Going to Lapland UK this year? We visited Lapland Ascot in the opening week this November – here’s how our day went, top tips if you’ve never been, and a few things we wish we’d known beforehand. (This wasn’t a press trip and our visit wasn’t gifted – just an honest review of the good *and bad* bits!)
Lapland UK has been on our wish-list for a long time, but the cost has always stopped us. We took the plunge this year because it felt like our last chance – the eldest is a teenager now and the youngest isn’t far off, so they’re very much at the top end of the age range.
Thankfully, we all absolutely loved it – husband included – and while the kids don’t *believe* (it’s never been a big thing in our family) they totally appreciated the magic of it and haven’t stopped talking about their visit to Lapland since we got back.
I booked the tickets back in March and am amazed we managed to keep it a secret until the day we went – right up until the moment we set off in the car and handed the kids their fancy invitation. It was totally magical and I’m so glad we went when we did, so if you’re going – you’re in for a treat…
The Lapland UK experience: how it works
Lapland UK is described as a ‘fully immersive theatrical experience for the whole family’ and works like a guided group tour. Apart from 1.5 hours in the middle of the experience when you can do what you want, everything follows a set route and you’re in a big group, except for your visit to Santa at the very end.
The Elven Bazaar (the bit before you go in)
Our tickets explained that we needed to arrive 30 minutes prior to our 2:30PM tour time to make sure we had enough time to spend in the Elven Bazaar, ‘an Elven Trading Post offering hot drinks and tasty treats’.
It’s really important not to be late because you don’t get to start your tour from the beginning if you are – an elf will come and bring you to whichever part of the experience your group has got to, and there’s no going backwards to the bits you’ve missed.
However, it’s also not the best idea to get there too early. We ended up arriving an hour before our start time and, after popping our head in the shop and grabbing a coffee, we were essentially just waiting around. There are only three benches, one of which (below) is a photo opportunity, so you’re mostly standing, which was OK for us as it was sunny and warm – but wouldn’t be much fun in the rain.
Checking in
The elves call groups through a giant door every 30 minutes, and when it was finally our turn, we walked through to a huge check-in lobby with a raised stage in the middle. It’s a bit chaotic in here – there are queues everywhere and it’s mostly impossible to hear what’s happening on the stage, especially as you queue with your back to it.
When we got to the front of the queue, the elf behind the counter gave the kids their elven passports and their pre-booked jingles (if you haven’t pre-booked you can pick these up in the Elven Bazaar beforehand). Jingles are the currency used at Lapland UK, and one jingle = £1 (our kids had £25 worth each and it was more than enough for the day).
Once we’d checked in we were assigned one of two groups, and after a bit more dialogue from the elves on the stage – and a bit of audience participation to warm the crowd up – the tour began.
The interactive experiences
For the first part of the tour we were guided through various interactive experiences. There’s The Glade – where the story is set beneath a canopy of fairy-lit trees – and The Toy Factory, where all the kids are given a partly-assembled teddy to stuff before popping them on a conveyor belt for Santa. The Toy Factory itself was really impressive – a huge space with masses of attention to detail. Unfortunately the lighting inside was terrible for photos, but trust me – it’s something else.
The kids were also given a gingerbread house biscuit to decorate in Mother Christmas’ Toy Factory, which all worked seamlessly considering how many families there were to cater for, and the whole thing took around 1.5 hours.
The Elven Village
This is the part of the experience when you can choose to spend your time however you want to, and it breaks up the feeling of being herded around.
You can spend up to 1.5 hours in the elven village, so at 4PM we headed straight for the covered ice-skating rink for the first 30 minutes. Our kids loved this and we would have spent longer on the ice if their jingles weren’t burning a hole in their pockets.
We then wrote and posted a letter to Santa in the Post Office, bought a special (and expensive at £12) souvenir bauble for the tree back home, spent all their jingles in Pixie Mixie’s sweet shop and the next-door gift shop, and picked up two hot chocolates and a cake from the bakery (£18). There’s a restaurant here, too, but the kids weren’t keen to miss out on everything else, so we didn’t stop for a meal.
There are lots of elves everywhere chatting to and engaging with the children, and as soon as I explained to one that my son had managed to lose his elven passport, she quickly found a new one and added all the stamps we needed to it.
You have to sign out with your booking QR code before you leave the Elven Village, and we were just a few minutes over the 5:30PM finish time on the back of our passports.
Meeting Santa
When you come out of the Elven Village, you walk through an area with some snoring reindeer in (they’re not real this year, I checked) before heading to another, smaller check-in desk.
This time, only one of the grown-ups checks in, and the elf behind the counter double-checked that he had all the latest info about the kids – info that, as the booker, I filled in online a few days beforehand. It’s good to know that there’s a chance to add this info now if you’ve forgotten to do it at home, as it makes all the difference to the next part.
We only waited five minutes or so before an elf called the kids by name and took us to Santa, who was, as we’d hoped, the most authentic-looking Father Christmas we’d ever seen. The kids were a bit amazed when he talked about their hobbies, our dog, and things that had happened recently, and the whole experience was really lovely.
We were in there around five minutes and before we left, Santa gave them each a husky teddy and an honorary elf bell for being so helpful, and we had a few photos taken before saying our goodbyes. It didn’t feel rushed, felt very personalised, and I can imagine with younger kids this is even more magical.
Heading home
At some point before Santa you’re given a card with a QR code on, which you then take to the photo collection desk in the last area of the tour. We chose one complimentary photo, but you can pay for more if you want to, and order online up to 45 days after your trip.
When you’re handed your photo you’re also given a Bertie bear for each child – the same bears the kids help to ‘build’ in the Toy Factory, but the finished versions – wrapped in plain packaging ready to take home and pop under the tree on Christmas eve. There was one last chance to buy stuff in the big shop here, and one last chance to use the loo before we headed back to the car – arms, and hearts, full.
Our 5 top tips to get the most from your day at Lapland UK:
1. Pre-book your jingles
Being able to buy things independently with jingles was the kids’ favourite part of the day. You can buy these at the Elven Bazaar – the area you wait in right at the beginning – but it’s nowhere near as fun as picking them up when you check in. The elf who checked us in counted out all the jingles in front of the kids before putting them back into the little red velvet purse, and it was a really special moment when they realised this was theirs to spend however they wanted to.
2. Time your tour for just after lunch
We found a 2:30 start time worked really well as it meant we ate lunch just beforehand and didn’t need to stop for a meal in the restaurant in the Elven Bazaar. The restaurant looked lovely but the kids just wanted to make the most of the time doing everything else – and we did run out of time, without stopping for food. I think we all would have been frustrated if we’d wasted a minute of the time we had there waiting in a queue or waiting for food to arrive, so we just had hot chocolates and cakes to go instead. Starting at 2:30 also meant it was getting dark just as we got to the Elven Village – and it’s definitely more magical in the dark.
3. If you only buy one thing, buy the Santa hats
Once you’ve booked your tickets, there are a lot of emails upselling the experience in the run-up to your trip. You can buy Christmas Eve boxes, Santa hats for Big and Little Folk, advent calendars – you name it. We bought Santa hats (£19.95 each) as I wanted the kids to have something as a souvenir of the day. They are pretty lovely – velvety and warm and nothing like the cheap versions we’ve had in the past – and the kids get given a bell when they visit Santa. Yes, you could just hang it on your tree, but it was lovely being able to attach them to their hats.
4. Don’t leave the Elven Village until you’ve done everything you want to
You have 1.5 hours to spend in the Elven Village and there’s a timeslot printed on the back of your passport to tell you when you need to leave by. This did mean we felt quite rushed and could have done with an extra 30 minutes, but we were so worried about missing our slot with Santa that we hurried through everything. When we checked out, the elf asked us if we had done everything we wanted to, which suggested that perhaps the finish time wasn’t quite as rigid as we’d thought – although had we stayed any longer we’d probably just have spent more money.
5. Save some jingles until the end
Once the kids are given a husky teddy by Santa, you walk straight into a massive shop full of accessories to go with it. It’s a lot like Build-a-Bear, with everything from dog beds to cute costumes. My kids were too old for it, and we’d assumed the Elven Village was the only place we could spend the jingles in, but I can imagine little ones wanting to spend their jingles here – so it’s worth holding on to some.
Top questions we wish we’d known the answer to before we went:
What time of day is best to visit Lapland UK?
We actually booked a 10:30AM slot originally, but moved it to 2:30PM when I realised it would be better to be there in the dark. Unless you have young children, I’d say this is a great time to visit – we got to the Elven Village at 4PM just as the sun set, and it looked incredible once it was dark by about 4:30. We were on the road home around 7PM, so we also weren’t back ridiculously late.
Can I change my tickets for Lapland UK once I’ve booked?
Yes – we were lucky that there was availability to move ours from 10:30 to 2:30 and I’m so glad we did.
How can I get the cheapest tickets?
Go in mid-November when it opens, and choose a morning or afternoon slot for the £65 tickets. We weren’t sure if it would be festive in November, but it was actually lovely and it was nice not to have to squeeze it in around a million other things in the crazy month of December.
Can you take food and drink into Lapland UK?
Yes, you can if you want to – we had our lunch in the car on the way so that we wouldn’t need to have a main meal there, but we didn’t see anything suggesting you couldn’t take your own food and drink. We also saw someone with a thermos of hot chocolate from home, which we thought was a great idea.
What should I wear to Lapland UK?
It’s muddy and there’s a lot of walking! Particularly along the uncovered, narrow paths leading up to Santa at the end. So, wear boots or shoes you don’t mind getting messy, and warm, waterproof clothes. I made the mistake of taking my massive winter coat, which was too hot in the undercover bits on the warm and sunny day we visited.
What age is best for kids to visit Lapland UK?
If, like us, you’re only going to go once, it’s worth going when they’re at an age to be able to remember it. There is a lot of walking and it’s tiring, so we were very glad not to be pushing ours in a buggy. Likewise, you’re going to get more from the experience if they’re old enough to get involved in things like toy making and the gingerbread-decorating.
Is 13 too old to visit Lapland UK?
This will all come down to your teenager, but our just-turned-13-year-old and his 11-year-old sister really enjoyed it. I’d say 13 is the top end of the age range, which is exactly why we wanted to go this year (yes, I am that mum desperately clinging on to my kids’ childhoods by any means possible, and I’m not afraid to admit it).
How long does the whole thing take?
We were in and out in four and a half hours, but you could spend less time in the Elven Bazaar if you needed to be out sooner (although it’s very unlikely you’ll want to).
Can I go back to parts of the experience?
No – you can’t go backwards at Lapland UK, so don’t leave anything behind, and make sure you snap as many photos of everything as you go round – because you’re going to want to remember it.
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