The debut event sold out in minutes
Alison and Michael Battle, founders of the LaplandUK experience(Image: Alison Battle)
Alison and Michael Battle were anxious their Ascot-based Lapland Christmas event wouldn’t translate to the north – but their fears proved unfounded. On the day tickets went on sale for its debut in Cheshire, more than half a million people were waiting in line for just a fraction of available tickets.
First opened in 2007 in Ascot, LaplandUK is touted as “Britain’s most beloved Christmas immersive experience” and a “magical portal” to the festive world. The attraction has become a staple of the British festive season, welcoming over a million guests into its Elven woodland, including notable figures such as the Prince and Princess of Wales, Sir Elton John, and The Beckhams.
In 2024, more than 300,000 hopefuls joined the virtual waiting room, aiming to secure tickets for their families. With demand reaching an all-time high of 1.2 million ticket requests, the event sold out of the available 160,000 tickets in less than three hours, in what bosses have likened to “a ticket drop to rival Glastonbury”.
LaplandUK Manchester, which is actually located at Capesthorne Hall, Cheshire, is LaplandUK’s second location in England, allowing families to experience the Christmas-themed attraction without travelling south. It made its debut last year, with more than 500,000 people waiting in the online queue for tickets.
Now in its landmark 20th year, LaplandUK has become a time-honoured festive tradition, blending Hollywood-grade production, live theatre, and storytelling inspired by the six best-selling Lapland books written by founders Mike and Alison.
The Battles set out to fill in the holes around the Father Christmas story, leaving no question unanswered for inquisitive children. Alison worked as a teacher for 20 years while Michael worked in fiance before giving up their jobs to “reinvent the world of Father Christmas”.
Alison told the ECHO: “We realised very early on that there was no universal story around the Father Christmas myth. So we had to set out building our own storytelling world. A world that didn’t feel designed, but felt ancient and discovered and authentic. A world that was worthy of a child’s belief. So over the course of 20 years, we have filled in the folklore of Father Christmas’s world.”
The couple point to questions including “who looks after Father Christmas’s toy factory and reindeers” which could not be answered. Alison added: “There was no story world built around the most exciting story in the world for children. So we’ve been working over the last 20 years.”
Alison and Michael created what they describe as “the greatest soap opera in the world for children who want to know more”, which then became the story of Lapland. The experience begins with a special boxed invitation for a child to visit the magical world. On the day of the visit, the journey takes families through the ‘Enchanted Forest’ and into the Elven World.
Children lend a hand making toys in the Toy Factory, decorate gingerbread in Mother Christmas’ Kitchen and explore the Elven Village, before making their way through the snowy forest for their meeting with Father Christmas.
The set comes together from workers across the real world including Bavarian designers who morph ideas into a maquette, to construction workers bringing in 320 tonnes of mulch to Capesthorne.
Alison added: “We have literally thought about every single question a child might ask over our 20 years.”
Michael said: “When Alison and I first stepped over the line and decided to create Lapland, we had a huge interest from the get-go. For years, people were saying to me ‘why don’t you do another one’ but we wanted to get it right.
“Because of the engagement and the fandom and just the sheer joy that we were bringing to families, we always had Manchester in our eyes. But we knew we had to do it brilliantly because Ascot is so loved.”
The demand for the northern site was so great people flew drones over the estate to catch a glimpse of what the Lapland Manchester site would entail. Michael added: “We had an unbelievable amount of interest in everything we were doing. We had drones getting flown in by members of the public to try and find out what we were doing.
“Those families are trusting myself and Alison and the Lapland team with their children’s belief and wonder. So we had to get it right. The scale of what has been created is immense and the quality of Lapland Manchester is groundbreaking.
“But what I love is that beneath it all, it’s the love of a mother trying to honour her children’s wonder. That remains a core of everything Lapland stands for and does going forward.”
