Christmas at the Santa Margarita Ranch: An Exceptional Family Holiday Event

Throughout the holiday season, Santa Margarita Ranch hosts a Christmas event filled with entertainment for people of all ages. In 2025, the Christmas at Santa Margarita Ranch had its third annual event, with four total weekends of train ride dates. This event sells out quickly, with tickets only being purchasable online due to high volumes of customers. Christmas at the Santa Margarita Ranch holds high expectations for itself, and there is no doubt that this year, it exceeded those expectations significantly. 

Simply entering the ranch, guests were welcomed with a small preview of the Christmas lights and decorations they would have the opportunity to see on the trains. The staff were kind and welcoming, especially in directing visitors to the parking lot, which sat extremely close to the event itself, making for a quick and easy walk to and from your car. 

Despite its popularity, the event didn’t feel very crowded at all, as there was plenty of space to navigate and walk to different places, especially compared to other similar events. Walking into the ranch and toward the trains, the main attraction, there were staff and actors enthusiastically greeting you. From the Christmas movie “Elf,” Buddy the Elf greeted families and children, playing the role perfectly and putting smiles on everyone’s faces.

The wait for the trains themselves was rather short, especially with there only being about 15 minutes in between each train ride. While each train takes the same path, experiences can differ among those who take each train option. The Disney Cars train option features enclosed train cars, which were the original train cars that ran across Disneyland when it first opened in 1955. 

These cars, perfect for protecting from the cold weather, did come with a drawback – because they were enclosed, the fumes from the steam engine entered the cars easily, but did not escape. Despite this, many passengers still thoroughly enjoyed the ride on this car. The other train option, the Open Air Cars, featured cars that were open, providing for better ventilation among the passengers and the cars themselves. However, they did not provide much protection from the elements, so staff members highly recommended that everyone riding this car wear layers. 

The train ride itself was only about 15 minutes, taking you across almost the entire decorated ranch. Despite this, it proved to be a fun, lighthearted experience for all. While clearly directed more toward younger children, people of all ages were able to enjoy the ride through the decorated ranch. To many passengers’ surprise, some of the decorated scenes even featured actors as Santa’s elves, providing a more interactive feel to the ride. 

After the train ride itself, families found themselves able to explore all that the event had to offer. Christmas at the Santa Margarita Ranch is advertised to host fun, exciting events and activities for all age levels. They have a great variety of food trucks, including Pizza Trolley, Bear City, and Wandering Eats. Additionally, the event provides trucks for snow cones, churros, warm drinks, pretzels, and more.

The courtyard itself, the designated place to eat and drink, was decorated beautifully. There were dozens of outdoor fire pits with tables and chairs, many indoor seating options, and places to stop and sit down for a quick bite across the ranch. Even though many seating options were outdoors, at almost every table, there was a heater above to ensure that the cold weather didn’t deter anyone from enjoying the food.

There were countless small events going on, such as horseback riding with ponies to pet, a small marketplace featuring around 15 local small businesses, magic shows, and more. In the marketplace, vendors sold handmade food, skincare, jewelry, and one vendor was even selling products derived from reptile and spider venoms.

One of the highlights of the entire event, for many families, was Andy Morris’s magic show. Between shows, Morris did magic for a select few tables. Performing just a few tricks for each table, you could see the shock on everyone’s faces as he made cards appear out of thin air, or magically made drawings on a whiteboard disappear.

Christmas at the Santa Margarita Ranch easily exceeded what it advertised itself to be. Families enjoyed every aspect of the event, as it was both kid-friendly and entertaining for adults and teenagers. Christmas at the Santa Margarita Ranch was such an incredible event for families to attend, and there is no doubt that next year’s will be even better.