Aesthetically this is nice, especially at night: glittering reeling rides surrounded by high-rises and malls and the rushing road. But it's very overpriced. 50 baht gets you in, and then you buy non-refundable tokens like oversized bronze coins at 25 baht each; most of the rides that adults can go on are four tokens, so 100 baht, per ride (my friends and I very much wanted to go on the teacups and creepy-faced caterpillar train, but alas, only kids were allowed). The ferris wheel (again, beautiful, carriages like tiny hot-air balloons, peppermint-striped) was fun and gave a good view of the whole carnival and the rides - which could have been a wonderful fairy tale of a place, with its old-school rides, if only there were some crowds and stalls selling hot food. I also went on the flying swings, which were worth the three tokens for the wheeling cityscape view. We spent the last of our tokens on the win-a-giant-Disney-animal games, seemingly designed to be impossible to win - the least difficult involved using a light leather ball to knock heavy metal cans off a stand with a rim.
The verdict: quite fun, though if it was cheaper there would be more people and hence more atmosphere. The Loy Krathong fair at Wat Saket is far better value, with ten-baht attractions and a tiny ferris wheel that takes you round and round forever, and you can hardly move for food and atmosphere - but you'll have to wait till November for that.
Getting there: walk down Ploenchit road from Central Chidlom or Chidlom station, find the lights and music...
Next up: Chinese New Year festivities on Yaowarat Road
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