Originally Posted By pacomama Anyone been to this? My family will be visiting this year (the Saturday after Thanksgiving) and I was wondering what to expect. We've been to the park before, but never for the holidays.
Originally Posted By retlawfan From the Bonfante Gardens Website: Bonfante Gardens Family Theme Park is proud to announce the return of Bonfante Gardens Holiday Lightsâ„¢ in 2005. The park is transformed into a winter wonderland with thousands of twinkling lights, ice skating themed rides, photos with Santa in Santa's Workshop complete with children's arts and crafts, a decadent all-you-can-eat holiday feast in Snowflake Palace, plus for the first two weekends a display of beautifully themed Christmas trees, provided by Rebekah Children's Services. This special event takes begins November 25th and runs 14 magical nights on selected dates through December 23rd. They also are creating a "North Pole Express" ride using the railroad. It sounds like it is going to be very magical. We're going too. I wouldn't miss this one if you have little one's in the house.
Originally Posted By pacomama I'm really excited about going. I was just wondering if there will be big crowds. I was also wondering about which rides would be open.
Originally Posted By retlawfan I think this is the third year they've done this. The crowds have grown each year. And, with the Paramount's Great America Season Passes giving entry (or at least a discounted price), it may be crowded. I don't think all the rides will be open, but most will be. I think they have been vaugue on the details because they may open rides based on the crowd and staffing. So, Who knows? I'd go anyway. It'll be fun.
Originally Posted By RangerPooh Not to steal Bonfonte's thunder but for those of you who will be in the Gilroy area (I miss my home town ) during the christmas season might want to drive to downtown San Jose and check out Christmas in the Park. It runs in the evenings nightly through Christmas. It's very cute and loads of fun for the kids. And best of all it's FREE. It has animatronic figures scattered through this couple acre park filled with holiday themes and music. If I can recall correctly it even "snows".
Originally Posted By retlawfan And on Saturday, December 17th, at approximately 4pm, my daughter and her dance school will be performing at Christmas in the Park. Come and see(just make sure you leave me a seat).
Originally Posted By retlawfan The Holiday Parade (It's Christmas in the park, but they call it the Holiday Parade. Go figure) is December 4, 2005 according to the event website ( <a href="http://www.christmasinthepark.com/" target="_blank">http://www.christmasinthepark. com/</a> ) Now back to our regularly scheduled topic...
Originally Posted By retlawfan We're going tonight to Bonfante Gardens, if the rain stops. Anyone else planning on attending this season?
Originally Posted By pacomama I thought I'd post a little trip report now that I'm back. Cast of characters: Grandma & Grampa, ages 84 and 87 respectively Mom & Dad, ages 52 and 58 DH and me, ages 33 and 31 Saturday, Nov. 26. We arrived in Gilroy around 2:30pm and headed straight for our hotel (Forest Park Inn - mentioned on bonfantegardens.com.) It was nice and clean, 3 stories with an elevator and indoor corridors. We had a little problem with the room types they assigned us not being what we had originally requested, but it was taken care of with no hassle. The six of us piled into the mini van and headed to the park and saw the sign that said that the park opens at 4:00pm so we were a little early. I may have missed it on the web site, but I really didn’t see anything that said they opened at 4:00pm. Anyway, they let us park and we milled around outside the gates looking at some of the circus trees until about 3:30 when they started letting people inside. I guess I should mention that it was COLD there. There was a good stiff wind blowing and the temps hovered somewhere around 49 degrees, so we were bundled up pretty good. It was still light outside so the full effect of the entrance was lost on us, but it was still nice. This park has such a nice feel to it. One of the little gift shops was open so we walked around there and Mom bought some little Christmas necklaces for Grandma and me. Once the park officially opened, we headed toward the tables that had been set up for the meal check-in. You have to take a ticket to the table and get a colored wrist band that denotes which meal seating you’d like. There were three different seatings available starting at 5:00, 6:00 and 7:00. We opted for the first seating since we had skipped lunch. While we waited for dinner, we took the little train ride around the park. There’s kind of a goofy narration by Santa that is really geared toward small children, but it was still a nice ride. Again, since it was light out, some of the effect was lost on us, but even then you could tell that there were lights on just about everything. After the train, it was time to eat so we headed to the Snowflake Palace, which is a huge tent pretty much in the center of the park. The ceiling has white lights on it and there are a ton of tables and bench seats lined up. We chose a table near a heater then went to get the food. The meal consisted of dinner rolls, mashed potatoes, dressing, green beans, ham, and turkey. For those that didn’t want that, they had a little hot dog station set up. There was a stage toward the front of the tent and they had some live entertainment that included some of the park characters. Again, geared to small children, but it was still nice. After we ate, it was finally dark and we simply walked around and enjoyed looking at all the light displays. One of the things “Santa†had said during the train ride was that there were roasted marshmallows available. Mom is a huge marshmallow fan, so we found the little stand selling them. For $1.99 plus tax you get two Jet Puffed marshmallows on a skewer and temporary use of a bamboo pole. Put the marshmallows on the skewer and the skewer into the end of the pole, then lean over the counter to roast your marshmallows over the propane grill. You’ll have to decide yourself whether the experience was worth the $2.50. Besides the train, the only ride we went on was the South County Backroads cars because there was a “12 days of Christmas†light display. Think “Autopia†without gas pedals. It was a nice experience, but the track is very short. SCB has two “sides.†You can drive a 1920’s car, or a 1950’s car. We chose 1920’s, but the experience is pretty much the same on both sides. No need to do both as you get all 12 days no matter which one you choose. For the curious, most of the kiddie rides were open. Rides like the Rainbow boat ride, the two coasters, and the sky train were closed. <a href="http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=6o7uq7n.55mq153b&Uy=d6k9v0&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp" target="_blank">http://www.kodakgallery.com/Sh areLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=6o7uq7n.55mq153b&Uy=d6k9v0&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp</a>%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0 Here are some pics:
Originally Posted By pacomama Um, yeah. That link should have been after the "here are the pics thing."
Originally Posted By peeaanuut jayna and I were thinking of heading up there. A short drive to gilroy is not biggie for us. SHould be good photo fun.
Originally Posted By pacomama Nuut, bring a tripod! I was so wishing I had thought to bring mine. My photos would have been so much better.
