“Garden Lights, Holiday Nights”
Opens tonight. 5-10 p.m. daily, Saturday through Jan. 4 at Atlanta Botanical Garden. Admission Thursdays-Sundays ("peak" nights): $20; $14 ages 3-12; free under 3. Mondays-Wednesdays ("nonpeak" nights): $17; $11 ages 3-12. Advance tickets recommended. Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day are peak admission nights. Parking: $5. 1345 Piedmont Ave., Atlanta. 1-855-454-6849, www.tickets.atlantabotanicalgarden.org.
MORE HOLIDAY LIGHTS
Fantasy in Lights at Callaway Gardens. Take the Jolly Trolley or drive your personal vehicle through the 5-mile light show employing 8 million lights and featuring 15 larger-than-life holiday scenes in a woodland setting. Christmas Village offers 22,000 square feet of shopping and refreshments. Nov. 22 through Dec. 30 (with specialty theme-night previews through Nov. 21). $17 advance, $28 same day; $8.50-$14, children; under 5, free. Food, lodging packages available. 60 miles southwest of downtown Atlanta, intersection of Ga. 18/354, Pine Mountain. 1-800-225-5292, www.callaway gardens.com.
Gift of Lights at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Drive-through show route includes portions of the Speedway's racing surface for first time this year. Nov. 22 through Jan. 4. 6-9 p.m. Sundays-Thursdays, 6-10 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays and holidays. $15 per car Mondays-Thursdays, $20 Fridays-Sundays and holidays. 1500 Tara Place, Hampton. 770-946-4211, www.atlantamotorspeedway.com.
Holiday in Lights at Centennial Olympic Park. Walk amid thousands of lights illuminating the 21-acre park. Nov. 23 through Jan. 5. Open 7 a.m.-11 p.m. daily. Free. Ice skating rink, also opening Nov. 23, is $10 per person (includes skate rental). 4:30-10 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays (until 11 p.m. Fridays), 10 a.m.-11 p.m. Saturdays, 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Sundays. 404-223-4412, www.centennialpark.com.
Lights of Life at Life. Millions of light bulbs illuminate more than 100 displays dotting the 1.5-mile drive through Life University's campus. Nov. 28 through Dec. 31. 6-10 p.m. Sundays-Thursdays, 6-10:30 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays. Cars: $10 Fridays-Sundays and Nov. 28-Dec. 1, Dec. 20-25; $5 all other nights. Vans, buses: $20 nightly. 1269 Barclay Circle, Marietta. 678-331-4334, www.life.edu.
Magical Nights of Lights at Lake Lanier Islands Resort. Seven miles of lights illuminate Snowflake Bridge, 12 Days of Christmas scenes and more. Holiday Village offers shopping, snacks, visits with Santa. Also, there are pony rides, ice skating and other attractions. Through Dec. 31. Cars (up to nine passengers), $60; passenger vans (10-19 capacity), $90. Food, lodging packages available. Lake Lanier Islands Resort, 7000 Lanier Islands Parkway, Buford. 770-945-8787, www.lakelanierislands.com/mnol.
Season of Magic in Piedmont Park. Holiday lights decorate the park in this event, Nov. 24 through Jan. 5. Features horse-drawn carriage rides, 4-10:30 p.m. Thursdays-Sundays ($25; $20 ages 11 and under), carousel rides. 404-875-7275, www.piedmontpark.org.
Stone Mountain Christmas. Walk through Crossroads village, illuminated by 2 million lights. Admission includes five live holiday shows, railroad around the mountain, holiday parade winding through the village, with Snow Angel flying over Crossroads for the finale just before a fireworks display. Open Saturdays-Sundays and Nov. 25-29, Dec. 20-24 and Dec. 26-31 through Jan. 1 (closed Dec. 25). $28, adults; $22, children 3-11. Parking pass, $10. Book combo tickets (includes other park attractions) at the park website. 770-498-5690, www.stonemountainpark.com.
MORE HOLIDAY LIGHTS
Fantasy in Lights at Callaway Gardens. Take the Jolly Trolley or drive your personal vehicle through the 5-mile light show employing 8 million lights and featuring 15 larger-than-life holiday scenes in a woodland setting. Christmas Village offers 22,000 square feet of shopping and refreshments. Nov. 22 through Dec. 30 (with specialty theme-night previews through Nov. 21). $17 advance, $28 same day; $8.50-$14, children; under 5, free. Food, lodging packages available. 60 miles southwest of downtown Atlanta, intersection of Ga. 18/354, Pine Mountain. 1-800-225-5292, www.callaway gardens.com.
Gift of Lights at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Drive-through show route includes portions of the Speedway's racing surface for first time this year. Nov. 22 through Jan. 4. 6-9 p.m. Sundays-Thursdays, 6-10 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays and holidays. $15 per car Mondays-Thursdays, $20 Fridays-Sundays and holidays. 1500 Tara Place, Hampton. 770-946-4211, www.atlantamotorspeedway.com.
Holiday in Lights at Centennial Olympic Park. Walk amid thousands of lights illuminating the 21-acre park. Nov. 23 through Jan. 5. Open 7 a.m.-11 p.m. daily. Free. Ice skating rink, also opening Nov. 23, is $10 per person (includes skate rental). 4:30-10 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays (until 11 p.m. Fridays), 10 a.m.-11 p.m. Saturdays, 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Sundays. 404-223-4412, www.centennialpark.com.
Lights of Life at Life. Millions of light bulbs illuminate more than 100 displays dotting the 1.5-mile drive through Life University's campus. Nov. 28 through Dec. 31. 6-10 p.m. Sundays-Thursdays, 6-10:30 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays. Cars: $10 Fridays-Sundays and Nov. 28-Dec. 1, Dec. 20-25; $5 all other nights. Vans, buses: $20 nightly. 1269 Barclay Circle, Marietta. 678-331-4334, www.life.edu.
Magical Nights of Lights at Lake Lanier Islands Resort. Seven miles of lights illuminate Snowflake Bridge, 12 Days of Christmas scenes and more. Holiday Village offers shopping, snacks, visits with Santa. Also, there are pony rides, ice skating and other attractions. Through Dec. 31. Cars (up to nine passengers), $60; passenger vans (10-19 capacity), $90. Food, lodging packages available. Lake Lanier Islands Resort, 7000 Lanier Islands Parkway, Buford. 770-945-8787, www.lakelanierislands.com/mnol.
Season of Magic in Piedmont Park. Holiday lights decorate the park in this event, Nov. 24 through Jan. 5. Features horse-drawn carriage rides, 4-10:30 p.m. Thursdays-Sundays ($25; $20 ages 11 and under), carousel rides. 404-875-7275, www.piedmontpark.org.
Stone Mountain Christmas. Walk through Crossroads village, illuminated by 2 million lights. Admission includes five live holiday shows, railroad around the mountain, holiday parade winding through the village, with Snow Angel flying over Crossroads for the finale just before a fireworks display. Open Saturdays-Sundays and Nov. 25-29, Dec. 20-24 and Dec. 26-31 through Jan. 1 (closed Dec. 25). $28, adults; $22, children 3-11. Parking pass, $10. Book combo tickets (includes other park attractions) at the park website. 770-498-5690, www.stonemountainpark.com.
She cuts a sleek figure on a chilly autumn night, even if she is 25 feet tall.
Her tresses highlighted in violet, turquoise and white lights and her face spotlighted like a Hollywood starlet, Ice Goddess coolly presides over the flowing waterfalls and spurting fountains of the Atlanta Botanical Garden’s Cascades Garden, framed by a grove of white-lit Ice Trees.
Wait, you might say if you were one of more than 210,000 guests who attended the garden's hit summer exhibit, "Imaginary Worlds: Plants Larger Than Life." Wasn't the largest of that exhibit's topiary-like sculptures called Earth Goddess?
She was. That was then; this is now.
Stripped of greenery and wrapped in strings of thousands of tiny, glowing LED lights, the granola-cheeked earth girl has been transformed into the sexy star attraction of the garden's third annual holiday light show, "Garden Lights, Holiday Nights," which opens December 16.
The Atlanta Botanical Garden, which drew 106,000 and 165,000 in the first two years of its unconventionally arty holiday extravaganza, is banking heavily on Ice Goddess’s box office appeal.
This year’s show boasts 1.5 million lights electrifying 26 zones across the garden’s 30 acres, but Ice Goddess is by far the biggest addition to its grand illumination.
What else is new this year?
- The pair of giant cobras that stood guard beside the Alston Overlook during "Imaginary Worlds" also has been held over, transformed into Candy Cane Cobras.
- In the Edible Garden, a field of LED sunflowers has been replaced by bountiful corn plants.
- And the Orchestral Orbs (150 glowing fiberglass globes and spheres) on the Great Lawn now change hues to the beats of an updated soundtrack, including Cee Lo Green's "What Christmas Means to Me" and Pentatonix's "Carol of the Bells."
Atlanta Botanical Garden President and CEO Mary Pat Matheson said the Midtown attraction resisted the urge to extravagantly expand the show’s 52 miles of light strings into other areas.
“We want to be the best, the most beautiful, the most interactive and want something new for people to see every year,” Matheson said. “But we’re not getting exponentially bigger, because bigger is not always better, especially when it’s 35 degrees outside.”
Last year’s “Garden Lights, Holiday Nights” had a different issue with bigness, some metro residents may recall.
Days before Christmas, guests who had purchased discounted Groupon vouchers for “nonpeak” nights were upset after being turned away when the garden hit a self-imposed capacity of 4,500.
Garden officials noted that the fine print said the coupons could be redeemed only when tickets were available, but in an attempt to remedy the matter, they quickly expanded capacity to 5,500 nightly and added dates for the vouchers to be honored.
To avoid a repeat of unpleasantness this year, the garden has gotten out of the discounted coupon business and is emphasizing the wisdom of advance ticket purchases on its website and in publicity materials.
“We’re really intent in maintaining the quality of the experience, limiting the number of people who can come in on any given night,” Matheson said.
The capacity is set this year at 5,500 even on the busiest night, Christmas Eve.
“That’s a comfortable number to have from 5 to 10 o’clock. We can manage that,” Matheson said. “We want people to come and have a good time and have it be hassle free.”
To help the good times roll, the disco ball-lit Glow Bar opens at 8 nightly in the Edible Garden with a Lethal Rhythms DJ providing the soundtrack. And there will bars peddling hot beverages, cocktails and more throughout the garden.
MetroFresh will offer a dinner menu. S’mores will be available for roasting at a fire pit.
Matheson said she hopes that all that, under the autumn moon and framed by Midtown’s handsome skyline, will add up to a modest attendance bump without any other bumps.
“I think the fact that it isn’t a classic holiday light show with elves and things like that is what people are attracted to,” she said, motioning like a maestro to the Orchestral Orbs amid their rhythmic color change. “This is very sophisticated urban chic.”
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