The Santa’s Magical Journey Event

Santa’s Magical Journey is a visit to our Fantasy Land building to tour the Christmas scenes which includes a visit to Santa with a gift for each child. On exiting the Fantasy Land building, you then proceed to our top meadow to view the lantern light illuminations.

The Enchanted Journey of Light

Is the Santa’s Magical Journey event WITHOUT the visit to Santa’s house, nor is there any requirement to bring a child as it is open to all.

 Accessibility

Thursford is fully accessible; for full details see our Access Statement here.

Age range

• The maximum recommended age for Santa’s Magical Journey is 12 years, however some children may have special needs and are more than welcome to visit Santa. See section on Presents.
• Children under 1 year can enter Santa’s Magical Journey free of charge, but only if there is at least one full paying child in the party. The child entering free of charge will not receive a present from Santa.

Arrival

• Please be sure to turn up at the time printed on your ticket, latecomers cannot be guaranteed entry.
• When you arrive at the event your tickets will be checked and scanned so please have them ready.

Booking

• Tickets can be purchased
• Pricing Tiers: tickets are priced in two tiers, those for entry between 10:00 – 14:45 and those for entry from 15:00 – 17:00. With the former being cheaper than the latter as the external illuminations are not as impactful in day light as the dark.
• There must be at least one full paying child for each booking.
• Tickets cannot be bought on the day; the event is always oversubscribed so we are not able to sell tickets on the day.
• A maximum of 8 people can be accommodated in Santa’s House so we do not accept parties larger than this unless you are able to split into two or three groups (each group will need a gift-receiving child)
• Adding an extra ticket – subject to availability we can add extra tickets to an existing booking, but the numbers must not exceed 8 people (including children). Please call the Box Office on 01328 878477 as this cannot be done online. We will need to refer to your original booking so please have the booking reference handy.

Booking Protect

• Booking Protect also referred to as refund protection covers your tickets so you can apply for a refund should you or anyone in your party be unable to attend the event (subject to Terms & Conditions being fulfilled).
• Refund protection is provided via a third-party company called Bookingprotect.com.
• Refund protection must be added at the time of booking and cannot be added once the booking has been confirmed.
• There is a 14-day cooling off period for this cover, so if you decide within the 14 days that the cover it is not for you, please call the Box Office and we will refund the payment to the original card. Outside this time frame we cannot action any refunds for the cover.
• For full Terms & Conditions please click here, or here to make a claim.

Cancellation

• Tickets to the event are advertised and sold as non-refundable and non-transferable, you agree to this at the time of booking. Follow the linkto see the Terms & Conditions of sale.
• If you are unable to come to the event, we will not be able to transfer your tickets to another date, however we can arrange for you to collect Santa’s gifts from the Box Office. Please call the Office if you wish to arrange this and quote your booking reference number.
• We suggest that you buy refund protection provided by com at the time of booking to cover you in the event of unforeseen circumstances, see their Terms & Conditions here. Note that this cover cannot be added after the booking has been confirmed.

Collection Rides / Vintage Fun Fair

• The Collection’s vintage rides (Carousel & Gondola) will not be running for the event. However, we will have the Vintage Funfair again for 2023 (please note this is run independently of Thursford and the cost of attractions and rides are not included in the price of your ticket).
• The Funfair will be open on selected days from the 19^th November 2023. We do not offer any alternative / compensation if the funfair is not available on the day of your visit.

Complaints

If you have any complaints, please do let us know on the day, there is always a manager on duty who can resolve the issue. We would much rather that issues are resolved on the day so that both you and the children leave the Magical Journey happy.

Dining

• We have three catering facilities including the outlet in the Fantasy Land building which will be open during the Santa’s Magical Journey event.
• We do not take any table reservations for our catering outlets as they are provided on a first come first serve basis. That said, you are highly likely to get a bite to eat; even though our café and restaurant tables are not bookable, we are used to a high turnover of guests.
• Special diets, we cater for gluten free, nut allergies, vegan etc. Please phone our office on 01328 878 477 to find out more.
• Bringing your own food; we are sorry, but this is not possible. You cannot consume your own food anywhere on the complex. An exception will be made for severe allergies and for other medical purposes providing it is agreed with a member of staff prior to your visit. Please contact the office on 01328 878477 where we will be happy to assist.

Duration

It very much depends on you and your party, but we would suggest that it takes approximately 1.5 – 2 hours.

Entry Time

• The time slot that you have booked is the time that you must turn up to start Santa’s Magical Journey. If you fail to turn up on time, we cannot guarantee entry.
• Latecomers may lose their slot and their visit to Santa, so please do be on time. If you think you will be delayed, please call the Box Office so we can inform the team supporting Santa.

Essential Carers

• At the time of booking essential carers are entitled to a carers ticket subject to availability and eligibility criteria. Please click on the link to our Access Statement for full details (half way down the page in the Christmas Spectacular section).
• These tickets can only be booked by calling the Box Office on 01328 878477.
• Proof of eligibility must be provided:
  • Attendance Allowance
  • Carer’s Allowance
  • PIPs/DLA at the higher / enhanced mobility rate
  • Blind Person’s Registration
  • Armed Forces Independence Payment
  • CredAbility’s Access Card with +1 symbol
• If tickets are not booked via the Box Office essential carer discounts cannot be added retrospectively.

Location

We are well sign posted.

• Located 1 mile off the A148, halfway between Fakenham and Holt.
• Turn off at the Crawfish Inn Restaurant & Public House.
• Follow the brown and white tourist sign for the Thursford Collection.

If you are using a form of GPS, then please use our address/postcode:

Thursford Collection
Thursford
Fakenham
Norfolk
NR21 0AS

What3words: //guards.settle.enchanted

On Line / Web Account

• Your password should be made up of letters and numbers and whilst there is no requirement to include a symbol, the following are accepted:  @ $ ! – % _* # ? &
• If you are an existing user, click on the blue figure in the top right-hand corner, enter your e mail address and password.
• If you are a new customer select your tickets etc and then enter your details in the boxes and at the bottom of the page, click on Register.
• Because we use a third-party ticket service provider, to be able to log into your account you need to select the option to ‘book’ again. This will bring you to the page where you can then log in and access your account and previous bookings.
• Click on this link to reset your password. Ignore the code and enter a new password twice, click Continue, enter the new password again and then click on Log in.

Parking

• There is a large, free car park on site.
• We have car park attendants to assist you on the day so if you need Blue Badge or a Disabled space (limited number and cannot be pre-booked) speak to the attendant as you enter the car park, and they will direct you to the most suitable space. Please note there are no facilities on the car park.
• The car park is located on site and, depending on your ability will be roughly a 2-3 minute walk to reach the venue.

Payment

• Cash payments are strongly discouraged for ease and speed as we do get extremely busy. All our tills have card machine facilities.
• We do not accept American Express.

Pets

Dogs / pets are not allowed beyond the car park, except for registered assistance animals.

Photography

• Photographs can be taken and video recorded along the journey, but they are strictly NOT permitted inside Santa’s House.
• There will be an opportunity to have an official photograph with Santa which you can buy from the kiosk after your visit.

Presents

• Santa provides presents based on the following age ranges:
  • 6 months,
  • 1 year,
  • 2 years,
  • 3 – 4 years Boys / Girls,
  • 5 – 6 years Boys / Girls,
  • 7 – 8 years Boys / Girls,
  • 9 years +.
• If your child is mature for their age, has special needs or is near to their birthday it may be best to go up or down an age range when booking. Only you can know your child’s preferences.
• If you would like more information on presents, please call the Office.
• We can also provide a gender-neutral present if required, although most presents are suitable for both boys or girls. If this is your preference type N/A in the gender section when making the booking.

Santa’s Magical Journey but no child

Sorry we can’t accept adults only bookings without a gift-receiving ‘child’. Please book the Enchanted Journey of Light Event instead.

Shops

We have gift shops on site which will be open during your visit.

Special Effects

There will be moderate flashing lights and sound effects, however no strobe lighting. Please contact us via [email protected] if you require any further information. On our relaxed day, sound and lighting will be amended as appropriate, dates are advertised on our website.

Tickets

• Tickets will be posted 2^nd class mail for all bookings outside 11 days of the event.
• For bookings within 11 days tickets must be collected from the of the Box Office, please turn up to collect your tickets in plenty of time for your booked time slot (in the event of postal strikes tickets may be held in the Box Office for longer than 11 days and may be set to collect c/o Box Office. If there are concerns please phone with the Box Office direct).
• You must have a ticket to enter Santa’s Magical Journey. We will not accept a confirmation e mail in place of the authorised tickets.
• Replacement tickets will incur a fee.
• Each ticket will be scanned on entry.

Venue

The event is experienced both inside the Fantasy Land building and outside in the high meadow, please wear appropriate clothing for the prevailing weather as the event will not be cancelled if it is raining or snowing.

Walking aid/ mobility scooter/ wheelchair / pushchairs

• You are very welcome to bring these with you, our site is fully accessible.
• The outdoor exhibits will have matting over any grass areas that is suitable for wheelchairs.
• For those who have difficulty walking the combined distance travelled (in and outside) is approximately 1 mile.

Weather

• Santa’s Magical Journey will not be cancelled if there is rain or snow, the only time we foresee having to cancel part of the experience is in the event of high winds which would make it unsafe for employees or customers to traverse the external section of the experience.
• If there are Yellow+ warnings for high winds in this part of Norfolk, it is important that customers check our website for alerts (which will be updated regularly throughout the day) and also look out for e mail notifications.
• Please note the interior experience and visit to Santa’s House would not be affected by high winds and will still operate.

Wheelchair Hire

Sorry, we do not have any wheelchairs for hire.