It’s sometimes easy to forget that Disneyland wasn’t the first major theme park. It was probably the first of its kind, yes, but before it was made there were a number of other places kids and families could go for some adventure.
In 1953, two years before the opening of the Happiest Place on Earth, a park named Santa’s Village put its stake in the ground as a destination for people of all ages, shapes and sizes to have a good time. Read on to learn about the creation of Santa’s village, its growth into a small theme park franchise, the happy memories that have lasted over sixty years and the attempts to revitalize it for modern times.
The concept
Most kids have sat on Santa’s lap at a local mall, telling him what they want for Christmas. That’s always been a cheap, uninspiring way of presenting the story and magic of Santa Claus to children. Santa’s Village rectifies that. As its name implies, it’s a whole village for people of all ages to explore. Whereas normally a visit with Santa is the whole trip, at Santa’s Village it’s the culmination of it.
The fable-like beginnings
The story of the inception of Santa’s Village, as told by The Theme Park Page, reads a lot like a fairy tale. The tale goes that Normand and Ceclle Dubois moved to Lancaster, New Hampshire and in 1940 created a dry cleaning business. Spurred by their success with that, they started thinking about building a family amusement park, since there was nothing nearby like that. The nearby Jefferson, New Hampshire was the perfect grounds to build it on. They drove to a prime location with a grove of fir trees with Elaine, their daughter. During their drive a fawn jumped out of the woods in front of their car. That could have been a scary moment for a child, but when Elaine asked about it her father told her that it was one of Santa’s Reindeer.
That planted an idea in the Dubois’ heads. They considered it something akin to destiny, showing them that their theme park, though meant to be open almost year-round, should have a Christmas theme. They soon bought the land and started construction. In 1953 families started coming to the small, tranquil park for a wholesome experience. Next year it doubled in size. That paved the way for more additions like Santa’s Schoolhouse, the Blacksmith Shop, Santa’s Workshop and St. Nick’s Chapel. A show followed in the third year, and each successive season brought some kind of improvement or update.
The evolution
By the end of the 1960s the Dubois family had added restaurants, playgrounds and a “Jingle Jamboree” to the theme park, along with dancing chicken and rabbit performances. While it never had the breadth of excitement of a Disneyland, there was more and more to do there each passing year. In 1974 the Dubois’ son-in-law Michael Gaynor took over the management of Santa’s Village. With his help, Santa’s Village had grown into a “real amusement park” by the 1980s, according to Peggy Newline of the Nashua Telegraph newspaper (writing in 2010). Further additions included a Yule Log Fume that sent passengers down a river themed around Christmas that wound across the park. There were also the picture opportunities where people put their heads through a cake made of plaster.
By late-eighties the grandchildren of the founders, Normand and Cecile Dubois, had taken over management of Santa’s Village. Their contributions included a Polar Theater in the 3-D format that seems like it was hard for theme parks to resist. It had elves that danced and a tree that sang. There were also “Skyways Sleighs” that sent people through the sky across the park. They also added a Nativity scene and a wishing well. The coins tossed into the wishing well paid over $1000 towards Christmas gifts for marginalized children. A noble endeavor, to be sure, but I hope that didn’t affect the original wishes!
There are some really great quotes about Santa’s Village, the one in Jefferson, New Hampshire in particular. In his autobiography The Hardcore Diaries, popular American professional wrestler, author, comedian, color commentator, actor and voice actor Mick Foley wrote:
“Every good thing in my life somehow leads me back to Jefferson, New Hampshire, and the trip to Santa’s Village my parents took me on when I was only three years old.”
Foley put Santa’s Village at the stop of his list of favorite amusement parks. “What it lacks in rides,” he wrote, it makes up for in personal nostalgia, a beautiful location, and the magic of Christmas in the summer”.
The All-American Christmas Cookbook is a book with classic regional recipes and beautiful vintage artwork from holidays past that “will put everyone in the Christmas spirit, from sea to shining sea.” It also had some nice things to say about Santa’s Village in its 2008 edition.
“In the heart of the White Mountains at Jefferson, NH is Santa’s Village. The quaint, rustic houses of the village are a colorful sight nestled among the mountain pines. As you walk up the shaded road from the parking lot you are by Santa’s Monkey Band in the music house. Their cheery, syncopated greeting welcomes you to the Village.”
The Santa’s Village that competed with Disneyland
The Santa’s Village in Lake Arrowhead, California not only has the distinction of not only being the first-ever franchised theme park, but also opened just prior to the original Disneyland. Built by developer Greg Holland, it was the first of three Santa’s Village’s that followed the original in Jefferson. This one, which opened a little over a month before Walt Disney’s theme park, was 220 acres and one of the biggest tourist attractions in all of Southern Florida. Rides like a monorail, a Ferris wheel and a bobsled along with a petting zoo, live reindeer and an assortment of shops made it a must-see. At least until Disneyland opened, that is.
While it didn’t quite have the staying power of the original, the Santa’s Village at Lake Arrowhead was able to last 33 years until it finally closed on March 1, 1998. Even though the area was sold three years later for almost $6 million, parts of the location became sort-of ghost towns. Specifically the buildings and the faded candy cane signpost along the Rim of the World Highway.
The property was purchased by another party in June of 2014. The new owner plans to operate a tourist attraction named SkyPark. More on that soon.
The second Santa’s Village in California
Not satisfied with one Santa’s Village in the Golden State, Greg Holland added another in Scotts Valley, California way back in 1955. This wasn’t too different from the one at Lake Arrowhead. Some different attractions included a spinning Christmas tree, Santa’s Express train, a gigantic Jack-in-the-box and Santa’s boot, plus a hall of mirrors inspired by Alice in Wonderland. Holland sold the park to another developer named Noorudin Billawalla in the summer of 1966, but it closed for good only eleven years later. Borland International, a software company, bought the land in 1990 to serve as its world headquarters. Most of the remnants of Santa’s Village were removed, except for a couple of freeway exit signs that still read “Santa’s Village Road” that remind you of what once was…
The many changes to the final Santa’s Village
Like the other two Santa’s Villages, the one in East Dundee, Illinois was originally built by Greg Holland, but it has outlived him as probably the one with the richest and most complex history. The final one to be built by Holland, the idea was that it would be a sort of hub for a much larger chain. That didn’t happen, though. Theme parks planned for Richmond, Virginia and Cherry Hill, New Jersey never happened, and the East Dundee Santa’s Village was the last in Greg Holland’s legacy.
At first the park was basically another Santa’s Village. Focused on presenting the fantastical location through a child’s eyes, it had a lot of success early on with 20 million people going through its gates over its entire history. That’s not Disneyland numbers (not even close), but still rather impressive, and especially noteworthy for a park in the Midwest. The biggest difference from the other Villages was that it added a whole new park in 1983, called Racing Rapids Action Park, to the north side of this Santa’s Village.
Medina Investors would end up purchasing Santa’s Village in 1972. They renamed the park Worlds of Fun. That caused some level of confusion, so they later renamed it Three Worlds of Santa’s Village. Those three worlds were:
- Santa’s World: This is the world that had the most resemblance to a typical Santa’s Village. Attraction included Santa’s House, where children would get a picture with Santa, as well as The North Pole, Frog Hopper, Balloon Ride, Snowball Ride, Giant Slide, the Dragon Coaster and a live theater.
- Old McDonald’s Farm: A place for all of the animals in the park. It had the Pony Ride, the Petting Zoo, and the Animal Pens where the animals were kept in off-hours.
- Coney Island: The newest part of the park, it had familiar amusement park rides like a Tilt-a-whirl, The Yo-yo, Bumble bee, and a magic show.
Santa’s Village even added a water park, named Racing Rapids. It was one of the earliest midwestern water parks and was the largest in the state of Illinois. That wasn’t enough to save the park from eventual closure though. Racing Rapids ran from 1983 to 2006, along with the rest of Three Worlds of Santa’s Village.
Half of the original Santa’s Village property was replaced with a paintball playing area called Paintball Explosion in April of 2011. The owners of it turned the Polar Dome ice rink into an indoor paintball field, and also build six more fields outdoors. Many of the structures from attractions were reused as decoration. The other half of the original Santa’s Village was remade into Azoosementpark the next month. It has rides and attractions, a few of those from Santa’s Village, plus an exotic pet exhibit. The area is no longer devoted to the fabled theme park franchise, no, but it seems to be being put into relatively good use.
A rebirth for the Lake Arrowhead, CA Santa’s village
According to Theme Park Adventure, a reopening of the first Santa’s Village in California is forthcoming. Since its closure in 1998 the theme park has thankfully stayed largely intact, and the buildings have mostly withstood the hot summers and cold winters in the area. There’s some graffiti and other kinds of vandalism that have happened over the years, but nothing insurmountable.
In early 2014 reports surfaced that local businessman Bill Johnson was buying the 154 acre property for $6 million. The opening date was Mother’s Day of this year, but that didn’t pan out. It was probably way too ambitious, considering the cost and man hours that have to be put into a modern day theme park. In his first YouTube video promoting the project, Johnson dashed some people’s hopes when he announced the rebranding of SkyPark at Santa’s Village, saying it would focus primarily on mountain biking, hiking, climbing, fly fishing, camping, rides, zip lines and similar action-packed sports. This announcement disappointed the many who were looking forward to seeing their favorite childhood destination brought back to life. Johnson seemed to wise up somewhat, though, and in his most recent video in March showed the efforts his team was making to restore Santa’s Village to its old magic in some ways.
How much they’ll recapture the magic remains to be seen. Theme Park Adventure went into great detail about all the hard work (and hard-earned dollars) Bill Johnson and his team would have to put into the place to see it restored to its former glory. Theme Park Adventure, claiming that it would cost $20-30 million in total to renovate, cited the following as significant costs:
- A creative team: To measure up to what it once was or, preferably, be better, SkyPark at Santa’s Village would have to have a full team of artists, writers, developers and people of a technical nature on staff to design the rides and other attractions, plus compile specialty and custom items they’d need to make some of the only Christmas-themed rides in existence. Since not many people are making what’s being made at Santa’s Village, companies will be sure to charge them a premium.
- Ride construction: The amount of money needed to pay for even the simpler rides is staggering. Theme Park Adventure reported that even a small vehicle that runs on a tiny track, such as the train at Knott’s Berry Farm, would in and of itself would cost around $30,000. A small train like what Santa’s Village, meanwhile, would cost at the very least a quarter of a million dollars for the work on the vehicle, the track and the theming.
- Infrastructure: Even though it isn’t as torn down as other theme parks like it, Santa’s Village absolutely isn’t in the condition it once was. Things needed at any place of business such as electrical power, sewage, plumbing and even parking lots would need to be taken care of.
- Sound and music: Even something as simple as music for the park might add up. Music and other pleasing sounds are increasingly seen as a necessary element of the modern day amusement park, so SkyPark would need some kind of “soundscape” for the rides, the shops, the shows, the open areas and pretty much anything else you can think of.
There’s still a lot we don’t know about the revitalization of Santa’s Village. One of the biggest questions is when it will open. Bill Johnson hasn’t been forthcoming about that. It was supposed to open by Mother’s day, but that didn’t happen. When someone asked when it will open on their official Facebook page, SkyPark at Santa’s Village, their only response was that they couldn’t say. That implies quite a wait ahead of us.
While people desperately want to know when they’ll be able to visit Santa’s Village again, more important in the long-term is how much the SkyPark version will resemble the Santa’s Village so many are familiar with. The image above, posted on the SkyPark Facebook page, doesn’t instill confidence that the focus will be on rides and attractions. Truthfully, athletic adventure parks are the least expensive to build, but they also have the least broad appeal. Hopefully Bill Johnson and his group recognize that and make their Santa’s Village similar to Santa’s Villages of the past in more than cosmetic ways. There’s not a lot we can do to control that, though, so we’ll just have to wait and see!
