We checked out some of the wonderful Christmas Town offerings at Busch Gardens Tampa! Along with many amazing food and entertainment options, the holiday lights, meet ‘n greets and attractions made for a well-rounded event. Join us for a review of our experience:
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We just visited the park a few nights ago to get some coaster rides in, thus today we’re focusing on the event itself! With lots of consistent dispatches, I had to throw in some coaster shots. I think Cheetah Hunt is just so amazing to look at.
The tree-element is not something I ever thought we’d see again, however Happy Valley Nanjing added a similar coaster with the element. Will it be as pretty though?
Our personal favorite was looking quite good this evening, too! 
Today we’re going as a family, which means we get to explore all the animal trails and exhibits. Always a pleasure!
The family favorite is the Holly Jolly Express, which is all decked out for Christmas Town.
Coasters, trains, and holiday decorations <3
Due to the park’s closure earlier this year because of COVID-19, it had been since February that I rode the train. It really highlighted how neat the attraction is.
We also ventured through the chimpanzee and gorilla reserve at the front of the park which had the cutest theming for the holidays. 
I love details like this:
The park has quite an array of experiences that are offered only for Christmas Town. This includes a variety of meet ‘n greets like Rudolph!
It of course also means lots of holiday light installations! Loving the Iron Gwazi theme here! (If you came here for some awesome Iron Gwazi shots from this weekend, click here).
For a park this large putting on an event in this bizarre year, I was excited to see how much of the park was decorated.
Perhaps my favorite area is Christmas Town Village, where the event’s food festival takes place. And we all know I love some good food!
Before food, however, we had to try some of their awesome Christmas Town cocktails, ciders, and beers. The lineup of signature drinks was impressive. Our first two drinks were the Frozen Khalua Eggnog and a Frozen Granny Smith Fireball Jack Daniels cocktail! (I may be butchering these names. When you see the names of these drinks in person, you can’t miss them!)
This Red Velvet White Chocolate/ Milk Chocolate Cookie was to die for! We made a point of trying quite some deserts/baked delicacies because it just reminds me of the holidays.
The entire atmosphere at the Christmas Town Village was so fun:
Perhaps our biggest surprises food-wise were the Bison Burger and the Beer Cheese Soup. They were absolutely phenomenal. 
While in the area, we visited the event’s main show: Christmas on Ice! – Usually this show is presented inside, however, for social distancing it is now presented in the open air!
Figure skating/ ice shows are some of my favorite attractions during the holiday season. 
As I said, I love these pastries! This right here is the S’mores Brownie:
Before we leave Christmas Town Village, we’ll take a quick look at some of the elegant decorations found there:
Time to explore the rest of the park by night! We’ll start in Stanleyville!
We visited Christmas Town last year and I remember the ‘tiger print’ light designs for Tigris being some of my favorite experiences. I am glad they brought these back!
ALSO! If you have yet to ride the park’s newest coaster (Tigris), Christmas Town is a great time to do so! The coaster’s signature 150 ft. tall barrel roll is a delight at night. 
Stanleyville is also home to a icy-color scheme of lights:
From Stanleyville you can take a special pathway to Congo and Pantopia! 
This walkway is covered by lights and provides an ongoing lightshow!
Like everyone else in the tunnel, we had a blast:
I also recall really liking Penguin Point in Nairobi. Penguins just scream winter to me (even though these African penguins live in a warm climate). 
The area is home to real penguins, and not-so-real penguins that make for great photo ops!
The event is home to so many different lighting effects, including projection mapping, building projections, floor projections, etc. 
Near the Nairobi train station one can find a collection of animal hedges covered in lights. Make sure to check those out!
Meet ‘n Greets are socially distanced this year, but Sugar Plum Princess is looking as stylish as ever:
Pantopia is one of my favorite areas in the park because of the great theming, fun collection of family and thrill rides, etc. The holiday light installations make it even better!
Pantopia’s palm trees look particularly stylish at night:
Falcon’s Fury is one of the best drop rides in the world and is particularly entertaining when you get to admire Christmas Town from above. Definitely recommend riding at night!
Cheetah Hunt’s first turn circumnavigates this tree with the gorgeous lights suspended from its branches. It just screams Busch Gardens Tampa and I appreciate seeing all these touches of the park’s theme/atmosphere make it into decorations like these:
Alright Christmas Town! You were so much fun! We’ll make sure to come back again this holiday season for some more night rides and holiday lights!
Thank you for putting on this great event, Busch Gardens Tampa!
I hope you enjoyed our coverage of Christmas Town! We can all use a bright holiday season this year, and Busch Gardens Tampa is a great place to be! If you like our content and are looking to support our website, consider shopping on Shop Coaster Kings, or Shop Coaster Kings Europe this holiday season!
