Tickets for Fota's Christmas Experience to go on sale this Wednesday

Wed, 25 Sep, 2019 - 20:51

THERE was early Christmas cheer at The Kingsley today as hundreds of Cork elves turned up to interview for parts in this year’s Fota Island Resort’s Christmas Wonder experience.

The annual event brings over 60,000 people from all over the country to Fota Island each December to celebrate the festive season in a specially created winter wonderland.

Santa Claus was present to help judges decide who had what it takes to win a role at this year’s Wonder, which opens at Fota Island Resort on November 23.

Carrigaline girls Casey Keating, Zara Walsh, and Emily Murphy with Alma Krause, Cork city in the queue at the Elf auditions for Fota Christmas WONDER which is being held at The Fota Collection, Co Cork.The first of the auditions were held at The Kingsley on Wednesday 25th September 2019.Pic; Larry Cummins

Trisha Lewis (AKA Trisha Transformation) joined fellow judges Seamus Leahy of The Fota Collection and Teral Cullen, Project Manager of Wonder, to select the brightest, bubbliest and best of Ireland’s elves.

"Once again we were delighted by the huge turnout for this year’s elf interviews and the level of talent from everyone who auditioned never fails to amaze us.

"Santa is definitely going to have some wonderful helpers at Fota Island Resort this Christmas and we are looking forward to welcoming people from all over Cork and Ireland to Wonder", Seamus Leahy Marketing Director for Fota Collection said.

"The theme and the story for the Christmas experience changes each year. It's wonderful to be a part of something as creatively ambitious and impressive as the annual Christmas event", Mr Leahy told The Echo.

Alex Pender, Aoife Smiddy, Clara McCarthy, Caoimhe Cronin, Mischa Daly-Harkin, Abbey Moriarty, Cliodhna Cashman and Una O'Brien at the Elf auditions for Fota Christmas WONDER which is being held at The Fota Collection, Co Cork.The first of the auditions were held at The Kingsley on Wednesday 25th September 2019.Pic; Larry Cummins

Two hundred elves were selected by judges today at The Kingsley as they enacted scenes from their favourite Christmas movies and recounted their favourites stories from the North Pole.

"The elves were just full of energy and exactly what Santa and ourselves were looking for,” said Trisha Lewis.

"We’d some tough choices to make but we’re sure that we’ve ended up with Cork’s finest Christmas helpers that will bring lots of joy to the children and families at Fota this year", she continued.

The event has surged in popularity since it's debut seven years ago.

"That first year we had 35,000 people attending", Mr Leahy said.

"We have had consistent figures of around 60,000 since then and it's so lovely to see the same families returning each year", he continued.

Wonder at Fota Island Resort runs from the 23 of November to the 23 of December.

Individual tickets for Wonder at Fota Island Resort cost from €14.00 to €18.00 per adult and €21.00 to €28.00 per child and children under one free.

Tickets are available to buy online from Wednesday, October 2 at http://www.fotawonder.ie