Fantasy in Lights at Calloway was a beautiful step back in time. We went December 4th with out church group and had a great time together. Although raining, we were under cover most of our visit. We started off in Calloway's Christmas Village, which was a walk through collection of shops, offering Christmas decor, gifts, face painting, story time with Mrs Claus and hot cocoa and Donuts. Our group was scheduled for the light tour at 7pm and when we checked in, Calloway was able to take our group at 6pm. The light tour was a 7-mile, 10-million-light drive-through show. We went through the light show in the open cars driven by Calloway staff, but apparently visitors are welcome to drive their own vehicles through. It was a lot of fun - and my favorite lights were those of the beautiful swan from the twelve days of Christmas, and the tree next to the lake at the end of our drive. Simply beautiful! Anyone would like this who enjoys seeing Christmas lights, (who can also walk some distance) and who can be flexible when needed. read more

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First time checking this out with family. Such a cool experience to drive around then walk around and see lights. For the most this is the favorite family traditions for Christmas and New Year times seeing lights and enjoying. If you haven't given it a chance, you must go see the lights. We did the drive through because it was cold when we were there, but the trolley is a great experience also. Will try it next time for sure. Overall it was a good time and I highly recommend coming with family and friends. You drive about an hour slowly around the grounds and see so many lights that play with music. Afterwards, you park and can get out and explore a large area with festival food trucks, more lights in a walking path, glow mini golf, a giant projector playing rudolf the red nose reindeer, and a giant tent with areas to take cute photos, face painting, Christmas Tree with lights and shop for gifts. The smoke bubbles were so cool in foggy hallow. Great for kids. Would definitely come back next year. Callaway Gardens Fantasy In Lights has been ranked third on Forbes list of 7 Spectacular Christmas Light Displays That Offer Holiday Magic 2024. Recognized for its breathtaking displays, millions of twinkling lights, and festive charm, Fantasy In Lights continues to spread holiday joy and create unforgettable memories for all ages. Don't miss your chance to experience one of the nation's top Christmas light shows this season. read more

Fantasy In Lights - Botanical Gardens Near Me - Pine Mountain, Georgia

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Long lines and wayyyy too expensive. $40 per person for you to drive yourself?? Crazy talk! Definitely do not recommend this. Save your money and buy presents instead! read more

An slow, winding hour drive through an amazing light show! Tickets were pricey: $20 per person, not too family friendly (kids were cheaper). There was a trolley tour available as well. read more

We've been going there for 14 years as a family tradition every Christmas! This year was the best yet! read more

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This place is VERY misleading. The website describes it as this "magical" light show and its average at best. It's a 7 mile long ride of scattered lights. Certainly NOT worth the price. We were highly disappointed. Drove 2.5 hours one-way to wait in line over an hour, get on a trolly and see a very disappointing show. The best thing is the giant Christmas tree that's lit up at the end. Otherwise be prepared to be sadly underwhelmed and oversold with what they have to offer. read more

11/19/23 Absolutely awful experience going here if you have a service dog! They will not allow your service dog on the train! Even after being informed that it is against the law to deny access and presented multiple employees and security with an ADA rights card, they did not want to allow the service dog to accompany a fully disabled Army veteran. After telling our group stand to the side while waiting for a manager to come, security came instead. He/ security, stated he did not care to discuss or comment on what we were explaining the law was and said he would allow us on the back of the trolly away from the rest of the public on there. They even had 2 rows of people in front of us get off and had them go to a different trolly. Absolutely disgusted with the lack of knowledge/training regarding the LAWS regarding a service animal! Calloway Gardens should be ashamed of themselves! read more

Fantasy In Lights - Made the 2 rows in front of us get off and onto another trolly! - Botanical Gardens Near Me - Pine Mountain, Georgia

We have been coming to Callaway lights for 10 years. Every year there are less and less vendors in the village. This year there were less food vendors outside and less lights to walk through. We waited in the carline over an hour and a half Before getting to the lights!! Cost going up and services and experiences getting worse. I'm not sure that we will be back. read more

The way they do lines for the trolley is ridiculous. The line goes into a tent and snakes back and forth but the ropes are 5 people wide so there is all sorts of cutting which makes the long line even worse. Not to mention we got in line at 8:25 and we made it to the trolleys around 9:25. If we hadn't got in line early we probably would've missed our ticket time. read more

Went last evening! It seems like nothing has changed over the years. Cool show, but the food is outrageously expensive and absolutely COLD. We were served cold tacos, taquitos (hard as a rock and cold)!!! The funnel cake vendor could care less, lol. The funnel cake MUST have sitting and NOT EVEN under a food lamp!! Cold, hard and tasteless. Go for the lights and definitely NOT the food. It was raining last evening, and unfortunately they do not have a covered terrace and/or courtyard to enjoy the food (IF the food was even prepared fresh and good). Moving forward, I'll pass. Good luck - read more

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Maybe Disney has spoiled us. I wasn't too entirely impressed with the light, as most of it seems pretty dated. I give the 3rd star because we were able to enjoy the gardens the next day as part of our admission to see the lights. The Santa Village has a lot of space for it to become something much more than it was, or maybe things are different now because of social distancing. It would've been great if there were areas that were "worthy for the gram"... Instagram that is... It does take about an hour to drive through, I'm just glad we were in our heated car and not the cold trolley. 8 million lights and 16 sections... but it still felt like it was missing a lot especially with how large the place is... Probably a one and done for us. I'd probably come back if they charged by the car, and not by the person. read more

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We have gone to Fantasy in Lights several years in a row, however, this year when my family got ready to board the Trolley we were told that my father (who is a 100% disabled Veteran) could not bring his ADA certified service dog on board, despite that Callaway Garden's website clearly states that service animals are accommodated. This was the first violation of ADA law that occurred. "Under the ADA, State and local governments, businesses, and nonprofit organizations that serve the public generally must allow service animals to accompany people with disabilities in all areas of the facility where the public is allowed to go." We have brought him on in the past without issues, which we tried to explain as well as the ADA service animal rights and were able to provide documentation showing his certification, which according to the law is not required to be presented. "When it is not obvious what service an animal provides, only limited inquiries are allowed. Staff may ask two questions: (1) is the dog a service animal required because of a disability, and (2) what work or task has the dog been trained to perform. Staff cannot ask about the person's disability, require medical documentation, require a special identification card or training documentation for the dog, or ask that the dog demonstrate its ability to perform the work or task." We were asked to step aside and then tried to speak to a manager but instead they sent security. The security officer we spoke with was incredibly rude and dismissive and offered for us to get on a separate trolley. We accepted, but they then proceeded to make everyone in the two rows ahead of us get off the trolley and on to a different one. This is against ADA federal and GA state law. "People with disabilities who use service animals cannot be isolated from other patrons, treated less favorably than other patrons." There were 9 adults and 2 infants in our party. The treatment of my family tonight was absolutely uncalled for and has caused Callaway to lose all future business from us. read more

Was very disappointing to drive an hour and a half each way for this light presentation. Not only was there no Christmas displays of any kind such as a manger scene, or the three Wiseman but no Merry Christmas. It took us 20 minutes to get in to where the light show started, the lights were far apart, and the grand finale was weird. I will not be returning to Callaway Gardens. read more

Fantasy In Lights - Botanical Gardens Near Me - Pine Mountain, Georgia

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Pretty awesome to do for the holidays , kids liked it and you can ride a trolly or drive.

A fun way to get into the holiday spirit, especially with little ones. Good parking, facilities, food trucks, and plenty of photo ops. Playground for little ones. You ABSOLUTELY have to arrive when the gates to the festival open (4 pm on our visit). The wait to even get in the gate can be insane if you arrive after 6 pm. The first trolleys start around 530-6 pm, and we were told that if we wanted to drive our own cars through the lights, we wouldn't be able to begin until 7:30. This wasn't doable with small kids and a 90-minute drive back home. We got in line with some of the first trolley riders and had a blast! Trolleys are roomy and well- maintained. Staff very helpful with strollers. Bottom line: be there when the gates open, hang out and enjoy food/drinks/festivities until the trolley lines open. And definitely do the trolley, but BUNDLE UP! The cold wind really whips past all the beautiful lakes on the route. read more

I think the lights are beautiful! I love the music and the whole experience. I have run the 10K in the past. This year, I drove myself through this year with the COVID threat, but it was nice until the very end. Then we stopped to take video of the grand finale and someone yelled at us to keep it moving 2 or 3X. Sad ending to a great experience otherwise. read more

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Visited 12/26/2020. I would absolutely NOT reccomend visiting/going. I had to pay $30 per person (up from p/ vehicle) $90 freaking dollars for a family of (3) three. My family and I waited in the queue to see the lights for 45 minutes. Once we were finally let in, we drove 2 miles ... 30 minutes into the Fantasy in Lights section of the park with NO Christmas lights. When we finally got to see some lights, it was minimal at best. Scenes were sporadically placed with long gaps of nothing in between. You could honestly see more Christmas lights driving through a random neighborhood. The only good part that was updated with multi-color LEDs was the finale tree. It wasn't worth the painfully slow (2) two-hour drive through. I wish I were kidding. Traffic worse than DT Atlanta during rush-hour. Arrived at 7:30p for an 8p ticket. We finally got back around to the entrance at 10:15p. We were severely disappointed and will be asking for a refund. You can very obviously tell the COVID-19 pandemic affected Callaway Gardens hard as they made large cut-backs. Even the Christmas Village and tent which normally has back-to-back vendor stalls was basically barren with only a quarter of the tent being used. DO NOT go to Callaway Gardens for a drive-through Christmas Lights experience. I'd recommend going to Lake Lanier or Chattanooga, TN instead. #callawaygardens #fantasyinlights #christmas #review read more

Highly disappointed and a total waste of time and money. It's almost like a scam. Would not recommend.

For first time visitors is a rough experience. The event is not marked as a "7 miles march", the distance along the way is not marked, the staff does not know the distance they are standing in, and no water sources, to name a few. Lots of room for improvement. read more

Fantasy In Lights - Snow Lights - Botanical Gardens Near Me - Pine Mountain, Georgia

We have been to the Fantasy in Lights three times. This last trip we took our 10 year old grandson and he had a blast. We did the trolley and also drove through. The trolley was equipped with protective plastic between the rows to separate the parties, everyone had to wear a mask and temperatures were taken prior to boarding. The trip took an hour on the trolley and about the same driving through. Yes, patience are needed at times, but if you cannot handled a little wait then zip on over to the interstate. One comment was that the theme seemed dated - not sure what that means - Santa and the elves are timeless! read more

I wish I could give this zero stars. We drove 1hr and 15mins with a toddler, a baby and 4 of our out of country guest to see this light show. IT WAS AN EMBARRASSMENT. The lights look old and cheap. The characters was literally 1 dimension. We kept "saying maybe it's going to start soon"....not realizing that the junk we was driving thru was the actual show. There was 1 section with all white lights that was nice but that was only 2 mins of a 1hr "show". A mess. For $200 we expected way more. read more

We have been coming to Fantasy in Lights for 8 years. This was the worst experience we have ever had. We were driving slowly so we could enjoy the finale. An incredibly rude person pointed a strobe flashlight in my face and yelled for me to keep moving. What is the point of having a big finale of a light show if nobody is allowed to take the time to enjoy it? The traffic was ridiculous. Calloway way oversold tickets for the drive through and then rushed everyone in and out. They had our money after all. Two porta potties for hundreds of people. Long wait in traffic and then again in line to go on the tour. Being unnecessarily rushed and blinded by a jerk with a flashlight. If this is how they want to do it from now on we just won't come back. read more

Went on a whim after getting off a bit early from work Christmas Eve. It's a great deal of fun and definitely worth trying once. I particularly enjoyed the "winter wonderland" scene and some of the animated animals, like the giant squirrel, the owl, and the frog jumping in the water. First, regarding the trolley versus drivethrough conundrum, we drove through because we weren't dressed warmly enough, and that was the right choice for us. I think dressing warmly and taking the trolley is probably funner, though. A few more things to know before you go: -the sign is a little misleading, and Callaway Gardens is MASSIVE, so make sure you know where you're going. -it's pretty steep at $20 a person -some of the music that plays as you drive through is painfully cheesy, primarily the "twelve days of christmas." the arrangement they play of that song is unbearable - "three french hens" is said in a french accent, for example, and "nine maids a milking" is played as a hoedown. most of it is just cute, though. -the end is a bit anticlimactic. i expected more of a grand finale. -the chocolate peanut butter fudge is very good, as is the hot cider. read more

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Super disappointed :( definitely not worth the drive at all. I was expecting something similar to the Winter Wonderland lights at Turner Field but it was way different. There weren't as many lights as I expected and we waited in line for longer than an hour. The lights were motionless and consisted of soldiers, butterflies, a variety of animals, flowers, etc. The trolley was open so it's pretty windy/cold, especially when passing the lakes. The only thing that was remotely worth seeing was maybe the two "majestic trees" on the lake. Definitely will not be visiting again. read more

"So tell me something: is leaving the Christmas lights up part of your plan to keep us merry all year long?" -- Friends: Season 1, Episode 16 You want an explosion of Christmas and really feel the spirit of the season come alive? Then Callaway Garden's Fantasy in Lights is for you. Located in Pine Mountain, Georgia - about 90 minutes south of Atlanta, it's well worth the drive for the experience. My friends and I have made this an annual pilgrimage. A ticket on a Saturday is about $33 for an adult - definitely worth the price. This gives you access to drive through the lights display, the Christmas Village, fire pits, walking around the lake and additional activities. It also gives you admission into gardens and resort (from the day of your visit through the first week of January- this includes the butterfly house and birds of prey show. There's plenty of food for purchase, but my group brings our own s'mores supplies for use at the fire pit. The Christmas Village has Santa available for photos with the kids, wood carvers, ornaments and other decorations available for purchase (last minute gifts!) and handmade candies and fudge to buy. By far, the best part is the lights. Millions of lights, decorating the pathway, coordinated to Christmas music. Be prepared to take your time - this is a slow endeavor. You're going to be driving about 5 to 10 MPH, with your lights off. Bring layers since you'll be driving with your windows down so you can hear the music. They do need to change the version of The 12 Days of Christmas (its atrocious), otherwise there's something for everyone. This is a great family event, for a group of friends, or even a great date event. Make the plans, take the trip, what are you waiting for? read more

This was very disappointing. Drove with 4 kids from Marietta to see light display. For 30.00 an adult and 18.00 per child I was expecting much more. This light display and trolley ride haven't been updated with any new technology. Lights are from the 70s 80s, many areas have no lights, sound system is non existent. Overall not worth the drive or the money! You would think over the years the $$$ would upgrade the experience to 2000s at least read more

Had tickets for 7.30 did not move for over an hour. In car with a 5 and 3 year who very patient but had had enough and wanted to go home before it ever started. read more

Not at all worth the money. Be prepared to wait for at least an hour even though you paid for a ticket to get in at a certain time. There is no bathroom, vendors, or anything to pass the time while waiting, just a field full of cars and workers with no information or sense of customer service. Traffic jam on the way out almost worse than the wait to get in. How they expect people to stick around after to shop is beyond me. The lights would be nice if the rest of the experience wasn't so unpleasant, but I can't get past how poor everything else was. I will not be returning. read more

Soooo disappointed. The lights display has not changed much from 8 years ago when I was last there. We had to wait almost an hour and a half before we ever saw the first scene, which was menial. Most scenes were too far apart. They definitely needed more scenes in between. Way too expensive for the experience. They should charge per vehicle instead. For small children, its hard to deal with all the wait. Definitely not worth it. read more

My kids and I decided to meet friends and ride the trolley through the lights last night. We live an hour away from Callaway, so we left an hour and a half before our reservation time. Due to the poor management by Callaway Gardens, the traffic backed up for 5 miles outside the entrance, and it took my kids and I 3 hours to get there! Once we did, we had missed the trolley and the opportunity to meet up with our friends because the park staff told us the trolley stopped running at 9:30pm. They told us we could drive through the lights in our car, so we decided to do that just so we could at least see the lights. Cars were lined up in corrals, and we ended up waiting another 30 minutes stuck in our line just to begin the drive through the lights. Once we finally we able to drive through the lights, it took us 30 minutes waiting in a car line to get out of Callaway. At this point, it's 11:30pm, and we just want to go home. Only then did I realize that the 2 hour traffic delay 5 miles from the entrance was caused by the bottleneck of cars waiting to drive through the lights! All in all my kids and I were in the car for 6 straight hours! We were never able to get out and stretch our legs. Everywhere we went, we kept getting stuck in car traffic. I think Callaway needs to manage the flow of cars through their light display in a more efficient and time effective way. The lights were pretty, but they were definitely not worth 6 hours in the car. read more

We were looking to get in the holiday spirit but instead were reminded of everything wrong with a commercialized Christmas. This was very expensive and unimpressive - $35 each at the gate and $28 paid in advance online. The lights are spread out over a big area so it has little impact. The trolley seats are very uncomfortable benches. Maybe if you have children under 7 they might be impressed but we've seen better displays just driving around residential neighborhoods. Our party of four couldn't wait for it to be over. If I never hear the "12 Days of Christmas" again it will be too soon. read more

This is. a miserable experience for children under five. We had 7:30 tickets and didn't get in until after 8:30. There are no bathrooms; leaving took forever. The lights were okay but not worth the time. Everyone left frustrated and tired. This is a scam read more

What a disappointment and way over priced! For the Amount of money that each car is charged it should be magical instead of all the cookie cutter decorations stuck randomly in the woods with tons of bulbs out!!!! Do not waste your money or your time completely not worth it!!! I would have not even had given it 1 star but that was the only choice read more

Completely disappointed. We drove from Atlanta with high expectations. Got there early and was expecting a really nice showing of Christmas lights. We rode the trolley through the golf course. It was cold however we thought it would add to our experience. Once we got to the lights we were smiling and happy expecting to be amazed and dazzled. All of the lights are motionless shapes of flowers, soldiers, tress, butterflies. A lot of dark spots on the trail. It is just nothing. They play music on the trolley and on some trees. But y'all I have seen neighborhoods that will put this place to shame. The lights are just on, I mean no amazement, very small elementary animation. There were maybe 2 parts that was ok, but it was me trying to make it ok. this place should be free. It's not worth that long drive and the money. They sell food, most of it is $8 or more. They sell Christmas ornaments, and they have rides and other things. After riding this trolley we were frozen and ready to go about half way through. It took us about 1hr to ride through the entire course on the trolley. Once we past the last light display it was darkness for about 10mins of riding back. Very poor setup and execution. They need to watch the show "Light Fight" and try this again. I will tell you this, the people, host, workers were extremely nice, hospitality was on level 10. They just need to get some better ideas for the display of lights. I really hate I had to rate it this low, but this is the truth. However customer service gets 5 stars easily. If u still wanna go after I said save ur money it's not worth it, go early because it gets super crowded! read more

We waited in our car 20+ minutes before we moved. The lights are pretty...but definitely not worth the $80+ we paid for two adults and one child to drive through. read more

We were in the area due to work and decided to watch the lights because my boyfriend heard that it was beautiful. It was $65 for the both of us and we drove in our vehicle. The wait time seem forever then the lines of cars started moving. Boy, we were disappointed in the light show and the price does not justify its quality. Too many spaced out and stationary lights. The only part of the show we enjoyed were the string of lights above the drive path. Never again we will waste our time and money on a lifeless light show. read more

If you're not in the Christmas spirit after this, I'm not sure what to tell ya. . . Santa himself may need to help you out. This Fantasy in Lights stuff is a huge deal to Callaway - it's one of their main seasonal attractions, has been around for 16 years and is probably one of the top ways people get introduced to Callaway Gardens. They have lighted 'scenes' set up throughout the gardens, with options being to either drive your own car or take the 'jolly trolley.' We chose the jolly trolley on recommendations that this definitely gives more of a 'holiday flavor' - you sit in an open air trolley (read: remember to dress veerrry warm and bring gear in case it rains), squished amongst strangers as you're carted through the route, which takes about an hour. There's a recorded tape that takes you though the park - you're lead by a horse named 'Snowflake' through scenes of a 'blizzard,' 'Santa's workshop,' the twelve days of Christmas . . . and many more awe-worthy lights. She also prompts you to sing carols . . . I'd recommend belting out the words for maximum holiday spirit. There's also a "Christmas Village" which has stuff for sale. Be forewarned, don't anticipate doing your holiday shopping out here, unless everyone on your list wants a cheesy ornament or gel candle. The outdoor food court area has your standard 'fair food' if you'd prefer to gorge on that instead of a normal dinner. read more

OK watch this! The rating is going down and fast over the next couple of years. All the previous reviews are dead on the money. It was beautiful and a great way to get into the Christmas spirit. Now keep up did you notice the was in that last sentence? They have skimped and cut out some of the best parts without taking down one single decoration. You are now saying how could that make it worse? Here is how! Choose the car you would prefer to drive (think of gas as free though) a Honda Civic or a Cadillac Escalade. Do you understand now? The whole light show has been squeezed into a lot less room. It is still a nice visit, but if you have been here in the past then cherish your memory of the past and do not come back here. I have been told they are pretty much going commercial in the next few years. This is going to ruin this place completely. Y'all Come back now ya here! read more

This low rating is due to the price and the cold temperature. I went with my wife and some in-laws. When we got there it was in the 40s. The food was okay, not cheap, but not outrageous. The tent with Santa Claus and the shops was okay. Other than that, there is not much to do while waiting for the Lights tour. We tried to go early, but couldn't get in the line until the time printed on our tickets. This means were were just sitting around for about an 1 hour in the cold after we ate and looked in the tent. The Fantasy in Lights line was not fast, but not as slow as I expected. By the time we got on the tour the sun had gone down and the temperature was about 37 degrees. We sat in the very back (not on purpose) and I sat at the very left. For me, it got colder and colder. Cold wind was blowing directly in my face almost the entire time. Halfway though it became unbearable and I covered my face with my hood. Also, the wind picked up when we passed lakes and ponds. With the windchill it felt like below freezing wind constantly blowing in my face. I pretty much wanted the ride to be over. I'm from the North and usually brag about how I am use to the cold. Southerners often complain when the temperature drops below 55 degrees. I was wearing two coats, a blanket, and thick gloves and was freezing. The lights were okay. The kids around us seemed to enjoy the tour. I would not recommend this after mid-December, and it would not be worth going back for a second time. read more

We arrived an hour before our appointed time, so we checked out Santa's village and shops. Most of the items were unique and pretty but very expensive. The light displays/shows on the beach were nice. The gourmet hot chocolate was pricey but delicious! Now onto the main event. Our tickets stated we could get in line 15 min prior to our appointed time. We did so, and waited another 50 min to just get into the light display. The display promised an hour tour, which was about 40 min at best, with several long spots of just dark road. Although the light displays were nice, they certainly were not worth the $28 per person. Save your money!! Many nicer, cheaper light displays elsewhere, especially James Island, SC. read more