I read a lot of complaints but I was happy with the Santa pictures. My kids loved the whole process of "flying to the North pole". I picked the middle package only because they give you the digital access to all of the photos and you can print out extras at Walgreens or any other photo place. The photos are high quality! I ended up using one of the pictures to order a Christmas Photo card to send out to family! Santa was very realistic. My kids approved and thought he was the real deal. It was much quicker, convenient and less painful than Christmas photos we have taken at other places. I think I will do this again in the next two years. read more

This is a massive setup in the center of Oak Brook mall. Reservations are mandatory, and unfortunately if you haven't booked yet, they are already full for the rest of the year until Christmas,but you can get on a standby waitlist. From my reservation time until I walked out of the building, the whole experience was 1 hour. It's definitely a fantastic experience that is free!! (unless you buy pics and dreamworks toys at the end) We waited in line outside for about 15 minutes. Everyone takes a pic with Shrek, Donkey and Fiona then walks inside (where it's warm and dry). They print out each family's passport photo, so I highly recommend uploading it when you make your reservation. Then you go through the whole process of getting to Santa ... sorry no spoilers, except I do have a beef with the movie they showed. It was good, but would be AWESOME if the resolution was good and the picture clear. I pretty much had a slight headache from how fuzzy and unfocused it was.... bummer. Santa was great, very nice and approachable... my 3 year old daughter didn't cry so thumbs up! read more

Adventure to Santa - Photography Stores & Services Near Me - Oak Brook, Illinois

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Terrible. We are stranded in a small room watching paw patrol for 30 minutes . This is horrible customer service , no real apology , just shit about santa camera is broken. The Microsoft store is 1 foot away to buy a new camera How can they charge for this? read more

Adventure to Santa - Photography Stores & Services Near Me - Oak Brook, Illinois

We have been going to visit Santa at Oak Brook Center since my daughter was born 3 years ago. This year was a terrible experience and we will never go back. The tiny trailer were "Santa" was ridiculously small. It was very trashy and low rent for any Santa experience forget about the fact that we were at Oak Brook Center. Santa and the lady taking pictures in the trailer were the least friendly people you could imagine!!! Santa did not say hello and just sat there and said nothing. Not a smile or a friendly word to a 3 year old girl. He in fact looked scary and mean just sitting there like we were inconveniencing him. The lady taking pictures was abrupt, cold and rude. My wife and I were disgusted by the entire experience especially since we went to so much trouble to prepare for this experience for my daughter. Who is the genius that hires miserable cold people to be Santa Claus for children and hire workers working with children who are the same??? I'll tel you who they are probably rude cold people themselves. Don't waste your time or money at Oak Brook Center it was a terrible experience! read more

We have been going to Oak Brook for the last 5 years since our son was born to see Santa. However, this year the quality and service have really deminished and did not meet our expectations. The quality of the photography was poor - the only person who had any real photography experience wasn't even taking photos - she was working at the cash register. Additionally, we were told we could only have 3 pictures of family photos and 5 pictures with Santa. Compared to past years we had usually about 15 pictures to choose from. The photo takers (high school kids) have no skill in actually shooting a photo or posing people so the photos were really disappointing. The one photo, half of my husband's body was not in the photo - the no skill photo takers did not see that? And there was no offer to retake these photos. The Tent and Santa trailer (yes, it's just a lousy trailer) - really lowered the bar for the experience - it was so poorly set up and so poorly done. We will be looking for a new tradition somewhere else next year. so much disappointment especially for so much money. read more

Reservations only, so even though baby girl was dressed up for photo we had come back later. Hour later got us in. So cramped and no air in the rooms. Too dark and she cried. Took too long so the picture was ruined. Not a smile, so it wasn't a perfect picture even though I pay $$$. She like the sleigh ride though and ask to go again s, I guess it was OK but not great. Not this year. read more

We had a reservation for well over 3 weeks. Our family was very excited for this experience, my husband and myself both took off early from work. Our reservation was for 7:04, we got there at 6:10 and were told to come back at our reservation time, mind you the place was EMPTY, one family in line ahead of us. No big deal, we knew we were early. Came back at 7:00, waited outside for another 20 minutes. All the while, they were taking walk ins (no reservations). We have a family of 8, the max allowed, so when they added 4 more people to our group (walk-ins), I was a bit confused. But we were warm and were excited to get the kids their passports, NOPE, machine was down. So 10 more minutes waiting in that room (with a crabby 3 yr old). Lets go make our sleighs, YAY! Umm...NOPE, no printouts of that available either! Let's get on the magic sleigh that will take you to The North Pole to see the "Big Guy", YAY! Super excited to do this, we didn't all fit, considering they threw 4 more people into our group, had to put kids on laps. The movie was grainy, but the over all idea was fantastic (if we all fit). FINALLY SANTA! I prepaid for the pictures online $58, no smaller package available, $75 plus tax if you get them there. Santa was very tired, and not quite so friendly. We were rushed through this process, and were shoved out the door to the DreamWorks Toy factory to get our pictures. Yep, those were messed up also, the lady was telling me, "no, its okay, you can print out your own, online". I didn't want to print out my own, I wanted them printed for me, like I paid for. They did print them, but the wrong way. This could be a wonderful experience, but not for us, we were rushed, smooshed, it was unorganized, and we didn't get what we were expecting to get. read more

One star is too many stars for this disaster. In theory it was a cute idea, but it was really a horrible experience for our 1.5 and 2.5 year old. We began our adventure by waiting outside in the cold for 40 minutes while no employee ever acknowledged the giant crowd forming outside. Next stop was a crowded room smaller than my closet where we waited holding cell style with 15 other parents and restless kids for another 15 minutes. "We're running 15 minutes behind!" they said when we were already an hour past our reservation. We were then shuffled like the parents and kids in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory through various holding cell closets that varied from minimally entertaining to terrifying for our two kids. By the time we arrived in the last holding cell to wait for santa, we had been there for an hour and 45 minutes and our kids were absolutely beside themselves. We ran past santa and out the nearest exit at our earliest chance. Never again. I will warn everyone I can about the miserable experience we had at this mess. read more

I have young children who are just getting into the magic of Santa and as a mother I want nothing more than to foster this. They are young so expectations are not super high at this point but I wanted to give them something they wouldn't forget. We made reservations for the Dreamworks experience in early November to ensure we could give this experience a try this year and hoping for a tradition in years to come. We paid nearly $50, pre-paying for a photo and ultimately understanding the cost was going into the adventure in it's entirety. We arrived at our scheduled time tonight but were delayed in the experience because of technical difficulties, which I understand can happen. Some how in this our "passport" on the ipads of the staff was lost. From my understanding our passport would hold information about our children, for Santa to know upon our arrival, including their age, wish list, and photos of each. I asked a staff member if he would still have my children's profile to which she ensured me she would. The whole experience took over an hour and a half waiting for many delays in the system, the employees, and then being lost in the ipad ultimately took us out of "line". Once we got into see Santa it was obvious he didn't know my children's names, which I spent my time and efforts on creating on the website. For the money paid, this is part of the expected experience - which I coached my children for. From the minute we walked in he didn't even say hello to my children and the entire focus was about taking a photo (which is clearly, and understandably, their money maker). Between Santa's orders of where my children should sit (and not him addressing them or even asking their name!) my husband was warming up my 2 year old by saying "tell Santa what you want" and Santa responded "not now, we will get to that'"!!! So, after the picture was taken I was trying to at least have Santa interact with my children so I said to my 4 y/o "did you want to tell Santa what you want for Christmas?" and Santa immediately said "she already told me, an Elsa castle". Which is NOT true both for what she wants and also that he hadn't even asked her. We were sent on our way with out Santa even asking their name or what they wanted. I was so sad for my children in the experience and also felt cheated on the $ I spent for this "one of a kind" experience. I would have paid the money with out question to have my children addressed and my family respected; I actually probably would have bought pictures if they were candid of Santa interacting with us. I was so sour in the experience I had that the picture we have has bad memories attached it's not worth displaying. I feel cheated in the magic of Christmas and now hope to find another experience to ensure that this did not leave a mark on my young children. While the hype and idea of Dreamworks is excellent and very exciting, the truth is we are there for Santa and every child dreams of meeting this magical man which did not prevail today. read more

An unbelievably positive experience for the family. My family and I reserved a spot for this magic tour, and we were not disappointed. The staff was friendly, the pictures turned out great, and Santa was the part. If it comes back next year, I will be the first to sign up! I recommend everyone at least check out the home; very professional. read more

Went to visit Santa at Oakbrook Mall. With my 8 and 6 year old kids. On a Tuesday night 12/12/16 , 745pm appt. Bought middle package. We arrived early and the attendant kindly asked us to wait until our appointment or to go keep warm at a nearby store. Once it was our time - we zipped on into the room, we shared our adventure (excluding santa pix) with another 4 person party MY KIDS LOVED IT! They enjoyed it completely .. the video game that we played for approx 3-4 minutes.. the sleigh ride... the card making process and very much enjoyed the Santa experience. Santa greeted them by name which my kids noticed.. I loved that Santa's room was filled with Santa "stuff" books, desk.. toys.. great ambiance. This didn't compare with having to be in a line for 1 to 2 hours at the mall, then having to sit in a chair with a fake background.. not at all.. Kids were entertained and looked forward to seeing what the next door would lead too.. read more

Do not waste your money!!!!! We were having a great time until it was time to meet Santa. Santa did not say hi to our son or make any effort to talk to our son. We were rushed to sit down and take a picture and then immediately sent out of the room. The whole experience was to meet Santa and it was extremely disappointing not to mention it was expensive. Will never go back. read more

Not worth it, the employees argued about who's turn it was to take us in front of our face. They play a game on a tablet and watch a movie....the picture comes out very nice and good quality. The staff blows, santa looked real but wasn't very friendly, and one of the girls in the card making room seemed like she was in a hurry and kinda blah. Better off doing something else. read more

I took my nephew yesterday because my sister wanted to try this out instead of waiting an hour if not longer at the Lincoln Park Zoo like we did last year. The elves were great very upbeat and they try to get the kids involved and interested as much as they can regardless the age of the kids. My nephew is 19 months old and he was entertained and enjoyed himself. My sister, mother and myself were very disappointed with the Santa though. After going through all the rooms we finally made it to Santa and he was not jolly, happy or even nice. My nephew said hi to him and wanted to high five him and all Santa did was say hello and then tried to pick him up to sit on his lap so we take the pictures and be done. I had to tell Santa that my nephew is trying to give him a high five and asked him if he was just going to leave him hanging. After I said that he barely lifted his hand. The Santa looked very real, a lot better than what I have seen other places but that doesn't make up for his personality and behavior. Out of the 8 pictures taken with him there are 3 of them were Santa looks terrible, his eyes aren't open or he's not smiling and looking like he hates being there. My nephew is young enough to where he wouldn't notice everything like we did. I would rather pay for some young guy with a fake beard and a better attitude then for a real looking Santa with a bad attitude and no personality. Overall the only reason I would do this again is because I could reserve the time that I want and not wait in any ridiculous line. read more

This is actually for the location in Arlington, TX. If I could rate them a zero I would. I showed up to my reservation a little early, I was informed the building had a power outage that morning and their system was still down. We to sit down to wait to for it to come back on. The worker walked over to us said " we are still working on it we MAY have it up in an hour if you want to wait around. I told her I would need another day because I had to get to work. She just told she couldn't get into the system that she could only do for later that day. She suggested we call the 800 number to reschedule, then just walked away. I called the number the lady just hung up on me, then the lady came back over to me and said can you write down your info I'll have my manger call you when out system is back up. Of course I did not receive a call. So I made a second attempt to call the 800 number I explained what happened and that I needed to reschedule. The girls tells me well there is a $10 cancellation fee. I was furious I told her she was not charging me $10 because their stuff was down, I was at my appointment. She just stayed quite so I asked for a manager the girl forward me to a voice mail. Of course I didn't get a call back from her either. Finally on the third time a guy actually listen to me and agreed I should not get charged so he tried to reschedule me. I don't know if their system was still messed up but it was showing that the location was completely full. So he refunded my money then I had to go back online book another day. When I got there I tried to tell the manager everything to let her know how much of an inconvenience all that was. However she would not even listen to one word I was saying. Then the first lady I was dealing with in person denied that they were going to contact me when the system was back up or that she suggested I call the number to reschedule. Then she just said why are you still complaining your here and going to see Santa with no wait plus you are getting double prints which was just one extra picture. I didn't even care about the extra picture I just wanted to express my concern. read more