We started our second day with some play in the snow around the cabin and some exploring.
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| Please can we come in now.. its cold and there are wolves after us |
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| One down |
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| Some idiot in the snow showing off |
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| Snowball fight |
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| Our cabin |
The kids took some time to write in the guest book:
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| Cameron |
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| Alana |
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| The scenery we had to put up with |
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| The area around the cabin |
When we were all ready we headed off to Santa Park, a Christmas Themepark that was listed as one of the biggest attractions.
We expected it to be a big Santa's workshop, with elves making toys and machines etc, but it was a big cavern with a few attractions. Overall it was fun, but not worth the entry cost (33 euro an adult, 27 a child - 213 euro for our group of 7, or $312 AUD).
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| Santa Park |
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| Entrance to Santa Park |
The Santa Park is built in an underground cavern. Blasting work started in 1997 and 59,000 cubic meters of rock were removed. It serves both as a theme park and also a shelter for the citizens of Rovaniemi in case of emergency (it can hold up to 3,600 people) - the conversion from theme park to shelter is listed as taking 24hours and the cavern is protected by 16,000kg fire doors.
After traveling down a sloping tunnel :
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| Tunnel entry |
we arrived at the entrance hall and cloak .tooms and then passed down a further tunnel into the cavern.
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| Entrance to the cavern |
Our first stop was the undercrossing of the Arctic circle - an underground marker for crossing into the arctic circle:
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| The kids at the crossing |
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| The Pupletts |
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| The whole motley crew |
Our next stop was the ice sculpture display and icebar:
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| Ice cat |
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| Cameron on his throne of ice |
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| Tomas on his throne |
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| Sculptures |
Next stop was Mrs Gingerbread's Bakery. We all purchased a gingerbread biscuit and were able to decorate it. Things started normally:
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| Decorating |
Then Tomas realised that, while we'd had to pay for the gingerbread, the icing was free. So the way to get best value for money was to pile up as much icing as you could:
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| Tom's end result |
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| The others were not going to let a good suggestion go to waste - here's Alana's efforts |
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| Cam couldn't even fit his in his mouth... |
We walked around a little more and then the kids had a play in the Angry Birds playground:
Then met up with Peter and Heather in the central cafe for dinner. Despite the high entry costs, we were a little annoyed at having to pay 2.5euro each for the gingerbread (about $3.5) and 5euro for a coffee. Fortunately, we'd brought our own lunch and had ham and cheese sandwiches while we watched the midday show - an acrobat elf performance.
Afterwards the kids got to meet up with the crew:
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| The elves |
Once we finished up with the show and lunch, we headed over to Elf School, pausing only to 'take an elfie':
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| Cameron's Elfie |
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| Tomas' Elfie |
We did also get an Elfie of Alana but she asked that I didn't put it on the blog.
Elf school is a 20minute show led by two elves, who teach the kids how to sneak, check in windows to see if kids are behaving and how to use captured light to light a Christmas tree:
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| The entry to Elf School |
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| The first room of Elf School |
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| Elf School |
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| The elf map |
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| The classroom |
The kids enjoyed the show and got a Santa hat and certificate, then we headed off to the Magical Sleigh ride, a tour through the four seasons with animatronic animals and elves.
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| Starting off the ride |
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| The workshop |
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| Workers making toys |
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| Packing toys and the letter sorter |
Cameron's favourite part was the electric track warning picture, though:
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| Zapped elf |
Next we headed to Santa's office to meet Santa Claus:
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| Santa's Office |
Fortunately we were allowed to use our own camera to take a Santa photo as the park charged 30euro (about $50 for a photo):
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| Santa in the Santa Park |
Next stop was the decoration making room, where the kids made elf and santa heads out of wood, cotton wool, paint and felt:
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| Tom busy at work making a blue (cold?) Santa |
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| The walls of the room were covered in heads people had made.. it was either really festive, or a creepy wall of severed heads.. depending on your level of sanity. |
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| One of Cameron's creations |
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| Alana points out her addition to the wall |
We had a brief stop at the calligraphy table, but there wasn't much too do there. Alana had some fun writing with a quill and ink:
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| Lots of concentration |
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| Sign at Calligraphy school |
On the way out, we stopped to have a ride in an old fashioned reindeer drawn sleigh:
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| On Dasher, on Dancer, on Prancer and Vixen |
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| Family shot |
Overall the park was good fun, but nowhere near what we expected and little dissapointing. For the entrance cost, it felt like everything inside was still overpriced and it didnt really have the magical Santa feel we had expected. A few more things like the elf school or other attractions would have helped I feel.
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