Santa’s Grotto At Fujifilm House Of Photography London Review
DISCLOSURE – THIS EXPERIENCE WAS GIFTED TO THE REVIEWER AND GUEST/S FOR THE PURPOSES OF WRITING THE REVIEW.
Reviewed by Mel Randle
This weekend I took my daughter 9 to her one and only visit this year with the big fella at Santa’s Grotto in Fujifilm House Of Photography, Covent Garden. As a family, we love the magic of Christmas and my daughter is still a believer, so every year I can’t wait for that priceless moment as her face lights up and I wonder if this will be the last time!
The price of the ticket was £30 per child for a 30 minute slot, including a three minute meet with Father Christmas. The website described an immersive wonderland, adventure and a surprise around every corner. It didn’t really give away how this was going to be delivered so going in blind, the anticipation for our visit was high!
We arrived at Fujifilm House Of Photography on Long Acre in time for our slot and made our way upstairs to the Grotto. We were greeted by an elf, gave our names and were led through a big door into…..what turned out to be essentially a waiting room for our 3 minutes with Santa. Don’t get me wrong, it was nicely decorated with some cute features and nice Christmas arrangements, but when you are expecting ‘snow capped trees’ and ‘lavish décor’ as described on the website, the bar was set quite high, and none of these materialised.
Now we were inside the ‘immersive’ experience, what did we do? There were two craft tables set up with some colouring sheets, some blank paper, a few stickers and a letter from Santa template. The table was awash with half finished scribbles from previous children so we wrote a quick letter and posted it in the North Pole post box. We then moved on to the ‘dress-up’ area – some red wellies, a giant pair of Santa boots and some Christmas capes. The items were in a state of disrepair – buckles missing from the boots, ties missing from the capes, but we ‘immersed’ ourselves and took a few photos in front the Christmas trees. And that was it! No plush sledges, immersive photo booths or giant presents as promised on the website. I will say, there is a disclaimer on the website saying images are from a previous year so design may differ, but I would expect something of a similar level!
The elves called us for our Santa slot after approx 15 minutes in the room. We assumed this is where adventure would start! Nope, we went into the next room, again decorated nice but nothing out of this world, with Santa sat in the far corner and a photographic set up in the other (of course this is Fujifilm so that was to be expected). Santa had a chat with my daughter, nothing out of the ordinary except on the few occasions he randomly shouted ‘pathetic’ at some of her answers. Very bizarre! The mood was upbeat and we posed for a few photographs, then as our meet and greet came to an end, the elf had to remind Santa that he had a gift for my daughter – a 6 inch teddy bear wearing a T-shirt with the slogan ‘I met Santa at Fujifilm House Of Photography’
As we were escorted back to the waiting room, the elf told us we still had 10 minutes left of our allotted time to enjoy in the experience. We all agreed we were done and unable to eke it out any further, so we made our way out to the lobby to see our photographs! You could have knocked me down with a feather when I was presented with the price list and options for all the various photo packages and photo gifts! Not one free print was included, and the ‘recommended’ bundles were the heavily discounted all inclusive packages for £25 or £45. We politely declined and made our way out into the busy streets of London, a little deflated and Christmas spirit low.
I am still asking myself now what one would pay £30 for? it certainly wasn’t the gift. We were sold a dream on the website and it was anything but! I will say my daughter enjoyed herself but then children are easily pleased. She loved the idea of colouring a picture and writing a letter, but these things we have done at home for free! She also said she doesn’t think that was the real Santa and I confirmed her suspicions because Father Christmas would not shout ‘pathetic’ mid conversation!
If this is Fujifilm’s idea of Christmas magic then I’m afraid it’s a no from me! I think this was a commercial ploy to get us in and sell us photo products and the £30 is a Brucie bonus for them! Then again, maybe that is just the going rate to catch a glimpse of Santa in London. If so, I will stick to the Home Counties in future where we at least come away with a bit of wrapping paper around the gift for our troubles!!
Rating: 2/5
Santa’s Grotto at Fujifilm House Of Photography London is open until 24th December 2025
Tickets from £30
For more information and to book, visit www.fujifilm-houseofphotography.com