Bakersfield Christmas Town

Bakersfield Christmas Town is back at the Pioneer Village inside the KC Museum! Although they are not the original Christmas light display in town, it is nice to have another one in Bakersfield for families to enjoy during the holidays! When Bakersfield Christmas Town first opened its doors in 2013, they were at the Pioneer Village. The following year, the museum and the owners/operators of this event couldn't come up with an agreement to re-open at the same location so it was moved just outside the museum by the ball park. And later moved out to Rosedale where they have been prior to moving it back at the museum. To me, this is the best location to have Christmas Town... it just seem more appropriate to call it "Christmas Town" inside the museum because the Pioneer Village gives it that feel. The old buildings set up like a little Village inside the museum decorated with lights gives it that "Christmasy town" feeling. Christmas Town have different activities included in your general admission ticket. Everything inside is included except for Paintballs, food and drinks for purchase. We explored Christmas Town this year after the hustle and bustle of the holidays and it was a perfect night to go! There was a good crowd but not extremely busy and crowded. Lines were short and went quick. In some areas, there were no lines at all. Holly Jolly Hayride - a short loop around an area decorated with lights only viewable to those taking the hayride. The area is sectioned off for safety reasons. Not too bad but my kids said they liked the train ride at CALM's Holiday Lights better.Jingle Bell Sledding Hill - tubing down this "snow hill" was fun! It goes down really fast and the kids loved it. I think they have improved this sledding hill since they first had them. Seem much better than we last went (which was during their first year). Under the Mistletoe Skating Rink - not too bad for a "fake" ice rink outdoors. If you have skated on real ice before and loved it, you would probably hate this one. My kids didn't really like it and laughed about it the whole time. They had fun nonetheless.Santa's Cozy Cottage - my kids didn't go in to visit Santa but we were able to take a peek and see the cottage and the big man in a red suit from the door. I think families with younger kids would love this. Santa was a really good looking Santa (real beard and beautiful suit) and the cottage was set-up nicely for a photo op.Laser Tag Arena - this was fun as more people came to play. Also included in your general admission ticket. They had plenty of guns to use and didn't have long lines when we went so the kids were able to play as long as they wanted to.Christmas Train - my kids are too big to ride this little train but a cute addition for the little ones to enjoy.Jump Houses - again something for the little ones. My older kids didn't care about these but they had plenty of them around for kids to enjoy. Paintball Shooting Gallery - this is not included in your general admission ticket. It costs $10 for 100 balls and fun to do. You don't get shot at or get dirty with paintball. Your target is the Yeti or the Abominable Snowman.We didn't try any of the food available for purchase but we did buy a couple of hot chocolate to drink as we walk around. They were a bit on the pricey side for $3 on a large styrofoam cup. Overall experience was great and we would go back next year if it's at this location again in the future. I hope to see more lights next time though as some areas seem to look like it could use more lights... maybe light up the trees around too... I noticed that none of the trees in the museum were lit but the houses were and some pines trees brought in and set along the pathways were lit up. And I am not sure if they had more lights before the holidays or when they first opened and before the rain we had. I have seen some blow up decorations that were not up (either deflated or lights aren't working) as we walked around.

WOW!! This year Christmas Town went above and beyond my expectations especially with all the COVID restrictions and shut downs. The lights were SO beautiful and amazing!! The staff was very friendly and well organized. Tickets are purchased online ($25 plus a surcharge fee of like 0.62) you hop in a car line and they give you a wristband to put on your dash as you drive through the attraction. I arrived to the attraction at around 5:45 and the line was not too bad, but leaving the attraction I noticed the line was pretty backed up down the road.

The lights were less than decent and the drive thru was $30! There were no wow factors whatsoever, this is the worst Christmas lights I've been to!!! We spent more time paying at the booth than the duration of the drive thru lights themselves! We were actually shocked to see the exit sign so quickly, we all looked at each other like "that's it??!!?! This is the kern county fairgrounds location and it sucked! 100% do NOT recommend if I could give this zero stars I would, not worth it at all don't waste your money here guys go to the CALM lights

It's 20 dollars for the entrance. Very Friendly environment, Beautiful light show display. You get greeted by santa while taking a family photo. The ride last about 30 minutes. Very easy to find. My family and I will be going again next year

My family and I were super excited for the light show this year. We attended yesterday evening and didn't have that great of an experience. At the ticket booth they gave us a paper that shows us to tune in to 89.9 thinking "wow, the music is going to sync with the lights." Well, there was nothing but a buzzing sound throughout our drive through the light show. The kids were bummed about the music and didn't enjoy the full experience of you me light show. Towards the end of the drive thru, there was a young man with a light baton flagging us to exit. We informed him about the music not working and he got on his radio with his superior, a lady who he said was the manager. She said there was technical difficulties and it should be fixed shortly. We asked the young man if we could drive through it again as soon as the problem was fixed. He again asked the manager if we could do that and she exclaimed "NO! We are not a radio station, we are a light show" I asked to speak to a manager and the young man said she was the manager. I was surprised that the level of professionalism from a manager was so low and unwilling to help-not even an apology. I will spread the word about my family's experience on how we were treated. I will not return.

This event is not following state & CDC COVID-19 guidelines. The women who processed our ticket did not have a mask on. Employees could be seen gathered together without masks. It's disappointing. I want to support local business but you can't even do the bare minimum to protect guests and employees. Why should I support you if you won't protect me?

After waiting 3 hours almost. You would expect to be wowed. Half the lights didnt work in the beginning. It was very boring to say the least they had a whole year to work on lights. Also they had santa sitting in the dark in a chair at the end of the ride only reason why we noticed santa was because my head lights got turned on he looked depressed. I will not be coming back

Honestly, in my opinion this was a huge rip-off. I can see charging a small fee to enter but $30.00 is outrageous especially for small children. I came with family on a Saturday night who bought my ticket, so I had NO idea how much it was until I looked up the event after we attended. -The lights are pretty is about it, the 'ice rink' is NOT ice, its a hard plastic substance with water on it, we didn't see any guide-bars for the kids to use while out "skating". NO staff on the "ice" to watch for kids crashing that I saw. -There are electric cords laying on the ground which I did trip over, thankfully I did not go to the ground (I'm elderly-that could have been very bad if I did). I imagine OSHA has not inspected this event.-The kids I was with wanted hot chocolate, so their mom went over to wait in line, there was one lone girl at the booth, the line hardly moved, and it looked like she was opening individual packets of hot chocolate, pouring water in and stirring it up. Why not make a large batch and keep it warm in a slow cooker. Thankfully they did not see the cookie booth, a cookie was $2.00 -- again outrageous imho.-The Santa was a nice touch, and we did take our own photos instead of paying for one of theirs, so I have no idea how much a photo was. -We rode the tractor ride around the displays, I think a hot chocolate should have been handed out at the end of the ride as I've seen at other events.-If someone is an epileptic, they need to be mindful of the swirling lights upon exiting. -Like I originally stated the lights are pretty, this being said I think they should eliminate the extra stuff and make this a drive through event only charging no more than $10.00 per vehicle.*This is my personal opinion*

I would say it's overpriced for what you get. The ice skating rink was not real ice. It's just water on top of plastic. The lines were crazy long. The tube was super heavy when you climbed up the stairs. It's overall meh... I would skip it and go to CALM instead.

If I could give no stars I would just to leave the review. Ignore the star it's 0 stars. I paid 40 dollars for two including myself. It was the worst light show ever. It was my first time coming and I should have just went to CALM instead... if you plan on walking through like we did DO NOT waste your time. There is hardly any lights.