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A rebirth for the Lake Arrowhead, CA Santa’s village

Image via www.skyparksantasvillage.com

According to Theme Park Adventure, a reopening of the first Santa’s Village in California is forthcoming. Since its closure in 1998 the theme park has thankfully stayed largely intact, and the buildings have mostly withstood the hot summers and cold winters in the area. There’s some graffiti and other kinds of vandalism that have happened over the years, but nothing insurmountable.

Image via www.skyparksantasvillage.com

In early 2014 reports surfaced that local businessman Bill Johnson was buying the 154 acre property for $6 million. The opening date was Mother’s Day of this year, but that didn’t pan out. It was probably way too ambitious, considering the cost and man hours that have to be put into a modern day theme park. In his first YouTube video promoting the project, Johnson dashed some people’s hopes when he announced the rebranding of SkyPark at Santa’s Village, saying it would focus primarily on mountain biking, hiking, climbing, fly fishing, camping, rides, zip lines and similar action-packed sports. This announcement disappointed the many who were looking forward to seeing their favorite childhood destination brought back to life. Johnson seemed to wise up somewhat, though, and in his most recent video in March showed the efforts his team was making to restore Santa’s Village to its old magic in some ways.

Image via www.skyparksantasvillage.com

Image via www.skyparksantasvillage.com

Image via www.skyparksantasvillage.com

How much they’ll recapture the magic remains to be seen. Theme Park Adventure went into great detail about all the hard work (and hard-earned dollars) Bill Johnson and his team would have to put into the place to see it restored to its former glory. Theme Park Adventure, claiming that it would cost $20-30 million in total to renovate, cited the following as significant costs:

  • A creative team: To measure up to what it once was or, preferably, be better, SkyPark at Santa’s Village would have to have a full team of artists, writers, developers and people of a technical nature on staff to design the rides and other attractions, plus compile specialty and custom items they’d need to make some of the only Christmas-themed rides in existence. Since not many people are making what’s being made at Santa’s Village, companies will be sure to charge them a premium.
  • Ride construction: The amount of money needed to pay for even the simpler rides is staggering. Theme Park Adventure reported that even a small vehicle that runs on a tiny track, such as the train at Knott’s Berry Farm, would in and of itself would cost around $30,000. A small train like what Santa’s Village, meanwhile, would cost at the very least a quarter of a million dollars for the work on the vehicle, the track and the theming.
  • Infrastructure: Even though it isn’t as torn down as other theme parks like it, Santa’s Village absolutely isn’t in the condition it once was. Things needed at any place of business such as electrical power, sewage, plumbing and even parking lots would need to be taken care of. 
  • Sound and music: Even something as simple as music for the park might add up. Music and other pleasing sounds are increasingly seen as a necessary element of the modern day amusement park, so SkyPark would need some kind of “soundscape” for the rides, the shops, the shows, the open areas and pretty much anything else you can think of.

There’s still a lot we don’t know about the revitalization of Santa’s Village. One of the biggest questions is when it will open. Bill Johnson hasn’t been forthcoming about that. It was supposed to open by Mother’s day, but that didn’t happen. When someone asked when it will open on their official Facebook page, SkyPark at Santa’s Village, their only response was that they couldn’t say. That implies quite a wait ahead of us.

Image via SkyPark Facebook page

While people desperately want to know when they’ll be able to visit Santa’s Village again, more important in the long-term is how much the SkyPark version will resemble the Santa’s Village so many are familiar with. The image above, posted on the SkyPark Facebook page, doesn’t instill confidence that the focus will be on rides and attractions. Truthfully, athletic adventure parks are the least expensive to build, but they also have the least broad appeal. Hopefully Bill Johnson and his group recognize that and make their Santa’s Village similar to Santa’s Villages of the past in more than cosmetic ways. There’s not a lot we can do to control that, though, so we’ll just have to wait and see!

 
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