Visiting Santa in his Harrods workshop

Last year we were invited to visit Harrod’s Santa for review purposes, and whilst we enjoyed our experience, we had a few criticisms.

This year, assured that these had all been addressed, we once again travelled into London to experience the wonder of a “Big Name” Santa, visiting Santa in his Harrods workshop.

And I have to say that Harrod’s Santa 2014 was a vast improvement on 2013. It was an actual Winter Wonderland- a forest of white birch trees through which you meandered to meet the man himself. We were issued with Mouse hats this year, which any fully-qualified parent will sport even when their children do not. There were plenty of elves to engage with the children and add to their experience.

The biggest change was the queue- last year you could have been in line at the bank, because you could see everything that was going on ahead of you. The trees this year, and careful staging, meant that yes, you could see some of what was going on ahead of you but not all of it, so you could focus on the moment.

There were fewer screens and more hands-on activities, like a tree-trunk tunnel, or throwing snowballs at snowmen. We got to have our picture taken in “Santa’s Actual Sleigh”, and we had great fun looking out for the animated mice that punctuated out journey to Santa’s door.

There was no accidental eavesdropping on Elves, no inappropriate information to be overheard which, as my girls are a year older, was a blessing.

We went through a special door to the corridor of Santa’s, with it’s enormous countdown clock on the wall. We knocked ceremoniously on the door, and we sat and chatted with Santa. The girls had a goodie rucksack with book and large chocolate coin inside. We had our photograph taken. And we never felt at all rushed.

Back into the hubbub and we claimed our photograph from the very efficient front desk staff, choosing form our Santa shots in addition to the sleigh ones, and before we knew it we were heading home to tell DH all about it.

It was a much more pleasurable experience. And if next year’s experience is even better than this year’s, then I suggest you get your tickets now. Tickets for the Harrod’s Christmas Grotto cost £10 per booking and are available for Harrods Reward Card holders only.

 

Disclosure: we were invited by Harrods to experience the Christmas Grotto for the purposes of writing this review. Our opinions are honest and we received no additional payment.