Bedgebury is holding a Christmas 'Lapland UK' Experience

[TheDuchessOfNorksBride]

... covering a part of the forest with fake snow, Christmas village, Raymond Briggs 'The Snowman' ride, Father Christmas visit, mulled wine to fortify parents, reindeer, husky dogs, trumpeters and all sorts. I'm soooo excited. Er, for my children, obviously...

It's quite expensive though (I just paid £167 for a family of 5). Here is the link. And here is the itinery.

And it's selling out quite quickly.

It will have been the high winds Lily, which I think are falling back tonight
We had some heavy rain, I would not like to have been queuing in that
A mum from school took her ds last week. They had a pretty good time, not least because for some reason she knew to leg it straight to the small number of inflatable chairs during the "flight".
Queues were a bit annoying - lots of standing around - but her ds liked it and she had plenty of positive memories. The Santa was ACE apparently and everyone seems to like their photos.
We are going the day before you Nicola9, thanks for that interesting post and a very reasoned summary of expectations vs probable reality

I just thought I would write my review of our trip to Lapland UK. We went yesterday and we were very lucky with the weather it was a beautiful day! I have to say we thorougly enjoyed our visit. I had been watching this thread and was very worried. My parents drove a long way to take their grandchildren and I wanted it to be a great day out and it was! So to summarise the good points:

• imo it looks pretty and is very well done. I got a feelung of quality. Too many things in this country are done on the cheap and are tacky. Once you are in (and yes past the awful 'transporter') it is lovely.

• We didn't find it overcrowded at all, well not like I expected it to be. There was plenty of space to move around and enjoy. Yes we had to queue to help the elves and for the gingerbread but it wasn't very long at all.

• the visit to Father Christmas was very special.

I think the main problem with this is that the owners have raised expectations too much. In reality did you really expect your children to be baking gingerbread men? My dd loved decorating them and meeting Mother Christmas. In fact I would say that apart from the 'flight' in the 'transporter' there is actually a lot of attention to detail. The food seemed to be good quality and frankly not that badly priced for a venue of this sort. This type of thing is very dependant upon the atmosphere created, some of the staff were absolutely wonderful, some of them looked like they hated being there. I am not a big fan of the way things are sometimes done in America however I did feel that some of the staff needed an injection of enthusiasm. In summary I would say if you are going to Lapland UK unless you are extremely negative you will have a lovely time.

Message withdrawn

More very positive feedback from someone I know and whose taste and expectations I'd trust. They were there at the weekend and had a lovely time. The dcs, aged 8 and 4, absolutely loved it
Staff friendly, food very good quality if a bit pricy, blind eye being turned to discreet consumption of your own refreshments, umbrellas available, fabulous Santa and friendly "man dressed as Rudolf".
Toilets are classy too apparently
Weak spot does seem to be the Flight it seems

She is very artistic and has very good taste so I am feeling hugely more optimistic about it now Fio
Poor old Tankerton. Not exactly a sheltered location is it...

The children found the invite this morning. They were quite bewildered and didn't quite know what to make of it. They've gone off to school a little bit confused and excited. Perfect!

I think its going to be great!

I was due to go to Lapland UK yesterday, but the event was closed because of the high winds. This I understand; but unfortunately they failed to contact us to tell us it was closed, we found out from our friends who did get a phone call the day before. There was no information on the website, and no change to the answer phone message, and no e-mail.

The staff have been rather offhand today when I did get through, we may be offered another day (not sure how when it is fully booked) or a refund.

I am curious to see what will happen if there are more closures, how will they accomodate everyone? Luckily we hadn't told my 3 year old we were going, but my friend's child is very disappointed.

So I am, I was looking forward to it, although having read previous comments I may be more inclined to get my money back.

that they didn't contact you!

I am really cross about it, I called this morning to make sure they had correct contact details, they have 2 correct numbers and an e-mail address!!
Also that there was no change to the website or the answer message. I'm sure there must have been people who were turned away at the gate. Imagine the poor kids!!

Marina, yes I would agree with your friend. I must admit though that I didn't feel the refreshments, for this type of event, were overpriced. 3 quid for a bacon and egg role seems ok to me, it all looks nice and clean and is cooked fresh.

Chigley 1 - one thing they do seem to be a bit lacking on is information. There were few signs when we arrived and we were told that they had blown down. In fairness to them I think they are really trying to get it right and correcting things that are wrong. I do feel that given the number of people when we were there accomodating extras won't be too much of a problem (unless of course the closures escalate).

Just another thing - try to park in the first car park especially if you have elderly people with you. When we arrived we were directed to the car park further away, it took us longer that 20 mins (my mother is quite elderly and it was quite steep for her) and we nearly missed our flight!

Well, if they do bacon and egg rolls, things are definately looking up!

Have just put together a little gift bag (of treats to a) get them in the car b) detract from the fact they didn't 'fly' home. Santa's going to leave them on their car seats after their visit.

Blimey, I'm so excited I don't think I'm going to sleep tonight. I almost cried when they 'found' their invite!

I'm going so well armed with all the advice on here. Great tip about the car park.

foxy, they also apparently do toothsome hot dogs with proper sausages in them

When do the invites come? We are going on the 15th.. no invite yet...

So are we shiny

Anyone's bollocks in particular Fio? I thought your mad neighbour was a laydee?

Oh lovely Marina Have you got your invite yet

Fio you are just too gross!! "I'll have a bollock burger for my friend Fio please..."

No invite yet shiny

Pop along here would you please Fio?? You have met the child in question..

And the rest of you.. could you pop too... thanking you kindly..