Tips for a Successful and Enjoyable Day
Beautiful holiday lights, delicious hot chocolate, bumper cars, and holiday shows- a trip to Busch Gardens Christmas Town has become a family tradition for the Jones. With plenty of rides for the littlest Jones to enjoy, we soak up every minute of our day at Busch Gardens. Located in Williamsburg, it only takes a little over two hours to get there from Locust Grove; this makes visiting the park a one day road trip. It is a beautiful theme park year round, but when the sun sets and the entire park lights up with over ten million twinkling lights it really becomes magical. We’ve gone to Christmas Town for four years and have learned what works best for our family; now I’ll share what we’ve learned with you!
Decide how long you want to stay
Busch Gardens Christmas Town tickets go on sale in November. You can grab a date specific ticket for one day, an open ended ticket to use any day during the season, or book one of their package deals for Busch Gardens Christmas Town. They usually offer discounts on tickets and sometimes black Friday deals. One year we grabbed a two day park and dine deal packaged with a one night hotel stay. The Holiday Inn Express was less than two miles from the park was clean, close, and a perfect fit for us. We visited Busch Gardens Christmas Town on the first day, and spent the next morning exploring colonial Williamsburg and the nearby shopping before the park opened. Having two days at Christmas Town gave us a more leisurely pace and may work better for families with older children who want to ride all of the roller coasters. For our family with a young child, exploring the park in one day is perfect.
Visit during the Week
Tickets for Busch Gardens Christmas Town are cheaper during the week and crowds are smaller, so we always aim to make a weekday trip. The park is open longer on Saturdays, but the crowds are heavier. Sundays can be a great option too as the crowd tends to thin out in the evenings as everyone heads home to prepare for work on Monday.
Dress in Layers
It’s winter during Busch Gardens Christmas Town which opens in the afternoon so expect temperatures to be cold. The catch is that during the afternoon the temperatures can be mild so walking around in a heavy winter jacket isn’t always ideal. When the littlest Jones still used a stroller we stashed our extra coats on it. Now that she’s outgrown it, we carry a backpack with waters, hats, gloves and a few extra sweaters. We also keep our winter coats in the car. Because we arrive about an hour early and eat a picnic lunch in the car before the park opens, I’ll head out to the car (which isn’t usually too far from the entrance) to grab the jackets and bring them back into the park when we need them.
When in doubt, bring the stroller
If you have little ones, bring a stroller. The park is essentially one big circle, but the topography of the land makes it hilly. A stroller comes in handy when you’ve been in the park for approximately ten minutes and someone starts proclaiming her feet hurt. But, seriously, the stroller is a great place to stash extra clothing, snacks, and let little ones recharge. I recommend putting a couple colorful glow sticks around the handles to make the stroller easy to spot in the dark when you have to park it in the designated areas to get on the rides.
Visit Santa First
One of the best memories of Busch Gardens Christmas Town is our visits to Santa. Tucked in Wilkommenhaus, this experience walks you through the North Pole to Santa’s Workshop, and into a private room where you meet Santa. That’s right…no line at the mall of staring eager children waiting for their turn. It’s just your family in a room having a chat with Santa. We always go here first. The wait time can get long the farther into the evening you go, so stopping to say hello to Santa is always first on our list.
Use Skyride as an Uber
This tip works best if the park is not super crowded, but as the evening progresses and our feet get a little tired, we hop on Skyride to move from one section of Busch Gardens Christmas Town to another.
Enjoy a show and dinner at the same time
If you time it right, you can grab dinner at Das Festhaus and catch the show “Up on the Haustop” at the same time. The employees at Busch Gardens Christmas Town do close the entrance to Das Festaus during the performance since only so many people can be inside, but if you head into the dining hall forty five minutes to an hour before performance time you can eat dinner and watch the show after. It’s a perfect way to warm up and rest before heading back outside.
Make a plan
Download the app to have easy access to Busch Gardens Christmas Town map. Since we visit Santa first, we also start with the attractions near the North Pole and work are way around the park. Shows are a great way to warm up for a while, so we try to pop into ones that we are close to by checking the app and seeing the performance times. If you are really interested in seeing all the shows, then plan your journey around the park by performance times.
Pack Snacks
We’ve got a picky eater in the house. Pizza? No. Chicken Nuggets? No. In order to save us the trouble of dealing with a grumpy hungry child, we pack some snacks that we know that she will eat. Yes, we’ve even packed a peanut butter and jelly sandwich to save the heartbreak of throwing away her expensive amusement park food that she doesn’t want to eat. These snacks help keep up the energy throughout the day and save us money.
Visit Sesame Street in the Evening
The Sesame Street section for little ones is near Busch Gardens Christmas Town entrance. For one last thrill before leaving the park, head over to the roller coaster in the evening. It’s way less crowded than during the afternoon.
Plan to Ride the Christmas Town Express Early
The train boards only in New France and takes you around the park through a light display. It begins operating at dark, so plan to arrive a bit before opening to avoid the long lines. The line does feel like it moves quickly since the train holds a lot of passengers.
Hopefully these tips will make planning your trip to Busch Gardens Christmas Town a little easier and just as enjoyable as our trips have been!
