VISITORS to a North Yorkshire theme park have been meeting the man of the moment - Father Christmas.

For the first time, Santa Claus is at Flamingo Land in his giant magical grotto, having fun at Santa's Magical Light-Up.

Once visitors have put in their Christmas present requests, they can enjoy the children's rides in the main square, visit the animals in the zoo and see the sea lion and parrot shows.

Flamingo Land's very own little monsters perform their Light-Up Show at 4pm, pressing the button to illuminate the square in festive colours. Mark Crane, from the theme park, said: "This new venture for Flamingo Land has proved to be a great success.

"We've had visitors travelling form as far as West Yorkshire and Tyneside."

Updated: 11:57 Saturday, December 21, 2002