# 13 - Christmas Town

I have been looking forward to going to Christmas Town for months! I found out about it around July or August and have been anxiously awaiting when we could go. Christmas Town is in Busch Gardens in Williamsburg. This is the first time they have done this and we are so glad we were here for its debut. Judging from the crowds it will definitely be something they do every year. Wish you all were here and could come see it for yourselves!

Just a short description from their site online - Experience the park in a whole new light with all-new attractions, dazzling shows and one-of-a-kind gift ideas that will make everyone say, “Now this is Christmas.” Gaze at more than a million twinkling lights while enjoying hot chocolate and fresh-baked Christmas cookies. Experience includes a visit to Santa’s workshop and to the parks’ 45-foot tall, light-animated Christmas tree.



Excited to head out the door sporting the new birthday gift from my parents - my now beloved white vest! :) Lorelei thinking "Isn't this my nap time people?" Unfortunately we had an odd schedule today because Lorelei was very cranky this morning, so we put her down for an early nap. I put her down a bit early another day this week and she still slept the two hours, so we hoped it would happen again. Well, this time no such luck. So we had a girl who got a half-hour power nap, therefore DID NOT fall asleep for an afternoon nap on the drive to Williamsburg as we had hoped...yep, definitely had a major melt down by bedtime at the park...but we'll get to that later.



Had to take this video for my sister...so glad tourist season is not all year long! Sorry for the length, Brad wanted the full effect of going INTO the tunnel. :)



Brad and Lorelei about to head inside. She was excited to be walking around when we got there and even said "cheese" for me in this picture. Love it!



Took a video to give you an idea how it looked. This is the perfect place for them to have this because it feels like Santa's village right when you walk in! This was technically "England" though, not the North Pole. :)

Outside the theater for A Sesame Street Christmas! How exciting! We made sure to do the first show and even got there plenty early for some great seats. Right before they started letting us in I told her "You are going to see Elmo!" and she was excited saying "Mo! Mo!"

And then...Lorelei meets Elmo... :)






As you can see she was instantly excited but still a bit shy. Guess that's how we would all be meeting our favorite movie star right? :) Elmo was WONDERFUL with her and she loved getting tickled. She even blew him a kiss leaving. Then after we walked away the first time, she must have decided he was okay because she walked back over to him. Thankfully we were early enough there were not other kids in line yet. She walked right up and sat down next to him and had no intentions of leaving. She loved it. We had trouble getting pictures because of the lighting but still got a few. The other humorous part we wish we could have gotten a picture of was that her hair was staticky from the hat she had on, and Elmo had some fun playing with that! :) She did wave goodbye because there were other kids in line, but would have stayed all day. :)

The show was wonderful as well...








A small glimpse of it for you. They dance and sing so much how can a child not keep entertained? They even made it snow in the theater! Great great great.


Then we got to enjoy the rest of Busch Gardens...we waited in line to see the live penguins...this was the only big disappointment... a few penguins in a very small box. Not worth the time in line, but who knew? The fake penguins were really the most exciting because they moved more than the real ones. :)









Then we headed to the North Pole. They had a wonderful window to see some reindeer and elves, and then also a window to watch Santa as well. It looked like a fun workshop to visit but we decided to forgo a second attempt at a visit, especially not wanting to wait in a long line in the cold.

By then we had a very unhappy girl who was tired and hungry. We figured if she was not falling asleep in the stroller so we had better find some food! By then the crowds were insane so we went inside whatever building we could find so that we didn't have to just give her a pretzel from a vendor. This building was decorated BEAUTIFULLY as you can sort of see in the picture...it was more packed than a mall the day before Christmas but we eventually found seats. Then Lorelei didn't even want to eat. Thankfully there was an amazing show that started a few minutes later that kept her very entertained so we could take shifts eating ourselves. She is really enjoying mimicking the way others move, so was moving her arms similar to the way the dancers were doing as the performed. They even had a visit from frosty and some toy soldiers. The other amazing part of the show was that the musicians playing the music actually walked up where the Christmas tree is in the middle there and sat down around it. Then that stage with the tree and musicians went up to the top where you see the curtains begin and they played from up there while the dancers would go on the stage below them. So cool. :) At least the price of the food was a bit more bearable when it included entertainment we hadn't even expected. We were also glad we had beat the crowd because there was a huge line waiting to get in as we left.

Here is Brad with Lorelei in front of the HUGE tree they had. Then we ran into a gift shop because Lorelei finally crashed and we figured we had it made and could take our time heading back because she would be asleep. WRONG. She woke up and then proceeded to scream the entire walk back to the entrance. The other sad thing was that we could not take the train ride around the park because of this...very bummed but oh well!











Then caught some carolers on the way out which actually seemed to help her stop crying. :) I guess we should have asked them to take the train with us. :)

We had a great time and are so thankful we were in the area to be able to experience this. :) What an adventurous life this little 15 month old has already had. :) We are so blessed.