Hi Della - we did think about going but decided to wait and see how it goes this year since its the first time its been staged - so will be looking forward to your comments

I thought it was just about sold out? So it can't be that bad can it? People are always ready to moan about things....I expect it's a crush for adults but the kids will love it!

Hope you enjoy yourselves tomorrow

We went to winter wonderland at the dome a couple of years ago and enjoyed that so gave santaland a go this year. We all found it dissapointing. Its described as a story your kids help find magic ribbons for santa. When you enter you go through a magic mine - nothing magical happens though then you wait at a big door expectantly entering santa land. When the door open you see a small fairground. you then queue to enter santas house which is very boring one set of girls checking the letters some sacks but nothing else. Then you get to see the man himself who was some young tiny latin/italian guy who really was awful. my daughter who is four got a present which was a carrier bag containg a spiderman colouring book and spiderman sticker book - cause she hates spiderman! They wouldnt change it! Atfer that you enter an area with about seven rides all really for very young children. The snow slide is so badly organised thats why the waits are long. As for collecting the ribbons you get them when you go on a ride. Not very magical i thought the idea was to collect them by doing something! You are given a number of tokens for the rides then once their gone thats it. the theatre about naughty norman is such a waste its a six min film with ads! All in all its was ok but i would not go again how they spent so much money and not get it right ill never no.

sorry but i hope you all have a good time.

Oh Della what a shame, it sounds really tacky.

If it had been a school fete or something, you would expect it, but for a top venue and all that advertising, I thought it really would have been good.

It's not fair to rip parents off and make the kids disillusioned.

What a shame - I really thought that being at such a prestige venue it was going to be something special
Well I am very glad now we didnt bother as we were going to make the trip from cornwall
Thanks for your report Della - and sorry you had a bit of a wash out

We went on Sat 10th - extremely excited as the website really hypes it up. Very very disappointed indeed. For the money that was supposedly spent on it it could have been so much better. The rides that were there were ok if you wanted to stand in a queue for ages. My husband and 3 year old daughter queued for 45 minutes for the helter skelter, and the snow slide queue was an hour and a half. Food was very expensive, the merchandise very expensive and the christmas market was a joke.
All in all a very disappointing experience - not the ultimate experience expected.
There is a feedback form on the santaland website - please fill it in.

Oh dear what a let down,as a family of four we paid over £60 for this,and for what,school hall entertainment at champagne prices.Over priced food £3+ for a sandwich and not much else on offer,the christmas market was a sham,selling stuff you'd be likely to find on the shopping channels on the TV.Now then back to the entertainment!!you go in through some made up magical envioronment that really only very small children would like,you wait in line to see the big cheese himself,get a photo with him and he gives out presents,but...get this,when you come out you can BUY...yes..BUY the photo that you had done..mmm£60 entry and then paying for a computer generated pic,something smells of wool...or is it fleece.The rides that are on offer are nothing beter than you could find on any high street this time of year,and the sled rides are very poorly organised,i mean we had a long wait in line and we went mid-week,so all in all not a brilliant day out,i know its for the kids but why such an expensive entry fee.Once again its exploitation on a xmas theme.Would 'nt recommend!!!

they did something similar a few years back (cant think of the venue, maybe Wembley) that we went to - think it was called Santaland - but that was disappointing and sounds very similar to what people have described at Earls Court so we will not be going.

i went to santa land yesterday with my family & found it rather disapointing, i went with a friend & our children, their ages varied & when we went to see santa, despite paying for each child the 4 older children had to share a pressie, it was only after did we realise..the pressie was only a colouring & sticker book but thats not the point.we should have been entitled to a pressie each..the wait for santa was no fun either, much more could of been made of it...the staff didnt seem that they really wanted to be there & it was so noticeable..on the santaland website it says that all the rides are free, but forget to mention that they are only free until the 6 tokens are used up, which does not take long. the naughty knome show was only 5 minutes, still it gave us a chance to sit down as no seats around.

we would not go again.

Daughter took my grand daughter there yesterday, £ 15 to park car for less than 5 hours, 2 hot dogs 1 coke and 1 bottle of water nearly £9. How do these people get away with it, or are we mugs paying for it, should not be allowed

Another Christmas money maker by the sounds of things.

I went to a local manor house yesterday [Tredegar House in South Wales]. Free parking, cost £25 for a family ticket for two adults and two children, included in that price was a train ride upto the manor house, a visit to Santa for the children with very nice gifts and a really lovely Santa, a tour of the house with all the staff in costume including a very scary Scrooge, we stirred the Christmas pudding and made a wish. Also included in the price was a mince pie or choclate log and mulled wine or soft drink. The house was decorated beautifully and they were singing carols around the piano. A really afternoon.

Sarah

Now I think thats pretty good value for the money, when you consider it also cost my daughter £ 43 for two adults and a child of 20 months at Santa Land.

Sorry to disagree but we went on Saturday 17th there was 2 adults & 1 6 year old who totally believes in Santa. It cost us £65.00, ok the pressie from Santa wasnt upto much but we enjoyed the trip. We were there 3 hours in all. The longest que was 25 mins for the Ring-o-ing which my hubby & son both enjoyed. The Santa was a great large jolly man just as Santa should be.
Must admit the Christmas Market wasnt worth while, i dont particular want to see irons on a day to santaland, somehow doesnt ring the right bells!!
Most of the goods were just everyday things, would of liked to see more christmas stuff and pressies.
But on the whole we enjoyed the day.

Did not say they didn't enjoy it, just didn't enjoy getting ripped off. They got some really good video of my grand daughter running around.

went on monday 12/12 for sons birthday
travelled from newcastle upon tyne nothing like the website
and completely overpriced !! food and drink there was a rip off
we have metro land in the metro centre which is 100 times better
and free to go
think they must have stopped the tokens though as we didnt get
any and the kids went on everything as many times as they liked.
the kids 3 and 7 enjoyed it but as i say was overhyped on website
and overpriced

Went on 21st December. Travelled from Cardiff.

Whilst the experience was "OK", I can only agree that the website does not describe the occasion adequately. In fact, I am amazed no one has sued them under the trade description act. It was over priced and under delivered. My 5 year old enjoyed himself, but it was not worth the money and didn't deserve all the hype. Personally, was very disappointed.

They were still using tokes, and we were able to get more when they ran out. We saw Santa first, so perhaps they changed the order of things mid way thorugh December following some negative comments on delays???

I do feel conned, and note that I was not the only one!

In short, this was nothing better than I could have gone to in Cardiff at a fraction of the price.

We went to The Blizzard Funland at The Millenium Stadium.

What a load of rubbish.
I'm just glad we didn't have to travel too far to get to it.

I wrote and complained after our trip to Santa land in December - I haven't yet received a reply from the organisation concerned.

Has anyone had any luck with their complaint?

We visited Santaland this past Christmas. My family are normally easily pleased but, this was pants! Absolutely atrocious. It reminded us of Craggy Island Fair &, I think that was the only fun we had all day; mocking it.

We were miffed that we travelled from Kent. I feel so bad for any of you guys that had to travel from further afield.

We're not made of money. This was a big thing for us & my daughter was psyched & ready to go. She made the most of it when we got in there but, you could tell she was crushed. Even at 7 she knows pants when she sees it. Thank heavens we didn't have to rely on tokens &, it wasn't too busy or I think I would have screamed.

The only plus was the staff who obviously realised people were getting ripped off & gave us a few freebies.