Kielder Winter Wonderland — Local services in Great Britain

Overpriced, over sold, underwhelmed.

Where to begin.... First off took about 20 mins to even get in and parked. Didn't feel festive from here, just being passed a map through the car window. So was late to the first activity which was Mrs Claus,even though we arrived half an hour before the first one as advised.

2nd activity was The Beavers which was good. Can't fault the acting and enthusiasm.

We then had over a 3 HOUR gap. 3 hours in a place that has no inbetween activities minus the snow tubing which lasts about 5 mins. The food tents were busy due to the gap timing which is fair enough, people eat at lunch time. However, it's the UK in December. It was raining all day, this in itself should accompany extra activities or even just tents/indoor spaces. Added onto this the lack of dietary choices. I have coeliac and found one GF option available in the cafe where there was a queue for tables (again in the rain) with 6 year old with no patience. Also no one tidying up after themselves in the tipi, yes people are lazy. But no staff even attempting to either. Not that there was actually many anyway- probably understaffed.

I'm not sure if we were just unlucky with our days schedule but it just seemed a massive waste of time having a 3 hour gap. Considering the price of the day it didn't feel like a full Christmas activity packed day. Even a few cheap DIY craft stations or something would have sufficed.

Next activity was The theatre. At this point I'd lost all hope and was also lost with the story line TBH. Just didn't feel 'CHRISTMASSY'

Last activity was the elves workshop/santa visit.... Elves workshop was sardines in a tin. Couldn't even see properly and then when my son was given the items to make the toy he dropped them and a stranger had to help because I couldn't get to him in time as they were told to 'use their hats as a bag'....he had taken his off because it was wet. For the price of tickets surely a paper bag could have been provided with the items inside!? We didn't even finish it off as we were rushed out and told to finish it off at home!

Off to the last bit to see Santa. The cuckoo was well....Cuckoo....didn't get the relevance again to anything Christmas related. Was a clutch and more like biding time to get the other group out of Santa's Lodge. Crammed in again like sardines we went into the lodge. Felt like the least impersonal visit to Santa. My son is 6. Probably 2 years at best to get 'Belief' out of him and it just felt half arsed, he was completely underwhelmed. Off we went.

Back out into the rain to the Joyporium. Ironically the least joyful part of the day. Waiting ages to put a bit of fabric into the tubes with not really any explanation. No Christmas spirit at all from the elves in here. Could tell it was end of day and them losing the will.....we waited 35 mins to get through to the toy room... Which was empty on the other side. This could easily be a few kids let in at a time to cut down on queues. Everyone was complaining in here because of this.

The story of the day literally didn't even get an ending. Which I guess is impossible if everyone's schedule is different. Just change the plot? Or have a mixture of stories at each one. Also looking back at reviews from last year looks the same anyway. Honestly didn't feel festive at all. No Christmas spirit. The only day out as a family we will get this year for Christmas and what a disappointment.

The only thing I can take from today is to never visit again or advise anyone to visit. £140 for a family of 3, 4 hours worth of activities (of which a lot of that was actually queuing/letting people in)....

Where do I start... Seems quite fitting given our first interaction of the day, was to request 'where do we go?' towards a steward who grumbled and gestured towards some questionable signage. His lack of enthusiasm and uninterested demeanour could be empathised with given the poor weather. Little did we know, the tone was set for the day, the lack of Christmas appeal was felt not only with the internal decorations, but the spirit and feel of the surroundings. Seemingly lacking in model snowmen, sleighs, elves making toys and scenes...etc.

This review has been lucky to escape a one star review, solely down to having been impressed with the 'Santa meet' and the experience and interaction he provided to the children. This was one of five time-tabled activities, one of which we were unable to attend because the lighting wasn't working, and the other three seemed intent on pushing an environmental agenda on children who merely just wanted to jump into the magical Christmas spirit!

This is by no means an attempt to downplay the importance of environmental education but rather 'there is a time and place'. Particularly those who are yet to reach education and are mesmerised with the ideology of Xmas! Equally, I do appreciate impact education can have during memorable events, however.... This was not it.

The question now is would I want to go again? absolutely not. This was incomparable to the experience the year before at White House Farm. Taking into account the pricing, travel and the price of in house purchasing.

Maybe I was expecting too much having heard positive feedback in recent years from friends and family. I hope those who have booked have significantly better experiences and perhaps the rhetoric that was squabbled to us changes to a festive tone closer...

Went today and was seriously disappointed.

My main complaint is not enough to do in between the long wait times of the activities and with a young toddler who can't just go again and again on the snow tube we really only had looking at the reindeer & birds of prey as our options. More shelter also needed as when it started to rain the only place for shelter was inside the food tent.

The elf activity was good to build a reindeer but I agree with a previous review - very very squished inside for everyone!

Was also a little gutted the father christmas wasn't a personal few minutes visit with a gift /photo rather than him reading names off a list in front of everyone. Our toddler still loved seeing father Christmas but I do think it could have been done better.

The daffodil fairy? .. hmm abit bizzare.. the fairy herself was great at her job, but very lost on the Christmas context there!

Pizza and coffee tasted fantastic. Loved the big bear inside. Maybe more of those could be added in to the event to look at?

We won't be back next year but I do hope the organisers read this and make more activities when the wait time between events is so long. Just simple things like some crafting, a light trail, an elf woodland area or small games like bowls laid out would have been greatly appreciated to keep littleun busy.

We ended up leaving early as it was another 2 hours until last activity with nothing to do, a very cold and...