More than 120,000 people will visit
THEY’LL have to get their skates on at Santa’s Kingdom to have the place ready for the man in the red suit next week.
When I arrived at Punchestown in Co Kildare after a two-hour drive from Dublin's north side, the 62,000-square-footsq ft, 3.2m magical wonderland was beginning to take shape.
To get in, children will have to make their way through the ice cave and its host of characters including the Snow Queen, the kingdom keyholder, the Grumpy Elf, who maintains the clock, and Shiver-rragh the Snowman.
Around 130 actors have been employed to create a busy bustling Santa’s Kingdom. Around 80 of Santa’s elves will be on duty at any one time.
The visit takes around two hours, and half of that time is spent playing on the 100ft slide for which 700 tonnes of snow will be created round the clock.
Each child who opts to speed down the hill on an inflated tube is guaranteed a minimum of three slides and the organisers claim the play-time is being organised so that queuing will not be a problem.
There is a special play area for younger children, with seating for parents so they can keep a watchful eye.
While the world's biggest chocolate factory run by CoCo is sure to be a big hit, the organisers have not yet decided whether or not they are going to hand out free chocolate to the children.
Around 120,000 people are expected to visit Santa’s Kingdom when it opens next Friday. When it finally lights up and sparkles it will be using the same amount of electricity to power around 250 residential houses.
Already, 70,000 tickets have been sold. Ticket prices vary, depending on the time of the visit.
For a family of four, tickets are priced at 70 between 9.30am to 3.30.m, Monday to Friday, and at 90 between 3.30pm and 7.30pm, Monday to Sunday. There is free supervised car parking for 4,500 cars.
Most tickets that will be sold before Tuesday, December 23, are for weekend visits and weekday visits are organised according to demand.
Tickets are available from Ticketmaster nationwide.
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