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Santa’s Village’s Magical Christmas Celebration, an expansion of the East Dundee amusement park’s smaller holiday lights attraction, will feature more than 2 million lights and lit displays to be viewed as visitors drive through the venue’s 14-acre grounds.
“We’ll have live animals including reindeer along with over two million lights synchronized with music,” marketing manager Brian Wright said. “We have a lot of motifs and displays. Guests will see parts of the park not generally open to the public.”
And, of course, Santa will be on hand to greet families.
The light display is about a mile long and takes guests past Santa’s cottage, through the heart of the amusement park and down to its water park, Santa’s Springs, where there will be more displays, Wright said. Every tree along the route is wrapped in lights as are all the buildings, including McDonald’s Barn.
Guests can park and take photos along the way and there will be funnel cakes and hot chocolate available for purchase at the end of the route, Wright said.
The display opens Friday, Nov. 26, and its hours are 5 to 10 p.m. Thursday through Sunday every week until Dec. 19. The East Dundee park is located at located at 601 Dundee Ave.
Tickets are $20 per car if purchased online or $25 at the gate. Current season pass holders pay $15 per car online. Buying tickets at santasvillagedundee.com also allows the purchaser to reserve a time for arrival.
“We made it affordable. We wanted to make it accessible for everyone to share the magic of our park and experience it like they never have,” Wright said.
While there are other drive-thru holiday lights displays in the area, Wright said he believes the Santa Village’s offers a unique experience and a different perspective of the park for guests, Wright said
Santa’s Village has a long history in the area, opening in 1956 and operating through 2006. It sat dormant for five years until being purchased in 2011 and transformed into Santa’s Village Azoosment Park.
Many of the original features, such as the Snowball ride and the Santa’s Village Fire Department Engine No. 3, were kept and new ones like Xtreme Elevation and the new Blizzard added, Wright said. A new pavilion was built this year for corporate events, concerts, and weddings, he said.
When the park couldn’t have children visit Santa last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the park owners decided to bring Santa to his fans by offering home visits complete with his cottage on wheels, which allowed for social distancing and other protocols to be in place.
The Santa to You idea was a way to “bring the magic of our park to people’s homes and out in the community,” Wright said.
Another pivot was the owners’ decision to branch out so they could have another source of income. SV Enterprises Service, a subsidiary of Santa’s Village, does snow plowing for private and commercial properties, puts up professional holiday light decorations, and sells snowplow equipment and landscape materials.
“It’s a natural fit for Santa’s Village, and it’s something we do in the park,” Wright said. By offering it, they’re able to keep full-time staff on the payroll for the entire year rather just employee them in the spring and summer, he said.
Magical Christmas Celebration is another way to keep the park busy during the off-season, Wright said. Crews have spent the last few weeks preparing the park for the lights display, he said.
Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.