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Original poster

Christmas light walks

44 replies

Shoobydooer · 19/11/2021 16:49

DS6 has an early December birthday and I've been looking at all the Christmas light trails as a nice surprise. There's a fair few around us in NT gardens, there's a Harry Potter one, etc.

They all cost a small fortune! Despite the fantasy of lovely children wandering around enraptured with delight, my gut is telling me it won't really be worth it and I'll end up with overtired DCs who aren't bothered and grumpy DP trying to get them home quick to bed. They all seem to cost £70 upwards for a 45 min slot, plus snacks, petrol, parking as well.

How can they justify these absurd prices?! Can anyone tell me if they are worth it?

OP posts:

Thehogfatherstolemycurry · 19/11/2021 16:51

We went to one last year. Lightopia. It was ok, something to do but not even vaguely worth the £70ish quid it cost to walk round the park in the rain looking at lights.

WakeUpLockie · 19/11/2021 16:54

Yeah I wouldn’t. We went to an RHS one a few years in a row but am giving up this year. One way system and time slots with people dawdling along getting in the way and leaving pushchairs all over the place to be walked into in the dark! And kids not even that interested in the lights. CBA!

ThousandsOfTulips · 19/11/2021 16:57

We've been every year since my children were born, sometimes with friends and sometimes with family. They love it!

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NotMyCat · 19/11/2021 17:48

The Harry Potter one at Arley hall? I went but I scrolled all the slots and managed a ticket for about £25. Free parking. Yes food is expensive but I did expect that!

Original poster

Shoobydooer · 19/11/2021 18:01

Struggled with the ticket page for Arley Hall, must admit . But we were looking at a peak time and it looked like the family ticket was £25 per person including kids, so £100 for the whole thing??

Pleased for people whose DCs make the most of it - think in this case I might go with my gut!

OP posts:

careerchangeperhaps · 19/11/2021 18:11

It's mad. A national Trust place near us used to have a nice walk around the gardens with some low-key lights. It was lovely (and free for members).
This year, they've brought in a company to produce a 'light spectacular' type of show and the cost is over £70 for 4 of us (even as members!). It's less than a mile of illuminated walkways. Not a chance am I paying that!

Yingandyang · 19/11/2021 18:16

It's much more expensive now as they are probably recouping the losses from lockdown, we went a few years ago and it was ok but I think it is too expensive now, especially as you have to book in advance and weather could be bad

Daisy829 · 19/11/2021 18:21

We did lightophia in 2019 & Dunham last year. Dunham was really really disappointing. We aren’t doing any this year!

NotMyCat · 19/11/2021 18:22

@Shoobydooer

Struggled with the ticket page for Arley Hall, must admit

. But we were looking at a peak time and it looked like the family ticket was £25 per person including kids, so £100 for the whole thing??

Pleased for people whose DCs make the most of it - think in this case I might go with my gut!

Yeah that sounds about right, under 5s are free can you shrink DC? I enjoyed it for the £25, I wouldn't have paid the nearly £50pp prices It's a decent walk, about 1hr maybe more if you stop a lot and take pics. The work that has gone into the music/sound and lights and detail is amazing, I kept spotting owls in the trees! Quite dark in places which added to it and not crowded at all during the walk, very muddy when I went

Original poster

Shoobydooer · 19/11/2021 23:13

Yes of course there's the pre-booking potential for bad weather too.

I booked onto one last year that was supposed to be a trail you did in the car, but it was cancelled just days before. I can't remember the cost being anything like they are this year. While I sympathise that places need to recoup losses, charging the best part of £100 for these kind of events really doesn't seem worth it - especially when you can do things like Blackpool and special city centre light events for free.

OP posts:

Hazeyday · 20/11/2021 00:26

I have to say, none of us enjoyed it. Damp, muddy. Yes, there were lights but not that spectacular. Slightly underwhelming... I think the whole thing is a bit of a performance, and not because of the light show. A performance of parents pretending to enjoy it and kids getting cold and bored. Sorry, just not our thing. Bit like fireworks. Tried to "enjoy" it to justify the money but reality is that kids and us were relieved to be home and warm! Never again!

whitehorsesdonotlie · 20/11/2021 00:32

Well you can imagine how much the lights cost, and they have to recoup their money...

KloppsTeeth · 20/11/2021 00:35

I thought this was going to be about going for evening walks in the local area looking at people’s home Christmas lights!

theoldtrout01876 · 20/11/2021 00:46

Holy Shit how does anyone afford that.
The local one to me is at a small zoo. zoo Lights. Its beautiful and cheap !!

These lights used to be on a private house in a standard neighborhood until the town banned them as they were so popular that the whole area became totally gridlocked with people coming from miles to see them. I first saw them when they were on the house and they were magical.

TabithaTumbler · 20/11/2021 00:52

@KloppsTeeth

I thought this was going to be about going for evening walks in the local area looking at people’s home Christmas lights!

The kids would probably enjoy that more, especially if you throw in a McDonald's - it would certainly be cheaper.

3cats4poniesandababy · 20/11/2021 00:57

We go late afternoon. I check sunset times to make sure it will be dark. We always enjoy it and so does our little one but guess it depends upon your children's interests. By going later afternoon our little one turned into devil isn't tired.

Hazeyday · 20/11/2021 00:57

@KloppsTeeth you are spot on. Without spending any money (apart from a bag or two of percy pigs!), we did a drive round our town last year and saw the most amazing individual Christmas lights on houses and in gardens. We couldn't have timed it better if we'd tried - a truck with a local church group/band performing songs and carols blocked one street where everyone got out of their cars and houses to watch/join in. Not contrived, just oldy, worldly lovely!

Hazeyday · 20/11/2021 00:59

Worldy!

Exhausteddog · 20/11/2021 01:08

I thought they looked good (I've not been before) but the local NT one was coming up at over £70 for 4 of us , which tbh i was quite surprised about. There is also a local place which is lottery/Council funded and thats much more reasonably priced. No idea how they compare though.

Bontanics · 20/11/2021 01:17

The lights themselves cost an absolute fortune and take a lot of work to actually put together. Dh is a lighting designer for these types of displays and what looks like just lots of fairy lights actually takes several months to plan and put together.

Lezbehonest · 20/11/2021 01:34

I loved the Arley Hall HP one. We've done Dunham before but I found this one a lot more engaging with loads more to see. Well worth it (but I was only paying for 2!)

nancy75 · 20/11/2021 01:40

@Bontanics

Plus the electricity, the health and safety stuff, the insurance, security... it costs a lot of money to put these things on.

Floralnomad · 20/11/2021 02:07

@careerchangeperhaps

It's mad. A national Trust place near us used to have a nice walk around the gardens with some low-key lights. It was lovely (and free for members). This year, they've brought in a company to produce a 'light spectacular' type of show and the cost is over £70 for 4 of us (even as members!). It's less than a mile of illuminated walkways. Not a chance am I paying that!

Is this Kingston Lacy by any chance . We went a couple of years ago and it was free and ok but definitely not worth paying for , although that year they did have the best decorated Christmas trees in any NT house we visited . We are doing the one at Abbotsbury tropical gardens this year , I think it has cost us £30 for 3 of us so very reasonable .

garlictwist · 20/11/2021 04:42

Leeds has a Light Night in October where there are light displays across the city. It's free - and really good. I do not understand where these places get off charging so much for a few lights.

DinosApple · 20/11/2021 05:20

We did a fantastic one at Anglesey Abbey about 5 years ago. It was absolutely incredible. There's a long windy walk through the gardens and the whole lot was list up in different ways, then you got to a clearing where they had live music, activities and food. Then the whole of the front of the house was lit up with patterns and music playing too.

We've been to another in a different location, which was shorter but the children still really enjoyed it.

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