santa experience

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Can people please recommend/ their favourite santa experience for kids, (preferably in or around Dublin).

My son is 3 and baby is 1. We went to the ambassador last year, it was grand but looking more for a day out. I can't remember what price it was or the present either! But it was nothing amazing and very dark and cold in there. Santa was nice and photos were good.

So what do you recommend? If unlike me you know prices, quality of present etc.. please include.
Thanks.

yellow hen

Deborah Fit Subway wrote: »

Can people please recommend/ their favourite santa experience for kids, (preferably in or around Dublin).

My son is 3 and baby is 1. We went to the ambassador last year, it was grand but looking more for a day out. I can't remember what price it was or the present either! But it was nothing amazing and very dark and cold in there. Santa was nice and photos were good.

So what do you recommend? If unlike me you know prices, quality of present etc.. please include.
Thanks.

An hour from Dublin but mount Juliet in kk are going a Santa train etc and I've heard it's meant to be excellent. No first hand experience though sorry!

monflat

Castlecomer discovery park.
A fantastic place check it out on web. Its local to me and they are running a santa train and other things.

Either rathwood near tullow

uck51js9zml2yt

Zoo has Santa at weekend. €8 for members. Vist, photo and zoo related presents.
It's up near the family farm.

xzanti

We took our 3 year old to Lullymore today.. Best Santa experience I've seen my a mile..

Big effort put into it and they have the best looking Santa I've ever seen! Also there's no professional picture taken, so you are free to snap away while your child is on his lap, which is much better imho!

Really good value for money!

It's €18 per child and one parent goes free.. each subsequent adult is €9.

For that you get:
Admission to the petting farm and heritage museum
Admission on the road train (tour of the bog and cranóg site)
Admission to the indoor play centre (ball pit, slides etc)
Admission to the Elf Show with artificial snow shower (foam)
Admission to see Santa
A gift from the Elves workshop (We got a coloring book, a toy truck and a jigsaw puzzle.. all fairly decent quality too)

Staff are all very involved and look to be enjoying themselves.. which makes a big difference imo.

2 thumbs up from us.

Hannibal Smith

We just do hamleys. Id love to go to tge hidden valley thing in Wick low but charging for adults too pushes it over anything I'd be willing to pay

uck51js9zml2yt

went. to the zoo yesterday. €9 or €8 or members. magician while waiting and then Santa in a room on our own. spent about 10 minutes and had photo and a present. photo is a key ring with optio. to buy more. overall it wasnt bad.

C.O.Y.B.I.B

Went to Newbridge House today . €17 for 5 and 2 year old with Adults free . Included quick tour of the house with rooms decorated and visit to Santa with present. Also included entry to the Farm afterwards. Staff very good and Santa very warm and friendly. Take your own pics , with Elf on hand for full family pic. Great value considering some f the prices out there.

dollybird2

Hamleys in Dundrum is a nice experience for visiting Santa with kids.

I know it's ages from Dublin but the Ailwee Caves in Clare is the most amazing Santa experience I have ever had to date. Could be an idea for a mini break next year

NickyL

I've heard that the DSPCA Santa experience is very good.

scarlet_mandy

DSPCA Santa experience is good, took my niece last Sunday she loved it! The kids get a story then Santa comes in to chat with them. Each kid gets a stuffed animal as a present and you can then choose to buy the photo at reception. There is also a little canteen area where you get free coffee/tea for adults and hot choc for kids. Plus all the dogs that are wandering around had tiny Xmas jumpers on them which was adorable The elves I must say are great too, volunteers I think and so friendly and chatty with the kids, not forced at all!

santa13

We went to rathwood santa. Nice train And one of the elves a young fella robin ! Very good but otherwise nothing special and a bit of a rip off. Really you just go on the train for about 3 mins then 2 min walk to Santa's house see santa for 2 mins back on the train then they drop you off at a carnival ride and they them want more money off you this really annoyed everyone. Then picture more money you are told there is hot chocolate but nobody got it. Bit of a rip off nightmare to find better Santa's In dublin. Sorry rathwood you are making a fortune and ripping people off as presents are also cheap crap

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I see a few more threads on same topic, I wonder mods if they could be merged please?

I like the sound of lullymore, I might go there next week, once they get over this horrible tummy bug.

My friend brought her two to rathwood, she was a bit disappointed with the set up also, but the kids enjoyed it.

tomred1

Went to Clery's. Queued for hour and half, enough though there were only 12 kids in the line.
The workshop is great but Santa was disappointing, no engagement form him with the child, just sat there.
The setup is wrong, when a child is with Santa the next child should be shown around the Workshop, instead of Santa sitting there waiting for the child to be shown around the workshop by the Elves.
Cost €15 for Picture and Toy. They were fine.

Lola92

I was in Glenroe farm today (Kilcoole in Wicklow) and I thought it was very good. We went in a large group but afaik it is €15 per child which would include present and entry to the farm. The kids are also given a bag of food going in that they can feed the reindeer. Santa was good, engaged well with the kids and very patient if some were nervous etc. Presents were also decent enough, ours were all under 5 but nice puzzles, big cars etc. The kids loved being able to go in and tell Santa they were feeding the reindeer. Playground there is fab too.

Red6

Hi
I have wanted to take my two children to see Santa at the Ailwee Caves for the last four years because I had heard great things about it but 2-3 years ago you had to book it months in advance, non-refundable and it was always an additional expensive expense at that time of year that I couldn't afford. I rang today (13 December 2013) and booked visit for next Thursday. 33 Euros per child and 15 Euros per adult. If you say you have a Dunnes Stores voucher for a 10% discount, they just discount this from your total price. I saw this advertisent for a 10% discount on the back of one of my till receipts from Dunnes Stores in Ennis from a few months ago. When I mentioned Dunnes Stores 10% discount, the person I was making the booking with said that was fine. No questions. 10% was just taken off straight away which was great. The staff are really nice and friendly. I can't wait. Hopefully my two lovely daughters will love it.

FunkSoulSista

Went to Arnotts on Wednesday with my 1 year old, highly recommend it, lovely Santa with real beard. He didn't have to do all the bells and whistles with us but sang songs and chatted away. €10 for 2 photos, we got a lovely Christmas decoration too. We were there for about 10:30 and queued for about 45 mins. They had big bean bags, a film on and you could write a letter to Santa while waiting.

skit490

whats queue like in dudrum. n going wit 1 yr old.

Hannibal Smith wrote: »

We just do hamleys. Id love to go to tge hidden valley thing in Wick low but charging for adults too pushes it over anything I'd be willing to pay

foodaholic

+ 1 for arnotts santa - really great with the kids

Moonbeam

skit490 wrote: »

whats queue like in dudrum. n going wit 1 yr old.

There was none Thursday @about 1.