Christmas Town Comes to Busch Gardens

[knokout1]

There was a long line to get in here and its only 5:30. More details later

 

[Octobers Fade]

There was a long line to get in here and its only 5:30. More details later

Good to see it is popular.
I will be there all day tomorrow and I an sure I will have lots of pics to upload of Xmas town on Sunday.

 

[knokout1]

Yeah I took a bunch of pics but it was on my cellphone so they didn't end up coming out very good. But in terms of popularity it was rather empty. Ok so it starts with filtering people into the holding area, where there are several shops open with items like treats, glazed turkey legs, hand carved wood, hand blown glass, cups, souvenirs, all kinds of stuff. The snow area was awesome. They have a target practice area where you can throw snow balls at all the targets, gives Florida folks a taste of snow (my first encounter). Then the snow world is even cooler, it has two slides that kids can slide down on intertubes, which was very popular all night. Then at 6:00 exactly cannons shot out some blue streamers, and all of the lights on the trees kicked on simultaneously, it was pretty awesome. Now to the lights around the park. To put it into perspective, I work in the park, and some areas I couldn't even recognize. It was beautiful. Almost every light display had flickering lights. One of my favorite ones was lights high up in the trees that simulated snow falling, and it looked really good! The lighting goes around the entire park and almost everything in sight is lit up, until you get to Timbuktu. There are a few lights, but nothing on scale with the rest of the park. Same with Stanleyville. But from Sesame Safari of Fun all the way to the end of Nairobi was stunning. Every area has it's own theme. I didn't get a chance to do any of the shows or see the concert, I only had about an hour. I am going to go through my pictures tomorrow and see what good ones I can post, I did take a lot, but tonight I am tired. Oh and I think the next few days are going to be very popular as well as the rest of the event. Not on a Howl-o-Scream level, but popular. The Mrs. Clause feast for tomorrow is already sold out. Oh and the line for the Santa house had about a 45 minute wait today. But if you are wondering if going is worth it, the only thing you are really losing is Montu, Kumba, Congo River Rapids, Stanleyville Flumes, Tidal Wave, some of the day time shows, and the sun for better viewing of some of the animals. For about 50 less than a ticket, seems like a deal to me.

 

[knokout1]

Well I apologize for how bad some of these photos are going to look, but this was an unplanned trip, I stayed in Tampa about 4 hours after I got off for the opportunity to visit Christmas Town for an hour. I didn't bring my camera so all I had handy was my old cell phone. Well anyways here's some photos.

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[sierrak5]

I was there Friday from about 7:30-10:30. Overall I thought it was a nice event.

The $35 was worth it just for walk-on rides on the coasters all night. Cheetah Hunt, Gwazi, and Sheikra lines were nonexistent all night.

The light displays were all very nice and the lights synced to music on Crown Colony were fun to watch. The only downside were the areas between light displays were pretty much dead space; not even a few lights just to brighten things up.

Santa's House and Snow World were a hit with the families. Santa's House held a good 60 min wait most of the night and the snow areas were at least 30 min. Looked like a lot of fun for the kids.
The Sing Along train was fun. Everybody was into it and participating in the songs.

The food offerings were nice. I had a maple glazed ham on pretzel bread sandwich with homemade chips that was very good. The fresh baked cookies were excellent as well. Would have loved to have a hot chocolate, but they had run out by about 10pm when I tried to get one.

The one thing bringing the event down a notch for me were the disinterested and unenthusiastic food vendors and ride ops. They didn't hide the fact that they didn't want to be there. Entertainers and costumed characters were all in the spirit though.

 

[Octobers Fade]

Was packed tonight and the dinner was sold out, pretty much agree with what Shiekra said, except for the dead parts.
If you do Mrs Clauses' feast you get priority entry to Santas house, which is nothing more than a glorified Santa (pay us) photo op. I took a pic of just santa and he said "I don't think I am allowed to..." me "whatever."
The line was crazy long when we left at 9:30!
Gwazi area feels really crowded and with thegiant snowmen there posing for pics it really jams it up.



Pics when they upload...

 

[Octobers Fade]

Store....

Daytime park

 

[Octobers Fade]

 

[Octobers Fade]

 

[Octobers Fade]

 

[Octobers Fade]

 

[SeventyOne]

I've had two friends go now, one was generally positive, the other raved about it. Both agreed it's worth the money, unlike Mickey's.

 

[Tbad556]

Busch Gardens Tampa adds new date and extends hours for Christmas Town:

http://orlandounited.com/2012/12/13...ew-date-and-extends-hours-for-christmas-town/

 

[Octobers Fade]

Looks to be popular, I expect it to be packed Saturday.

While I think it is OK, I don't really think it is worth the extra ticket.

 

[Octobers Fade]

Due to enthusiastic ticket demand, Christmas Town for tomorrow, December 15 has sold out. However, tickets are still available for every other event night. And to respond to this excitement, we have added an extra night to the Christmas Town calendar and will now be open on Thursday, December 20 from 6 to 11 p.m. In addition, Christmas Town will remain open until midnight on December 15, 22 and 23. Thank you for making Christmas Town Tampa’s newest family tradition.

Saturdays gonna be crazy...

 

[Eric]

Saturdays gonna be crazy...

How does this compare to Sea World's event? I would like to go, but I don't like the fact that it's a separate up-charge.

 

[Octobers Fade]

How does this compare to Sea World's event? I would like to go, but I don't like the fact that it's a separate up-charge.

I would say it is simuiar in comparison, with the usual differences between SW and BGT.

Lots of lights and decorations
Lots of photo ops and charactors
Lots of speciality food and drinks
An Ice show


Again, I think it's OK just not worth the (full price) extra ticket... but I am really not a X-mas person.

 

[Eric]

I would say it is simuiar in comparison, with the usual differences between SW and BGT.

Lots of lights and decorations
Lots of photo ops and charactors
Lots of speciality food and drinks
An Ice show


Again, I think it's OK just not worth the (full price) extra ticket... but I am really not a X-mas person.

Cool, thanks!

I'm glad the event is doing well for BGT. If they continue the event next year (which I'm sure they will considering the success), I may have to check it out.

 

[Octobers Fade]

Sold out again.

Due to enthusiastic ticket demand, Christmas Town advance tickets have sold out for tonight and tomorrow night. Thank you for making Christmas Town Tampa’s newest family tradition.

It will be interesting to see if they expand it at all next year or just go with the same set up. If they do the the $10 pass holder tickets I will go AGAIN next year, but I doubt it for $25 price tag and definately won't be doing the feast again.
Hopefully CT doing well will help to not take away from HOS budget next year, as it appears it did this season.