London Exploration Day: Hyde Park Winter Wonderland
I've returned for the second part of my London exploration day with friends! As a Londoner, I feel that you should go to Winter Wonderland at least once in your lifetime - no it's not amazing and may possibly be overrated but the visuals are on pointe. Personally, I've been a couple of times but for various different reasons. For my most recent visit to Winter Wonderland, my aim was to get some awesome night photography. If you read my previous post, you would understand my love for night photography especially with lights.
I'm a constant Instagrammer, I'm literally on Instagram everyday - which is probably really bad opps. But anyways, because of being on Instagram a lot, I always happen to see this one particular scene consecutively on my Instagram feed which happened to be taken at Winter Wonderland. So of course I thought I would take my own version of this picture too. Here it is:
Just entering Winter Wonderland we knew it was busy, with bag checks and long queues, it really shows how popular the event is. But if I'm honest, the food and drinks and even the rides available are rather expensive. From my previous experiences, I did go on quite a few rides, some of which were amazing, some made me really dizzy and some were rather anti-climatic and nothing special.
I think the one thing I wanted to try and have wanted to for a long time, was churros. Unfortunately, I didn't actually get some this year because my friend, Charlotte and I were literally searching for slushies despite the cold weather. Hopefully I'll get a chance to try some at some point... Meanwhile, my friend, Cindy was also looking for her own particular drink that she always had when she attended Winter Wonderland; a winter cider from what I remember... She wasn't able to find it, but we did find some hot berry cider - which burnt my tongue opps... but it was really good, especially in the winter cold.
We did come into a bit of a mishap during our Winter Wonderland experience, might explain Marco's done expression to be honest. But if you happen to be a photographer, I would recommend coming here to take photos especially later in the day when it's darker. The lights on the Christmas tree are shining, the lights from the different rides are illuminated and all the different places are lit to suit their own style.
Although, I did have one problem with trying to get images of moving rides, I really should of changed the shutter speed to make it look better but I didn't really think about that at the time. Photographers would probably understand my struggles aha... I think by changing the shutter speed you can get quite an awesome effect for moving objects e.g. train passing through a station, or waterfall etc. If you have a DSLR camera, I would recommend you trying out that option.
Personally I feel like Winter Wonderland is an experience you should try out once if you happen to be in Central London at the time, I've been at least 3 times so far. Unfortunately, Winter Wonderland only appears from around November to January, but specific dates would usually be specified on the Winter Wonderland website: http://www.hydeparkwinterwonderland.com/
Each of the rides I happened to pass all had interesting names, I think one of the most relatable items I saw at Winter Wonderland was that one place was named Las Vegas, and then down the path was a place called Chinatown. These were either places to eat or rides (as you can probably tell... my memory is terrible but it just made me laugh because down the road from Chinatown in Central London there also happens to be an arcade called Las Vegas so it was an interesting coincidence.
If I'm honest, all these tall rides caught my eye. As a person who is afraid of heights yet ironically an adrenaline junkie. I was rather tempted to go on one of these rides, however I feel like I was limited to time and my phobia for heights didn't help the situation so in the end I didn't get the opportunity. For those who do get a chance, tell me how it is aha! It looks like it would be an interesting, whirlwind of an experience!
I wish I could of taken more pictures but due to the rush for time, and the fact my battery was running low (I totally need to get spare battery...) I wasn't able to take as many as I hoped. Anyways... I hope you enjoyed my post! For my next posts, I'll aim to be more informative, but for some travelling/exploring posts, I think I'll stick to a more personal perspective as I think it gives you a better understanding of my character, and of course, each blogger to their own. I'll hopefully be updating you on a few concerts, so the reviews will refer to my own personal opinions. Plus, I've never had a chance to write about concerts before but I've always had it in mind so I'm glad I finally have an opportunity to write about them and review them.
Thank you for reading and don't forget to look out for my next posts!
2 comments
Your photos are beautiful! You did a great job of capturing the night scenes, which I know isn't always easy to do :) great post!
ReplyDeleteSuzy
pret-tea.blogspot.ca
Thank you so much! I'm trying to improve my photography when I can aha. I really appreciate the comment c:
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