I am back to report on the first hand experience I had with the info I got from my Santa poll. I wanted my Santa pic with a traditional Santa suit so I did not go to Stonebriar. Again, he got good reviews just can't say firsthand what I think. I took the advice of the majority and went to North Park today. What a miserable time we had. Not going to go into all the details of why b/c there's just not enough space. If you have not gone to do Santa pics yet and were considering doing it there, I would be happy to let you know why I didn't like it individually. My sweet hubby saw my disappointment and offered to try again somewhere else. (he took the day off so we could go as a family for 10.5mo son's first Santa visit) We went to Collin Creek to try again and it went so much better. Again, if interested I can let you know why individually. Don't know why no one nominated him, but I'm here to be the first. I have heard since my poll of a good experience at the Galleria also just to put that out there.
P.S. My sweetie was sooo great through everything I put him through today (outfit changes, strange people, strange places, in and out of car/stroller rides) I just wanted to give him props!!! (the baby) (well sorda the hubby too!) I love my guys! :)
WOW! I am so glad I got this today! We were planning to try North Park this weekend, eventhough we live near Collin Creek! Was it really that bad?
Last year, our experience with the Santa at Northpark was awful. "Santa" rushed the photo and was terribly rude. He made a point of letting folks know that he is a professor of psychology in Austin and that he is THE Northpark Santa. I just hope that he's not teaching our future child psychologists because he's terrible with children. I got the impression that he's more of a Santa "actor" and very appreciative of his performance.
The best Santa experience out of last year was at the Shops at Willowbend. He was a traditional Santa (not "cobbler" Santa like the one at Stonebriar), and his hair was real. The photo was taken inside this gigantic Christmas tree which was great for my one year old. It was more intimate and quiet inside the tree without all the other kids/moms/noise, etc distracting her and upsetting her. In the first photo her hat was crooked and had fallen over her eyes just a little bit, so they HAPPILY offered to take another photo letting us go back into the tree without waiting through the line again!
That's where we'll go again this year.
M.
Would love to know about the horrible experience at Northpark. I'm planning to go tomorrow with my 18-month old. We've gone to Northpark for years with my older kids - there are definitely some tricks to making it enjoyable.
We went to Northpark based off this poll and were very pleased with the Santa pics. We did have to wait, but I love their system of a ticket and we walked around the mall, had a snack and then came back to wait for our number. The Santa was great with our 12 month old and we got great pics. We did the $13.50 package where they take 6 pics and give you the film (they actually took 9 pics) and we have 2 great ones--the others were good, but one was taken where my lil' one and Santa are looking right at each other both smiling---priceless. I was pleased and plan on going back next year. I wish you had a better experience---we live in McKinney and thought the drive was well worth it.
I would be interested in knowing why you liked Collin Creek Mall. We haven't taken our daughter (10months) to get her picture taken yet. I got sick with the flu, but hopefully I will be better by this weekend. What picture packages do they offer and how long does it take to get them? Do they provide any electronically?
thanks so much for your help!
Oh gosh, I'm so sorry it was a terrible experience. I'm going today to take the boys to the one in Stonebriar. I did heavily contimplate North Park but was unwilling to make the drive. None of my friends go there and I didn't want to drive all the way down there just to see if he would work. SO now after listening to what an awful time you had, I guess I made the right decision. Was it the wait or were they rude? I would be interested in hearing what turned you off.
On my son's first Christmas we went to see Stonebriar Santa. We waited in an hour line and by the time we got to the front of the line I noticed he didn't wear the regular Santa suit. I was dissapointed but at that point there was no turning back, I refused to wait in any more lines. All my frustration dissappeared when I saw how Santa was playing with him and talking to him. It was like he never had 150 other kids on his lap before my son got there. I was very impressed! The picture turned out beautiful. Surprisingly, the colors in his shirt liven up the picture immensly. We haven't really tried to persue other Santas because 1. I'm rather lazy and 2. We now have 4 pictures with the same Santa. And I may add that he looks an awful lot like the Santa in our Night Before Christmas book.
I have a friend that see the Collin Creek Santa, she always has a decent experience there. I also don't know why he didn't get any votes.
Well, I just thought I'd write you back. Thank you for sharing with us!! Merry Christmas to you and your family!!!
Kim
