Whit and I spent an festive evening with Sister and her family at Atlanta’s NEW Santa’s Fantastical Sunday night! John had a basketball game and Honey said it wasn’t his “cup of tea” so we headed off on our merry way without them. :-)
Santa’s Fantastical is a family-friendly interactive wonderland of immersive worlds where the spirit of the season comes alive through live performances, state-of-the-art technology, and Instagram-worthy moments.
Guests enter through Winter Dreams – light tunnels with Christmas music – and end up on a dance floor. It seemed a little odd at first but the kids (and adults) quickly warmed up to being silly and dancing in the moving spotlights. At this point I new we would have fun! You will also see The Frosted Foyer, Laser Trees, and Infinity Ornaments in this area.
Over on the stage show, you can catch cute, up-beat performances with a small cast of singers and dancers. They seem to happen regularly, but I didn’t pin down exact times. They do make announcements prior to each show and seating was plentiful during our visit.
Our favorite spot was dubbed Main Street, where there are five different themed photo spots. There were short lines for each and we had a grand time getting into each set. There are employees stationed at each one to assist with taking photos (get everyone in the pic!) on your own cameras.
Look closely to the signs near the photo sets as many of them have a number where you can text your photo. Then, you pick them up for free with cute backgrounds at the end of Main Street near the cafe. I got some of my photo backgrounds mixed up (each text number is for a specific background) but they are cute nonetheless.
The kids (and me when CeeCee begged) also had so much time slipping and sliding down the indoor Ice Alive slide before enjoying cups of hot chocolate with whipped cream and sprinkles in the cafe.
Finally, it was our turn to visit with Santa in Santa’s Chateau. It was a gorgeous place to meet him and absolutely Christmas card worthy. Keep this in mind for 2019!
If you go…
- Tickets are rather pricey so I had a hard time deciding whether or not it would be worth the experience, honestly. If your family / friends love Christmas and will get into the photo experience (dressing up, being creative, acting silly, etc.) then I think it is worthwhile. If it’s not their “cup of tea”, then don’t bring them along to spoil the fun. :-)
- Arrival times and tickets should be purchased online in advance. Pay careful attention to the different packages. It was cheapest for Whit and I go to on a “Holi-Date” package. Our free gift was 2 cups of hot chocolate, which was really nice and better than I’d expected.
- When you purchase your ticket, don’t forget to add the free Santa visit. This is the only way to get one, and it is worth it. A 5×7 printed pic is only $5. Digital packages were $35.
- Consider dressing in holiday attire – we saw a cute group in personalized Santa hats.
- The cafe sells pizza, hot cocoa, coffee, King of Pops and other local treats. I thought it was all relatively affordable. In fact, once inside everything was.
- The employees were remarkably peppy, festive, friendly and kind!! That went a long way in getting everyone into the Christmas spirit!
- Our visit took about 90-105 minutes. We did everything and went back to some photo spots more than once!
- Santa’s Fantastical is open only through Christmas Eve!
After our visit we had dinner at Taqueria Tsunami on Roswell Road. It’s one of our faves! There are tons of other dinner spots nearby, but we were trying to head away from the mall as much as possible.
That’s so clever! What a fun group of photos of some very special people. ???? Merry Christmas!
We go today! Your tips are super helpful!!! You are THE best!!!