Would you believe me if I told you that I used to refer to myself as The Grinch? Well, at times I still do, but since having a child, my opinion on Christmas has changed drastically. There’s a lot of things that change when you have a kid, but my absolute favorite has been the magic surrounding it all. During Christmastime, this only gets amplified and I revel in it. Even though deep down The Grinch is still my spirit animal, I can’t help but get excited to make the holidays special for my daughter. And this year it started a little early with a visit to Santa’s Flight Academy at Dolphin Mall.
We didn’t really know what to expect aside from a photo op with the big dude himself, but were so pleasantly surprised at all the interactive, fun elements throughout. The experience begins with registration and getting a badge with your photo that you scan at all the different stations. This allows it to be fully interactive and personalized – displaying your child’s name on all the activity screens.
There was a flight suit dressing room, where Luna got to virtually “try on” an elf’s outfit and dance around in it. We even got video sent to us later of her in action! Luna also got to see what the controls look like in Santa’s sleigh and was able to fully immerse herself by pushing buttons, pulling levers and getting commands. But Luna’s absolute favorite was getting to play in a room full of snow! In Miami, that doesn’t happen often, so she couldn’t get enough of tossing it around and laughing uncontrollably.
