After saving for 18months, we were so excited to purchase tickets, however, all of the additional costs like booking fee's and insurance soon made a 4 hour day out the same cost as a week's holiday.We were so disappointed with a few things during our visit, with the most disappointment being with the Father Christmas, the conversation was not personalised at all. At one point he asked if our 2 sons were twins so clearly had not read the ages 6 and 10 or the fact that one of our notes from the portal was that the eldest had just turned 10 the day before. There was barely anything even remotely personalised that was said at all to any of our 3 children. When he did ask one of the children about gymnastics, he was talking to the wrong child. With 3 children, we have seen many Santa's over the years, and this was honestly the worst we’ve ever seen. The elf that was with us had to keep prompting Santa for everything, it all felt very forced and awkward. Our 6 year old was not even asked what he wanted for Christmas so left really confused and felt that he had done something wrong.The worst part of all was that at the end of the experience, you are supposed to collect the snow leopards that were made during the day to put under the tree on Christmas day to surprise your children with to keep the magic of Christmas alive, however, our Father Christmas decided to tell the children he was bringing them, completely ruining the surprise.After such a build up to seeing Santa, it was just a huge let down for what was an extremely expensive trip with 3 children. Aside from the horrific Santa, There was not enough time in the elf village, by the time we had queued to take 3 children to the toilet, we just about managed the ice skating for 15mins then had to rush around the post office and sweetshop before having to leave to meet Santa. With multiple children things take longer and therefore more time should be provided for larger family groups. We had a family photograph taken on the walk down to the Santa visit, and on the screen it looked ok, but after purchasing, we’ve realised it’s actually extremely blurry and not what we would have expected. It was absolutely not a magical experience, and certainly not worth the £675 for 4 hours in November.As soon as we left Lapland, we tried to contact the customer services team at Lapland to discuss what had happened and to try and stop the same happening to any other families, however they would not provide a telephone number to speak to anyone over the phone, and despite them confirming on email that the "Father Christmas" was new and had made a mistake, they would not provide any kind of refund for our ruined experience. We asked for 25% back which we felt was more than fair, but instead they sent out 3 teddies, and a book which we had already purchased. They honestly couldnt have cared less. If you are considering purchasing tickets, I highly recommend you join some of the lapland complaints groups first. There are further shocking stories in there, where families have lost family members, and still cant be refunded. Absolutely no compassion whatsoever, and it clear that its not about keeping the magic alive at all, just making as much money as they can
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