Hey, everyone!
Chrissa here and the holidays have come to life at Busch Gardens this year,
and if you are thinking of going, I'm going to go over all of the details
to help you plan your day.
So let's get into it.
Christmas Town at Busch Gardens is an award
winning holiday event that runs now until January 2nd.
The event is included with park admission, so you don't have to pay
extra to enjoy the holiday festivities.
When you first walk in, you can't miss their giant
Christmas tree right at the entrance.
This tree towers over 40 feet tall
and is a beautiful first stop to take photos.
There are also several shows that happen throughout the day,
so if you want to make sure that you see them all, I highly recommend
looking at all of the times on the website before you arrive
and figure out which show times to squeeze into your day.
One of the earlier shows that you can catch is Christmas on Ice.
Christmas on Ice is Busch Gardens' longest running holiday
show and is located at the Moroccan Palace Theater.
This inspiring skating production transforms
this stage into incredible feats of ice skating for a truly
unmissable show set a holiday classic songs.
Make sure to get to the theater early because this show
fills up quickly and these skaters are truly talented.
You won't want to miss it.
If you have kids,
you'll want to head over to Sesame Street Safari of Fun
and make sure to catch Elmo's Christmas Wish.
This show happens a few times during the afternoon
and is where you can catch Cookie Monster, Rosita, Grover
and Zoe as they help Elmo find his Christmas wish.
This show is really fun, and you'll find yourself singing
and dancing along with the kids while watching this fun holiday show.
Another show to catch with the kids in the afternoon is Storytime with Mrs.
Claus. Storytime with Mrs.
Claus is located in the Coke Canopy near the Christmas Town village
and is where Mrs.
Claus will share traditional holiday tales and a joyful song.
Make sure to bring the kids up
close to this stage to be able to participate in the storytime.
It is really cute to see them all just sing along
the Jingle Bells, along with Mrs.
Claus and her elf.
One of my favorite shows of the evening that I think you should
absolutely catch is the Three Kings Journey.
Three Kings Journey is located in Stanleyville
Theater and unites these three incredibly talented voices
in perfect harmony as they journey to the town of Bethlehem.
If you see one show during your Christmas visit
and love of musicals, you won't want to miss this show.
Most of the Christmas celebrations
start later in the evening as the Christmas lights start to turn on.
If you are looking to meet Santa, don't miss your chance to see him
at Santa's North Pole experience that starts at 3:00 p.m.
They do a really great job in transforming the experience of meeting Santa.
Instead of just waiting in line, it's an entire experience to enjoy.
And I thought the elves here were really personable
and helped make the whole experience come to life.
Once the sun goes down, Busch Gardens truly transforms
into a winter wonderland with amazing Christmas lights everywhere you go.
One of my favorite areas was definitely the light tunnel,
which was one of the largest light tunnels that I've probably ever been in.
This tunnel is located just outside of Stanleyville
and walks you all the way to the Congo.
This light tunnel is pretty amazing and you'll
absolutely want to stop in here just to see it.
Every area of Busch Gardens has spectacular Christmas lights,
and I loved all of it from these beautiful ombré lit oak trees in Stanleyville
to these gorgeous white lit oak trees that cover Christmas Town.
Everywhere you turn is absolutely amazing.
While you are walking around and enjoying the lights, you'll have to make sure
that you make your way to Nairobi and catch the Holly Jolly Express.
The Holly Jolly Express is where you can enjoy the most
wonderful time of the year with your favorite songs of the season
and get a unique view of Busch Gardens 65 acre Serengeti Safari.
Which is home to giraffes, rhinos, zebras and more.
We jumped on the train at night to see if we could get
a different experience, and were able to see quite a few animals
that ended up being the closest that we'd ever been to them on this train.
So if you want to enjoy
a unique experience on this train, this is definitely something to go see.
One of my other favorite parts of the holiday events
are these food booths that pop up throughout the park
and you'll want to try some of this food while you're here.
If you do plan to make sure to pick up a sampler lanyard,
which is what we did, there are a few different lanyards
to choose from, which is an 8 item sampler for $45,
and there's also a 12 item sampler for $65.
Christmas Town Village opens up at 4:00 p.m.
and is stuffed with over 21 different food booths and vendors.
One of my favorite treats this year was the reimagined
chocolate Kalua beignets
which weren't quite beignets but they were still delicious.
With our beignets we also picked up a gingerbread
hot cocoa, which I loved, and I'll definitely get again.
Another thing that we tried and enjoyed was the Bison Burger, which was this
cheesy bison burger, bacon onion jam, beer
cheese on a pretzel button, which was so good.
Another thing we really enjoyed was this delicious chicken and donut,
which was a buttermilk crispy chicken smoked bacon
maple glazed donut topped with Mike's hot honey drizzle.
This chicken and donut was really good, and if you're looking
for something sweet and savory, you might want to pick this up.
One of my favorite dishes of the night
was the tatchos, which can be found at Dashers Deli.
The tatchos are made with sweet potato, tater tots,
smoked brisket, bacon onion jam,
beer cheese and topped with green onions.
This dish was hands down our favorite of the entire day,
and if you try one dish, I highly recommend this one.
On Saturdays after you've enjoyed the food and drinks
under the magical lights of the Christmas Village,
then you'll have to stick around for their Christmas fireworks,
which can be seen from anywhere within the park.
The best place to be able to view them is from Festive Field,
which we weren't able to do the night that we went.
But you can enjoy these fireworks wherever you are
in the park while listening to festive Christmas music.
If you are looking for another fun, festive event to enjoy this season,
you'll have to check out my overview on the Christmas Celebration
at SeaWorld Orlando that just popped up on the screen.
Until next time, everyone!
I hope you have an amazing day and go out and enjoy some Florida sunshine.