Lots of Christmas events across the UK have been cancelled this year due in some way or another to the Coronavirus pandemic. Unfortunately, some of our favourite festive experiences at theme parks have fallen victim to these cancellations as well. Not all hope is lost though! There is still plenty of things to do across the UK theme parks this winter to put you in the festive mood and to push those blues away. Here’s three of the exciting events that are still happening (as of right now) for the Christmas period!
Alton Towers
Alton Towers doesn’t tend to open its theme park in the winter except to hotel guests for the Santa Sleepovers and Festive Breaks. This year the tier system has thrown a spanner into the works with Alton Towers being classified as tier 3, meaning that the hotels currently will be unable to open. As of right now, they are still hoping to hold their short stays towards the middle of December until the New Year but it remains to be seen whether they will be able to take place in the same way. If they are able to open, Alton Towers is offering Santa Sleepovers from the 17th December through to the 23rd where guests can experience a selection of the theme park attractions (on the website, these are said to be: Spinball Whizzer, Mutiny Bay, Cbeebies Land, Driving School, Hex and Duel), spend some time in the Splash Landings water park, play adventure golf and, of course, see Santa in his woodland grotto. New for this year, following on from the Halloween offering, the gardens will be transformed into the Garden Lights Walk: Twinkling Stars and the Garden Lantern Trail. The Festive Breaks, which run after Christmas and into the new year, offers the same but without the Santa visit. As well as this, Alton Towers have announced that they will be opening on selected days for local residents (as travelling into a tier 3 area is not recommended) to go and experience the same selection of rides, an outdoor pantomime and a socially distanced visit with Santa!
Paultons Park
Though unable to run their usual Christmas offering, Paultons Park isn’t letting that stop the festivities and will still be having their Celebration of Christmas event running from the 5th to the 23rd December. With seasonal decorations and magical illuminations across the park, Paultons will be transformed into a winter wonderland with Christmas shopping, festive food and drink, as well as a musical tree that shows a light show every 15 minutes. The fabulous Peppa Pig World will see Peppa and George in their hats and scarves and Santa from the show will be out on display as well. A lot of the other attractions around the park will be operating as well like the Lost Kingdom area, so there’s plenty on offer. In place of a Santa’s Grotto which this year has been cancelled, there will instead be a new for 2020 show which will feature Santa on stage, alongside some other seasonal characters.
Chessington
Winter’s Tail is returning to Chessington this year for some much needed festive cheer. This is a nice family event that runs from 5th December through to the 4th January next yet (though some of the entertainment will not be available for the period after Christmas). Guests will be able to spend time in some of the zoo areas of the park as well as the onsite Sea Life centre as well as experience a selection of rides including Elmer’s Flying Jumbos, Room on the Broom, Vampire and the Gruffalo River Ride Adventure. In addition to these, there’s a few special experiences taking place especially for the festive period. Chessington is still going ahead with their Santa’s Grotto but applying some “snow”cial distance rules. Included in entry, the grotto will take guests through Santa’s toy workshop before they meet the big man himself and children receive a gift. There’s also some gifts for the parents as well in the Magical Christmas Kitchen where some mischievous elves need your help to clear up the mess they’ve made in Mrs Christmas’ kitchen. Adults get a hot drink and a snack while children get a cookie for helping out. This year, after the retheme of Flying Jumbos to everyone’s favourite patchwork elephant, there will be some storytelling for the kids from David McKee’s children’s book “Elmer’s Christmas”. As well as this, there’s going to be a pantomime socially distanced on the mane stage to allow for covid regulations which will feature the Gruffalo.
Mission Theme Park 
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