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We visited the Santa Experience at EPIC this weekend - this was really something special.
From the time you arrive at the ticket desk, you’re greeted by Santa’s elves who direct you under the ground to the museum. They tell you where to go to make reindeer food, write your Santa list and stamp your special Christmas passport while you wait your turn to see the big fella.
Around almost every corner, Santa’s elves are waiting to guide you and chat to you about Christmas. It’s not packed and there’s seats and space for kids to be kids while they wait.
Then an elf calls you into a special room where Santa greets the kids and sits them down for a fireside chat. He was, hands down, the best Santa I’ve ever met - his beard was real, he was able to tell our kid special stories about all the reindeer (including Olive - IYKYK!) and gave a spiel about the importance of giving gifts no matter how small with kindness and love that nearly had me in tears. Our 7-year old left asking if we had just met the real Santa and I honestly had to tell her we might have!
While you’re in with him, you can take your own pics and a professional shot is included in the entrance price. The photo was gorgeous and ours will be framed (not something that happens often - one of us is always making a face or blinking!)
We brought our child and met our friends and their kids in there who were home from Australia for Christmas. We usually go to Luggwoods which is great craic for a run around in the outdoors and good pics - EPIC was on par with that but Mr. Claus at EPIC pushes them firmly into the number one slot when it comes to Christmas days out. Just magic!
john surname approved 👍, i'm not really into irish history so i didn't really know about parts of it but it was fun, there was also a starbucks in the same area as the museum but i don't drink coffee, at the exit there was an AMAZING caramel chocolate bar, if anyone reading this likes caramel and wants to go here, then the caramel chocolate is a must have on your way out.
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Una joya interactiva
Una maravilla. Nunca había ido a un museo interactivo como este.Sí que es verdad que todo está en inglés. Hay audioguías en diferentes idiomas pero la audioguía sólo sirve para el inicio de cada sala, después, si quieres interactuar con las pantallas, jugar o aprender en general, todo está en inglés.Aprendí muchísimo de Irlanda y su cultura en general.Vale muchísimo la pena
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Santa experience at epic
Santa experience was really bard, bored kids waiting 2h to see Santa in dark caves, hungry with s few LEGO blocks and colouring in. Not a great experience to the point that a lot of parents just asked for a refund. Elf also asked inappropriate question to my child and Santa was exhausted, he could barely talk.
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Visually and auditorily bombarding - doesn't do justice to the story of Irish emigrants
At €23, I was hoping to come away from this "museum" enriched with a better knowledge of my ancestors, but sadly the experience massively fell short of my expectations.First, one good aspect...It was interesting to find out about little-known Irish emigrants and their impact on various different spheres, including medicine, humanitarianism and engineering.On to the less positive...I hesitate to call the venue a museum - it was more an immersive experience drenched in glibness and tenuous celebratory references to any celebrity whose great-great-great grandfather's dog just happened to be Irish. The displays are a combination of interactive screens containing vague, often forgettable information, some 5-10 minute videos playing on a loop (so you end up missing chunks of information, depending on when you happen to chance upon the video), and dramatic retellings of various "average" Irish emigrants and their stories. All acted in very wooden fashion with some of the worst fake Irish accents I've ever heard.Upon entering the museum, you're not allowed to simply stroll in and enjoy it at your leisure. No, you must first watch a video of a random man talking about the museum for a few minutes, before staff will remove the barrier and let you in. I felt like a schoolkid.The experience is divided into a mish-mash of themed sections which don't flow in any logical order. The whole thing felt very disjointed. I was particularly disappointed by the section containing a mock Irish pub. This was EPIC's golden opportunity to speak about the success of Guinness all over the world, but it doesn't mention a word about Guinness! All it displays is some typical Irish pub menus and empty whisky bottles. And no, there's zero information featured on Hennessy's whiskey too. Very odd. Overall, each section was very vague in the information it offered. You'd be better off reading up on the history of Irish emigration online. There were also very strong anti-Catholic overtones in some of the displays, but very sparse mention of the Protestant elephant in the room and its colossal impact on emigration.As others have commented, the experience would have been much better if it had actual artifacts on display. The "museum" is a very open space, meaning you'll hear multiple different videos playing at once, which was highly distracting and bombarding. Several staff members added to this cocophany by speaking very loudly to visitors in the background. This made it even harded to focus on the videos/audios, and felt quite unprofessional on their part.
