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Yesterday we had the pleasure of attending the Winter Wonderland event at Event City at the Trafford Centre, Manchester. It is billed as the UK’s largest indoor Christmas Theme Park.

The fun starts from the moment you walk through the door as bright colours, noise and snow welcome you to the Winter Wonderland. The first thing we saw was the Sooty Show to our right as we walked in, and as a show was about to start we sat down ready to watch. Before too long an entertainer came on stage and sat all the children in front of the stage before enticing then all up to dance with a selection of party songs which got all the kids in the mood for a great night. The show itself was fabulous. It had plenty of audience participation and all the kids walked away with beaming smiles on their faces.

I say walked but my youngest, Daisy, who is 2 years old shot off to the bright lights of the fairground rides in the distance. Whilst chasing her I managed to pick up the start time of the magic show and made a mental note to get back for that. From this point onwards it was one show right after another. Both my kids were literally running from one side to the next.

As the audience numbers are limited in each session the place wasn’t overcrowded and at literally no point did we queue for rides which gives you a really good sense of value for money. There is literally every type of fairground ride you can imagine plus a large selection of bouncy castles, inflatable assault courses and slides.

My two are 2 and 7 years old and could go on the vast majority of the rides although some do have upper and lower height limits.
Due to my kids obvious enthusiasm for the rides I lost track of the time (they do say time flies when you’re having fun) and we missed the magic show but I did manage to get them to the main stage for the Frozen show which was good and ended up with the kids dancing at the front underneath a snow shower. After that it was more rides until the inevitable tiredness kicked in.

As well as everything already mentioned there were plenty of the traditional fairground games such as hook a duck which were not included in the price of entry. Of you were hungry or thirsty there was a nice selection of places to eat or get a drink which has a Christmas Markets feel to it. On the main stage there was a brass band playing a selection of songs which was a nice place to stop for a rest. Also we can’t forget the Santa meet and greet. All attendees get a chance to meet Santa and if you would like a present included this can be arranged before entry at a small cost.

There are 2 sessions pretty much every day from the 12th December to the 3rd January. The sessions last for 4 hours and the session times are 11-3.30pm and 4.30-8.30pm although they do vary slightly on a daily basis so it would be wise to check.

The prices are £19.50 per ticket. OAP’s are £14 and under 3’s are free. A family ticket for the event is £64.

Both my kids absolutely loved it here and I loved witnessing their newly discovered enthusiasm for going on rides which go really, really fast. The way the evening flowed really helped this, as it is the queuing which normally saps the enthusiasm. There is so much to see and do and we didn’t manage to sample everything. At no point did the kids look bored and ready to go home. I literally had to drag them out. Needless to say, we can’t wait for our next visit.

NB: We were provided with tickets for the purpose of this review but all views and opinions are our own.