Santa's Village News
Santa's Village History
Santa's Village Skyforest
Santa's Village Scotts Valley
Santa's Village Dundee
H. Glenn Holland
J. Putnam Henck
Bumble Bee Monorail
Santa's Village Photo Gallery
Santa's Village Activities
The Santas of the Villages
Santa's Houses
K. Gordon Murray
Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk
Bobsled Ride - Craig Polson
Scotts Valley Employees
Scotts Valley Chapel
Scotts Valley Santa's House
Santa Claus - Phillip L. Wenz
Santa Phil's Goodbye Dundee
Scotts Valley Endangered Plant
Scotts Valley Borland
Santa's Village Shop
Santa's Contributors
Sant'as Village Links
Santa's Village Home Page

 

 

Do you have photos you'd like to share? Do you know where parts of Santa's Village went to?
Please contact us.

Santa's Village Bumble Bee Monorail

Reported in the winter of 1996 issue of the Monorail Newsletter:

High in the San Bernadino Mountains of California, in the tiny town of Skyforest (what better name for a town with a monorail?) is a children's amusement park named Santa's Village. Winding among the thirteen themed rides at Santa's Village is the Bumble Bee Monorail. While this small suspended system is essentially unremarkable from a technical standpoint, historically it is a wellspring of interest.

Constructed in 1962 by American Crane & Hoist, this system was the test-bed for the larger-scale suspended monorail at the 1964-655 New York World's Fair. While the World Fair system's seven two-car trains could easily accommodate far more passengers on one train than could be carried on all six of Santa's cars, the AMF-built system loses in the "visually interesting" category to the 'Bee, which easily earns a place in this column.

Santa's Village has four-passenger monorail cars happily swinging from their roughly one thousand feet of overhead track. Far more interesting is that the cars are designed and painted to look like bumble bees, complete with black and yellow stripes and bulging eyes. Unfortunately, the slowly flapping wings were ditched long ago because of poor reliability, not to mention clearance problems from the maturing trees along the right-of-way. For the $27,000 invested, this family owned amusement park has easily gotten its value out of this thirty three year old monorail.

MORE HISTORY ...

Santa's Village takes great pride in presenting the book that commemorates the Dundee Santa's Village in Illinois. It's written by the last Santa Claus of the Santa's Village parks, and his historical knowledge of all the parks will delight you with insidghts and memories alike. Get your copy of Santa's Village here.

Images of America
SANTA’S VILLAGE
PHILLIP L. WENZ

Since 1959, Santa’s Village in Dundee, has entertained millions. The park was born of a man who as a child had no real Christmas. Glenn Holland grew up in California during the Great Depression. His parents died by the time he was 18 years old, leaving him to care for his younger sister. As a father, he tried to give his own children the type of Christmas that he only knew in his dreams. In the early 1950s, struck with inspiration, Holland sat at his kitchen table one day and started to sketch his idea for a Christmas fairyland where all the magic of the holiday would come to life: Santa’s Village. Holland and general contractor Putnam Henck built three Santa’s Villages, two in California and one in Dundee.
 
Phillip L. Wenz is the Dundee Park’s resident Santa Claus and official historian. Besides his duties at Santa’s Village, Wenz has been seen in numerous televised parades and national holiday events. Utilizing his personal collection of pictures, memorabilia, and rare park photographs, readers can once again reminisce about the fun of Santa’s Village throughout the years. It is all here, the Christmas Tree Ride, the twirling Snowballs, Santa’s House, and the Frozen North Pole.

The Images of America series celebrates the history of neighborhoods, towns, and cities across the country. Using archival photographs, each title presents the distinctive stories from the past that shape the character of the community today. Arcadia is proud to play a part in the preservation of local heritage, making history available to all.

Sponors of Santa's Village:

Christmas Kids - a delightful website full of historical information about Christmas.

Organic Candy - a more healthful sweet treat for your kids, especially if they suffer from allergies.