Westport House Santa Winter Wonderland

2rkehij30qtza5

Just thought I would give a few tips about this place as I wish I'd known a couple of things before we went!

We had a mixed experience...a very good experience with Santa and a not-so-good experience with Mrs Claus!

Parking: we made the mistake of parking in one of the actual car parks. When we walked up the the house itself we realised that you could park directly outside the front door, saving you a 5 minute walk.

Upon entering everything was really well organised and we went straight up in a group to Santa. Santa was fantastic! He wasn't wearing a fake beard or anything...all real white hair! He had a great way with the children...told them all they were on the good list and gave them a present and the elf took a photo. She also took pictures with your phone or camera, which was good..so you were under no obligation to purchase a photo. We bought a photo as it was lovely!

Next we went to a room where two girls were doing face painting. They were good at it too! Our kids got their faces painted with Olaf and looked it!

Next was a disco/karaoke room. Our daughter got to sing a Christmas song with a real microphone and thinks she is a popstar now! It was lovely!

Next and finally, we queued for 15 mins to go into Mrs. Claus' room for story time. It was full with adults and kids. Kids all sitting on cushions on front of Mrs. Claus and adults on chairs at the back. Mrs Claus was sitting by a Christmas tree and beside the fire. Story time started and immediately Mrs Claus was irate as a little girl who was about 2 years old stood up beside her. She told the little girl to sit down. Our little lad, who is two got up a couple of times and walked over to the Christmas tree to look at the presents (which were lit up) under the tree. He never opened his mouth or interfered in any way with Mrs. Claus. He was behind her. Another little guy was beside us and he was tired so he lay on his pillow. Nest thing, Mrs Claus stopped the story and asked all the parents of young children to leave and go to the "other activities". Mrs Claus said the other children were being distracted and couldn't hear. This was rubbish as no child had spoken or had a tantrum in there. All the kids were happy!

So embarrassingly a few of us he to get up and take our families with us and leave. We all stood out in the hallway and one woman said she felt like a naughty school child being sent out into the hall. It was terrible. Really was. So we left at that point as we were finished all the activities and Mrs. Claus story time was the last thing to do. Nowhere does it say in Westport House that toddlers are not welcome at Mrs Claus story time! I'd say something if there was some kind of messing going on but there wasn't! All the kids were very good. Mrs Claus' voice was very low and her mic was too low so that was definitely an issue but not the fault of my child or anyone else's.

So I'd say AVOID Mrs Claus' story time if you have a child younger than maybe 5 or 6 years.

The house itself is fascinating. It didn't appear to be opened to the usually visitors unless you had a ticket to winter wonderland. The building is magnificent. Some of the paintings and silverware on show were fantastic. The lake looks beautiful and there was a little train choo-chooing in the grounds. It was too cold and we were a bit upset about the Mrs Claus incident so we didn't stop to go on it on the way back to the car but I think it would have been a lovely treat for the kids. There were also a few kiddie things like a humpty dumpy on the wall outside and a nutcracker. Nice touches.

Anyway, I wanted to share these tips as I wish I'd known some of them before we went. Westport is a great town...we had a lovely lunch there but i don't know the name of the place. They even had speakers on the lamp posts in the town playing Christmas music throughout the town...very nice and festive!

yop

We've been twice now and going again this year and have to say we didn't have any issue with Mrs Claus and we had a 6 month and a 2 year old last year. You might have got unlucky?
Great setup though and worth the visit

nuac

Was there with a 6 year old grandchild last year.

Excellent experience, all very well organised. Santy even told my grandchild that he knew me when I was small. Hope to check him out again this year

Great setting. very well presented and organised.

For Mrs. Claus's stories, kids were put sitting on cushions, adults seated behind as stated above.

In fairness to Mrs Claus she read and told her stories well. .

Kids of two and under easily become bored, and if might be better if parents or grandparents kept them on their laps.

Some friends called yesterday. They had come down from Galway with a 7 year and 2 year old. Very happy with the experience

flynn2426

nuac wrote: »

Was there with a 6 year old grandchild last year.

Excellent experience, all very well organised. Santy even told my grandchild that he knew me when I was small. Hope to check him out again this year

Great setting. very well presented and organised.

For Mrs. Claus's stories, kids were put sitting on cushions, adults seated behind as stated above.

In fairness to Mrs Claus she read and told her stories well. .

Kids of two and under easily become bored, and if might be better if parents or grandparents kept them on their laps.

Some friends called yesterday. They had come down from Galway with a 7 year and 2 year old. Very happy with the experience

Congrats

2rkehij30qtza5

Glad it was a positive experience for you but Mrs Claus was a v. Negative experience for our family and a couple of other families unfortunately. I think they should have a sign up saying no toddlers if that's the way they feel.