When I want to get my family into the holiday spirit the first thing we do is go see Christmas Lights!  This year we started our Christmas Light adventures with a visit to Austin Trail of Lights.  This is our second year in a row going to see these lights and I feel like they just keep getting better.  It is possibly because our two year old seems to be at the perfect age to see these beautiful displays.  He was in awe the entire time and did not make a peep for the whole ride other than to say “Christmas Lights” over and over again and for anyone who knows my two year old knows that he is not one to stay quiet!  We have loved going to different drive through light shows for many years because we like to be able to enjoy the lights in the comfort of our own car. 

We booked a Friday night ticket at 7:00 p.m.  This is the earliest time available for the general admission vehicle passes and for us with our little guy we want to get there on the early side.  The one downside for many of these drive through light events is there is often a pretty long wait to get in.  I will say they were very efficient getting us checked in and in our lane, but we still had to wait about 25 minutes after we arrived to start going through the lights.  They have a video playing and music to listen to during your wait, but if you have little ones that get bored easily, plan to bring something to entertain them.  I brought a bag of chocolate covered pretzels to share with the family so my kids were happy until we were able to start our drive.  If you are really not a fan of waiting or if you would like to go a little earlier they do offer a Premium Vehicle Admission Pass that gives you a 5:45 p.m. early admission into the lights as well as a box of cookies and water bottles.  The price is a little higher than the general admission pass.  You can find the details on both ticket options here: https://austintrailoflights.org/ticket-types .  The prices also vary slightly depending on the day you decide to visit.

Once our wait was over the magic began.  One of the coolest setups of drive through lights are the light tunnels and there are three different tunnels along the Austin Trail of Lights.  The first one is right when you drive in.  They have you tune your radio to Trail of Lights radio to listen to music while you are driving through.  There are so many different displays to look at it is hard to see them all.  The nice part is there is usually a line of cars in front of you so you can drive slowly and take your time. This is the one time I don’t mind being stuck in traffic!  During the first half or so of the drive most of the lights are on the right hand side so if you have younger kids you may want to have them sit on the right side of your car so they can see everything.  There are Christmas decorations of all kinds such as Christmas Trees, a large globe, a glowing carriage, and everything in between.  One of the displays that we thought was really special was the emergency vehicles display which had an ambulance, fire truck, and electricity repair truck all covered in lights.  Many of the different sections are sponsored by different local companies so you get to see all different themes.  

A special surprise in the middle of the drive is you get to see Santa and Mrs. Claus.  Santa has a microphone on and is talking to all of the cars and waving as you drive by.  Towards the end of the drive they have all different cut outs of animated characters such as Charlie Brown and Friends (one of our favorites), Nemo, SpongeBob and so many more.  It is always fun to hear the kids get excited about their favorite character and then the drive finishes with one last tunnel.

There are a couple of important items to note that will help make your Austin Trail of Lights experience the best it can be:

1. They have very specific driving directions on how to get to the start of the lights.  Some roads may be shut down or do not get you to the correct starting point so it is important to follow their directions carefully.  You can find the directions on their FAQ Page (https://austintrailoflights.org/event-faqs) along with a lot of other useful information.
2. The only bathrooms available are port-o-potties that you can access before your drive begins.  Something to note about these bathrooms is that in order to access them you will have to walk through many lines of cars that are queued waiting to enter the lights.  The cars are parked, however it looked a little stressful to me when others were trying to get through the cars, so maybe try and have everyone use the bathroom at home before going to see the lights.
3. Once the trail of lights is complete you will exit right on to a regular road so make sure everyone is buckled up and safe.
4. Austin Trail of Light tickets do sell out so if you are interested in purchasing tickets I would recommend doing that sooner than later so you have a better chance of getting the day and time you prefer.  You can find all of dates available here: https://austintrailoflights.org/calendar

Austin Trail of Lights has become a new Christmas Tradition for my family.  It is such a special way to see so many lights and our kids really enjoy it.  Also, one thing that is extra special about the location of these particular lights is when you are driving in you can see downtown which is neat to see all of the tall buildings at night.  I hope you have the opportunity to get out and see all of the wonderful holiday offerings that Austin has to offer!