The Santa Claus Experience

What is Lee Valley Animal Adventure Park?

Lee Valley Animal Adventure Park is one of our regular clients. Situated on the London Essex border this exciting adventure farm is a great day out for families. Throughout the year they host activities, themed events and have lots of different animals for guests to learn about. 2021 was their first Christmas under new management and they were excited to create a special Santa Claus Experience.

Stage One: The Brief

As we have worked with this client before we had a good understanding of the site, their needs and requirements and what challenges we might face. Lee Valley Animal Adventure Park has a sister company called Marsh Farm about an hours drive away- their Christmas Event has been established for a number of years and it was important that Lee Valley’s was different form theirs but still met the high standard expected from the brand.

The Head of Entertainment on the farm came to us suggesting a Santa Claus Experience where families were taken on a musical tour across the farm, visiting various festive characters and locations finally reaching Santa Claus as their last stop. We loved the idea, it was very different to the Father Christmas Event at Marsh Farm and gave us lots of ideas on where we could lend our expertise.

Stage Two: Making Magic

We began by discussing the overall flow of the Santa Claus Experience tour, elements the farm team really wanted to focus on were high energy musical singing and dance numbers, highly interactive characters and a strong sense of magic which would continue through the whole tour as the ingredient that tied it all together.

Our main place for creative input would be in the Elf Workshop- the first stop on the guest’s tour. We were requested to create an interactive magic show for this location which would be visual and somehow end in finding a pair of glasses which belonged to Mrs Claus- the guests would then take the glasses on their journey to Mrs Claus’ kitchen signalling the end of that part of the tour so we could prepare for the next group.

The Head of Entertainment had some great ideas but once the budget was established we realised we had quite a challenge to create something that would work for them. We decided to create a custom illusion just for this event which would look like a machine Christmas elves might use in their toy making workshop- the magical part would involve multiple items being magically produced from the machine, the last one being Mrs Claus’ glasses. The farm team loved the idea so we got to work straight away.

Stage Three: Creating the Show

The budget allowed for 2 performers each day so we created a Santa Claus Experience themed magic show with two fun but contrasting elf characters. Tinker and Bolt the workshop elves were specialists in building and fixing toys, but as they were showing off their DIY skills to the audience they accidentally caused a huge explosion resulting in a broken machine.

The pair then decided to fix the machine using magic but Tinker couldn’t seem to find the right type of wand to make Bolt happy, the first one was wobbly like jelly, the second two small and the third too big. Bolt explained how important the machine they broke was, it was the Joy Machine and whatever you wished for that filled you with joy would appear in the machine. After no luck finding a wand for Bolt, Tinker took it upon herself to fix the machine using magic words but to her dismay she couldn’t do it alone. Bolt then found a whole box of wands and they were given to all the children and any grown ups who wanted one in the audience.

Enlisting the help of their new friends Tinker and Bolt tried again and with the power of all the magic wands a success sound flooded the workshop suggesting they fixed it. They then needed to test it out with a helpful and often dubious volunteer, wearing a thinking cap on their head hooked straight up to the machine the volunteer had chance to think of two things that would make them happy for the joy machine to magically produce. They were both humorous items that made adults and children alike laugh and finally the volunteer would be the hero of the day when they magically thought up Mrs Claus’ missing glasses.

Someone would then be trusted to take the glasses to Mrs Claus and the audience would leave with their magic wands down snowy icicle lane on their journey to the kitchen. This allowed the workshop elves time to quickly reset then they would be ready for the next tour group.

Stage four: Dressing The Set

On arrival for the dress rehearsal weekend we found the circus big top tent was almost ready, the stage was built, the lights were set, and the audience seats were in, but the workshop didn’t quite have the feel of a Christmas Elf Workshop just yet. Our creative director was on site so she headed to some local stores to see what she could whip up.

Soon the previously plain large red tool chest had gold and silver trimming and a large bow making it much more Christmassy, cute stuffed toys like the ones the guests received from Santa plus some classic wooden toy soldiers were brought in to fill the to shelf at the back of the workshop. Lots of empty boxes were covered with assorted festive gift wrap and placed with burlap gift sacks to create huge stacks of presents on each side of the stage.

We then added a wrapping paper station- turning an old wooden cabinet into a festive housing for the show’s PA system. The scene was starting to look more like a workshop, we added a few lanterns with battery powered candles to add some old fashioned atmosphere to the mix and the performers were ready to start the Santa Claus Experience dress rehearsal.

Stage Five: Bring In The Guests!

The following weekend after a few friends and family test audiences the Santa Claus Experience was ready to open to the public. Guests made their way from reception to passport control where they met their guide elf and began their journey, soon they were brought down to the Elf workshop where Tinker and Bolt were ready to greet them, opening with a musical dance about their workshop tools.

Guests gasped as the joy machine exploded with smoke shooting upwards and filling the stage then the show was in full swing. After lots of fun, saving the day and finding Mrs Claus’ glasses the guests joined in with Tinker and Bolt for the Christmas Hokey Pokey dance before setting off down icicle lane where the elves had one final surprise for them, magical snow falling from the sky as they waved their magic wands. The guests then went on to Mrs Claus’ kitchen where they sang a song with her and magically helped her bake a cake then decorated gingerbread men.

After a goodbye song from Mrs Claus it was onwards to Santa’s grotto where two elves were decorating the fireplace and the tree. As santa got stuck in the chimney the audience used their magic wands once again to help rescue him then joined Santa, snap and pop for a full show of Christmas hits and party dances. After this they had photos with the big guy in red and collected their very own build a bear teddy from the toy stuffing station outside the grotto.

They could then see the reindeer and collect their photos for the Elfie Station. The Santa Claus Experience ran over 6 weekends throughout November and December and then a full week in the run up to Christmas, the customer feedback was glowing and the tour was a huge success with everyone at the farm enjoying their hard work paying off as happy guests got ready for Christmas.

“Thanks again, you guys really helped add atmosphere to the event and the feedback has been wonderful.”

– GARY LOMAX

Lee Valley Animal Adventure Park

Creating custom Santa Claus Experience entertainment options is exactly what our team enjoy doing most. With our vast selection of costumes and our ability to custom make something to suit your specific needs means our performer’s acts can be tailored to suit any event theme.

To enquire about our Christmas themes, or if you have your own ideas in mind and would like to discuss a custom package created just for you – feel free to drop us a message on our Contact page.