Eden's First Adventure - It's a really Crealy Perfect Day

At the beginning of December when Eden was just 6 weeks old we wanted to take her to visit with Santa but wanted to avoid standing in line for hours in the cold to visit one in the shopping mall and so we looked in to a local attraction that was doing visits with Santa; Devon's Crealy Great Adventure Park was doing story time with santa and so we decided to go along and try to meet him. On arrival we collected our park tickets (we had pre-booked on line as advised on their website!) and were then given tokens to see Santa. We had arrived at midday and the santa slot we were allocated was at 14:30 so we had to find a way to entertain a tiny 6 week old who had never been outside for such a long time before and who liked to spend most of her time attached to mummy having milkies. We started off trying the indoor soft play toddler area/ball pit and this was immediately met with screaming and tears from the little one. Not a great start. We found a spot to sit and a quick nappy change and milkies stop later Eden was back to her happy self and so we decided to see what at Crealy Eden was allowed to go on. We started with a quick go on a seated ride the kind you find at arcades, Eden was definitely too small for this but with a bit of support from mummy and daddy she quite enjoyed it (even if it doesn't look that way in the photo!), Then we headed towards the safari

train (A ride on train that goes in a circle around a track like a very slow rollercoaster), we asked if baby could ride and was told that was fine as long as we held on to her so she didn't fall out (as if we needed telling to hold her!), The train goes past various models of animals like you're on a real safari and Eden was mesmerized by looking at these. Next we decided to check out the park next to the train which had a bridge and cannons that shoot balls and a small slide, Eden tried out the slide (or pretended to!) and then we moved on to the merry-go-round/ carousel and again were told yes Eden could ride. She was a bit confused at this point but remained very interested in everything that was going on around her. After this we headed back to the arcade/soft play barn and played on a tea cup ride which Eden very much enjoyed riding with mummy before we went up to the other inside area with another soft play area and more rides (Eden was too small for the rides in this barn but she did try the toddler area in the soft play again and this was more successful than the first!) Next on the agenda was the animal barns where Eden got up close and personal with donkeys, horses

and rabbits and so began her love of animals. We still had a little time before it was time for Santa and the adults were getting hungry so we headed for lunch and attempted (Unsuccessfully) to get Eden to take a nap before we headed up to the grotto. Once inside the grotto there was a bit of a wait for the jolly fella to join us and the room got very crowded very quickly, this caused Eden to become quite upset as she isn't a big fan of crowds, Santa finally joined us and told a story (Which Eden screamed and screamed through! There was no escape; we were stuck!) and then everyone joined him for a rendition of Rudolf the red nosed reindeer before we all lined up to meet Santa, get photos taken and be handed our prize (A selection box) by which point Eden was feeling much better about the large crowd and was getting attention from other families which as always she

loved. Once we were done with santa we had a ride (or two!) on the dinosaur jeeps - Again a reminder from the operator to hold on to the baby but no restriction on allowing her to ride. Next up was a wriggle around in the sand pit before taking a walk in the woods by which point Eden at only 6 weeks old and still having not napped all day was started to fade (Or more accurately shout and cry!) so we made our way to the gift shop for our souvenirs before heading home. It was a really wonderful day out and will be a regular day out over the spring and summer I am sure as I plan to purchase annual tickets as soon as the season begins. Crealy has everything in one place. Soft play, rides, park, sand, animals, walks, picnic area and plenty of food options too, What more can you ask for?

Check out our video montage of the day below! 

I added this post to