Just in case anyone is thinking about it. DD asked whether this year she might be able to see the REAL Santa - not those ones who are really just his helpers. So we braved Harrods at 5pm on Tuesday night. Queue was less than an hour. Apparently the worst times are weekends (natch), Mondays, and Fridays. Mornings are absolute hell (4-5 hr wait) and the best times are around 6pm on Tues or Wed evenings. They have two Santas (the kids don't know that of course) and helpers in the queue giving out gingerbread and bottled water and lollipops. Santa was very convincing - seemed to know that she was doing well at school and that she was sometimes too much of a chatterbox and that she sometimes has bad moods - which was all pretty standard good guessing but amazed her. Kids get a book as a present. Though I was dreading it, it was actually not too bad. Completely free unless you want to buy the photo - £9.95. Hope this helps someone.