It’s that time of year again where Winter Wonderland returns to Stoke-On-Trent. A little slice of Christmas in the heart of Hanley with an ice rink, fairground rides and a fully licensed bar to sit down, relax and soak up the atmosphere.

I just wanted to say a huge thank you to Winter Wonderland for kindly inviting me down to this year’s event to see first hand what the attraction is all about!

Upon first entering into Winter Wonderland you are greeted with wooden deck ways and enough fairground rides to make you feel like you’re at a music festival. A full-size roller coaster and a 60m sky swing tower over the attraction and a small number of stalls selling burgers, bratwursts, crepes and more.

The event itself is rather small in scale, you can easily walk around the entire park in 20 minutes or less, but with a Santa’s grotto, food and drink stalls and enough rides to give you hours of entertainment Winter Wonderland proves that good things can come in small packages. On the poster for the event, it says the Christmas market begins on Nov.24th but the market isn’t based on the Birch Terrace site, the market will be scattered throughout Hanley city centre and linked back to the park itself.

After walking around for a bit we took a seat in the beautifully decorated and fully licensed bar. This place really looked the part and for me was the highlight of the entire park. It was a nice escape from the cool outdoors and served up a whole host of alcoholic drinks including mulled wine, ciders, beer and more. Sitting in this pop-up wooden log cabin made me feel escaped from the funfair outside and this place certainly had a Christmassy vibe.

The only downside to this bar and the rest of the park for that matter was the lack of Christmas music. Instead, a funfair parade of Top 40 hits and dance anthems pounded the speakers of every ride, bar and section of the park. It felt as thou we were walking around a nightclub for the most part.

Last weekend we had the joy of going to the Manchester Christmas markets and upon entering that particular market the Christmas spirit was in full flow. Beautiful market stall cabins selling various Christmas gifts with mulled wine and Irish coffee on tap. Walking through Winter Wonderland thou, however, felt more carnival than Christmas.

Something as simple as Christmas themed market stalls or a stage with Christmas performances or similar it would have been a nice addition to bring a balance to the funfair rides and attractions that you’d find at any festival or event throughout a calendar year.

With all of this said thou, however, the staff on the rides and stalls were all very friendly and well mannered. They were all helpful and were having a laugh and a joke around with members of the public before boarding rides, buying food and all the rest of it. It was really nice to see. Sadly, this couldn’t be said about some of the people in the park as security was escorting people out every time we had come off a ride. Sadly, a much too familiar sight anywhere in Stoke on Trent.

For those of you who love funfairs, Winter Wonderland certainly doesn’t disappoint in that department. There’s a variety of rides to choose from including classics such as the Dodgems and an arcade room all the way up to the thrill-seeking rides such as Airmaxx, No limit, Crazy Mouse and a 60m Sky Swing.

With queues being a little longer on the dodgems and No Limit we were surprised that the 60m Sky Swing and Crazy Mouse had 4-5 people in the queue all night. As we had an unlimited wristband we jumped on Crazy Mouse three times in a row and it’s easily one of the best rides in the park. It’s rusty, it’s wonky, it spins out of control to the point where you think it’s going to come off the track, it’s completely unsafe, utterly bonkers and incredible! I’ve never laughed so much (nervously) on a ride, partly because I thought we’d be flying off the tracks at any minute but it’s a great little coaster that is so much fun.

Every single time you ride it, it’s a different experience. The cart seems to spin almost at random meaning you could have a nice subtle spin or the completely bonkers “we’re going to die any second now” rotations that we seemed to keep getting. Crazy Mouse is a MUST-RIDE at Winter Wonderland Stoke-On-Trent and for me was easily the best ride at the attraction.

Up next was the 60m Sky Swing. We took our seats and I wasn’t feeling too confident. I hate heights and I hate sky-swings but I put my fake brave face on, pulled up my hood as it was damn cold up there and hung onto my safety bar for dear life. The only thing I can say about the sky-swing was the incompetence of the ride attendee. There is a sign by the entrance to the ride in huge letters that states that the attendee would come around to make sure your harness is secure before riding. Without checking anyone’s harness he pressed the button and we started to ascend to the top.

I couldn’t believe that on one of the highest rides in the park that a simple safety check went completely unnoticed. Maybe he checked on the cameras but that still doesn’t account for a physical check of everyones harness if only to give riders a peace of mind. That really needs to be addressed as it was quite unnerving to say the least.

That aside there is a good choice of rides on offer for little kids all the way up to adrenaline junkie adults. I’m always a little wary of fairground rides and just how safe they are. If you are a nervy rider just make sure that you ask the ride attendee to actually do their job although they shouldn’t need reminding.

Winter Wonderland is certainly worth checking out, It’s free to enter and you have to buy tokens to ride each particular attraction or you can pay £14.99 for an unlimited wristband to go on as many rides as you can.

I imagine things will greatly improve with the addition of the upcoming Christmas market selling all sorts of Christmassy goodies but I’d also love to hear some Christmas music playing around the park. I certainly felt that the event relied too much on funfair attractions to draw people through the gates which is perfectly reasonable if the event was advertised as a funfair or carnival. But it wasn’t. It’s great to have a funfair at a Christmas attraction but for that funfair to completely overshadow anything even remotely Christmassy, well, it kind of defeats the object.

I certainly think Winter Wonderland is the kind of attraction that would appeal to younger children. You can sit on Santa’s knee, eat something chocolatey and then get yourself home and get a good nights sleep. For anyone older, well, it’s just a run of the mill funfair with some fancy lights and a kickass bar. I look forward to seeing how the attraction develops as the weeks go on and hopefully Winter Wonderland will then live up to its very Christmassy namesake.