Looking for somewhere magical to see Santa this year? Below you'll find The North Pole, Orlando, New York City, Chocolate Town USA, Bethlehem CT, Santa Claus Indiana... and other fine places to see the jolly guy in red. (Be sure to click through to p. 2.)
11. Universal Orlando
photo courtesy of Universal Orlando.
On most nights in December, Macy's Holiday Parade takes place in the Universal Studios theme park at Universal Orlando: a special version -- with authentic balloons and floats -- of the famous Macy's Parade that takes place in New York City every Thanksgiving. Santa figures large in this Parade, of course.
Meanwhile, over in Universal Orlando's other theme park, the Islands of Adventure, it's Grinchmas in Seuss Landing.
12. 12 days of Indy Christmas
Photo courtesy of Indianapolis Convention & Visitors' Assoc.
Someone in Indialapolis dreamed up a nice Holiday Season deal: celebrating the Twelve Days of Christmas with free admission to a different attraction each day. For instance: on the first (free) day of Christmas in Indy, visit the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame. On the fifth (free) day of Christmas in Indy, experience Victorian Christmas at a historic landmark house. And so on through the days, finishing on Sunday, Dec. 24, the 12th (free) day of Indy Christmas, with "Jolly Days" at the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis: Yule Slide, Jolly Bear, visits with Santa, and more.
13. London- Christmas Windows and Christmas Grottos
Click to see larger upside-down Santa; photo courtesy of About.com's Guide for London Travel.
London's famous department stores take Christmas duties seriously, and put on marvelous window displays. Selfridges, for example, has dazzling displays-- see sample, left-- and our Guide for London Travel checks out the best each year. Another great Santa opportunity in London is visiting a "Christmas Grotto": kids go see Santa, not in his Workshop, but in a "grotto", which is not a cave (phew) but a Christmas-y setting with elves etc. All the major department stores have Christmas Grottos, so after you've seen the windows at Selfridges, head inside to see Santa in person. (See more about Christmas Grottos).
14. Track Santa, Wherever You Are
Finally: wherever you are on Christmas Eve, you can track the progress of Santa and his reindeer, at the Norad web site. NORAD (the North American Aerospace Defense Command) has been tracking Santa since the fifties, when a child in Colorado dialed a wrong number for a Santa call-in line, got the Continental Air Defense Command --NORAD's precursor-- on the line instead, and asked about Santa's flight. Things took off from there... and now the Norad Tracks Santa web site gets millions of hits on Christmas Eve.Every year the display at the site gets better. Make sure you visit the site before Christmas Eve, to make sure you have the right plug-ins to see Santa's flight!
