However, hundreds of comments from disappointed visitors started to appear on Facebook and Twitter, damning the attraction for not being ready for their excited children. Wild claims were posted about reindeer biting children and the decorations looking anything but festive.
As a parent with tickets purchased for 6 December, I was concerned by the comments made, but equally surprised at the amount of people jumping on the complaining bandwagon and cancelling their tickets simply because of the comments they had read after the opening day. It's incredible how negativity can spread on social media with people being quick to complain, are they as quick to praise I ask?
The following day I woke to read the magical attraction had closed its doors to try and remedy all of the issues which had been raised. Again lots of comments appeared on Facebook criticising the company for the slow response to emails. I was quite shocked by how rude and down right awful some of the comments were. For goodness sake it is Christmas and surely this new attraction deserved an opportunity to put right its wrongs.
My family and I decided we would not cancel our tickets and would go ahead with our day out as planned.
Reassuringly, I have been watching the posts on Facebook over the past few days and to my delight the more positive comments started to roll in. Families were happily sharing their magical and happy photographs - clearly all having a good time.
So our day arrived. Our turn to experience the magic.
On arrival we were greeted with snow covered trees which instantly made it feel special - nothing like a bit of snow to get you in the festive mood. Once inside, our daughter's face lit up when she saw the big Christmas tree, the stilt walker and small stores which kissed the edge of the attraction. The elf who greeted us was very cheerful and made you feel welcome.
As we were early, we sampled a coffee (it would be rude not too) and as we sat down to relax, at the wobbly table, a super magician came over to us to show tricks to the children. He was wonderful and captured their attention for at least 10 minutes before he moved onto entertain another family.
Our slot was here, and we headed over to the entrance to begin our magical journey.
The first room was a Christmas Museum, we all loved this room and enjoyed reading the displays. However, before we had chance to see all the exhibits, a very friendly elf told us it was time to move to the next section. Such a shame not to have another five minutes here as the displays were super.
Here we met the beautiful Mary Christmas, who to be honest the children adored. My daughter loved hearing her story and was clearly involved in the magic of the event, nodding her head at every request Mary made. As we left this section my daughter giggled and said "I thought Santa would have a wife the same age as him - she was very young" and giggled again. I joked and said "perhaps he liked a younger lady". How observant the little ones are.
We then visited the Simon Cowelf's Academy, my daughter loved this section as she along with eight other children got an opportunity to be on the Elf Factor. The elf was funny and entertaining for all the family.
Soon it was time to find Rudi, Santa's smallest reindeer and we boarded the train in search of his furry friend. We moved slowly through the snow covered trees all children happy and excited. Once off the train we met a friendly elf who took our photograph, before moving onto the tepee for hot chocolate and magic tricks. The only criticism I would have here was there were too many people in the tepee and the small children struggled to see the magic tricks on offer, such a shame as he was very entertaining,
The final stage was our favourite, we met a lovely elf who shared with us her magic key tree and the children got to hold the giant key for Buckingham Palace. More photographs were taken here too. We then moved to the final tepee where children's names were added to the good list for Father Christmas. As the children waited in anticipation they were entertained with more magic tricks, which had them all mesmerised.
Soon my daughter's name was called and a wonderful elf collected us to meet Father Christmas. We soon arrived at Santa's house, she slowly opened the door and we entered a room which did not disappoint. A large Christmas tree, cosy setting and the most wonderful Father Christmas I have ever seen. For me this is where the magic was truly delivered.
He spoke with such interest to our daughter and she hung on his every word. She was thrilled he knew she had been good at school and when he handed her his gift her face was priceless. He gave her a fashion designer book - something which she simply adores. He then made her 'pinky promise' to go to bed early on Christmas Eve so he had plenty of time to deliver her gifts. More photographs were taken by the kind elf and she even offered to take ones using our camera too.
We said our goodbyes and went to see the reindeer, with one extremely happy little girl. Seeing the reindeer ended the journey off beautifully and we certainly enjoyed seeing them.
So did we enjoy the trip? Did we feel the magic?
Honestly, yes we did from the moment we arrived. We only came across one grumpy elf who was obviously having a bad day (maybe he needs to go to elf school for grumpy elves), but we won't let this spoil our experience as overall everyone was extremely friendly.
To see our daughter's reaction when she met Father Christmas was priceless and worth every penny. I would certainly recommend the experience to other families. I would add that it is a new venture, so don't expect everything to be completely perfect, if you notice the odd thing which is not right, let it go and see it through the eyes of a child and let the magic fill your soul.
Merry Christmas all x
Mary Christmas
The Simon Elf Academy
Magic Key Tree
Magic Man
Santa's Reindeer
We found Rudi
Beautiful Christmas Tree
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