground at the bottom is such a scary experience but that's what makes it so much fun! I've only ridden it once, so maybe I had an amazing ride in particular and the next one may not be as good... But that one ride was the highlightof winter wonderland for me!

[GladiatorFanKyle]

Just to say those moaning about the price about winter wonderland just be grateful you don't live in Hong Kong, they are having a winter carnival which costs $125 to get in and that includes 10 tokens.....

[EC!]

Yeah but we aren't in Hong Kong and for a UK fairground the WW prices are just stupid...

[OldFarmerDean]

stupid price... but there's idiots like me who'll still pay whatever. higher price gives the rides a constant queue which allows for decent cycle lengths too, plus it's so nice to see a fairground this big in the UK

[Fred]

...Since when does a constant queue give decent cycle lengths? Unless your version of a cycle length is no more than a minute or so - awful value for money.

 

If anything, the quieter the better. My favourite funfair has been Worthing all those years ago. Completely dead - top buzz 2, only a few quid.. cycles lasted up to 5 minutes to get punters in!

[OldFarmerDean]

I get annoyed with short cycles, like theme park cycles and overly busy fairs... But I had 5 minutes on a danters extreme and I literally wanted to get off after a couple of minutes and started panicking!!

[Coaster]

Short cycle lengths are poor when the prices are so high, but you don't want the other extreme either - I remember once at Fun City, Brean they left X-treme on for about 20 minutes (literally)!

[Matt 236]

Just so glad I got to ride power tower 2, considering it was my first ride on it, which I really enjoyed and won't be returning next year (plus I doubt il, be visiting WW before Xmas 2015).

[EC!]

Just to say those moaning about the price about winter wonderland just be grateful you don't live in Hong Kong, they are having a winter carnival which costs $125 to get in and that includes 10 tokens.....

Just found out $125 Hong Kong dollar is £10.35 around abouts in British money, so its basically a £1 a token like WW...

[GladiatorFanKyle]

Just found out $125 Hong Kong dollar is £10.35 around abouts in British money, so its basically a £1 a token like WW...

oh ok! Didnt realise that!

[TPJames]

Popped down yesterday for the evening, fairly busy and most of the rides seemed to have decent queues!

Managed to get the two main coasters done; Wild Maus xxl and ice mountain. Both were absolutely amazing and the theming inside Ice Mountain was brilliant! Would definitely ride both of them again, both were really fast and quite scary actually!

Also did Alpen hotel and Haunted Mansion, Alpen was brilliant and crazy as always and Haunted Mansion was a great laugh but probably not £5 worth, the live actors inside did give me a shock though

Also did two flat rides, Ski Jump and XXL. Had a fantastic cycle on ski jump and flipped a few times before going all the way over the top. Far superior to Dominator KMG inversion which is strange however it is much much better. XXL was also amazing, much more fast and intense than I expected and it was pretty damn cold as it was going so fast.

It is a great event and despite the prices, I feel it is truly magical. The theme, atmosphere and layout is truly stunning and it is an event to be remembered every time I visit.

I shall leave you with my onride vid of Wild Maus XXL, more onride and offride videos on my channel too: Ridelover123.

[GladiatorFanKyle]

Popped down yesterday for the evening, fairly busy and most of the rides seemed to have decent queues!

Managed to get the two main coasters done; Wild Maus xxl and ice mountain. Both were absolutely amazing and the theming inside Ice Mountain was brilliant! Would definitely ride both of them again, both were really fast and quite scary actually!

Also did Alpen hotel and Haunted Mansion, Alpen was brilliant and crazy as always and Haunted Mansion was a great laugh but probably not £5 worth, the live actors inside did give me a shock though

Also did two flat rides, Ski Jump and XXL. Had a fantastic cycle on ski jump and flipped a few times before going all the way over the top. Far superior to Dominator KMG inversion which is strange however it is much much better. XXL was also amazing, much more fast and intense than I expected and it was pretty damn cold as it was going so fast.

It is a great event and despite the prices, I feel it is truly magical. The theme, atmosphere and layout is truly stunning and it is an event to be remembered every time I visit.

I shall leave you with my onride vid of Wild Maus XXL, more onride and offride videos on my channel too: Ridelover123.

compared to most of our ghost trains in england Haunted Mansion is amazing since it actually has a load of scares inside and is very well themed. Just look at our ghost trains a couple of sound effects and one pop up! Also ski jump (I'm kinda biased here but a lot of people also say this) is the far superior inverision. Its very well themed (even when its not Ski Jump) and its got a very good cycle.

[TPJames]

Also ski jump (I'm kinda biased here but a lot of people also say this) is the far superior inverision. Its very well themed (even when its not Ski Jump) and its got a very good cycle.

I rode dominator at Taylor's Winter Theme Park on Monday and it did have a good atmosphere, however the cycle was a bit poor and they barely unlocked the cars at all. Even when going over the top it felt much less forceful and scary than rock rage does when going over the top.

I think I had my favourite ride yet on a KMG inversion yesterday, we did a couple of flips before going all the way over the top and I felt that rock rage looked superb in its winter theme and was playing some nice tunes and had quite a lot of nice mic work going on.

They are both decent rides anyway however rock rage is much more superior and the specially designed tokens for winter wonderland looked great as well!

[GladiatorFanKyle]

I rode dominator at Taylor's Winter Theme Park on Monday and it did have a good atmosphere, however the cycle was a bit poor and they barely unlocked the cars at all. Even when going over the top it felt much less forceful and scary than rock rage does when going over the top.

I think I had my favourite ride yet on a KMG inversion yesterday, we did a couple of flips before going all the way over the top and I felt that rock rage looked superb in its winter theme and was playing some nice tunes and had quite a lot of nice mic work going on.

They are both decent rides anyway however rock rage is much more superior and the specially designed tokens for winter wonderland looked great as well!

dominator looked amazing in holland but the new owners scrapped the nice paybox for a boring one and yes rock rage has brand new jingles for WW 2014 which adds a nice touch!

[TPJames]

I think I may have had this conversation with a couple of others on chat, however I feel like I would like to point out the fact that Winter Wonderland does not have much more room, if at all any to expand.

Let's face it, winter wonderland is a glorified fairground. The majority of the area taken up is by rides and rollercoasters, with a small portion of it being taken up by a market and attractions. The organisers of winter wonderland have created a top class event which has gone from a small local event to an event which attracts people from all across the country, travelling from far and wide to attend.

However, the problem which seems to have raised is the fact that there is no more room for expansion in the fairground section. The market and the other attractions take up as much space as they will ever need to, however the funfair section has an ability to expand massively. We have already seen small rides and rollercoasters transforming into what we have today, with major attractions such as XXL and Power Tower in the line up. Next year is also the garuntee of the Hangover Tower, which is due to replace Power Tower. The fairground may now be gaining bigger and better rides, however it is not physically expanding like it used to.

In a couple of years or so, there will not be any more flexibility to add new rides. Families like Buwalda, Van-Der-Veen and Schneider have contracts with Winter Wonderland and they will not want to withdraw these as they bring several attractions to the event every year from across Europe. Not only this, Europe is soon going to run out of large attractions to replace the ones we currently have. For the 2015 event, we are going to have the tallest travelling drop tower in Europe along with several other major flat rides. Sooner or later, Europe will physically run out of larger flat rides for the event to expand.

So what can the organisers do to make the event more enticing when they cannot add any more new major flat rides? Well, they could either expand the grounds, which is very unlikely as Hyde Park is very expensive to rent however I feel this may need to occur at some point soon as they have now become very crowding with not much room to roam freely around the grounds. The other credible option is to add new major rollercoasters. There are several major travelling rollercoasters from across Europe including the famous Olympia Looping, the classic Alpina Bahn and the insane Hollenblitz. Whilst I could see Hollenblitz attending in future years, Alpina Bahn and Olympia Looping are just too expensive to travel abroad! Not only this, the current rollercoasters are already in strong contracts with the organisers. Mellors, mannings, buwalda and the Eberhard family are all in strong contracts to keep their attractions within the event. Whilst they could withdraw and be replaced, I feel this is very unlikely and the only way which appears to be able to expand is if the event is expanded as a whole.

This is why I feel winter wonderland are going to become in a stump sooner or later, unless Hyde Park let them invest and expand the grounds as whole, which is very unlikely due to it being a royal park, I feel there will be no more room to add new major attractions. The event is already massive and is the closest to a German Winter event England has ever had however I feel unless the grounds expand as a whole, the event is not due to get any bigger in future years.