Santa’s Enchanted Wardrobe is an interactive, immersive theatre experience, enjoyable for children and adults alike. It breaks down the barrier between the audience and characters, and makes the audience a part of the story in a more real and compelling way.
The experience begins with families being evacuated from London, adults included, just as Lucy, Edmund, Susan and Peter were in the original Narnia story. Over the last couple of years, this story has evolved. This years begins with Mrs McCreedy, the housekeeper, leading everyone to the spare room where she asks the group to clean the room while she looks for young Peter, one of the evacuee children. Peter arrives and is soon leading everyone through the Enchanted Wardrobe into snowy Narnia to see Mr Beaver. Thus begins the journey!
Mr Beaver is a new cute, cheeky character, who children will love interacting with. He gives some a little job to do around his home, and gives others a mission, to save Mr Tumnus, the faun, who has been captured and imprisoned by the wicked White Queen.
From here, families follow tunnels to Mr Tumnus and rescue him. He takes them to his home for refreshments, and to send them on another mission: to help Santa’s elves fix their machine and save Christmas. Mr Tumnus is charming and funny, and children will love visiting his little house.
Mr Tumnus leads the families to the Elven woods, where the fairies live. Be introduced to the fairies who live there. You may even see a magical unicorn! The elf will lead everyone on to Santa’s workshop, where children can help the elves, Nobby and Pudding, to fix the magical gift making machine.
The performers are engaging, at times hilarious, depending on their character’s personality, chatting and joking with both children and adults. They ask the children questions and help guide them through the story, giving them little roles to play in the tale that unfolds. The audience are not just passive bystanders here. You help create the story.
There are many fun experiences along the way: Have tea with Mr Tumnus. Meet the mystical forest elf, who introduces a number of fairy friends. Create some Christmas magic with mischievous Nobby and head elf Pudding in Santa’s Workshop. Visit Santa in his cosy lounge with a real pine Christmas tree.
It’s around this time, in between helping the elves, families can duck out for an optional photo opportunity with Santa. The Santa here is friendly and has a real beard, making him really look the part. The photographer snaps several photos so you can pick and pay for the best ones at the end. Parents and carers are encouraged to get in a photo with the kids, too. We don’t get many family photos for all of us, so we found it a great chance for a family Christmas photo.
All up, the experience takes about 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes, and there’s always something to look at or interact with to keep kids busy. Even in the elves workshop where the dialogue might be a bit much for younger children, there was a handful of small toys to distract kids and keep them out of mischief.
This magical theatre experience would be best suited to children 3 years and over, who are more willing listen and follow instructions, though littler ones will still find things enjoy it too. One of the great things about this experience is there are no huge lines to have to deal with. You book the session time you want, a little like booking an appointment, and on arrival wait with your session group by the door for the first of the performers to take you in.
Please be aware that prams and strollers cannot go in, so little ones under two years will need to be carried. We saw a couple of parents with Ergo-style carriers to make this a little easier with their little-little ones. Toilet facilities are located on the outside of the pavilion, so be sure to go before entering your session.
Santa’s Enchanted Wardrobe
Family /group Tickets 4 tickets – any age – $134.00
Adults (over 18) – $35.75
Children (under 18 ) – $34.95
Under 2 years (carried in arms ) FREE
- For groups larger than 4, please contact Steve at Santa’s Enchanted Wardrobe for group pricing
Santa photo packages, if you would like an optional photo, are priced between $24.99 and $34.99. Eftpos payment is available. Photos are made available within 1-2 days.
www.santasenchantedwardrobe.com
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Hello, fantastic review of Santa’s Enchanted Wardrobe, for a complete novice, do we enter gate 8 by driving through to park somewhere inside, or do we park somewhere outside then walk through? I’m scared of messing this up and being late!
Hi! Yes, you just drive in through Gate 8 and park anywhere on the grass. You can’t miss the pavilion. It’s well marked and there will be signs on the pathway. If you get there 10 mins before your time slot, you’ll be fine and you won’t miss out. 🙂