Yesterday I visited Santa’s Land Theme Park in Cherokee, NC. Now, I needn’t tell you that I thought that this was going to be a huge deal. I had visited the website and knew that the park wasn’t overly large but the idea seemed wonderful and I thought it would be fun to go and look at the displays. I knew that there would have to be decorations all over the place. These, of course, would be paired with fun blowmolds and lots of lights.
I expected to see Santa and take in a wonderful Broadway style Christmas review at the Jingle Bell Theatre. I was hoping I wasn’t too big to ride a few rides, but I could live not being able to ride anything as far as the rides…I really wasn’t the target audience. However, Christmas decorations are universally appealing at any age.
Much to my dismay, Santa’s Land was pretty much a bust. There were a few cute display’s but not too much to offer a Christmas enthusiast like myself. Most of the park consisted of small village type houses with a theme attached. There was a magic shop, blacksmith, church, Santa’s house, grist mill (with rainbow trout) and then small vignette houses with animatronics. These houses consisted of a scene from A Christmas Carol (Scrooge and Marley) but Scrooge was saying his and Marley’s words (must be a programming problem), a cute scene with female deer sewing and pressing Santa’s suit and then a whimsical black light display that was the elves quarters. However, you see very similar, if not better, displays at your local mall during the holidays.
The zoo area was cute! Animals are always fun, it is just a smallish area. But, the animals were cute none-the-less! I did manage to ride the “world famous Rudi-Coaster”, the Ferris wheel, and the train (the train was intended for children but adults can ride too, just one per seat).
One of the most amazing things I witnessed during the day was the amount of koi in the paddle boat pond. There were hundreds of hungry koi and if you had food the koi would all swim to your raft at massive speeds to fight for a pellet. These things were huge and obviously were very well fed. It was quite a site and I took several pictures of this phenomenon. There were also two monkey islands in the pond. But, I only saw one monkey.
I then toured Frosty’s tee shirt shop (nothing fun in there). However outside of Frosty’s tee shirt shop and in the general area are extra large statues for photo ops. There is a very scary two story snowman. I posed in his hand ala Fay Wray from King Kong; he is very frightening. There is an extra large rabbit and vegetables, a kangaroo with an empty pouch and of course Santa’s sleigh. Frosty, although scary, and Santa’s sleigh were in pretty good shape. Everything else, however, really needs some paint. There is also an extra large tiger near the Rudi-Coaster that could use some paint too.
In this same central area there is a very nice 75 foot fir tree…undecorated! This is Santa’s Land for goodness sake…decorate the tree! Along with adding some lights to most of the exterior buildings…but I digress.
Just to the left of the central village is a children’s play area, which seemed to be very popular on the day of my visit.
Continuing left there is an amazing life sized nativity! I think that this is one thing that really looks like you imagine it should! Everything was perfect. My only suggestion would be to add a few spotlights to the inside of the stable and on the wise men, but other than that I have no complaints.
However, I can complain about the park overall. While it was a fun way to kill a few hours, it is not being maintained nor is it being made to live up to its potential. Everything seems old and it doesn’t seem like it is changed, updated or even painted frequently. There were very few decorative moments to speak of….there were a few cute plywood cutouts and some nice painted scenes, but that was it. The jingle bell theatre consisted of a short magic show and the theatre was very, very small. However, I do think the magician (Gene) was cute and probably very entertaining to small kids. Santa was great looking! I am sure he is a real treat for kids. The “blacksmith” a Georgia native was friendly as was all the park staff and the animals seemed to be very happy (A major plus for the park, in my book).
I just think that myself along with other Christmas enthusiasts do so much at our individual homes for the holidays that if we had this to manage we could really make it shine. Most of us have more decorations out individually than this park did in total.
Really all it would take would be a few LOR numbers throughout the park, a nightly tree lighting, a hall of Christmas trees (or a Christmas tree forest), and just updated Christmas touches (and lights) throughout the park in general (this would also mean changing the hours as the park closes at 6 daily). While a few new adult rides and a couple a real shows wouldn’t hurt, I think the appeal of this park has been lost through the years. Even the “welcome” tree that sings and dances was broken but still attempting to shake his/her Christmas groove thing.
Lastly, the gift shop was also nothing special. The entire inventory was basic and there was nothing overly special about the merchandise (I was very upset as I hoped Santa would stock only the best). Of course, this building could also use an update. Last stop, the candy kitchen and café, here there are basic treats and fudge and a few pickles and preserves for purchase.
In summation, it is my sincere hope that the owner/operator can save this park. It is a cute idea but has not been executed well. I feel that the current park is way past its prime and desperately needs an update. Maybe some Christmas enthusiasts could pitch in and make it happen. …I don’t know…but I do feel like it is a thing worth saving for future generations.
I understand that there is a similar park in Vermont. I wonder how it compares to its North Carolina cousin.
Santa’s Land is located in Cherokee, North Carolina and is independently operated. Admission is approximately 18.50. The park operates May-October.
http://www.santaslandnc.com/
Hey Everyone and Merry Christmas! We are so happy to still be sharing our holiday memories with everyone. We are so sorry that we have not been as active on the blog part of the site but most of you know that we are on Planet Christmas, My Holiday Displays and Constantly Christmas chatting with other enthusiasts. Checking in on those sites oftern is all we can get done in a day and still do everything else we have to do.
The annual open house is Saturday, December 22! We are gearing up to open the house to over 150 people. This is always a big deal and a lot of fun for everyone. I am making Egg Nog from scratch, again.
The outside decor has been a challenge this year. But a small fire and a few tripped breakers will not keep us dark.... You can see some of the results -no fire pics included..=) under the Christmas 2007 section. We have more pics coming!
We hope that everyone is doing well and we promise to be better with the blog thing next year.
Please send in any sharsies pics to clevelandbucky@netscape.net. We would love to add your holiday memories to our site.
Merry Christmas,
Justin and Jerry
Well, I am finally getting some of the 2006 pics up! (Some of the picture quality is bad this year...sorry about that!) I still am working on the pics of Halloween and the interior Christmas shots. I should have them up soon. I have them on my system, now I just have to find the time to upload them! I hope that some of you are going to send some of your pics to me so I can post them...I don't have a Sharsies 2006 section yet! Please don't let me down. =)
I hope that everyone is working on Valentine's and Easter stuff ( I know I am) and I hope to hear from everyone soon!
Justin
