Best Christmas/Santa experience with young kids

[Sidking]

Thinking forward to next year, not sure whether it worth upping our budget for a better 'experience', or just go back to the garden centre Santa visit.

We've done a few different experiences but all have had something missing...

We've done a mince pie train that stops at the next station to see Santa, the stations were nicely decorated but the train itself was dark, silent and freezing cold, I was expecting the train to be all festive as well as the station

Another Santa experience at a mountain museum place, the walkthrough/Santa visit took only 20 minutes, we had entry to the museum stuff but due to it being outdoors and very icey most of this seemed off limits, and Santa was clearly a younger guy under the beard 😂

We done the winter wonderland at snowdome and this was our favourite, but also the most expensive, and there's no meeting Santa

I've not named the other 2 places as the kids did enjoy the experiences overall and they were absolutely fine for the prices we paid (IMO), so I'm not badmouthing the companies, especially as these Santa things are extras they put on and not what they're necessarily known for.

I think my problem is I've been trying to find a magical, immersive experience on a cheapskate budget. Next year will be my eldest's last year believing I expect, and prime 'omg Santa' age for my youngest so I'm willing to save up a bit more for a really wow experience.

So... What experiences/Christmas days out have been really worth it for you/your kids?

We’ve done Alton towers a couple of times, it’s really beautifully decorated and the Santa experience is well managed, it’s obviously a whole day out and is great if the weather is good. I notice it has gone up in price a lot this year. I’m sure we only paid £25ish in 2020. We also did snowdome last year but after Christmas, so the lack of Santa visit wasn’t a big deal - it’s also a lot cheaper then! This year we went to The sealife centre, we have passes so the visit didn’t cost us anything, Santa was £8 and was really good, pretty sure it was a real beard 😂 and kids could choose a present from the bookcase, they had some nice stuff, all from the gift shop but a good selection, DD chose a little pouch with lots of different sea creatures in.

After a bit of googling both LaplandUk and winter glow at the three counties showground look pretty good. I think if we're going to try and do another experience/day out I really want it to be as immersive as possible, rather than a 'tinsel wrapped around steel fencing' arrangement. Otherwise we might as well save the fuel and see him at the local Dobbies centre