I'd seen Lapland UK mentioned on a couple of social media accounts over the past few years. Social media accounts run by people with far higher incomes than mine. I knew it was expensive, but the more pictures I saw, the more magical it looked, and when it featured as the location for some of the Strictly Come Dancing 2018 Christmas special, I was sold.
We booked during the early booking window in January. The price rises the closer you get to Christmas, so as we weren't sure how much my four year old would participate, we went for the opening weekend, aka the cheapest date. Even at it's cheapest, we still paid £75 per person, as adults are charged the same as children, and then £4.95 postage was added on top.
Before our arrival
Thanks to Daddy's loyalty points, we booked the Hilton in Bracknell for free, including breakfast, for the night before. I'd booked the 10am time slot, so that with total tour time lasting around 3-4 hours, we would be on our way home by 2pm, and F would be so exhausted she would likely sleep for most of the journey home.
Towards the end of October, a plain brown box dropped through our letterbox. Thankfully I opened it when F wasn't around, to find it contained an invitation box, with a sealed letter inviting her to help Father Christmas make some toys. It also contained an information letter for parents (aka Big Folk), and some postcards, which would be 'activated' closer to the visit using the Wishing Glass app, which was new for this year.
We waited until slightly closer to the date of our visit (November 17th) to give the invitation to F. As recommended, we put the box in the freezer for an hour beforehand, but I don't really think this made any difference to F. As she can't yet read, we had to read it to her, and I have to say her initial reaction was rather underwhelming. As the idea grew on her, she was particularly fixated on wanting to make her own present from Father Christmas: a Frozen bike, so we had to gently reiterate that it was highly unlikely she'd be making bikes, but that she would need to make whatever Father Christmas needed making on that day.
Wishing Glass App
We used the app for the AR postcards which had been included with the invitation box. The first one worked well, telling F about her visit, and she enjoyed the second one, which ignited her love for Wish, an elf with a beautiful multi-coloured dress. However, I was disappointed with the third postcard, or more specifically, with the lack of communication around its activation date. Lapland UK released updates to the app when the next postcard was ready to be viewed, but gave no indication of when this would be, despite several people asking on social media. In the event, the third postcard was activated very close to Christmas Day, long after our visit, and it involved Conker the silliest elf throwing snowballs. So not overly interesting to be honest.
We used the app the night before our visit, to read The Untold Story of Father Christmas, which was available for free via the app. or for £15 as a physical copy, available as an add on when your make your booking. We found the story quite long, and overly detailed for a four year old who whilst not quite losing interest, certainly wasn't enraptured and glued to her seat.
We also used the colouring section of the app to entertain F whilst at breakfast on the morning of our visit, and whilst waiting for our food to arrive the evening before.
On the day
After a good breakfast, we checked out of our hotel, and we arrived as recommended half an hour before our time slot. We were directed to a parking spot right by the entrance, and there were plenty of car park staff on hand, both at arrival and when we were leaving, to direct you, as the car park was understandably rather large, being split into animal themed sections to help remember where you had parked. The car park was extremely muddy, and I was glad we'd packed our snow boots as the village and some of the pathways between activities were a touch muddy too, so I imagine on a wet day it would have been much worse.
After a quick bag check, we entered the welcome cabin. It was overwhelmingly busy, and they really needed an elf at the entrance to greet people and tell them where to go. Although at first glance it was very confusing, and just appeared to be one big queue, there were in fact four different queues, one for the food and drink kiosk, one to check in, and two for the people waiting for the 9.30 time slot. We initially joined the wrong queue, but then realised and joined the check in queue, which wasn't overly long and moved quite quickly.
We were allocated to Team Husky, and given stickers to this effect, along with a passport for F to receive stamps throughout her visit. We bought some Elf jingles for her to spend in the shop, and were then told to just wait until the Elf Travelmaster called the 10am tour. There were copies of the Lapland Times on the check in desks, but they said 2 Elf Jingles, and I wasn't keep to pay out any more than necessary. I discovered later on that a copy was actually included in our tickets which was irritating, as the elf who checked us in should definitely have pointed that out. Daddy joined the queue for coffee while F and I went to the toilet. After our visit, I discovered that apparently a 'welcome drink' was supposedly included for each adult, but we saw no sign of this anywhere throughout our tour.
The toilets felt a bit like posh portaloos but they were clean and we didn't have to queue for long at any point during the day. They also had baby changing in each set.
While we waited for our time slot, the Elf Travel Master kept the children entertained, though F was not keen on him at all and found him quite scary. Just before 10am we were beckoned towards the stage and asked if we had our passports. Team Husky were directed to one side of the stage, and Team Reindeer to the other. A secret door opened and we were shepherded through, into a forest setting (under cover), where Sage and Eeko were waiting to meet us.
The Enchanted Forest
We were some of the last through the secret door as F was a bit hesitant and there were a lot of very keen families wanting to be first. By the time we got into the forest, there weren't any free seats, so we had to stand for this performance, which at five months pregnant wasn't ideal. This section was essentially scene setting and background, but had we not read The Untold Story of Father Christmas previously, I think a lot of it would have gone over our heads. Towards the end, two team leaders from Lapland arrived, one for team husky and one for team reindeer, and did a bit of 'who can make the loudest noise' which was very obviously a time filler. I think F's passport should have been stamped here, but whoever was responsible for that had clearly forgotten. Eventually we were led outside, and to the main event, the Toy Factory.
The Toy Factory
After waiting outside (presumably until the previous group had left), we were let into the Toy Factory, through either a normal sized door for Big Folk, or a special small door for Small Folk. F wasn't brave enough to use the small door but most of the children seemed to love it. Inside there were lots of workbenches in the middle of the room, seating two children, and then benches around the edge of the room for adults. We found a workbench close to the adult seating as F wasn't confident enough to be left by herself, and actually when everyone had taken their seats, there was enough space for me to sit next to her.
There was a small piece of introductory theatre from Whittle and Conker, and then Wish arrived. The premise was set out: Father Christmas had received lots of wishes for cuddly snowmen, and needed some more making. Included in the instructions was a subtle reminder that the snowmen were being made for children who had actually wished for a snowman, rather than the children currently present, who might just have suddenly decided they wanted a snowman. The concept of the elves receiving a bell on the end of their hat when they were suitably trained, was also introduced (which would be relevant later).
Each child was given a tray and they set to work. It was very straight forward and didn't take long at all. F was very pleased with the snowman that she'd made. Once finished, we had to hand the tray back to an elf in charge of wrapping them up, and then waited for Wish to come round with a sticker, and for F's passport to be stamped. I eventually had to go and ask for a sticker as it was a bit chaotic and F was missed.
Whittle then received a phone call from Mother Christmas, to say she'd just made a fresh batch of gingerbread and would we like to help decorate them.
I was a touch disappointed with the length of time we spent in the Toy Factory actually making toys. I had read reviews of previous years where the children made two toys, and given that the supposed premise of the day, according to the invitation, was to help Father Christmas keep up with his toy demand, I would have liked to have made at least two, and spent a bit more time in the Toy Factory.
Mother Christmas' Kitchen
This room was much warmer than the Toy Factory thankfully, and we actually dared remove our coats here. There were low benches in the centre of the room, with workbenches around the outside, and then adult benches round the edge of the room. The children were first instructed to sit on the low benches, while Mother Christmas introduced her kitchen elves.
The children then found a place at the workbenches around the outside. There seemed to be fewer spare places here than in the Toy Factory for some reason but we eventually found a space. Each work station had a gingerbread cookie, some white icing and some sweets, plus an apron and a paper bag to put the finished cookie into for transportation. Once the majority of children had finished, they were invited back to the low benches, where Mother Christmas read a story all about how huskies had once saved Father Christmas (thereby introducing the husky toy they would receive later), while the kitchen elves tidied up ready for the next group. My one gripe with this is that the kitchen elves were holding cuddly huskies, wearing various outfits, which led to me wondering if there would be a build a bear style shop later on; a suspicion which turned out to be correct. I did not appreciate this rather blatant marketing given how much we'd already spent to be there.
The Elven Village
It was now 12.30 and we had some time to explore the Elven Village, featuring shops, the post office, food and drink, and the ice rink. Our passport had a 1.30pm time slot written on it to meet Santa, with instructions for where to go at that time, giving us roughly one hour in the village.
I'd attempted to research lunch options before we'd arrived, and had only found details of one restaurant, so after arriving in the village, we made our way there. The food options were disappointing and there wasn't a huge amount of seating. Burgers, tartiflette or meatballs. Daddy and I both had the chicken burger, but as I had to request mine without brie, it was extremely dry and I didn't end up eating most of it.
As we then exited the restaurant, heading for the ice rink, we spotted several food stalls with more exciting options, though again, lacking in seating.
F had been asking about ice skating since watching Disney on Ice earlier in the year, so we'd told her that there would be an opportunity on her visit to Father Christmas, and this was probably the bit she was most looking forward to. Although there were no health and safety warnings up forbidding it, I thought it was safer for me to not go ice skating whilst pregnant, so Daddy took F. I was very impressed with the skates available for younger children, which strapped onto their existing shoes, and had two blades, rather than one, to help with balance. There were also more than enough penguins supports available.
F had a whale of a time being pushed around on a penguin by Daddy and spent the whole time beaming. She fell over just once and was really pleased with herself. It was a really lovely place for her first ice skating attempt.
After ice skating, we went to the Post Office, to write a letter to Father Christmas. As F had already sent her letter weeks earlier, she chose to write a thank you letter instead. There was plenty of paper available, and we received a stamp in F's passport once we'd posted it. The post mistress also noticed that we were missing the first stamp, so stamped it for us. For a fee, you could also send a postcard with a Lapland stamp.
We then went to the shop, so that F could spend her jingles. Once she'd spotted the Wish fancy dress costume she wasn't interested in anything else. The sizing was not very clear and there was no price displayed which was very irritating. At the checkout we found out the cost was £25, but by that point we'd already committed to the purchase.
By this time it was almost time to meet Father Christmas. We were disappointed that we hadn't seen any huskies during our time in the village, and having only an hour felt a bit rushed. We would have liked more time to look around the other food stalls and shops and we'd probably have spent a bit more money too.
Father Christmas
At our allotted time we entered the pathway to meet Father Christmas. It felt like a rather long disorienting walk, passing several of the elves houses to liven up the route occasionally. One of our friends visited the same day, but had an evening slot, and spent seven hours there, because the queue for Father Christmas was so long, which perhaps explains the long walk.
We walked past the reindeer pen, and through Ambolt the blacksmith's forge, stopping for a photo with Father Christmas' sleigh, before finally reaching a cabin, where we checked in for our slot with Father Christmas. After waiting for around five minutes, an elf entered and called F's name, then led us along another long winding path to meet Father Christmas. Along the way we passed several families who had clearly already met Father Christmas, because they were clutching huskies, but F didn't seem to notice.
We waited outside the cabin for a couple of minutes before the elf invited F to knock on the door. The cabin was lovely and cosy, and Father Christmas himself looked very impressive. Prior to our visit we'd been asked for a few details about F, for Father Christmas to work into the conversation. F was a bit overwhelmed and so wasn't overly talkative, but I did feel he could have done more to draw her out of her shell, and it felt a bit like he just dropped the details we'd provided right at the end rather than working them into conversation naturally.
F was thrilled with the husky he gave her, but less interested in the bell for the elf hat she didn't have (available for purchase an an additional cost of course). The elf who had led us into the room did take several photos throughout the encounter, but there was nothing to stop us taking our own as well.
Once F had finished with Father Christmas, we were guided out, and the elf told us to follow the arrows back along the paths to the exit, which of course was through another shop. This was where the aforementioned build a bear style husky outfits were available for purchase. And as I knew this was where I was going to be 'discreetly' handed Cosy the Snowman, Daddy and F were left to wander round the shop while I queued for the photo included within the price.
There was the obligatory attempt at an upsell, to purchase all the photos taken, rather than just the one free photo, which I managed to resist with not much difficulty. Trickier was convincing F that her husky really didn't need the all in one hooded sequin outfit she'd spotted earlier in Mother Christmas' kitchen. Cosy the Snowman was handed over in a plain canvas drawstring bag, in a huge paper bag. Of course F was immediately curious so I had to put Arka the husky in there too and tell her that the bag was for him. An older child might not have accepted that explanation quite so easily.
After the visit
On Christmas Day, Cosy the Snowman was wrapped and waiting under the tree, along with the final postcard, containing a thank you from Father Christmas. F hadn't mentioned Cosy at all, and although she was of course delighted on Christmas Day, Arka the husky is still the firm favourite, while Cosy has been left to one side. Two cuddly toys is perhaps too much of the same thing, though I can understand that some children might become fixated on Cosy after having made him in the Toy Factory.
F really enjoyed her day and immediately afterwards said how much she'd loved it and asked if we could go back the following day. She participated much more fully than I expected and she absolutely adored the ice skating.
We would have liked longer in the Elven Village, and I was disappointed with the lack of subtlety in pushing extra purchase options, but overall, I do think it was worth the money, and we would probably go back next year.
https://www.laplanduk.co.uk/
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