Tickets were gifted in return of this honest review post
Ho ho ho! Things are looking mighty festive at Drusillas Park! This weekend we visited for a family day to get us feeling festive in the run up to Christmas. It might only be the end of November, but Violet is really starting to ‘get’ Christmas this year. She has already started asking to see Father Christmas and keeps telling me she’s spotted the sleigh flying over the house so we decided to surprise her with a visit to the big man himself! I’m not sure who was more excited, me or her! Plus, it’s never too early to get our first dose of festive cheer, right?
The elves have clearly been busy decorating the park as it was looking seriously festive with Christmas trees everywhere, festive baubles, lights, reindeers with a tunnel of fairy lights that guided us to the main Events Arena where the majority of the festivities were taking place.
This year Father Christmas is back in his snowy Christmas Cottage, so when we arrived at the park this was our first stop! The Christmas elves were there to greet us and as we booked our tickets online (a new addition to the booking system which is so handy as there won’t be any long queue/wait times) we were able to go right in! The girls were given a carrot each to carry in and asked to give a big knock on the door to see if Father Christmas was ready for us. Violet at this point went all shy, even though she’s been saying how excited she was about seeing Father Christmas!
Clutching at our legs timidly the girls entered Santa’s Christmas Cottage, peeking out from hiding as we received a big warm welcome from Father Christmas. The idea of presents slowly coaxed them out and they went up and spoke to Father Christmas, staying by our sides at all times! This isn’t quite the reaction I hoped for but last year Violet ran out of the grotto too scared to even speak so we are making an improvement! Father Christmas was so friendly and warm with the girls, he did his very best to put them at ease but they are still very little for such a big experience! We had a few photos with Santa and his elves and they received a present each.
We said our goodbyes and headed outside to the huge Christmas Tree where festive tunes were playing and the smell of mulled wine wafted through the air. The girls couldn’t wait to open their presents and ripped them open to reveal a sweet cuddly penguin! They are so soft and clearly high quality, a really generous gift that they will treasure. Around the park we spotted penguins everywhere as all the children met Santa, he must have been so busy that morning!
Outside Santa’s Christmas Cottage we had a ride on the sleigh and stroked the reindeers, then headed into the Husky Ice Cave. The girls are both huge fans of dogs (especially Pearl who seems to just have such a sweet connection to dogs, even at her young age) so they were excited about meeting the Huskies. The Husky Ice Cave was smaller than I expected but girls seemed impressed by the soft, sweet huskies which were very gentle and good natured. They were happy to be stroked, petted and even gave Pearl a huge lick on the face!
We stopped for a break and scoffed a tasty warm mince pie, now it feels like Christmas! Honestly it was SO good and will be the first of many this season I’m sure! The girls were soon ready to carry on exploring so we went on their favourite rides – the safari train, the flying cheetahs and the Rainforest carousel before heading into the zoo to spot all the animals too!
We had such a fabulous day, the girls were entertained for hours, especially Violet who was in her absolute element – even though she seemed timid at her visit to Father Christmas all she did was talk about how happy she was that she’d met him and that he was bringing her a chocolate bar! Pearl loved dancing to the Christmas tunes and meeting the huskies but was exhausted towards the end, she’d run around so much! It was so much fun to kick-start the festive season at Drusillas Park, I came home feeling so festive I nearly put my tree up!
Father Christmas is visiting Drusillas Park every weekend from 23rd November 2019 and then daily from 14th – 23rd December 2019, you can pre-book tickets to see him at the Drusillas website.
We love Drusillas Park and have been many times! Read more about our trips in the following posts:
Sneak peek at the new Rainforest Carousel at Drusillas Park
A Family Day Out at Drusillas Park
Our Britax Stroller Review ( photos and review at Drusillas)
Day out to Drusillas Youtube Video
Tickets were gifted in return of this honest review post
