Went to the Lantern Light Festival at the Alameda Fairgrounds in Pleasanton, California. The main draw for me was the lights. I have no children to worry about entertaining, so I just wanted to come here to enjoy seeing all the lanterns and light installations. It was absolutely gorgeous. As a cosplayer wanting to build more light-up props, I enjoyed seeing the lanterns up close. Everything from the entrance gate, the long undulating Chinese dragon with its animatronic head rotating from side to side, the astrological signs, the castles, apple trees, wishing trees, animals, all the flowers, and so much more, were absolutely inspiring and filled my heart with holiday joy. My friend and I enjoyed going around taking photos of the lights. I also appreciated that the pamphlet with the map of the park included photos of how the lanterns were built. The other attraction at the festival was the Chinese acrobat performance. They occurred once per hour, and the performers are very talented. Such amazing display of athleticism! I could have sworn that the adult ticket allowed one dragon ride. Unfortunately, to my disappointment, the dragon rides were ONLY FOR CHILDREN. I felt very mislead and cheated. The food was pricey. Although we ate dinner before coming, I paid $5 for 3 deep fried oreos, and another $5 for a drink (I had hot apple cider, my friend had hot chocolate). Churros were also $5, and just ONE deep fried Twinkie was $6, so I passed on that. Everything else at the festival was geared towards children, so aside from walking around being awe-inspired by the lights, there was nothing else to do. I went to WinterFest at Great America earlier this month, and while I'd say the Lantern Light Festival has much more impressive light displays, WinterFest had much more to offer since in addition to dazzling displays of beautiful lights, they also had roller coasters, more variety of shows, and more activities that not just the kids can enjoy. Overall, the Lantern Light Festival felt like a cheap version of WinterFest. read more

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I bought the groupon when it was an additional 20% off so my ticket was $14. Parking is $5. It took us about an hour to walk through. There was an acrobatic show that was not good. There are food venders selling noodles, cinnamon rolls, pizza and elephant ears. You can buy tickets to do activities such as mini golf, simulator ride, face painting, etc. Little kids will like the activities, but older kids will find them stupid. The lights are pretty to see and photograph well on a cell phone. If in the area, and you get the discounted ticket I would recommend visiting the festival. It is NOT worth the full price ticket. read more

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The lanterns were beautiful, and the performers were talented but that's the only nice thing I have to say about this over priced festival. Whoever organized this event had neither the understanding of people in crowds flow nor any knowledge of China beyond Disney's Mulan. To buy tickets they were four lines, two of which were cash only, and no where at the beginning of these rather very long lines were there any signs indicating which line was which. Or even that the two were separate. So most people ended up standing in line twice unless they could finagle trading around up front. 40 minutes waiting in line and $50 later myself and my mother made it inside. The lanterns were beautiful yes, but they were not nearly as many there as I was led to believe by the website. After looking through the website several times and the Facebook page it seems as if whoever designed it was deliberately misleading. There were not Lotus lanterns or acrobats flying through the sky. Most disappointingly there were almost no Chinese food options. There was in fact only one Asian food option and it was teriyaki sold at the Teriyaki and stir fry restaurant that's a permanent fixture at the State Fair. But don't worry you can buy scones and kettle corn which really is why anyone comes to a Chinese Lantern Festival yes? But that's okay there's still some fun stuff to do like peruse all the little shop straight from China right? No. There were exactly five shops and with a huge crowd of people it was virtually impossible to get to any of them. And when you did try to buy something you had to go to a cashier somewhere else and pay for your item with a little receipt. I did this and by the time I got back from paying for my item, the item I paid for was gone. the shop keep tried to offer me something else but the scarf I wanted had been sold after I paid for it so that was great. A big problem was a complete and total lack of signage anywhere. Want to know when they're having the next show? Well too bad there's no signs anywhere telling you useful information. The only signs they did have with the occasional ones by certain lanterns that honestly didn't tell you anything about Chinese culture they just told you that you were looking at a lantern in the shape of something. Honestly the beautiful lanterns we're the only thing that made this evening not a total waste of money and time. All the advertisement I saw seem to mash together the three events happening around Washington into one so when I showed up at one event hoping to see all this stuff from all three it was admittedly a letdown. But again at this point it feels like deliberately misleading advertising that resulted in an overall negative experience for me. Cut the cost of the tickets in half and advertise the festival honestly and it would be worth it just to see the beautiful lanterns. read more

Lantern Light Festival - The big dragon lantern was pretty cool. - Festivals Near Me - Miami, Florida

5 stars to the marketing group who was able to pull off getting people (like me) to pay $23/per person for what sounded like a carnival attraction shut-down. The commercial looked great, so I bought tickets in the beginning. But after seeing the Yelp reviews afterwards, I started regretting it. Ended up not going due to a cold, so I gave my tickets away. The only 3 good things I got out of it was 1) the tickets didn't go to waste, 2) my friends got to go for free and 3) I got over my cold. Next year I'll just stare at the pretty Chinese lanterns I bought at Cost Plus for free. read more

Noddin my head...totally agreeing with the rest of you!! For a minute I thought I was the only 1 being crazy, maybe I expected too much? Hell yeah, for the parking and entrance fee combined there was not much to see in there. Here I am listening to the radio anticipating this is the best thing next to sliced bread . We were in and out under 1 hour. What a let down. Tickets were wayyyyy overpriced! Yes, the lantern art work was probably the only experience worthwhile. Again...what a let down read more

Lantern Light Festival - Festivals Near Me - Miami, Florida

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I can definitely see what Zulen was getting at with their previous review. I really tried to find the good parts of this event, and I found some redeeming qualities! Yes, it's pricy, the food is a massive disappointment, the activities are cheesy, the advertising is somewhat misleading (although if you pay attention to the video captions/titles, the Miami one is accurate) and overall there is much I would ask to be improved. But also, the lanterns are actually really cool.. they are made of fabric stretched over metal frameworks and amply lit from the inside. The designs are intricate and colorful. Before dark it was a bit uninteresting, but once the sun went down and the lights came one, the displays were individually striking. I've added a bunch of photos, so take a look. Also, the main attraction is a massive colorful dragon "lantern" ... it alone is worth a look. There were few employees around, mostly keeping to kitschy booths (mini golf, gift shop, virtual roller coaster, food booths)... but one did stand out... I'll call it the "creepy Panda" ... a human in a panda suit that lurked in the shadows. A bit surreal. There was an acrobatic performance at 8 PM, but we got there at 5 thinking there would be crowds and lots to do. Neither manifested, so we were pretty ready to leave by 7, and didn't stay. Instead, the stage had very very loud latin music playing that overwhelmed the peaceful Chinese traditional music that played near the venue entrance. It might have been nice to see the performance; I'd arrive later if I went again. I'd say just don't bother planning to eat the food. There was a booth that sold a sort of carnival version of Chinese food, and then there was the booth selling the authentic Chinese cotton candy and Turkey legs (sarcasm intended). A truly sub-par food selection. It could have been so much better... think Asian Festival- why didn't they turn to local vendors and restaurants to participate!? Now for some of my other recommendations.... - there were absolutely no traditional Chinese lantern lights! The advertising shows strings of these red and gold lanterns strung over a street- at another venue. There's no reason they couldn't have done this at this exhibit, and it would have been stunning. - the fairgrounds parking lights dominate the scene, casting bright "suns" everywhere... they should coordinate with the fairgrounds to dim or power these off so the lanterns shine through - play Chinese music on the stage system, don't compete with your own soundtrack with out-of-place latin music at uncomfortable volumes. - Have a couple more staff around to talk about the lanterns or be characters... as it was it felt a little like the lanterns were placed there and abandoned in some weird post-apocalyptic scene. All that being said, I'd actually recommend this as something completely different to go do during this season. And, perhaps if enough people attend and share their thoughts and ideas then it will be even better next year! read more

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The only thing I enjoyed was the chicken on a stick at one of the vendor stands. A complete waste of money and an evening that would've been better spent at a Chinese restaurant. $5 parking $23 per adult $19 for kids 2 and up Food is around $12 per person I didn't bother looking into the ticket prices for their crappy "attractions". read more

The lanterns are beautiful, and that's why they get 3 stars but I agree with the other reviews. The food and drinks situation is very poor. Also with what we paid for the entrance should have been enough but $15 for parking on top, it was a bit much. We watched the acrobatic show at 6:30 pm and were done with the whole experience in about an hour or so. Go see it if you enjoy lanterns but you have been warned. read more

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I enjoyed coming here. Gorgeous light displays. Not too crowded. I had fun taking photos of the display. Entrance fee is a bit pricey ($23.00/adult)as well as the $10.00 parking fee. We had a hard time going to the venue, road signs are not visible enough. read more

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Marketing -5 stars Execution -0 stars Chinese food is actually teriyaki Would've been a great value @ $10/pp The lion ride, sad as it is, doesn't adequately express my disappointment from spending $23/pp + fees to attend this event. The mini golf might as well have been made out of rain gutters. Save your money and enjoy the pictures on yelp from the comfort of your hone. read more

Lantern Light Festival - Festivals Near Me - Miami, Florida

The most entertaining part was reading the signs in front of each lantern display....someone used Google translate poorly. WAY overpriced and underwhelming. read more

Lantern Light Festival - ...Google translate fail... - Festivals Near Me - Miami, Florida

*BEWARE NO FLOATING/RELEASING LANTERNS* Absolute false advertising. $28 (entrance + parking) gets you a small area with some large scale lanterns a few food stands and a (very) low budget show at a small stage at the end. Extremely overpriced, this should really be a $5 entrance fee place for you to walk through in less than an hour and buy a small Chinese souvenir at the gift shop. Their assortment of Chinese food includes a small noodle stand and a small fried rice stand, nothing more. Perfect metaphor for the "festival" can be found in its so called craft beer booth. A HUGE structure with large text describing qualities of craft beer and about 10 different draft spouts (not sure if that's what they're called). Upon closer inspection, you realize their collection of craft beer consists of exactly one small cooler with exactly 2 half filled shelves of Budweiser and Bud Light. I didn't ask for the price to avoid adding insult to injury. read more

For anyone thinking of visiting the Lantern Light Festival located in the Fair Expo Center, do NOT waste your time. It is an over priced mess. The lantern displays are nice, however it is NOTHING like the videos they post. They don't have as many lanterns and they are all scattered around. We walked the entire event in about 30-40 mins. We ended up at the acrobatic show and watched it two times because there was nothing else to do! I spent about $100 on my brother and myself, between entrance fee, parking fee, a box of "Chinese" noodles, and two slices of pizza. The food was horrible and severely unplanned as they ran out of food and it was only 8pm.They claim they have a variety of Chinese and American food, but there are ONLY two stands, the other stands only serve desserts. There is a Pizza stand (American) and a Noodle stand (Chinese) which serves a box of very bland noodles (NOT authentic) that I can probably make at home in the microwave. read more

Sucked with a slight chance of fun. Fist off the price, way too expensive. I could imagine paying $10 for this event. Its just a bunch of large Chinese ornaments which are lit, you walk around looking at these ornaments. You decide to take a picture next to the ornaments but every time you take a picture everyone shows up dark, because the light is behind you so no matter which angle you take the photo it will still look dark. They say they will be chinnese cuisine but all it is is just one vendor which sells Chinese food. Which was delicious other than that you will find the same thing that you would find at a fair. The Chinese show was very nice we all enjoyed it, that was in my opinion what made this festival okay but definitely not worth what it cost to get it read more

False advertising at its finest. There's nothing traditional/authentic about this festival. The promos are misleading. For $23 a person, totally not worth it - $10 is more justifiable. The food SUCKED, big time! Basically fair food with one stand selling inedible noodles ($12). The Miami herald, new times, etc. should be ashamed of themselves for promoting this event. Stay away. You're better off taking your family to eat at a decent restaurant instead of blowing at least $100 for a family of four (we are 3 and we spent $100 on entrance, parking and a couple of noodle boxes). read more

If I could give this thing zero stars I would. I was expecting to experience Chinese cuisine and artistry, as advertised; nope The light displays, with the exception of the dragon, looked like some cheap poorly crafted things you'd find at a run down tourist trap. We reached the end of the lights after 5 minutes of walking!!! Not worth $23 per adult and $19 per child. At the end are some crappy looking bounce houses that you have to buy additional tickets for. The train ride is similar to the one available inside the Sawgrass Mills Mall. There was one booth that sold "chinese noodles" all the other food options are typical county Fair food places, except they forgot to bring the interesting ones like corndogs, elephant ears, pork chop on a stick, etc. Unfortunately, the highlight of the Lantern Light Festival was seeing foxes playing on the soccer field while waiting on the line to park read more

There is noting to do, eat or see. The set up of the lights are the highlight. There are several nice light fixtures, but that's all. You pay $23, for nothing. It's not work your time or money. Entering the park is a nightmare (Saturday). You are welcomed by a line of cars to park. Average time for parking 1hr, average time to get your tickets 1hr. They do have food but they have your typical fair, fried food, cotton candy and cinnamon rolls, want a burger, average time in line 40minutes. They did have an noodle please but line was outrageous, and wasn't looking for an instant noodle cup. I was hoping to find a variety of Asian cuisine, Like spring rolls, pork buns, Ramen noodles, street bbq, fried rice etc. they could have gotten several Asian food trucks to the park to fit the theme of Chinese New Year. Hope to see a lot of improvements! read more

I feel so cheated out of my hard earned cash. The lanterns were nice but def not worth 23 dollars x5 tickets. Food was overpriced, with only 2 main places to eat with ridiculous lines. The little activities that they had were not even free. I mean come on !! Either charge 23 with free tickets or no entrance fee with tickets available to purchase once inside. When we left just now, the entrance had the longest lines of ppl waiting to buy their entrance fees to go in. Thank God at least i bought them online and they scanned my online tickets so i didnt have to wait on that line. I hope they heard me complaining on my way out the park. All i can say DONT WASTE YOUR TIME AND MONEY!! read more

Lantern Light Festival - Festivals Near Me - Miami, Florida

Went to the One in Alameda County at the Pleasanton Fairgrounds. Waste of time & money. The commercial was the best part about it. The kids all access pass doesn't include the mining. The rides were like the kind at the mall and there were 2 small jumpy houses. The mini golf was simple. The maze wasn't anything like what they boasted it to be. The food & drinks were expensive ($7 for Country Time lemonade). The "shows" are really only the same 1/2 hour show done every hour. Some of the crafts were amazing.....but pricey. This was definitely not fun for the whole family and, for the same price, we wish we would have gone to Great America instead. read more

Terrible experience spent $40 on food and couldn't eat a thing from what we bought the lights were nice but not worth $25 a person and the rides at the advertised were a lot smaller and nothing like they looked in the pictures I would never do this again you live and you learn! Turned out to be $100 lesson read more

This is okay if you just want to see lights but not entertaining at all! It was really boring, even the show on stage was boring. Very little food to choose. Waste of money to me, I would go again if it was free but not if I had to pay. I wish I could get my money back! read more

This sounds like this is put on by the same traveling grifters out of Michigan that put on the "T-Rex" shows. They advertise heavily making it look extravagant then get you and your kids in with cheap, underwhelming thrills and into the over priced gift shop filled with cheap stuff. I was going to take my son based on the TV ads... But reading the reviews... This sounds suspiciously familiar. Thanks for the heads up. read more

Entrance fee is too overprice for the things it offered. Paid $23 per person for entry. Only 1 food stand and 1 coffee stand. The lanterns were too space out, only to fill up the area. Wasn't worth it. read more

Such a waste of time and money.... Such a big RIP OFF. Website says they give you discount for 4 dollars for what there is nothing to even spend a dollar!!! Just fooling people there was just inflatable Golf which only kids under 5yrs can play..... We came on Thursday with spending $24 for 3 kids and they had no inflatable or any maze and even fool you for the dragon and the lion rides.... Worst place to go read more

Wishing we had read the reviews before attending in Puyallup. On the upside, parking was free and the displays were interesting enough. On the downside, it was EXTREMELY overpriced. The mini golf, maze, etc were very low-budget. The food wasn't anything other than a couple fair food booths. A couple vendors with overpriced novelty items. Much better off sticking to zoo lights or the driving tour in Spanaway. read more

Waiting for my refund. Was a non event. Don't waste your time. Everything about it was a disappointment. Nobody is in charge and the pricing on items there is outrageous a simple sit on a ride is 6 bucks for something similar to the quarter machine at a drugstore. Mini golf was very basic. Rain so no show. Kids were getting drenched because they kept the jumpy house open I am sure their insurance won't cover that. I will keep this open and follow up with them. If their customer service is any indication they probably won't give me my refund. read more

Goving this place (Vallejo,CA site)2 stars only because my 4 year old had some fun and the lanterns were nice once the sun went down (not so amazing when the sun is still up). First of all waaaay overpriced! It SOUNDED amazing on the radio commercial! There were 3 places (trucks) to get food- Mexican, coffee, and "Chinese". I was there for about 2 hours but only because my food took about an hour to get. I decided to get Mexican food- I was excited there was Papusas so I odered one chicken taco and one cheese and zucchini papusa. Wow my food took sooooo long!! Really for 2 things?! and it wasn't just me, everyone was waiting for sooo long at this place! I wish I remembered the name so I could give it ZERO stars. Once I did get my food it was not even all that!! And it should have been good with me starving after an hour wait! Anyways, the day I went was freezing so I thought that the weather could have made my experience not as enjoyable, but after reading everyone elses reviews it wasn't the weather! Although they did have jumpy houses (they were muddy inside but still let my son play cause I payed for the activities!). They did have electical Dino rides I've never seen before (my son wasnt interested). I saw a little of the performances but could have been better. The mini golf was really mini! Like I walked right passed it cause it was so dark and small! If this place was $10 or less and they had better food, I guess I would go again just because it's different but definitely never again for the price. read more

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False advertising! If you look at their Facebook videos it shows something completely different. I could of produced something better in my back yard. My friend and I were laughing thinking did we watch the wrong video. read more

NOT WORTH IT AT ALL! Saw this in Puyallup. The light displays are somewhat nice. Everything else was not good and is not what was advertised. The food is not Chinese really and is nothing what was advertised. They just poured a bunch of soy sauce on rice, over-cooked the broccoli to a shrivel. My 3 year old wouldn't even eat their disgusting hot dogs. read more

This type of festival is operated like a scam. I should look at the review before coming here. Free parking but it costs $24.5/ ticket to enter the park for nothing. Don't expect to get a good fair food here. They have 1 Chinese food truck, 1 Mexican food truck, 1 hot dog stand, 1 cold beer stand. Everything look so poor operation. The Chinese food just serve chicken on noodle or fried rice which are look oily & nasty. The seller is the one collect the money & also uses his hands to touch the foods. They decorate the park with some big Chinese animals to make the impression from outside but it looks empty inside. I am so regret to get here & never again. If I have a choice I would give them -5 star. read more

Very disappointed. WAY over priced for what they had to offer. We definitely should have read the reviews before deciding to waste our time and money. read more

This was a horrible rip off. I can not believe they charged over 25$ for this. We seriously laughed our way through it so maybe that made it worth it. The "lanterns" were old and dirty. There were descriptions about the displays that were translated poorly and inaccurate. At first I was kind of angry about being taken advantage of but in hind sight it was funny. I just would recommend spending your time and money elsewhere ! read more

Very overpriced and over promised. The castle, the maze and the mini golf are laughable. I bought vip which was supposed to have perks and it was a total waste. The attractions were not even manned or labeled. The lanterns are pretty but individually made?l I don;t think so, mostly pretty string lights. Save your money. read more

This was a nice activity to do with a group. It's a good place for pictures. If you like shadow theater, homemade sugar lollipops that are made into animal shapes and animal shaped lanterns, it's a fun little time. There was also a performance of martial arts. read more

Easily one of the worst $50 i've ever spent. Commercials make it look massive and entertaining. It took literally 15 minutes total to walk thru the inflatable blowup lanterns. It is hard to really explain how dumb this thing was. read more

I completely agree 100% with the review left by Bill W. I however, could not muster up 3 stars merely based on the very HIGH ticket price and what I feel was very misleading advertisement. I brought my mother for her birthday, as she just LOVES the Asian culture and we both left in major disappointment. Aside from the "Noodle Hut" there wasn't ANY authentic Chinease food. some of the light displays were beautiful but, there were not nearly enough to justify the HIGH ticket price. And again, not much authenticity for Asian Culture. Needless to say I was embarrassed to have driven her over an hour to get there for that. We walked the entire exhibit front to back to front in less then 15 minutes and then left. I also feel robbed for having to pay $23 per person plus, $5 processing fees plus $5 for parking. read more

This place takes "rip off" to a whole new level. $23 to get in and walk around an area smaller than a strip mall looking at some lit up figurines. Food sucks and is stupid expensive too. There's only like 3 activities for kids and you have to pay extra for those also. Save yourself the money and go walk around a nice neighborhood with lots of Christmas lights and inflatable decorations followed by a nice family dinner at a good restaurant. Nothing worse than leaving a place spending over $100 and not getting anything for your money, not even a little bit of fun for the kids. Doesn't even deserve 1 star but yelp won't let me put less. read more

Worst absolutely worst way to spend your money and time!!! For the price it's ridiculous. The food lines are 45 minute long. The lights are pathetic. The entertainment is supposed to be at 7 -8 and 9 year it's 830 and the 8 hasn't even started. I will never recommend this to anyone. I'm going to demand my money back !!! My four year old and three year old were bored and disappointed... read more

Mediocre at best, not worth the price. They served carnival food, the videos showed online make the event seem much bigger. Save your money.

This wasn't worth the 50 dollars for two tickets plus 5 dollars in parking. The lights are definitely nice but there aren't that many, it won't take long to get through the whole display. The acrobat show was subpar read more