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| 'Magic Christmas in Lights' at Bellingrath Gardens |
For as long as I can remember I’ve wanted to see the famous
Christmas lights display at Bellingrath Gardens in Theodore, Ala., and I’ve had
this trip on my “life list” for at least a couple of years. On Friday night, my
family and I went to see the Bellingrath’s “Magic Christmas in Lights” display,
and it was actually better than I expected it to be. If you’ve never been, I
highly recommend that you take the time to see it for yourself.
The urge to take my family to see it really ramped up in
November, when I read an article in The Mobile Press-Register that reported
that the popular Web site “HowStuffWorks.com” ranked Bellingrath Gardens’
“Magic Christmas in Lights” No. 1 on its list of “Top 50 Places to See
Christmas Lights in America.” At first, I was skeptical of their top ranking,
but now that I’ve seen it in person, I don’t know how anyone anywhere else
could top the Christmas light show at Bellingrath.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with Bellingrath
Gardens, it’s a 65-acre garden park, just off I-10, west of Mobile, Ala. Its
Christmas lights show was first held in 1995, and the Christmas lights show
runs from the Friday after Thanksgiving through New Year’s Eve. The show ends
each night at 9 p.m.
My family visited Bellingrath Gardens on Friday night, and
we arrived around 7:30 p.m. There were a lot of people there to see the lights,
and we had to wait in a line of cars for 15 to 20 minutes, which was not as
long as I expected to wait. Once we got parked, it was a short walk to the
park’s main entrance.
A coworker advised me earlier in the week to buy our tickets
online before making the trip down because this allows you to skip the long
lines at the ticket windows. Armed with our printed online tickets, we entered
through the Will Call gate without any delays. They even stamped our hands so
we could come and go from the park without having to show our original tickets.
To see the lights, you follow a marked trail through the
park, and it took us a little over an hour to see everything. There were
hundreds of people there, but you could walk the route at your own pace without
feeling rushed. Every so often, the theme of the lights changed from one thing
to another. In one area, the lights might be arranged in a Christmas theme,
further down it might be an underwater scene followed by an Oriental display of
fire-breathing dragons and paper lanterns.
They also had live music. Friday night’s entertainment was a
band called Roman Street. Also, if you get hungry or thirsty, there’s plenty to
eat and drink available. They even keep the souvenir store open in case you
want to buy a keepsake to help you remember your trip.
My family and I had a great time, and I highly recommend you
see the Christmas lights at Bellingrath if you haven’t already and especially
if you have small kids. The experience was better than I expected, and my
family was blown away by the elaborate display of lights.
In the end, how many of you have ever been to see the
Christmas lights at Bellingrath Gardens? What did you think about it? Let us
know in the comments section below.
(For more information, visit http://www.bellingrath.org/mcil.html)
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