SkyPark at Santa's Village is an outdoor

adventure park An adventure park is a place which can contain a wide variety of elements, including but not limited to, rope climbing exercises, obstacle courses, bouldering, rock climbing, target oriented activities, and zip-lines. They are usually intended ...

with year-round mountain biking, hiking, fly fishing and open air activities in the Skyforest section of

Lake Arrowhead, California Lake Arrowhead is an unincorporated community and a census-designated place (CDP) in the San Bernardino Mountains of San Bernardino County, California, surrounded by the San Bernardino National Forest, and surrounding the eponymous Lake Arrowhe ...

. It opened on December 2, 2016, on the site of the former Santa's Village amusement park, which operated from 1955 until 1998.

Description

The park resides on of natural forest with meadowlands, ponds and an apple orchard. At the core of SkyPark is The Village, which includes historic log cabin restaurants and shops, seasonal entertainment, and open-air activities. SkyPark’s nearly of year-round mountain bike trails, hiking trails, fly fishing, archery, ziplines, seasonal ice skating or roller skating rink, rock climbing and more are available to the public for the price of admission. SkyPark’s conservation program includes the Henck Meadowlands Conservation Trail, Conservation Hikes, and Outdoor Educational Programs for school-age children. of the park have been preserved in their pristine condition to remain unused.

History

The previous Santa's Village was opened in May 1955. It was the first franchised amusement park, one of three built by developer Glenn Holland. The others, also defunct, were in

Scotts Valley, California Scotts Valley is a small city in Santa Cruz County, California, United States, about thirty miles (48 km) south of downtown San Jose and six miles (10 km) north of the city of Santa Cruz, in the upland slope of the Santa Cruz Mount ...

, and

East Dundee, Illinois East Dundee is a village in Kane County with a small section in Cook County. The population was 3,152 at the 2020 census. Geography East Dundee is located at . According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, East Dundee has a total area of , of ...

(the East Dundee park reopened in 2011 under new ownership as

Santa's Village AZoosment Park Santa's Village Amusement & Water Park (formerly known and colloquially referred to this day as simply Santa's Village) is a theme park in East Dundee, Illinois. It was originally built by Glenn Holland, who also built two other Santa's Village ...

). Opening more than a month before

Disneyland Disneyland is a theme park in Anaheim, California. Opened in 1955, it was the first theme park opened by The Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney. Disney initially envision ...

, the park was one of Southern California's biggest tourist attractions. It had kiddie rides, including a bobsled, monorail, and

Ferris wheel A Ferris wheel (also called a Giant Wheel or an observation wheel) is an amusement ride consisting of a rotating upright wheel with multiple passenger-carrying components (commonly referred to as passenger cars, cabins, tubs, gondolas, capsule ...

. It also had a petting zoo, live

reindeer Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 sub ...

and shops including a bakery, candy kitchen and toy shop. Reduced attendance and revenue shortfalls caused the park to close on March 1, 1998. The property sold three years later for $5.6 million, and served as a staging area for logging operations. The faded candy cane signpost and dilapidated buildings became a

ghost town Ghost Town(s) or Ghosttown may refer to: * Ghost town, a town that has been abandoned Film and television * ''Ghost Town'' (1936 film), an American Western film by Harry L. Fraser * ''Ghost Town'' (1956 film), an American Western film by All ...

along the

Rim of the World Highway Rim may refer to: * Rim (basketball), the hoop through which the ball must pass **Breakaway rim, a sprung basketball rim *Rim (coin), the raised edge which surrounds the coin design * Rim (crater), extending above the local surface *Rim (firearms) ...

. In June 2014, the park was sold to a new owner who planned to operate it as a year-round tourist destination. After renovations of 18 original Santa's Village buildings and restoration projects in the surrounding forest, it reopened on December 2, 2016, as an outdoor adventure park named SkyPark at Santa's Village.

References

External links

*{{Official website, http://skyparksantasvillage.com/
Santa’s Village Theme Parks History
Santa Claus 1955 establishments in California 1998 disestablishments in California 2016 establishments in California Articles containing video clips Amusement parks opened in 1955