Winter Wonderland Manchester

I wanted to go to this last year, but common sense prevailed as Baby was far too young. This year, with Baby now 16 months old, we decided it was worth a try. At £21.00 for anyone over 3, it wasn't exactly cheap, and each session is limited to 4 hours.

Being brutally honest, I would say that Winter Wonderland is a definite misnomer. Inside fairground is probably more accurate. If you go expecting fairground rides, with the opportunity to meet Santa, rather than a Christmassy experience, you won't be disappointed.

We'd chosen a weekday timeslot in the hope that it would be quieter, so there was only one timeslot available: 10.30-14.30. It seems that this was a good idea as the reviews I'd read on Facebook invariably complained about very large queues for every ride, and an hour long queue for Santa. We barely queued for anything; generally our time in the queue was limited to waiting for the next turn on the ride.

We arrived slightly after the start of the timeslot so there was no queue to get in. First impressions revealed a large number of rides, multiple opportunities to spend extra money on attempting to win prizes, and a handful of food stalls.

The first few rides we passed weren't suitable, as unfortunately adults weren't allowed on them, and Baby and her friend were too little to be trusted to ride independently. Sadly this turned out to be the case for lots of the rides, and even the inflatables, which adults weren't allowed to go on. I understand that too many adults would spoil it for the children, but it wouldn't have hurt to allow us to take the babies on the inflatables, given that in a few cases there were no other children using them, and it would have added variety to the experience.

That being said, we did manage to experience eleven rides/attractions, plus one attempt at an inflatable and a quick pitstop at the beach before ice cream proved more tempting.

The rides we experienced varied from very sedate cars on a track to a simulator to runaway train roller coasters that really weren't suitable for babies, though none of the ride attendants seemed to see fit to mention it before we rode them. There were also a handful of walk through attractions, including one very similar to that used in the final scene of Grease, when Sandy and Danny dance through shaking tunnels, and a 'mirror maze' which was actually just a series of windows, rather than mirrors, though it still proved less than straightforward to navigate through.

Baby enjoyed more or less all of the rides we tried, though Baby's friend was less keen and cried throughout every single one. There were multiple rides which consisted of a train or car following a track, so for the sake of variety there were a couple of those that we didn't try. But other than that, we tried all of the rides which Baby was permitted to ride. We found that there were rather a lot of rides which did not permit adults, which was a shame, and there was obviously a selection of rides which weren't suitable for small children at all, such as dodgems and waltzers. I did notice that a lot of the rides seemed to be a tad run down. Peeling and missing paint, holes plugged with mdf and very dirty walkways didn't exactly inspire confidence in the reliability of the rides and walkthroughs.

In addition to the rides, there are a handful of shows, including Basil Brush, a Cinderella special and a circus show taking place throughout the session. Most are on the Main Stage, in the centre of the venue, however we didn't see any of those shows because the noise from the surrounding rides was so loud we didn't think we'd be able to hear the shows. We did however make time for the circus, as neither of the babies had ever seen a circus before.

We walked in as the show was about to start and there were plenty of seats available. The show included jugglers, unicyclists and a few other acts. None were particularly exciting to my eyes, but both Baby and her friend were transfixed throughout the half hour show. I must admit I was slightly distracted by a woman cleaning the popcorn machine, which we were sat next to, as she was using Asda's own Window and Glass cleaner, which I am 100% sure is not an appropriate cleaner for food preparation equipment.

Having read reviews from other visitors I had prepared a packed lunch which we ate during the circus show. The friends we were with hadn't taken food though, so they purchased two carvery sandwiches for £10, which they said were tasty, but overpriced given their size. The food options seemed quite limited, we saw a burger stall, and a carvery stall, but plenty of stalls selling sweets items.

There were also numerous stalls where you could spend a lot of money attempting to win oversized stuffed animals. Knocking snowmen off shelves, hooking ducks, throwing balls into barrels, the usual fairground type stalls. Additional money spending opportunities were also available in the form of make overs, glitter tattoos and nail painting. Not forgetting the opportunity to purchase on ride photos on selected rides.

Baby and her friend had already seen Santa elsewhere, so we weren't particularly fussed about seeing him at Winter Wonderland. Multiple reviews had said they'd found Santa very grumpy and that the grotto could do with improved decoration, so we didn't even try to visit Santa. The queue seemed to be just a few families long, though the extra £3.50 if you want to get a gift from Santa seemed a tad cheeky.

The staff ranged from friendly and welcoming to extremely uninterested. What they all had in common was that they carried out their jobs very slowly. For one ride which consisted of around six cars going round a track, the attendant had to open the queue gate, escort each party to a specific car, shut the door behind them, then set the ride in motion, before unlocking the ride exit, then unlocking each car individually, and restarting the process again. Perhaps on weekends they have more than one staff member per ride, but if not, I can understand why the queues are so long.

Overall it was rather expensive for the attractions on offer for a 16 month old. Older children who could ride everything would probably love it, but I suspect that by the time children were old enough to ride, they would be in school and the queues on a weekend session are reportedly extreme. I would also think that if they were old enough to fully enjoy the rides, they would probably prefer a trip to somewhere like Blackpool Pleasure Beach. For pre school children, my guess is that Gulliver's World would be more appealing.

Given that there wasn't anything particularly festive about Winter Wonderland, except for Santa's Grotto, which we didn't actually visit, next year we'll try Gulliver's World instead.

Key Facts

Month of visit:

December

Weather for visit:

Cold, but irrelevant, as it was inside.

It is pushchair friendly?

It was all on one level, so yes, but babies/children would have to get out of the pushchair to go on any of the rides.

How are the baby changing facilities?

There was a special 'baby change area' signposted, however this was rather disappointing, consisting of a handful of changing mats and two sofas. Some parents had put the changing mats on the sofas to avoid having to change their children on the floor. The venue also had a baby changing room next to the toilets, but we didn't get chance to use this as it was occupied when we needed to change Baby.

What about somewhere to feed?

Limited seating, near the food stalls, but it didn't look particularly comfortable. The sofas in the baby changing area is probably the best bet, and indeed was being used by one mother to feed her baby. We also didn't see any highchairs while we were there, though we didn't actually ask staff members for one.

Is it worth a visit?

Probably not. The weekend queues would put me off visiting with a school age child, and for preschoolers it's overpriced.

Baby's highlight?

The circus show. Or possibly the ice cream.


Winter Wonderland
Event City
Phoenix Way,
Urmston,
Stretford,
Manchester,
M17 8AS

http://www.winterwonderlandmanchester.com