’Tis the season for festive day excursions
One way to step outside of the hustle and bustle is to take a day excursion or two with family or friends.
In addition to all the holiday shopping, wrapping, baking, decorating and attending religious ceremonies and parties of family and friends, most people are left wondering if they can possibly fit one more thing into their overloaded December days and nights. They often feel stressed out and frazzled by such a busy schedule, and may sadly, forget to feel the intense joy and pleasure that surrounds the Christmas season.
One way to step outside of the hustle and bustle is to take a day excursion or two with family or friends. Luckily, the Philadelphia area abounds with local holiday attractions so there’s not much time wasted on travel. Most reached in under a few hours tops, regional holiday destinations can provide a welcomed oasis of sheer holiday enjoyment. Some families make it an annual tradition to get together and visit at least one area attraction. There are so many holiday attractions and events in this tri-state vicinity from which to choose, that a different one can be chosen each December for decades and never be repeated—although most visitors enjoy themselves so much, that they can’t wait to repeat!
Theme parks transform into holiday mode
Mostly all of the area theme parks deck out for the holidays and are open from now until Jan. 1. There’s Hersheypark® Christmas Candylane,” always a family delight. Four million dazzling lights, live reindeer, Rudolph’s pond, and 30-plus fun rides, including five outdoor coasters plus a Christmas-themed indoor one. Visitors can also drive through Hershey Sweet Lights, 2 miles of wooded trails with 600 nighttime displays. For more information, visit hersheypark.com/.
Six Flags Great Adventure lights up the nights as it magically transform into a winter wonderland for Holiday in the Park. More than a million glittering lights, holiday entertainment, seasonal treats, Santa’s village and many of the park’s most popular rides provide the perfect setting for memorable holiday fun (www.sixflags.com). Dutch Wonderland in Lancaster presents Dutch Winter Wonderland on select dates until Dec. 20, with thousands of lights dancing to music, over 20 themed rides and familyfriendly attractions and a chance to meet Santa until Dec. 23 (www.dutchwonderland.com).
Sesame Place, the only theme park in U.S. dedicated to the award-winning television show, is only a short car ride away for most in the Philadelphia region. Sesame Street, kicked off the holiday season last weekend with A Very Furry Christmas at Sesame Place. The park, located in Langhorne, Bucks County, is transformed into a one-of-a-kind Christmas wonderland with millions of twinkling lights and festive decorations all around. Celebrate the season at this festive, family-friendly celebration with everyone’s favorite Sesame Street® friends.
Families can make magical winter memories at the all-new Merry Marketplace and enjoy tasty treats of the season as they browse unique gifts and holiday items. At the center of its 1-2-3 Christmas Tree show, is a brand-new 30-foot fully-illuminated pixel-based tree, that will project festive animated images while guests can dance along to an all-new soundtrack – all making for the ultimate light show experience. Visitors can sing along at three special Christmas shows and take a train ride tour through the Twiddlebugs’ Gingerbread Cookie Factory on the Sesame Place Furry Express. Don’t miss the fantastic Neighborhood Street Party Christmas Parade with music and dance moves that will have everyone dancing along and joining in the fun. Be sure to visit Santa’s Furry Workshop for an elfguided journey to meet the jolly man himself, Santa Claus. Rudolph the RedNosed Reindeer and his friends Clarice and Bumble will also be available to pose for photos in Rudolph’s Winter Wonderland (www.SesamePlace.com).
Holiday gardens ablaze with lights
In addition to exploring holiday bedazzled theme parks in the area, day trippers can plan to visit “A Longwood Christmas” at Longwood Gardens on U.S. Route 1 near Kennett Square. Longwood Gardens’ holiday display this year pays homage to the Christmas tree with an imaginative display featuring traditional favorites and inspiring new twists to the iconic holiday symbol. From festive firs suspended from above to towering tannenbaums adorned in unique ways, visitors can uncover the
magic of the Christmas tree reimagined from now until January 6.
A Longwood Christmas is a festive display both indoors and outdoors. Inside Longwood’s warm 4-acre Conservatory, a forest of floating trees embellished with dazzling crystals, glass ornaments, and glittering baby’s breathe hangs from above. The Music Room is transformed into a book lover’s holiday haven, featuring a rotating 18-foot Fraser fir draped in a garland of books, with cleverly constructed trees fashioned from hardcover books and decorative folded book art adding to the holiday splendor.
Other ‘tree’mendous highlights in the Conservatory include a 24-foot tall concolor fir garnished with red ornament swaths amid a woodland of white frosted trees and winterberry holly. An ethereal glass “tree” made of 600 slivers of handcut green glass in various shades suspended over a meadow of red and white amaryllis, hellebores, and kalanchoe, while a whimsical 12-foot tall tumbleweed tree among an array of succulents evokes the spirit of the southwest.
More than 500,000 lights grace more than 100 trees throughout the outdoor Gardens. New displays bringing additional holiday cheer include the Main Fountain Garden as shimmering lit conical trees decorate the garden. Created by Longwood craftsmen and local artisans, three fire pits, allow guests to warm up by the fire on chilly evenings, weather permitting.
In the Open Air Theatre, fountains dance day and night to holiday classics. Young and old will delight in Longwood’s outdoor train display as it travels past miniature Longwood landmarks lit for the holiday season. Throughout the season, Longwood’s grand Ballroom hosts free and ticketed holiday-inspired performances as well as daily carol sing-alongs performed on Longwood’s grand 10,010-pipe organ. The Strolling Olde Towne Carolers add to the holiday charm on select evenings, while Longwood’s historic Chimes Tower plays holiday music every half-hour. For a complete listing of performances and to purchase tickets to A Longwood Christmas, visit longwoodgardens.org.
Morris Arboretum’s popular Holiday Garden Railway returns this year, with all the buildings and trains meticulously decorated for the holidays with lights that twinkle along the tracks and around the surrounding landscape. The Holiday Garden Railway Display, which will run daily from 10 a.m. -4 p.m. through December 31 is one of the Arboretum’s most beloved holiday traditions for many families. Visitors of all ages will be thrilled by a quarter mile of track featuring seven loops and tunnels with fifteen different rail lines and two cable cars, nine bridges (including a trestle bridge you can walk under), and bustling model trains, set in the lovely winter garden of the Morris Arboretum. The display and buildings are all made of natural materials – bark, leaves, twigs, hollow logs, mosses, acorns, dried flowers, seeds and stones – to form a perfectly proportioned miniature landscape complete with small streams. Each building, while an exact replica of the original, is unique in its design. Philadelphia-area landmarks such as a masterpiece replica of Independence Hall are made using pinecone seeds for shingles, acorns as finials and twigs as downspouts.
In 2018, there will be seven Holiday Garden Railway Nights on Fridays and Saturdays, December 1, 7, 8, 14, 15, 21, and 22. Visitors may enjoy the Garden Railway all lit up in the dark of night from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. by separate timed tickets, available for purchase on the Morris Arboretum website or via Ticket Leap at http://bit.ly/HGR2018/. On Saturdays, December 8 and 22 at 2 p.m., Morris Arboretum’s Holly Highlights and Winter Greenery Tour debuts for the holiday season. Visitors can join an experienced guide to explore the Arboretum’s collection of hollies and other broadleaf evergreens that enliven the winter landscape with their lush greenery. Visitors, at all events, can also fit in some shopping for unique holiday gifts at the Morris Arboretum gift shop. Morris Arboretum is a 92-acre horticultural display garden that features a spectacular collection of mature trees in a beautiful and colorful landscape. The official arboretum of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, effective 1988, Morris Arboretum is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and accredited by the American Association of Museums. For more information or to find out more about the Arboretum’s special holiday displays, visit www.morrisarboretum.org/.
Holiday railroad excursions
A really unique holiday excursion is to take the family on a magical Christmas train journey. The North Pole Express, in New Hope, Pa., invites families to join Santa and Mrs. Claus to depart from the New Hope Station for a one hour train ride through historic Bucks County countryside on the way to the North Pole. Trip includes entertainment and more. Visit www.newhoperailroad.com for more information.
Closer to home is West Chester Railroad’s Santa Express, a 90 minute journey on a heated, festively decorated train through the Chester Creek Valley Dec. 1, 2, 8, 9, 15, 16, 22 and 23. Trains depart 11 a.m. and 1, 3 and 5 p.m. Santa will greet everyone at Market Street Station and then go along for the ride to Glen Mills. Once at Glen Mills passengers can disembark and explore the historic station, with plenty of photo opportunities on Santa’s lap inside the station. Passengers, of all ages, can enjoy the live music of Greg Wright and friends singing all of their favorite carols along the way. West Chester Railroad also hosts a Christmas Tree Train that leaves the Market Street station at 8 a.m., Dec. 2 and 9 only, and arrives at Wiggins Tree Farm in West Chester about 8:30 a.m. Passengers will disembark at the tree farm to go pick and cut down their Christmas tree. For more information or tickets for any of these train rides, visit http://westchesterrr. com/.
Another enjoyable holiday train ride for families and friends during the holiday season is a trip on the SEPTA Regional Rails into Center City Philadelphia. First stop should be Christmas Village at LOVE Park, 15th and JFK Boulevard. Presented by Bank of America, the park is transformed into a traditional, open-air German Christmas Market. Following last year’s 10th Anniversary, Christmas Village is back again as one of the area’s largest Christmas attractions. People can enjoy holiday sights and sounds with thousands of twinkling lights, festive decorations, live music, children’s activities and photos with Santa Claus presented by ACME. Come ready to shop for high-quality, international and local gifts and decorations. This year, over 80 international and local merchants and artists will sell high-quality \ crafted gifts in decorated tents and wooden houses that will pop-up throughout Philadelphia’s iconic LOVE Park. Across at Dilworth Plaza, Christmas Village organizers will also curate over 50 vendors at The Made in Philadelphia Market. Together, shoppers will have 130 reasons to skip the malls and shop in Center City this year. With everything from ornaments, toys, apparel, jewelry, decorations, home goods, artwork, sweets and more, there will be something for everyone on Santa’s list.
Warm up with a glass of warm mulled wine or hot cocoa while enjoying European food and drink. Watch for theme weekends, specials events and wine tastings. Look for new surprises, like a new outdoor seating area, , expanded food offerings, and even more decorations. Admission is always free, with food, drink and shopping pay as you go. Christmas Village, along with the Christmas Village Carousel in the Philadelphia City Hall Courtyard, The Made in Philadelphia Market and other holiday activities on Dilworth Plaza, has helped attract over two million people annually to Center City District. The market that has been named “Best in America” year after year. For more information, visit www.philachristmas.com.
More Holiday Philly Phun
While in the city, be sure to stop by to visit Santaland and Dickens Village at Macy’s Center City. Open until Christmas Eve “Dickens Village” is a 6,000-square-foot Village on the 3rd floor of Macy’s that transports visitors back to 1840s London and brings Charles Dickens’ classic “A Christmas Carol” to life with vintage animatronic displays of Dickens characters. The Village walk-through ends in a visit with Santa. A favorite Philadelphia tradition for over 20 years, “Dicken’s Village” is free of charge.
Also, from now until December 31, see the Christmas Light Show and Wanamaker Organ Concert in the famed historical Grand Court atrium of Macy’s Center City. At this great family-oriented event, visitors will see snowflakes, ballerinas and reindeer float beyond the atrium’s fourstory-high velvet curtain. Set to music, more than 100,000 LED lights combine to shape amazing holiday-themed images. The annual Macy’s Christmas Light Show is free to the public. Shows occur daily at 10 a.m., and 12, 2, 4, 6 and 8 p.m.
Before leaving Center City, there are a few more “must visit” stops. One is the Comcast Building. Shown on the state-of-theart Comcast Experience video wall at The Comcast Center, the Comcast Holiday Spectacular — celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2018 — is filled with sights and sounds of the season. Now an annual holiday tradition, the 15-minute Comcast Holiday Spectacular takes visitors on a festive, musical journey. The show also includes a snippet of The Nutcracker performed by the renowned Pennsylvania Ballet. More than two million residents and visitors have seen the show since its opening in 2008. The 15-minute show features sing-a-longs and a virtual sleigh ride. The Comcast Experience is one of the world’s largest highest-resolution LED displays.
Spanning 83.3 feet wide by 25.4 feet high, the 2,100 square-foot video wall is five times the resolution of high-definition television and one of the world’s highest-resolution LED screens. Visitors can catch the show at the top of each hour from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., excluding weekdays at 5 p.m.
One of Philly’s favorite holiday tradition that always deserves a jaunt into Center City every year is “A Philly POPS Christmas: Spectacular Sounds of the Season” at the Kimmel Center, with ten performances from December 1–22.
This year, Music Director-Designate and former Radio City Christmas Spectacular conductor Todd Ellison makes his POPS Christmas debut by conducting an all-new, festive musical program, featuring the 65-piece POPS orchestra, Hamilton star Mandy Gonzalez, organist Peter Richard Conte, The Philly POPS Festival Chorus, the Philadelphia Boys Choir and the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas Gospel Choir.
The program, fun for the entire family, features timeless pop and classic Christmas tunes. Mandy Gonzalez, currently taking a star turn in Hamilton on Broadway will lead the POPS’ popular Christmas sing-along. For tickets and more information, visit www.phillypops.org/christmas/. Other extraordinary holiday fun activities in Philadelphia include the Blue Cross RiverRink Winterfest, which includes an ice-skating rink, a heated lodge with food and family games, fire pits, cozy cabins, a holiday market, and free entertainment (www.delawareriverwaterfront.com) and Reading Terminal’s Holiday Railroad display, with the added bonus of the Terminal’s plethora of seasonal eats and unique gifts (www.readingterminalmarket.org).
Holiday hayrides on the farm
Those in the mood for a throw-back to earlier Chirstmas seasons, when the pace was slower and the family-time was paramount to all holiday activities will enjoy The Holiday Hayride and related attractions at Arasapha Farm, 1835 Middletown Rd. (Route 352), Edgmont Township, now until Dec. 23. Nationally known for its award-winning Bates Motel and Haunted Hayride during the Halloween season, Arasapha Farm offers a heart-warming ride on a holiday sound-equipped hay wagon through rolling hills into a winter wonderland filled with light displays, decorated trees, bridges, brooks and buildings. Children will especially enjoy Santa’s workshop, along with live animals. There’s also a live Nativity with real animals and actors and hundreds of Christmas trees, freshly cut for sale or available for a cut-your-own experience. Visitors can warm up with a cup of cocoa at the bonfire. To find out dates and times of this beloved holiday adventure, call 610-459-0647 or visit www.holidayhayride.com/.
Experience the magic of more than 3 million lights illuminating acres of farmland at Shady Brook Farm’s Holiday Light Show, 931 Stony Hill Rd., Yardley. Visitors can encounter whimsical displays and familiar characters as they drive through the two-mile winter light wonderland in the comfort of their own car or an open air wagon ride, weather permitting. Visitors can then warm up with a cup of hot cocoa and cook up s’mores at a toasty bonfire and have photos taken with Santa or pick out their tree at the Farm Market (www.shadybrookfarms. com).
With life so busy, the holiday season seems to zoom by quicker every year, so it’s more important than ever before to stop and take a few minutes to plan a Christmas season excursion with family or friends. Take lots of photos and have lots of fun. With so many attractions in the region, why not take advantage of the seasonal opportunities offered this year!