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Macy's Santaland Returns For 52nd Year

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Starting Saturday, one of the classic holiday attractions of Minneapolis will be open to the public.

Santaland is located on the eight floor of Macy's downtown store. Denise Cattoor is vice president store manager.

"This is the 52nd year of Santaland, and we're very excited to have this tradition for all of our customers here in the Twin Cities," Cattoor said. "This location starts setting up as early as August, and it takes over three months to finish Santaland right before the holiday season."

Santaland includes a choir of singing Christmas trees, and lots of busy elves in the workshop. An animated Santa keeps an eye on things from his office.

The "real" Santa will also be there for lap time and pictures.

"The photography packages for Santa range anywhere from I do believe $13.95 up in to $27.95 and higher," she said.

There is a Make-a-Wish wishing well for donations. Kids can write their letters to Santa in the gift shop, and Macy's will donate a dollar for each letter to the Make-a-Wish foundation.

In the last seven years, Macy's has donated more than $8 million.

"This is one of the only Macy's, over 800 stores out there, that has an animated wonderland of Santa here for you to walk through," Cattoor said. "Being able to see our customers walk through, and see the expressions on the kids' faces, really means a lot to us here at Macy's."

The fun starts Saturday morning at 9 a.m., and Santa will be there in person through Dec. 24.

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