Just attended this weekend for the second year. This event packs a big crowd into downtown Cocoa…read moreBeach. There were hundreds of artists displaying their creations that were offered for sale. They had a nice stage set up and bands playing all weekend. We had a nice time browsing and enjoying the music. I made a purchase from a wood working guy at the event. It was a hand made slicer that will cut through anything. It is great for slicing tomato, French bread, meats and cheeses. That was a good score for $20.00

What's not to like about Night of a Million Lights?! This event is held at Give Kids the World…read morewhich is a story book type resort dedicated to providing children with critical illnesses and their families A weeklong vacation experience. As for the event, Night of a Million Lights, it is a holiday event work all the houses are adorned with Christmas lights and music going on all around. For 2021, as you arrive to the property you are directed to parking on the other side of Route 192. From there you will be driven by boss over to the event. It's about a 10 minute bus ride, maybe a little less if less traffic and you don't hit the light, from the parking to the event drop off. Your ticket is scan before you get on the bus so once you come off, can you simply start enjoying the run. This year they have plenty of vendors throughout the property selling food, snacks, merchandise. It's a great event for a great cause, and plenty of opportunities for holiday photos

This was a great experience! I went on opening night (not intentionally, just worked with our…read moreplans) with my mother, aunt and cousin (GNO). We wanted to do something extra Christmas-y while my aunt and cousin were in town visiting and this fit the bill! We didn't fully know what to expect regarding the showcase, but it rocked! Plus, your supporting a good cause. The light displays were elaborate and so cool, I thought the sponsored houses were neat, and the train ride had a fantastic story and information with it. We didn't eat anything there or get souvenirs, but it looks well organized from that perspective with options. We were there from ~8pm-10pm and it was a perfect amount of time. It was low key and relaxed, but so exciting! I'd recommend this as a cute date night for couples or a family outing for young children. If you liked and miss Disney's Osbourne Lights at Hollywood Studios, you're going to love Night of a Million Lights!

On Christmas Eve at 8 am, 800 Surfing Santas and 1000's of spectators came to Cocoa Beach for the…read moreAnnual Surfing Santa event! I stumbled upon this event while searching for Xmas festivities, and wow this was one of the best of the best! It is a must see experience if you love all things FL, beach, different, extraordinary, tropical. Apparently, this is not the only place that does this. Cocoa Beach beat the record of Surfing Santas over Australia. This is so much fun! There are some vendors, bands, Hawaiian Dancer show which I love and so many picture opportunities. Of course at one time, all the Surfing Santas all went in the water to surf. There was Surfing Santas that jumped out of a helicopter, there was a wedding proposal. There also was a costume contest! I loved loved loved this event! I can't love it anymore than I have! Wow so much fun and totally something I haven't seen before!

A total family event.. great way to start off the the Christmas Holidays.. you won't be…read moredisappointed!

What a nice event for Orlando. We went on the last day of the 2020 event and arrived around 2p…read more We were lucky enough to find a close parking spot so we started off great. We had free tix courtesy of a local radio station contest. I can still hear the busy signals in my ear from dialing in. This year, the event was "cashless", which doesn't mean you can't bring cash, but it means you pre-load your bracelet with money that you can use to purchase items from various vendors. It sounds like a good idea, but you have to guess as to how much to load, then do math all day and remember how much you have. When you purchase something, you can ask the person what your balance is. It's nice to not have to get out your wallet every time, but also a pain if you want something that's $7 and you have $6 left. You can't combine "bracelets" either so if someone had $1 left, they'd either have to reload or lose it. There was also a $1 service charge for the privilege of using the bracelet. As far as food options, there were plenty. Various restaurants from around town were there serving up some of their favorites. Gringos Locos, Dixie Dharma, Kaizen Something or other, American Social, Jeremiahs Italian Ice, Jimmy Hula's, and many others were there. It's a great way to try things without driving all over. Many places also had vegan and vegetarian options. There were plenty of wine vendors as well, and those lines were the shortest (or non existent). There was something you could buy that was a sampling of wines for $20. I think they punched or scanned something with each vendor. Most wineries were charging $7 for a glass (plastic cup) of wine. I would think if you want people to try your wines, you'd have it at a lower price point. Are they there to make money or get people to love their wine? (Gringos Locos got it with their $2 Double Decker Tacos, the line was nuts). The event ran till 7 but around 4p, some vendors were already closing up shop. That would be disappointing to me if I was arriving later in the day. There was also Mixed Drinks, Bloody Mary Bars, Beer, Hard Seltzer, and water/soda if you weren't there to get Lit. Prices were good for these options. There were plenty of porta-johns and hand washing stations which is nice. There was a stage with rotating bands. Lots of security as well. I'd recommend going as a nice day out. I wish they'd improve the cashless payment method though. At least let people combine. I'd give it 4 stars if it wasn't for that.

An A OK event that has some ups and downs. This is an annual event that takes place in the heart of…read moredowntown. There are tons of parking garages and lots in the local area that are within walking distance, most are around $5-7 dollars, so it's not too bad. It's about $20 for entry into the event, which seems a bit steep to me, since you have to pay for tickets for the food and drinks on top of that. Each ticket is $2 and most drinks and food are between 3-4 tickets ($6-8). It's a pretty expensive event overall once you tally up parking, entry and tickets. There are a lot of vendors, especially local vendors, which is great, cause I love to support local. There were about 40 tents, about half drinks and half food. There is a menu of options when you arrive, so you can know what to expect. Overall: B- A good locals event, but a pretty steep price tag on it once you add it all up.

I've been to many fairs all over America and I must say this one was more or less just a carnival…read moreas it lacked a lot of what makes a fair great! So pretty much this was a carnival midway with a small amount of food vendors a very small arts and crafts section as well as a few animals and shows. This is a smaller fair I get that but I guess where it fell short for me was I was hoping it would be more local with some unique vendors and as well as food items but everything here was just stuff you can get anywhere. The majority of this was a carnival which was super cool if that's what you come for and I will say they did have a great selection of rides some of which I haven't seen in years and for someone who goes to parks all over the place that definitely made me smile as this totally reminded me of those sketchy carnival midways that I used to go to when I was little which are always a good time and that vibe I really haven't felt in many years so it was right there where it felt like the small local dark carnival past! The arts and crafts section was very small mostly consisted of one section of a pavilion that was combined with an arcade leaving much to be desired when you're looking for crafts as well as vendors. The food here was very generic nothing special like things you can get anywhere as I always seek out what's unique when we go to the fair as it's part of the experience but we didn't see any of that here but I will say the items we did get were totally yummy! Overall we spent more time on the carnival midway so if your planning on coming here I'm sure you will be doing that too as they did have a few little shows but nothing we had to watch but I will say we did have a fun time and how can you not at any type of fair!

Cops need to be replaced. I was jogging to catch up to my friend and they assumed I was looking to…read morefight someone, they didn't let me explain, they grabbed my arm harshly even when I was cooperating with them and doing as they said and they took my out and said no re entry. That's 30$ waisted because the cops are abusing their authority and made random assumptions. I suggest to anyone to go somewhere else to have a good time. The security here will get you for no reason.

Lake Nona Lights is clearly a labor of love. You can tell a lot of work went into creating this…read moreshow. The lights are choreographed manually to match the music in a meaningful way. It's far more advanced than a computer can do on its own. For example, there's a segment from Charlie Brown Christmas where the lights mimic the dances done by some of the kids (if you know, you know). In another part the lights mimic a burning fuse during a clip from Mission Impossible. You can listen to the music from your car radio if you want to stay socially distant. There's a sign that will tell you what station to tune in to. If you happen to be in the Lake Nona area between Thanksgiving and New Year's, you should check this out.

The Asian Lantern Festival is a stunning display of colors, lights and culture! This is a festivity…read morefit for all, family friendly or a perfect date or just to come stroll and enjoy a unique display of art. This festival is held at the Central Florida Zoo, and sprawls all the way through the zoo, which is cool. You are able to see some of the animals along with the lanterns- if they're out at night, since the festival is in the evenings. It has a really fun variety of installations, sectioned into like 4 different areas with very different themes. There's a Florida section, of course, a garden area as well as a fantasy land, and some others. The entire thing goes in a big loop around the zoo so it's easy to navigate. It's such a stunning display: gorgeous and otherworldly art that really not enough words can sum up just how cool it actually is. It's one of those times where you feel all the good things in the world at once when you're looking at the lanterns and it's almost euphoric, walking through the colors and sparkles and interactions of culture, beauty and design. They do have a lot of concessions options around if you want snacks or something to drink. And there's quite a few interactive areas- one of my favorites were the nitro bubbles by the big crab, such fun! This is so worth the price of admission and I'd recommend going earlier, like right when the festival opens to beat all the crowds because it gets really packed.

This was such a unique experience, it's in my area but first time I had the opportunity to attend…read more The tickets we're about $25 per person, free parking at the Central Florida Zoo. It's held at night so the zoo itself was closed. The entire zoo was adorned with the Asian themed displays. Lots of lights and moving displays to look at and interact with. If you have kids they will definitely enjoy this, I didn't go with kids but I also enjoyed the experience. You can bring snacks and water probably, no one checked my bag, I did have a bottle of water with me, wish I thought about the snacks also. If you have kids I'd definitely bring a few snacks, they do have some stands with food and snacks, as you'd expect they're expensive. Great experience and I'd do it again.