Santa’s Village Halloween 2010 TR

[mrceagle]

This is only the second year the park has hosted a Halloween event. Last year they did a one-day trial and nature didn’t cooperate. But there was such positive feedback they opted to have it return and expand it to 3 days. Originally called Ghosts of Christmas past the name was changed this year to a much more genetic “Silly Spooky Halloween Extravaganza.” Not sure it has the same impact.

 

I arrived at noon with my parents and Niece. I was expecting alight crowed but was surprised to find the entire main lot filled and the lot across the street half filled. I also noticed they did some land clearing in the back of the lot. Guess they needed more parking after this years additions.

 

Before going in we took a second to talk with Rudolph the red nosed reindeer, which was dressed as a farmer. Seemed like a nice tough at this not so scary Halloween event. The park also had Halloween themed music playing throughout the park.

 

Other displays were coffins lined with green and orange lights. Many plastic pumpkins topped fence posts and served as themed lights. All the buildings had Red Orange and green lights on them, Small grave stone set ups, the Whale fountain was colored red and has a pair of legs + a head floating in a life ring, and more.

 

The big set up was a low scare lever haunted barn set up in the parks reindeer barn. It was a lot of fun and used a variety of prop styles. There were a few live actors that would simply move add some life to the haunt without scaring the kids. One employee did make a point to scare me, which I respect. My niece was far enough up that she did not jump.

 

While nearly every ride saw a change of name to reflect the season only 3 rides were given Halloween makeover. Humbug adventure had a few added props to spook it up. The car ride had a few themed displays and an escaped prisoner out side of the police station. The Himalaya (Screamalaya) had the most impressive makeover with A closed in building, Fog, Orange lights and a strobe light. The operator made a point to switch the lights on and off along with a slowing and speeding up the ride.

 

In all we hit a fair number of rides and one show.

Rides: ( Halloween names)

Himalaya (Screamalaya)

Skyway Sleigh (Scarecrow monorail) X2

Bumpercars (Pile of Bones Junkyard) X2

Train (Pumpkin Express)

Humbug Adventure (Scrooge’s Haunted House) X3

Peppermint Twist (Shipwreck Island) X5

Reindeer Carousel (Mardi Gras Carousel) – The reindeer has Mardi Gras masks on

Car ride (Mum’s Taxi)

Drummer Boy (Clawnin’ Around) – Soldiers had Clown costumes on.

Rockn’ Round the Christmas Tree (swinging Spoo-ville) – Operated wore a Grinch costume

Rudy’s Rapid transit (Rocket to the Galaxies) – Star wars theme X2

 

The train was the last ride of the night.

 

Show – We saw the rehabbed version of Jingle Jamboree. It was nice to see the show back. The new animatronics had similar movements but a much fresher look form the old show and the Santa Animatronic looked great and the Rudy one was ok. The soundtrack sounded like a rehabbed version of the old show rather then a new recording. The new theater was well constructed and now features a Snack stand.

 

There was Trick-or-Treating around the park though I expected there to be more locations there are many buildings that would have been good treat spots. Though Santa’s house was the location of the Silly Nilly Witch who handed out candy.

 

2 other major projects that went on for this yea is a new customer services area it’s much larger and houses more nursing and changing rooms then before. The New Polo Expreso Food location took over the old customer service area and looks great with a nice selection of snack and drinks.

 

Overall it was a really good day. The park looked good and it will be nice to see how they expand the displays and event in the future. We left at 6:30 just before the park was open to 7 but it was getting very cold. The temp was in the low 40’s all day and dropped at night. I will be back though for the Christmas event.

 

The parking lot was very empty when we left. Though as we drove by Six Gun City their parking lots were packed. I wonder if people went forward with my first idea to hit both parks in one day. Six gun was open later into the day.