About Stocking Full of Christmas
Created from a love of Christmas, storytelling, and many years of entertaining.
holiday magic
themed rooms
journey, never more
Park Hyatt Aviara
How Stocking Full of Christmas Came to Be
After more than 15 years of creating character entertainment, live performances, and large-scale holiday experiences through Royal Entertainers, founder Brittany Skipper saw an opportunity for something San Diego was missing: a beautiful, immersive Christmas experience that felt elevated, intimate, and truly magical.
What began as an idea for an indoor luxury holiday event grew into Stocking Full of Christmas, an experience designed to bring guests inside the story.
Hosted at Park Hyatt Aviara in Carlsbad, California, Stocking Full of Christmas combines theatrical environments, live entertainment, music, lighting, storytelling, character interactions, and hands-on surprises to create an unforgettable holiday experience for families, couples, and Christmas lovers of all ages.
From immersive rooms and live performances to character encounters, surprises, and a stocking filled along the journey, every detail is designed to bring back the excitement and wonder of Christmas.
And behind every room, every sound cue, every light, every wall, and every magical interaction is a real team of artists, performers, designers, builders, coordinators, and entertainment professionals who spend months bringing Stocking Full of Christmas to life.
Brittany Skipper
Creator & Executive Producer
Brittany Skipper is the founder of Royal Entertainers and the creator of Stocking Full of Christmas.
Brittany began building Royal Entertainers as a single mother and, over more than 15 years, grew the company into a leading provider of character entertainment, live performances, interactive experiences, and large-scale holiday programming.
After years of creating entertainment for families, luxury resorts, professional sports organizations, shopping destinations, corporate clients, and major Southern California venues, Brittany wanted to create something of her own.
She envisioned a Christmas experience that felt magical enough for children to completely believe in, beautiful enough for adults to appreciate, and intimate enough that families could truly enjoy the moment rather than fight through overwhelming crowds.
Stocking Full of Christmas is the culmination of that vision.
Brittany oversees the creative direction, entertainment, production, partnerships, and overall guest experience, working closely with the entire team to bring the world of Stocking Full of Christmas to life.
Meet the Team Behind the Magic
From the first sketches and construction of the walls to lighting, music programming, scenic design, ticketing, costumes, performances, installation, and guest service, every person on our team plays a part in creating the experience our guests ultimately walk through.
Alberto Fonseca
Scenic Designer
Alberto Fonseca helps transform the ideas behind Stocking Full of Christmas into immersive environments.
Working from Brazil and collaborating closely with the Royal Entertainers production team in California, Alberto develops scenic concepts, visual designs, and creative environments that help shape the personality of each room.
His work helps take Stocking Full of Christmas beyond traditional holiday décor and into a theatrical world filled with imagination, color, scale, and unexpected detail.
From the earliest design concepts through the production process, Alberto plays an important role in developing the visual world guests eventually experience.
Tom Bowden
Construction Lead
Before there can be Christmas magic, someone has to build the world it lives in.
Tom Bowden leads construction for Stocking Full of Christmas, helping oversee the walls, structures, scenic elements, and physical installations that form the foundation of the experience.
Working closely with the creative, scenic, and installation teams, Tom helps take concepts and drawings and turn them into real environments that guests can walk through.
With over 40 years of construction experience, his work is one of the essential first steps in transforming an ordinary space into the world of Stocking Full of Christmas.
Sofia Espinoza
Production Coordinator & Brazilian Team Liaison
Sofia Espinoza is a key member of the Royal Entertainers team and plays an important role in bringing Stocking Full of Christmas together long before installation begins.
She helps coordinate communication between scenic designer Alberto Fonseca, the Brazilian creative team, and the Royal Entertainers production team.
Sofia assists with translation, planning, logistics, communication, and the many details that need to be aligned throughout the creative process.
From early production conversations through event preparation and onsite coordination, Sofia helps keep the international collaboration organized, understood, and moving forward.
Ian Ruz
Website Designer, Digital Marketing & Production Support
Ian Ruz has been part of Stocking Full of Christmas from the very first planning meetings, helping shape how the experience is presented to the public.
He oversees website design and digital marketing and has played an important role in creating the online identity of Stocking Full of Christmas—from how the event looks online to how guests discover it, learn about it, and interact with the brand before attending.
Ian also supports the production team throughout the planning process and works onsite during the event, helping wherever needed to bring the experience together.
Jack Greenwood
Creative Imagineer, Performer, Music & Sound Coordinator
Jack Greenwood has been part of the creative development of Stocking Full of Christmas from the early stages.
Jack helped develop some of the original sketches and creative concepts that contributed to the look and feel of the experience, making him an important part of the original imagining of Stocking Full of Christmas.
As a Creative Imagineer, performer, and coordinator, Jack helps shape both the visual and entertainment sides of the production.
He also oversees music and sound programming, coordinating audio cues, songs, soundscapes, and musical moments that help connect each room and bring the Christmas story to life.
Rick Bedard
Lighting Director & Santa Claus
Lighting can completely transform the way a space feels, and Rick Bedard is responsible for helping create that transformation throughout Stocking Full of Christmas.
Rick oversees lighting installation and programming, using color, movement, atmosphere, and theatrical lighting to enhance the scenic environments and help establish the mood of each room.
Rick is also one of our professional Santa Claus performers, making him part of both the technical production team and the live magic guests experience during the holiday season.
Stewart Carpio
Pre-Production, Ticketing & Guest Services
Stewart Carpio oversees much of the work that happens before guests ever arrive at Stocking Full of Christmas.
He helps manage pre-production planning, ticketing, customer service, and guest communication, making sure the experience begins smoothly long before opening day.
From coordinating ticket sales and answering guest questions to supporting pre-event logistics, Stewart helps connect the behind-the-scenes production with the families and guests who ultimately experience the event.
Gleyce & Wesley
Event Installation Coordinators
Gleyce & Wesley are an important part of the installation team that helps transform the venue before guests ever walk through the doors.
Working alongside the production, scenic, construction, and creative teams from Brazil, she helps coordinate the installation of the many decorative and scenic elements that bring Stocking Full of Christmas to life.
Their role helps bridge the gap between the ideas created during pre-production and the finished environments guests eventually experience.
The Santa Team Behind the Scenes
Some of the people building Stocking Full of Christmas may look very familiar when December arrives.
Our professional Santa Claus performers are not only part of the entertainment—they are also an important part of the team that helps build, install, and prepare the experience.
During production, our Santa team trades red suits for work clothes and helps with everything from moving scenic pieces and assembling environments to decorating spaces and preparing the venue for opening day.
Then, when the doors open, some of those same people become the Santas and holiday characters our guests meet throughout the Christmas season.
It is one of our favorite parts of Stocking Full of Christmas: so much of the magic guests see was actually built by the very people who later bring the characters to life.
Created in San Diego
Stocking Full of Christmas is produced by Royal Entertainers, a San Diego-based entertainment company with more than 15 years of experience creating character entertainment, holiday programming, interactive experiences, specialty entertainment, and large-scale events.
That experience allows our team to combine theatrical storytelling with polished event production, professional performers, custom environments, and personal guest interaction.
Stocking Full of Christmas brings all of those elements together in one immersive holiday experience at Park Hyatt Aviara in Carlsbad, California.
Why We Do It
The sets eventually come down.
The lights are packed away.
The costumes return to the warehouse.
And Christmas ends.
But somewhere, a child will still remember the year they walked through a magical Christmas world, met the characters they had imagined, watched a story unfold around them, and carried home a stocking filled with surprises.
A parent will remember the look on their child’s face.
A couple will remember the Christmas date that felt different from every other holiday outing.
A family will have photos and stories they bring up again years later.
Those are the memories we built Stocking Full of Christmas to create.
And every year, we get to create them all over again.
Thirteen nights in December at Park Hyatt Aviara, Carlsbad. Plan your visit