Another year, another trip to Winter Wonderland Stoke review. An annual Christmas event that takes place in Hanley City Centre combining the magic of Christmas and the love of the funfair.
For a few months there, things were touch and go as to if Winter Wonderland would be returning this year but thankfully it pushed through and I got to head down yesterday to check it out!
Winter Wonderland Stoke 2019 Review
I always seem to rope my buddy Jim into theme park trips so he tagged along once again for this adventure. At 3 pm on a cold rainy Thursday, we walked into the park. For a good 3 hours, we had the entire funfair to ourselves so we had a good walk around and spoke to ride operators.
The noticeable differences this year are the absence of the AIRMAAX ride and the Sky Swing. I wasn’t a big fan of the Sky Swing last year as mentioned in my 2018 Winter Wonderland Review. So I wasn’t too bothered about that returning. I did, however, want to ride AIRMAAX this year. I was looking forward to that one. Sadly it wasn’t meant to be!
Atmosphere
Now being in the park on our own you may think that this question answers itself but you’d be wrong. Even thou there was just two of us strolling around for a while and it was pouring with rain it still feels Christmassy. Much more Christmassy than it did last year. The Bavarian Bar was back again and that really does get you in the Christmas spirit. It’s a wonderful little pop-up hut serving every alcoholic drink under the sun!
There was actual Christmas music playing around the park in parts which was great to hear. Last year there was an awful selection of dance album classics which completely ruined the atmosphere and while later in the evening they played this rubbish it was nice to see Christmas music actually playing at a Christmas event!
All the ride operators were so friendly. Walking around on our own we were able to interact with many of them. We even had staff members join us on some of the rides including the Dodgems just to make the drive a little more interesting than just me and Jim crashing into one another.
Everyone was so friendly, especially the lady who was running both No Limit and the Superbowl ride who was jumping between both rides so we could experience them. Whoever you are, thank you very much for that!
Winter Wonderland Stoke Rides
Not only did I enjoy myself a million times more than I did last year (probably because I had better company this year) but I actually managed to get on all the rides this year. Last year I only managed the Sky Swing and the Crazy Mouse coaster but having free reign of the park. We went on everything!
We rank the best rides at Winter Wonderland Stoke HERE
The ride operators were thorough in their harness checks and every ride was comfy and felt extremely safe. The only time my heart was in my mouth was when the intimidating No Limit ride goes into a free spin, that was a rough jolt but after that, it was back to comfy, blurry spin cycles.
I’m absolutely terrible with flat rides and spinning rides. For some reason thou I was fine all night on every single ride Winter Wonderland threw at us. It wasn’t until I got home and closed my eyes that I felt as thou I was straight back on the rides all over again. A delayed fuse that’s for sure! No Limit for me was the best ride in the park, reaching heights of 24m and feeling forces of 4.5g’s! Overall thou there wasn’t one bad ride in the park. There’s something for all ages, from mini-coasters like Go Gator all the way up to adult rides like Superbowl and No Limit.
There’s such a good selection that has been packed into a short space. The park didn’t need to replace AIRMAAX or the Sky Swing but they went the extra mile to get two more rides in the park to make up the numbers. The two rides to replace them were Waveswinger (A smaller swing ride) and High Energy. Both rides naturally weren’t as intense but the extra effort to bring these rides in was a nice touch!
Other new rides included a Santa Sleigh Caterpillar ride. A ride where I spent a few laps staring at the buttcheeks of a reindeer around a track!
Food
Once again there was a wide range of food available including an open BBQ cooking all sorts of German goodies. Sausages, burgers, you name it. All perfectly displayed in wonderfully festive huts. Desserts and drinks aplenty there was a nice selection on offer. All of the food stalls are by the entrance as you walk in as they tease you with aromatic foody smells before you enter the park.
Winter Wonderland Pricing
We paid £15 for unlimited riding which gives you free rein of the park’s rides (including children’s rides). As I said last year that price point is superb considering what is on offer. For a ride on Crazy Mouse alone just once that’s £4.50, get yourself a wristband and you can ride it for hours on end should you wish. Well worth the upgrade. If you upgrade once more thou you can get a free hour of ice skating too.
As far as pricing goes across the park it was very affordable indeed. Compare it to Hyde Park’s Winter Wonderland for example and this place is a steal! Granted the Hyde Park event is HUGE but £8+ for just a burger down there, behave!
Overall
A much-improved event for me this year. Last year was impressive especially for a local event but the team has had a much tougher time getting this event arranged this year and they’ve absolutely smashed it! When the crowds came flooding in during the evening we were glad we weren’t alone anymore! Still, being able to jump on everything without queuing, you can’t go wrong with that!
Another highlight of the evening was meeting Santa who recognized me, the first time I’ve ever been recognized in the UK and it was by Santa! We took a picture together and off we went. I’m not beating that anytime soon!
Thank you to all the staff for being so lovely to us. Filming us on the rides, having a laugh and a joke with us. Christmas is all about people and I always say everyone gets friendlier this time of year and the staff at Winter Wonderland proved it.
Get yourselves down to Winter Wonderland Stoke 2019 and enjoy this year’s selection of epic rides and atmosphere!
