Winterval Santa @ Theatre Royal

Jambo

Has anyone on boards brought their kids to the Winterval Santa?

We want to go back this year if the reports are good, as last year Santa was a bit of fraud (stick thin, and was saying how he was looking fwd to finishing his shift and did the peace sign in the photos and would have been more suited to playing Jim Morrison in the Doors Movie as that is who we think he looked more like)

inlikeflynn86

Jambo wrote: »

Has anyone on boards brought their kids to the Winterval Santa?

We want to go back this year if the reports are good, as last year Santa was a bit of fraud (stick thin, and was saying how he was looking fwd to finishing his shift and did the peace sign in the photos and would have been more suited to playing Jim Morrison in the Doors Movie)

I wish I saw this post before I booked it :-/

I hope hes decent as its our first Christmas photo with the little man.
He better be fat and jolly!

wellboytoo

There are 8 santas afaik

CardBordWindow

wellboytoo wrote: »

There are 8 santas afaik

THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE

wellboytoo

CardBordWindow wrote: »

THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE

It's a phase shift thing!
Alternate universe.
Temporal anomaly.
Its magic.

KevIRL

Ray Collins is Santa on Saturday and Sunday at it. He was great last year and will be again this year

saintchrisburg

There are multiple Santas, so it's a bit of luck as to which one you end up with. The thin one you mentioned is there, and I've spoken with one of the others who much more fits the role of santa. Haven't seen or spoken with any of the others.

Just keep in mind that you need to access the Santa's Grotto through the Theatre Royal, not through the Medieval Museum (no access is allowed down to the Grotto from the museum).

Jambo

saintchrisburg wrote: »

There are multiple Santas, so it's a bit of luck as to which one you end up with. The thin one you mentioned is there, and I've spoken with one of the others who much more fits the role of santa. Haven't seen or spoken with any of the others.

Just keep in mind that you need to access the Santa's Grotto through the Theatre Royal, not through the Medieval Museum (no access is allowed down to the Grotto from the museum).

Thanks for that info , €15.00 is a but much of a risk to take.

Who done the Auditions for the Role ? you would expect when paying a premium rate of €15.00 per child at a premium and well publicised event that you would get a Santa that is suited to the role, Im not on about a real white beard or flowing white hair but a person of build,age and stature that can carry off and fulfil the character of the role to a good degree, not someone whom is simply just dressed in the gear for the occasion.

inlikeflynn86

Are prams/buggies permitted?

0rt

Gino is your man!

saintchrisburg

inlikeflynn86 wrote: »

Are prams/buggies permitted?

Yes, you'll find plenty of people with prams visiting the Grotto...

taytobreath

i brought my little one last year and we had to queue for about 2 hours, it was a sunday afternoon on the 1st weekend of winterval so it was bound to be busy, there is plenty things for the kids to do while stuck in the queue
there were glitches though such as the digital camera taking too long to process the picture, they were going around taking our addresses so they could post the picture to us
prezzies were ok, a hb jigsaw of 1000 pieces, easy for a 5 year old to do.
not worth it in my opinion, we found the santa in morises to be the best, he looked genuine and he was briliiant with the little ones and the presents were original and good,

joni1

Anyone heard anything about the queues this year? Last year was a nightmare, 2.5 hours, kids (and parents) only fit for the bed after it

justbored

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joni1

justbored wrote: »

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That is just ridiculous, expecting little kiddies to wait that long. Think I'll be giving it a miss, I can't understand why this can't be better organised. Anyone any suggestions for other Santas in the area?

inlikeflynn86

We only had a 30 minute wait which wasnt too bad...

The Santa we were brought into was terrible though.

tombliboo83

joni1 wrote: »

That is just ridiculous, expecting little kiddies to wait that long. Think I'll be giving it a miss, I can't understand why this can't be better organised. Anyone any suggestions for other Santas in the area?

Went to winterval santa last year.,.never again! Went to santa in georges court yesterday, 10euro, really friendly guy, two lovely photos and a great quality gift...and only a 10 minute wait

kop77

we were booked in for the 4pm slot on Saturday the 7th, we arrived at 3:45 to que and it was 5:15 by the time it was our turn to see Santa,

we stood in a que for a hour & a half with our children & other parents children getting very agitated with little to entertain them,

when it as our turn to go in my wife voiced here annoyance to the person (elve) who was taking us in to see Santa and her answer was short & sweet "sorry about that" "do ya want to come in or not!"

we did expect a que but this was absolutely ridiculous, we were told that they booked over 50 families per hour which does not make any sense,

while Santa himself was good my 3 year old son got a gift for a 12mth old,


my 9 year old daughter got a gift for a 3 - 4 year old, she was bitterly dissapointed with the whole saga after been waiting so long,

as we were leaving the grotto we had to pass by the people who were behind us in the que and all we could hear was two families having a big arguement about who was next, my children had to listen to this as we were passing and they found it upsetting,

we have been to other Santa Grotto's like Rathwood in the past and the whole setup could only be described as amature at best,

Don't waste your money...... :mad:

MrsMoon

We went to Winterval Santa at the Theatre Royal last year too and decided it wasn't for us again. Looks like the same problems again this year as last year. We queued for 1hr 45mins (which is crazy when it's prebooked!), staff were great a the beginning of the queue but non existent further up, the queue ended on steps which after standing holding my daughter for that long I was constantly being pushed down. When we did get in Santa was very fake looking,we had about 1 min with him, 1 photo not even in a cardboard cut out, I had a 1 year old girl and a 5 year old boy both got the same gift which was apink bobble head minuture figure. It didn't help that I was feeling awful that day either .

In contrast I decided not to prebook any Santa this year and just go when it was convienient. Was in Winterval on Saturday brought the kids to post letters and on the Carousel so stopped into Georges Court. 2 people in queue so we decided to go there, very small wait lollies for kids in queue, lovely girls dressed as elves chatting to kids in queue,very friendly, jolly Santa,2 lovely pictures (in cardboard frames!),2 perfect aged appropriate toys, 2 happy kids and 2 non stressed parents.

It's a pity because I think overall Winterval is amazing, so much to do, relatively inexpensive, lovely atmospere, but as a parent I know a lot of people travel to the Santa experience (Rathwood books out in about 2 hours, Mt Juliet etc) and if I traveled with my kids I'd spend the day in Waterford. If I got the Theatre Royal Santa experience I wouldn't come back I'd go elsewhere instead.

Gortan60

Just out of curiosity, what is the average print size on offer at these Santa "events"? And do you get the print there and then or get it sent on?

justbored

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enniscorthy

mate anyone know whos on today is it the real santa with the real long hair and beard thinking of bringing kids down for a spin oh and is it advance booking only regards brian

Green Hornet

You need to pre-book well in advance. I'd say there's no bookings left for today or next weekend. Your best chance is during the week.

Kracken

we brought our daughter on Thursday, we pre-booked and paid online...

There was a school group ahead of use they managed that very well, when we got into see Santa he was great to our 2 year old girl, a lot of kids that age would cry but he was very calm and kind to her. the staff were lovely and welcoming.

It's far better than the days of queuing in Shaws to see santa, i would happily go back next year.

April1

We bought our kids there today. Stood in line for over a hour. The staff seemed very disorganized. No one seemed to quite know what was going on. Mickey Mouse went on a break and never came back, Mrs Claus changed shift when we arrived - the new Mrs Claus was chatting to person in the line that she seemed to know, and he was calling her by her real name. She seemed to have no interest in the kids that wanted to speak with her. There were much better things for her to look at over the kids heads. Santa was terrible, we only spend about 4 minutes in the little room with him. All in all very disappointing. It was nothing like what I was told it would be when we booked the tickets. They said the whole experience would take a hour - had not idea that meant standing in line for the hour.