Discover the magic of Christmas Town 2024 at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay: What you need to know
Christmas Town returns for another year at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay. What should you know before you go? What does this event offer that guests should not miss?
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The winter holiday season starts early for Florida theme parks. Christmas Town began at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay on Nov. 15, 2024 and will run daily through Jan. 5, 2025. The event promises festive fun and holiday cheer. During this time of year, the theme park transforms from the spooky season to a winter wonderland — well, as close to a winter wonderland as a Central Florida theme park can do.
Christmas Town at Busch Gardens lets guests view millions of twinkling holiday lights. They can also enjoy shows, seasonal food and beverages, the year-round animal encounters, and Busch Gardens rides. Most importantly, all the Christmas Town festivities are included with theme park admission.
On the event’s second night, we were invited to experience Christmas Town. For this Christmas event, we experienced nighttime holiday entertainment. There is just something different about a theme park at night, especially since many theme parks close early most days.
What entertainment should guests expect at Busch Gardens Christmas Town?
Guests can enjoy several unique holiday forms of entertainment at Christmas Town. However, several holiday entertainment options do not start until later in the season, so we did not experience them during our visit. Still, guests can plan for them during a visit later this year. In this section, we will describe the entertainment we saw and dates that other entertainment will open to help plan your visit to Christmas Town.
Millions of Christmas lights and character interactions
Christmas Town allows guests to walk around the park viewing over a million Christmas lights. The arrangement of lights qualifies as impressive. This provides a festive walk around the theme park.
In addition to that traditional wholesome fun option, characters can be found in various locations at Busch Gardens during the event. These range from meeting Santa and Rudolph to the Sugar Plum Princess. During our visit, the queues to meet these characters were reasonable in length.
Guests can visit Santa’s North Pole Experience, where they will meet Santa, explore his workshop, and share their holiday wishes. In addition, guests can visit Rudolph’s Winter Wonderland, which features festive decorations, interactive displays, and photo opportunities with Rudolph.
Other characters may be seen walking around. Several, such as the Sugar Plum Princess, will have scheduled opportunities for guests to meet them.
‘Christmas on Ice‘
This well-done show returns for Christmas Town 2024. This show ran three times in the evening we visited. Please check showtime schedules as you plan your visit since this will change.
“Christmas on Ice” takes place inside the Moroccan Palace Theater and features ice skating performances. It is very popular and reaches seating capacity, so guests should plan to arrive early.
The talented skaters during this show express the joy of the holiday season. If guests arrive early for the show, they will see video clips of the performers talking about their holiday love and traditions. Their ice routines are set to Christmas classic and contemporary music favorites.
The performance matches previous years with the same music and routines for those who have seen it. However, the ice shows at Busch Gardens provide excellent value for guests’ theme park budgets.
‘Mrs. Claus’s Storytime’
This show targets younger children as the primary audience in the Coke Canopy area near the Christmas Town Village. It features Mrs. Claus’s holiday presence and storytelling style. She shares a traditional holiday tale and a joyful song, “Jingle Bells,” with the audience. She receives some assistance from her trusted elf along the way.
‘Elmo’s Christmas Wish’
Fans of “Sesame Street” can enjoy a show at Christmas Town. The audience joins Cookie Monster, Rosita, Grover, and Zoe as they help Elmo find his Christmas wish. While Cookie Monster’s Christmas wish is predictable, the show allows Elmo to decide on his own.
This show occurs at The Sunny Day Theater in the Sesame Street Safari of Fun area of Busch Gardens Tampa Bay. Unlike the “Christmas on Ice” show, it takes place outdoors.
Other Christmas Town entertainment coming soon
Busch Gardens guests must wait for some of the Christmas Town entertainment options to be available. Those are:
- “Three Kings Journey” – Guests join along in the musical tale of the “Three Wise Men” as they embark on their journey to Bethlehem. This show happens on select days. According to the Busch Gardens website, the first time it happens will be Nov. 22 at the Dragon Fire Grill.
- Holly Jolly Express – Guests go on a festive journey around the park, where they can sing along to their favorite holiday tunes. According to the theme park website, this themed ride begins in December.
- “Holiday in the Sky: A Nighttime Spectacular” – The night ends with a fireworks display on select evenings. The display consists of festive fireworks synchronized to a soundtrack of classic holiday tunes. For 2024, this occurs nightly from Dec. 20-31.
Seasonal food at Christmas Town
No holiday event would be complete without some food and beverages. During this event, Busch Gardens Tampa Bay sells seasonal treats like holiday-flavored hot chocolates and freshly baked cookies exclusive to Christmas Town. This year, guests can try all-new holiday-inspired menu items, explore the gingerbread cookie decorating station, and sip on new Christmas Town craft cocktails.
“Christmas Town brings the magic of the holiday season to life right here in Tampa Bay,” said Kristine Morgan, vice president of entertainment at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay. “Christmas Town allows families to create lasting memories together within an immersive realm of beautiful lights, festive entertainment, and the spirit of Christmas.”
Christmas Town Food & Beverage Sampler
Following the usual pattern at Busch Gardens, guests can buy sampler lanyards to save a little money if they plan to purchase many of the Christmas Town festival food and beverages sold in special kiosks. The sampler lanyard costs:
- 5 samples – $45
- 10 samples – $65
All Busch Gardens pass members who purchase a 10-sample lanyard will receive two extra samples free, for a total of 12.
Christmas Town food offerings
As a part of our adventure at Christmas Town, we tried many holiday food options that guests can enjoy via the sampler lanyard. This ranged from shrimp fried rice to chocolate peppermint flan. As you enter Busch Gardens, the food and beverage cabins are primarily in the area just past Iron Gwazi to the left side of the theme park. The Christmas Town food cabins open each day at 4 p.m. With 18 food and beverage Christmas Town cabins, guests have plenty to choose from.
We were given a sampler lanyard with five samples for our group’s visit. One of those samples needs to be used at the Toma cabin. Toma sells empanadas and similar items. Toma was created to share the best of Latin cuisine with the world. It began with Sofía Vergara’s love for Latin food and her son Manolo Gonzalez Vergara’s passion for cooking. Together with legendary hospitality executive Sam Nazarian, they established Toma.
Guests should know that only one sample may be used at the Toma cabin. We got chicken croquetas.
We found the food options we tried at the event reasonably priced with the sampler lanyard. For quick-service theme park cuisine, most could have been a little better. Still, this did not take away from our experience. We did not find anything unenjoyable.
Our favorite item of the night was the pork carnitas, Mofongo. The talented ambassador working at cabin #17 prepared this with great skill. The menu description reads, “Mojo pulled pork, sweet plantain style of mofongo, pork skin crackling, lime & chili dust.” When we come back, this will be on the top of our list.
Seasonal merchandise
One of the shops near the entrance to the theme park has been converted into a holiday-themed store. During our visits since Howl-O-Scream ended at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, we noticed that this store was not operating. This break enables it to transform from spooky to festive.
If you want holiday-themed items, this store deserves a look. One group member found a shirt they thought would be an excellent addition to their wardrobe.
Is Christmas Town at Busch Gardens calling your name?
Our visit to Christmas Town at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay qualified as enjoyable. We appreciate Busch Gardens inviting us out for the evening. Please consult the Busch Gardens website for more information about the event and to purchase park tickets (remember, Christmas Town is included with regular park admission).
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