Adventure to Santa

It’s pretty late in the season to be writing a review for this experience but it was so bad, I feel like I should anyway. We prepaid and were taken in on time. The helper elf walked us through the flight lessons (fun personalized video games for the kids) and then to the big sleigh where we enjoyed a pretty spectacular Dreamworks sleigh ride. Next we were ushered into a second waiting area where the kids created «gingy» cookies on another screen. Then more people were let into the small room and THEIR kids made cookies on the screen while the rest of us stood around. The room was very stuffy and it smelled so bad. My husband said it smelled like dirty diapers. And with no window or ventilation, it’s an anxiety attack waiting to happen. I could’ve lived with all of this if not for what was next. The reason I’m giving it 2 stars (and I’m actually feeling a bit generous for doing that) is because the Santa is a GROSS old man. I gasped a little when I walked in. He had his real hair and beard, which is great except for it was not white but YELLOW. I suspect he is a smoker. Also he was not pleasantly plump like a Santa, he was morbidly obese, with his legs spread out across the bench. I hate saying this but the photo with our kids was ruined by the predominance of his crotch. Ugh… I hated typing that so much but seriously… come on. Did the photog not notice this? Also the elf helper sort of insisted we take a family pic, as a mechanism to upsell, which I didn’t appreciate. The kids had a nice time but I don’t think that man was appropriate to play the role of Santa.

One star is too many stars for this disaster. In theory it was a cute idea, but it was really a horrible experience for our 1.5 and 2.5 year old. We began our adventure by waiting outside in the cold for 40 minutes while no employee ever acknowledged the giant crowd forming outside. Next stop was a crowded room smaller than my closet where we waited holding cell style with 15 other parents and restless kids for another 15 minutes. «We’re running 15 minutes behind!» they said when we were already an hour past our reservation. We were then shuffled like the parents and kids in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory through various holding cell closets that varied from minimally entertaining to terrifying for our two kids. By the time we arrived in the last holding cell to wait for santa, we had been there for an hour and 45 minutes and our kids were absolutely beside themselves. We ran past santa and out the nearest exit at our earliest chance. Never again. I will warn everyone I can about the miserable experience we had at this mess.

We had a reservation for well over 3 weeks. Our family was very excited for this experience, my husband and myself both took off early from work. Our reservation was for 7:04, we got there at 6:10 and were told to come back at our reservation time, mind you the place was EMPTY, one family in line ahead of us. No big deal, we knew we were early. Came back at 7:00, waited outside for another 20 minutes. All the while, they were taking walk ins (no reservations).
We have a family of 8, the max allowed, so when they added 4 more people to our group (walk-​ins), I was a bit confused. But we were warm and were excited to get the kids their passports, NOPE, machine was down. So 10 more minutes waiting in that room (with a crabby 3 yr old). Lets go make our sleighs, YAY! Umm… NOPE, no printouts of that available either! Let’s get on the magic sleigh that will take you to The North Pole to see the «Big Guy», YAY! Super excited to do this, we didn’t all fit, considering they threw 4 more people into our group, had to put kids on laps. The movie was grainy, but the over all idea was fantastic (if we all fit).
FINALLY SANTA! I prepaid for the pictures online $ 58, no smaller package available, $ 75 plus tax if you get them there. Santa was very tired, and not quite so friendly. We were rushed through this process, and were shoved out the door to the DreamWorks Toy factory to get our pictures. Yep, those were messed up also, the lady was telling me, «no, its okay, you can print out your own, online». I didn’t want to print out my own, I wanted them printed for me, like I paid for. They did print them, but the wrong way.
This could be a wonderful experience, but not for us, we were rushed, smooshed, it was unorganized, and we didn’t get what we were expecting to get.

This is a massive setup in the center of Oak Brook mall. Reservations are mandatory, and unfortunately if you haven’t booked yet, they are already full for the rest of the year until Christmas, but you can get on a standby waitlist. From my reservation time until I walked out of the building, the whole experience was 1 hour. It’s definitely a fantastic experience that is free! (unless you buy pics and dreamworks toys at the end) We waited in line outside for about 15 minutes. Everyone takes a pic with Shrek, Donkey and Fiona then walks inside (where it’s warm and dry). They print out each family’s passport photo, so I highly recommend uploading it when you make your reservation. Then you go through the whole process of getting to Santa … sorry no spoilers, except I do have a beef with the movie they showed. It was good, but would be AWESOME if the resolution was good and the picture clear. I pretty much had a slight headache from how fuzzy and unfocused it was… bummer.
Santa was great, very nice and approachable… my 3 year old daughter didn’t cry so thumbs up!
I would definitely want to see this again next year. it really adds something to the whole Santa experience!