Christmas Town at Busch Gardens Williamsburg

Christmas Town is a family-friendly holiday event held at Busch Gardens Williamsburg. In addition to the festive food and drink, heartwarming holiday shows, and exclusive seasonal merchandise, the park is decorated with over 10 million lights!

Our family of five visited the park this year for Kids’ Weekends in the spring and The Count’s Spooktacular in the fall. Even so, we were amazed to see the park’s full transformation!

Here are our favorite light-viewing spots and holiday activities.

Holiday Lights

While Busch Gardens is always a beautiful park, the lights really take it to the next level. You can’t miss the beauty as you walk from hamlet to hamlet.

We have a few favorite ways to ensure unique views of all of the lights!

The Nacht Tower

The Nacht Tower is the best place in the park to get a true sense of the scope of this celebration. It really feels like you’re seeing 10 million lights!

Known as the Mach Tower in other seasons, the Nacht Tower is a 240-foot tower that provides unmatched views of the park. You can usually find the Mach Tower riders screaming due to the controlled drop back to the ground, but the Nacht Tower gently raises, rotates, and lowers passengers.

If you have a fear of heights, it may still be unsuitable for you. (That’s me. I leave this one to my husband and the big kids!)

The Christmas Town Express

Christmas decorations wouldn’t be complete without a train! The Christmas Town Express is a lighted train ride and singalong experience, but it’s also a great way for the whole family to see the lights together! It also provides a few views you can’t see anywhere else.

The train makes a complete loop around the park without stopping. It takes you through several hamlets, each with a different color scheme and holiday theme.

While you should always keep children to the interior of the bench seat and place adults on the outside edges, keep in mind that the right side of the train sees much more action than the left. Sit to the right if you can.

The Aeronaut Skyride

The Skyride is another magical way to experience Christmas Town. The slow-moving gondolas lift you above the din. You can enjoy a serene and private moment of wonder.

For us, it was a welcome break from the hustle and bustle below.

Special Activities

Because they cannot operate safely in the cold, several attractions are closed during Christmas Town. Busch Gardens has done an excellent job provided additional activities to keep families active and entertained!

Projection Mapping Show

After dark, the Wilkommenhaus in Germany runs a screen projection show every 15 minutes!

Because it faces a thoroughfare, it can be difficult to find a good spot to stop and watch the show.

Cookie Decorating Kit

Once the show is over, head inside the Wilkommenhaus and choose from a variety of sweet treats. We favored the mint chocolate hot cocoa, but the kids could not resist the gingerbread man cookie decorating kit.

It came with a large gingerbread man cookie, two small tubs of frosting, sprinkles, and a butter knife.

Traditions Tree Maze

New to Christmas Town for 2019! The tree maze features hundreds of freshly-cut trees adorned with white lights. Huts are set up throughout the maze, sharing winter traditions from around the world.

Each hut provides a free craft or keepsake. You can decorate your own mask or crown, collect postcards in your favorite colors, color a mandala, and bring home a wooden dreidel!

Though we weren’t sure what to expect, this experience turned out to be a treasure for our smallest kids, who were interested in the crafts, happy to sit for a few minutes, and definitely in need of the warmth provided by the heated tents.

Plan Your Visit

1 Busch Gardens Boulevard
Williamsburg, Virginia 23185
757-229-4386
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