Woodland Experiences — Attraction in Scotland

We had pretty high hopes for this after hearing about it. The whole idea is fantastic, I haven’t been to one like it. We did however find it a little overwhelming, we had no idea what to expect. My 2 children aged 3 & 18 months were also pretty overwhelmed, the big loud bang of the trailer door gave the kids a fright straight off the bat.

Once out the trailer the elves began explaining what was happening next before they had the groups attention, and quickly started walking down to the grotto. After waking Santa up and hearing his footsteps my 3 year old was pretty scared and didn’t want to go in. The elves and Santa didn’t bother to help him feel at ease, they just wanted to get on with the script, so that was fine.

My 18month old went in the grotto but didn’t want to get too close to Santa, so I sat with him on the floor which felt inconvenient to the staff. Everything seemed pretty rushed. My little one got to choose a gift and the gifts were better than your average Santa grotto gift so that was brilliant!

My 3 year old son who waited outside the grotto with my partner the whole time got excited about Santa when we all came back outside but the elves and Santa didn’t acknowledge him. As he also didn’t get to choose a gift because he didn’t go in the grotto. I asked if he could go in and choose one (considering we paid £24 for him) and the elf replied ‘em I’ll just need to wait and see’ so we waited until she asked someone else. We were allowed in but in their words ‘we had to be quick about it’ so I rushed into the grotto with him for him to choose his present and he never really got the chance to have a look. We had to quickly choose one so I picked up the first thing we seen which was a board game that he has no idea how to play so totally pointless. It put a complete damper on the whole experience. It might have been kind for Santa or the elf’s to make a little more effort with my child considering he missed the whole experience due to being overwhelmed.

I think it was totally overpriced, £10 per adult, £10 for my 18month old and £24 for my 3 year old who didn’t get to experience anything apart from the trailer ride.

Great concept, could be absolutely fantastic if the staff were a little more compassionate towards frightened or upset children. But I think we might stick to Dobbies where we’re not going to be rushed in and out the door for...

We had a magical experience on Friday night. On arrival we were only about 10 mins before our slot which ended up being fine. We were welcomed by an Elf outside who offered to take photos of us as a family on my phone. We were welcomed inside by elves who explained where to go for our tractor ride to Santa. We found all the staff so friendly and so enthusiastic. It really got our kids (age 2 and 6) so excited.

The trip down to Santa was good and the lights and elves in the woods were good fun to see. When arriving to Santas woodland house it would have been great to have more of a walk but appreciate this wouldn’t be everyone’s wishes. Santa was brilliant and the toys were amazing all set out on the table for children to choose when it was their turn. Our kids didn’t want to sit on the little chairs so we sat on the benches at the side and this was fine. We found the experience very inclusive and as personal as a group session could be!

There were lovely touches making it very festive and back at the main building there was plenty to do some free and others which took tokens which were only £1.50. These included bouncy castle, roasting marshmallows and items in the shop. We expected these would cost far more from previous experiences. There was also a lovely face painter which was a massive hit.

The elves all were so attentive and my daughter loved getting her elf name and doing the activity sheets.

We ate in the food court and enjoyed the chicken burgers and then ended the experience toasting marshmallows and getting final photos outside.

We traveled from Edinburgh and we found it was incredible value compared to attractions local to us.

Thank you so much to...

We enjoyed this experience so much last year I have spent all year telling and recommending my friends to go this year.

Sadly, it wasnt nearly as good as last year. It was a lot more commercialised and it was like being a number in a cattle market this year.

They were running supposedly 15mins late which turned out to be closer to 30 mins late. You were bundled onto the trailer where the driver put his foot down in the tractor and the trailer was going very fast. We whizzed thru the 'woods' with the Elf talking so fast and us speeding past ghe elfs in ghe woods it was just too quick for the children.

Very quickly walked up to the grotto, Elf still trying to make back lost time.

Santa was good but covered nothing like thd info like last year. No mention of the special key for the houses that dont have chimneys! Then bundled hastly back outside, quick photo then back on the trailer with ghe driver trying again to make up lost time.

Certainly not the same experience as last year and wouldn't recommend again as it just seems to be how many people they can cram...