Tidings of joy! LaplandUK to open a second site in Cheshire

For six weeks every year, 16 tonnes of fake snow is dumped on a corner of Berkshire, transforming it into the North Pole.
Since 2007, the Christmas-themed LaplandUK park has been wowing families with its realistic sets and a cast and crew of more than 1,000. Now it is planning to open a second attraction in Cheshire in time for the 2025 festive period.
It is the first major expansion for the family owned business, which is still run by husband-and-wife co-founders Mike and Alison Battle. The new site will aim to replicate the original near Ascot, and will look to match the 170,000 people who attend the Berkshire site each year — potentially doubling the business.
LaplandUK offers families an interactive, theatre-like experience over the course of three to four hours, typically culminating in a visit to Father Christmas’ cabin. To accommodate the 45,000 families who visit each year, the company employs up to 75 Father Christmases, so that children don’t have to wait long to see the big man.
Mike Battle, a former City trader, said the plan to open in Cheshire was hatched after he rejected multiple approaches from “American entertainment giants” to buy LaplandUK. “We’ve been courted by numerous large entertainment companies, but the creative and spiritual control of the business didn’t feel completely safe. I wanted to keep hold of that,” he said.
Battle said he had long resisted the urge to expand; he wanted to focus on getting the show right. “We only get six weeks every year to run the business. So for me, it’s taken this length of time to really hone down a brilliant experience.”
The Battles have built the business without outside investment, and the new site will be paid for out of the company’s funds. In the year to February 2023, the last year for which accounts are available, LaplandUK made a record turnover of £22.7 million and a pre-tax profit of £3.3 million.
Tickets for the experience do not come cheap, starting at £59 per person. But demand appears to outstrip supply, with tickets selling out in minutes. This year, 346,000 people tried to book.
The Battles were inspired to develop the business by their four sons, who are now grown up, with two of them working for the company.
Battle said the guiding purpose of LaplandUK is to preserve and celebrate children’s belief in Christmas. But although it is now an annual hit with families, the company did not get off to a magical start: after a reasonably successful first year, its bookings were hit by a poor-quality copycat; then, in 2009, it filed for administration.
However, the Battles started all over again. “We said to ourselves, ‘Somebody has ripped off our idea, they’ve devalued what we’re trying to do, but we’re going to fight back and see if we can find a way.’ And we did.”
In 2011, two brothers were jailed for selling tickets to a “winter wonderland” that was little more than a muddy field in the New Forest.
The judge in the case said it “looked like an averagely managed summer car boot sale”.
To this day, Lapland UK still has to distinguish itself from low-budget rivals, many of which hit the headlines for their rotten reviews. “I see some of these cases and I think to myself, ‘My budget on gingerbread is more than their whole budget,’” said Battle. “It’s like you’re running a fabulous, award-winning Michelin-starred restaurant and someone’s set up a burger van around the corner. You sort of go, ‘Okay, it’s food, but it’s nothing to do with what I do.’ ”
Battle maintains close control over the creative side of the venture, even writing the “stories” that guide visitors around the attraction. Each year, the Battles add different elements to the narrative; this year’s edition features an elaborate toy-making factory.
Actors who want to play the coveted part of Father Christmas have to attend a five-day boot camp to learn the ropes. Battle has played the role himself and instructs them on what to expect. Although there is a script to learn, each interaction with a child is different, he said.
“They are trained very specifically in what is expected and the style. And we take little bits of information from every family about each child, so that when they come in to see Father Christmas, he knows all about them,” he said.
The attention to detail is such that it takes 50 days to build the LaplandUK site each year, and a further 30 to take it down. It may just be for Christmas, but Battle insists he is busy all year round, plotting the next year’s show.
“There’s about four months of the year when we’re preparing and taking it back down again. And then we’re in the innovation period [developing the next show].”