Castle Noel

I think I really liked this place because of how much you could see the passion in the owner. You can definitely tell he really LOVES Christmas. I’m not sure if he makes an appearance for every tour, but he spoke with our group at the beginning and shared how his love for Christmas started as a kid because his dad always went all out for it. It is a great place to take your family, ESPECIALLY if you have kids that still believe in Santa. It’s also a great place for the older crowd to go, so they can reminisce and look at all the old Christmas memorabilia. I don’t think it’s that entertaining for kids in-between…we took our ten year old niece with us, and while yes she was being a brat, I could tell she was bored and not interested. None of them memorabilia was recognizable to her, and she doesn’t believe in Santa anymore, so she wasn’t that impressed.
If you are a mom with young children: DO NOT BRING YOUR STROLLER!!!
First, it’s very, VERY difficult to navigate it around the different parts of the tour-​especially when you go through the «chimney.» Second, the two women that had strollers on our tour were just flat out rude and didn’t care who they were running over.
I also recommend buying tickets ahead of time.

My family and I had a great time at Castle Noël. We really enjoyed seeing ask the Christmas decorations, window displays, movie props and costumes, and vintage toys. You can tell the owner Mark put a lot of effort and love into this place to make it a Christmas wonderland for adults. I would not recommend bringing children to this tour unless they have an interest in movies or nostalgia. If your child wouldn’t enjoy a guided tour through a museum, they probably wouldn’t like this. The only part that really felt child friendly was the side at the end, though adults may have enjoyed this more too since it was the side from the end of A Christmas Story. Would be a great place to bring visiting friends and relatives from out of town or a cute date night. If you go during the Christmas season, be sure to walk around outside afterwards, the surrounding area is lit up beautifully.
Our favorite parts of the tour was seeing the RV from National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, the window displays from New York City, and Marks workshop. My group consisted of all adults and we all felt that we had a memorable experience and look forward to coming back!

A fun place to take the family to get in the Christmas spirit. A lot of neat Christmas displays and old movie props. Would have given 4 stars except it’s pricey @ $ 17 a ticket, and they rush your group through like a herd of cattle. Recommend getting a reservation, else your looking at a long frustrating wait.

I think the displays were interesting but you dont get a whole lot of time with them. Each section has a different tour guide who woodenly spouts off a few factoids… i am really confused by why each section had a different tour guide. it would have made more sense to have plaques explaining what each display is rather than spend 2 minutes listening to how the owner obtained the item. It was somewhat boring, esp for the kids and many of t g e items, with the exception of the Grinch and Elf displays, really had little relevance to the under 40 crowd…

Really unique experience. My young kids loved it even before they knew the movie references.

Castle Noël is good for people who are really nostalgic and like going to Big Fun and who like really tight crowded, cluttered spaces. aka, not me. I have to agree with Megan V. that it’s got kind of a weird vibe, and they talk way too much about Mark the owner during the tour.
I tried to call ahead just to see if they thought I’d need reservations to visit that afternoon. It was the most ridiculous process. I literally had to call back 4 times because the woman who answered my phone could not take 2 minutes to look at the schedule and answer my question. She just kept saying «It’s really busy in here right now. I’ll call you back in 5 minutes.» And 20 minutes later I’d have to call again for the same run around. Eventually it worked out and we got reservations for the time we wanted, but the process took over an hour and I nearly called the whole visit off.
To me, $ 17 is a bit steep for what you get. But the place was crowded and they move you through the exhibits at a good clip, so obviously people are wiling to pay it.
Definitely not small-​child friendly. The tour involves too much listening and waiting to be fun for little ones. The website warns to bring an umbrella stroller or none at all because you will have to carry it up and down steps, and it’s a good thing! It’s also not that interesting for young kids because most of the attraction is about ‘remember when’ stuff.
All that being said, my family had a good time and I don’t regret going. I did enjoy the window displays and the ornament ceiling.

If you haven’t been – you need to go!!! My family and I had a blast at Castle Noël, the most amazing Christmas experience on the planet located in downtown Medina! Here you will find dozens of actual Christmas movie sets, costumes, and props, historic and modern animated Bloomingdale’s and Macy’s holiday department store windows, a stroll through Toyland, a squeeze through Santa’s chimney, and a trip down the actual slide from the movie holiday favorite, A Christmas Story! Celebrities from Christmas movies often stop in to mingle with guests and sometimes step into costume and character. On the day of our visit, the actor who played the nasty elf in A Christmas Story delighted guests with his willingness to pose for pictures and order us big kids down the slide as he did to little Ralphie and his brother!
You will need reservations – although, even with them, you may still have a wait. Seems they are still trying to get their act together as far as organizing the traffic flow. Despite the minor inconvenience; however, I think once your visit is complete, you will agree that the wait was so worth it!

Awesome museum for the Christmas nut in your family! Tour guide (Lori) was friendly and knowledgeable. The displays are numerous and unique. At 16.00 it is a little pricey, especially for a family, but it is a lot of fun! Recommended!

I would have to agree that this is not exactly an attraction for kids… that’s not to say some kids wouldn’t enjoy themselves. I took my parents for Christmas 2013 and really enjoyed it. They are constantly working on adding new features and displays, but even for their first year there was a lot to see and it was a great value. The toys and games and movie scenes really made our small hearts grow three sizes that day! :-)
Mark Klaus is a superbly (is that a word? sue me.) talented artist. Mom bought a hand-​sculpted ornament and she gets compliments throughout the season. He, his wife and their team have done a great job transforming this space into a holiday wonderland. Is it cheesy if I say it really is magical?
We agreed to visit Castle Noël every other year. I can’t wait to see what this year has in store for us.

I do love Castle Noël but I have one huge beef… They talk about the owner WAY too much!!! It almost like a history museum of Mark Clause (the owner). Besides that, it really is a great place to make a tradition to go to each year.
Please just lay off «Mark this, Mark that, next year

I feel like no matter what I write I’ll be branded a «grinch» so I’m just gonna go for it… My family and I try to do a Christmas ‘event’ every year — go to a show or on a trip of some sort. This year we went on what seemed like an ACID trip at Castle Noël.
As described, this place pays homage to Christmas movies and all things Christmas. You are led through a maze of displays by people who appear to be the relatives/​followers/​minions of Castle Noël’s founder, Mark Klaus. Some have real enthusiasm, some feign it well and some downright fail. Shout out to the guy by the shoe display — your sexist comments about women and shoes are forgiven; I’m assuming you were high on cocaine because your enthusiasm was so immense, I thought it had to be drug-​induced.
Almost every section is prefaced with some grand praise of «Mark Klaus, the god of Christmas.» We learn more about Mark than anything — how hard he works on recreating displays, how good of a sculptor he is. You learn about his health problems (broken back) and watch clips of HIS favourite Christmas movies and hear anecdotes of his life. I’m sure Mark is a nice guy but it would be like going to the Tate Modern or MoMA and hearing more about the curator than the art.
There are some impressive props, such as Will Ferrell’s «Elf» suit and Jim Carrey’s Grinch sled. I hate to burst people’s bubble, but one of the worker bees explained that the slide is only a replica of the «Christmas Story» slide, that said, we bought our family photo along with a gem-​of-​a-​photo of my brother from the top of the slide because it was so damn funny.
I left Castle Noël feeling marginally more Christmassy but that was mostly as a result of having a good laugh with my nearest and dearest. I couldn’t help but feel the whole time that there was some weird, grim, patriarchal, cultish undertone flowing throughout. Maybe I’ve just watched too many non-​Christmas movies…
Overall, it was an experience to say the least, but not one I need to repeat in upcoming years.

We visited Castle Noël on ¹²⁄₂₃ and it was a very interesting tour– especially if you enjoy Christmas movies and/​or vintage children’s toys. The tour guides were all very enthusiastic and knowledgeable. My favorite part was the display of the Nutcracker windows from a NY city dept store. VERY cool. We also enjoyed riding down the recreated A Christmas Story slide after seeing Santa. Good times for adults especially; not that it isn’t kid friendly. Kids would just have to be really into Christmas movies to enjoy it. The only reason for my 4 star (not 5) rating is that even though we had reservations, we had to wait 45 minutes to get in. That was disappointing, although likely not the case during the rest of the year. It is probably most busy during Christmas.

This is an amazing place if you love Christmas movies and props. It was about $ 16 bucks a person but I really felt that we got our money’s worth out of it. These people really love Christmas and you can tell they’ve put their heart into making this thing awesome. It’s a tour/​museum so it’s not really for tiny kids but there is the slide from A Christmas Story at the end. Would recommend!

This was the coolest Christmas collection ever! This is a must for any Christmas lover. Many different things to look at and they are always adding.
Who wouldn’t want to slide down the slide from A Christmas Story?!? Amazing!
The staff was all so pleasant and happy to be there and share their knowledge.
Just felt a bit rushed on the tour since the next group was right behind us. I will totally be back!

Amazing! The museum and shop are some of the best and most enjoyable I have been too. Very interactive and the tour guides are amazing. Highly recommended for kids of all ages… or for kids from 1 to 92 for those Christmas song fans. So many great pieces to see and it just keeps getting better as you go. I hope they continue to add and expand the collection.

If you like Christmas you’ll be blown away by Castle Noël. This place is great for old and young. They have movie props from 80s Christmas movies all the way to the 2000s. They bring window displays from New York for you to see and have interactive things like a spinning vortex of snow and a gigantic Christmas story slide and more. Great for all ages.