Santa’s Village in Skyforest, California was one of the original Southern California theme parks that helped to pave the way for the way we vacation today. Santa’s Village was the very first theme park chain, having three different Santa’s Village theme parks in the U.S. and like the other two, closed after the properties were sold and bigger theme parks came into the area. Now, in an unbelievable twist, one location could see a second lease on life as plans are in motion to bring Santa Claus back to California for good!
Photo courtesy of ThemeParkAdventure.com
Theme Park Adventure (click here) reports that there is a company not only in talks to purchase the land, but a company that is going to close the deal by the end of May. Even better, the park could possibly be reopened within a year. Yes, those who remember Santa’s Village in Southern California could have Santa back in town by 2015.
For those not familiar with the Santa’s Village chain, the theme parks beat Disneyland to the punch by almost a full month, going down in history as the first theme park. The parks were themed around the magical world of The North Pole, and would showcase Santa Claus year round, his elves and a magical realm full of candy canes and mushrooms…yes, mushrooms and candy canes in the same place. The 220 acre theme park featured live reindeer, a monorail, Ferris Wheel and several other kid rides. The park was one of three parks opened, with another location in Scotts Valley California, and Dundee Illinois. The Dundee Illinois version even featured a North Pole replica that was refrigerated so that it would appear frozen.
TPA has a great article about the times they spent as kids at the park. It seems that the park will be reopened, if for no other reason, for nostalgic purposes. The Dundee Illinois location reopened in 2011 under different owners, but features almost no trace of the original park. While it’s unknown if the Skyforest location will be returned to it’s original state, it’s been reported that many of the buildings and rides remain in tact. There are some props that have been relocated to local residents yards, and many of the buildings have been vandalized, but in all it sounds as if the area could be restored. The big question remains, however, would the new owners bring back everything as it was originally, or could there be bigger plans in place to have Santa’s Village compete with the other Southern California theme parks?
Stay tuned as we bring you more from Santa’s Village. Be sure to get social with us on Facebook and be sure to follow along with us on Twitter @BehindThrills for the latest updates!
