Winter wonderland? I can’t afford it! Londoners say £16 hot dogs, £9.50 hot chocolate and £12 beers are putting them off the Hyde Park holiday attraction, but foreign tourists are loving it.

Tourists have flocked to visit London’s infamous Winter Wonderland, but Brits working on its outskirts have said the country is too expensive to visit.

Inside posh Kensington, in the center of the capital, hot dogs cost up to £16 and pints cost £12 each.

A warming hot chocolate will set you back £9.50, and even fancy animal-shaped hats are on sale for an eye-watering £25.

One woman who worked for TfL behind the barriers joked that she “couldn’t afford” to go to the festive festival.

She said, “I’m not interested and it’s too expensive.” It’s funny, it’s too much.

“For a tourist or one person this is ok, but for families!”

“It will be expensive because it’s London, but if you want to go you have to be interested in traveling.”

“I’m too old for this.”

Lara, who walked her black Labrador bear around the perimeter of the Hyde Park attraction, said the event had deteriorated since she first attended as a teenager.

The 22-year-old said: “If you had asked me five years ago I would have been looking forward to this. Not so much now.

“I’m sure things have changed. It used to be a cool event, but now it’s just… I don’t know. But I wouldn’t go.

It costs £45 to buy a package of five journeys, while individual tickets cost £7.50.

Events held at the park cost up to £100 each, which gets you a private box to the Cirque Beserk: Thunderbolt show with a bottle of champagne.

Private capsules on the Giant Wheel also cost £76 per session, while ice sculpting workshops for couples cost £71.50.

Visitors must book a time slot, with park entry costing £7.50 after 3pm on weekends until December 19th, when the same price will apply every day of the week.

But some Christmas lovers were delighted to visit the attraction, with tourists traveling from Israel and southern America to dine out of their own free will.

Huge queues lined the paths of Hyde Park ahead of the event as holiday fanatics tried to make the most of the first day of the inaugural event.

Hagit came from Israel with her 12-year-old daughter, who wanted to see Winter Wonderland and Harry Potter Studios for her birthday.

They braced themselves for the cold from 9:30 a.m., waiting to get inside when the event opened at 12 p.m.

She said: “My friend told me about it and we read on the internet that it was one of the things to do in London.”

“We’re very excited. We really want to have fun.

“This is her birthday present and this is what she wanted, to be here.”

Lisa, Ellie and Lynn traveled more than 4,200 miles to see Winter Wonderland, flying to London from Georgia, America, to enjoy the show.

Lisa said: “I came for Christmas and I came to the biggest Christmas market.

“We planned this trip six months ago. I’m a big fan of Christmas – I have a Christmas sweater and a Christmas hat in my backpack!

“We can’t wait to get inside – it looks amazing. That was 50 percent of the reasons to come here!”

Fernando, 54, who lives in nearby Paddington, passes Winter Wonderland every day on his way to work.

He has lived in London for five years since moving from his native Portugal.

He said: “I’m really glad he’s back – it’s great to see every year. This fair is fantastic.

“I’ve only been inside once, in 2019, but I think a lot of people come here – locals and foreigners. I have a positive feeling about this.”

A local who drove past the venue this morning also said he loved seeing the show come to Hyde Park every year.

He said: “It’s actually amazing. What I do is bring my grandchildren here.

“They love it and so do I!” It’s good to see them on the ice and everything.”

Jamie Lopez traveled from the Mallorca holiday destination with partner Tiffany to enjoy the festive crowds.

He said: “Her cousin told us they were doing it. We would like to see the “Alice and Wonderland” attraction. We’ll check everything else too.

Osman Bado and his partner Linda, from Lebanon, were disappointed to miss the opening day of Winter Wonderland.

She said she would go if she were nearby – after enjoying the event during a visit two years ago.

“I liked it, I will come back here. If I were here today, I would come. I have to leave in ten minutes! We missed it.

“It’s all over Lebanon – anyone who knows London knows about Winter Wonderland.”

Jan and Rosemary Atle came from Norway to share the festive atmosphere.

He said: “We just wanted to create Christmas spirit in another country.

“We needed to visit this place before we left. We know he’s around here somewhere – this is our first time in London.

“We saw Big Ben, the Eye, Buckingham Palace – that’s the next thing. We don’t know how it will compare – we’ll have to say when we come out!”

MailOnline has contacted Winter Wonderland for comment.