Christmas Wonderland, a New Holiday Theme Park, Is Coming to Tropical Park

Step aside, Santa — a new holiday theme park extravaganza is coming to Miami.

Set to debut November 16 at Tropical Park, Christmas Wonderland bills itself as the next generation of holiday spectacle, featuring high-tech lighting displays and cutting-edge interactive experiences.

The centerpiece is "Tinsel Trail," a half-mile path featuring a variety of holiday experiences divided into six zones. "Sweet Street" features gingerbread-making workshops and a bakery with treats for sale. "Arctic Delight" includes a bar for adults and icy amusements for kids, and "Santa's Village" includes reindeer and the requisite photo opportunity with jolly ol' Saint Nick. An hourly show called "Light Up the Night" will light the entire trail up for a synchronized spectacular.

There will be rides, too. The "Magnificent Midway" will feature 40 carnival rides, including the largest traveling Ferris wheel in North America, food and drink stalls, and a high-tech, "3D-mapped immersive adventure" called IG'loo 360 Dome. Three different acrobatics shows will also take place nightly, including "The Christmas Ball of Thrills" motorcycle cage race.

The new event is run by EngageLive!, a subsidiary of live entertainment company Loud and Live. The company previously ran Bayfront Park's Holiday Village. According to Loud and Live CEO Nelson Albareda, the company wanted to throw another Christmas event.

"We've been working on it now for probably two, three years," Albareda says. "And I think that Tropical Park is the right spot."

Longtime residents of South Florida will note that Tropical Park was previously occupied by another holiday theme park: Santa's Enchanted Forest. The carnival featuring rides, food, games, and Christmas-themed novelties resided at the park from 1992 until 2020, when Miami-Dade County declined to renew its lease and began soliciting proposals for a replacement.

Among locals, Santa's Enchanted Forest had become indelibly associated with Tropical Park thanks to its memorable radio jingle. It has since moved locations twice, first to a smaller location at Hialeah Park, blighted by long lines and parking issues, and then to its current location on the boundary of Doral and Medley.

Albareda says Loud And Live did not approach any civic stakeholders about taking the location until after Santa's had been evicted from the park. Both attractions are priced similarly, although at $35 for adults and $25 for children 5-10, Christmas Wonderland slightly undercuts Santa's ticket prices, which were $42.99 for adults last year.

"I don't think this is a competition or anything," Albareda says. "[Santa's] has a 40-year heritage. We're trying to do a very different event. Different in the production, the quality, really catering to what Miami has become today, which is really a cultural melting pot."

Although Santa's is multicultural in its own way — Jewish-American businessman Jerry A. Shechtman founded it, and food options range from Venezuelan arepas and grilled meats from Brazil and Argentina to traditional carnival foods like corn dogs and funnel cake — Albareda says Christmas Wonderland wants to accommodate Miami's growing diversity. One area called "HoliDade" will celebrate Miami-Dade County's various neighborhoods with a series of "Instagrammable" photo displays designed by the studio behind the Museum of Ice Cream. Albareda also says some displays will feature Hanukkah and Kwanzaa motifs, as well as references to holiday traditions from Latin America and the Caribbean. They may not have the same charm as the famously kitschy dioramas at Santa's, but that may be a good thing.

New Times attempted to reach a representative from Santa's Enchanted Forest for comment but couldn't reach anyone.

Christmas Wonderland will run at Tropical Park until January 7, 2024.

Christmas Wonderland. Thursday, November 16, through January 7, 2024, at Tropical Park, 7900 SW 40th St, Miami; miamiwonderland.com. Tickets cost $29 to $39.