Review By Noreen Lambert
On Friday, November 26th, 2010, Christmas Town, a Busch Gardens Celebration opened. This was their second year putting on such a celebration. I had been anticipating attending for the last three months and the day finally came.
[singlepic id=2146 w=320 h=240 float=left]
I loaded up my family and my parents along with one of my daughter’s friends, the day after Thanksgiving for the 4 hour drive to Williamsburg, VA. We opted out of the “Black Friday” madness going on in retail stores everywhere to trek northward from our North Carolina hometown of New Bern, to join the festivities.
Now, I must say my mother and I share a birthday on November 26th and my oldest daughter has her birthday on November 28th so this weekend was the perfect opportunity to escape and celebrate in a different way than ever before. Everyone was excited. My mother especially was talking about the trip for weeks prior to our leaving and I had never really seen her that way before. Having been to the park 3 times in as many months prior to this trip, I knew that she would not be disappointed. I couldn’t wait to see the look on her face when entering the park. I knew that would be a priceless memory.
Let’s walk around the park shall we?
Upon arriving at the front gates at around 4 p.m., it was apparent that this was going to be a festive evening. The landscaping had been decorated with lights as you enter the parking area and it just went on from there. You know I always love the feeling I get when I get out of the car and can hear the music coming from inside the park. There was electricity in the air and everyone was excited. You could smell chocolate, and cinnamon as you approached the entrance and the lofting themes of the soundtrack to the Polar Express played as you entered the park. My mother’s reaction did not disappoint. Just as I imagined, she was awestruck, as were my daughters who are now seasoned “regulars” to BGW.
Entering through the turnstiles we were greeted by a large Christmas tree dressed in full holiday regalia. Beautiful! Walking through England we were met with Dickens style carolers who were singing Angels We Have Heard on High in 4 part harmony. A little further down as we approached the crossroads of Scotland and the road to Killarney, the sky was filled with illuminated snowflakes hovering above you. The sky ride had been transformed into the “Flight of Lights” and each car had been decked out with Christmas lights, as had everything else in the park. There were lights everywhere you turned, and they were themed! Blue lights on every tree down from the Loch Ness Monster to Ireland. Green lights abounded throughout the Thread Needle bridge area and OH THE AROMA! Evergreen, the smell was intoxicating and plunged you back to Christmas past!
As always, we first took a trip around the park on the Busch Gardens Railway. It was absolutely beautiful what they had done with the lights. At dusk the lighting was great, after dark it was spectacular. The lighting and decorations in Italy and Davinci’s Garden were astounding. A tall tree stood in front of you, lit with what could be imagined was a million lights. To stand in front of that tree I felt like a child in awe, seeing something magnificent for the first time. There were many times like this for me during our visit, but I am a sentimental fool and I tend to get teary eyed very easily.
[singlepic id=2152 w=320 h=240 float=right]
Walking through Italy, just past Davinci’s Garden, and just before the piazza, there was a beautiful Nativity scene, illuminated all around by trees covered in golden lights. This, to me was a wonderful and stunning display and I love that BGW included this in their celebration. It is too often in this world, in my own opinion, where the reason for Christmas is lost hectic preparations and over indulgence, and while I realize that saying this about a theme park may be a little contradictory, I really feel that BGW did a wonderful job of making this experience one that will help us appreciate the holiday even more!
[singlepic id=2151 w=320 h=240 float=left]
Getting on with trip and leaving Italy and moving over the Italy/Oktoberfest Bridge, there was an amazing sight! A lit display of “Peace on Earth” flanked by trumpeting angels was placed on the train trestle parallel to the footbridge. Each side of the river banks were lit with golden and white lighted trees. As if that weren’t enough, the music playing in this area was a children’s chorus singing “Let There be Peace on Earth”. As if it were right on cue, I looked down and floating along the river was a single white swan. To say that I became choked up was putting it lightly. I needed a moment.
So after pulling myself, together, we moved on to Germany where we were greeted with an enormous Holiday tree in full Christmas finery. This would be where we saw our first of one of the 4 shows that the park had to offer, this one was O Tannenbaum. What a sight, holiday lights synchronized with the music and boy was it great. My kids love it, not to mention my husband and my parents. A great way to start off the evening!
[singlepic id=2148 w=320 h=240 float=right]
From there, we went into the Festhaus to see “Deck the Halls”. I will take this time to mention that we did purchase the Quick Queue passes for the evening and we were very glad we did. This allowed us reserved seating at the indoor shows as well as preferred queue on the rides that were open. We were assigned specific show times for each of the three indoor shows and that seemed to work out well Now, I will also preface this show review by disclosing that I had previously viewed last year’s performance on You tube and I was not impressed. So I was skeptical of what I was going to see. My preconceived notions were wrong! Deck the Halls was, in my opinion the best show in the park, fun, upbeat and it looked like they had rehearsed lots for their performance, considering that this was their first official performance for the Christmas Town season, it was spectacular and will only get better with each one that they do. I have been in performing arts for a number of years and I understand what it takes to organize a show like this, so kudos to the performers, directors, light and sound people, choreographers and vocal coaches. GREAT JOB! Done in the 40’s style, and taking the audience through such holiday favorites as I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas, Up on the Housetop, Jolly Old St. Nicolas and others, there was even a visit from Frosty himself! Great vocals, great dancing and great fun!
After Deck the Halls, we walked through to have a ride on Dark castle (always fun) and then on through the North Pole and over the bridge into New France where you could just smell the wonderful scents wafting from Trapper’s Smokehouse, on through to France where my 13 year old daughter took her grandmother on the Griffon for the first time. I have to say, I though mom would chicken out, but she didn’t! She was a trooper and even said that she would ride it again! We did not get a chance to see the Polar Pathway because there was just not enough time in the evening and decided that we would try to go another time.