Breakfast With Santa at Colchester Zoo

We had been looking for a Christmas experience to take Ethan too. I loved the idea of visiting Lapland UK but was worried Ethan was too young. We discovered that Colchester Zoo offers Christmas experiences. It was perfect as it is local to us. So I booked breakfast with Santa at Colchester Zoo.

Our Breakfast With Santa Experience

We had booked to have breakfast with Santa on Saturday the 1st of December. Entrance to the breakfast also gives you a full day at the zoo. We did have to rearrange our date as Ethan had been so ill. The event staff at Colchester Zoo were really helpful, unfortunately, all the dates were fully booked. Thankfully they had a space left on one of their pre-school mornings. It turned out that this was probably the best option for Ethan.

Ethan obviously wasn’t aware of what we had booked. I, on the other hand, was really excited about doing this as I couldn’t sleep the night before!

It was an early start and we arrived at Colchester Zoo bright and early. Santa’s elf was waiting to greet the children. As we booked in Ethan gave her a high five to say hello.

With everyone booked in Santa’s elf gathered us together to find out if Santa was ready for his breakfast. It turned out that no one had seen him since he had had his morning cup of coffee. We made our way to his house to make sure he was ready for breakfast.

When we arrived at Santa’s house his elf had to ring the bell twice before Santa answered the door. It turned out his watch had stopped working and he had fallen back to sleep. Thankfully we were able to wake him up. 

Santa wasn’t dressed so his elf helped him get ready for the day.

Santa quickly dressed and we were all ready for breakfast. Before we went to eat Santa walked us through his Christmas grotto.  

The Colchester Zoo Christmas Grotto

Its a lovely grotto made up of lots of different scenes. I actually got better pictures of the grotto when we visited the zoo last year. Ethan enjoyed looking at all the lights. If he could walk faster I would have let him walk through the grotto. This would have given him a better opportunity to take it all in. If we ever did this again I would take more time in here. You really don’t need to rush through.

Outside the grotto, Santa had brought his reindeer to see us. The children then have the chance to feed them, I did this for Ethan. 

We then made our way to breakfast. There were four tables which all the children sat at. They could have a choice of cereal, toast, yoghurts, and muffins. They had left a seat next to Ethan for me so that I could help him with his breakfast. This was really thoughtful of them and really helped us as Ethan still needs help with food. The parents are offered a bacon roll and a hot drink. Darren was really happy about this he even somehow had a second bacon roll before we left. Whilst the children eat Santa and Mother Christmas come round and talk to them. As you can see Ethan choose the healthy option of the chocolate muffin for breakfast!

Meeting Santa At Colchester Zoo

After breakfast and when the children are ready, they then have time to talk to Santa. This is when they also get a gift from Santa. Ethan wasn’t very happy about meeting Santa. He promptly sat on the floor in-front of him. This was as if to say this is as far as I am going! Darren soon placed him on Santa’s lap, I think Ethan’s face says it all…

We had a lovely morning with Santa at Colchester Zoo. The staff were fantastic with Ethan and accommodated his needs. Even though Ethan couldn’t talk to Santa they didn’t rush him. We would love to do this again as it makes meeting Santa so much more of an event. 

You can watch our video of Breakfast with Santa below.

For Christmas 2018 we took the children to the Twilight Christmas Experience at Colchester Zoo. We had a lovely time and Colchester Zoo has improved their experiences since 2012. We have booked to have breakfast with Santa again in 2019 and we are really looking forward to it.