We are booked it to go on the 16th Dec and want to make sure its worth making the effort! My youngest is 7 months so if its crap we will go nearer to home!

We went yesterday. I wanted to go to a one that was a bit of an effort to get to so that she knew that she had been to see the real Santa. As far as I could work out there were a few Santas in different rooms. No chance of seeing more that one though. There was a fairy and captain hook to talk to in the line. Lots of lovely staff who knew how to talk to children.

Santa was lovely. He was in a little room with a sofa for the children to sit next to him. He made some small talk ans asked them what they wanted for Christmas and told them that he couldn't make any promises but that hew would see what he could do.

I went with a 2,3,4 and 5 year old and they all had a lovely time.

I am going soon - did you have to wait long?

We're going on the 19th - can't wait!
Did you buy photos - how much were they?

photos were quite cheap last year: 3 6x4 photos in lovely Christmasy harrods cardboard frames for about £12?

We went of Saturday - had to queue for about 1/2hr. Our Santa wasn't that hot on talking to the children he seemed to prefer talking to us adults. But the dc weren't that bothered. We had Mrs Christmas and The Fairy Godmother chatting in the queue for a couple of minutes. The children are given The Snowman sticker book, a big chocolate coin and a badge (the adults get given the badges too!). We paid £9.95 for 1 photograph.

We also had 2 girls in front of us who looked like they were in their mid 20's queue up to see Father Christmas which I thought was bizarre, at first we thought they were with a little boy and his grandmother but no they were on their own with no children!

Sounds like it should be good then. 3 photos for £12 is good - excellent prezzies for the grandparents, eh?

Good thing is we are going when most are still at school so hoping not too much of a wait is it like a different world when you que only last year we went to Selfridges and you sent into a winter wonderland and on a train there father christmas was fantastic dont know if we should go there again instead ohhh

We went in November and really enjoyed it, we queued for about 10-15 mins but the characters were dancing and there were things to look at so even my impatient 5 year old didnt complain !

Santa was lovely and spent a long time talking to the children.

We bought 1 large photo and 4 small for £20. they will make lovely Christmas pressies.

We really enjoyed looking around Harrods at the toys and the Christmas department and all the expensive things !

We went last weekend and it was quite good. My girls loved it and the santa was much better than last years. They got a father christmas sticker book, a chocolate gold coin and badges for everyone. He showed them a magic key which he uses to enter houses that have no chimney, and he also had a magic glove which lit up if they were good girls. My little one looked worry when he asked her and said it wouldnt turn red if she had been naughty this year

The large photo in a frame was just under a tenner. No pressure to buy them either. A wonderful day out. Enjoy !!

Forgot to say, in the queue we had cinderella, jasmine and aladdin to greet the children. At the end of the visit they get to sign a guest book, which dd1 loved as it made her feel very grown up !!

How long did you have to wait at the weekend, Mapleleaf?

Which day were you there on Mapleleaf? We never got to sign a guest book or had a Santa that showed a magic key or a magic glove - yours sounds better than ours was!!

We went on the 22nd in the morning. We waited around 5 minutes. I imagine it being busier now that its December. The magic key and glove were sweet. Last year we didn't get such a festive Santa. This one was quite jolly and looked like a proper Santa - unlike last years which looked so thin i felt like giving him the chocolate coin

Oh we are going on Sunday. We enjoyed it last year, so making it more of a day out this year. Hope to go to Natural History Museum too!

gutted we were meant to go on mon but dd's got a chest infection so we had to cancel.luckily we hadn't told her about it.will try and go next year

ahhh MB my DS has one too has been off school all week. We are in to go on the 16th so he should be ok by then! we were plannning on going to the Winter Wonderland at Hyde Park after

We are going on the 18th. We are going to try and get one of the limited on the day places at selfridges aswell cos i only just heard about it.

I wouldn't bother with the selfridges one nappyaddict!
I went a couple of weeks ago and it was truely terrible.
I went to Harrods one the year before and I loved it, the kids enjoyed it too! But Selfridges one was really boring. To think we all had to pay for it too.

kid - what was wrong with it? loads of people have said it was good.

It was very busy there, after queuing up, we went in to a little room. The train ride just went round and round in circles.

Santas little helpers were around the train waving at us as we went past. When the train finally stopped going round in circles, we went into a room to meet Santa.

It was advertised as a train ride through the toy shop. I just wasn't expecting to go round in circles about 9 or 10 times.

The kids enjoyed it, but I think the Harrods one last year was much better. Will try and get tickets for that next year.

did the santa have a real beard? I like to see realistic santas.

I can't remember for sure, but I don't think either Santa did (Harrods or Selfridges)
I remember being very nervous as my DS, who is now 6, threatened to pull his beard to see if he was the real Santa or not!