by Noella Noelophile®
(Royalty-free image by Klaus from Pixabay.)
Admittedly, we haven’t even celebrated Halloween yet.
BUT–here are some Christmas-season dates to keep in mind, so you don’t get disappointed; a lot of these sell out!
“Scary” as it seems, you may want to mark your calendar for:
(Royalty-free image by Klaus Stebani from Pixabay.)
Monday, November 3, 10 am.
Irvine Park Railroad’s Christmas Train tickets go on sale, right at 10:00 that morning.
The Christmas Train always, but always, sells out.
Which comes as no surprise. This is an enchanting annual tradition, traveling through festive Irvine Regional Historical Park, with a final destination of the North Pole.
After young travelers have had the opportunity to visit with a certain jolly gentleman, the train returns to Santa’s Village. (Here’s where they can fill out a “Wish List” to hand him!)
According to Irvine Park Railroad’s website, dinner, dessert and snacks are provided for travelers, and reservations are available ONLY online.
Operating dates for the Christmas Train: November 28th through December 23rd, from 4:00 pm to 9:00 pm on weekdays, and 10:00 am to 9 pm on weekends.
(Photo courtesy of Winter Fest OC.)
Now through Monday, November 10th
Winter Fest OC, in Costa Mesa, has “Early Bird” tickets available, for purchase online ONLY. This is Southern California’s largest winter festival, held at the Orange County Fairgrounds, and among the attractions will be light displays, ice skating, ice tubing, fresh snow, daily entertainment and a lot more!
“Snow Passes” are available for single-day admission, for just over $30 per person (flexible dates!), and the price goes down to just under $28 per attendee for the “Flex Snow Pass Family 4 Pack.”
Among the features included with these are ice tubing, entrance to the Snow Play Zone (that snow carousel sounds like a lot of fun!), and a visit with Santa, available now through December 24th.
And if you’d like to splurge–for yourself or someone on your gift list–there’s also a single-day admission “Flex Platinum Pass” which includes 9 holes of Polar Putt-Putt, unlimited carnival rides and unlimited ice skating!
Winter Fest OC runs from Friday, November 28th (Friday after Thanksgiving!) through Sunday, January 4th.
(Royalty-free image by Conger Designs on Pixabay.)
Now until they sell out:
Columbia State Historic Park’s “Lamplight Tours”–book here.
Here’s your chance to go back in time.
With a kerosene lantern, the group leaves Columbia Museum to travel the streets of Columbia for a walking play, visiting with local “townsfolk”, who share their humorous recollections of days gone by. The evening ends with music, dance and refreshments–and believe it or not, one time slot, on December 6th, is sold out already!
Dates: Friday, December 5th and Saturday, December 6th, from 5 pm to 10 pm. The first tour leaves at 6:30 pm on Friday, the 5th, with tours departing at 15-minute intervals thereafter, until 7:45 pm. Then, on Saturday, the 6th, the first tour leaves at 5:30 pm, with tours departing every fifteen minutes until 7:45 pm.
Tickets are listed at $30 per person, and you’re requested to arrive at the museum 15 minutes prior to your tour’s scheduled departure time.
And–those are just three of the upcoming events you might like to add to your calendar for Christmas season, 2025! I’ll follow up with more, later this week.