Okay, okay – I know it is still November. Our family is gearing up for Christmas though and we kicked the Christmas season off with a bang for the kids this weekend. We visited Santa’s Magical Kingdom, an interactive carnivalesque wonderland of childhood excitement that has put down stumps at Melbourne’s Caufield Racetrack until Tuesday the 23rd of December.
Bub 1, Bub2 and our family Scrooge in the super slide
Give my six year old a piece of paper and ask him to sketch his ideal day out and he would have sketched something very much like Santa’s Magical Kingdom. There were rides for him – the the equivalent of “thrill rides” for young kids – a super slide, ferris wheel and ride that spun around really quickly and made me feel a little ill. There were also brilliantly colored Christmas lights, giant Christmas decorations (a little kitch but still fabulous) and roaming Christmas characters.
Gingerbread decorating at Santa’s Magical Kingdom
Give my four year old a pencil and ask him to sketch his ideal day out and he would also have sketched Santa’s Magical Kingdom, instead focusing on the gingerbread decorating, carousel, jumping castle and story time with Mrs Claus. I am sure if we had the time to engage with the Lego area he would have loved that too.
Enjoying the fake snow (made from bubbles) at Santa’s magical kingdom
My nearly nine month old can’t draw yet but she thought the area with beautiful Christmas lights and fake snow (the “snow” was bubbly froth) was pretty awesome. All five of our mob loved the forty five minute Christmas circus spectacular (brought to us by Silver’s Circus) because it featured amazing international circus artists doing things that look impossible yet somehow were possible.
International Circus Spectacular at Santa’s Magical Kingdom
Santa’s Magical Kingdom is a sessional attraction – tickets should be pre-purchased (you can do this here). The attraction runs for three hours and is all inclusive excepting the purchase of food and carnival games. Family tickets (which consist of 2 adults and 2 children aged between 2 – 12 years of age) are $130. While this is a hefty portion of a family’s Christmas budget I do think it represented value for money in comparison to, for example other carnival type experiences such as the Melbourne Show. With the inclusion as well of an international circus spectacular families do get better bang for their buck than usual.
A few things that floated the family boat:
- All three of my kids had a fantastic time despite their different ages and developmental stages.
- I had thought our baby may find the experience overstimulating. She didn’t, and went crazy grooving with the baby moves when the circus was on.
- There are quieter corners to allow kids to unwind a little – story-time with Mrs Claus, the Lego corner and the gingerbread decorating were great for this.
- There was no hard sell of candy or show-bags once you are inside (although they are there for purchase if you choose).
- Our family resident Scrooge (baby daddy) who if he had to draw a picture of his horror day out would have drawn something like Santa’s Magical Kingdom had a happy family day in spite of himself and gave the attraction the thumbs up. This represents a family Christmas miracle.
A few extra tips to get the most of your time there:
- We were intimidated by the lines for the rides when we first arrived. These thinned out after the first hour, with non-existant lines in the last hour. Pace yourselves and head to the aspects of the attraction that have least lines first. Our kids ended up each going on at least 8 rides while we were there.
- Consider bringing your own food so you don’t need to line up to purchase it.
- I set limits on my kids before we went to minimize nagging for the extras.
Story-telling with Mrs Claus
Many thanks to the folks at Santa’s Magical Kingdom for inviting us to experience the attraction.
Wow! Everyone must hula hoop on a disco ball during the festive season. Looks like great fun and that dress on bubs is way too cute. xo
Who needs the festive season – if I could hula hoop on a disco ball I’d be doing it every day! Thanks about the dress. I thought it was cute too.
Yes, I would also! Not to mention your ensemble was super cute as well. Love the pop of red 😉
Ahhh shucks. Very nice that someone notices my outfit all the way from Brisbane.