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WCCO Viewers' Choice For Best Place To Visit Santa

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. (WCCO) – Santa has been busy making stops all over the world to hear Christmas wishes.

So we wanted to know, where is the best place to visit Santa Claus?

You sent us to one of the biggest malls on earth, where Santa makes frequent visits with his elves.

The stage has been set for Santa's visit.

His boots are tied tight, bells are ringing right and all is calm and bright.

Or not.

All kids love Santa, but there's a little window of time when they freak out.

"I'm figuring now it's between a year and a half and almost three," Santa says

Although difficult for parents, this lack of Christmas cheer makes memories sure to embarrass kids for a lifetime.

And they quickly figure out to love that white-bearded man.

"Oh  wait a minute, they say. The fat guy shows up and then a couple days later we get toys. This might be a good thing," Santa says. "Then it's a kamakaze dive right into my lap."

Santa sure knows how to make a splash when he arrives at Santa Land in Mall of America, the place you voted best of Minnesota.

It's not often you get a one-on-one with Santa.

And I had some burning questions, like about chimneys. How does he do it?

"The new high tech stuff? They're killing me! I gotta use my key here," Santa said holding his magical key that opens all doors. "It's high tech titanium apoxy.

He even shared some trade secrets.

"I mean I can tell you, just you. There's a refueling station at the South Pole," Santa shared. "When you're coming in for a landing at mach 6 and trying to put that sucker down on a split level ranch, I'm just hanging on."

Meantime, the elves at Santa Land are preparing for his little visitors in a big way.

"My name is Brett Beaudette, and I'm the design manager at the Mall of America," Beaudette said.

Beaudette's over-sized old-school toys delight the kids, but are really for the parents.

"Kids, I figured, would adorn anything large scale, and fun and colorful. It was kind of a trip through memory lane for mom and dad," Beaudette said.

Santa's little helper Blondie says Santa is indeed jolly and nice. He's like a grandfather.

And like a grandfather, Santa has a way of knowing whether you've been naughty or nice.

At least most of the time.

"You have to be a little naughty," Santa said. "Just a little bit."

Santa Land is free at Mall of America, and located at Sears Court.

Photos with Santa go through Christmas Eve.

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