The Great Christmas Adventure

This is a real, actual place! It is found in Heber City, Utah. It is nearby the Ice Castles and Homestead Crater, but not next to it. I didn’t realize what this place was until I actually got there, but it is still awesome to go to. They have a very well done website that captivated my attention and is quite accurate about what there is to do here. Warning: this activity is solely for children. Adults can participate, but I would not go unless you have children, or you might feel awkward. There is plenty of parking, and when I went, it was very busy. So don’t rush to get there on time, they can always fit you on the next sleigh ride. But, you do need to go reserve tickets online because they do not take walk ins. The website will tell you that your tickets will be mailed, but that is not true. You will receive an email confirmation and that is plenty to get in.

The Great Christmas Adventure starts out with a sleigh ride! This was actually my favorite part of the whole adventure. Everyone sits on a giant sleigh, and it literally moves. It is similar to Soarin’ over the World at California Adventure or DisneyWorld. A video is played and you feel like you are flying in a sleigh. Once the sleigh lands in the North Pole, everyone gets off. There are 4 different workshops at the North Pole and each one gets about 15 minutes of time. The first one is snow building! There are several giant snow colored bean bags to build and decorate snowmen. There are also hundreds of small snowballs to throw at each other. Fake snow also falls from the ceiling every once in a while.

The next station is snowflake and toy building. An elf will teach everyone to build a snowflake and you will watch a short film from previous elves about how to make snowflakes. Then its off to see Mrs. Claus! Mrs. Clause has a small house with a candle lit fire. She also has many homemade gingerbread and cookies available for decorating. Everyone gets to decorate with frosting, their cookie of their choosing. Then, Mrs. Claus will read a Christmas story to everyone. The last station is Santa! Santa will great you as soon as you walk out of Mrs. Claus’ house. Everyone gets a chance to sit on Santa’s lap and tell him what they want for Christmas. A small train that actually works, then picks up everyone and takes them around Santas workshop right back to the gift shop. The train runs on electricity and is elf-sized so parents, be aware. Trees are decorated and Christmas carolers sing. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer also plays in the background.

Once you arrive in the Gift Shop, there are many toys available for purchase as well as photos to buy from your adventure at the North Pole. If you have small children, this is a super fun activity to take the kids to, it only costs $10 per person. You can go as only adults, but beware of the elf-sized activities!