Watch: I take in the best of Winterland Wolverhampton, including a wild ride on the waltzer

As the festive season begins to fully kick into gear ahead of Christmas and New Years, towns and cities across the region have worked to put on attractions to bring in the crowds.

The Frankfurt German Market in Birmingham has been a leading attraction over the years, bringing thousands of visitors to the city every year, but other parts of the West Midlands have looked at how they can bring people in by providing a bit of fun for all the family.

Where I live in Wolverhampton, there have been numerous attempts at attractions around Christmas, from a Hungarian market to a few winter-themed attractions, but nothing I would call a showstopping event.

This year, however, the Winterland Wolverhampton attraction on Old Market Square might be the one which works.

Set on the site of the former Wolverhampton market, Winterland is the creation of the Harry Jones Fun Fair Company and is based on the Market Square, which is used for all types of events, throughout the festive period.

It started at the end of November and is not hard to miss, with bright lights and tall rides clearly visible as you pass by on the Wolverhampton Ring Road, head up School Street or pass by it on the way towards the Mander Centre.

The whole area is surrounded by a large fence, with one port of entry on Salop Street, but the event itself is free to enter and is being promoted by organisers as a place where you can bring the family and walk around and not necessarily spend a penny if you don't want to.

On entry, the area is very well lit up and very noisy from the different rides taking place around the large complex, but one area of quiet can be found at the front entrance where Santa Claus is waiting to meet children and find out what they want for Christmas.

The rides are all set on a token system, with each token costing £1.20 each or 10 for £10, and the faster, louder and more adrenaline-pumping the ride, the more tokens you'll have to hand over.

There are some daintier ones involving tea cups and trampolines, or you get on the rollercoaster that goes up, down, around and around for three laps. I gave it a try for three tokens and was pleasantly surprised to find that I could actually fit into one of the cars, which had reindeer at the front (a year ago, not so much).

It was actually a lot faster than I expected, moving quickly around the two level, figure of eight circuit and coming with a number of dips and dives.

I hadn't been on a rollercoaster for a while and that seemed like a zippier start that I anticipated.