Santa's Wonderland — Attraction in College Station

We haven’t been to Santa’s Wonderland in ten years. The place has grown exponentially in that time.

Short review: The entire staff had an attention to detail that I can appreciate. They are all very friendly and in the Christmas spirit. I saw one pick up a piece of trash which shows me they are trained to take pride in their workplace (think Disney). The experience was dreamy and you should buy tickets to go to Wonderland. Fair warning that it is C R O W D E D. See more details and tips for your visit below…

Longer review: We paid for parking in the Blitzen parking lot because we made a last minute decision to go the day before and the other lots were full. If you can pay for the other closer lots, do it. The Blitzen one has a very long line to get in if you arrive between 3:30-5:00pm. The line moved pretty fast and we chatted with others around us. Overall, it was around 30 mins. I appreciated the metal detectors and bag searches. Tip: there are golf carts in the parking lot. They are free and can take you to the line (or to your car on the way out. Bring cash to tip.) There are restrooms in the parking lots which is genius because the worst part about traveling to get somewhere is having to use the restroom and there’s not one in sight.

We arrived in the park around 4:45pm after getting through the line. We immediately went to the tubes on the mountain hill. This was a great move and I’ll say why. First, know that the tubes are soaked because of the snow so you will get wet getting in. I probably would’ve skipped if I knew that part. There is food by this attraction. We got the white cheese nachos and they were pretty good. They tasted like an elevated version of concession stand nachos.

Right after, around 5:15pm, we decided to get in line for the hayride since the line started forming. This was the good move I previously mentioned on our part because we waited 22 minutes and then we were on! No fast pass! The line went quickly. The hayride was the highlight of the Wonderland. It’s the perfect length and the lights are amazing. They have an incredible system with ten hayrides running at the same time. We saw people on the horseride carriage during our hayride. Honestly, for the cost, we wouldn’t pay for the carriage. To each their own.

At this point we went to the food section. The lines were crazy as expected since it was around 6pm at this point. The lines do not move quickly so if you want more than one thing, then split up and conquer. You can smell the food throughout the area, it’s amazing. We got the Mac and cheese first and it was “interesting”. It seemed a bit like grainy queso with noodles thrown in. My husband got the bbq on it and it looked good (still runny). We all agreed we wouldn’t purchase them again. The fries were delicious and perfectly seasoned.

Next, we went to the snow mountain. Tip: bring paper towels from a food station with you. Tip 2: buy hot chocolate on the way there. Tip 3: bring the kids’ gloves. Their little hands will be FREEZING and wet after they throw snow. Dry them off with said paper towels and then throw their gloves on while they sip hot chocolate when they’re done playing. If you have room in your bag, bring extra shoes and socks to change them into because those will get wet.

Last, we walked through the walking lights and saw the nativity scene. There are many photo ops in this area as well. The live camels were entertaining as they’re siblings, and were playing with each other. The attendant who was watching over them was kind and a current college student as a wildlife major. He made great conversation and I appreciated insight. I do hate that the camels are in a little tiny area as it seems a bit inhumane, but I digress.

We were there for a total of almost 5 hours. Next year, we will arrive at 3:30pm. We didn’t get a chance to go to everything even in those five hours! We are looking forward to returning and were really impressed with the overall operations of the place. Bravo,...

These pictures do Santa's Wonderland NO JUSTICE! We went early as we bought tickets while still on sale and we wanted to go before it got too crowded. However it did not stop the Christmas Spirit in this Wonderland!

There is A LOT of places to eat, something we weren't expecting however looking back makes sense if we would have spent longer there. We started our evening about 7:30 pm with a horse drawn carriage ride through the lights. I felt like I was 10 years old again! You almost need to go through 5 times to see it all! It was a beautiful ride through! It didn't feel rushed is what I LOVED!

When we got off from there we got our yummy free hot chocolate and walked around ending up over near some music which we sat and listened too. They had a large camp fire going, seats around it, kids playing, adults & kids dancing along with snow falling ever so often.

My husband had just had shoulder surgery so we had to pass on the snow tubing but next time im ready for it!

We love Christmas shopping & ornaments are our thing. We spent a couple of hours in the shops looking around and made some purchases for family for this year.

The only bad thing was when we got there, they were having problems with their wireless internet & ticketing app. We had not printed tickets or taken a screen shot, which I suggest you do one of them. We had it ready for when we pulled up to park, but it dissapeared. Parking let us in after 10 failed attempts of trying to pull up the tickets, Thank you! Once we got to the ticket counter it was a glitch on their end, we weren't the only ones having trouble. After a few minutes they wrote our names of those that couldn't sign in while they resolved their IT issue, and we made it just in time for our carriage ride. They adapted quickly, had multiple people working on it, had many people reassuring us it would not be a problem and it wasn't! I just felt like it could have been something big, but they overcame quickly!

Throughout the night ALL OF THE STAFF was soo friendly, eventhough we were there on one of those random 40 degree nights so a few of them were a little cold but in high Texas Christmas spirits! It truly made me not want to leave & gave me the energy of a child at Christmas time again. Next year we will be buying season passes! Thanks to the staff, creators & behind the scenes people of this amazing place! You really made this...

I find it laughable that Santa's Wonderland is sending out emails about buying anytime tickets, when they did the same thing a few years back, and then couldn't find our tickets till months after the season had ended, and did not refund our money. I would warn against buying their tickets early or at all. It feels like they have a lot of money for the park, but nothing that'll go toward more staff or their management system. Seemed very disorganized with their data that they have on their customers.

Final Update 6/28/2022:

Santa's Wonderland claims when I disputed the charge with my credit card company after they couldn't find my tickets, that my money had been refunded to me, but this was not the case. I lost the dispute because my CC couldn't get a hold of any Santa Wonderland staff, and was not refunded my money. I sent this to Amber including the email showing I lost the dispute and didn't get my money back. Haven't heard anything at this point and I doubt they're going to try to help me any further.

Disappointed.

Update 4/12/2022:

Amber has been very helpful in trying to get this issue resolved and so I'm adding a star for her efforts. I have a feeling they don't have a lot of staff that deal with these tickets so I appreciate the time she's taking to help me out.

Original Review December 2021:

They couldn't find my tickets when I called and tried to go in December. I've got a credit card statement with the charge during their sale in July of 2020, which should've still been available in 2021 according to their website.

I've tried calling, and emailing with no response other than an automated message. It's been almost two weeks since the last time I reached out, and It's disappointing this is the kind of customer service they have.

I gave 2 stars instead of 1 because I do enjoy their park. It's a great time, and I've purchased season passes in the past because of how much my girlfriend and I enjoy the event. My hope is that this is a clerical error that can be remedied.

Please reach out to me...