Christmas Town USA

If you are traveling... call and research ahead of time. You will need to know the entrance that is allowing guests in. If you wait at another entrance police will make you turn around and wait again. This is a huge event. Wait total for us this trip bumper to bumper 2 hrs. I recommend to arrive at 4 PM early on (not the week of Christmas or before) and grab a bite to eat beforehand. After head in for the light show. Extravagant decoration on all of the houses. It is HUGE! Absolutely a Christmas town in USA. Many of the little shops are open for you to look in and get warm for a second. Churches open their doors for bathrooms. One offered a craft. All the fire stations gave away hot chocolate while walking. You can drive through or walk. It was such a magical evening. I recommend going. So worth it. You can take pictures on most porches :)

We must have lucked out because there was very little traffic during our visit last night. There were a ton of people! Many people were walking which I understood once we got into the town. Most of the area is blocked off to nonresidential traffic so you have to walk if you want see more than the short downtown strip and the main road through the neighborhood. What we could see was very well done, quite picturesque. In addition to decor they had places offering hot chocolate, tea and cotton candy. It has a lovely hometown feel.

Like most of you, we had heard about Christmas Town U.S.A.® - Mc Adenville, NC but were hesitant to visit because we were told of the horrendous line of cars vying to get into town. My wife had some vacation time that she had to use before year end so we decided to make the trek down. We left Winston Salem at 1:30 pm, yesterday, got there around 3:00 pm. We walked the the retail area of town, which is not very large but has a great gift shop, friendly bar and excellent restaurant. We bought some great and unique gifts at Mona's on Main Street. We then had spiced cider @ 115 Pub which was friendly and inviting and finally had dinner at Terra Mia, a wonderful Italian restaurant. While we were waiting for our table the lights in the town came on. Terra Mia is packed during December. It does not take reservations and while the menu is excellent because of the crowds it is a subset of their normal extensive menu. We were seated after a short wait, I had rigatoni alla vodka and my wife had chicken Marsala with spaghetti. Our waiter was friendly and professional and made a great recommendation for wine. After dinner we were amazed at how beautiful the town lights and displays were. I cannot fully describe how fabulous it is. We walked the length of town, around the lake and up the hill into the residential area. Everywhere we looked there were spectacular displays. The line of cars was extensive but kept moving. We took 80 plus pictures since every place was decorated. Kids were sticking their heads out of sun roofs and windows. Everyone was in a festive mood and Merry Christmas was echoing throughout town. We walked back to our car, pulled out into traffic, followed the line through a part of town we hadn't seen and drove home. It was a glorious day. If you decide to go, our plan worked well.

Will not ever do this again! The past two times we have been, we have waited in a line backed up well down the exit ramp onto I-85. After a 3+ hour wait to get in, by the time we got into the town, over half the lights were already turned off. SMFH! And this was on a week night, so if its this bad on a week night, I would hate to even think how bad it would be on a week-end night.Especially now that we have discovered the Villages Of Denver, which puts on a fantastic light show each year with almost the entire neighborhood participating! You will see all types of light displays from mild to extreme, plus there is no 3+ hour wait to get in!So if you live in or near Denver, visit the visit the Villages of Denver. You will have a much nicer, stress free experience and see much better light displays than the nightmare you will experience trying to get in to this so called Christmas Town USA!

Yikes.... It's not worth your time. The signage is terrible. We were stopped by police escort and told to turn left and follow the signs. Well, there were no other signs after that. The town definitely looks like a Hallmark movie town with the town hall, fire station, church, homes and shops all next to each other. Other than that, it's very much overhyped as far as the lights. I think walking would be a better experience than driving. I guess I was expecting extravagant light shows lol. It was none of that. Just cute homes with a few lights. My toddler ohh and ahh a few times so I guess that was worth it :)

While visiting NC, we found the most magical Christmas Town! A picturesque winter wonderland illuminated by so many lights it's worthy of a Hallmark movie. It really got us in the Christmas spirit. A half million lights, 1,000 residents, 250 evergreens, 100 decorated homes and an historic bell tower that chimes Christmas music throughout the town. Make sure you get there early!!! **I think the town could use some better event traffic direction and signage during this event and on their website. Is parking available? There should be more availability of public tours through town which may alleviate some of the traffic.

We are in the Christmas Spirit and I can't rate this lower than 4 due to the fact that it was a nice experience going through the town but getting there is a real pain in the neck and for that reason I take one star. The line of cars is about 1.5 miles long according to my GPS and it took us two hours to move because it is one lane on the right but the Johnny Come Lately's driving on the middle lane cut in our lane when they get close to the entrance and there are no cops enforcing so dumb me and 250 other cars have to pay the price. State troopers are only at the entrance to make sure there are no fights but they can care less what happens a mile and a half away. Lack of organization in this banana republic chaotic town and for that I should take another star but I can't in the Spirit of Christmas so 3.5 is correct as a whole.Now to the good part, the lights are fabulous and if it wasn't for the rain I would have gone back a second night on foot so as to not putting up with the abuse of pretty boys.Christmas Town and rightfully so because I have never seen so many lights in one place, I love the place and all the work that they do and on top of that having to put up with traffic. Santa put the cops to work and the elfs to direct traffic

We drove 4 hours (not traffic hours) literally 4 nonstop no holdup hours to come see the lights, have dinner, and spend the night. We came early on 12/26 at 4:15 so we could dine at the Italian restaurant knowing there would be a long wait plus time to dine. Came out to the dark and lights on. It was glorious! We walked and I 100% suggest walking though it is up and downhill. Handicap or mobility impaired need an electric wheelchair or someone with some muscles and stamina for a spot or two. There are streets closed off to thru traffic so the only way to see all the lights is by foot. Everyone was in such a great spirit. Many beautiful lights. This is not a light show but is a very pretty small town with many participants decorating. If you do the drive through you will not see everything but if your local that may be fine.

This has the fewest lights I've ever seen. Everyone in our car was disappointed. We waited until Christmas Eve to go. What was lit was nice but there wasn't much.

If you were fortunate enough to be around 30 years ago with far more traffic, you were able to see the magnificence of this town. Today their traffic direction is horrible, sat in line 1 hour coming off exit 22 and never made it halfway to the stop light. On top of that there was a train. It was far better when I was 18, nearly 40 years ago, and there were cars coming in from different entrance points. Even then it was not near as bad as what I experienced this year. Forest City, NC is a better destination especially if you have kids.