The 20 Best Holiday Light Displays in the US to Take Your Kids to This Year

Texas's coolest light display is located at the Austin Trail of Lights, open Dec. 10 to 23. The event features a performance stage, light tunnel, and 30 food trucks, as well as 60-plus displays, including decorated dinosaurs and a massive jackalope, including roughly 2 million lights. The Trail of Lights has been attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors since 1965 and has only gotten bigger, better, and cooler.

Oglebay's Festival of Lights stretches over 300 acres at the Wheeling, West Virginia, resort from Nov. 9 to Jan. 1. Drive the six miles or take a trolley to see the 90 lighted attractions (featuring more than 1 million lights), including light tunnels, animated snowflakes, princesses, Peanuts characters, and a depiction of "The 12 Days of Christmas." Kids will love the festivals 3D "Sleigh-Bans," holographic eye wear that transforms every point of light into a magical display.

Taking place from Nov. 23 to Dec. 31, Illuminations at Botanica Wichita Gardens features more than 2 million lights, live music, hot cocoa, and carolers. Every garden area is transformed into a different themed holiday display or uniquely lit botanical setting, Santa is available to take pictures, and the Children's Garden is lit with monster trees, fairy lights, and fun holiday creatures.

Albuquerque's ABQ BioPark's River of Lights, which runs from Nov. 30 to Dec. 23, features millions of twinkling lights and more than 500 dazzling holiday displays. Kids will also love the Polar Bear Express, a magical, nighttime experience complete with a ride on the Rio Line Train, a meeting with Santa, hot cocoa, and sweet treats.

Located in Mobile County, Alabama, Bellingrath Garden and Home's Magic Christmas Lights is celebrating its 23rd year in 2018. Walk through a light display that features more than 3 million lights and 15 scenes containing more than 1,000 pieces throughout the 65-acre estate. Also check out nightly choral performances and hot chocolate served on the Live Oak Plaza.

On from Nov. 23 through Jan. 6, Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo is transformed for ZooLights, which features luminous displays and fun, family-friendly seasonal activities under the glow of 2.5 million lights. Take photos with Santa (through Dec. 23); check out live ice-sculpture carving, strolling carolers, and musical light shows; then ride the carousel, train, or Ferris wheel.

Hartford, Connecticut's Holiday Light Fantasia is a driveable two-mile show, which transforms the town's Goodwin Park into a Winter wonderland with more than 1 million lights. Check out holiday scenes and classic characters in larger-than-life and 200 individual displays, celebrating Christmas, Hanukkah, and New Years, from Nov. 22 to Jan. 1.

Located at MEGA Cavern, a 17-mile-long system of underground caves, Lights Under Louisville is a sparkling drive-through light show that features more than 850 lit characters and 2 million lights installed throughout a mile of tunnels. The only underground light show in the country, the event features displays of holiday characters and scenes along the 30-minute drive.

New Orleans City Park's Celebration in the Oaks attracts more than 165,000 visitors a year, all of whom come to see the park's famous oaks covered in hundreds of thousands of twinkling lights. Kids will love the dazzling light displays scattered throughout the 25 acres of the park, all open between Nov. 23 and Jan. 1.

Visit Descanso Gardens in La Cañada Flintridge, California (about 20 minutes from downtown Los Angeles) for Enchanted Forest of Light from Nov. 18 to Jan. 6. The one-mile walk takes guests on an adventure through large-scale light displays and interactive installations, including the popular Flower Power, a blanket of illuminated tulips.

ZooLights at the Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington, D.C. runs from Nov. 23 to Jan. 1, and features more than 500,000 environmentally-friendly LED lights that transform the zoo into a Winter wonderland. Kids will love the light-up animals; the Zoo Choo-Choo, a trackless train that whisks guests around the Great Cats exhibit and features gorgeous views of the holiday light displays; and snow-less tubing on 150-foot long tracks that don't require snow to go.

America's largest walk-through lighting display is located in Duluth, Minnesota at Bentleyville. Open Nov. 17 to Dec. 26, the light show features 4 million lights spread over the park's 20 acres. Give yourself about 30 minutes to walk through (or an hour if you also plan on visiting Santa), and dress warmly. Minnesota Winters are notoriously cold, but guests can warm up at one of the 15 fire pits located throughout the park, then enjoy hot cocoa, cookies, popcorn, and roasted marshmallows.

Silver Dollar City's annual Old Time Christmas features more than 6.5 million lights and 1,000 Christmas trees, including a five-story tree featuring special effects. Plan your visit (the festival goes from Nov. 3 to Dec. 30) around the nightly Rudolph's Holly Jolly Christmas Light Parade, which includes nine musical floats and 45 costumed characters, and a trip on the Frisco Silver Dollar Sing-Along Steam Train, which takes passengers on a musical journey through the Ozark Mountain countryside.

Opryland turns into a Winter wonderland from Nov. 9 to Jan. 1 with A Country Christmas, featuring 2 million twinkling lights, acres of decorations, and ICE! featuring Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas, an indoor playground made with 2 million pounds of ice. Stay at the resort this year to also check out the brand new SoundWaves, a luxury indoor and outdoor water park, opening Dec. 1.

At Hershey Park's yearly Christmas Candylane, running from Nov. 16 to Jan. 1, holiday experiences abound (holiday-themed rides and roller coasters, visits with Santa), but it's Sweet Lights that will really get your family in the spirit. Check out nearly 600 illuminated, animated displays from the comfort of your car as you drive through two miles of wooded trails.

Of course a place called Santa Claus has an awesome holiday display, and the Land of Lights in this town (one hour west of Louisville, Kentucky) is just that. The drive-through light display tells the story of Rudolph in brilliant LED lights Nov. 22 through Dec. 30. The 11 giant Rudolph story scenes reach as high as 30 feet and are wider than 100 feet.

Disney World goes all out for the holidays throughout the parks, resorts, and grounds, but the piece de resistance of Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party is the nightly Holiday Wishes fireworks show. The show, hosted by Jiminy Cricket, features pyrotechnics, Cinderella Castle's Frozen transformation, holiday-themed projection effects, and classic holiday songs.

The largest holiday light display in the Pacific Northwest, The Lights of Christmas takes place in Stanwood, Washington from Nov. 29 to Dec. 29. Spread over 15 acres, the festival features more than 1 million lights, along with live entertainment, kid-friendly activities (Santa visits and rides on the Polar Express), holiday shopping, and more. Families can even stay overnight in holiday-themed lodges.

Located about 30 minutes west of Chicago, Morton Arboretum's Illumination, running from Nov. 16 to Jan. 1, combines nature and holiday lights in an incredible one-mile walking path. Families can hug a tree to see how it responds, let star-like lights wash over them in a grove of trees, and watch multicolored lights dance to music. Too cold for you? Warm up by a crackling fire with a cozy drink or roast marshmallows for s'mores.

Atlanta Botanical Garden's Garden Lights, Holiday Nights runs from Nov. 17 to Jan. 6, and turns nature into a holiday spectacle. See exhibits like Ice Goddess, Tunnel of Light, Orchestral Orbs, Radiant Rainforest, and last year's new favorite Nature's Wonders, which features 1,600 strands of more than 70,000 color-changing LED lights choreographed to music and motion.