This is my first time coming here and I read that they changed from drive thru to walkable event. I can say there are a lot of picture moments here and was more enjoyable than many of the other light events that I've been too this year. Prices are cheaper at 25 dollars online and can easily spend an hour or two here. They blast festive music that really created a nice atmosphere. For the price I'd actually say this was worth the time and price to grab some good pictures. You can take pictures with Santa Claus for $20 for three minutes of unlimited photos. Not really worth it but kinda thought it was funny haha. Parking is easily findable using the Irwindale Speedway address and everything was pretty straight forward. Come check this out with the family! read more

See all

Such a cute Christmas family activity. Very covid friendly as it is a drive thru event. There are also pit stops where you can purchase snacks and Hot Cocoa to enjoy in the car in the middle of the drive. I went on a Monday night and there were a decent amount of cars but it still took us about ~40 minutes to go through with breaks to admire the lights! read more

Santa's Speedway - Festivals Near Me - Irwindale, California

I am visiting California and I am blown away by how many family friendly events there are to do in the LA area. Just amazing. I think these drive through events are great. The entire family can hop in a car wearing their jammies, grab some snacks, have Christmas music playing and just enjoy each others company! We decided to go here very last minute but got tickets right away, late Saturday night. We actually did not hit any lines or traffic getting there, it was great! Got right in and enjoyed the show! There were quite a lot of stuff to see, it did not dissapoint. read more

See all

Excellent experience!! My family and I checked out Santa's speedway in Irwindale,Ca on 12/24/2022. Yes, the race track transformed for a full experience light show. And, it was more low key on the night we went. Not a lot of folks out and about. But, we loved it. They had a snack bar food section. I heard that the hot chocolate was $12 plus. We skipped. But, we did have our own drinks and snacks in our bags. Although, we're not too sure if they are allowed in. Haha. Check in was pretty easy, they just scanned tickets and let us in. -holiday music -lots of spots to stop and take photos -old nascar cars decorated and named after reindeer -pics with Santa (extra $$) -few light tunnels -tractor trailer ride (goes through lit tunnels as well) -snow sledding ( 3 rides for $10) -fire pits (you can buy s'more packages) -shuttle that takes you from one side to other (we didn't use, it's very walkable) -snow globe you can walk into for photos 2 hours is enough for the total experience -take your strollers if you have little ones -lots of parking Have fun!! read more

See all

It's a shame this place isn't open for 2023. My girlfriend and I had one of the best Christmas experiences here. There is so much to see and enjoy m. Admission price is relatively low compared to everywhere else. It is a great place for kids to run around and make smores. I will keep coming back as long as they have this annually. read more

This place put a good amount of effort into the light structures! There was a lot to look at and my kid was having tons of fun. We came 2 years ago during COVID, so we were excited to be able to walk around this time. If it wasn't so cold we would've stayed longer!! read more

See all

Terrible experience. Super boring. My kids ages 3,7,10 were miserable. Couldn't wait to leave. Sledding was also closed. Needs more hands on entertainment. Def won't go back read more

Christmas light show from 12/1/2022 to 01/01/2023. 3-story ornaments. Dinner, snacks & drinks (libations & famous hot chocolates & coffee....much more. They had an area where you could make your own s'mores. A 4-story rocking horse Santa. The cutest thing.....race car reindeer stables. An 11-story Christmas tree. Pictures with Santa. A 35ft teddy bear of lights. 3 amazing light tunnels that the trams drive you through. Also a hayride experience was available. It's an experience to spend time with family or couples. read more

See all

This place is so cute! There's so many beautiful display and it's such a hidden gem. Not busy at all during the weekday that we came. I loved our experience here. read more

See all

We attended this event last night, on a whim. We arrived around 5:25pm for a 5:45pm reservation. For a first year attempt, it was okay. Our boys were happy to do something that brought them a bit of normalcy, so that made the trip worth it. If you're a local, bored, and have nothing to do, it's something to do at a reasonable price (compared to other similar events,) and that keeps you in your own car, socially distanced. Bu,t set your expectations low. If you're driving more than 30 minutes to get there, it's not worth the trip, nor expense. We arrived about 20 minutes before our reservation time and by the time we were scanned in and merged into the actual event line, it was exactly our entry time. However, by the time we finished the event and left, which was around 6:30pm, the line was HUGE, at least half a mile onto the freeway off ramp. So take lots of patience with you. Use the restrooms before the event and take snacks because, again, the lines are long and move very slow to get in, and to go through the loop. Because of the lines, we avoided buying from the event's concessions stand. There's really not that many light arrangements to see. It's pretty much just basic string lights around the entire speedway with clustered fixtures/arrangements. The highlight for us was towards the beginning (tunnel,) and the end (Reindeer Stables.) When you scan in, they give you a card for a scavenger hunt. We didn't do it, it's too dark to be doing that while trying to drive and actually look at the arrangements, while also rearing children. Because it's a loop, at one point it becomes redundant because you're stuck seeing the same arrangement twice. Because reservation slots are In 15 minute intervals, you're stuck in a gridlock of cars, so if you have an emergency and have to exit, there is no way out. 15 minutes between reservations is way too short of a time frame. The slots need to be at minimum in 30 minute intervals. Maybe next year they'll add more/better light arrangements, maybe have snack stockings, available to purchase online as add-ons, and made available for pick up at the entrance when scanning in. Also, maybe make it interactive. Possibly make the scavenger hunt card, digital so it can be done via mobile. Just small suggestions that could improve the event. read more

See all

This is the third holiday drive thru experience I had the opportunity to attend and could have been better in my opinion. Went on Christmas Day, and it took about 30 minutes to get to the main entrance due to the traffic. They offer 3-D glasses for about $3 to "enhance" your experience, but we declined. They also gave us cards for a scavenger hunt. Some of the displays were cute, but I think that the available space could've been utilized for more lights, photo ops. Speakers were posted throughout the route, but if you had your radio on the station they say to set it to, you would hear an echo/delay playing the same music. I noticed that kids were standing or hanging out of vehicle windows and sunroofs, which was definitely a no-no, as we heard PA announcements saying not to do so. However, employees posted along the route did not enforce this as we saw the same children continue to literally hang out of their cars. One of my favorite parts was the "stable" area where "snow" fell, but unfortunately there wasn't much snow and we quickly drove by & almost missed it. Concession stand and restroom were at the end of the drive thru. read more

See all

ALL THE LIGHTS WERE RED! SO DUMB. Oh wait, we haven't gotten in because they oversold the event and we've been waiting almost 2 hours. Anyway here's my view EDIT: once we got in it was quite pleasant. Pictures added. read more

See all

This is such a fun event to brighten up this unusual holiday season! We got tickets for 5:30pm on a Saturday evening and we had no problem entering the venue. When you check in, they tell you to tune into an AM radio station that plays fun holiday music. There is also a scavenger hunt that you can do while driving through the speedway which my four year old niece really liked. Overall this was a fun and unique event that was fun for the entire family! Tickets are $59 per car and we probably were there for about an hour. If you go, I would recommend trying to get tickets for the earlier entry times since there was a lot of traffic on the streets when we left. read more

Santa's Speedway - Festivals Near Me - Irwindale, California

Christmas 2022 it's a park and walk around experience. It was a great time. I have to say that the helpfulness and politeness of every single staff member I interacted with really jumped out at me, great job! Kids loved the light displays, s'mores and snow sledding. read more

Santa's Speedway - Festivals Near Me - Irwindale, California

We went on Wednesday night 12/16. We did not have any trouble getting to the site, and it was a very brief wait to get inside. Our tickets were for 6 PM. We all enjoyed it, especially my four-year-old granddaughter. Santa Claus said "hello" to her at the end, and she was very excited. The tunnel of light was amazing! It was well done and worth the money. The first reviews posted here scared me, because of the long waits people reported to get to the venue. I definitely think weekdays are better, and it looks like the venue has made an effort to limit ticket sales. It was a lot of fun to drive on the speedway! There is a radio station you tune to when you get to hear Christmas songs as you go around. You get to go around twice. It took about 35 minutes to go through. read more

See all

Went there after google searched for Christmas lighting. Didn't do much more research and popped in, paid ticket at the entrance at 6pm, no waiting at all luckily for us this year. Went through the whole drive thru experience in about 45 mins. Very nice lighting and good experience overall for us as a first timer. $75 worths the price in my opinion considering we didn't have to wait in line as others said. read more

See all

Santa's Speedway is AMAZING !!!! Load up your family and friends and get the Racing Christmas Spirit !!!!! I have been to every type of Race since Irwindale Speedway opened. L.A's Place to Race is now my new Family Christmas Tradition ! Santa, Rudolph and the Reindeer,Santa's Helpers , tons of race cars . Driving on the Speedway and Dragstrip. Pit Stop for Hot Chocolate and Churros(Cali X-MAS) ! I brought friends visiting from Germany , they were so awestruck I'm still on the Victory Lap. Bring your family to this extravaganza brought to you by the Amazing Family/Friends of Irwindale Speedway. read more

Santa's Speedway - Birdseye veiw - Festivals Near Me - Irwindale, California

See all

Weekdays are definitely the time to go - less people and shorter lines. $59 per car for up to 8 people... that's around $7 per person for a fun filled evening. The tunnel of lights is amazing - I've been to several Christmas drive throughs in LA and this tunnel is the best one I've seen. The 3D glasses you can purchase are super fun and great for kids. The scavenger hunt is also a fun touch for kids. You even get to see Mrs. Claus and Santa at the end! This event will definitely get you in the holiday spirit! Highly recommend! read more

Last night our family of 10 attended Santa's Speedway. What an amazing night. The lights are truly magical. Our kids loved it. You can walk it, ride in a tractor hay ride or a trolly. They have fire pits and smores for sale. You can have a holiday cocktail too. The night was great. I think they could benefit from having a few food trucks in the future but that's my only advice. Fun night had by all. read more

I loved it!! No line to get in only the line inside which is expected. The lights of display were beautiful and the entrance was with cute characters. My grand daughter loved it. She was excited to see the sights the whole time. I love the touch of driving around the TALL Christmas tree and the music set the mood. I recommended this to my siblings!! And at the end the stables of cars were cute and Santa at the end was a great touch. Thank you Speedway, I would go again!! My ticket was set for 645pm we arrived 7pm. No traffic!!! read more

Very nice holiday light experience. Great exhibits and well organized. The slow ride on and around the race track lasted about 35 minutes. Snacks, drinks and restrooms were available at the halfway point. We will return and recommend. read more

My husband and I went last night (12/21/2022) at 5:30 and we had fun we didn't want to leave because the lights are so pretty to look at you could take a tram down to the racetrack where they have all the lights at. You can even make your own s'mores and little fire pits you go warm up at and they also use it for the s'mores. It's worth the price I have no complaints I see some comments like "they need to improve here and there". Everything's just fine there's no missing spaces in the lights the tram is nice there's a dude that's dressed up as a lug nut who jumped on the tram just to get a ride down to the bottom of the racetrack. Go early. I did notice as it got later more people showed up. read more

Incredible experience for the entire family! We went last Thursday & our kids had a blast! You get the entire holiday experience with the amazing lights, Christmas songs playing the entire ride, & hot chocolate and snacks before/after. The kids loved seeing Santa as well as driving on the Speedway! Highly recommended it! read more

This place is an unmitigated disaster. Don't waste your time. Do whatever you can to cancel and get your money back. Besides, there are many neighborhoods throughout So Cal with better Christmas lights. Huntington Park in July comes to mind. read more

What a cool event! The decorations were amazing, and HUGE! The drive through all the different areas was much longer than I was expecting. The kids loved it! The traffic to enter took a little while because we went on a busy weekend but this will definitely be our newest family tradition! read more

Okay, so we bought tickets for last year's drive thru but weren't able to attend due to emergency family matters. So this year I was excited to know they were holding the drive thru event again this year. I bought the ticket for $59/per car. And you'll received a QR code as your ticket of entry. We went yesterday, on a Monday night at 6pm. Getting there from L.A. was heavy traffic, so do plan to leave early and weekdays is best. As it isn't that busy. My kids, husband and I enjoyed the Christmas lights. Very decorative and beautiful. The cool part is driving on the track. They also have a concession stand for some food and drinks if you're hungry. Take the whole family and enjoy it together. You can also tune in to 87.9 FM to listen to the Christmas music that is playing there. We had so much fun! This is worth your money and much better than the Nights of Lights in OC (imo). Y'all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Stay safe! read more

See all

This was a great event for the family. They enjoyed doing the scavenger hunt while driving through the racetrack. I believe the scavenger hunt and the Christmas music you could play on their radio station upped the Christmas feel. The cars were all going at a reasonable pace so that you're able to take good pictures of the decorations. We went on 12/23 at 7:30pm. The wait time to get checked in was around 15-20mins which was not bad at all considering that the event was sold out. It was good to go around this time because coming from LA, the traffic had already cleared from the freeways so it was a smooth drive to and from there. At the exit you can park to get snacks or use the restrooms. The hot cocoa was tasty, the churros were alright but not warm enough. Overall I recommend this event. read more

See all

This place is a total waste of money!!!! My neighbors have more lights then this place. I cannot believe how people can rip people off this way. Don't waste your money here. Came here for my daughters birthday and it was a total disappointment..... read more

With the COVID-19 rate climbing every day, we are more than happy to do drive-through Christmas displays. It also saves us the chore of bundling up and freezing our tushies off while we stroll around in 48 degree temperatures. There are 2 miles of lights, and they put in a lot of work to make this spectacular. There is Santa driving a sports car with his 8 tiny reindeer decked out in lights leading the way; an "underwater" Christmas lights display; and a holiday campground display with campers decked out with wreaths and other decorations. You can even tune your radio to their station to listen to Christmas music during your drive. They have churros and hot chocolate for purchase at the entrance so you can sip your hot cocoa while you sit in the comfort of your car with your heated seats, and marvel at all the twinkling lights. read more

Best Christmas lights display we've seen! You drive all around the racetrack and pit area, a few miles at least and millions of lights! The designs are expansive and wonderfully detailed! A lot of care (Love?) went into this project, don't miss it! read more

Don't know why this got so many bad reviews, my kids (10/6) had fun. I got tickets online ahead of time for 530pm on a Friday and the lines were not long. The speedway itself was well decorated and very festive. I think the only problem I had was with dumb people not knowing how to turn off the automatic headlights on their cars. Granted $60 for a 30 min drive to see Christmas lights seems steep but there are not many activities to do this year. My kids liked it and it helped them see a bit of holiday magic. The stables were our favorite part. We have gone to the Elf on the Shelf at the Pomona fairplex as well. Both are enjoyable. My kids liked Elf because of the live actors. Mom and dad liked the speedway because of the lights. read more

Chose a weekday if you want to avoid the crowds. Weekends are definitely busy, but I guess that means it's popular and folks are enjoying the opportunity to get out and soak in a ton of Christmas cheer. Absolutely love the tunnel of lights, camping area, and Reindeer Stables with cars decked out in lights! read more

See all

Please DO NOT bring your kids here. Unless you are trying to traumatize them for life. Literally was stuck for an hour before making the smartest decision to leave!! Completely unorganized and unplanned. Will 100 percent be disputing this with my cc company. read more

Huge disappointment and waste of money! Worst of all it's clear whoever put on this production took advantage of the pandemic to make money off people who want to some holiday joy when activities are limited. Here are the reasons why: 1) light sucks - mostly stationary lights that are boring especially when you're driving slowly through them, 2) zero live Christmas costume characters, 3) zero blow up characters. This sums up to waste of $59 with not much holiday spirit. It feels like I'm stuck in traffic going through LAX. My kids got bored 5 mins in. FYI I had gone to another Christmas drive thru earlier this month and they did a much much better job. read more

This was not it ! I had a slot for 8:45 and I didn't get anywhere near the entrance till 11:20 . My toddler was not having it had I know I needed to pack like I was going on a long road trip I would have . My niece needed to pee and it was a disaster and then they don't want to give you a refund . I never leave Yelp reviews but if I can save someone having the horrible experience I had then I'll do it . If I can give 0 stars I would . read more

I recommend doing an early slot on a week day to avoid long lines. The lights were very nice. The price per vehicle is reasonable if you have a SUV. read more

See all

1/3/21 Updating this review because I finally received a refund. Probably will never purchase a ticket again, but I appreciated the customer service in finalizing a refund. read more

DO NOT COME HERE! It is a complete rip off! It is obvious that they set this up to take money from people during a pandemic. They knew people would be suckered to come here since there's no other events going on. My two kids were bored and would have had a better time watching my neighborhood's lights. Felt like we paid $60 to drive in LAX terminal traffic. Refund if you can! Don't allot them to rob people even more! read more

Waited in line for an hour after getting off the freeway, and it sounds like we were lucky to only wait an hour! Crowd control is awful. The lights are ok but not worth the wait. read more

They oversell so you have to wait in line forever. There are huge areas with no displays and there is no nod to what Christmas is actually about. Even Disneyland had a Silent Night moment during the fireworks. This whole display seems to be about making the most money possible. read more