Hyde Park Winter Wonderland safety and places to stay.

[StressedAF]

Hello everyone

We’re thinking of booking a weekend in London over Christmas to visit Hyde Park Winter Wonderland and the usual London attractions. Did a quick google and there was a brawl at the Winter Wonderland in 2019 and there have been stabbings at Hyde Park it looks amazing at night on promo clips but worrying it might not be the place for a teen and 2 little ones.

We found Marble Arch Serviced Apartments for 2 nights in Westminster, 0.5 miles from Hyde Park which seem pretty good and reasonably close to everything else. Or a cheap option with good ratings is Millenium and Copthorne Hotel on Chelsea football ground but wondering if it’s cheaper for a reason? It’s in Fulham. If you got this far you can probably tell we are clueless haha.

Any advice welcome, I do have family on the outskirts of London we plan to visit but if I ask about this they will insist we stay with them but there are 5 of us so don’t want to put on them. Also parking and/or travel into London will be a mare so perhaps better to stay more central and visit them en route and return.

Winter wonderland will be fine. As will Hyde Park although I wouldn't want to wander around any park late at night personally. Winter wonderland is very gimmicky - expensive and can get very busy (not sure what they're doing in terms of crowds etc. this year though).

Thank you. Yes true, it looked so festive and magical on pictures, we’ve never been. Probably romanticised it haha. After posting I saw an earlier thread on Christmassy things in London so I’ll have a look on there

We found winter wonderland so expensive and felt unsafe (we are both Londoners)

Instead we always go to waddesden manor now. No children's rides but a super cute market and amazing light show walking around the grounds.

Winter wonderland was great when it first started. It has become a ridiculously expensive piss up.

£5 pp (in tokens) to sit on a ghost train.

There's a nice Chrsitmas market on the South Bank, which is much smaller.

I've only been once many years ago and wouldn't go back - felt like I was being herded around like cattle it was that busy and you want to keep your bag close by in those crowds.

We loved ice skating at Somerset House though!

Winter Wonderland is OK if you happen to be in London and have a couple of hours to fill, but it's not worth a special trip. It's incredibly expensive, even in a world where you expect those things to be expensive and is basically a fairground and a beer tent. I like an hour or two in the tent, which does have a good festive atmosphere having had a good drink somewhere else first

It's also really really crowded, unpleasantly so, at the weekends in December.

Thank you everyone, so happy I asked on here - the power of Mumsnet

Will check out Waddesden Manor, South Bank Markets and Somerset House.

@StressedAF

Hello everyone

We’re thinking of booking a weekend in London over Christmas to visit Hyde Park Winter Wonderland and the usual London attractions. Did a quick google and there was a brawl at the Winter Wonderland in 2019 and there have been stabbings at Hyde Park it looks amazing at night on promo clips but worrying it might not be the place for a teen and 2 little ones.

We found Marble Arch Serviced Apartments for 2 nights in Westminster, 0.5 miles from Hyde Park which seem pretty good and reasonably close to everything else. Or a cheap option with good ratings is Millenium and Copthorne Hotel on Chelsea football ground but wondering if it’s cheaper for a reason? It’s in Fulham. If you got this far you can probably tell we are clueless haha.

Any advice welcome, I do have family on the outskirts of London we plan to visit but if I ask about this they will insist we stay with them but there are 5 of us so don’t want to put on them. Also parking and/or travel into London will be a mare so perhaps better to stay more central and visit them en route and return.

I've stayed 1 night at I think the Copthorne, the building closest to the stadium. It was pleasant enough as a hotel and was a good price. The downsides are parking is very limited and expensive. The night I stayed there was a reserve match against Millwall so getting into reception was through a heavy police presence and a fairly intimidating atmosphere including in the public areas of the hotel.