Land of Illusion’s Christmas Glow 2017: Christmas Around The World!
By Noah Wullkotte
Land of Illusion’s Christmas Glow returns. This dazzling one mile drive-thru event in Middletown, Ohio will have you exploring different parts of the world. You’ll see the Eiffel Tower, Statue of Liberty, The Leaning Tower of Pisa and more. Tune your car radio to 88.5 FM and listen to some classic holiday tunes while enjoying the Christmas Lights. This is a fun event where you’ll be driving around a massive lake to see these impressive Christmas sculptures. The glow from the lights reflects off the water.
There are many different decorations including a motorcycle driving Santa, Swan Lake, an ice skating couple, elves, candy canes and more. My favorite part was the drive-thru Christmas Lights tunnel with flashing lights and mesmerizing lighting effects. The paths are well lit with strands of blue LED Christmas Lights so you won’t accidentally drive into the lake. It took us around 15 minutes to look at all the lights and we stopped several times to take pictures and video.
After you’re finished with the drive-thru portion, you’ll park your car and enter the Christmas Village. Land of Illusion’s ticket building is now Christmas themed. Windows have a CGI video of falling snow flakes, snowmen, Santa and more. The park is beautifully decorated with fiberglass snowmen, a nativity scene, white Christmas Trees and a variety of decorations. There are plenty of fire pits to keep you warm and toasty. The Stage of Rage had A Christmas Story playing on their projection screen. There are some exciting activities for the kids including gingerbread house building, pictures with Santa and more. A 5×7 picture with Santa is $10 a piece and activities in the Kids Crafts Room range from $5-$25. The adults have the Voodoo Lounge. Get yourself a cold one at this unique bar or something tasty to eat at the Christmas Cafe.
(Swan Lake comes alive at Christmas Glow!)
There are many decorations inside the park including a massive tree that has changing lights. Various costumed characters walk around to interact with customers as well. Olaf the Snowman from the movie Frozen loves warm hugs. Christmas music plays throughout the park and there are a few photo op stations. You can hardly tell that Land of Illusion was a Haunted Scream Park at one time since practically everything is Christmas themed. There are only a few indications which include Land of Illusion Haunted Scream Park apparel in the gift shop and some of the lettering they use looks like blood. A snow machine would add to the experience.
Tickets are $16 per carload or $14 with a canned good donation. Canned good donations benefit Hope House Mission which helps the homeless. This is a good deal and the more people you have in a car, the better. Small candy canes are given out to each carload. Parking is free. It’s $45 a ticket for each busload. We go to many Christmas events throughout the holiday season and we plan on making Christmas Glow an annual tradition. It reminded us of other drive-thru Christmas events in certain ways. Driving around a beautiful lake with lights reflecting off the water makes this event stand out. Being able to enter the park adds a lot of value to the experience. This event is sure to become quite popular once the word gets out about how fun it is. It’s great entertainment for the entire family. Be sure to check out what Land of Illusion’s Christmas Glow has to offer this holiday season.
Please visit www.landofillusion.com for information on Christmas Glow including times, dates and more. Click here to view pictures we took at the event.