One last bunch of pictures from Busch Gardens Christmastown. Pictures don't really capture "lights" as well as they could. So you really have a reason to go yourself, if you can.
This ice-skating show is only done once each day, so it's the big one that we wanted to make sure we got in to see. We got there plenty early and got decent seats in the middle, and a much-needed being-off-of-our-hooves for a while.
I tried to search the Internet real quick, to see how many people this Royal Palace Theater holds, and the closest I got was "I heard it's about 6,000" thanks, Internet. However many people it holds, it was full-up by the time the show started.
There was supposed to be "no recording" of the show, but I took a quick picture to show the two ladies a couple of rows in front of us, who had no idea that their hats were blocking a big part of our view. Sigh. Santa had a neat sleigh frame around him while he skated, and the show starred two-time Olympic Silver Medalist and three-time World Champion Elvis Stojko. Other than those hats blocking our view, it was an amazing show. They even had talented kids skating!
Mid-way though the ice skating show, we realized it would be smart to rush over to the Festhaus immediately after it ended. I did stop for a brief moment to snap a picture of the stage in there, as there was a show going on when we got there. Something of a Xmas rock concert.
Our plan was wise; when we got there the line quickly built up after us. Any delay would have been a much longer wait in line. Wound up with a corn beef sandwich and some amazing mac-n-cheese. By the time we sat down, the show was over, oh well.
Once again through Italy, and I get a night-time picture off of this side of the bridge. Those trees over there look... like they are on fire? That's awful to say, right? [evil music notes] Peace on Earth.... Mwaa ha ha haaaaaa!
Entered "purple tree land" right in front of Italy. I think they were trying to color-code the areas based on the tree lights. Might be easier to find your lost friends in the dark.
These color combos were nice and pleasant. Definitely this picture is not as cool as this thing looked while standing here.
Ahh, the water blasters. In case you didn't think you'd get wet on the ride, people can pay money to blast you. Let them enjoy it, they paid for it!
Escape From Pompei is easily the most impressive lights-thing in the park. If Greek gods really exist, this is what I imagine their Mount Olympus would look like, it's so magically awesome. This is a water ride, so of course it's not running today, but still they put all of those blue lights where the water would be. Just ...wow.
Stopped at the train tracks while the train passed. Wave to the people! None of the passengers was waving, which made it extra-cool that the Busch Gardens Train Engineer on the back of the train WAS waving. They're the pro, and know about the waving!
Back in the horse stable area, there are globes of lights hanging up in the air, and again another picture that fails to capture how neat it all is. That red stripe in the middle is on a sky ride car. The lines for those were crazy so we never got to go on it.
We were rushing over to the train station in New France, the only place you could board the train since it's like, its own "ride" for Christmastown. But we popped into the "magic" shop in Ireland for a quick look around. Anybody want a giant Faerie statue?
Why did they think it was a good idea to put a bug-thing on this faerie's forehead? Don't they realize what a lost opportunity it was to make their main character a more-marketable icon? Bug-on-the-forehead is unique though. I gotta admit I've never seen that before.
What are the odds that this dragon would have been purple? This looks like a neat thing to drink out of, but how would you clean it?
This makes no sense being here, but future metal dragon robot is cool anyway. Let's just call it "steampunk" and it works a little better.
Grogan's Pub, different from Grogan's Grill, was about to close, but we got there just in time to get some hot chocolates to enjoy on the train ride. Assuming we'd make it there on time.
I probably should have gotten the collector's cup like my friend did, but eh, I got enough cups. The hot chocolate was certainly welcome on this getting-colder night, whatever cup it was or was not in.
YAY! Made it on the last train of the night! It was a fifteen-minute ride and we got there at 9:45. When this thing would stop, the park would be technically closed.
Choo choooo!!! The comforting sound of the train whistle. These lights pulsated and shifted colors.
Hey! Loch Ness Monster IS here today! What's up ole' friend!? It's usually lights on the wall of the cave, so I guess it gets to walk outside for Xmas.
I was trying to get a picture of that ride over there and managed to catch this employee waving at us! That's what they do! Park veterans know you're supposed to wave at the people as you pass them.
I have to admit, this was a lot less impressive than I imagined. Sure there was an insane amount of lights, but most of it was just... this. Lots of simple lights.
Here we are on the "Peace on Earth" bridge. Still looks like those woods are on fire from over this way, too. Did they even test this out? Does nobody else see that?
Some of the areas looked super dark. Extra creepy contrast with all of the lights not-being over here.
These giant light globes were kind of neat, but again... yay ...more plain lights. It's been a long time since I've done Halloween here, too, but I'm certain the Halloween Train Ride is a lot more interesting.
You can't tell from this picture, but those things are made with some kind of new sphere bulbs that looked ...new. At least this was relaxing.
I kind of felt silly with the camera at-the-ready to get a picture of a big impressive display, and not ever getting any big impressive displays. Oh, some swans. Nice. Sigh.
Another corridor of lights. Rows of 16 lights high, that went on for minutes at a time. In this one photo alone, you can see roughly 500 lights. Quantity over quality?
The "Big Finale" was a simple "Merry Christmas" text. It wasn't even that big. Was I expecting too much?
As the train pulled back into the station, we passed close to the tracks from InvadR. It was dark but I still tried to get a picture of it.
Walking back to the entrance, got a picture of this wagon near the wolves. During the daytime, the screen with the elf peeking out looked a lot more creepy, and I failed to get a "good picture" of that earlier. So I'm glad I got a shot of it, even though at night time you can clearly see it's a screen.
Oh! You can see a horse-shaped shadow over there! That horse has gotta be like... what time is it?!
Back in England near the park entrance. There's some bathrooms in the corner back here... Gotta go before you um... go!
Most of the doors to the gift shop were locked, but we managed to find one that was opened so we snuck in at the last minute. I remember they freely used to keep the gift shops open until way after the park closed, but I'm glad we got in anyway.
I know I posted this picture in 2022 but... when I took this picture, it was still 2021. So it was funny at the time. Five days early, slackers!
Most of the shirts were generic Xmas shirts, but here's a kid-sized Loch Ness Monster shirt. Oh well, my friend will have to wait until next time to get a cool souvenir shirt. I didn't get a picture of the picture-place, but we stopped to print a couple of ride photos; Apollo's Chariot and the one we got with Santa. We handed them the two scan cards and almost immediately the guy lost one. We just handed it to him! Lucky we were taking Minty Pictures, because we had a good record of the time we were on the coaster, and the other lady found us quickly while looking that way instead.
No comments:
Post a Comment