Imagine a place filled with wonder, where your children’s eyes sparkle brighter than snow-capped trees as they experience scenes from their Christmas dreams.
Now imagine there’s no need to hop on a plane or travel over land or sea and only have to drive an hour or two for the pleasure. As my children reach an age where they are gripped by Christmas magic for a full month, LaplandUK kept cropping up as a must-do experience.
But with tickets as in demand as Glastonbury Festival and prices starting at £59 each, there were doubts as to whether this ‘experience’, located near the retail parks of Bracknell, really could live up to the hype. But rest assured, this is no sit-on-Santa’s-knee and disappear with a £2 generic gift experience – this is the real deal where even the car park gives you ALL the feels.
From the minute you drive into the unique woodland, nestled in Whitmoor Forest near Ascot, Berkshire, you are immersed into a world of pure magic and imagination, sparking overwhelming feelings of childhood nostalgia and joy. Despite being in a rather sizable group, you feel like the only people in Lapland UK as you’re taken on a four and a half-hour immersive experience, which leaves the most skeptical of adults open-mouthed.
Tickets for this year’s event will go on sale at midday on 31 March, 2025. With over 300,000 people joining the queue for tickets in 2024 – rivalling Glastonbury – this year’s event is expected to sell out faster than ever.
For the first time in its 18 year history, LaplandUK Ascot is expanding with LaplandUK Manchester. LaplandUK Manchester will open for the first time in 2025, joining the original Ascot show in offering guests a 4.5 hour immersive theatre experience.
Tickets are priced at £60-£190 depending on date and time selected. Visit https://portal.laplanduk.co.uk/ for full details.
The experience begins at home, with wax-stamped invitations that help aid the excitement ahead of time, with a personalised note from Father Christmas inviting you to this unique experience. However, the experience EXPLODES on arrival as you enter through a beautiful fairy-lit wood.
Leave all your preconceptions at the door for this is no run of the mill greeting by ‘elves’ in matching green and red felt outfits. First you are blown away as you are taken into a theatre set, more at home in a top billing West End theatre production, as they open a door to a snow filled land.
Father Christmas’ helpers have a customised greeting for their young visitors, instead of a simple ‘hello’ won’t do, children – or ‘small folk’ as they are known round these parts, are instead encouraged to put their thumb up to their nose and waggle their fingers.
Every elf is an integral part of the immersive experience, as they boast their own unique costumes, personality and role within LaplandUK. Children are encouraged to get to know the elves as they receive their very own passport to navigate their own unique experience, depending on who they meet on their journey.
While the details of the experience remain secret, there is a showstopper moment as the doors are flung open to the ‘outdoors’ following an indoor intro by the elves. The room falls silent as children witness snowflakes falling on hundreds of snow-capped trees, as they head off on their quest to meet Father Christmas.
First up it’s a visit to the stunning toy workshop, where children meet three elves-Conker, Whittle and Wish, to build toys for other small folk for Christmas. Our children, aged four and 18 months, helped to stuff penguins before placing placing them on a conveyor belt to be sent off and packed. Part of the magic here is that grown ups are later expertly passed the toys to take home to place under the tree, complete with another personalised message for Christmas Day, as a token of Father Christmas’ appreciation of their efforts.
Next up we were led to Mother Christmas’ kitchen to be immersed in more storytelling and a chance to decorate beautifully made, and rather tasty, gingerbread. The children are then gathered to walk through the wintry festive town, complete with a skating rink, decorative lodge cabin restaurants and even a post office for children to write and post letters from.
There is little to no commercialisation when you’re in; perhaps the odd opportunity to buy reindeer food or a gift, but it’s very well disguised. This is simply a masterclass in storytelling and how to hold the attention of children for nearly five hours.
You can see why the experience was voted the UK’s Best Tourist Attraction in 2022, for LaplandUK has captured the hearts of more than one million visitors to date, as well as some of the biggest celebrity names, such as the Prince and Princess of Wales, Tom Hardy, the Beckhams, Elton John and more.
Founded in 2007 by Mike and Alison Battle, a former city trader and primary school teacher; the pair had grown increasingly frustrated with the offerings for their sons at Christmas, as they wanted to ‘cultivate their imagination’. The couple created a magical wonderland as an antidote to the ‘unbelievable and over-commercialised’ grottos and garden centres, which they considered a threat to their ‘boys’ belief system’.
With the overwhelming joy they’ve bought, the couple are now opening their second site in Manchester for Christmas 2025. The new LaplandManchester site, due to be set at Capesthorne Hall, will span an impressive 170,000 square metres, with an expected capacity to welcome over 178,000 guests – similar to the visitor numbers at the original site.
As parents, we have a lot to thank them for as LaplandUK will no doubt stay in the memories of our children for years to come. Last year alone, over 300,000 people flocked to the website in hopes of securing their chance to be part of the magic, with tickets selling out in a record-breaking time of just under four hours.
Founders of Lapland UK, Mike and Alison Battle, said: “We’ve been so overwhelmed by the incredible response to LaplandUK and the strong connection so many people have with our event. It has always been our dream to bring the magic of LaplandUK to as many families as possible, which is why the opening of LaplandUK Manchester this year is such a seminal moment. We look forward to welcoming more families to share in the magic of LaplandUK this year, to create more treasured Christmas memories.”
* With tickets going on sale on March 31, the experience goes beyond scenes most children could imagine themselves, and it is worth every magical penny.
Tickets are priced at £60-£190 depending on date and time selected.Visit https://portal.laplanduk.co.uk/ for full details.
