I have always wanted to go to the lantern fest, but none ever came to Sacramento. One day, I saw on social media that The Lights Fest was coming to "Sacramento" (continue reading and you'll see why it was in quotes). I was jumping with joy and signed up to be notified via email to save my spot. I was sooo excited that I signed up with 3 emails.
As the days and weeks went by, I never received an email. Checked the website and nothing. One day a family member sent me a screenshot showing that the tickets will be available for purchase the next day at 7:00 pm. Boy was I excited. I even set my alarm for the next day just so I can buy tickets. Have you ever felt so excited that you didn't even wait for your alarm to go off to be reminded? Mhm! I was on the computer 30 minutes before it was time and WOW. They posted on their website saying that registration will not be up tonight due to technical difficulties. SERIOUSLY?! Fine!!! Since I want to go so badly, I will check again tomorrow.
Come around the next morning, their website still says technical difficulties. Later in the afternoon when I checked again, I was able to get to a page where it showed me how much the tickets were, but I couldn't check out. Who seriously has this much time to sit around and waste? I couldn't get around to checking it again until later that evening and what do you know? All the VIP ($35), early bird ($40), and regular ($45) tickets were sold out. I got late tickets ($50). I emailed customer service asking why was no email sent out when I registered to save a spot? All I got was a rude ass response, no apologies, nothing! I decided to purchase tickets anyway because I wanted to enjoy a magical night with my family, but after my experience, NEVER again with this company!
When we arrived to the location, there was no service. At least none for AT&T in the parking lot. However, I was able to get 1 bar at the actual event where everyone sat waiting to light their lanterns. The walk to the actual event from the parking lot is 1/2 mile away uphill and downhill. Not too bad if you didn't bring a lot of stuff and have a wagon to pull things around in. There were a few shuttles available to drive people to the event.
Now to checking in. The people at check in did not even scan our tickets. Should have known it was gonna be very unorganized! Anyone could have gotten in for free. I questioned myself, what was the point of emailing customer service to get a rude ass response when I could have gotten in for free (okay, but I'm not that scandalous)? Ugh! The good thing was we didn't have to stand in line very long. Each adult got a lantern and children got glow sticks. I guess glow sticks = swag bags? They also had 15+ porta pottys, which ran out of toilet paper for a good hour or maybe I just got lucky and FINALLY found one that had toilet paper. They hired local bands/djs to play music and there were also food trucks at the event. I felt that the event did not have enough security guards. They also didn't have enough tiki torches so everyone started lighting their own lantern when it was time. On their email they said that we weren't allowed to bring lighters of our own. You know what happens when you listen? You may not get to light your lantern. Luckily my cousin kept walking around and found someone nice enough to lend us their lighter. Of course we didn't get to light them until it was towards the end when everyone had already finished lighting theirs and started packing up to take off.
After we finished, we packed up, and left. Hoping to take the shuttle, we followed the security guard's direction of where to line up. We waited in line for a good 45 minutes and no shuttle ever came. We decided to just go ahead and walk because it was way too cold to continue waiting. When we got close to the parking lot, the shuttle was nowhere in sight. Good thing we decided not to wait any longer because we would have probably stood in line waiting until 10 pm for nothing. There were so many cars that got the close parking, but got stuck and went nowhere.
This event was very unorganized. It was supposed to be a magical evening, instead we were stressing out about having to find someone with a lighter. The reason I am giving 2 stars is because of the music and I finally got to light my lantern after hopeful prayers of finding someone kind enough to lend us their lighter. Thank you to that person, whoever you are! Hopefully when The Lights Fest does the next event again in March at the same location, they will be better prepared this time around.
Now I mentioned something in the beginning of my review. The Lights Fest posted that this event will be held in Sacramento, CA. When it came time to purchase the tickets, they disclosed the location as being in the boonies, Willows CA. That's not even in Sacramento! That's 1 1/2 hour away! I did check their website for the next event and it is listed as Willows, CA. Thanks for not deceiving other people. read more