Santa’s Workshop

We visit Lake Placid regularly but are most often up here in winter when, ironically, this park is closed. On a visit in the early autumn before it closed for the season, we finally made the 20 minute trek to check it out.
I was not psyched about the price when we walked up the ticket window — $ 20 per person (adults and kids 2 & up) — but there was no turning back at that point. The place looks and feels old (think 1960s) but it’s clean, seems well-​maintained, is shady (ideal on a too-​sunny day) and the staff is pleasant and well-​trained. If it were mobbed with people I’m sure I would’ve felt differently, but on a warm and relatively slow Sunday in October, it was actually a perfect place to take our 2 and 4 year old.
The park seems carved out of a hillside resulting in lots of slopes and sort of an upper section & a lower section (both stairs and ramps connect them so feel free to bring a stroller in).
When you walk in, you’re in the «upper» section. There’s a small amphitheater (they have little shows throughout the day — my kids didn’t want to see any of them), a playground with a ball pit, and 6 or 7 amusement rides (including a long train ride through the woods and a surprisingly fast and thrilling little roller coaster). All rides are geared toward kids under 48″ and less than 75 lbs. That said, parents can accompany them on many of the rides so bigger kids can ride most of them too.
The lower section is more of a «village» with a reindeer shed (with one friendly but sort of sad looking reindeer), Santa’s «farm» (closed on our visit so I’m not sure what it was), a blacksmith shed, a larger ampitheather, and a variety of shops (glassblowers, toy shop, museum w/​puppet theater, bake shop & more). The main attraction in the village is Santa’s house where you can see his kitchen, his bedroom and, in his living room, the big man himself. Kids get to sit on his lap and get a photo taken (you can also take your own). As we were waiting (the only line we waited in all day by the way), my husband joked that he wouldn’t blame the guy if he reeked of alcohol but the man playing Santa was great — kind, sweet, lovely and not the least bit reminiscent of that «Bad Santa» movie! You could tell they put a lot into training their staff. Every worker that we encountered was great — helpful, cheerful and wishing you a Merry Christmas at every turn.
I could do without Christmas carols before Columbus Day but oh well. Christmas is alive and well at this family friendly spot!