A "magical" month-long Christmas event is coming to Basildon's popular Festival Leisure Park with a host of family favourite rides including the Waltzer, dodgems and the Twister.

The Christmas Corner will be open outside the front of the park from December 8, and will be host to a variety of games and rides, including the famous funfair rides as well as bungee trampolines and more.

Matthew Chambers, centre manager at Festival Leisure Park, commented “We’re kicking off Christmas in a big way this December, with the arrival of our magical Christmas Corner.

“Come along and soak up the festivities over a tasty hot drink or delicious treats, and take a trip on our rides if you’re feeling ready for some real fun. 

“Our corner is the perfect way to start or finish up a jam packed day out here at Festival Leisure Park, we can’t wait to welcome you.”

Visitors to the park are encouraged to stop by and enjoy the winter magic, with tokens available for £1.20 or 10 for £10, and leaflets of bonus tokens up for grabs within the wide variety of restaurants and leisure facilities at the park. Thursday will also see all rides be just two tokens each.

There will also be pop-up appearances from charities inside the Atrium for the chance to chat about projects in the area for a variety of causes.

The Christmas Corner will be open on weekdays from 4.30pm until late, and on weekends from 1pm until late. 

The hours will extend from December 18 to be open everyday from 1pm until late, finishing on January 7.

The month-long festivities comes alongside several accompanying Christmas events at Festival Leisure Park including a joint Christmas Artisan and Wellbeing Fair on Sunday, December 10, an appearance from Elves Behavin’ Badly on Saturday, December 16 and even an appareance from Santa’s reindeer on Sunday, December 17.