Lapland UK (Kent)

We visited lapland UK 22nd Dec 2015 and sadly was very disappointed. The overall experience lacked any magical feel and didn't live up to the Rolls Royce of Christmas experiences!

There was minimal fake snow, couldn't ice skate as there was so much water on it, couldn't pet the reindeer, the walk way to meet Father Christmas consisted of bumping into other visitors not making the children feel special to be seeing him, extras were over priced and £15 for a photo is completely unnecessary.

The only positives are the personalised invitations sent out in the post and the personal touches during the actual visit to Father Christmas and the staff were all very friendly.

The experience is completely over priced especially that adults pay the same as children. We saved for months to give our children this experience and quite frankly the £380 we paid plus the photo is appalling and I'm so disappointed and a very dissatisfied customer. I would not recommend anyone goes there. I have written to lapland uk complaining more than once and they havent even acknowledged the complaint! Please please dont waste your money.

Really not worth the money. The cost is so expensive and you don't really get what u pay for. The snow is some kind of dry powder and is sparse. It is very much a conveyer belt of families being rushed in and out of whole experience. My 6 year old had a better time at the winter chessington zoo experience which was free with Merlin pass! I didn't take my son this year as feared he was too young. After this experience I definetley won't be taking him as is a rip off. Stick to local grottos and save your money

Overall it was ok but it just didn't really feel magical!!

The place itself is beautiful to look at but it was just missing that edge. It's hard to explain what it was missing but adults left feeling slightly miffed.

There were issues like no where near enough penguins for the ice skating, not being able to hear the elf in the toy factory, cleaning and setting up for the next kids around us in with mother Christmas, meeting the people who had been in with Santa on a small magical path way coming the other direction walking about on their own. All the little things that detract from the whole experience when you feel that you are on a conveyor belt!!

Seeing the glue sticking Sampras beard on around his mouth was really the finally touch to a shoddy money making set-up!!

Don't turn up thinking you will eat lunch there before you go in, there are only snacks outside and the restaurant is inside. Once inside do everything you want because as soon as you go up the path to Santa that is it you are out.

I went with my two daughters and two granddaughters aged 5 and 7. We all had a great time and loved it but we're shocked by the cost of everything on the day, we ordered 5 drinks and 2 hot dogs and it was £32. When you visit Father Christmas you aren't allowed to take photos and they charge £15 each for the ones they take. Father Christmas gives them a husky dog toy and on the way out you can buy clothes for the dog at ridiculous prices.

Having said that I would recommend going as we had a great time but considering how much the entrance fee was it wouldn't hurt them to at least give you a free drink and a photo.

Wow what an amazing time we had .LAPLAND .... Great evening out. My daughter and her friend loved every min of it. Don't read the bad reviews there just bitter it wasn't the really Lapland, and its about the children not how good you think it is value for money etc. The girls were greeted by some very smiley happy elves who chatted away to all the children . Then on to the elf den for stories and to meet the husky girls who whipped the families into a frenzy doing reindeer and husky dog howls very very funny. Then on to making the gingerbread men no pushing very relaxed story by Mother Christmas . Toy making was fun a lot of the parents complained you couldn't keep the toys but think about it your making them in his toy factory doh...... We did ice skating had a warm drink posted a letter shopped for a few gifts . The prices are ok £4 for hot choc tea coffee mulled wine the same price . Food was the same bit like Christmas market prices but we had eaten so didn't bother. Gift shops are nice everything is in jingles which you buy at the jingle bank wide range of prices so something for everyone . Waited for santa for about 15 mins max then into a warm room where the elves took the children to meet santa, my daughter and her friend running though the trees with a giddy elf was a memory I'll always have , it went very smoothly . Father Christmas was lovely and took his time talking to the girls and chatting . We did take our own pics and didn't buy the ones from there, but I'm not sure they saw us taking them . The picture place was busy but we didn't bother buying one so can't tell you the price. Those saying they had to wait hours are talking rubbish how many hrs have you waited at a normal department store ???? I think it's a great chance for the UK to offer the lapland experience to families who don't have the money to go to the real lapland so keep going your doing a great job . Even the taxi we called home was quick we got a number from the hotel we stayed at.

Few pointers I'd go at tea time soooooo magical with the fairy lights but cold!!

It's very muddy but you are in a forest so wellies and very thick socks

Ice skating was good but remember they cause injuries I saw one young girl go flying but I blame the parents not the place.

1 jingle = £1 we changed £40 and had enough for a warm drink and presents.

There was loads to do and I think the price was great if you broke it down ice skating alone for a family of 4 santa visit buying a santa letter of line to post etc, all adds up .

Remember it's about how much fun the kids have you just have the privilege to tag along and pay for it. Which I'd do again and again.

Let's keep the good reviews coming as it really is an amazing place very well planned and organised ........ Just keep practising your husky howls..........

Grossly overpriced for what you get. The only good part of the trip is the visit to Father Christmas at the end which is quite magical but then you are not allowed to take any photos because they want to sell you theirs!!! The rest of the visit is quite a let down. The website actually belies what you get. Not worth the money!!

Took my 2 nieces here for a surprise visit to lapland uk before Christmas and was really looking forward to it but must say it was a disappointment for the price they charge.

On the day of taking them it was very busy which is to be expected the time your in there is usually around 3 hours but most of that time is taken up on queues and waiting, first of all the time spent with elfs, mother christmas and making toys and seeing father christmas is probably around an hour in the whole time. They get the kids making toys but you dont get to keep them. after all this is done you have a whole hour and a half to wait and see father christmas. The day we went it was pouring with rain so ice skating was not a great experience as there was no cover, all there was to look around the gift shops and the cafe, i was so surprised how overpriced the food was and the toys and gifts in the shops were so expensive and the teddy bears they got the kids making were being sold in the shop for a crazy price!

The kids said to me how comes father christmas charges all this money for these things if we were invited here!! so even the kids could see it was not that magical. I understand they want to make money on gifts but how can they charge so much when the ticket prices are so high, it really is not fair to charge huge ticket prices, food prices and gift prices and an hour and half left out in the rain doing nothing so they hope you will have too much time on your hands but buy things.

The best thing of the trip was that father Christmas did look more like a real one then the usual ones and you do get a toy dog to take away but you are not allowed to take pictures with him and the reason why is that when you go in the elf takes a pictures without asking you and then expect you to buy them later at another expensive price!!

Another thing that was a let down was before you actually see Father Christmas you are taken into a large tent with other kids ad families and get called by name to see father xmas but my neice noticed that different kids were being called to be taken to see him and she said to me how comes we are all seeing father christmas at the same time is there more then one father Christams as the kids are taken off in different paths so it is obvious more then just one santa being used!! so not organised very well. The winter setting was just snow like stuff sprayed on all the tree paths not any on the ground so did look a bit fake.

If they charged £30 per person then i think it would be ok for what you get but to charge the amount they charge is a rip off really and you really need to expect to spend another £100 to £150 if you want a snack, gift from gift shop and photo with father xmas so expect it to be an expensive few hours out.

After reading the reviews I was quite sceptical. However, I found this place truly amazing as I felt I had walked into the film set of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It wasn't too overcrowded like I had heard about Winter Wonderland because they put you into groups. You get to see your children complete several activities and take really good pictures while doing so. Yes it is expensive but worth it. We had lunch in the car before going in so we wouldn't have to buy too much inside. We left enough room to have some chips which also helps kill the 90 mins free time. Once inside we spent £30 on a photo, chips and drinks for 3 and a key and sweets for our little girl. Once you were in your groups the guide calls all the children to the front and so the parents couldn't see them which made some of us uneasy but you couldn't lose them as they were being taken to the room where they would complete an activity and parents followed on behind. Word of warning, where wellies as the carpark is very muddy.

Myself and my family went to Lapland Uk on Saturday 14th December 2014 for a family of 3 we paid £224. As a repeat customer I got priority booking for this, and I was told by my friend who was also a repeat customer she got a free Eco Elf, I did not receive one of these??

When we arrived and parked the car we found ourselves in a muddy bog and then had to walk through this toward a make shift tent to “check in” when we checked in, half an hour before as advised we had to sit down and when purchased 3 drinks and a cake for £10, realised that this was a ridiculous amount of time to advise people to arrive as when we checked in all we did was show our ticket and got a wrist band for my daughter, this would not take half an hour to “check in”. Upon entering we noticed not one person was checked to ensure they had a ticket. The “elves” relied on people checking in, anybody could have walked into the queue and strolled through.

Once into the elf land inside we were sitting behind adults so my daughter could not see and could not stand for fear of the children behind not being able to see, surely it should have been organised for children to sit in front??

After this we were all huddled into a tiny doorway where the helper told all the children to come to the front to knock on the elf door. There were at least 80 people in that huddle and my 4 year old daughter was lost in the crowd among strangers!!! Once the door was opened she was aimlessly wondering in the elf workshop desperately searching for us. I also noticed that one toy was broken and so siblings were at opposite ends of different tables and could not sit together.

When we got to Mother Christmas House we were lined up again and children told to go to the front (I didn’t let my daughter this time) cue; lots of treading (muddy feet) all over me and others and scrambling through the crowd, only to then be told to “go back to your adults and make a funny face” – more scrambling and muddy feet!!

Once the Mother Christmas story was over I was feeling quite stressed with the 1 hour we had just endured. We were then told we had an hour and a half before seeing father Christmas. I can only imagine that this length of time is given so we had to spend more money on over-priced hats/baubles/tat!

When we had ice skated for approximately 20 minutes and we had stroked 1 husky dog we had 45 minutes to walk around the 4 shops and the post office. When we asked to see Father Christmas early we were told this was not possible and we had to wait a further half an hour!!!

Ludicrous! We were not at all happy with this, it was cold and we were stressed and my daughter tired after a long drive and insisted we were to be let through, to which the “elf” eventually gave in.

I must say were happy with Father Christmas he was lovely to My Daughter. However felt completely ripped off that we were not allowed to take our own pictures when with Father Christmas (the whole point of the day) and charged £10 per picture surely this should be included in the £224 we paid??!!?? The quality of the picture was terrible (I could have taken a better quality picture on my mobile phone) and I felt I had no other choice but to pay for the picture as a memento of when my little girl met the “actual” Father Christmas.

The reindeer were behind 2 fences so we could not get anywhere near them and the “Sami Herdsman” hardly said 2 sentences whilst we were standing there? Not the “stories” we were expecting

Once walking back to the car we had to again face a boggy car park and almost fell down 3 times as we had to walk down a hill to get to the car! I will have to valet my car due to the amount of mud and dirt both inside and outside !!

On the whole the experience we had with Lapland UK was awful! I was expecting a magical enchanting day for myself and my daughter instead we had a one off experience for all of the wrong reasons.

We have just come back from a wonderful magical day at Lapland UK. Firstly I would like to thank all the staff for making our daughters day, they are all amazing. We arrived a little early for our time slot so we had a hot chocolate in the elf cafe. We then met 2 elves who got 'small folk' and 'big folk' involved straight away. We was then taken to the toy factory where our daughter got to make a Pinocchio puppet and stuffed a bear. The children wasn't allowed to keep the bears but the idea of the story they were being told was that they were helping the elves get the toys ready for Santa. Then onto the Mother Christmas gingerbread kitchen, where the children were decorating gingerbread men, which they took home with them.

You was then given an hour and a half of spare time in the village, which had an ice rink, which our daughter loved, and even though there was quite a few people there, there were plenty of room on the ice rink. We then changed our money to elf jingles and went shopping. Our daughter loved the sweet shop - could do with a bit more variety.

The hour and half went really quickly, we then was taken to a room to check in to see Santa. It was about 5 minutes and our name appeared on the blackboard and we was taken to another room, where we was waiting for about 2 minutes and was called through and taken through the woods to meet Santa in his cabin.

Our daughters face was magical, and you couldn't put a price on the happiness that our daughter had, and I'm already looking at what date we are going to go next year.