Santa Land Earls Court

[patjoseb]

Has anyone been to Santa Land yet? Have booked to go in a few weeks for my sons birthday, anyone recommend it?

can't help on earl's court, but canary wharf is v child friendly at the mo. Santa arrives this weekend, there is an ice skating rink, loads of nice shops, all totally pram friendly/baby friendly. loads of parking etc. Massive John Lewis's and big Baby Gap. we are always down here.

Went to Santaland at the weekend. Sorry to disappoint you but I think it's a bit of a rip-off. You only get an hour (or in our case 50 minutes) in the actual Santaland bit itself and that's just not enough time for the kids to go on all the rides they want to go on. There were just too many people there and the things the kids really wanted to go on, ie the toboggan slide and the train, were just out of the question when we saw the size of the queue. I also wasn't happy to find that having spent £40 on tickets I had to spend another fiver for the photo of my son with Santa. Having said all that my son said he had a great time so it may be churlish to complain.

revolver I am taking DD just aged 3 on sunday. Do you have any tips to make best use of our time there?

Oh dear, we are going on Monday with my 2 dd's, dh, nanny and sister in law. Doesnt sound good about the time, on the website it gives you the impression that you get 2 1/2 to 3 hours, so I guess 1 hour for the important stuff and the rest on shopping!. I was hoping that it wasnt going to be another event like Thomas at Hatfield House, perhaps not so bad but doesnt sound good.

I think a lot may depend on when you're going. Jenkel, I think you've made the right choice by going on a weekday when it's bound to be less busy as most children over 4 yo will be at school.

Also, the time you go is important. Our allotted time was 15:45 but people who go at the start of the day won't have the same problems that we had as there won't be anybody else already there.

As well as the website, the people on the ticketline also give the impression that you get 2-3 hours in Santaland. It's either a tissue of lies or they're badly informed!

My advice is, if the place is packed then just look for the things that have the shortest queues. In our case this was the film show, the bouncy castle and the merry-go-round. Actually the bouncy castle did have a queue but it moved very quickly.

The things that look best are the toboggan slide and the train. My ds wanted to go on these but even he agreed that it would take too long to queue and he didn't seem bothered once he'd been on the other things and seen Santa.

I'm not sure but the slide may be too hazardous for a 3 yo.

Hope this helps and I hope you all have a good time. Your children will enjoy it I'm sure.

Thanks Revolver, we are going at 1.30 on Monday and have a 3 year old and 19 month old. I'll take your advice, pity it wasnt such a wonderful experience for you as its not a cheap day out.

Ok, well we went to SantaLand at 1.30 today (Mon) with a 3 1/2 year old and a 2 year old and I was a bit dissapointed. The way I would describe it was a n expensive fun fair. Had quite a long queue to get into see Santa and after a long car journey we had two very irritable little girls who didnt want to stand in a queue. This is the first bit so to get into the main events bit you have to queue, by the time they got into see Santa they were screaming. The main bit had a few fair ground rides in, a slide with snow which had a huge queue and looked to be a little too rough, a helter skelter and a train ride, the train ride was probably the best bit and a show of some desciption. On the way out they had a large bouncy castle and that was the biggest hit of the day. It wasnt total rubbish but wasnt anywhere near as good as I expected it to be, certainly wouldnt go next year if they had the same event. Hopefully if anybody else is going they will have a better experience than us.

I went on friday with kids aged 2,4,4. The 4 year olds loved it. My 2 yr old was a bit scared but calmed down after a couple of rides. The whole thing was very very expensive as you basically went into a big exhibition centre with a load of rides in. It's not really for children over 5. The whole day was good but it wasn't a patch on the Santaland that I visited a few years ago at wembley.

UCM - I went on Friday too, with dd who is almost 5. We arrived around 1.30, and stayed until about 5. It was not very crowded, and that probably made a huge difference. DD was able to ride whatever she wanted several times with minimal wait. She did the tobaggan (sp?) only once, because it was a bit too rough for her - but she loved everything else. I saw some older kids, and thought they looked bored, but felt it was perfect for dd's age group. It also was a fairly quick process to see Santa.

Must say that we spent no time in the entry area with booths, other than to go to the bouncy castle. Glad we did it as it was a fun afternoon, but not sure it will be a repeat activity for future.

We got there at 1pm. I probably saw you. It wasn't busy at all was it?

We didn't do the booths really, just a cursory wander through. I thought it was good but very dear.

Funny to think we probably wandered past each other clutching a fistful of "magic ribbons"!

Agree, it was dear. Can't imagine going with a large family.

Well now you know what we paid for, those bloody ribbons which were rather plush from an Arts & Crafts point of view. We stayed until about 4.30 as well. The kids loved it. I paid 2.50 for a bottle of diluted orange juice!!!! Definitely won't be going again. I would rather do Finland in January when it's cheap really.

Mind you, I was most impressed with the magic ribbon eater at the end. Was trying to work out how it worked.

Yes, I thought the "magic ribbon eater" was probably some form of huge hoover!