Christmas Wonderland - Miami — Attraction in South Miami

TL;DR: What a sad shell of the greatness that once was a South Florida winter landmark. Decorations are cheap inflatables, not even half the lights that SEF had which was most of the magic. Not enough thrill rides for the older kids and teens. I only went because of the Tuesday deal, still paid almost 200, and I won't be going back. What a disappointment.

We visited on New Years Eve right at opening, the parking attendants have no experience in directing traffic, so there was a lot of confusion. The first one to stop me asked me ,"what are you looking for" when he meant to ask me if I wanted general or VIP parking. A lot of them standing around with their wands but not actually telling people where to go. Our cars were packed together like sardines so I ended up making a 3 point turn just to get out when we left. Very poorly managed by untrained and unmotivated staff. When we walked up, again it was pretty dead, there was a line to check your bags and the metal detectors. THEY WENT THROUGH EVERYTHING. Which at first I thought, good! Keep weapons out, right? No. They are looking for water and food and they make you empty it out. Even sealed water bottles. EVEN BABY SIPPY CUPS! Supposedly there's not even a water fountain in the park. I ate and drank before arriving bc I know the game. We walked in and it was fine. A lot of cheapy decorations that were now more tailored to the Latin culture. Not my favorite, I preferred the old park keeping it traditional. I didn't like all the Estrella and Goya product placement everywhere. Cheapened the place. FOOD: I spent 24 dollars on two trays of mini tequenos that were probably altogether what I would pay 3 dollars for at the gas station. I handed 40 to the cashier and she tried to give me back 6. I protested that I didn't get enough change and she acted like she was still looking for the extra 10. Thievery. As for the rides, since there were no lines, my sons got to ride on almost every fast ride within 45 minutes. Very little to offer. I joined them on the Himalaya and beware. The attendants that man this ride are vindictive. They are purposely pushing the speed of this ride past the normal speed. I had to brace myself like if I was riding a bucking bronco just to keep my back from slamming on the seat back. I have a bruise on my left arm from how forcefully I was pressed against the seat because of the excessive speed. My husband watched from the side lines and said he saw both attendants laughing at the danger that they were putting us all in. We left shortly after 8 since there was nothing else to do amd the crowds were really starting to pour in. As I said, if you are thinking this is Santa's Enchanted Forest 2.0, I'm sorry to say you will be disappointed. This place is obviously a rip off trying to be SEF without any of the industry know-how and much more greed. FYI these ppl charge more at the gate than Santa's ever did! Save your money, go to the Zoo for lights and decorations and wait for the Fair to...

I honestly loved the park, I loved the lights and beautiful displays. This park is definitely a lot nicer and far more updated than Santa's Enchanted Forest and the rides were fun and wait times for each ride was 20min no more than 30min max. I really had a great time at this park but the reason why I give Christmas Wonderland a 1 star review is for the unacceptable treatment and strong arming towards vendors and their guests at closing time. There was a particularly rude staff member who was forcing guests out of line with food vendors and forcebly shutting them down at 11:00 pm and telling guests that they were no longer allowed to buy food because the park was closed. I understand that a lot of park guests including myself were under the impression that the park would be open to midnight unfortunately this was not the case. But if you still have guests inside your park who are hungry especially families with little ones who are you to deny anyone from feeding thier family especially if the vendors are willing to accommodate guests and this is additional money not only for vendors but for the park as well. To watch this staff member pull families who are paying guests out of line and telling them that they can not get food is unexceptionable. I my self with my family left the park hungry because we were told by this staff member that we were not allowed to get food. When this staff member was approached by another guest who asked why he was not allowing families to eat he responded very hastily "the park closes at 11, that's it you have to leave, park is closed." No apology or polite approach to this. A lot of park guests including my self felt like we were rudely being kicked out. I felt really bad for all of us park guests that were denied food on the way out especially the little ones. I sincerely hope that management educates this staff member on proper guest etiquette. We are guests who have paid to be in your park and we are the ones that determine the success of this attraction becoming a stable in our community. It is important not to lose sight that your establishment is being given an opportunity to serve it's local community. I was really rooting for Christmas Wonderland but this staff member and his rudeness completely ruined our night. Do not recommend due to this bad experience at closing but if you still wish to visit make sure to feed the little ones before coming to the park or buy them treats 3 hrs prior to closing. I do wish to extend a special thank you to the staff member out at the tram stop that noticed my husbands disability and personally made sure to have us safely driven to our car after the last trams left. Thank you Sir you where an angel and a perfect example of what proper...

This place was terrible. Ever since 2014, we’ve been going to Santa’s Enchanted Forest. Santa’s was super fun, had more rides, and was overall a great experience. This year, we went to Christmas Wonderland. The only real reasons why we even considered to go to Christmas Wonderland was because Santa’s Enchanted Forest was not operating this year, and also because last year, in 2023, when we went to Santa’s, it wasn’t as good. We had hope that this place could actually be good. We were so wrong.

When we entered, there was a line for the parking spots. For us, it was annoying because before, you just parked and entered on foot, at least in Santa’s. But in Christmas Wonderland, you had to wait in line with your car just to enter the PARKING LOT. It opened at 4:00, and people decided that instead of waiting in line patiently like everyone else, they should cut to the front of the line. And the one person that was controlling the gates to open the parking lot did nothing about it! To put the cherry on top, the other people in line were giving these cut-in-line jerks a break! But this was only the beginning.

When we entered to the actual park, we immediately noticed the differences between Santa’s and this “Wonderland”. For one, the decorations weren’t that good, and certainly weren’t even near the level of creativity and awesomeness that Santa’s had. For two, there were very minimal rides, and to fill in the empty space, they added pay to win slop (which was rigged btw), and food/drink stands. They also had a show stage, which during the time of my visit, wasn’t active in the slightest. After the rides, there was practically nothing else to do, so we just took a couple of pictures and left.

This place was awful. If you want an experience where you have to pay $40 dollars per ticket to get minimal rides, pay to win stands, and food stands, then Christmas Wonderland is the place for you. But if you don’t want this type of experience, then stay as far away as possible from...