Cardiff Winter Wonderland 2018

Disclosure - we were given free ride and food tokens and a free ice skating session for the purpose of writing this post. All opinions are honest and our own.

I absolutely love Christmas and one of the iconic Christmas scenes in Cardiff is the Cardiff Winter Wonderland. Set outside the National Museum and Civic Offices it is home to a fairground full of fun rides and attractions, food stalls, shopping stalls and a large undercover ice rink. My three (11, 7 and 4) were so excited when I told them we were going to visit on opening night and we wrapped up warm and prepared to get into the Christmas spirit and have some fun.

There is plenty of parking nearby, we parked on King Edward VII Avenue which only cost a couple of pounds but you could also park in the city centre car parks and walk in or catch the bus or train in, it is really accessible.

There is a themed bar on site serving alcoholic and soft drinks - it looks amazing and really on theme. As the weather was mild we stood at one of the tables outside and enjoyed some chips and burgers from one of the food vans. I had a falafel burger while the hubby went for a bratwurst and the children shared some chips. We watched the giant new ride The Drop as we ate our food and the bright lights and Christmas music made it feel really magical - just look at the wonder on the children's faces!

Then we went off for a look around the fairground. E who is 11 really enjoyed the Twister ride and the Fun House and Miss J (7) loved the fun house and the bumper cars. Little Boy thought that the bumper cars were the best thing ever and went on them twice! There was also a ski drop ride, a Santa sleigh ride, a Santa's train ride and of course The Drop. There were also plenty of the win a toy type stalls and I was pleased to see plenty of people walking around with giant toys that they had won!

Stuffed animals hanging from the ceiling at Cardiff Winter Wonderland 2018.

Two children posing in front of a fun house sign at Cardiff Winter Wonderland 2018.

A merry-go-round decorated for Christmas at Cardiff Winter Wonderland 2018.

A carnival ride at Cardiff Winter Wonderland 2018, lit up at night.

A group of people standing around the Cardiff Winter Wonderland carousel at night in 2018.

Visitors enjoying the Cardiff Winter Wonderland 2018 carnival ride.

There were lots of different food stalls including fries, a burger van, crepes, churros and sweets. There were also marshmallows on sticks for sale and a fire that you could toast them over! There were a few shop type stalls too selling decorations and fudge etc. We treated the children to a bar of fudge to enjoy on the way home.

The Cardiff Winter Wonderland 2018 fire pit is made of wood.

A Cardiff Winter Wonderland 2018 food stand in a park.

Cardiff Winter Wonderland 2018, a wooden building with a sign on it.

After we'd been on a few rides we headed over to the ice rink. We had pre-booked tickets (you can book online here). We pre-booked penguins to help the younger two and they were all so excited to head off to skate. The session lasted an hour which was plenty of time and I'm proud to say that Little Boy and Miss J were able to skate independently with their penguins by the end. E was whizzing around like a pro of course!

After the ice skating we went on a couple more rides - the Fun House was a big hit with both girls and Little Boy wanted to go on the bumper cars again! We left feeling very tired from all the fun but really happy and full of the joy of Christmas! Am I allowed to put the tree up now?!