I got my tickets discounted with early bird access months ago via Fantuan. I believe you can still get them slightly discounted through Fantuan if you order them through their app. Just know that with this, you can skip and go to their "VIP" line to the side. Also do NOT pay for parking, it is completely free. I have no idea how people are paying for parking because you can just drive up for free, but I guess it's the people ordering their tickets online not via Fantuan. Before I jump into this review, I gotta say first that I am not Chinese and I had no idea what was going on most of the time when I was there and most of the staff will speak to you in Chinese. The entire check in process was done in Mandarin when I understood none of it and lots of signs are only in Chinese, but that's not to say that some will try to speak to you in English and that there are vendors who are not Chinese there. As many other reviews have said, it's not the biggest lantern expo out there and the lanterns are quite spaced out. There are some larger more impressive set ups, with some smaller ones interspersed between. There are 2 medium sized Christmas themed "lantern displays", 2 larger Halloween ones, a Dia de Los Muertos one, and some "lantern walkways" with some varying designs for you to take photos of. There are some medium sized Chinese cultural lantern displays including one of a phoenix and a tiger, but the eye-catching ones are definitely that blinking lady who looks like she's from Genshin Impact and the walkway in. As for the smaller ones, there's one of all the Chinese Zodiac animals. For other entertainment, there's carnival games and such (but they were mostly dead), a live stage for performances by the community, some kiddy rides (think those little animal cars at the mall), some shopping vendors (I really liked the cat rescue with an actual rescue cat relaxing there), and some food vendors. They were giving away free plushie straps of your Chinese Zodiac animals so everyone in my family got one, which is a really nice way to teach people about the culture. There was also sugar art of animals, which is really intricate and neat to look at. I think aside from the "limited" number of lanterns since based on ads you would definitely expect a bit more, I was largely disappointed in the lack of variety for vendors. Many of the vendors are from businesses I generally see at the 626 Night Market or at anime cons or are just tanghulu and skewers. I could have sworn I saw other Yelpers and ads on social media for food vendors with more variety, such as kawaii baos and one that specializes in Thai tea, but they were nowhere to be seen. I think also since the day before it rained and the fact that the even started an hour later on the Sunday that I went, lots of the vendors dipped making the event much emptier than I think it was intended to be. I think another thing that was a bit of an issue was the lack of lights (and I'm not talking about the lanterns). Unless you were closer to the festival, there were NO lights in the parking lot making it a bit of a hazard at worse, and an annoyance to find your car at the very least. There were also NO lights where the port-a-potties were and my dad said he almost dropped his phone inside (thank god he didn't), so those were some issues with the event. For each entry ticket, you did get a set box of 2 hot sauces which I'm excited to try out later. If you have the time to kill and can get the discounted tickets and don't mind splurging a bit for food, it's a good way to spend a couple hours, but it's not something I super recommend in the area. read more

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It was cool but a little unorganized and random. First of all do not pre-pay for parking. Parking was free. Line to get in was super long and just snaked around the front entrance with no rhyme or reason but they had one guy checking with a metal detector wand. For a Saturday they should have anticipated a crowd. Once you got it there were pockets of crowds and then not so much but the displays were oddly placed throughout. No real theme based on the area and map definitely showed more vendors and food. Lines were food were ridiculously long so we ended up eating elsewhere. The displays were cool though. They had a few Halloween and Christmas themed displays in addition to the Chinese themed ones. We were there for about an hour and we were able to go through everything. Although if we ate there probably could have been there for a couple more hours since the lines were long. read more

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Definitely pricey for what you get. I got the tickets at a discount (50% off) for early so paid only $14 per ticket. I still don't think the experience was worth this half off price. Parking is also another $8, I know some people said you didn't have to pay, I went the second week of opening and they had people taking cash/payment for parking. Inside you see some beautiful lights but also there wasn't actually too many. It's pretty much 626 night market with a few lights. Food prices are outrages, and honestly there isn't much to do. They gave us some free chili though as well as some chips but other than that, hard to justify the pricing. The worse feeling is when you have to pay just to buy more overpriced food. You can walk through the whole experience in about an hour. We probably spent 1.5 hours here then decided to leave. Not too crowded and the entertainment seemed like low end budget entertainment. Overall I wouldn't be back since it's didn't seem like it was worth my time and money. It's not bad but also not great IMO. read more

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This festival has been receiving quite a bit of buzz around town. I normally see these type of shows in a botanical garden setting and new it would be in a parking lot so my expectations were tempered. There are also lots of opportunities to get discounted tickets, which is very nice. There are no admission times. It is open admission so there are long lines to get in, however it does keep moving out of decent pace. The festival itself had well over a hundred vendors selling food and other items and probably under 20 lantern displays. Some of the displays were very pretty and some were quite simple inflatables and mechanical animals, probably geared toward younger audiences. The setup was a bit sloppy with many boots empty and set up materials strewn around. There were lots of wires on the ground which I found to be tripping hazards, especially in the dark. Overall I would say it was a decent experience but nothing I would rush back to. read more

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The tickets were pricey for what I experienced in my opinion especially adding on a parking fee and needing to pay inside for food. Huge money grab! It reminded me of the 626 night market but with lanterns displayed throughout. The lanterns were beautiful! They open on Friday and weekends except they were open on Halloween as well which was a Thursday. The vendors said it gets really busy on weekends but I went on a Friday and it wasn't very crowded. Some booths weren't even open! Parking is also a crap shoot in terms of directions on how to get in to the lot. There are a few people who can direct you but there really isn't a safe walkway to cross the main road to get to the festival. Someone is stopping cars to let pedestrians jaywalk... It gets dark later on and there isn't lighting with the parking either... Just fyi they do give you a raffle ticket, free hot sauce at a booth in the front, and free trinkets based on your birth zodiac. read more

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This was fun; we came tonight and enjoyed some delicious night market food and saw lots of cool lanterns made in China. Woohoo! Got discounted tickets from Fantuan app. Only paid $42 for 3 people since toddler was free. Someone from Fantuan actually escorted us to the front of the line because apparently we are VIPs for buying a pass thru their app. The line to get in was very long maybe 20-30 min wait but we skipped all that tonight on their 2nd night of opening to the public on 10-19-2024. I hope they bring this back every year because it's good to introduce this type of festival to the Southern California community. read more

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Very expensive event. We were lucky that they didn't charge us for parking. The best lantern was the entrance structure. The kids and I were really blown away approaching it. But once we were in, the other lanterns were just ok. It was fun to read the descriptions for the zodiac animals but there wasn't much more to the event. Vendors really took advantage of customers by jacking up prices as well. Tang hu Lu dessert was served warm wth! Yuck. Layout was weird and random. Maybe if they put all the lanterns in one area it would be easier to take photos. More game vendors to feel like an Asian night market would be great next time. The next day I had to make a return/exchange with one of the vendors and the registration people were nice enough to let me pass after showing them my ticket from the previous day! Some free paper fans and zodiac animal plushie charms were available which was nice but didn't make up for how much we paid for entrance and food. read more

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I felt ripped off! Entrance fee should be free if 90% of booth vendors left before 11pm. With only minimal laterns, it shouldn't take too much spaces for the festival. Just look sad and spare. At least add carnival rides if you're charging $25! I tried to enjoy it. Honestly, just going to Chinatown, Koreatown, Little Toyko is better and free! read more

Saw this event circulating around on social media and I figured, why not check it out? So I came here on a Saturday night with my girlfriend, and here's my following thoughts: 1. Paid the discounted ticket price off Fantuan ($18) and I still don't think it's worth that much for admission. Feels like more of a $8-10 event for me. Can't imagine paying the full $28 price for it. 2. The light installations were actually well done and pretty to look at. 3. They have claw machines and other carnival like games if you are interested in that type of thing. 4. There was an average amount of food vendors, nothing really caught my eye other than the tanghulu vendors. I didn't get any though due to prices. 5. Felt like a definitely semi mini Chinese version of 626 night market with light installations and even animatronics. At least it didn't feel too crowded too. Overall, my advice would be to get the Fantuan ticket price if you want to check out the festival. Otherwise, value wise, I think the festival is overpriced for what it is and pretty much just took about less than an hour to see all the light installations and general festival. Also they did not check for if you paid for parking, so I wouldn't even bother paying for parking from their website. read more

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Overpriced and definitely not worth it even with a discount code. It was such a disappointment. The exhibits were so spread far apart and felt very randomly placed. We also paid for parking online and no one even bothered to check for parking pass. Another waste of my money. If you like to just pop in for some photo ops to post on social media then that's great. Truly that's all that this place is probably is for. There was a decent amount of food vendors. Some merch for sale and a stage with some line ups, that didn't seem too impressive. I would only come back if it's free. Don't waste your money. read more

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The Los Angeles Lantern Art Expo in Arcadia was a vibrant showcase of cultural artistry and festive spirit. With stunning displays inspired by the Tang Dynasty and the Chinese zodiac, I had a blast searching for my horoscope sign, The Rooster. The event also featured holiday-themed displays, including Halloween and Christmas scenes, along with an impressive Jurassic Park installation. The atmosphere was reminiscent of the 626 Night Market, complete with a variety of food trucks and those iconic claw machines. Arriving early allowed us to enjoy the intricate lanterns in both daylight and illuminated glory. I was thrilled to find Eastern Tales, where I finally got to try their delicious Thai tea offerings, and the staff were incredibly friendly. Would definitely recommend the Lychee lime Thai iced tea!!! I even sampled a mochi crumble dessert that left me wanting more and didn't get a chance to find out the vendor. Special thanks to Khloe for all her help--it made our experience even better. Get your tickets on the website Santa Anita Park www.awcae.com IG: la_lanternartexpo 285 W. Huntington Dr Arcadia 91007 October 18-November 17 4pm-11pm read more

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Pretty overpriced for what it is. Even with the Fantuan discount pricing, it should've been at most 10$ for entry. They don't even check for parking, so it's basically free. Theres a couple of big lanterns you can take pictures with. It's not really an expo at all. As other reviews mentioned, it's basically a mini 626 Night Market but with pretty lights dispersed around. This is a family oriented event so you'll see a lot of fair games and interactive stuff. And they even got animatronics too? If it was marketed as a festival then it would be more cohesive. read more

Cheap! Rip off! Do not come here unless you want to be dissatisfied and disappointed. Many displays were bot working or turned off. Rude people running the venue. read more

Honestly, this was a disappointment. It's like they took a 626 Night Market and threw in some lanterns to call it an "art expo." The lantern displays were nice for about five minutes. Definitely not worth the hype or the ticket price. The lanterns seem like more of lit up structures, more like the Imaginarium last year at the Fairplex. read more

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We came on a Sunday night, the parking was free, so thank goodness we didn't pay for parking ahead of time. There were plenty of parking spaces, but ironically, there were barely any lights on the parking lots. As you walk up to the entrance, they had 2 security with a wand, no bag checks, and then there's a line for those who would like to purchase entry ticket and then another line to show pre-purchased tickets. They had the art installments of the lights in the front, and then when you enter, it's more like a food festival, think 626 night market, but way less people. There were a lot of food vendors, but some were closed that night. There were also some merchant vendors as well. The light installments were scattered around the perimeter of the ground and the zodiac signs were in the middle with the dragon girl. The lights were pretty immersive. There's also a section toward the back, behind the stage where they dedicated an area for the kids! There were dinosaur rides that our kids loved! There were also some Halloween and Holiday lights too. The food vendors were littered throughout the grounds, food, drinks, candies, sweets, water bottles, fruits, etc. We tried the Mongolian beef skewers, they were long, some meat were really tender but then there are also some pieces that were tendon-y. The seasonings were really delicious though! Then we made our way to some popcorn chicken at the twins crispy chicken. And finally after we made another round and let the kids play, we ended the night with some tanghulu, the strawberry and hawthorne berries coated in sugars. It was so delicious. Of course being a festival, they upcharge for everything. I don't know why admission charge is so high if you go in and you'd have to buy everything inside. I think the light installation is worth it but I wished it was placed closer together and not so spread out. There were also some tents that were empty or blown away and it made it look like some corners were just deserted. The restrooms situation could also be better, there were plenty of porta potty but its porta potty! Overall, a unique place for the family to look at some lights, get some food, and enjoy each other's company. We had a good time but I'm not sure if we'll be back year after year for it (unless the light installation change?). read more

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First time ever coming here! I had fun tonight Nov. 1st Friday I have bought the tickets online, I did wondered if we can buy them in person but I didn't hesitate to find out. And bought the parking for the day online also. That being said the entry moments went smoothly. We did show up at 4 pm, there was plenty of parking. Seemed like we were one of the few early bird families there. So we walked around to see who will be our potential try out businesses once everyone were here and running their business. We let three hours pass And noticed so many empty dark tents. We are starting to get hungry and am surprised many didn't show up or some who were there, closed up and left. I was like did we come in a very bad day? We were even charged to come inside and I was expecting to meet all the vendors that were in the map. I would have enjoyed it more if everyone were there running their business Wanted to try out their goodies Help out small businesses. So we helped the ones who were present We enjoyed the view of the lanterns And some tea. Mommas out there with their Months old babies, there are no changing table or rooms Just an FYI, we used our stroller and covered with blankets to give our baby a little privacy, we managed Also there were not a lot of people in there We walked around like four times with ease No bumping to bumping others so that's great. I'm just disappointed how empty it felt from businesses, we paid $50 to come in to just view the lanterns. I wished there were more to do. read more

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Wow $25 admissions plus paid for parking on-line and they never even checked. There's a bunch a booths selling expensive crappy food. One udon bowl was $22 for 1/4 of extra salty noodles. We went the last weekend and a lot of the booths were empty. The lighted art works were nice but overall I would not recommend going read more

This event looked interesting from the street, but once you enter after paying for admission and parking, it is underwhelming for the following reasons: 1. Expensive for what you get which is lighted lanterns placed in a parking lot; 2. Unorganized entry for parking with no parking lot lighting and no directional arrows for getting in and out which is dangerous. Parking attendants looked like random people and not in uniform or anything. Parking attendants were just randomly telling people where to go without regard for traffic ; 3. Once you enter a raffle ticket is provided but I wasn't sure if it was for real because I didn't hear any numbers called; and 4. The lanterns were more of a draw to the food vendors on site. After paying for the expensive tickets, I was not willing to pay for overpriced food; and 5. The use of the event brite app was not convenient. read more

The light up displays are beautiful and fun to see. Food booths were varied and reasonably priced. Many merchandise booths for fun shopping

Are you kidding me??? Blatant money grab. Picked up tickets online for $18 dollars each. Maybe a dozen exhibits in all. Plenty of room to walk around as it was nearly empty. The mostly repetitive Asian food stalls were unimpressive to why bother. They were having some form of entertainment/fashion show with equally clueless contestants (I was a bit clueless as to how why and what we were even doing here). This is exactly the type of event that helps give Los Angeles a consistently bad name/reputation. Just sad on steroids. Complete waste of time the Santa Anita Mall next door is a better option - and that isn't saying much. read more

If there is no Star, I would give 0!!! It is not worth the admission $18 (prepaid)+ and $8 (on site) even for handicapped people. Went on Thursday night. This is overrated event for at least $18pp admission and $8 parking fees at a dark dark dark parking lot event to sell foods like 626 Night Market foods. There are more food & games stalls than the lanterns. Most of the stalls (70% closed) aren't even open and most closed by 8pm although marketing it as 4pm to 11pm (they need to update their hours for weekdays vs. weekends). There were only about 2-3 foods stalls with decent food on weekday. Glad we ate it outside before arriving at 6pm. Really only need to walk 1 to 1.5 hour and you've covered all of the ground. $8 Parking: First of all, it's very dark without any signs (not one at all!) to direct customers to parking, most people near the event don't even speak English nor ways to direct to the parking. One lady with the purse collecting parking fees after making a U turn at the patrol car, some even had to line up for 1 collection lady only. Someone directed us to drive straight and had to make a round again next to the outdoor mall. Recommendations: Save your money and go for free Christmas lighting, eat at very good restaurants near by. Recommendations: Save your money and go for free Christmas lighting, eat at very good restaurants near by. 11/9/2024: Now, someone told me they didn't even have to pay for parking anymore. And I saw online the tickets are now $13. What a joke! read more

If you decide to attend this event go at dusk, and plan to take lots of pictures. The artwork is the display of lanterns. The darker it gets the more vibrant the lanterns glow. A few lanterns are interactive, and there is a tiny area in the back with a few dinosaurs for young kids. This event takes place in a fenced in parking lot next to a nice indoor shopping mall and Santa Anita Park Racecourse. (There might be free parking at the shopping mall.) Unfortunately, when we attended there was no music, entertainment, cultural booths, or information about the lanterns. Outside of one tiny dress up booth for children, and one selling sunglasses. There were zero stalls for shopping. The food was a mix of yummy Asian food truck food and a few stalls of fair treats. Everyone was really kind, and it definitely was not crowded. There was plenty of room to stroll, roll, sit, stand. read more

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I went on Oct 19 and I felt like I was misled. Going by the advertisements one would think the event would be primarily lanterns, but in reality it was a subpar version of the 626 Night Market with less variety in the middle of a parking lot. There were very few lanterns and they were sporadically dispersed throughout the lot. If you do plan on going, don't buy the $8 parking pass online, as they did not even check for it. I honestly felt I was ripped off. read more

It was ok, it was a little cheesy wish they had more light exihibits but still fun,its what you make of it. Lots of food vendors . but as the night went on it got more and more crowded, the lines got super long, so go early. I did loooove these strawberries that were coated in a sugar glaze. Soooo good.. it was sold at one of the booths. We were told we had to pay for parking at the front but when we did no one knew what we were talking about, so we didnt, score!!!! read more

Los Angeles Lantern Art Expo - lantern expi - Festivals Near Me - Arcadia, California

This was my first time seeing this event and probably my only visit unless things change. That being said, the price was reasonable. However, there were no 66 lanterns exhibited as they promised. It was a mere handful that although beautiful seemed very sparse in such a large area. Some of the lanterns and other exhibits seemed worn and not maintained. Lighting was very poor. Cables crisscrossed dangerously across the exhibit area and was hard to maneuver if you had a wheelchair. I had to make my companion get up from the chair to walk over the cables and avoid toppling her over. This was NOT okay. Vendors hardly spoke English and some only advertised in Chinese so we could not discern what they were selling. You would think that they would want to sell to everyone but that did not seem to be the case. Items we did see seemed overpriced and low quality. I cannot comment on the food as I did not buy any. But it seemed to be the quality of fair food (not great) only Asian style. read more

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Absolute money grab. False advertising and overall pathetic display of incompetence. 1. Paid $8 weeks ago for parking. Arrive and there is no scanning...everyone parking for free. Blatant scam for $8. 2. Entry line is long. No organization on how to line up. Security guards yelling at people to form a snake loop. 3. Lanterns are pretty but not many. Way too spaced apart for no reason. The dinosaur display is random and just sad again. Bad to no lighting everywhere. 4. Food...terrible. Lined up for 25minutes and then told they dont have most of the menu items on display. Alot of empty booths and the generator would die so it would go dark randomly. 5. The shows were sad....no talent or effort to speak of. Seemed like they were forced on stage. Overall terrible event. People who gave this 4 or 5 stars need to get out more or work for the expo. Save your money and go anywhere else. read more

Good place with good food for a family to hang out on the weekend. We like it, Recommended read more

Los Angeles Lantern Art Expo - Festivals Near Me - Arcadia, California

I was expecting more. It felt like was unorganized. Food and drinks are overpriced. The lights were pretty but I feel like they should have done more to entertain the visitors. It is very sad there is so much potential to make this a fun experience. read more

We had high hopes since we've been driving by and seeing the lanterns from Huntington Blvd, but unfortunately looks were very deceiving. The website touts "66 Lantern Displays and over 140 Vendors"; if those were the numbers, then they forgot to put up at least half of the lanterns and I think only a 1/4 of those vendors showed up. We got there around 6pm on a Sunday, so it was not like we showed up late or on an "off day". We thought it was going to be similar to the 626 Night Market and we'd be able to snack around and sample some great food. Instead, there were only a handful of food vendors open with incredibly overpriced food and long lines. There were a TON of empty booths, which was very depressing as you ventured further into the expo. It seemed very poorly thought out and executed. We deemed it a total bust and left after less than 30 minutes, went and got dinner in Monrovia. I'd give it the skip, not worth the time or money!! read more

They had deceptive advertising. The majority of the lanterns in the announcements weren't even there. They also were plagued with poor logistics. The lanterns they did have would randomly go dark because generators ran out of fuel. I felt sorry for the vendors who sat in the dark while they watted for the generators to be refueled. We ended up eating elsewhere. read more

This lantern expo was not what we expected. There were about a dozen large lantern installations and the rest of the lanterns were medium size with many repeats. There were more food vendors than lanterns. We expected more lanterns of the kind that were at a previous expo at the LA arboretum. The admission fee was overpriced. Even with a discount it's not worth more than a $10 to $15 cost. Better luck next year! read more

We went the first night and had an amazing time! The lanterns are incredible and the food vendors were such a cool variety of places! I am bringing a group of friends back this next weekend read more

This experience did not match what was promoted on the website. Agree with another reviewer that it was mostly a money grab and way to get people to download random apps. The lanterns were pretty and probably good for the Gram but there weren't many. The "Jurassic World" portion was a bunch of random and barely functioning non-lantern animatronics. Parking is a dark and mysterious maze through Santa Anita. Many of the food stalls were empty. I'm only giving two stars instead of one because most of the people working there seemed nice. read more