The Magical Winterland at Meadowhall: ‘I went to a Hyde Park-style Winter Wonderland in a car park'

I’ll be honest. It was my teens who were most excited about going to this Winter Wonderland style event in Meadowhall’s orange car park. I was more excited about the animatronic singing bears from the 90s.

Many shoppers on social media had been asking about the whereabouts of these bears.

Centre manager Darren Pearce, who had welcomed us into the Magical Winterland, said: “We managed to track the bears down. They were in storage in a warehouse.”

The original suppliers managed to find the bears, which had been stored away for years.

I was desperate to see the bears, who sing every half hour and are based on The Avenue.

First stop however was the Magical Winterland. It was a cold, dark and wet evening but the spectacular light wall outside of the Oasis lit the route.

Even the wall is a taste of history as it’s about a character called Sparkey, a nod to the location of Meadowhall, which sits on the site of a former steelworks.

The Magical Winterland is a compact version of Hyde Park’s Winter Wonderland, and a lot cheaper overall.

It’s free entry and the entrance is lined with food and drink chalets selling everything from bratwurst and cheese burgers to loaded hot chocolates and soft drinks.

There’s also a pretty undercover apres ski bar selling mulled wine.

There’s a range of traditional fun fair rides as well as game stalls where you could - much to my daughter’s excitement - win Jelly Cat plush toys.

The highlight for us however was the big top circus and Santa’s Grotto experience.

We entered the circus which was compact and had a thrust stage in the centre and three sides for the auditorium. It made it more intimate.

It was a lovely gentle circus show - perfect for little ones - following the story of a childhood excited to wake up for presents on Christmas Day.

It was complete with life size mascots and performers moving, showcasing a range of skills such as roller skating, trapeze, and tightrope.

Finally it was time to make our way back to the start for the Santa’s grotto experience.

As we worked our way through the elf’s workshop and met the snow queen, comical characters guided us through the experience and then into Santa’s grotto.

Here we met Santa and his elf who gave each child a present. We sat around Santa’s dining table as Santa chatted to the kids before having photos with each family.

For £10.95 per child this was well worth the price as it’s a half hour experience in total, and the children get a nice gift too.

It’s a lot smaller than Hyde Park’s Winter Wonderland but a lot cheaper, and more accessible for those taking younger children.

As the weather was bad we didn’t eat there but instead we wandered back inside the Oasis to Wagamama’s.

Finally, after tea I got to visit the animatronic bears which I had to remind the kids were state of the art ‘back in the day.’