On November 15th 2019, Tamworth’s SnowDome launched their 15th year of Santa’s Winter Wonderland! We were kindly gifted tickets to come along the following day and check out what the festive experience had to offer! We had previously experienced Santa’s Winter Wonderland at The SnowDome 8 years ago. At the time, Mr B was 2 years old and an only child. We felt the experience was average but this time, I gave it the benefit of the doubt and went along with high hopes! As part of our Christmas traditions, we love to have a festive family day out, so this was the perfect opportunity to offer you guys a review of this West Midlands attraction.
If you didn’t already know, The SnowDome is located in Tamworth and is the perfect ice haven for snow lovers, whether your fit for the slopes or not. Activities include swimming, climbing, tobogganing and of course skiing and snowboarding! There is also a shop, Starbucks (Yes!) and a restaurant on site! Each year (in fact, for the 15th year running) Santa’s Winter Wonderland arrives at The SnowDome, offering guests what is said to be a magical snow experience!
Without giving away too many spoilers, Santa’s Winter Wonderland is a great opportunity for you and your family to play in read snow! This premier snow event is split into three experiences and lasts around 90 minutes. But before we get into that, I’ll share our experience from start to finish!
We begin by arriving at The Santa’s Winter Wonderland archway 10 minutes before our booking time. This gave us an opportunity to have a photo in front of the fabulous and festive decorations and headed downstairs into the transformed iced waiting room! Down here, we were greeted by a hilarious and inviting cast member. He not only engaged with the audience but he also informed us of what our experience would entail. He asked a child from the audience to press the large red button to begin our festivities, and we were off into the snow!
Here, we were offered 30 minutes of experience playing in real snow. Be warned – it is freezing so make sure to wrap up warm! This is a circular trail that is looped around the ice skating rink, decorated with Christmas trees galore, bright festive lights and even the odd Yeti character!
We all had the opportunity to ride on a sleigh which there was plenty available, and there was 3 tubing slides located around the Christmas snow trail. The kids loved the tubing and pulling each other along on the sleighs.
And of course, a few snow balls were thrown too! There was a lovely photo opportunity in Santa’s sleigh which was a lovely addition. You could either take the photo yourself or there was the option to use a self taking camera available.
And of course, we cannot forget the falling snow – this made it really magical! The decorations around the trail were really beautiful with some many christmas trees it felt like an enchanting forest trail. It was full of glistening fairy lights and it was even more festive having christmas music piped through.
For me, this was my highlight of the day. Situated in a small intimate theatre just next to the snow trail, you are called in to meet Santa in his festive performance – The Twelve Days of Christmas. This was absolutely brilliant – pure festiveness mixed in with modern and family humour.
Fancy watching Santa do the floss?! Then your in for a treat! And of course, you’ll have two elves who come to join in the fun, as well as Rudolf himself. This had us all dancing in our seats!
And just to add, Santa’s Suit is lovely! Doesn’t anyone else love a good quietly Santa suit?!
Finally, after experiencing the fantastic Santa Show which lasts around 20 minutes, we then left the theatre and headed into Santa’s Christmas Village. Here, we got to meet many of Santa’s animals which include baby chicks, alpacas and micro pigs! Baby K was fascinated with the rabbits and spent most of the 45 minutes we spent in here next to their pen. The staff are also on hand to let the children pet the rabbits which was lovely.
The kids also got the chance to write their Christmas lists to Santa and post then in a real red letterbox! We brought some hot chocolate with lashings of cream and marshmallows much to the kids delight (extra charge of £2.50 each) and Missy loved the ride on the Christmas Carousal.
– Booking your Santas Winter Wonderland tickets is super easy. Just head over to The SnowDome’s website and click on the link to this Christmas experience. Then, choose a date and the amount of tickets you need. You’ll then be offered several times available to choose from.
– There is a carpark on site at The SnowDome. It costs £2 to park for the whole day. However there is also a multi-storey carpark about a 9 minute walk away.
– Arrive at least 10 minutes before your booking time. If super early, its a great way to show the kids the snowboarders and skiers from the viewing platform.
– Have your booking ticket ready printed or simply on your phone to show a staff member when booking in.
– Wear gloves!
– If you have a pair of wellies, wear them…with thick warm socks. If not, wear a shoe with a grip. The snow is slippy.
– Don’t forget your hat and scarf.
– Theres a large Starbucks on site with a viewing window of the Santa’s Winter Wonderland!
– There is also a large restaurant here, however this was rather busy.
– You can take your bags into Santa’s Winter Wonderland, however if you wish not to, there are lockers available.
Overall, we had such a fun and festive family morning out. This was lots of fun and with the three separate elements to the experience, kept the kids interest, and it was exciting to find out what was next. The snow experience was lots of fun however I felt we could have had a little longer in the snow – it stated 30 minutes but it did feel a lot shorter – time flies when your having fun! We absolutely loved Santa’s Show which was so funny and generally had me belly laughing.
Our final stop at Santa’s village has really uped its game since we last visited all them years ago. There are many more animals (although its a shame to see the reindeers go!) and the new addition of the Christmas Carousal was a real treat. It felt so festive with huge Christmas trees, Christmas music and many festive photo opportunities dotted around.
It states that the experience lasts 90 minute but for us, it lasted 2 hours – we were one of the last families in the Santas Village – we didn’t want to leave.
Our children are aged, 2 5 and 9. They were perfect ages for this experience. Whilst Baby K (2 year old) was a little young in understanding the humour of the show, he loved loved LOVED the snow tubing and was obsessed with the animals at the end.
Overall, its a huge thumbs up from us!
And there you have it – what a lovely way to kick off the festive celebrations for 2019! Are you thinking about visiting this lovely Christmas experience in the West Midlands?
Thanks for reading xxx
*We were kindly gifted tickets for the purpose of this review. All words and opinions are my own*
Hi and welcome to The Willow Tree. I’m Michelle, also known as Shel and I am a mama to three beautiful crazy kids – I have two handsome boys and a wild and wonderful girl.
I really wanted a concrete place to share my love for travel, in particular Disney and offer my readers a chance to gain some knowledge around what we love to do as a family of 5.
I share our family adventures which include days out, travel advice and tips, holiday reviews, restaurant visits and of course, our love for Disney, including Disneyland Paris and Walt Disney World.
Life is about creating memories, and here we are sharing them with you
xoxo
Looks great fun there for the kids!