Christmas Town at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay

Busch Gardens sign decorated for Christmas Town
Busch Gardens sign

If you are looking for a new way to experience the holidays in a theme park, look no further than Christmas Town at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay! This new nighttime event takes places on Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings from November 30 – December 23 from 6 – 11pm. We were fortunate enough to get to take part in this great new offering from Busch Gardens on opening night, and I cannot wait to go back again.

There are so many great things to do and see during this after hours party that requires a separate ticket for admission. Annual Passholder and advance discounted tickets are available so get your tickets ahead of time to be able to maximize your savings. Throughout the park beautiful decorations of gorgeous flora and spectacular lights are showcased with Christmas music floating around along with unique holiday food and beverage offerings.

We started off by exploring the schedule of shows to try to catch as many of the things with set times that we could. First up was the ice skating show Angels of Peace in the Moroccan Palace Theater. This was a beautiful presentation of nationally ranked ice skaters to some of your favorite Christmas carols. Next up we went to see the Hallelujah Chorus, which this evening was a local high school madrigal group performing classic Christmas songs.

After we explored Morocco and the gorgeous lights around the entrance to Christmas Town, we decided to head to Cheetah Hunt to catch a couple of back to back rides since it was a walk on. This was the case with practically no wait on Gwazi and Sheikra later too. While we rode, our friends watched the Carol of the Bells show projected on the Crown Colony House. This dancing lights show was amazing, especially catching it from Cheetah Hunt.

One of our favorite activities of the evening was the Christmas Town Sing-Along Train. We had so much fun singing Christmas carols with other guests while riding around the park on the Serengeti Express Train. We even got to see a few animals while riding around the Serengeti Plain! I highly recommend this for anyone who enjoys Christmas carols or even just having fun as a group.

If you have little ones in your family I’m sure they (and you) will enjoy the dancing of the elves at Club Elf by Sheikra. You can even get your picture taken with the elves at the end of their set. This is a great interactive dance party for the young ones or those just young at heart. Also in this area you can find some unique holiday treats to Christmas Town. The Candy Cane Sprite Delight was one of our favorites.

Great light displays are dispersed around the park featuring some of the animals found at Busch Gardens like cheetahs, zebras, elephants and flamingos. These were some of the most beautiful areas of the park lit up at night. Next up we explored Christmas Town Village with great crafts, food and drinks to choose from. My snack of choice was delicious in the warm ham and swiss cheese sandwich on pretzel bread and honey mustard.

Gwazi Park plays host to the Contemporary Christian band Jars of Clay each night of Christmas Town. We were treated to a great show of Christmas carols as well as their hit song Flood. Definitely make this a don’t miss part of your evening! Next to the park you will find Snow World, a play area where kids can slide down a small snowy hill on inner tubes and kids big and small can throw snowballs at targets.

We ended the evening watching a performance of We Three Kings who sang and told the story of the nativity. On our way out of the park we caught the Enchanted Flamingo Valley, which was lit up with brilliant pink lights on the trees. All in all it was a fabulous evening filled with food, fun and Christmas spirit at Busch Garden’s Christmas Town. I am looking forward to going back again soon to catch several things I didn’t get to experience like Sesame Street: A Very Furry Christmas, Santa’s House and checking out some of the other amazing sounding dining options special to the Christmas Town celebration.

If you get a chance, hook up your sleigh and head on over to Busch Gardens Tampa Bay to take advantage of the great special event that is Christmas Town! There are tons of fun things to do, great shows, live entertainment, animals, and of course some of your favorite rides. What better way to spend time getting in the holiday spirit than by visiting Christmas Town with family and friends.

Have you been to Christmas Town? What did you think? What are you most looking forward to seeing?

Read more about tickets for this special event here.

 

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