{"id":16874,"date":"2015-12-14T12:04:06","date_gmt":"2015-12-14T12:04:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/?p=16874"},"modified":"2015-12-14T13:56:20","modified_gmt":"2015-12-14T13:56:20","slug":"a-walk-around-winter-wonderland-in-hyde-park-london-december-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/a-walk-around-winter-wonderland-in-hyde-park-london-december-2015\/","title":{"rendered":"A walk around Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park, London, December 2015"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/winter-wonderland-2015-06.jpg\" alt=\"A walk around Winter Wonderland in Hyde park, London, December 2015\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Running\u00a0until the 3rd Jan 2016, Winter Wonderland describes itself as &#8216;London&#8217;s Spectacular Christmas Destination&#8217; and, to be honest, it&#8217;s a pretty good day out.<\/p>\n<p>Admission is\u00a0free and there&#8217;s no shortage of things to look at &#8211; or spend your money on, if so inclined.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/winter-wonderland-2015-01.jpg\" alt=\"A walk around Winter Wonderland in Hyde park, London, December 2015\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>View of the Wonderland from outside. There&#8217;s two main entrances at either end, and you can expect to get your bag searched as you enter.<\/p>\n<p>The crowds were surprisingly\u00a0modest for a Sunday, which made the experience far more enjoyable.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/winter-wonderland-2015-02.jpg\" alt=\"A walk around Winter Wonderland in Hyde park, London, December 2015\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Many of the attractions\u00a0had a pretty tenuous Christmas connection &#8211; it&#8217;s more of a winter funfair than anything else &#8211; but the scale of some of the rides was impressive.<\/p>\n<p>I first <a href=\"http:\/\/www.urban75.org\/london\/hyde-park-winter-wonderland.html\" target=\"_blank\">visited the\u00a0event in 2009<\/a> and it has grown massively in scale since then.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/winter-wonderland-2015-03.jpg\" alt=\"A walk around Winter Wonderland in Hyde park, London, December 2015\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>This psychotically\u00a0laughing dismembered Santa was the stuff of nightmares.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/winter-wonderland-2015-04.jpg\" alt=\"A walk around Winter Wonderland in Hyde park, London, December 2015\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>As well as all the whizz-bang hi-tech attractions, there was also loads of more traditional fairground stalls.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/winter-wonderland-2015-05.jpg\" alt=\"A walk around Winter Wonderland in Hyde park, London, December 2015\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/winter-wonderland-2015-07.jpg\" alt=\"A walk around Winter Wonderland in Hyde park, London, December 2015\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>There was no shortage of bars on the site but at \u00a35 a pint, it wasn&#8217;t the place for drinking on a budget.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/winter-wonderland-2015-08.jpg\" alt=\"A walk around Winter Wonderland in Hyde park, London, December 2015\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Some kind of monster grinning corn cob thing.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/winter-wonderland-2015-09.jpg\" alt=\"A walk around Winter Wonderland in Hyde park, London, December 2015\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Some of the rides were buttock-clenchingly tall.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/winter-wonderland-2015-10.jpg\" alt=\"A walk around Winter Wonderland in Hyde park, London, December 2015\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/winter-wonderland-2015-11.jpg\" alt=\"A walk around Winter Wonderland in Hyde park, London, December 2015\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The ice rink was laid out around the bandstand. It&#8217;s quite mesmerising to watch the skaters go endlessly by, although\u00a0I suspect that many people are secretly hoping to watch a spectacular fall or two.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/winter-wonderland-2015-12.jpg\" alt=\"A walk around Winter Wonderland in Hyde park, London, December 2015\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/winter-wonderland-2015-13.jpg\" alt=\"A walk around Winter Wonderland in Hyde park, London, December 2015\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Person down!<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/winter-wonderland-2015-14.jpg\" alt=\"A walk around Winter Wonderland in Hyde park, London, December 2015\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>A female singer\/guitarist played from the bandstand, one of many live performers playing in unusual\u00a0locations (several were compelled to play on rotating platforms).<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/winter-wonderland-2015-15.jpg\" alt=\"A walk around Winter Wonderland in Hyde park, London, December 2015\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>This was wonderfully daft. A pub that slowly rotated.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/winter-wonderland-2015-16.jpg\" alt=\"A walk around Winter Wonderland in Hyde park, London, December 2015\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Weirdly scary &#8216;talking&#8217; giant Bavarian man and bird.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/winter-wonderland-2015-17.jpg\" alt=\"A walk around Winter Wonderland in Hyde park, London, December 2015\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The Bavarian drinking tent was huge with a singalong band playing in the far distance.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/winter-wonderland-2015-18.jpg\" alt=\"A walk around Winter Wonderland in Hyde park, London, December 2015\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/winter-wonderland-2015-19.jpg\" alt=\"A walk around Winter Wonderland in Hyde park, London, December 2015\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Winnnn-er!<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/winter-wonderland-2015-20.jpg\" alt=\"A walk around Winter Wonderland in Hyde park, London, December 2015\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Another winner.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/winter-wonderland-2015-21.jpg\" alt=\"A walk around Winter Wonderland in Hyde park, London, December 2015\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>This guy elected to go for a high-speed, brute force option on this stall. It proved unsuccessful.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/winter-wonderland-2015-22.jpg\" alt=\"A walk around Winter Wonderland in Hyde park, London, December 2015\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Dancing to an opera singer.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/winter-wonderland-2015-23.jpg\" alt=\"A walk around Winter Wonderland in Hyde park, London, December 2015\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Ice Mountain, one of several paid attractions.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/winter-wonderland-2015-24.jpg\" alt=\"A walk around Winter Wonderland in Hyde park, London, December 2015\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/winter-wonderland-2015-25.jpg\" alt=\"A walk around Winter Wonderland in Hyde park, London, December 2015\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Cuddly toys. There were an awful lot of them up for grabs on the site.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/winter-wonderland-2015-26.jpg\" alt=\"A walk around Winter Wonderland in Hyde park, London, December 2015\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Ice mountain thing.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/winter-wonderland-2015-27.jpg\" alt=\"A walk around Winter Wonderland in Hyde park, London, December 2015\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Reindeer racing proved a popular attraction.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/winter-wonderland-2015-28.jpg\" alt=\"A walk around Winter Wonderland in Hyde park, London, December 2015\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>And they&#8217;re off!<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/winter-wonderland-2015-29.jpg\" alt=\"A walk around Winter Wonderland in Hyde park, London, December 2015\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/winter-wonderland-2015-30.jpg\" alt=\"A walk around Winter Wonderland in Hyde park, London, December 2015\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>This challenge was designed to lure in overconfident men who felt that it would be easy to hold on to the bar for two minutes. It wasn&#8217;t.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/winter-wonderland-2015-31.jpg\" alt=\"A walk around Winter Wonderland in Hyde park, London, December 2015\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Another Very Tall Ride.<\/p>\n<p>More details here:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.hydeparkwinterwonderland.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">hydeparkwinterwonderland.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Running\u00a0until the 3rd Jan 2016, Winter Wonderland describes itself as &#8216;London&#8217;s Spectacular Christmas Destination&#8217; and, to be honest, it&#8217;s a pretty good day out. Admission is\u00a0free and there&#8217;s no shortage &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16876,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[194,17,193],"tags":[24,23,398,507,10,428,364,1337],"class_list":["post-16874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-london-features","category-photos","category-places","tag-christmas","tag-funfair","tag-hyde-park","tag-ice-rink","tag-london","tag-park","tag-winter","tag-winter-wonderland"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/winter-wonderland-2015-06.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pQI7P-4oa","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16874"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16874\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16879,"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16874\/revisions\/16879"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}