…to Santa Claus, Indiana
If you’re a new reader, then you probably don’t know about my obsession with Holiday World.
For those of you asking what Holiday World is, oh boy am I excited to enlighten you on this magical amusement park located in a town called Santa Claus, Indiana - and yes, they get into the name there!
Growing up in Southern Illinois, we are about equal distances from Six Flags St. Louis and Holiday World. While I could spend all day comparing the two, in my early twenties (and ironically while I was living in St. Louis) I realized I just appreciated Holiday World way more. It felt easier to drive to, the town surrounding it was quaint and sleepy, the free parking, sunscreen, drinks, and wi-fi especially nice perks. Around age 21, I started spending every birthday there, and overtime we started actually staying at local hotels, eventually finding the Lake Rudolph campground cabins as our go-to lodging. When Christian and I started dating, I was heavy into this tradition, and brought him along. Being a Six Flags kid, he was skeptical…but by the end of our trip, he had purchased Season Passes for us for the following year! In 2022 we were unable to go as I had just given birth to Olive, and time just got away from us in 2023 and 2024.
So, I was thrilled when the Spencer County Visitors Bureau invited us to celebrate the holiday season with them! After reviewing the events happening Thanksgiving Weekend and beyond, I knew we had to get over there to check it out and share with all of you so you can plan your trip for next weekend!
Lodging
We were hosted at the Lincoln Pines Lakefront Resort, technically in Lincoln City but 5 minutes away from everything in Santa Claus. Our cabin was the Railsplitter, located catty-corner from the office and easy to find. It is a one bedroom, 1.5 bath home featuring a murphy bed and futon in the living room for additional guests. The kitchen was stocked with basic cooking amenities, and I appreciated having a a half bath in the bedroom. The back porch of the home had a porch swing, table and chairs, firepit, and grill. We were located behind the building that houses a game room and laundromat, it also serves as parking for the pool area.
The game room had plenty of games including my favorites - claw machines and Big Buck Hunter! As I mentioned on our trip to Sevierville, we are big arcade folks. We will pay a little more for lodging that offers a free arcade, it’s just something we enjoy doing.
Something else we noticed and loved was multiple playgrounds! I felt like this environment was definitely family-oriented, as appreciated that. We had a good night’s sleep, and had a blast pulling down the murphy bed to build a big comfy pallet to cozy up and watch our shows before bed in. It was definitely Olive-approved!
Events
Small Business Saturday
When we arrived near Dale/Santa Claus, I made the decision to stop at Santa’s Toys first. They had live reindeer outside to pet and see! We wanted to make sure we visited them before it got too cold and they had to go home. It was a really cool - and free! - experience. We then went into the toy store as it was Small Business Saturday, and we wanted to be sure to support this locally-owned business. Santa’s Toys had everything from puzzles to Calico Critters!
Our next stop was into Dale to check out the Holiday Market at Dale Floral & Gifts. The market closed by 4 and I wanted to make sure we had enough time to shop. There were about a dozen local vendors selling a variety of products from holiday decor to tumblers, jarred goods, and etc. Dale Floral and Gifts had loads of lovely decor and floral arrangements as well.
We then headed back to Santa Claus. We had arrived too late to go inside the actual Post Office, but were able to take a picture of Santa holding a letter outside of the only official USPS location of Santa Claus. We then walked down to the Santa Claus Christmas Store - oh my goodness this place! Any and everything ornaments, holiday village sets, and more were lining the shelves of this enormous store. Inside there is also a small cafe offering beverages that included hot chocolate, as well as fudge and candies. Santa was actually inside an area of the store doing photos, and there was a line of excited children waiting to meet him.
We were starting to get hungry at this point, and needed to check-in to our lodging as well. We normally would have stopped at S&S BBQ and Pizza for their salad bar and tasting slices, but they were packed! We were so pleasantly surprised at how bustling this little town was the entire weekend. Anyways, we ended up grabbing some sandwiches from Subway and headed the 4 minutes down the road to our stay. Check-in was as easy as opening the door, and we were greeted by a lovely gift basket from the Visitors Bureau. The 2024 Christmas Event Guide was an excellent resource in planning our stay, and we were happy to have a physical copy of it in the basket to reference while going to and from places.
Candy, Lights, and Burgers
Around 5:00 p.m. we headed to Santa’s Candy Castle for our after dinner sweets and some cocoa to drink while going through the Land of Lights at Sun Outdoors - Lake Rudolph. The Candy Castle was packed! They were hosting an event outside; roasting chestnuts on an open fire. The town came out for this event, people of all ages excitedly crowded around the fire to learn about roasting chestnuts and sharing drinks of their frozen and hot chocolates. We grabbed chocolate covered espresso beans and cashews, our drinks, and then headed to the campground!
As I said before, we have stayed at Lake Rudolph before and after it became a Sun Outdoors location. We have stayed in every option they offer, aside from tent camping (I may be a sleep princess, who can say). We always rent a golf cart and drive around the property for hours, often playing “tag” and we love watching the glow cart parade. So it was a great little nostalgic moment for us to drive around these paths and see it absolutely transformed with the story of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. Olive is finally forward-facing, and she would exclaim over the lights and trees (TREE is a favorite exclamation of hers right now) as we drove through. The local radio station 105.3 had Christmas music playing, and the staff suggested we tune to it while we drove through. We both commented how much time this must have taken the staff to set up, and were so appreciative of their efforts.
It had started snowing as we were eating our sandwiches and checking in, and by this point the snow was gently wafting down and sticking. We had stopped on the journey to get winter jackets, but were unable to find mittens for Olive and with her recently chapped lips, we decided against heading into Dale for the Light Show, as it would have involved being outside for a bit to watch.
Located a literal minute from Lake Rudolph was Santa Claus Brewing Co. They were hosting a party upstairs and had the local state game on the television; you could tell this is a place that is loved by locals and it’s regulars. Olive was being a bit squirrely at this point; sitting in the car and having a bit of sugar meant she wanted to RUN, not sit, so we decided to place our orders to go. We each got a burger with chicken strips for the kiddo, and noshed on some mozzarella sticks before the food arrived. The burger patties were thick, seasoned and cooked perfectly.
Wrapping up the night, starting fresh in the morning
After eating, we decided to bundle up to venture to the arcade and then play in the snow. It was the perfect way to tire that remaining energy in Olive out, and got us through to bedtime. As we were heading back, we heard a huge commotion of ambulances and firetrucks; it turns out, the local football team had won state! It was awesome to see how excited the town was to welcome these champions back, this is something we also do after a state win in Carterville and it made us smile. After the impromptu parade ended, we cuddled up in the murphy bed watching our shows with the lights low, finally putting her to sleep in the bedroom when she got drowsy.
In the morning, we woke to a fresh blanket of untouched snow on the ground. My morning sickness had woke me up at 2am, and by 8am I was really struggling. Christian opted to get us donuts and milk and the nearby Casey’s for breakfast instead of going out. We had planned on going to the Santa Claus Museum to write a letter to Santa, but I was just unable to commit to standing or interacting at that time. I opted to nap on the futon until checkout, where I moved my nap to the car. Christian surprised us by taking us to Mesker Park Zoo and Botanical Gardens in Evansville - this is about 45 minutes away from our lodging. While many of the animals were moved to their indoor enclosure for the weather, we were able to see penguins, jaguar, a wolf, and the indoor enclosure animals. I went back to the car about halfway through, but it was a good idea ultimately to go to the Zoo because that time of day is when Olive hits her energetic peak, and she was able to physically run it off. She ended up taking a nap probably 30 minutes after that, as did I.
And before I knew it, we were home! A quick and easy overnight packed with family fun that totally got us in the Christmas mood!
Check out the 2024 Christmas Event Guide linked above to plan your stay! The next few weekends are loaded with different events and holiday fun. If you need help planning your stay, shoot us a message, we’d love to help!
