Busch Gardens Williamsburg Christmas Town 2023
- Thread starter horsesboy
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It will have a small live band but not the full orchestra that we have seen in the past. It will likely also have a sound track that the band plays to as a guess.
Pompeii's new lights can be synced to act as a giant video screen. The new show there is utilizing this feature. Sources that have seen it are currently giving mixed reviews. If you drive by on a closed night you may catch glimpses of practice for this.
I’ve loved Polar Pathway since it debuted at Christmas Town. It had a grand yet understated, almost haunting feel to it. But in the past few years, the display has felt increasingly phoned in by the park — fewer lights, haphazardly strewn strands, broken sections. As much as I loved Polar Pathway, I’ve been ready for something new.
The name “Spectacle of Lights” gives me pause though. It’s a painfully generic name, and it makes me concerned that, rather than come up with a thematically and tonally creative concept like Polar Pathway, the park has decided to just opt for an uninspired, balls-to-the-wall Christmas light show like you see on those home Christmas light contest TV shows. Hopefully I’m proven wrong and just reading too much into the name. Polar Pathway deserves a great replacement.
The name “Spectacle of Lights” gives me pause though. It’s a painfully generic name, and it makes me concerned that, rather than come up with a thematically and tonally creative concept like Polar Pathway, the park has decided to just opt for an uninspired, balls-to-the-wall Christmas light show like you see on those home Christmas light contest TV shows. Hopefully I’m proven wrong and just reading too much into the name. Polar Pathway deserves a great replacement.
Based on what I have heard and even personally seen be careful what you wish for.
To be fair to the park the lights used for Polar Pathway apparently went out of production right after the first year. A source familiar with the situation said the park went through and bought up as much remaining stock as they could when they learned of the situation and have been rationing those ever since trying to stretch them. Last year they reached the point where they didn't have enough left to stretch them for another year so a replacement was no longer something they could hold off
Sorry just the excitement that any bit of a concept I've thrown out there is becoming a reality is exciting.
It takes a lot of time to work on a light show, so year one may not be great if they had a later start.
Pompei could have probably just been done with projection mapping and call it day.
Christmas Town: Virginia's Largest Christmas Event - Busch Gardens
Enjoy heart-warming shows and holiday shopping amid the glow of more than ten million lights at Busch Gardens Christmas Town in Williamsburg, Virginia.
buschgardens.com
Re: Spectacle of Lights: That would explain the updated lights that are now installed on the ground in the water area of Pompeii. Noticed this weekend that they were no longer using net lights for that portion of the lighting. Many of you probably noticed last year those net lights were in desperate need of repair/replacement, as they weren't maintaining their shape and had quite a few dead spots by the end of the event.
I want to add that I was pleasantly surprised last weekend with the amount of work already happening in preparation for Christmas Town. Which is the exact opposite of what we saw with Howl-O-Scream preparation this year.
If they have the traditional Polar Pathway with the light show going on every 15 minutes or so, I really see it as a great improvement. If it’s just straight up moving light show the entire time, I can see it taking away from the serene and grand feeling that it has had in the past.
Sources familiar with Christmas Town prep have reported that we should expect a scaled down Christmas Town Express with fewer lights this year. Especially in the Festhaus Park area.
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Not sure but it doesn't sound like it for this year.
Looks like the full name is Polar Pathway: Spectacle of Lights. That gives me some hope that it’s really an upgraded Polar Pathway with a light show component, not just “Invasion of the Christmas lights!”
The last version of it was gorgeous.
I just don’t see them increasing the number of performers from last year. Celtic Fyre has something like 19-20 performers. The orchestra alone had that many……
I think Onto Us had about 11 or 13.
Unless they are going to leave Teatro empty. Which is a real possibility…..given that Abbey Stone sits empty at Holloween.
This won’t happen, but ideally Gloria would be great outdoors (Onto Us worked well there) since there is no dancing and something like Miracles indoors at Abbey Stone.
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