The main entrance for the Dinner with Santa event is (more or less) behind Bayside Stadium. (Where the "Winter Wonderland on Ice" skating show is held.)
I'm thinking ... in order to fit "Dinner" on one line, they would have had to make the font smaller — so they went with "Dine with Santa" instead. Or perhaps, there was a "Halftime Tailgate with Santa" at some point — and rather than create two different signs — they just went with "Dine with Santa" which technically, would cover both events. It's probably the former, but it might be the latter... maybe.
The walkway leading to the Dinner with Santa event ... kind of looks like a Home Depot Lot Sale — but there is a festive oak tree adorned with lights in the background.
Once you make it past the main entrance and the overpass walkway, the path forward looks quite nice and clean.
After going to the event once, it's still not super clear to me how all of this is supposed to be set up. That big building in the background (left) is a "holiday clearance gift shop" of sorts. There appears to be old general merchandise and some Halloween souvenirs for sale — but the Dinner with Santa is one more building behind the gift shop.
There was a sign that suggested that the "Dine with Santa" guests were supposed to go into the gift shop — but that actually turned out not to be the case. A cast member said "the gate was locked" — so guests were told to line up behind this sign instead.
And here's a photo of everyone lining up on the walkway, waiting for "Dinner with Santa" to begin. Most of us (eventually) ended up going through those red, gift-wrapped barriers near the back of the photo — after the cast member slid them out of the way.
A few minutes before the event was to begin, the line of guests (mostly) was led around to a check-in podium, where they had everyone's party name and size on a list. Once you get checked in — a cast member should walk you to a numbered table that has been assigned to your party... (mostly). You'll have to read my whole review to find out what all of these "(mostly)'s" are about.
The actual amount of usable space they have in the Sea Harbor Pavilion building is quite a lot — which might explain why the event rarely sells out. I suspect... they could have doubled capacity here very easily, by adding more tables and chairs.
There are little toy block numbers on each table — the lower numbered tables are farthest from the stage while the tables close to the stage were in the mid-30's.
Most of the tables were large — with an 8 to 10 chair capacity per table. There were a couple of smaller 2 and 4 chair sized tables near the front (but never had anyone sitting at them). The larger tables, were the norm for most of the dining area.
The tables seemed to have a good amount of space between them. Two guests sitting at two different tables back out their chairs to stand up at the same time — without hitting each other — which is a good thing.
Most of the tables at Dinner with Santa offered good views of the stage area. Obviously, the further back you sit... the smaller the characters were on stage — but I think most everyone had a good line-of-site.
The spacing of the tables is also good, because you'll be getting up and down a couple of times to visit the various buffet tables that were set up along the outer most edge of the dining area — more or less encircling the tables.
Highchairs for tiny guests are also available upon request. As you can see in the distant background of this photo — there were a couple different times over the course of the evening where guests could hop up on stage and pose for a photo with Santa.
All the tables have number blocks on them. Your party is assigned a specific table number when you check in. Some tables have coloring pages with crayons on them, some do not.
Here's a look at table 27 at SeaWorld's Dinner with Santa. Actually, I think all of the tables have coloring pages with a couple of crayons on them — but it's just ours that didn't have any — or rather, they were taken by someone else by the time we got to our table.
Each of the table blocks also has a holiday buddy centerpiece character hot glued to the top. Here at table 34, it's a couple of nesting dolls.
Here's a little birdy wearing a scarf. He's the the centerpiece for table number one — which was one of the tables that remained empty on the night we attended the event.
Here's a toy pull-string dog on top of table number 13's centerpiece block.
Ahhhh.... a classic Santa nesting doll set is used as a centerpiece at this table.
The table top centerpieces are not "unique" to each table, per say. There's maybe a half dozen different items. This cute little scarf wearing bird was on several tables.
Each of the little birds seem to be wearing a different scarf though — so there are minor differences.
Oh, there's always an upsell. If the dessert items that were on the buffet line weren't quite enough for you, there's some additional desserts that were available for purchase. Each table has a little "menu tent" like this one on them.
Many of the tables have coloring pages and a couple of crayons on them. I'm not sure if this was specific to tables that had "children" assigned to them or if it was just a random thing.
The buffet stations were set up around the outer edge of the Sea Harbor building. Here's a look at the beverage station. While a bottle of soda or water is included with the meal, it looks like a couple of beers might have been available for additional purchase. This is also probably where the upgraded desserts were being stored.
The Charcuterie buffet station was also the place where you could pick up plates and napkin-wrapped flatware for the meal.
None of the buffet stations were duplicated on the night that we attended Dinner with Santa. Meaning, each station featured different food items. This is the station that offered the Glazed Ham along with three of the side items.
Here's a closer look at the Glaze Ham buffet station at Dinner with Santa. There's little red name tags close to each of the items so you can tell what they are. From left to right we have the Green Beans Almondine, Cheesy Macaroni, Garlic Mashed Potatoes, and Cherry Bourbon Glazed Ham.
Each of the warm food items were set up on two cement blocks or a food-service grade sterno "keep-warm" device. There's a small can of sterno under each dish keeping the whole plate warm.
Here's a look at the "Marconi" and Cheese. Spelling errors aside — this was actually a pretty good Mac and Cheese. Now it is listed on the SeaWorld official menu page as being "Cheesy Macaroni with Wisconsin Sharp Cheddar and Scallions" — which this is not. So I suspect — a last minute-downgrade for some reason.
The Garlic Mashed Potatoes were actually quite good. Look at all that beautiful steam wafting off the food service container.
On the opposite side of the Sea Harbor Pavilion, there was another buffet table set up. On this side, there was a Fall Salad, Vegetable Medley, Sweet Mashed Potatoes, Stuffing and Turkey with Gravy.
The "Santa's Fall Salad" was actually quite delicious as well. A Raspberry Vinaigrette was also available for drizzling over the salad.
While not being anything like what was posted on the official SeaWorld website's menu for the Dinner with Santa event — this Fall Salad was quite good. I liked the mix of Baby Spinach and Frisee along with the marinated Olives and Orange slices that were in the mix. Red onions, baby tomatoes, and a couple of semi-sweet cranberry pieces were also in the salad.
The Vegetable Medley is said to feature local vegetables sautéed in Garlic Butter. It was a great side item for the holiday meal and stayed nice and hot in that giant skillet.
This is supposed to be Corn Bread Stuffing. It's next to the Turkey with Gravy on one of the buffet lines at Dinner with Santa at SeaWorld.
Here's a look at the Dessert Buffet table at Dinner with Santa at SeaWorld.
There's some Sugar Cookies in that stacked box on the left, Donut Beignets in the middle and a Pumpkin Loaf with Vanilla Cream on the right (not in the photo).
Here's a look at some of the items from the Charcuterie table.
The meats and cheese were nice to have on the table over the course of my meal. The Pepper Jack Cheese squares were properly hot (capsaicin) and offered a nice, different, pop on your palate in between some of the other traditional holiday meal flavors.
The "Santa's Fall Salad" is a great mix of Baby Spinach and Frisee along with some orange pieces, olives, onion and tomatoes. A Raspberry Vinaigrette was also available to drizzle on top.
Here's a closer look at a portion of the Santa's Fall Salad. The official SeaWorld description called for Poached Pears to be in the mix — but I actually quite like the Orange Slices that were in the salad instead.
Here's a sample plate from the buffet line on one side of the pavilion. All of these elements were close to each other — so I figured they intended for them to all be eaten together.
Pictured here are the mac and cheese, green beans almondine, a couple cubes of cheese, glazed ham and garlic mashed potatoes.
A more traditional "Thanksgiving" style plate could be put together will items from the buffet table on the opposite side of the pavilion. Pictured here are some sweet potatoes, turkey and gravy, vegetable medley and corn bread stuffing.
Pictured here is a portion of stuffing with gravy, a little of the vegetable medley, roasted turkey with gravy and some mashed sweet potatoes.
There was also a "kids buffet table" that actually had some pretty great food on it too. Pictured here is a breaded chicken tender, some fries, mac and cheese, along with a single corn dog nugget.
SeaWorld has historically served up a really good breaded chicken product at their locations — and this was no different. It was refreshing getting to have a bite of some good, old fashioned fried chicken with fries in=between all those traditional holiday meal items.
The Holiday Sprinkles Cookie — was... (I'm trying to add any editorial comments to the photo captions)... it was — the shape of a cookie and looked quite festive.
The "Donut Beignets" also looked festive — but could have really used some kind of sauce to dip in. They were offering hot chocolate after your meal — maybe that would have made a good "dunking" fluid.
The Donut Beignets were more donut than beignet. Actually, they were pretty much all "donut". While technically, Beignets don't have to be hallow with a puff of air inside, they should be fried... crispy and chewy. These were more like, warmed over on a sheet pan.
This is the Pumpkin Loaf from the dessert buffet table at Dinner with Santa. The official SeaWorld menu read "with vanilla ice cream"... which may (or may not) have been true in previous years. This time, it was served with "vanilla icing" (which kind of sounds like "ice cream").
The Pumpkin Loaf dessert item combined a moist loaf style cake with vanilla drizzle a couple of crumble type of nuts and grains that had been sprinkled on top and some sweet dried cranberries.
Santa's workbench is located on the stage near his chair.
Even from the very back table, most guests will have a pretty clear line-of-sight to the stage. There's not a tremendous amount of elevation to the stage, but the well-spaced tables keep the number of heads in front of you, to a minimum.
Hi Santa!!! There's several different times over the course of your meal where guests can go up on stage and meet with Santa (the Elves will come around to each table and help organize the timing of your visit).
The show itself is a two or three loosely stitched together show segments with time to eat in between the segments, and a scheduled time to meet with Santa. There's a little introduction segment, a pause with some photos, a sing-along led by the Elves, another pause, some more meet-and-greet photo time, a reading of "Twas the Night Before Christmas" by Santa, and then a little more photo time, etc.
Now this Elf — kind of carried the show. I could see the whole thing falling a little flat if she wasn't there. Santa is a good solid Santa, which can be a tricky role... but this "Female Lead Elf #1" seemed to not only organize and control the flow of the entire entertainment portion of the show — she was by far the best singer in the bunch as well.
While there are some physical props on the stage, like Santa's workshop desk, his chair (obviously) and a small rocking horse — the rest of the background is a very large vinyl backdrop.
The elves sit down with Santa as he reads from a story book and try to get the crowd involved as well.
Santa is getting ready to read from his storybook at Dinner with Santa at SeaWorld.
Ahhhh... the classic "touch your nose" pose. This is a prerequisite stance for being one of Santa's helpers.
Santa stands up to read the classic Clement Clarke Moore poem "A Visit from St Nicholas".
A signed, original copy of the poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas" (a.k.a "The Night Before Christmas") was sold for $280,000 in 2006. I'm pretty sure the book that Santa is reading from — is not an original signed copy.
The Dinner with Santa cast is only three people, but they fill the hour long event with plenty of family fun entertainment.
Santa is wearing a brown apron because the Dinning with Santa event set is in Santa's Workshop. In fact, when the first guests check in, Santa can be seen on stage with his back to the audience, working on toys at his work bench. This helps us avoid any kind of "grand entrance" number.
There's a little audience participation, but nothing that anyone is going to be forced into — if you're a little shy. Mostly, it's just calling out answers or singing along with a carol. There's no "let's bring them up on stage" moments.
I wrote it in a previous caption, and I'll write it again — Female Lead Elf #1, really controlled the pace and cohesion of the show. Santa tended to be a little reactionary — but this Elf did everything... from coming out into the audience and interacting with guests as an Elf, scheduling the times with all the guests as to when your group could go up meet Santa, and being a solid voice when it came to the sing-a-long song segments.
Happy Holidays!!! The whole cast of Dinner with Santa. Thanks for a great performance everyone!!!