Honest review: venue description two dark massive exhibition halls, with 3 sides decorated with way too short drop down mountain scenes and basic lighting to show off the ride lights. To get from one to the other you leave the "kingdom" into the Excel walkway where all the cafés and toilets are, breaking any Kingdom "spell". The halls played music constantly, which wasn't musac but would be harsh for anyone with autism etc. The thought, money and design spent on setting the scene for the contents was extremely lacking. Standard blue exhibition carpeting, sparsely placed fake fir trees (no decorations) in a row around the outside of the hall, white picket fencing around rides and exhibits, with the very odd polar bear statue. It feels spacious because of this, especially with the high ceiling, which is just the black metal lighting grid with some sparse large stars hanging from it. I don't like crowded places so I appreciated this but would have been so much better if they'd made an effort (spent money) to 'decorate' the lighting rig with clouds etc. If the amount of rides/exhibits had been put into 1 Hall it would have been way too crowded, however there weren't enough in both halls to feel it was worth the spend on entry for some people. I don't believe this event would be worthwhile without paying for at least two of the three extra activities: Ice Skating, Circus or Ice Trail. Although you may be able to buy entry tickets on the day, I believe most are likely to be sold out. I can't Ice skate for toffee so just the other two for me. The Ice Trail: brilliant = 8/10. Lots of large ice sculptures you could touch and if suitable (train etc) climb on or stand with for photos. There's even a little slide. It's in a large freezer room kept at -5 so you'll need to wrap up if you can't take the cold. Thankfully as you get a wrist ticket you wear you can keep your coat in the cloakroom out in the walkway in between so your not carrying it around. There is an unlimited time (within your hour) and only a Marshall checking for H&S - no food and drink, due to the room being a giant freezer it's not filled with extra decoration to hide this, but to be honest the sculptures were so good, I quickly forgot that. The Circus: typical cricus tent within one of the Hall's, bench seats around the centre circle. Small for a standard Circus tent but felt roomy inside. I highly recommend queuing early for your time slot if you have small children for the best view as it's first come first serve for the layered seating. I was one of the last to to go in and had a side view but didn't miss anything being able to see over or round people. The acts are as you may imagine; acrobats, juggling etc and was entertaining, lasted an hour. Shopping: little sheds sparsely arranged around the central giant Xmas tree in one Hall and in a corner in the other. No where near enough of them, very disappointing. Felt more like a token gesture and would not have called it a "village". The type of goods on sale: jewellery, winter hats/scarfs, a cheese stall, a hand crafted pop up card stall (not Xmas) 4 stalls from organisations asking you to sign up to monthly donations and sweet stalls (that I can remember). Food: In the corner of each of the halls are arranged larger stalls/huts for the food vendors. They all looked yum! I had the Yorkshire wrap, with turkey, veg, stuffing and gravy. The seating was wooden picnic benches but not enough of them. There were park style wooden benches around the halls, but considering the space available there could have been many more to meet the need and I saw people resulting to sitting on the floor to eat together. Drink: Each Hall had a large Alpine style bar which looked awesome. Usual fare; mulled wine, mulled cider, Prosecco and beer (and soft drinks) Had the mulled cider which came in a paper coffee style takeaway cup, spensy but tasted great. Had a sip of mulled wine and tasted great. The food vendors sold soft drinks too. In the hall with the Circus there is a Chocolat hot drink vendor, they were very harangued and often had long queues due to what seemed to be inexperience and lack of resources such as a steady supply of fresh milk. But it's the same drink you get from everywhere so was tasty. In the same place is a 'Chill zone' which is loads of Chesterfield lounge chairs and sofas. Had my hot chocolate here taking in all the lights and resting feet. Again could have been more of this seating but luckily found a seat when needed it. Rides: think standard fair ground but in a hall not a field. Waltzer, Cups etc. Also a little childs reindeer pulled roller coaster. Don't think older teens would find it entertaining and of course each one has to be paid for. There was a beautiful 2 level carousel I went on, and really enjoyed. If you can afford everything it will be a great day. If not and you have extra needs think hard before going.