Whilst most of the surrounding amusement parks are closed or struggling to get visitors through the gates around the December period one park that certainly packs visitors in for Christmas is Gullivers World in Warrington.
The park just a few minutes of junction 9 on the m62 has been running christmas events for a number of years now and can get really busy during this period, not to mention extremely cold.
They offer a number of different options for Christmas, I wont list them all but they offer the same each year, you can also choose to have a meal option included and a live show.From the feedback I have had from other parents the food is the biggest let down for the park. Im not having a go at Gulliver’s here but the food on offer throughout the park is awful and expensive, I like most parents I know would be only too happy to pay for food if its warm, served well and a reasonable price.
Only last week a colleague in work spent the Sunday at the park and couldnt even get a warm drink as the machines had broken.
Ok enough of the food the Christmas experience is allot better. As part of the trip to see father Christmas you board the Gulliver’s train near the entrance of the park and after a short journey you arrive at the grotto.
Gulliver’s boast the grotto is the largest in the north west and I can well imagine this as its huge. The grotto is full of Christmas trees and decorated extremely well, they have a flying father Christmas above the crowd and some snowmen on a chair lift which look great.
As you go deeper through the winding paths to get to see father Christmas the place is full of fluffy animals and very well designed Christmas themed sets. At the eventual end of the queue you are greeted by santa’s helper who then guides you into a maze of corridors to see the waiting father Christmas.
At this point the kids tell father Christmas what they want for Christmas and answer the usual questions like have you been good this year (my kids have the cheek to say yes) then a photograph is taken and the kids move into a toy shop.
In the toy shop the kids are allowed one present each to choose from. They normally have a good selection of toys for boys and girls, with items like coloring books, racing cars, pencil sets, teddy bears and many many more items to choose from. One of the difficulties is the choice as the kids don’t know what to choose.
In all the experience at Gulliver’s over the December period is magical, the kids really enjoy visiting father Christmas and the grotto is fantastic. When the kids first see the grotto their eyes light up, its moments like this you cherish.
Also bear in mind when planning a trip to Gulliver’s near Christmas only part of the park is open and you can usually go on all the rides in little over a hour, so if you book to see father Christmas at 5pm, i wouldn’t advise arriving at the park at midday – otherwise you will have a long wait.
The last time we visited we arrived early afternoon and probably did 2 or 3 laps of the park before boarding the train to see Father Christmas.
Heres a selection of photographs I took of the grotto – these were all taken December 2007.
Father Christmas working through his Christmas lists.
These look like the seven dwarfs.
Related Articles, Gulliver’s World Warrington trip report.
If you want to use any photographs on this blog please get in touch [email protected] im quite happy to share and have high resolution copies of everything used, to see the complete gallery visit the Ridemad Gallery
Thanks for Reading.