**Grinch alert**
Back in October, I saw a group tour advertised to go to Koziar’s in early December. The deal was to board a bus and ride for 2.5 hours up to Berk’s county, PA., then tour Koziar’s on your own and ride the bus back. Tickets were $80.00 per person. That’s EIGHTY DOLLARS per person. This fee covered the driver, the bus, gratuities and a tour guide. While they didn’t mention they’d be going anywhere but to Koziar’s, I have a feeling they may have stopped in Lititz to wander the town before the Christmas Village opened. Again, I’m speculating on that part. Still…. EIGHTY DOLLARS!
I was intrigued by this trip. I looked up Koziar’s and read the history and website. I saw that it was rated 2021 Best of the Best by American Bus Association, and “Best Outside Christmas Display in the World” by Display World Magazine and that it had been featured on the “Today” Show. I had visions of lighted paths and dazzling displays (and maybe of sugarplum fairies) dancing in my head, so I boldly put the date on my calendar and informed Hubby that this was a holiday adventure for us.
We decided we’d rather drive up ourselves so we’d have more flexibility with weather and pit stops. Plus the thought of $160.00 before anything else seemed overpriced to me.
Our drive was very nice and quite lovely. Even the industrial smoke that was covering the area in a blanket of unhealthy “purple air” lent itself to a beautiful pallet over the landscape. The pockets of purple-gray haze hanging over the green fields were serene, and our customized holiday playlist played cheerily in our comfy car.
We set out extra early, (I’d started to see reviews saying that traffic had been an issue) with the intent of being at the gates when they opened (4:30 pm). We got to the area about two hours early, and decided to stop in aforementioned Lititz, Pa., for a bit of a wander and a visit to the Wilbur Chocolate Factory store.
In fact, we had so much fun wandering around the festive town, we used up our spare time and then some, so we hustled back to the car to head out the Christmas Village. We were about 35 minutes away and it was 4:45 pm.
That was enough time for the roads to become clogged with cars, resulting in a back-up that had us sitting 1 mile from our destination in practically unmoving traffic for over an hour. I’m not exactly sure WHY the traffic was so bad, because the facility has more than ample parking. We finally made it to the parking lot at 7:00 pm.
Since it was a “prime” day, the entrance fees were $17.00 each. On non-prime days it’s $4.00 less. Not entirely sure why they charge more on a busy day when it’s only lights, but my guess would be the parking staff works longer that day??
So here we are, all hyped up to see this amazing display. We’ve paid our fees and we are in the Village… what now….we wander, of course. The entrance dumps you in an area where there’s a train display, a viewing area of the lake and restrooms. The lake has some nice light displays with a central tree that runs a spectrum of light configurations. I did like that.
The initial train garden was vast and the set-up was nice! There are a few other train displays along the lighted pathways, but this one was by far the largest.
From here, you are funneled on to the pathway where there are different vignettes set up. There are some cute areas, but by and large, the majority of the set-up is wooden cut outs or housed dioramas. Most of the lights are either wire framed displays such as seen in the photos above, or are used to light the pathways and frame wooden cut-outs. There may be over a million or so lights here, but they aren’t dazzling as much as they are just lighting the path.
The wooden cut-outs cover an array of topics in their displays. There were iconic cartoon characters such as Garfield, Peanuts and Sesame Street characters (all painted with slightly distorted features), along with classics like Andy Capp and Betty Boop. These are squeezed into areas that were bordered by Native Americans, covered wagons, bison, the story of the Nutcracker and A Christmas Carol, dinosaurs, and the winter at Valley Forge (wtf??). This mishmash of topics was a little dizzying when tied together with the small buildings with their displays of cookie baking, a jungle scene with animals in Christmas bows, Grace’s Drugstore (again, ??), Santa and his reindeer, a creepy moving doll that was ice skating, a fire department, the Nativity and a sweets shop.
Sprinkled here and there along the path were shops. In my opinion, Koziar’s missed out on effective merch opportunities. One shop had just shirts, another just stuffies and a few cars for sale and a third had random holiday decor that was wildly overpriced. None of the shops were attractively displayed or inviting. There was a place to get hot cocoa and another to get popcorn and still another to get sweets. A refreshment barn and gift shop were at the end of the path and maybe this area was set up better, but I didn’t want to fight the masses to see since I was already put off by their other merchandising scenarios.
All in all, Hubby and I had fun and we feel like we had a good holiday adventure.
Would we go back to Koziar’s? No. Although, I really enjoyed visiting Lititz.
Would I recommend it to anyone who lives 2 hours away, no. It’s a little underwhelming for the price and the drive, especially if you have older kids. Younger kids might like it, but much of it is dated. Honestly, I don’t think there are any cut-outs that represent anything after 1996 or so.
Would I have been disappointed if I’d paid $160.00? You bet. It’s definitely not Longwood Gardens!!
If this is your kind of thing, then it’s really your thing and you’ll love it. Kids will be dazzled, but might not understand some of what they are seeing beyond pretty lights.
Me? One and done!
Snippets and Tidbits 