(Photo Courtesy of Universal Studios Hollywood)
Get your fix of holiday fun locally — at theme parks, theaters and more.
You can almost set your watch for the falling snow. At many of our favorite places in Orange, L.A. and San Diego counties, the fake stuff will be falling, eh, or blowing during the holidays like clockwork.
It’s pretty easy to stay right here in Southern California for the holiday season when you have good options, and this year, we’ve got a lot.
From theme parks to live theater to the festivals that stretch the idea of winter in sunny Southern California in fun, new ways, happy holidays can be had without even a trip to the local mountains, and we’ve compiled a list of places and events that can put some extra sparkle into your celebrations.
Theme Parks
Disneyland Resort
You can’t make a list like this without talking about the Disneyland and Disney California Adventure parks and the considerable resources they always bring to the holiday season. Sure, they’ve got their giant Christmas tree on Main Street, which is always a photo destination, but they’ve also created their own Festival of Holidays, a multi-cultural holiday smorgasbord of different themed food, live entertainment and special merchandise at California Adventure.
Disney has embraced a new role as a foodie destination and each year the Festival of Holidays features fusions of new and traditional dishes that are sharable for a family, but also easy to eat. This year’s collection includes the turkey galantine croissant muffin slider, the chorizo queso fundido mac & cheese, drinks like the passion fruit rose lassi and the cafe de olla cold brew, and desserts like the Mickey-shaped gingerbread cookie.
Live entertainment includes more than 20 live bands and dance groups, with an extensive range of genres, including mariachi, jazz, klezmer, Latin pop, jazz fusion, reggae and polka. There are also dance acts and shows like “Mirabel’s Gifts of the Season,” “¡Viva Navidad! Street Party,” Holiday Toy Drummers and “A Musical Christmas with Mariachi Alegría de Disneyland & Miguel!”
Other holiday festivities across the plaza at Disneyland include Holiday Fun with Santa and Friends, where guests can meet Santa and Disney characters at Fantasyland Theatre, the Christmas Fantasy Parade and “Believe…In Holiday Magic” Fireworks Spectacular.
While you’re at Disneyland, put on a poncho — seriously, don’t forget the poncho — and ride the new Tiana’s Bayou Adventure (on what was formerly Splash Mountain). But more on that later…
Knott’s Berry Farm
‘Tis the Season Tree Lighting Ceremony kicks off every evening at Walt and Cordelia’s old farm. And while the (artificial) snow gently falls on the streets of Ghost Town, visitors can hear the sound of carolers nearby as they make their way over to Santa’s Christmas Cabin for a visit with Saint Nick. Or they can head to the Bird Cage Theatre for the Charles Dickens-inspired “A Calico Christmas Carol” or O. Henry-inspired “The Gift of the Magi, 1885.”
Knott’s Berry Farm started out as an actual farm and built its reputation on great homemade cooking, so food still has a homey, comfortable appeal during the holidays at Knott’s where visitors can get their fill of the turkey ball, the lightly breaded — and returning KBF favorite — filled with turkey, seasoned stuffing and cranberry sauce.
Christmas Crafts Village also returns with local artisans selling their handmade gifts, including chainsaw wood carvings and glass blowing.
After catching a few other shows, riding a few rides and loading up on turkey balls, the Walter Knott Theater features another KBF fan favorite, “Snoopy’s Night Before Christmas.” The ice-skating show includes a Peanuts-style retelling of the classic poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas.”
Legoland
The park’s 35-foot-tall Lego Christmas tree invites guests in, but the Elf Training Academy is where visitors can learn how to become an elf and take “elfies” with Elf characters and a Lego Santa. Each Saturday evening concludes with a fireworks display through Dec. 21, then nightly through Dec. 30.
SeaWorld San Diego
The park’s new Christmas parade will run through the seasonally festooned grounds featuring a Christmas tree lighting and Christmas songs programmed to the movement of multiple lighting designs in certain areas of the park. The Donner and Blitzen’s Lazer Light Show runs nightly at the front of the park and a fireworks show on Dec. 14 and 31.
Beginning Dec. 1, SeaWorld will also present a Hanukkah display celebrating the Jewish holiday. Visitors can enjoy a menorah lighting, holiday decor and Hanukkah music.
Universal Studios Hollywood
You can spend your holiday season with the Grinch and Harry Potter at Universal. Photo ops with the Grinch and his dog, Max, can lead you to storytime with Cindy-Lou Who, and in Hogsmeade, you can hear the Frog’s Choir perform holiday tunes a cappella while you sip a cup of butterbeer. Or you can wait until evening when The Magic of Christmas at Hogwarts brings a light projection show against the castle.
Sesame Place
A Christmas meal is on the menu with Elmo and friends, but also plenty of photo ops, a parade and shows, and multiple scavenger hunts are afoot at Sesame Place San Diego.
Live Entertainment
South Coast Repertory
South Coast Repertory’s production of “A Christmas Carol” will make its 44th holiday run and founding company member Richard Doyle returns as Ebenezer Scrooge. The classic tale has now become its own local tradition “in part because the artists performing on our stage are all members of our community,” says company Managing Director Suzanne Appel. “The young people performing have been taking classes in our conservatory. Who knows, our audiences could witness an early performance of the next [famous alumni] Pedro Pascal, Zachary Prince or Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Sanaz Toossi.”
Maverick Theater
“Santa Claus Conquers the Martians” is an unusual holiday treat, but even with its edge, it is a treat that can be shared by the whole family. A wild and partly ad-libbed production, each performance creates a memorable one-night-only kind of experience that has made the popular show its own sort of cult tradition.
“Because the Maverick is such an intimate theater experience, ‘Santa Claus Conquers the Martians’ is completely different from any other holiday stage production,” says Maverick Theater founder and production Director Brian Newell. “It’s got nothing to do with the wacky storyline and everything to do with the performances and the style of the show that make the audience feel a part of it. That’s why they come back year after year.”
Pirates Dinner Adventure
At the Buena Park dinner theater, the pirates take Santa and Mrs. Claus. Only you and your family, and a three-course meal, can help save them. Expect a lot of cheering, action, music, acrobatics and a bit of audience involvement.
“The Nutcracker”
Tchaikovsky’s classic ballet has dueling productions in December. One production features a full-length traditional production presented by Festival Ballet Theatre at the Irvine Barclay Theatre, which also features a specially decorated lobby and Nutcracker boutique. The other production will be presented by the American Ballet Theatre and performed to a live score by the Pacific Symphony Orchestra at Segerstrom Center for the Arts.
Festivals
The Queen Mary
Each day of the 12 Days of Christmas festival on board the historic ship features merry-making activities like cookie decorating, gingerbread house building and live performances, dance parties and photos with Santa, but will also include a unique event, from the Lighting of the Stacks Ceremony to Krampus After Dark and a Snow Day with real snow.
49th Annual Boat Parade of Lights
The popular annual Boat Parade of Lights returns for its 49th running and features the theme “Santa’s Seaside Carnival.” The best decked out boats can win $10,000 in cash prizes. But if you don’t have a boat, you can book a boat parade cruise from Dana Wharf Sportfishing & Whale Watching or Captain Dave’s or watch from Dana Point Harbor.
Winter Fest OC
This is the festival that really brings the winter to SoCal. With a huge outdoor ice skating rink, an 8,000-square-foot real snow play area and a 150-foot ice tubing slide, a winter wonderland happens at the OC Fair & Event Center. There is also immersive experiences, more than 50 carnival rides, games and attractions, holiday-themed photo ops, seasonal food and drinks, and a holiday light show.
Tiana’s Bayou Adventure
The first drop hits like a bucket of water to the face. Because of a poncho I was quick to put on at the entrance to the new ride, it’s only my face and hands dripping. Still one big drop to go.
All this water in the face isn’t exactly new, just the theme it runs through. Built on the bones of the former long-running Splash Mountain attraction, the newly christened Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is based on the popular 2009 Disney animated movie, “The Princess and the Frog.”
Don’t let the movie fool you, riders got wet on Splash Mountain and they’re gonna get wet on Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. So until May, put on the poncho.
But splashing around next to the Haunted Mansion is the newest attraction, and it’s more than a re-telling of the film — it’s actually its own separate tale using a lot of the new tech visitors have seen on other newer attractions. Riders board a log flume to join Tiana and her alligator friend, Louis, on a trip through the bayou in search of a band for her Mardi Gras soiree. The ride joins the Tiana’s Palace restaurant and three themed retail shops.
(Photo by Jessica Peralta)
“We felt like Tiana is a very special princess. She’s unique in many ways and we wanted her to be front and center,” says Charita Carter, executive creative producer for Walt Disney Imagineering, who previously helped design Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway in Mickey’s Toontown. “The other thing is we wanted our guests on the attraction to feel like Tiana was talking to them, so there was a connection. Then, the fact that she hails from a real place, New Orleans, it was extremely important we get that right. We spent a lot of time making sure we were being authentic to what we experienced in New Orleans. That was our true north.”
But beyond the character and representation, the importance of depicting a real American city required a different approach.
“It’s the first attraction I’ve worked on where it wasn’t a fantastical place,” Carter says. “We got to talk to real people. It was more unique and a privilege and a lot of fun to be able to have those connections.”
And an educational factor lies through Tiana’s corner of New Orleans Square.
“Walt, when he was building the park, he loved knowledge. He loved information,” she says. “He wanted to expose guests to new things, so they would have that curiosity. We never do it in a didactic way, it’s always through our storytelling.”
By Shawn Price
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