This was fun, but probably not for the price. A group of us purchased VIP tickets, which included…read morethe dinner, an ornament, 2 drink tickets, a photo op, a tour of the museum, and VIP seating near the stage. The tickets were over $300 each, so keep that in mind as I list the pros and cons:
Pros:
-The entertainment was great! The singers, Frank Sinatra impersonators, and the orchestras were all amazing, and I loved it.
-There were some pretty decent scenes for taking photos. I appreciated their Christmas story setup in the front.
-The museum tour was nice. One of the volunteers was very knowledgable and passionate, he spent an hour taking us through all of the planes in the museum. I only wish he'd had a microphone, because we were going through all the same places that the other guests were, and especially near the stage, it was hard to hear him if you weren't standing very close.
Cons:
-Highly disorganized. We had to go back to the front twice, once because they didn't give us a VIP bracelet, and another because they didn't give us the drink or meal tickets that come with it. The VIP booth up front was using a list with names to check people in, and they almost didn't give us our ornaments because 2 people in our group checked in first, and they thought they had given all the ornaments in our group to those two people. They didn't have our table seat written down (we did though with our tickets), and they didn't know who was giving the museum tour. Seats at the tables weren't reserved, even though the tickets said that they were. There was a Christmas market that was scattered towards the back, and I felt bad for the vendors because half of them were in a well-trafficked area, and the other half were in the very back, and I would have had NO idea they were there if I hadn't done the museum tour. There was no signage that I could see letting people know that there were additional vendors. The balloons didn't drop at the New Year's toast, which was hilarious, but also probably avoidable.
-Very crowded. Not necessarily the number of people, but just the layout. The VIP tables were set VERY close to each other, with 12 seats at each circular table, so we were sitting elbow to elbow with other people that we didn't know. Trying to navigate between the tables to get to your seat was difficult without asking people to move. There were very long lines to get into the building, to check into the VIP area (likely because of the above), to take photos, to get drinks, to get food, etc. Lots of lines and narrow walking paths.
-Food was not worth the price. I see that the value of the meal is about $60--for that, you get ONE paper plate full of food through a buffet-style line that includes turkey, sirlon, mashed potatoes, green beans, cranberry sauce, rolls, and a salad. Dessert was a small mousse cup or a gingerbread cookie, but those were gone by 7pm. The food was okay, but not anywhere close to $60 per plate. This isn't on the event, because I looked at Biscuits and Berries' catering cost, and these meals were charged at cost. I'd recommend a different catering company!
-A lot of the features were overhyped. For example, the "free swing dance lesson" was a brief, 15 minute takeover of the stage by Mercury Cafe to teach every person who was on the dance floor a quick choreography. Fun, and a great advertisement for the business, but certainly not a dance lesson! The "Charles Dickens town" was a small fire pit outside the entrance with two classic cars parked, and the horse carriage ride was through the parking lot. The "Santa village" was a VERY small area amongst the planes with a narrow walking space to see Santa and take a photo with him. I believe that this isn't the regular venue where this event happens, and maybe they had trouble fitting everything into the space they had, but I do believe that with some better organization they could have made it work.
TL;DR: They had some really great things that were overshadowed by the high price and lack of organization.