Holiday in the Park

This holiday season the Six Flags by me (Six Flags Great Adventure) opened for “Holiday in the Park”. Normally, the park closes after their Fright Fest days for Halloween and reopens in the spring. As soon as I heard that they were going to be open for the holiday season and that the park would be “transformed into a winter wonderland with over a million twinkling lights” I knew I had to go! Contrary to Christmas day, it was actually pretty chilly out yesterday. It was the strangest thing going on roller coasters in the cold weather!

Fair warning, this is a picture heavy post. I went a little click happy with my phone because all the lights were just too pretty to ignore!

If you come before Christmas, Santa is there for you to visit. But if you come after Christmas he has already “returned to the North Pole”.
Groups of little fire-pits dotted the park for people to keep warm. Some of them were covered except for these openings that are for toasting marshmallows for smores.

They had their regular amusement park food (hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken tenders, etc.) but they also offered a bunch of holiday goodies such as hot chocolate with marshmallows. How cute is my snowman marshmallow? They also had stands with Belgian waffles, kettle corn and more. Funnel cake is something that is regularly consumed there and since it was Holiday in the Park, they offered festive twists to the classic snack such as peppermint.

Even the ride, Houdini’s Great Escape, couldn’t escape from the holiday cheer with a peppermint pathway and peppermint lighting on its facade!

On the left side of the above photo you can see the swing ride, which aside from the roller coasters is always a favorite of mine. It was so cold on that ride yesterday!

Beginning at 4:30PM there is a show called “Holiday Magic” which is music and a light show on the main Christmas tree in the center of Main Street in the park. It begins at 4:30 and begins again every 30 minutes until the park closes at 9PM.

It’s a little hard to see in the above photo, but I was trying to capture a photo of the fake snow coming down.

It was a festively magical day. What made it even better is that there were far less people at the park than on a regular summer day so on a ride that would normally have me waiting in line for at least 45 minutes in the summer I was able to go on in 2 minutes! Seriously, one of the rides I had 2 people ahead of me in line! The park was not empty by any means but it wasn’t crazy crowded like in the summer so it was quite comfortable.

Six Flags Great Adventure did an amazing job decorating the whole park so beautifully! They really went all out with the lights, decorations, and holiday treats. To add to the whole vibe, the smell of the burning firewood and the fake snow falling down on Main Street were the perfect touches.