Adventure To Santa

So you’re forced to make a reservation and they absolutely will not check you in more than 5 minutes prior to your «reserved» time. Once you check in, they take a quick pic with Shrek and then point you to the end of the line that wraps around the building! What was the point of making a reservation? So plan to stand in line 30 – 60 minutes past your reservation time and apparently, once you get done, you get to wait another 30 minutes for the photos taken over an hour ago! Are you sending the photos to the North Pole to develope them?

Santa Claus does not need an opening act! From a production point of view, this experience is well designed and thorough. There is a storyline, heavy visual theming, plenty of staff, and is not likely to be forgotten. That is the only good comment I have. The reason I am giving this one stars, is, again… Santa Claus does not need an opening act. Santa is the biggest celebrity a child would ever want to meet. He’s the head honcho, the man, the end all and be all of childhood icons. He does not need help from Shrek to be memorable or valid. What kid has ever walked away from their annual mall Santa experience and said, «That would have been awesome If only there had been a movie, a ride, a video game, a bunch of cartoon characters, and the opportunity to get crowded into a steaming hot tiny room with a bunch of strangers?» Most kids understand that what they see on TV is not real. But, until that sad and fateful day, they believe that Santa IS real. So, why would we want to combine characters which they know are fictional, with a historic cultural icon who we want them to believe is real?
On top of all that, it is not possible to purchase a photo for less than $ 39.99. For ten years, we have been bringing our kids to the North Point Mall Santa. We have ten years of progressive photos, and I believe in the past, the 5×7 was something like $ 9 or $ 12. And you could walk up, wait your turn in line, and talk to Santa.
Now, you can’t get in without a reservation, which must be made weeks in advance. I suppose the organizers of this conundrum felt they needed to provide more experience, in order to justify the $ 39.99 minimum cost, but there was nothing wrong with the old Santa experience. Please ditch Dreamworks, Shrek and the video games, and just bring back Santa.

I just wanted to second the review below. It actually had me laughing because we had the same exact experience. The only thing I’d add is that my younger child (almost 2) was petrified of the «ride.» She cried the entire way through it because oddly, it does really feel like you’re moving. And there is no way to leave. So that was fun. My 5 year old on the other hand really felt like we went to the North Pole and came back. Hook, line and sinker. I also second the insanely tight room. By the time you get to Santa, you just want the whole thing to be over with. Oh, and it took 30 minutes to get our pictures after that. So again, that was fun. :-) We’ll be going to the typical walk up Santa next time.

Operated by DreamWorks, this is North Point Mall’s Shrek-​themed Santa experience from Nov. 8 — Dec. 24, 2014. It’s an adventure in a multi-​room gingerbread house in the lower-​level center court of the mall. We recently took our 14-​month-​old so that he could meet Santa. Because I think this is probably really cool if you have older kids, I almost gave it three stars, but because it ends up being a commercialized racket, I dropped it to two stars at the end of writing this review.
Brief description: At no cost, you make an appointment to go on what they claim is a 15-​minute adventure to see Santa. Before entering the house, you take a family photo with Shrek, Fiona, and Donkey outside. Then the adventure entails visiting four different rooms in the house as you journey to the North Pole. It’s an elf-​guided interactive experience that involves about three families at a time, depending on the number of family members. Eventually, you reach the end of the journey to meet and have pictures taken with Santa in a private room. After that, you are ushered out to the gift shop to wait for your pictures and select a photo package. Now for the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.
(1) You have an appointment.
Good: You get to plan your schedule without the hassle of a long line filled with other germy children.
Bad: If you show up without an appointment because you didn’t know you needed one, you end up like my cousin with two dressed up kids in tow who find out that they won’t be meeting Santa because all of the slots are full that day.
Ugly: You have an appointment but the entire experience lasts more than 15 minutes. Case in point: We had an appointment for 1:46, started the adventure around 1:50, and didn’t meet Santa until about 2:25.
(2) You go on an adventure.
Good: It’s an interactive experience as you wander the gingerbread house with your guide. In one room, each family uses a computer screen to design a sleigh on which to travel to the North Pole. Depending on family size, the elf puts you in an area with enough screens to (hopefully) accommodate each member. In the next room, you board the sleigh and go on a ride (i.e., watch a motion-​inducing movie with special effects of slight vibration and a gentle wind machine) to the North Pole. In the final room before meeting Santa, you wait in an area with a few seats and a handful of computer screens with a game for the kids to play as the elves call you back by family to meet Santa.
Bad: While the activities were awesome for older kids, my little guy couldn’t appreciate them, and my husband and I didn’t know what to expect based on the limited description on the North Point Mall website. It doesn’t seem like there is a way to skip the interactive experience and go straight to Santa because there are groups in each room at any given time.
Ugly: If you are claustrophobic, this is NOT for you. The rooms are dark and very small with many people crammed inside. Also, it gets hot in that little house. My child was sweating by the time we met Santa.
(3) You don’t know what you will pay.
Good: There’s no up-​front cost for the adventure, so you could just hit this up for the experience and little ornament they give you at the end.
Bad: You don’t know what you will end up paying. At the end, an elf rattles off the photo package «options» so quickly that it’s impossible to really understand what you’re getting, other than the fact that for $ 30, it sounds like you get two 5x7s of what the staff deemed was your child’s best photo with Santa. For $ 50, you walk away with the option of digitally downloading all of the pictures with Santa (for us, about six or seven), your family photo, and a picture of the sleigh you designed. I could have lived without the latter items, but it was our only option to get all of the pictures with Santa.
Ugly: YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU WILL END UP PAYING. I cannot stress how much this part sucks. First, the only picture they let you actually see is the one they decide is the best. They print it for you, so you can’t even look at a computer to pick the one you think best represents your child’s Santa experience. For us, they picked a photo where my son was wide-​eyed with fear only because it was the one picture in which he was looking at the camera. Second, your older child is likely to pitch a fit if you decide you don’t want to buy the package that includes the picture of the sleigh. This happened to the family behind us. It wasn’t pretty. Third, you walk out from seeing Santa into a gift shop to wait for your pictures. A GIFT SHOP. A Shrek-​filled gift shop right before Christmas. Good luck saying no to your child while you wait another 10 minutes to see your picture and then another 10 minutes while you wait to pay. Best part? They declined our credit card, but we later learned via e-​mail from American Express that it was declined because Adventure to Santa doesn’t accept American Express. Maybe somebody should tell the employees.

You make a reservation online weeks ahead just to get there at your scheduled time and placed in a 2 hour line by a over sized elf.
This event is a SCAM and very unorganized.
No child or parent should have to go through this.
What is the point of making a reservation?