LaplandUK Recenzje 141

Complete disaster driving up from the Midlands with an excited child and arriving for 4pm to be held in a queue outside in the wind and rain with very little information given then eventually finding out by messages filtering through parents waiting in the crowd we were all expected to go back and wait in the cars for an email update. The car park hot drink kiosk was abandoned, the car park attendants all disappeared, and after a cancellation text came through it became a complete free for all with hundreds of cars trying to edge out of two gates to get out of there. There was a lone woman in elf fancy dress in the pitch dark and rain at the final roadside exit desperately trying to direct traffic, kudos to the towtruck driver that stopped to pass their hi viz out the window to her. The company may not be able to control the weather, but they can own the
poor communication on-site and disorganisation afterwards. No contact from them two days later either regarding rebooking or refunds.

Not worth the money!
I visited with my daughter 10 years ago and it was magical. I was so excited to take my 5 year old boys and it was an absolute disappointment. It’s now so commercial.
I must have received a hundred emails trying to sell me something else. We ordered hats and there was an issue with the delivery address. We contacted help 7 or 8 times as we were worried the hats wouldn’t arrive in time. Luckily they did, but we recieved a response today, after our visit. That added to the stress! When we could have just bought the hats onsite, but the constant emails make you think there is short supply and you are good to
miss our.
It’s all about the upsell!

Once you are in, there is a real emphasis on getting you through. It feels really rushed.

They sent an invite with instructions to make the experience magical, but you have no idea it’s a special gift when you open it, so I opened it in front of my sons and had to think on my feet and we didn’t get to experience the magic. Luckily they aren’t great readers yet or the entire thing would have been ruined. You are only given 90 minutes in the main part which is the village. No one tells you there is nothing real after the village except Santa. We didn’t get to do all of the things or get all of the stamps.

Santa didn’t say any of the personal things we asked him to say.

Total disappointment and so said it’s been commercialised and lost the real magic.

Absolutely heartbroken this morning.

Having missed out on tickets for previous years, I was delighted that Manchester was new for this year.
Nothing can beat the 'real lapland ' but on reading reviews from Ascot I was excited.

We arrived within plenty of time & was directed to park. The space left between cars would have given a racing car driver a heart flutter. I managed to reverse out after a successful 300 point turn.

There are some positives! The staff were great and the performances excellent. The decor was beautiful and clearly a lot of thought has gone into building it. Im afraid that's it for the positives.

The place was heaving. Not what you would expect when paying so much money. Some people had to stand when doing the activities as there wasn't enough space.

We had around 70 minutes 'free time' to get some lunch, look around the little shops (which were lovely), and try the ice skating. I mortgaged my house to buy lunch (your not allowed to take your own food). And then had to stand up to eat it as there were no spare tables. This is one thing I would expect when paying a fortune for a day out.

Then came the time to try the ice skating. The queue was bigger that waiting at the Olympics, and we didn't get to try it before being told our time had come to go to the next stage.

Seeing santa was the best part. You do get a private meeting with him and it was good. He gives children a bell and a soft toy.

Then came the end......we had to queue to receive the complimentary photo and toy we had stuffed earlier. I thought I was in a supermarket queue on Christmas eve. It was horrendous. 40 minutes later we were at the front. Children were dropping like flies. They were tired and sick of standing, screaming and getting frustrated at all the waiting around.

Would i visit again? Absolutely not. Would i recommend it? No i wouldn't. It's a massive amount of money for families and my advice would be to save a bit more and do the real lapland. We went 5 years ago and my daughter still talkes about it now. Today has given me PTSD and I hope she never talks about it again.

Despite a full storm and an active weather warning, we received no communication from LLUK Manchester, so we arrived assuming the event was still going ahead.

We checked in with an elf who had lost her voice. At first we couldn’t tell whether she was acting, but it quickly became clear she genuinely couldn’t communicate—an odd choice for a role that requires speaking to guests.

Around ten minutes after we checked in, the same voiceless elf approached us again, and once more we had no idea what she was trying to tell us. Another staff member eventually came over to explain that the site was being evacuated and everyone needed to go home.

We had been dropped off, and there was nowhere dry or safe to wait. I had raised this inside and no solution was offered. We ended up standing in the car park, between the toilets and the small shop, getting battered by wind and rain, with no concern shown for our safety.

When my husband came to collect us, he couldn’t get into the car park due to the chaos, so we had to walk through the dark to find him. Staff then directed us to leave via another exit, but the only route out was along a pothole-filled road. Considering the money Capesthorne Hall brings in, it’s disappointing this hasn’t been fixed before hosting an event of this scale.

We were told we would be contacted within two days. Meanwhile, some people have already been rebooked, and—adding insult to injury—the booking website has remained open, allowing new customers to take the remaining dates and times while we wait to find out whether we’ll even be offered a refund.

It’s upsetting enough for families when an event is cancelled, but the poor organisation and handling afterwards has made it far worse. We understand that bad weather happens, but the lack of communication, planning, and contingency measures has been incredibly disappointing.

Having visited Ascot 2 years ago, we were excited to try Manchester and it did not disappoint!
Sepending my daughters 3rd birthday on November 14th there. We had our pre-bought elf hats, badges and invite in tow. Parking was easy and the walk to the entrance was magical! Capesthorne Hall was the perfect backdrop!
As we got to the entrance, I was relieved to see it all undercover compared with Ascot which wasn't when we went.
We were greeted by the friendliest if people as expected and our adventure started!
There was no rush to leave the main village and the children (3&9) had plenty of time exploring and enjoying the iceskating.
The food was lovely, not overly overpriced. The walkways between each area were done beautiful and we really felt like we were on a magical walkway exploring Lapland.

Well worth the money!
We stayed the night before at Wilmslow Lodge which was perfect also and only a 9min drive.

Highly recommend!!

Pretty sure its FRAUD to take payment for something 6 months ago and then not honour or dispatch the items I paid for. Will be getting my bank involved.

Parking was a free for all, if it was more than an hour prior to the booking people were asked to leave. Whilst the sets were largely beautiful some of the passageways felt unfinished and children were picking the fake snow off the walls making it appear more barren. Staff seemed unsure what they were doing, one told me he would just be a minute and left me stood for ages before I asked another staff member to assist. There were toys out on display that we couldn't purchase because staff couldn't find them in the back of the store. The fake reindeer were rubbish from what happens at the other site, I think the reindeer food being included would have been a nice touch. The pathways to father Christmas were dark and scary for my 3 year old. Father Christmas was lovely and spent a good chunk of time with my boys, the photos were taken quickly and were not great of the santa visit. I must have had high expectations because of ascot, and I think it made it seem like it was a little over priced. If you don't compare the two, I suspect manchester is a very magical day out. There has certainly been a lot of thought and detail gone into the staging, it fell short of what I expected because I was advertised as the same as the Windsor based experience.

We went to Lapland UK in November and were one of the unlucky families who went on a day where it was really stormy and had to be evacuated. We were incredibly excited to attend but felt LapLand Manchester fell short for a number of reasons:

PROS:
- Staff were brilliant and stayed in character the whole time, even when storm evacuation happened
- Sets were incredible - especially the portal to Lapland through the tree

CONS:
- Communication is poor, you're not told where you're going on when. Especially when you leave bakery section you are sent to elven village and don't know where to go or when to go to Santa (turns out it's in passport your time slot but we weren't told this)
- Baby change facilities are poor - needed to change nappy in toy factory and were told there's no baby chance until you get to Elven village so had to change toddler on floor. For a child event, this was really poor.
- In toy factory my daughter wasn't given a bear to stuff - We had to chase one up by which point the guests were being told to pop bears back on conveyer so she was really rushed.
- There was water pouring through corridors and my daughter got caught under a shower of water coming from roof and was really wet
- Reindeers aren't real so disappointing for kids and reindeer food is £6 for glitter
- Kids hot chocolate are the same size as adult hot chocolate but cost less. Expected adult one to be larger when we paid an extra £3 for it.
- Not enough seating in elven village - kids had no where to sit
- Too many guests in each group - elves couldn't possibly get around all the kids as there were too many to interact with in the time they had. We saw some families struggling to find benches to sit on during activities
- In bakery section stage was in middle of space so families towards the back couldn't hear or see anything (if it was more immersive and elves moved around room would have been much better)
- Car park wasn't suitable. There wasn't space for cars to move around each other when leaving and there was one very narrow road out. Took us over an hour to get out of car park.

The evacuation

I totally understand why the venue had to close for safety measures but it was scary to see how little process there was in place for managing it. If it had been a fire or something it would have been scary! There was no communication about what was happening or where to go. We only knew because we overheard other families taking about it. The shop tills were still running but kids were not allowed to see Santa.

We were then offered to return but how does this work for young children? They're asked to visit Santa and help him with making the toys. They do this. Don't see Santa. And then are asked to come back do it all again? It makes the kids think they haven't helped enough and need to go back! We also haven't got the present from Santa or Bertie the bear to give them on Christmas. So they went to "help Santa" and have nothing to show for it.

...

For the price Lapland UK are charging. I expect a lot more. Weather conditions can't be helped, but there should have been clear processes in place which the staff are trained in on how to get people out safely and communicate what's going on. In my opinion families should be offered a full refund and sent Bertie the Bear so the kids have a present from Santa to thank them for their help.

Hopefully things will be much better next year and this is a learning but it's such a shame as it's been something our family have been looking forward to all year.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Utterly Magical – A Truly Priceless Experience!
Lapland UK Manchester was pure Christmas perfection from start to finish. The attention to detail was flawless — it honestly felt like stepping into a real-life festive wonderland. The interaction with every child from every Elf was phenomenal; their energy, warmth, and dedication to keeping the magic alive were second to none.
Father Christmas was out of this world — so genuine, kind, and magical that even the adults were completely enchanted. I didn’t even notice the handover of the special item you’re given for Christmas Eve, it was so seamlessly and beautifully done.
Every part of the experience, from toy-making and gingerbread decorating to exploring the snowy forest and Elven village, was just perfect. The organization, the storytelling, and the immersive details were all flawless.
These are memories I’m eternally grateful for — quite literally a priceless experience. For anyone being negative in any way, we clearly weren’t at the same venue, because I was absolutely blown away. I can’t even knock £6 for a hot chocolate because, how much do you pay for a COSTA or Starbucks?! I rest my case.
We’ll treasure this forever and can’t wait to return next year. 🎅✨🎄

They encourage a frenzy of buying of items via their online shop through marketing before your visit. They took full payment for Christmas hats ordered in June and they didn’t arrive in time for our visit in November. Multiple emails saying they would arrive on time for our visit were false and then they just stopped answering emails. This was our first visit so first experience of Lapland UK before we visited was not positive. Disappointing customer service.

We booked our Lapland UK Ascot tickets back in March for 13 November — a special family experience we were all looking forward to. Unfortunately, my husband had to undergo an emergency open-heart surgery while we were abroad, and we now have to stay with him in Turkey until 21 November. Naturally, this means we cannot attend our scheduled visit.

I contacted Lapland UK to explain our situation and provide medical documentation, hoping they would show some understanding — even just by allowing a date change to the date after 21/11 or a refund. Instead, I was told the tickets are “non-transferable and non-refundable” with no exceptions. Also, since this is a "sought after" event, there were no slots available for later dates. Obviously, a "sought after" event could have bought back our tickets and sell them to interested customers.

I’m extremely disappointed that such a high-profile family attraction shows zero compassion or flexibility in genuine emergencies. Life happens — and sometimes in the most serious ways. A family attraction should understand that, especially when the reason is completely out of the guest’s control.

We will now be pursuing this further through the small claims court, but I wanted to share our experience to help others make an informed decision before booking. The event may look magical, but the company’s customer service and empathy are anything but.

After watching the TV documentary, we thought we would visit this Christmas. I joined the virtual queue as soon as it opened, and waited 2 hours before I was invited to buy tickets. I then attempted to buy 2 adult tickets, but their system would not allow it and I was timed out. I rejoined the queue and the same thing happened 90 minutes later. On my third attempt, out of curiosity, I entered 2 adult and 1 child ticket and was allowed to progress to the next page, and invited to select a date and time. When I removed the un-required child ticket, once again their system prevented me from progressing. That evening I sent Lapland UK an email, inviting an explanation as to why customers are prevented from only buying adult tickets (We only have grown-up children) and they have not had the courtesy to reply. This Christmas we will be spending our money on visiting attractions that do not discriminate against customers. What an unprofessional way to run a 'business'.

Is there anybody employed in their customer service dept 🤷‍♂️

What an awful experience! Had to wait an hour online to buy tickets, once in they collect a ton of information before you pay and then it just froze. Kept refreshing for ten minutes until it kicked me out. Spoke to this outfit and all they said was rejoin the queue! All sold out by the time we got to the front again. Nothing worse than a bad experience mad worse by lack of interest or care by the business. Clearly amateurs and have probably dodged a bullet - no surprise to see all the terrible reviews on here!

THIS IS SO MAGICAL FOR MY WHOLE FAMILY!! WE HAD A LUCKY CLEAR DAY AND THE WHOLE ATMOSPHERE IS LOVELY, ONLY DOWNFALL IS THE PRICE OF FOOD AND DRINKS WHEN IN AND THE EXCHANGE OF JINGLES. HOPEFULLY BY NEXT TIME THIS CAN BE RESOLVED

This year was our second time visiting Lapland uk. Yes it is a bit on the pricey side but it’s just an unforgettable day full of magic and wonder. It’s just so magnificent to see the kids faces so happy and full of excitement even the teens. It was most definitely worth every penny

Beautiful experience with fantastic attention to details. Everything was smooth and entertaining. The only downside which needs to be improved was the queue at the end to see SANTA, but the whole thing was magical

I ordered 6 Elf hats for Christmas Day wear
On opening the beautiful Christmas Eve box we were met with 6 beautiful hats which I must say are beautifully crafted with delightful Elf bells on.

As a family we are so hoping to visit Lapland UK next year in November or December 25 once the tickets are available.

Thank you so very much
Warmest Christmas wishes to you all at Lapland UK and a very happy new year

Lapland Golden Explorers

We went yesterday (23rd Dec) with our 9 and 10 year old daughters and had the most incredibly magical time.

Anyone planning on booking next year - do it. It’s worth every single penny.

The big guy FC - amazing. Simply amazing.

Our guide, Misha, such a lovely lady. Incredibly attentive. My girls loved her. My eldest even gave her a hug as we left.

An incredible experience all around.

This was our first, and due to the ages of my children, we will unlikely go again, so we went all out - but as I said, for us, it was absolutely worth it.

I’ve sent A number of emails with no response regarding advent calendar as I purchased months ago this is to do with when one of the three I purchased arrived damaged