In seek of a magical Christmas adventure with her two boys, our resident blogger Mary-Fok-Seang recently headed for Crag Caves in Castleisland County Kerry, to check out for herself the much talked about Santa’s Winter Wonderland. Read on to find out how they got on…..

On Sunday I took my boys to Crag Caves for our annual trip to see Santa.

We went at about 5.30p.m. in the evening and my God, the excitement as we drove down the road was something else! The boys could see the outside lights in the distance and this just added to the whole adventure.

Now we are saying if the outside is anything to go by - the inside must be out of this world. No truer words are spoken.

Crag Cave has not forgotten the true meaning of Christmas, as at the entrance there is a lovely Nativity scene to greet you.

Then it’s through to the admission desk to check in for Santa.

At this stage my boys were absolutely bursting with excitement at the thought of meeting Santa. We made our way up the Blue Stairs - the boys taking two steps at a time! We managed to pass a bouncy castle and a mechanical bull en route, which were totally ignored by the two! Then into a waiting room until our name was called.

The waiting room was very Christmassy - although Christmas trees hanging upside down is a new one on me! The kids were enthralled by Mr. Giggles who was happily making baloons and there were cartoons playing in the background - but all my boys wanted was the main man.

Next we were shown into a big area that had a lovely winter wonderland scene with Polar Bears.

After this we saw Santa’s bedroom, the Elves bedroom and workspace, passing through the Gingerbread House and straight into Santa’s front room. Waiting there was Mrs.Claus, happily reading festive stories, singing carols and doling out sweets. Mrs. Claus wasn’t forgetting the true meaning of Christmas either - she had a Nativity scene in her front room too.

You can imagine - the excitement was at fever pitch by this stage and “when will we see Santa?” was constantly ringing in our ears.

Then at last it was our turn - I thought the boys would jump out of their skin with delight. We had to go down a wooden stairs to Santa’s hut and to say the boys never touched a step on the way down is true, because they were running so fast, despite being warned to be careful.

Santa was absolutely lovely - the boys were completely at ease and very happy to be in Santa’s presence. They had a good amount of time with him and he asked all the right questions. The boys and Santa posed happily for a photo - he gave the boys a gift each and also a goody bag containing sweets and fizzy pop. Then it was bye-bye to Santa and down to the mayhem that is Crazy Cave.

The boys had an absolute ball here as they charged through rope bridges, crazy maze and ball pools. Zooming down the mega astra slide and spiral slide and honing their football skills in the indoor pitch.

Playtime over, we took a quick look outside at Santa’s reindeer. The boys were over the moon to think Santa’s reindeer were also here at Crag Cave!

Making our way towards the exit we passed through Crag Cave’s Christmas decorations shop. There was some lovely stuff there and if we didn’t have two very tired little boys with us, we would have done some serious damage to the credit card!

Points to note:

Arrive at least 10 minutes before your appointment with Santa.

Photo with Santa is extra, however you can bring your own camera/camcorder.

Santa’s hut is not situated in the caves, but above ground in the main play complex.

Santa’s Winter Wonderland is open:

Saturday and Sunday from 11.00a.m. to 6.00p.m.
Wednesday to Friday from 4.00p.m. to 7.00p.m.
Monday December 22nd from 11.00a.m. to 6.00p.m.
Tuesday December 23rd from 11.00a.m. to 6.00p.m.

Entry fee: €20.00 per child and €6.00 per adult.

For further information, please visit the Crag Cave official website.

Hope you enjoy the build up to Christmas and remember if you visit Santa at Crag Cave (or indeed anywhere else!) why not come back here and share you experience with us.

If you need accommodation in County Kerry, then check out our Kerry hotels page where you’ll find some great deals this Christmas.