We are so close to the North Pole here that Santa has set up a village just for kids to come and visit him and play in his fun park!
Located about an hour out of Montreal, the Village du Père Noël has everything that an outdoor winter park could need to entertain kids aged 2-9 for hours. After paying the pretty reasonable entry fee, families are welcomed with signs of reindeer and elves as well as bouncy bubbly park employees dressed in fanciful Christmas outfits, fitting for people working in Santa's village.
The first thing we saw was the tubing hill and that's immediately what caught the kids' eyes too. Along the way, they got distracted by the train so they had a ride on that before proceeding along the snow-covered path to the bottom of the tubing hill.
Austin was a bit hesitant and as usual hung around at the bottom to watch the others have a go before getting up the courage to get on himself. We'd been observing for a few minutes and realised that when an adult rode with a child they went faster and most ended up falling out of the tube into the snow at the bottom when they hit the wall of snow meant to stop them. The kids who went on by themselves had a much gentler finish. So I convinced Austin that I didn't need to go with him, especially since I hadn't brought myself a change of clothes! Once he decided to go for it, he grabbed a tube, hauled it up the hill and got himself into it ready for the attendant to push him off the ledge. I have to say that this little boy of ours isn't afraid of a little rush once he's decided something is worth trying out. He went down another two times before we were able to get him to move on to the next attraction!
Located about an hour out of Montreal, the Village du Père Noël has everything that an outdoor winter park could need to entertain kids aged 2-9 for hours. After paying the pretty reasonable entry fee, families are welcomed with signs of reindeer and elves as well as bouncy bubbly park employees dressed in fanciful Christmas outfits, fitting for people working in Santa's village.
The first thing we saw was the tubing hill and that's immediately what caught the kids' eyes too. Along the way, they got distracted by the train so they had a ride on that before proceeding along the snow-covered path to the bottom of the tubing hill.
Austin was a bit hesitant and as usual hung around at the bottom to watch the others have a go before getting up the courage to get on himself. We'd been observing for a few minutes and realised that when an adult rode with a child they went faster and most ended up falling out of the tube into the snow at the bottom when they hit the wall of snow meant to stop them. The kids who went on by themselves had a much gentler finish. So I convinced Austin that I didn't need to go with him, especially since I hadn't brought myself a change of clothes! Once he decided to go for it, he grabbed a tube, hauled it up the hill and got himself into it ready for the attendant to push him off the ledge. I have to say that this little boy of ours isn't afraid of a little rush once he's decided something is worth trying out. He went down another two times before we were able to get him to move on to the next attraction!
Being so cold, we decided to buy a coffee from the cafeteria they have set up. You can also buy lunch and snacks and take them, or your packed lunch, into one of the various heated tents to relax in warm comfort. Unfortunately for us, the kids didn't want to rest and so we dutifully followed them wherever their hearts desired to go.
Some of the things they did were run around in the heated covered jumping castle, slip and slide on a swimming pool that had been converted into an ice rink, and be pushed around a special track on sleds. The sleds were pretty hard work and my knee was not appreciative of the pushing at all! There were also animals, including Santa's reindeer, who weren't shy about coming up to the fence and looking for food from the people waiting in the line to see Santa.
The line to see Santa wasn't too long, the whole place surprisingly not that busy considering it was the day after the winter opening, but the wait was long and it wasn't until we finally got inside after an hour in -10C that we found out why.
This Santa was the best Santa I've ever come across (I had to be careful about how I phrased that around Austin otherwise I'd be subjected to more questions!). He spent a good 10 minutes with the kids, talking to the them and telling funny stories, entertaining children and parents alike. When he asked Austin what he wanted for Christmas, Austin got all tongue-tied, but Santa didn't get phased and went on to tell another story before coming back and asking Austin again, by which time Austin had gathered himself and was able to ask for his dollhouse with people and furniture to go in it!
Check out the website - it's the same Santa! http://www.noel.qc.ca/en/
This Santa was the best Santa I've ever come across (I had to be careful about how I phrased that around Austin otherwise I'd be subjected to more questions!). He spent a good 10 minutes with the kids, talking to the them and telling funny stories, entertaining children and parents alike. When he asked Austin what he wanted for Christmas, Austin got all tongue-tied, but Santa didn't get phased and went on to tell another story before coming back and asking Austin again, by which time Austin had gathered himself and was able to ask for his dollhouse with people and furniture to go in it!
Check out the website - it's the same Santa! http://www.noel.qc.ca/en/