The £35 day out that left my son mesmerised by Christmas magic

Richard Hartley-Parkinson

Published November 30, 2024 1:00pm Updated December 2, 2024 11:32am

Father Christmas is welcoming children at Chessington World, whatever the weather

A theme park in November during a storm might not sound like the best way to entertain a four-year-old, but with a bit of festive magic and a visit to Santa, anything is possible.

It certainly seemed the perfect recipe for a good day out for my young son who has been wanting me to put the Christmas tree up since the beginning of November.

To try and satisfy that early Christmas spirit, I took him to to Chessington World of Adventures to see Father Christmas in his grotto and make sure he knew what my son wanted: a bin lorry that daddy can park in the car park behind our house.

Armed with a festive passport, we had access not just to see the big man himself, we also got to see where the reindeer were training for their flight and where the elves were busy making toys.

They told my son they could make a wooden pirate ship in just two seconds — an incredible pace that should make sure that as many of his requests are fulfilled as possible.

There are more traditional animals pulling the sleigh (Picture: Chessington World of Adventures)

The first sprinkle of magic for my son was the night before our visit, when I told him he would be going to see Santa in the morning.

His face lit up with excitement before he asked ‘in the North Pole?’. But he didn’t seem too nonplussed when I said no, Santa is visiting the area so it’s just over half an hour away from us.

Naturally, excitement took over and by 5am he felt Father Christmas should be up and ready for our arrival. Thankfully, we weren’t booked in for another couple of hours.

When we arrived at Chessington World, I could see him scanning the theme park for the first glimpse of Santa. He was only mildly distracted by the Room on a Broom attraction and the penguins barely got a look-in, poor things.

A girl and boy dressed as elves in a snowy forest — Santa’s elves kept spirits high while excited children waited their turn (Picture: Chessington World of Adventures)

My son didn’t much care for the silent disco with festive tunes that was put on for everyone in the queue to meet Father Christmas, but that didn’t matter as there were plenty of things to see and talk about in anticipation of seeing him.

The friendly elves guided us through the snow-covered trees to Santa’s cozy woodfire-lit grotto where the request for a bin lorry was duly made.

After, we took a trip through the Enchanted Hollow with elves busy making toys and sweet treats ahead of Christmas Day, before being gifted a cuddly reindeer.

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Thanks to my little boy’s eagerness to see Santa as early as possible, and despite being in the thick of Storm Bert, we stayed in the park for the rest of the day, so he got a decent amount of time with the penguins and three trips around the Room on the Broom attraction.