Sam's Christmas Village & Light Tour — Local services in Somerset

If I could give ZERO stars, I would. Where do I begin? Anywhere really, there is so much about this customer/consumer price gouging outfit to warn people about. $10 for parking? For what? It isn't a maintained and paved parking lot. It is a GD mud filled field. For the cost of $20 entry ticket the parking should be complimentary. I mean, what the hell, how much is a mud filled field in Wisconsin going for these days anyway? 100 bucks an acre? The lights, oh boy the lights!!! Puke! Not impressed at all. Well I suppose if it was $5.00 entry it would be okay, but just okay. Okay? It is much like another wise reviewer said, "just a bunch of decorated tree trunks", " with some lit decorations strewn about". We walked through the entire site in 20 minutes. We felt so screwed, we walked through again just to get more steps in. And also to see if we maybe missed something. No, we didn't miss anything. All of the vendors pricing is through the roof too. That's the other thing, half of this "Sam's Christmas Village" is retail. Shops with overpriced wares, watered down "cold" hot chocolate etc... It's like I'm at the Renaissance Festival. Except the parking at the Renaissance is free, even though the land there is worth more than 100 bucks an acre. This whole operation seems to be taking advantage of people emerging from the pandemic and are starved to get out and about. I read also that we must consider that this "outfit" has much employees to pay for their work and that nobody is expected to volunteer. Yeah okay. So that reminds of a riddle. "How may Wisconsinites does it take to manage a parking lot in a GD mud filled field?" Well apparently the answer is "at least 25". This "parking lot" could have gotten by with 6 people. Just trying to save you some money, which in turn could save the consumer money. Not me though, I already got duped and will never get it back. I felt so scammed. Bad experience. Christmas time too, you know? Tis the season and all that. Is this how a "Village" visit should leave us feeling? You wouldn't think so. Never going back. Save your money and more...

Be prepared for lots of walking & that's just from the parking lot to the ticket booth, tickets can be purchased in advance online or at the walk-up windows! Lots of walking in the village as well, but the lights & displays are worth it. There are plenty of photo op locations to enjoy, especially for the young visitors, it was a lot of fun just watching their faces as new displays came into view. The 2-6 year olds were great when they had a wagon to fall back on/in when they started winding down (parents were glad they didn't have to carry them as well). There wasn't much snow cover tonight & the temp hovered between 37-43° when I was there. Ample places to warm yourselves around the village at the dozens of bonfires. Plenty of porta-potties & buildings to warm up in & enjoy what they had to offer. Small craft vendor area with a nice variety of offerings. Maps located throughout, or you can pull one up on your phone. Every employee I encountered was very friendly & helpful & wanted the guests to hane a good time. Plenty of parking @$10/vehicle, including handicapped. They do have a shuttle to get you from handicapped parking to the ticket booth & to a drop off spot in the village. The downside is that the village itself is not ability-challenged friendly. The grounds are very hilly & the walkways are uneven with lots of small rocks. I use a Rollator & it was exhausting. Once I met up with friends at the cabin they rented, I stayed put until it was time to leave. Then a friend called the shuttle to pick me up at the cabin & take me back right to my car, I was very grateful, as I knew I couldn't make it up all those hills. Next year I think I'll do the drive-thru on one of the nights offered. It's a must see...

While the light displays were beautiful - money wise it is ridiculous.

Rented a cabin for our daughter’s birthday $120. It says heated - small little heater inside (temp dropped to 3 degrees when we got there). The marketing photo of the s’mores basket - don’t expect that.

Parking not included with your cabin rental. $10 per car (we had two so $20).

Admission tickets - no discount or deal if you rent a cabin $20 per person (military member only discount and senior discount available. For our party - tickets $160!!!!!

Very poor instructions in your confirmation email. Says to Check-in at “The Trading Post” so was trying to find that on the dark roads. Finally asked a man at the entrance for help - he was so rude.

Park first - then walk down snowy hills to get to ticket counter - then down more snowy hills to get to more confusion as there is no clear signs on where the Trading Post is.

Should be more clear information as this in nothing like the flat surface walking like Bentleyville where strollers or person in wheelchairs can enjoy the lights easily.

With the cabin rental - you cannot bring in food. They did let us bring a cake. Bar & Grill food was good but added up quick. So another $140 more (2 pizzas, cheese curds, salad, bread bowl soup). Drinks $40 for some waters and cans of pop.

Santa - not impressed with his visit. Gave our daughters name for her birthday - he did not know it or other kiddos names. He had no real personality. And was in and out in less than 2 minutes.

All in all - the lights yes were pretty. But the cost, confusions, lack of holiday cheer from Santa - I don’t think we will...