Hi everyone! Sorry I haven’t posted in a while, life has been a whirlwind! You can’t see me, but I am jumping up and down with excitement here. It is my favorite time of year! I love the season of Advent, and magic of Christmas! This is our third year of driving through the lights at Watkins Park. We arrived exactly at 5pm, opening time, on a Saturday evening hoping to avoid any lines. We got lucky. There was no line to enter, which was great! We were directed to a ticket booth where we paid our ten dollars (it is less of you buy in advance) and made our way into a world of light.
It took us about 20-25 minutes to slowly traverse the park. The drive is laid out well with lighted soldiers pointing out directions at various turns. We saw Santa playing badminton with the reindeer, elves piling presents into Santa’s sleigh, a tumbling gingerbread man, and so much more! We were even briefly transported to the land of Oz where we saw the Wicked Witch, the Emerald City, and Dorothy, and her friends.
It was beautiful and magical! All three girls were oohing and awwing all the way through! Their favorite part of the drive was the lights that went over the road. Pebble loved the lighted “tunnel” we went through, while Rainbow loved watching an elf use a machine to fire candy canes across the road into a giant bag. We stopped briefly to hear the music and see the giant lighted Christmas tree on the green near the Nature Center.
As wonderful as this light show was, there were a few disappointments. The first was when we turned into the park from Watkins Park Drive. None of the lights around the entrance were on, nor were the lighted soldiers that lined the drive. When I saw that, I was worried none of the lights in the park were working, but that worry was for naught. Across from the Land of Oz, after we passed through Pebble’s tunnel, we saw the Watkins train depot and carousel. Each has a light display, but neither of those appeared to be working. I was sad about that because Pebble would have loved the train!
Despite Watkins technical difficulties with a few of their displays, we still had a great time. It was the perfect way to ring in the holiday season, and I definitely recommend trying it out!
As a FYI, you exit the park onto MD 202. If you are returning to Watkins Park Drive, you will need to make a left onto 202, which is not the easiest thing to do! Watkins Park Drive is a left turn at the first light you come to. Be forewarned, the left turn lane starts early! Oh! If you have rear facing littles that you want to take out of their car seats so they can have a better view, here are my suggestions… Once you pass the ticket booth you should be able to make the first right into a parking area. This lets you safely release your littles to roam the car. When you are finished, you can easily pull over on the side of the exit road before reaching 202 to strap them back in. Have fun and happy trails!
