Santa's Village Part 1 - Rides and Reindeer

In the middle of nowhere, on Rt. 2, Jefferson, NH is every child's dream come true. 

Every time we travel to Gramma and Grampa's house in Maine, we drive right past Santa's Village and I've been promising the kids for years that we would go there sometime. I have vague memories of going there with my own parents and have been looking forward to reliving those memories ever since Wayne was born. Wes and I figured that this summer should be the year we finally make it happen because Heather is old enough to enjoy it and soon Wayne will actually be too old. So on Thursday, with the sun giving its blessing and the White Mountains on our horizon, we made the one hour drive to Santa's Village.  Here are the looks on Heather and Cole's faces as we drove in the parking lot.

We arrived at 11:30 a.m. and the parking lot was packed tight.  We had to park way in the back of the second parking lot across the road.  Wes let out a groan when we saw how many cars and people there were.  I braced myself for the ordeal of pushing through crowds and waiting in lines with 3 young kids.  But I could see that Wayne, Cole, and Heather were filled with anticipation and raring to go, so I prepared myself to grin and bear it.

We stopped for a photo op in the sleigh before the entrance. Cole looks pretty excited here, but I had to pry him away from his obsessive bike riding before we left.

When we got inside, I was happily surprised to find that yes, there were lots of people everywhere, but apparently Santa's Village is large enough to accommodate huge numbers of people without feeling at all overcrowded or congested.  Pleasant Christmas music is piped throughout the park, reminding me of the scenes from "The Polar Express" where the kids are celebrating in the city at the North Pole.

Another photo op of my little cupcake in a cupcake.

Like I said, I have only vague memories, so I wasn't sure what to expect.  We started to just wander around the roads. The kids really wanted to hit some rides, so that's what we started looking for. Along the way, we came to the "Reindeer Rendezvous," a stable where you can pet and feed the reindeer.  This was a big hit.

I think this old guy is the grandaddy of all reindeer.

One of the first rides we chose was called The Skyway Sleigh. Wes is taking the picture, Heather and Cole are between Wayne and me. It took us on a nice, slow (but sometimes very high) ride throughout some of the park. It turned out to be a good way to discover where some things were located.  It was fun to look down and wave at people.

Loopin' Louie's Flying School - as the ride goes around, you control how high or low you go by pushing or pulling on the bar.  Heather and I also went on this ride.

The Little Drummer Boy - spinning drums.

Bumper cars - one of Wayne's favorites.

Cole, happy to finally be old enough to go on some of these fun rides by himself.

I was in a bumper car with Heather. She was driving and refused to let me help. She kept crashing us into the wall.

While we were all on the bumper cars, Wes had made the long journey  to the back of the second parking, lot across the street, to get our cooler for a picnic lunch.  Santa's Village has plenty of places to buy food, but at $25 a head to get in (except for Heather who got in free for being under 4 - another good reason we didn't wait until next year) we didn't want to spend any more on food.  By the way, that price covers all rides and activities for the whole day.  The only other thing I spent money on was batteries for my camera, which actually cost LESS than in the real world. 

After lunch, yet another photo op with a giant snowman.

A ride called The Great Humbug Adventure.  As you go through this building, you have to zap all the humbugs on the walls to make them smile. Each car keeps a digital score and whoever gets the high score for that ride gets a candy cane for a prize. None of us were the high scorers.

At Santa's Village, many of Santa's Helpers seem to be either older retired folks, or young high school/college kids, all trained to the hilt in jolliness, friendliness, and helpfuness.  This Helper points to a Humbug mounted on the wall to show Heather and Wes how to zap them with the laser guns.

I love Heather's face in this photo as she ride the Christmas Carousel. Wayne and Cole enjoyed it too.

When we first walked into the park, I saw this pretty little train, the Jinglebell Express, go chugging by and decided that it was one of the things I wanted most to ride. It plays bell-like Christmas music as it goes along.  It took us a while to find the "train station" to get on, but the ride turned out to be another good way to explore the park.  By the way, the Jinglebell Express Station is also a coffee shop. Cute, huh?

Wayne, Heather, and I sat behind Wes and Cole.

Not a great shot, but as we passed, I tried to get a pic of the Three Wise Men at the manger.

And that my friends, is all I have the stamina to post for today.  Stay tuned in the near future for Part 2 of our Santa's Village visit.  I think I'll call it, "Making a Splash."