2014 TravelZINFinlandRovaniemiSanta’s officeSanta’s Post OfficeSanta’s villageSantaparkTravelZIN Articles
Santa’s Village, Santapark
You don’t believe there’s really a Santa Claus? Here’s
where you would
There is not just Santa Claus, in Rovaniemi Finland. There
is even a Santa’s village, Santa’s Post Office, Santa’s office, Santapark.
It is more than just a fairytale experience for your visit, you get to meet the 16th generation Santa Claus who speaks perfect English. And he makes you feel like a kid all over again!
The good thing is it is Free entry. And the bad thing is
there is a bit more commercialization than you can imagine because of the many souvenir shops all
around the village. You are also prohibited to use your own cameras to take
photographs with Santa. A professional photographer who greets you in the dressing of an elf, and he takes for you and you’re encourage to
buy, let’s say 2 photos for 25 Euro, or 49 Euro for a USB that includes the
data of the two photos, the movie from the moment you’ve entered the room, with
the chatting with Santa, and exiting. I really think their pricing strategy was really clever. Most people will not buy just two hard prints out. And comparing 25 to
49 Euro, most people will spend 49 considering you get the original digital files of
the movie and it makes you work at the back of your mind that you can print out
whichever moments you want. Movies is always more convincing than a still
image. Afterall, you are here with Santa and all the way to the Arctic Circle!
Not cheap, but everyone wants to have a good memory.
You can try a 5-8 minutes reindeer sleigh ride in the
park, a classic memory is the view of the ‘butt’ of the reindeer! And you can
arrange or organize almost every activity from the single Santa Village, from
cafes, to reindeer ride, snowmobile tours, huskies dog tours etc. This is a place where a 2-3 hours would be enough, or even
up to half a day.
While my husband and Singaporean friends were enjoying
their huskies rides, we met two cute Japanese girls signing up to send a postcard from Santa. It can be to
any address all over the world. This would cost 7 Euro but it might be all worth while if that has been a dream you had been having to receive a post card from Santa Claus. At the Santa’s post office, it's fulfilling this dream. This is a magical
place that makes me feel like a big kid once again! Imagine children can just
write to Santa simply “To Santa Finland” and the Finnish Post knows exactly
where to deliver it to.
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