‘Tis the season, and across the country, theme parks are ramping up their offerings and appearances for the most wonderful time of the year.
Of course, at Walt Disney World, the festivities are in full swing as guests gather ’round Cinderella Castle and watch it glisten and glow with an icy sheen; sample holiday favorites across World Showcase at Epcot; watch Sunset Blvd. come alive at Disney’s Hollywood Studios; step through a glowing alien world of light-up trees at Disney’s Animal Kingdom…
But there’s more merriment to be had than just at Walt Disney World. Today, we wanted to compile a list of eight must-see seasonal celebrations outside of Walt Disney World that bring the joy, wonder, and light of the holiday season to life. As we embark on our cross-country tour, keep an eye out for giant trees, giant chocolate bars, and giant gingerbread men. What other local, festive theme park celebrations make your days merry and bright? Share your thoughts in the comments below…!
1. ChristmasTown – Busch Gardens Williamsburg
Image: SeaWorld Parks
Location: Williamsburg, Virginia
Map: Click here
Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, Virginia has always been a park steeped in tradition. What else would you expect from “the world’s most beautiful theme park” nearly 30 years running, located just a few miles from Colonial Williamsburg in the densely forested landscape of Virginia? Themed to “The Old Country,” Busch Gardens is divided into hamlets dedicated to England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Italy, Canada, and Germany. Busch Gardens has always been the epitome of “quality over quantity,” showcasing just a handful of roller coasters (each spectacular) with a real focus on authentic food, world-class entertainment, and sensational atmosphere.
Image: SeaWorld Parks
Busch Gardens’ ChristmasTown celebration – begun a decade ago – was one of the first modern examples of a regional, seasonal park extended its year with a full-blown holiday event, and it’s only grown in the years since. Today, the park’s European lands are fully and completely decked out. Projection mapping turns Germany’s Wilkommenhaus into a kinetic Christmas glockenspiel; gingerbread, cocoa, and candycanes overtake the park’s stores and cafes; seasonal shows become the highlight; and cleverly, the park’s Mäch Tower drop ride converts into the leisurely, sight-seeing Nacht Tower overlooking the park’s 10 million lights.
Image: SeaWorld Parks
Holiday Highlight: Even during the chilly Virginian nights, the park does operate a few thrill rides like the Modern Marvel: Verbolten, the park’s wooden coaster Invadr, and the new VR simulator in Ireland, Battle for Eire. Still, the must-see attraction has to be the park’s ChristmasTown Express – a singalong, 1.5 mile steam train ride through the forest, over the Rhine River, and amidst 2 million lights. The park’s other highlight during the season is the Mistletoe Marketplace of craftsmen and artisans built around the O’ Tannenbaum tree outside of Das Festhaus.
Also see: Busch Gardens’ sister park in Tampa, Florida – themed to Africa – features its own ChristmasTown event, though it’s included as part of the year-round park’s offerings rather than a separately-ticketed, extended-season event.
2. Winterfest – Kings Island
Image: Cedar Fair
Location: Cincinnatti, Ohio
Map: Click here
For a generation of Cincinnattians in the ’80s, Winterfest was the place to be, transforming Kings Island into a winter-lovers paradise. The beloved local tradition, though, came to an end in the ’90s under then-owner Paramount Parks. When Cedar Fair (the owners of Cedar Point, among many other amusement parks) purchased the Paramount Parks in 2006, they were made to strip cinematic ties leftover from the movie studio, and quickly began redefining Kings Island as a thrill park by supercharging its coaster count – a hallmark of Cedar Fair’s parks. Given the blatant shift toward adrenaline junkies, fans assumed that Winterfest was truly gone for good.
Image: Cedar Fair
But voila! In 2017, WinterFest made its grand return to Kings Island, bringing over 5 million lights. To make up for the closed coasters in a park that’s – at its core – a thrill park, Kings Island went big on nostalgia. Kings Island’s Christmas event offers entertainment and a healthy spread of festive food (turkey dinners, roasted nuts, churros, and baked potatoes), and even a hot cocoa flavored (and colored) as a companion to the park’s signature blue ice cream.
Image: Cedar Fair
Holiday Highlight: While two of the park’s coasters (the new Mystic Timbers and the indoor Flight of Fear) are running alongside the park’s Planet Snoopy (reimagined as Charlie Brown’s Christmas Town), the most iconic element of WinterFest must be the transformation of the park’s central icon – a 315-foot tall, seafoam green replica of the Eiffel Tower – into one of the world’s largest Christmas trees and the Royal Fountains at its base transformed into a truly astounding ice-skating rink.
Also see: Cedar Fair first prototyped the modern WinterFest at California’s Great America and at Carowinds before its reintroduction at Kings Island. This year, the event spread to Richmond, Virginia’s Kings Dominion, as well!
3. Smoky Mountain Christmas – Dollywood
Image: Dollywood
Location: Pigeon Forge, Tennessee
Set in the scenic Great Smoky Mountains of southeast Tennessee, Dollywood is a must-see theme park that serves as the tourism hub for Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg. Though it’s named for (and certainly celebrates) the living legend country singer Dolly Parton who was born and raised in the region, Dollywood is – at its heart – a celebration of the people, the stories, and the products of the Smokies. Dollywood and its namesake are beloved in the area for the way they intentionally hire tradespeople to keep regional crafts alive – like blacksmiths, candlemakers, and more.
Image: Dollywood
A rustic theme park with modern thrills, Dollywood’s transition to wintertime is effortless, with the park’s musical medleys shifting to Christmas tunes. Entertainment – already the heart of the park’s offerings – abounds with singers on-hand to perform ” Christmas in the Smokies,” “It’s a Wonderful Life,” and the Parade of Many Colors. and its bakers working overtime to craft as much cinnamon bread as the state of Tennessee can eat.
Also see: Dollywood’s sister park, Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri, offers an equally-scaled Christmas celebration called An Old Time Christmas.
4. Christmas in Hershey – Hersheypark
Image: Hersheypark
Location: Hershey, Pennsylvania
What could be sweeter than spending Christmas in the town chocolate built? That’s the idea behind Christmas in Hershey, a town-wide celebration in the company town built by candy magnate Milton Hershey and headquarters of the Hershey Company to this day.
Much of the celebration is focused around Hersheypark’s Christmas Candylane, a seasonal celebration that overtakes the town’s theme park every year. More than 4 million lights overtake the park, alongside festive entertainment, choreographed light shows, and more. Many of the park’s rides are open for business, including the Wildcat wooden coaster and the indoor Laff Trakk fun house / wild mouse. Most spectacularly, Santa and his 9 reindeer come to town, and you can meet them all in the park’s reindeer stables.
Image: Hersheypark
Holiday Highlight: Not to be overlooked is the town’s other big attraction: Hershey Sweet Lights. Harkening back to the days of yore, this drive-through display of lights, animation, and music takes place on a two-mile trip through the woods, with families cruising through thousands and thousands of Christmas lights.
5. SeaWorld’s Christmas Celebration
Image: SeaWorld
Location: Orlando, Florida
SeaWorld Orlando is “Where the season meets the sea,” as the flagship park is transformed for the winter with 3 million sparkling lights. As with all things SeaWorld, the Christmas Celebration is a unique fusion of grace and beauty with whimsy and fun. That’s how the park can successfully host “O Wondrous Night” (a retelling of the biblical nativity with carols, puppets, and more) and “Clyde and Seamore’s Countdown to Christmas.”
And since SeaWorld has access to both Sesame Street characters and Rankin/Bass Production’s legendary Rudolph claymation series, the park’s character count is nearly unbeatable. Add in “Winter Wonderland on Ice,” “Shamu’s Christmas Miracles,” and “Elmo’s Christmas Wish” and you end up with an unstoppable show line-up, too. The only downside to SeaWorld’s Christmas Celebration? Orlando’s balmy weather, with an average December high of 73 degrees and a “bone-chilling” low of 52.
Image: SeaWorld Parks
Holiday Highlight: Even still, the warm weather can’t overshadow one of the park’s coolest displays; its central lagoon becomes the Sea of Trees, dancing in time to music.
6. Holiday Lights – Kennywood
Image: Kennywood
Location: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Kennywood bills itself as “America’s Finest Traditional Amusement Park,” and that’s made especially true around the Holidays. The park decks the halls (and the rides) with over 2 million lights. And like absolutely everything about Kennywood, the displays are classic. Guests can tour through the park and enjoy the park’s classic midway rides, the new Thomas Town, attractions like The Polar Express 4-D, and the ultra-classic, last-of-its-kind Noah’s Ark walkthrough dark ride.
Image: Kennywood
Oh, and if you want a picture with Santa, you’ll want to stop by the station normally used for the park’s historic, 1920s mobius-tracked Racer roller coaster. At this park, pictures with Santa take place in a replica roller coaster car!
Holiday Highlight: Kennywood proudly boasts the tallest Christmas tree in Pennsylvania (over 90 feet tall!) – the centerpiece of a dazzling, nightly Holiday Lights Show taking place every half-hour on the park’s lagoon.
7. Holidays at Universal Orlando
Image: Universal
Location: Orlando, Florida
Universal Orlando promises, “You’ve Never had a Holiday Like This.” They’re probably right. Both parks of Universal Orlando Resort get an extra layer of merry and mayhem at Christmastime.
At Universal Studios Florida, Universal’s Holiday Parade featuring Macy’s makes its way through faux Hollywood streets with giant inflatables to rival New York’s best.
At Universal’s Islands of Adventure, Grinchmas takes over the whimsical Seuss Landing with a Who-liday spectacular. Even still, the highlight might be meet-and-greets with the especially-exhaustable, potbellied Grinch who’s going viral for his appreciation of a simple onion.
Image: Universal
For many guests, though, the highlight of Universal’s holiday celebration could be nothing but the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Diagon Alley is decked out for the season with marvel detail, but of course it’s the already-snow-covered Hogsmeade that makes fans knees go weak. How couldn’t it? The entire village is centered around Hogwarts Castle on the rocky cliffs above, where a nightly projection-mapping show sees snowfall that accumulates into a magical, musical crescendo.
8. Holidays at the Disneyland Resort
Image: Disney
Location: Anaheim, California
The happiest place on Earth “just got merrier.” So says the marketing around Christmastime at the Disneyland Resort… and you can see why. Because so many of Disneyland’s guests are locals and generations-long repeat visitors, Disneyland takes seasonal celebrations to heart with impressive overlays that Walt Disney World intentionally avoids (lest they spoil a once-in-a-lifetime visitor’s one chance to see the real version of a ride).
At Disneyland Park, wintertime enchantment overtakes Sleeping Beauty Castle and Main Street, U.S.A., blanketing each in a friendly layer of snow. “it’s a small world” Holiday transforms the international cruise into an international carol, visiting reimagined wintertime scenes as the ride’s characters wish joy to the world.
image: Disney
The park’s biggest seasonal draw, though, is Haunted Mansion Holiday, with Jack Skellington and his Nightmare Before Christmas friends overtaking the manor and completely transforming the classic dark ride from Halloween through the New Year.
Across the Esplanade, Disney California Adventure has become a seasonal hub of its own by way of the Festival of Holidays, an Epcot-inspired food-and-wine overlay that also brings the fan-favorite ¡Viva Navidad! celebration to Paradise Gardens. Meanwhile, the 1920s Los Angeles-themed Buena Vista Street becomes a winter wonderland. For years, Santa Claus met eager guests in the Elias & Company department store there, though recently he’s moved to the more rustic Grizzly Peak National Park, where nightly snowfalls turn the evergreen forest into a dreamy landscape.
Image: Disney
Cars Land gets in on the fun with a Cars-themed Christmas overlay to Route 66 and its two family flat rides, which become Luigi’s Joy to the Whirl and Mater’s Jingle Jamboree. And of course, World of Color: Season of Light has become a festive favorite.
