What's New

Grotto Experience

R

remlap

Member
How many people have done the grotto experience this year?

We visited yesterday after work and was a little disappointed to find that the gingerbread experience only runs to 4 as it's in the zoo. We also found that nowhere was serving food even though the park was open to 7 and virtually all the rides closed at 6.

The grotto experience itself was pretty good and I always seem to have really good Santa's working there, a lot more believeable that some.

It just seems very expensive now for what you get, I paid £36 for 2 adults and a child and then paid a further £20 for the photo which doesn't allow pass holder discount.

I know you don't have to buy the photo and you are allowed to take your own (we bought it as all 3 of us are in it), but it just doesn't feel as magical this year, feel like they're trying to shake you down for cash.

What's everyone's thoughts?
 
I think the Christmas event hasn’t been good enough since the Bryan’s last run it in 2019.
In 2018 and 2019 it was only £5 extra on top of your pass to see Santa and you only had to pay for the kids.
2018 my daughter got this
F46FB126-8F62-46C0-A6A3-9B2F7D9D7D05.jpeg
11B4A486-CA72-4CB6-9FE6-378898D2955D.jpeg

My daughter and Son got this in 2019
291566DB-5653-4C1E-9D42-AC704A4FC00E.jpeg

Like you didn’t have Mrs Claus story time or make the reindeer food last year and write your letter to Santa.
Even the entertainment repeated all year like the Rusty and Dusty instead of using an ice cream use a pie instead.
The only entertainment outside Thomas land now is Rory singing 2 songs with Santa at 5pm.
They really need to bring back the ice rink as that was very popular and the fireworks.
 
My son is obsessed with Drayton Manor , he’s definitely showing a strong passion to becoming an enthusiast and so he requests to see Santa at Drayton Manor each year.

We was a little disappointed with the park’s offerings this year. The Story time with Mrs Clause was good but I felt that the letter station after that was a little bit of a let down after last years Reindeer food creation station.

The gingerbread decorating was a nice touch however this should really be in a different place in the main park / Thomas land. The gates to the zoo was closed on the main entrance and so people had to walk through the exit the long way around if not catching the train. The staff also seemed a little unsure during the ginger bread work shop about who was running it and had to use 5 minutes to discuss this at 11.

The Santa live show in the theatre was amazing but it’s a shame it didn’t seem to be pulling in the crowds. In our showing there was only 6 people present, though this may be something that was more busy later on.

We also noticed at the last song song with the Fat controller that the staff change back into their own clothes above Halfords station and walk down dressed ready to go home. This is a little disappointing as to me this could ruin the magic for the little ones. Surely it would be a better idea for them to go somewhere back stage to do this where you wouldn’t see them coming down from above knapford station. This to me seems like the equivalent of a live face character at Disney coming out dressed ready to go home in the same location. You just wouldn’t do that.

Over all it was a good experience and it certainly seems like the amount of fake snow they used doubled and appears thicker this year to create the snow flurries. There’s definitely room for improvement and hopefully they find the right team behind the scenes to up the Christmas experience as previously stated it hasn’t been as good as the bryans event but I suppose with the amount of investment going into the main areas of the park , the looping group may be holding back expenses in other areas.
 
I defiantly agree they should bring back the fireworks, I think it made people stay to the end which has to be good for the park as they're more likely to spend money. I know it was a weekday but it's the school holidays and the park was dead when we arrived just after 4.

The show was also a little disappointing. The amount of snow was amazing though, looked like Santa was at a foam party.

I wouldn't object to them cutting back if they didn't charge so much for it.
 
Booked the grotto experience, maybe its just me not reading everything properly but I was a little underprepared.

The grotto expereince itself was good. Although the switch from the reindeer food to the letter writing was less fun it did let me know that there was a need for a "mechanical dinosaur" to be purchased ahead of the big day. Also you do need to change it every year and the little lad didn't seem to mind...and he hates writing anything.

The Santa experience itself was good. But the cost of the photos was urgh!! Yes I got it, because its nice to have a year on year record. But oh for an option to just pay £10 for a download. I don't want a snowflake, or a snow globe.

But now comes for the underprepared part. I heard there was a gingerbread decoration thing, but I didn't know where. I guess Mrs Kyndley's and was right. But there is some room for improvement here. The tables weren't being rotated enough, with folks eating lunch too it was reduced. We went outside, but was grateful it wasn't the week before. The fondant was very generous, the sprinkles considerably less so. Also if I've paid for the ticket as an adult can I have a biscuit too? The queue when we finished was considerable, I can imagine some folks being pretty grumpy with it as the rest of the park was so quiet.

I have mentioned it elsewhere, but did anyone else notice the ride cycles on Thor being longer as the usage was so quiet? We had 7 trips back and forth across the hump. It made quite a difference.

Really grateful for this thread though, as I didn;t realise the park was open till 7 and hadn't put two and two together and realised that meant night riding. So a return trip in the dark this evening. Accelerator was on reduced capacity but pretty much still walk on. Saw the Rory and Santa show at 5 which was enjoyable, it was well rehearsed - which youd expect in the penultimate performance.

I didn't take in the show in the cinema, but may pop in tomorrow to see it if we happen to be nearby.

The look in the park at night was really nice, it was also a much less stressful experience than the aftermath of the fireworks this year.

Fair play to all the staff who on both visits were attentive and exceptionally friendly.

If there were a couple more attractions it woudl set it off. The ice rink has been mentioned - little lad wasn't big enough back then so that would be fun and I think would draw lots of people in. Even if they set one up outside by car park two like the one in Brum centre.

I also rememebr there was a photo opp piece where the was like a mini crystal dome where you stood in a snow storm like you were in a snow globe yourself. That was fun for the little ones. I'd have done that again I think.
 
I think the cold weather has really put guests off and cause you can buy discounted tickets up to 10am on the day temperatures and the weather will decide if parents want to spend that much money on a family day out.
£36 is a lot of money for park entry and the Grotto experience when really kids over 1m have only Thor and Bounty to go on. (My son is 3 and think by March he be over 1m)
 
Themeparksandy1981 said:
I think the cold weather has really put guests off and cause you can buy discounted tickets up to 10am on the day temperatures and the weather will decide if parents want to spend that much money on a family day out.
£36 is a lot of money for park entry and the Grotto experience when really kids over 1m have only Thor and Bounty to go on. (My son is 3 and think by March he be over 1m)
Click to expand...
I think charging £12 for adults for the Grotton experience is way too much too. I don't mind paying to go in, but it's a lot for a hot drink and mince pie!
 
We was given mince pies too but they’ve done that for a few years now. I was also able to have a cup of tea instead of hot chocolate. The staff was amazing at swapping the drinks. I was suffering from pneumonia and chocolate was just too heavy on my chest but like many parents do, you just suck it up and get on with Christmas for the kids.
 
I went and upgraded my hot chocolate at FunFoods. Maybe this was my error and stopped me getting my mince pie.

Mind you once the cream and marshmallows went in my hot chocolate I lost custody of that too!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top