Winter Wonderland is one of London’s biggest festive attractions and a reason it appeals to so many is that it’s free to enter - but how much does it really cost once you’re inside?

Well, I say it’s free to enter, but this year that’s not entirely true. What used to be a completely free outdoor market is now only free if you book an ‘off-peak’ time slot.

If you want to visit on weekends and evenings, it’ll cost you between £5 and £7.50 right off the bat.

I didn’t want to cough up before even walking through the gates so I booked an ‘off-peak’ slot on opening day, but it didn’t take long before things started to cost a pretty penny.

You don’t go to a London attraction and expect to bag a bargain but, between just myself and my mum, we ended up spending almost £100 at the ‘free’ market.

We fancied sampling some of the winter warmers and started with a hot cider, which cost £5.50 each. Not too painful, but the cups were half the size of a small coffee from Costa and the only reason they lasted so long was because they were blisteringly hot.

We gave it another go later in the day and got stung again - this time, inside the carousel bar, which hiked up the price of the hot ciders to £6.80, presumably because we had the luxury of being inside.

One thing's for sure, the higher price wasn’t reflected in the customer service. While we waited for our drinks, two members of staff behind the bar suddenly squared up to each other out of nowhere and, for a moment, it looked like punches were about to be thrown right in front of us.

Luckily, the security team broke it up, at which point one of the barmen quickly handed our ciders over and whispered: “Sorry about that, he just started yelling at me for no reason!”

Unfortunately, the bickering continued right up until we left. In fact, they might still be arguing now.

We wanted to end on a good note, so decided to have a final round of festive-themed drinks - two ‘Winterseccos’, a toffee vodka shot and a Christmas pudding shot - but, despite the £24 price tag, it was a bit of a disappointment.

The winter-spiced proseccos were served up in paper cups, rather than flutes, which dampens the experience of drinking bubbles, and the shots were poured into dipping cups which looked like they'd been nicked from McDonald’s.

In the end, the Christmas pudding shot closely resembled a side of curry sauce and it was completely off-putting.

So, after spending almost £50 on what seemed like very little liquid, we decided to soak it up with some food.

There were lots of options available, and you can’t fault what was on offer. It actually felt more like a food and drink festival than a Christmas market, with rows upon rows of vendors cooking up endless treats.

We shared a pizza pretzel, simply because neither of us had heard of one before, and tucked into a falafel flatbread and cheesy chips from a veggie food truck.

The food was tasty and filling, but we ended up spending a further £30 on what was, essentially, three small dishes of street food.

There were sugary snacks on every corner and I imagine if you went with children you’d end up buying just about everything, from bubble waffles to candyfloss.

Winter Wonderland’s biggest draw is its enormous funfair. It now sprawls out across most of the park and actually takes away some of the Christmas atmosphere, especially at night when it feels more like a carnival than a festive market.

But still, we thought we’d give a couple of rides - which generally cost £5 to £10 per person - a go to see if they were worth the money.

I managed to convince my mum to try this year’s new attraction, Dr. Archibald Master of Time. The VR roller coaster takes you through a series of surreal scenes and is, in all fairness, an interesting and unusual experience.

However, if anyone has used a high-tech VR headset at home (the Meta Quest, for example) then, in comparison, the quality of the ride video wasn’t actually that great.

At times felt like being stuck inside one of my old PlayStation games from 1999 and I’m not sure it was worth £18 - yes, £18 - for the two of us to ride.

We all know the old ones are the best so before we left, we decided to give the waltzers a whirl.

For a ride that is pretty much the same anywhere you go and was recently being offered at a local fairground for £2 per person, it was with regret that I handed over my final tenner for a spin.

We did give the market itself a browse but, in truth, there wasn’t much on offer. The few huts they did have were limited, and some were even selling tacky tourist trinkets rather than Christmas crafts.

I’ve seen more interesting offerings at Rochester Christmas Market and similar Kent markets, so if you’re looking to stock up on gifts then this probably isn’t the place to go.

There’s no doubt that Winter Wonderland is, and will continue to be, a popular Christmas attraction with plenty to see and do, such as the skating rink, ice slide and games, alongside the food, drink and rides.

However, with hefty prices, bickering bar staff and a dwindling number of market stalls, this oversized funfair didn’t leave me with that fuzzy, festive feeling.