I’ll be honest. After attending the first year of the Carolina Holiday Light Spectacular last year, I was a little underwhelmed. The lights were beautiful and festive, but muddy conditions and long lines at the hot chocolate took away from the experience. But y’all, the organizers took all of the shortcomings into account and addressed them to improve the show this year – and then some. I’m SO glad we went back! And I wasn’t the only one.
My 7-year-old son Wade’s impressions of the second year of the family attraction at Ballantyne’s Backyard?
“It’s 18,000 times better,” he said. “Because there was a whole dino section.”
True. Yes, the same organizers who bring you Jurassic Encounter, incorporated a whole scene of animatronic dinosaurs decked out in their Christmas best. It has T-Rexes strung with lights, a Santa-bearded Camptosaurus (species identified by my son Wade) who roars when you tap the nearby snowflake with a magic wand, and a Stegosaurus stacking up presents behind a sleigh.
But there was a lot more to be excited about for our entire group, and here are five reasons why:
1. A better course design
The entire attraction now winds through pathways that are either cement sidewalks, wood decking, or gravel, which alleviated a lot of the muddy mess we dealt with last year. And it was so much better for those of us with both young kids, who seem to just attract mud, and an 80-something grandmother who is not as stable on her feet as she used to be. (It’s good for strollers and wagons too.)
2. More lights
Organizers say there are 40 percent more lights in the attraction now, which you see strolling along a half-mile walk through what used to be Ballantyne Golf Course. The displays are more organized into noticeable themes, like Gingerbread Lane, which my son Johnny said, “It’s making me hungry,” and an Under the Sea display featuring a whale strung in lights and the coolest-looking jellyfish.
3. A new VIP option
When you buy a VIP ticket, you are greeted with a signature travel mug full of hot chocolate, which you can refill for free at any of the hot chocolate stations throughout. (And those were more plentiful this year as well!) My boys loved drinking their hot beverages because they had easy-to-hold handles and spill-preventing lids! (Mama liked that too!)
There was also a VIP area at the end of the tour, which had better restroom options – think portable trucks, rather than port-a-potties. And there was a tent set up where you could buy beverages – alcoholic and not – and kick your feet up around multiple wood-burning fires.
4. Better magic wand tricks.
The cool interactive magical wands you can buy so your kids can activate different features along the attraction are better. At one stop, they could even activate the fountains in the lake. And while the cost of the magic wands went up to $22 from $15 last year, they were more durable and bigger. We also decided to buy just one this year, rather than one for each child. My three boys were having so much fun they didn’t fight over the wand, and we weren’t kicking ourselves for overspending on three of them.
5. Better venders
There were more food trucks and a nicer area set up with picnic tables for people to stop and eat toward the end of the tour. And the gift options were so much better too. You could buy real gifts – scented candles, hand-carved Christmas ornaments, gourmet candy and the like – rather than just cheesy swag.
The Carolina Holiday Light Spectacular is open every night from now until Dec. 30. It’s easy and good family fun!
For tickets and information, click here.
