Taking the Kids: Holiday lights everywhere!

Stay in the car and follow the 57th annual Trail of Lights at Zilker Park in Austin, Texas, voted a USA Today “Top 10 Holiday Celebration,” with more than 2 million lights, 90 lighted trees and more than 70 other holiday displays and lighted tunnels. Tune in your radio for holiday music and history. Nov. 27 to Dec. 31, 2021. You’ll find other drive-through extravaganzas everywhere from the three-mile route of Charleston, S.C.’s ’ annual Holiday Festival of Lights, considered one of the top 20 holiday lights events in the Southeast, The three-mile-long Festival of Lights at Moody Gardens in Galveston, Texas, the largest holiday destination in the Southwest and in Louisville, KY., where Lights Under Louisville is back with more than 4 million lights arranged in 40 themed displays, 10 very cool mapping projections and 900 illuminated characters in a vast complex of caves.

Take a walk back in time — perhaps a historic Freedom Trail Holiday Stroll and discover how Boston’s holiday traditions evolved, Christmas Eve 1876 at Mystic Seaport where the socially distanced Lantern Light Village re-enactment features costumed characters, light displays and music, or in Virginia time travel farther at Colonial Williamsburg (to pre-revolutionary times).

Celebrate with your favorite characters in Orlando. Celebrating 50 years, Walt Disney World welcomes guests with holiday cheer, new shows and lavish decor at all four theme parks – Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom. Plus, Disney Springs and all the Disney Resort hotels are decked out for the season. Over at Universal Studios Florida, you can count on Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley being decorated as part of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Expect to see huge floats and balloons from the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. At SeaWorld’s “Christmas Celebration,” you will be able to meet Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and see ice skaters twirl on a frozen lake. LEGO fans should celebrate at “Holidays at Legoland” to catch special shows, LEGO characters, plenty of twinkling lights and a Kids New Year’s Party.

Head to a museum in Cleveland, Ohio. Enjoy the Kringle’s Inventionasium Experience. This walk-through experience with costumed characters leads through Mr. Kringle’s top secret laboratory where visitors invent new toys in a fun STEM activity; New Yorkers throng to the American Museum of Natural History to see the origami tree decorated by volunteers. This year’s 13-foot tree is decorated with more than 1,000 origami pieces that include models of the specimens from the new Allison and Roberto Mignone Halls of Gems and Minerals.

The Smoky Mountains beckon. The entire town of Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, creates a winter wonderland for locals and guests to enjoy during the city’s 32nd annual Smoky Mountain Winterfest celebration of the season. Dollywood theme park is a must-see with more than 5 million lights and a 50-foot-tall tree on exhibit during “Dollywood’s Smoky Mountain Christmas.”

Happy holidays!

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(For more Taking the Kids, visit www.takingthekids.com and also follow TakingTheKids on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram where Eileen Ogintz welcomes your questions and comments. The Kid’s Guide to Philadelphia, the 13th in the kid’s guide series, was published in 2020, with The Kid’s Guide to Camping coming in 2021.)