Close your eyes and imagine Lapland: a toy factory complete with Christmas elves, reindeers resting on a snowy hill and a chance to say hello to Father Christmas before he’s off sneaking in and out of chimneys.
And what if we told you that instead of boarding a Ryanair flight to chilly Finland, you could experience all this by simply entering a ‘magical doorway’ right here in Britain? Well that’s pretty much the deal over at LaplandUK, and the festive-themed immersive production has just announced plans to launch a second UK location.
Following the success of its original site in Ascot, Berkshire, which more than 300,000 Christmas-lovers tried to get tickets for this year, LaplandUK has unveiled plans to open its second site in Manchester’s Capesthorne Hall, in the village of Siddington.
So if you missed out on the chance to grab tickets to this year’s festivities (they did sell out in less than three hours after all) you’ll have another chance at channelling your inner elf next year.
The less-good news is that the second LaplandUK won’t open in time for this festive season. It’s expected to open in Christmas 2025. A trip to the elven village will run for 4 hours and 30 minutes, with tickets expected to go on sale next March. While the opening dates are yet to be revealed, the experience will run for its usual six weeks.
Each LaplandUK site takes 50 days to build and tells the theatrical story of Santa and his elves preparing for the biggest night of their year. The Manchester edition will be complete with a Hollywood-grade film set across 173,000 square metres that takes visitors through an ‘enchanted forest’ to decorate gingerbread with Mother Christmas in her kitchen, check in on preparations for Santa’s sleigh at the forge and a moment to pet reindeers in their pen. It might be hard not to spread the cheer after a visit here.
Not a dissimilar experience to trying to grab Glasto tickets (it’s a pretty big production after all), prices for LaplandUK have previously ranged from £60pp to £190pp. You can sign up to the mailing list here to be notified when they officially go on sale.
The festive season with Time Out
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