On a whim I decided to take K to get pics with Santa today. I had heard that the Santa at the mall closest to my H's office was great (North Park for you DFW gals) so I decided we'd meet up with him there after he got off work around 3. I was thinking we may have to wait in a bit of a line since he's so popular, but maybe 45 mins to an hour tops at 3 on a Tuesday.
Boy, was I wrong! Apparently they hand out "tickets" at 9 am and moms are lined up long before then. One mom who was actually nice enough to make eye contact with me and half smile (as opposed to the other snotty assss bittches) said she was there at 9, still ended up with #66 and at 3 they were just calling #60. I ended up getting #175 and the bah-humbug asssshole who gave it to me said *MAYBE* we'd get in by the time the mall closed. Uhhh... no thanks.
Re: Visiting Santa sure has changed
what?? That's crazy! We went today and there were 2 people waiting.
and times have changed, one picture with Santa cost $25 here!
What really pisses me off is there is no mention of this business anywhere on the website. That mall is a good 30 minute drive from us with no traffic. Totally ruined my day. I would have never gone had I known the ordeal it was. It's not like I can actually afford anything at that mall anyway, so the whole trip was wasted. Poo.
Holy Hell!
Um, Santa has not changed that much here. I have waited in a 30 minute line with my niece/nephews before. Joseph saw Santa at a community party, where they took the pictures for free, and we only waited 30 minutes. We're going tomorrow afternoon to get pictures with the really good Santa at the mall, and if we have a 20 minute wait at 1 p.m. this early in December, I'll drop over dead. Heck, one of our malls doesn't even have Santa on hand until after 5 p.m. because there's just no call for it.
What?!? That's insane.
Those people would be better off just putting on some red sweatpants and a beard and taking the pictures themselves. It would save them a lot of time.
LOL!! The exact same thing happened to us at NorthPark on Sunday. The old man sitting in the chair was like I'll give you a number but there's no guarantee that you'll get to see him. He is an awesome Santa. Looks pretty real!! I did notice that they let you take pictures with your own camera while your up there and they weren't rushing anyone so I'm guessing they aren't sure how many they can do in one day.
I just checked out the website again and they do mention something about "tickets" but how the hell was I supposed to know they'd go faster than a Jonas Brothers concert?
Apparently he's some magical Santa
Heralded as "one of the country's premier Santa's" by CBS News, NorthPark Center's Santa Claus is a Dallas favorite. Carl Anderson, Ph.D., has been portraying Santa Claus for 26 years, the last 20 at NorthPark Center. Anderson, who has an uncanny resemblance to Old Saint Nick, is an adjunct professor of educational psychology at the University of Texas in Austin, a counseling psychologist working with families, a distinguished author of many books and an award-winning professional storyteller. He has been featured in "The Wall Street Journal", "People", "USA Today", and other national publications as well as on NPR, CNN, The Movie Channel and MTV
Eh... oh well.
That's funny. I read an article in a local paper about a mall Santa getting poached from another mall. They were competing for him, because he's such a good Santa. Apparently, it was some big scandal that he left one mall for another. I didn't know the mall Santa business was so cutthroat.
I read that article. Apparently the new Allen mall stole the Stonebriar Mall's Santa. Hmm..I wonder if you have to have tickets to see him. I feel like a crazy mommy trying to find the best Santa in DFW. Never thought I would but look at me now!!!
There was a train!!! OMG. Fvck. I guess I was too enraged by the stupidness of the whole situation. We left shortly after being told by bah-humbug that we had to sell our soul to see Santa.
Funny, funny about the Allen Santa. That must be all the buzz around the mommy gossip circle in DFW because I have heard that several times and there was even a discussion about it at Gymboree class recently. Maybe we will go find him.
You know what's funny? I'm not from Dallas! I'm from New York.
Apparently, the mall Santa poaching is going nationwide!
We can afford Which Wich in the food court at North Park. Actually, that mall has become more affordable in the last 3 years. When we first moved to Dallas I felt so intimidated just walking in there.?
We are going to Ft Worth on Thursday to meet up with an old friend and get pics with Santa there. I am sure he doesn't have a PhD, but I'm OK with that.
?
the santa at our mall has a "speed pass". ?if you go online and pre-pay for your pictures with your cc - you get to print out a Santa FastPass. ?then you can get in the short/quick line. ?
my gf did this last weekend and waited like 5 mins. ?we are taking DS this sunday so hopefully we are just as lucky?
Our santa now books all of his appointments online in October. Reservations start at midnight and you have to stay up until then and make your appointment asap or they're all booked by the next morning. He is supposed to be the highest paid santa in the US.
A) That's insane.
Hope you have better luck next time, we'll give it a whirl this week or next...last time it was 20 minute wait with no tickets.
DD#1~8/17/96------DS~10/24/05
Must be some santa! Our experience was quick and easy but it cost us $20 for our picture.
ugh. I fing HATE Northpark because of those snotty ass bitches. I feel for ya.