{"id":9391,"date":"2026-11-12T16:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-11-12T22:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stlouisdad.com\/s\/?p=9391"},"modified":"2026-11-12T10:55:20","modified_gmt":"2026-11-12T16:55:20","slug":"santas-magical-kingdom-opens-nov-20-as-santa-photos-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stlouisdad.com\/s\/santas-magical-kingdom-opens-nov-20-as-santa-photos-return\/","title":{"rendered":"Santa\u2019s Magical Kingdom Opens Nov. 20 as Santa Photos Return"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The Eureka drive-through opens with four million lights and professional pictures with Santa inside Kringle\u2019s General Store.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

EUREKA, Mo.<\/strong> Santa\u2019s Magical Kingdom opens for the season at 5:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 20, 2026, at Jellystone Park in Eureka, Missouri. Professional photos with Santa return on opening night. Families can meet him inside Kringle\u2019s General Store and drive through tunnels and displays lit by four million Christmas lights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Santa will be at Kringle\u2019s every night through Dec. 23. Children can tell him what\u2019s on their Christmas lists, and families receive digital copies of their photos by text. The drive-through light show stays open nightly through Jan. 3, 2027, including Thanksgiving, Christmas Day and New Year\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Kringle\u2019s General Store<\/a> serves hot cocoa and freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. Families can also shop for holiday gifts or take home a handwritten, personalized ornament. Families can order <\/a>personalized letters from Santa<\/a> online and choose an email or a printed letter by mail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scheduled holiday wagon rides begin Nov. 20, with shared and private rides available on select nights. The Santa Express Train starts Monday, Nov. 23, and runs Monday to Thursday until Dec. 10. Families can <\/a>check the ride schedule and reserve seats<\/a>. A train or wagon booking for two or more riders waives the vehicle admission fee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Santa\u2019s Magical Kingdom is at 5300 Fox Creek Road, Eureka, MO 63069, off I-44 at Exit 261. Standard drive-through admission is $35 per family vehicle, or $40 on Saturdays. Visitors pay in cash as they exit. The drive-through closes at 10:30 p.m. through Dec. 24 and at 10 p.m. from Dec. 25 through Jan. 3. Families can <\/a>plan their visit<\/a> for directions and current hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Opening Night and Season Details<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
What to check<\/strong><\/td>Details<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Opening night<\/td>Friday, Nov. 20, 2026. The drive-through opens at 5:30 p.m.<\/td><\/tr>
Santa photos<\/td>Nightly from Nov. 20 through Dec. 23, 2026, inside Kringle\u2019s General Store<\/td><\/tr>
Light show hours<\/td>5:30 to 10:30 p.m. from Nov. 20 through Dec. 24. 5:30 to 10 p.m. from Dec. 25 through Jan. 3, 2027.<\/td><\/tr>
Drive-through admission<\/td>$35 per family vehicle, $40 on Saturdays. Cash only, paid on exit.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>About Santa\u2019s Magical Kingdom<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Santa\u2019s Magical Kingdom is a seasonal drive-through Christmas light attraction at Jellystone Park in Eureka, Missouri. It also offers scheduled holiday wagon and train rides and professional Santa photos at Kringle\u2019s General Store.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Eureka drive-through opens with four million lights and professional pictures with Santa inside Kringle\u2019s General Store. EUREKA, Mo. Santa\u2019s Magical Kingdom opens for the season at 5:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 20, 2026, at Jellystone Park in Eureka, Missouri. Professional photos with Santa return on opening night. Families can meet him inside Kringle\u2019s General Store […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9393,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3,1,1152,276,6],"tags":[17,12,202,1392,1264,147,19,16,322,146],"class_list":["post-9391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-around-town","category-blog","category-events","category-family","category-outside","tag-around-town-2","tag-blog-2","tag-christmas","tag-euerka","tag-eureka","tag-family","tag-inside-fun","tag-lets-go-outside","tag-santa","tag-st-louis"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5JMKA-2rt","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/stlouisdad.com\/s\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/Santas-Magical-Kingdom-St.-Loius.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stlouisdad.com\/s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stlouisdad.com\/s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stlouisdad.com\/s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stlouisdad.com\/s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stlouisdad.com\/s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9391"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/stlouisdad.com\/s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9391\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9433,"href":"https:\/\/stlouisdad.com\/s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9391\/revisions\/9433"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stlouisdad.com\/s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stlouisdad.com\/s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stlouisdad.com\/s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stlouisdad.com\/s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}