Santa’s Enchanted Forest vs Christmas Wonderland at Tropical Park – NBC 6 South Florida

A new winter-themed attraction has arrived at Tropical Park, the former home of Santa’s Enchanted Forest.

The competing theme park, Christmas Wonderland, opened its doors to the public on Nov. 16, offering brand-new lights, rides and attractions.

With both attractions promising to bring the North Pole down to South Florida, the parks have many similarities — and a few differences.

If you’re trying to make up your mind about which park to visit this winter, here’s a breakdown of where they differ:

Ticket Prices

In its first year, Christmas Wonderland promises a few new features you can’t find at Santa’s — including cheaper tickets.

While both parks have different admission prices for children and adults, they define the age range of children a little differently.

At Santa’s Enchanted Forest, tickets for children aged 3 to 8 start at $36.45 when you order online. At Christmas Wonderland, however, children aged 3 to 10 can get in for a bit less with tickets starting at $29 online.

Anyone aged 9+ can get into Santa’s with tickets starting at $44.86, while guests aged 11+ can get into Christmas Wonderland with tickets starting at $39.

Location

Santa’s Enchanted Forest is located in the Doral/Medley area of Miami-Dade County. The new venue spans 40 acres and offers free general parking.

However, prior to 2020, Santa’s called Tropical Park home for nearly four decades before the county refused to renew its lease.

This year, Santa’s old location has a new attraction.

Christmas Wonderland took over Tropical Park in 2023 — a move that resulted in a civil lawsuit filed by Santa’s Enchanted Forest earlier this month.

However, lawyers for Christmas Wonderland said that after a four-hour evidentiary hearing on Nov. 10, a court denied a motion for a preliminary injunction from the owners of Santa’s Enchanted Forest.

Lights and Decorations

Both theme parks are decorated with Christmas lights from top to bottom, as well as plenty of winter-themed photo-ops.

Having been around for decades longer, the decor at Santa’s has a more traditional feel, while Christmas Wonderland puts a modern twist on the holidays with extravagant LED displays.

Christmas Wonderland also features six “unique worlds” for guests to explore, each with their own theme: HoliDade, SweetStreet, ToyTown, Arctic Delight, Town Square and Santa’s Village.

Rides and Shows

As for attractions, both parks feature a lot of the same rides, including a Ferris wheel, carousel, swinging ship, tower swing and more.

Christmas Wonderland, however, boasts what they call “the largest traveling Ferris wheel in North America.”

And the rides at Santa’s Enchanted Forest? They light up to the beat of Latin hits — in true Miami fashion.

Dates and Hours

Both attractions will be open to the public from now until Jan 7, 2024, including on holidays.

Guests can visit Santa’s any day of the week during the hours of 5 p.m. to midnight.

Christmas Wonderland, however, will be taking a few days off: Nov. 27, Dec. 4, Dec. 11, and Dec. 18.

Guests can visit on any other day of the week at 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Sunday to Thursday and 5 p.m. to midnight on Friday and Saturday.