Summary of things to do for Wintersday

I've never cared too much about PvE but seeing the hype about Wintersday makes me want to try it out. Could anyone give like a summary of what I can do for Wintersday, especially stuff that can be soloed, since I don't have friends in GW2 (not PvE anyway)?

If it's the first time you participate, I suggest you to give a look at the usual Dulfy. (mainly for the achievements)The activities are: the Winterland wonderland (jumping puzzle), Bell choir (musical), Snowball mayhem (pvp), Toypocalypse ("dungeon") and this year the Secret Lair of the Snowmen ("raid"). Apart from the latter, you can join any activity as solo player (for the Toypocalypse, the game will fill the party with other 4 players). For the Secret Lair, it's better to look at the LFG, but it's quite easy and you can complete all the 4 achievements in just 1 run.

The achievements can give you an idea of what's available and the Wiki has more detail: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/A_Very_Merry_Wintersday

But basically it's a series of mini games:

• Tixx's Infiniarium - dungeon/group mini games - functionally it's a dungeon but the combat is very basic. Mostly you're doing mini games in Tixx's airship, like using a paint gun to spray paint toy dolls and collecting items from around the map, or defending a spot from the toys.
• Winter Wonderland - jumping puzzle - there's a time limit and in the first half the platforms vanish if you stand on them too long, but the route is fairly obvious.
• Bell Choir - or as I call it Bell Hero - it's a music game, you use the 1-4 and 6-9 skills to play a tune on a bell by matching the colours/lanes on the board in front of you, if you've ever played Guitar Hero or Rock Band or any of those its the same idea.
• Toypocalypse - Tower defense game - smash objects in Tixx's Infiniarium to get scraps and snow to build toy weapons to defend 5 dolyaks from attacking toys.
• Snowball Mayhem - PvP with special snowball throwing skills. You're fighting over presents which you bring back to your base to get points.
• Donation Drive - Donate gold/items to Ho-Ho-Tron then defend the dolyak carrying them from skritt.
• Race - Like all the other races, get on a mount of your choice or go on foot and follow the glowing gates around Divinity's Reach.
• Orphan presents - Make a present by speaking to the festival vendor, then find an orphan to give it to for karma.
• Secret Lair of the Snowmen - Officially it's a raid but it's more like a 10-man Fractal. You fight some snowmen and a boss (who is also a snowman) using your skills and throwing snowballs with the special action key.

The jumping puzzle, bell choir, donation drive, race and making presents for orphans can all be done solo (you won't be alone of course but you don't actually need to work with anyone else). Toypocalypse and Snowball Mayhem will put you into a team automatically and don't need much communication to succeed.

The only real group activities are the Infiniarium and Secret Lair of the Snowmen but both are very simple and can be done by almost anyone. You should be able to find groups for both in the LFG tool - check the new festival section - and most groups should accept anyone, because it doesn't matter what profession or build you're using.