A young girl was left in tears after an exhausted Santa "refused her entry" to his Grotto during a "disappointing" visit to Hyde Park's Winter Wonderland, her mum has claimed.

Mother-of-three Courtney Bardell, 25, claims her children were "upset" following a disastrous outing to the popular Londonmarket last Saturday (12). She said the family-of-five endured two-hour queues for rides alongside aggressive jostling in crowds after spending over £270 on travel, attraction passes, and food.

However, the event's organisers have said that admission to see Father Christmas is paused at 'peak times', and that the grotto's workers also have scheduled breaks.

The stay-at-home mum, who attended with partner Connor, 26, and daughters Harlie-Mae, six, Lucia, four, and Essie, one, insists she won't be returning to the festive event. Courtney, from Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, said: "I expected it to be busy but I didn't expect it to be as busy as it was."

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"I expected them (the kids) to see Santa and get a gift from Santa. It was advertised that Santa's Grotto would be open until 6pm but we got there at about 3pm and the staff said 'Santa's had enough'. Harlie-Mae started crying because she wanted to see Santa. You could see through the glass that other children were getting to see him."

Courtney said that her family arrived at 2pm and were instantly taken aback by the sheer volume of visitors.

She added: "The kids couldn't even walk without getting pushed over. My six-year-old was asking me after half an hour 'when are we going home?'. You also get advertised a meal which we assumed would be in a sit-down restaurant but there weren't enough tables at all, so you're getting pushed while you're trying to eat."

Courtney has since shelled out £35 to take the children to a local grotto after Harlie-Mae labelled her day at Winter Wonderland as "rubbish".

"We'll probably just go somewhere local next time", she added. "It'll save the disappointment."

In a statement from Winter Wonderland, a spokesperson said: “Hyde Park Winter Wonderland’s priority is the safety of all our visitors. To manage visitor flow, we operate specific entry times and a ticketing system to help guests enjoy the event comfortably.

"We understand there can be queues during particularly busy periods and work to clear these as quickly as possible. Santa’s Grotto operates with scheduled breaks, and admissions may be paused at peak times.”

Courtney isn't the only one to be left disappointed by her Winter Wonderland experience this year. A woman who ordered a hot chocolate at the Hyde Park attraction was left floored by the price, and took to TikTok to show how she managed to spend £70 on food and drink during her trip.

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However, there are cheaper alternatives such as Christmas markets in Europe. The cheapest Christmas market in Europewas recently revealed as Poznan in Poland, which is just a two hour flight from the UK. Visitors can book hotel rooms for as little as £30 a night, and pints are about £2 in this underrated city.

Another option closer to home is Newcastle Christmas Market, recently named one of thebest in the UK by readers of Which? It was recently praised for having a large number of independent traders, the majority of them being local to Newcastle, and groups can pre-book igloos in the city centre and enjoy food and drink service with somewhere to shelter.

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