Global Winter Wonderland

Am I late posting this review... YESWith that said do with this Information what you please as this event rolls back around. While I love a surprise different outing this place is meh at best. The lights are great and who doesn't love funnel cakes. But the costs gets high pretty quickly. From the parking fees, entrance, rides, vendors, and of course food this place is not a budget friendly outing. I would definitely go if you've never been and want to view the lights if you can park outside expo and skip the rides if you want to make it a more affordable jaunt.

I don't have much to say as a follow up review. I have posted about this winter experience previously, but my cousin who was visiting from the East Coast was really excited to check this out! For that, I was excited to show her a slice of Sacramento!!

An annual event for many, its been a couple years since I've visited but due to the covid pandemic we haven't really made it back out here. Fast forward to this year, our family planned a visit to check out Global Winter Wonderland this year which was branded as Imaginarium. While there had been changes in lighting displays I was surprised to see that there really wasn't many other changes. The pirate show was still similar and a lot of the little events around seem to be the same thing I had seen years prior. Of course there was changes of orientation of things such as ice skating there wasn't any exciting new features. There wasn't very many bathrooms and they were not very clean.We also had some issues getting in initially do to a misunderstanding on tickets. Apparently we were suppose to print children tickets for the free children entry but it was clear to the family member who bought are ticket. The staff would not let us in at gate check even though the ticket counters said we should be able to get in. Eventually we got them to finally talk to each other and they let our entire party in. I didn't really participate in the carnival rides or most of the food but for the most part I felt like it was an alright event but something I wouldn't visit annually.

We had seen an Ad and decided to go and experience it. If you like holiday lights you will enjoy it, they have a couple of displays, arcs, lighted gardens and a DJ playing in one area and holiday music playing in the other areas.It's perfect for people who like to take pictures.They charge 10.00 for parking, we got there at 4:45 on a Tuesday so there wasn't a lot of people. They charge an entrance fee and the rides are a separate fee. They have food vendors inside, they have mini donuts, cookies, Thai food, tacos and carnival food (Corn dogs, hot dogs, nachos etc.) They have carnival games and a couple of vendors. They also sell beer.It can get cold so make sure to bundle up.I saw pictures from last years and it looks like they had way more displays before.

My friends and I went to Global Winter Wonderland in December 2021. We purchased the General Admission of $24 pp. There was another option to add unlimited rides for $50 pp, I think. Parking was $12, so definitely carpool if you can! Parking isn't bad in price, but I don't think admission plus the parking was worth the experience.I thought Global Winter Wonderland was okay. There were lots of lights, food trucks, bar, carnival games, and carnival rides. When I first walked-in, I was definitely amazed to see all of the lights. But, when I think about it, the admission price is not worth it. The lights were not really Christmas/Holiday themed. It didn't give me a "Winter Wonderland" vibe. Also, it was pretty small. You can finish looking at the lights pretty quickly, unless you wanted to take advantage of the photo ops. Overall, if you plan to come here and eat, drink, play games, and ride rides... be prepared to spend lots of money! It was a good first time experience since I went with some good company but I probably wouldn't make the drive to Sacramento to come again.

It is a lot of fun but very pricey. Admission cost alone is expensive. With that price, I didn't want to go on rides or do any of the other add on activities such as Ice Skating or Laser Tag. The Ice Skating Rink is very small, by the way. Plus you have to pay to park there. We arrived right at opening and the line go get in did not move. We got in about a half hour later. We took a lot of pictures with the lights. There were a lot of cute fiber optic animals all around. They have a few bubble machines around the place (which looks like snow when it lands in a pile). There were different sections of lights. There was the rose garden, emojis, mushrooms, etc. The cool lights provide plenty of entertainment. We took so many photos! They didn't have a lot of vendors. We did go on the last day they were open, though. There were a couple shows included with the cost of admission. There was an aerial act that was about 20 minutes long. They had a small sitting area for the audience. The act was pirate themed. They walked (and ran) on a tightrope and went on this double spinning wheel.There was a balloon drop but because of the wind, the balloons went off to side. We thought about doing one ride, but you have to buy them from a kiosk which charges you $2 to use it... we skipped out on the rides. This event was a lot of fun, but due to the pricing of everything, we can't afford to go every year.

That was the most overrated, overpriced event. You can get the same IG backgrounds in many neighborhoods around us for free. Do NOT spend the money on this nonsense.

This 2021 Winter Wonderland is not even close to the previous years. I will say the Rose Garden is amazing, but the surrounding lights seemed very generic. Unlike previous years there weren't any TALL jaw dropping structures, most of the lights seemed very generic almost maze like. I would have loved to have seen some unique creative lights that didn't seem like pre-made stencils. There was ZERO live entertainment or special Xmas events. We were promised a balloon drop and waited, waited, waited, so we left to grab a snack hoping they'd announce it. When we got back...The balloons were gone, ended up purchasing an OVERpriced ballon for my kid.It was their first year post-Covid and I'm hoping they really step up their game next time because when you add it all up, it aint cheap.The carnival is the standard candy butler we all grew up with. Except now instead of tickets you have to pay $2 for a "game card," and load it with cash at $1/ticket. Most rides are 4-6 tickets, multiply that by 2 when accompanying a child.

Parents, if you think you're coming she a stress free evening - THINK AGAIN! Unless your entire family is in pairs THAT IS. We have 3 kids. 2 always went in pairs. The 3rd one got kicked off cause " they don't have a partner". Plan ahead IF YOU STILL COME. Take a cousin or something. Unlimited pass card - doesn't mean unlimited. You ABSOLUTELY have to switch it to a wristband or your card will run out of money shortly after. And when I say shortly - I mean 2 rides. Stupidly planned. Stupid staff that doesn't speak English. 1 staff says one thing while the other says completely something different. And the third says "no English". Merry Christmas you filthy animal.

I'm an employee. These shows are setup cheaply using cheap labor from china. In addition, there's no food or concessions at certain shows. There were cigars and nails littered the first 5 days of the show opening. It's a quick cash grab event meant to rip you off. The price is very high for very little experience. The owner has questionable business practices and runs a very poor ship. She does not trust her managers and micromanages everything yet provides no safety or cleaning equipment despite setting up her shows with recycled plywood anything she can quickly get her hands on. Don't work here unless you truly need quick money, don't buy tickets cause you have options to avoid paying $100 for 4 people iykwim.