Santa's Land Review »
After the somewhat disastrous events of our visit to Ghost Town in the Sky, you would think that we would throw in the towel and head home. Certainly the last thing that we'd be likely to do is check out another theme park, but I never said that we were particularly bright. So the next day, we decided to head up the road a bit and visit Santa's Land.
Now I'll be the first to admit that, in addition to not being very bright, we had lowered our expectations considerably. So this helped. Add to that the fact that Santa's Land has, to my knowledge, been in continuous operation (perhaps not during the off-season) for some forty-odd years, so despite being a bit gray around the temples, the park doesn't have to deal with the issues of Ghost Town, which had been shuttered for the last five. Finally, throw in the fact that the cost of Santa's Land was a full 20% cheaper, and you've got yourself a winner in my book.
Now for the downside.
I'll be the first to admit that the quasi-animatronic inhabitants of the church are, well, creepy. If you go to a major park, you're looking at animals or something else covered with fur, and typically from a pretty reasonable distance. You simply don't have the up-close sensation of seeing a badly dilapidated human (or human-like) mannequin, that probably should have been retired a decade ago, frozen in position that must be painful if occupied by an actual human being.
To see the choir get up and belt out a hymn, their movements drawn along by fishing line, is almost comical. Just remember you're in a holy place. Or something like it. Frankly, it's probably a better setting for a horror film than anything approaching reverence. And it is rather creepy.
There is also a large area where the kids can run and play, and a number of large constructions that represent various holidays - Santa on his sleigh, pulled by a number of reindeer, a small igloo, a snowman by his house (and Ms. Snowman inside, looking incredibly evil), a monstrous Easter Bunny and one of those old-school merry-go-rounds, where you have to run yourself ragged trying to get the thing up to speed, then jump on, only to find that your weight has done more to slow it down than anything.
At that point, you stagger off, to find out you can now no longer walk straight, promptly bashing your head into a tree, or tripping into the small stream surrounding the play area. No wonder they outlawed these things everywhere else. I suppose it's because the park is actually located within the reservation boundaries that it's still allowed.
Moving on, the train will take you around the park, where you can see such sites as a monkey in a small bird cage, who is apparently taken out of his normal, larger cage for cleaning (of the larger cage). It would seem that the monkey doesn't like this much, for all he does is scream when anyone comes around - and pick up bananas and green beans to eat, which when mixed with the urine that he non-chalantly lets fly onto the floor, creates quite a mess.
Still, he is rather cute, looking like he may be ice-skating along the floor of the cage, and you can get a better look at him than if he is in the larger cage. Just steer clear, because it isn't very clean smelling and you might get something thrown at you.
The petting zoo is where the park really shines, as they have plenty of animals, and outside each there is a small gumball machine with corn, which can be fed to the animals in the enclosure. One word of warning - the donkeys are contained in two separate areas, joined by the goat bridge, and allegedly if you feed the donkeys on one side, the others will cross to get fed. In theory, this sounds like a great idea. In practice, this seems wholely impractical, if not impossible.
For one, the bridge is a good fifteen feet in the air, and I find it difficult to believe that they would risk the goats crossing a rickety bridge and falling onto the people below. Further, more often than not, while you are on one side feeding the goats, someone will invariably come up to the other side and start feeding the goats there - that's just the way it is - people go where there is no line. So don't waste your time trying to make it happen. Feed the goats, but don't hold out for a bridge crossing.
The highlight of the petting zoo is undoubtedly Ruff and Tuff, the two bear cubs who are fed a few times a day. They too have a small gumball machine that you can feed quarters into in order to dump some dog food into their cages, but they cannot be fed by hand. Again, a word of warning - don't waste your money. Instead, wait for the feeding times, because the cubs don't seem to care about the dog food. They do know when they are about to be fed, and when the time comes, they climb their trees and suck down milk from a baby bottle very quickly.
If you think you've seen Ruff and Tuff before, you probably have - but it may not have been this Ruff and Tuff. Apparently the names never change, but they switch out bears every year or two.
On the other side of the petting zoo is a small lake, and you can jump on a paddle boat to zoom around a couple of small enclosures. You're not allowed to feed these animals, but you do get a chance to see the creatures within. The first is Lemur Island, which is enclosed, so you don't get much of a chance to see the lemurs. They tend to like the darkness from what I could tell, but watch closely and you may see one jump out to get some food.
The other island is Monkey Island, and it resembles a giant jungle gym, so the monkeys there are out and running around constantly - this means you will likely get to see them, but you may not get to see them for long. Luckily, there is usually food out, so you may get lucky and have a chance to see one stopping for a bite.
Unfortunately, like the merry-go-round, it seems that time has passed the park by in another common area, and that is sanitation - there is no way to clean up after the petting zoo. A number of places, even your county fairs, will have some sort of antiseptic or something nearby, but not Santa's Land. For that, you'll need to go to the bathroom, and there's only one set that we could find - next to the snack bar on the far end of the park.
Just past the snack bar you'll find a few rides, and unlike Ghost Town, they were all open. Most are for the youngest of kids, but he roller coaster and the ferris wheel are enjoyable even for older kids and those just looking to have a good time - but the high point is definitely the petting zoo and the lake.
Outside the gate, you'll find a gift shop and a deli with fudge shop - but you may want to make sure that you do it first, as the park closes early (6pm), and it seems that the shops close before hand. All-in-all, a good day, and much better than Ghost Town.
