A Must-See Winterfest Experience! I had such a magical time at Winterfest on the Wisconsin battleship! I went last Wednesday with family, and exploring the ship completely decked out in lights was honestly unforgettable. I knew ahead of time that they offered mocktails and cocktails, but I was not prepared for the surprises waiting onboard--like fresh donuts and spiked hot chocolate! Speaking of which... the spiked peppermint hot chocolate with a shot of white chocolate peppermint bark RumChata has officially changed my life. I don't think I can go back to regular hot chocolate for the rest of the season. It's the perfect holiday drink, and clearly a huge hit with the 21+ crowd. Beyond the festive drinks, Winterfest had so much more to offer, including a charming winter mini circus with magic and other fun acts. It was genuinely enjoyable for both kids and adults. I loved the added light displays leading up to the ship and throughout Town Point Park--they make the whole area feel like a glowing winter wonderland. Even if you can't make it onboard for the full Winterfest experience, the nighttime walk from the Pagoda in lights to Town Point Park is absolutely worth it. Such a wonderful holiday outing for families, friends, and anyone looking to soak up the season! read more

Absolutely loved Winterfest! Was able to snag a ticket online for the second to last day of the event and it was almost 80 degrees! Awesome day for it. This was actually my first time aboard this ship despite living here for over 15 years... We had a timed ticket and had to be there within 15 minutes of our ticket start time and had e-tickets which we had no problem pulling up and scanning. Event parking was $5 in the local garage across the street and was a great deal! There were plenty of staff inside the museum to direct us to the battleship and a limited but adequate amount on the ship. The gift shop was open and we easily made our way to the boat for the tour. Arrows along the deck directed traffic and it was a winter wonderland everywhere you looked. Tons of lights everywhere and the Norfolk skyline and waterfronts made it even more beautiful. Crowds weren't too bad due to the timing of the tickets and we had no issues with photos, crowding or lack of staff. The tiny Griswold cafe had perfect snacks for reasonable prices such as nachos, pretzels, bbq, hot dogs, chips, cookies and hot chocolate and hot apple cider with plenty of seating inside. The elf adventure beneath the deck was sooo cute. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed seeing the inside rooms decorated with small elves and animatronic figures. Lights strung up along the P-ways were adorable! The entire upper deck was covered with lights and it's so gorgeous at night. There were literally dozens of great places for a photo and staff were friendly and happy to assist. This was a great experience and one I think people of all ages can enjoy. Happy to have done this! read more

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First experience at Winterfest. This is such a beautiful site to see the ship lit up in this way. I didn't exactly know what to expect at the time, but it certainly exceeded my expectations. My family came in from out of town and was also in awe of the decorations. Going inside the ship and seeing the elves talk was such a cute touch. I cannot wait to visit again next Christmas season. read more

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I am new to the area and was searching for a fun Christmas activity and this was it! I was hesitant how much fun I would have visiting just a boat, but it is anything but that -- there was great Christmas music playing, ornate lights and decorations all throughout the boat, and fun Christmas trivia games as you walked. The staff were all very friendly and the location was clean. I'll definitely come back next year. read more

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A totally family friendly/cute date activity! My bf and I had never been to this event and apparently we heard they brought it back from not doing it in a few years? We had fun walking around and looking at all the lights strung across the huge ship. It made the otherwise bland, metal jungle a welcoming, light-wonderland of fun! We ended up coincidentally walking past one of the giant light up trees found on the hull and the back of the ship, in time for the Grinch to come out comically and ask everyone to help light the tree up! A beautiful fellowship Will be bringing my family next year! read more

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It was a beautiful event, my family and I enjoyed every minute there! The decorations and atmosphere were magical.

I look forward to visiting next season and hope that when we aren't (hopefully) in the middle of a pandemic things will be more enjoyable. I do hope that they will continue to limit the ticket sales for future years- that was a plus. I'm just going to dive right into what really gave me a bad taste in my mouth- the train part. It was everything that we didn't want to do during the holidays. There are only two attractions in the boat one is the galley which was easy to navigate- sailed right on through. Very cute. But then the train. They let entirely too many people into that cramped hallway with no way to exit. We were in thee line inside the boat for about 30 minutes. People around us were getting frustrated and taking off their masks. No one was really following social distancing. The airflow was bad. Just all around an awful experience when we attended Winterfest looking for an outdoor social distancing friendly experience. If they had at least told us what the wait time was or limited the number of people allowed to enter it would have been a better experience. Phew- now that that's out there. Everything else was great! We came on a warmer evening which was perfect. We had the 4pm time slot so we quickly walked around the boat straight to the bar. We enjoyed the performers for about an hour, sipping on cocktails, and watching the sunset. We ate right before we came so the food wasn't too tempting, but I was impressed with the variety. The tables were spaced out. For the most part it looked like people were social distancing closer to the stage. Delightful way to kick off the evening. Once the sun set we made our way around the boat to see the lights at night. Unfortunately we did the train nightmare kind of early in our walk since we started from the entertainment area. After being stuck down there we just wanted to get away from people so we didn't enjoy the rest of the lights on top of the ship as much as we planned. They were beautiful though. Some people were good about removing their masks for a quick picture and then putting it right back on. Others... were not. At least it was outside and not so crowded that you couldn't find a way around them. A few extra volunteers would have been helpful to remind people. Hopefully none of what made this a disappointing experience will be a factor when they bring Winterfest for the 2021 Holiday season and beyond. The price is reasonable and the overall crowd on top of the boat was excellent. I look forward to writing an update next season! read more

My family and I had a great experience here on the ship. It was definitely a magical experience for our toddler to see all the lights. Advanced/timed tickets are required for this event which only runs in November and December. We arrived at 5pm for our slot and hardly anyone was around which was nice for social distancing. Masks were required for ages 5 and up and strollers are not allowed. Military discounts do not apply to this event. They have arrows on the ground to follow around the ship, a talking seagull that reminds people to social distance which my kid loved and a few social distancing signs. We didn't have a problem at all with crowds of people or social distancing. Besides the lights, we loved the Christmas music, live band and we loved that we had the opportunity to go below deck and tour the inside of the ship. Our favorite was the talking elves and seeing all the fake food displayed in the kitchen area. The bathrooms were open for use inside the actual ship as well which was neat to see what they looked liked in case you have never been on a ship. Beware the stairs are steep and you will most likely have to hold on to the handrail that everyone else touches. Hand sanitizer is provided. Unfortunately, we didn't see Santa anywhere but my toddler still enjoyed sitting on the outside chairs provided to listen to the live band. On deck there is one stand that sells adult beverages and another that sells food. When you buy your tickets they will email you a copy of the layout of the ship so you know where to find everything. When you first enter the building to access the ship, you will pass by a Christmas shop with everything Christmas, and a restaurant that is open for purchasing beverages and food. This is included on the winterfest experience. Tip: come on the weekend and you get to see a parade of lighted boats, we hope to get tickets again next year for the weekend. Overall, we had a great experience and didn't mind having to park in the nearby parking garage and walk a short distance, we will return next year. read more

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Winterfest On The Wisconsin is a seasonal holiday event at Nauticus on board the USS Wisconsin. 2020 was the first year for this event and it has already been announced that it will return next year. For this event, they do not allow any parking at Nauticus itself, so you will have to find street parking or park at one of the garages nearby. The nearest garage that I used was the West Plume St. garage. Parking is $1.50 per hour or fraction thereof (so if you parked for 1.5 hours, it would cost $3 for parking). My visit here was on December 28, 2020. For this event, tickets had to be purchased in advance, and capacity was limited due to Covid-19. Tickets are timed for a specific entry into the event and it does take about 45 minutes to an hour to complete. However, you were not limited to one hour, as you could stay as long as you wanted until the event ended for the night. My ticket was for 6 pm. There were two lines that you could enter from. They would alternate choosing a party from each line until the line was completed. If you had the tickets on your phone, they would be scanned just after entering the building. After that, you were good to go. The next step was to get up to the second floor to the bridge for the entrance onto the USS Wisconsin. Travel along the ship would be one way in order to help promote social distancing while visiting. Once on the ship, you would take a right and then follow the path through the beautiful lights and experiences. Although there were markings all along the path for social distancing, many families that had kids with them didn't really pay attention to what they were doing. They were running all over in some instances with no regard for social distancing and such. It made that a little uncomfortable at times because of how close some were coming to me and others. During the path, there were a few spots for photo opportunities from the staff. The photo package was $38 and if you did get one, you also got a 20% off any one item in their gift shop on the first floor of Nauticus that same day. Now, let's talk about the lights and experiences. The lights were great and definitely had quite a show for them, both on deck and below deck. On deck there were so many lights, along with a lit Christmas Tree at the top. There is also a wishing well where you can throw some coins and such down there, which supports the Nauticus Foundation. The lights were themed well for their sections, such as the light tunnel and Cane Lane. On this particular night, there was no live music or other events taking place. There were also a few experiences below deck too. In each case, there are steep steps to go down and up with, but it was worth going down to look at them. The first section that I went below deck for had some talking elves, which the first pair were talking about cookies and the second set of elves were fighting over what color frosting they should use. The second section that had a below deck experience was a bit longer than the first one. This second set had lots of stuff to look at. They had several displays and exhibits in there before going below deck in that second part. Once you went below deck though, you got to see some of the rooms on the ship. Before you went in, you could pick up a marble, which can be used a bit further down the path. One of the first things you would see is Elfco, which is a rendition of a Christmas and food shop. Next, you would pass through several living quarters, including some lazy elves sleeping on the job. At the end of that part, there is a tree that will talk to you in real time. Ask the tree any questions or say hello to it and the tree will respond accordingly. After passing that part, you would enter the last main part below deck. This has a display of a toy train running, along with a marble drop. That marble you got earlier would be used here, and you could follow the path of it down the maze they had for it. After that, you would go to the next room where the steps were to come back up to the main deck. There would be more lights and such to see on board before returning back to the beginning of the loop. Overall, this was a great first experience for Winterfest On The Wisconsin. The only reason for the lower rating had to do with the lack of social distancing enforcement on board. Although there were some signs and such, for many, it was largely ignored. The lights were beautiful and themed well both onboard and below deck. I think photos will help describe what you can see with this event, and I have included several photos to go along with this review. This event is definitely worth checking out during the holiday season. It's generally open select dates in November and December. read more

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The first annual Winterfest on the Wisconsin was a phenomenal exhibit of holiday lights. It was a truly striking display with so many things to see throughout the ship. There are topside/above deck photos with Santa, singing and talking elves inside the ship, a live band, and even food and drinks. Importantly, bathrooms are clean AND accessible! Great minds came together to create this spectacular and positive display of holiday cheer and I appreciated it! I happily give 4 stars for the effort. However, I also give 2.5 stars for the lack of any real effort to maintain Covid-19 safety precautions. According to the website, I feel duped into thinking that there would ACTUALLY be true precautions taken. Yes, there are signs, but they largely go unnoticed when so many people are clumped together and aren't looking to read waist-high signs. There aren't any announcements to remind people about social distancing. There isn't anybody walking around to remind people about social distancing. They are way too many people in each group and everybody clumps together. There is absolutely ZERO way to keep people apart and there was hardly any effort on THE LACK OF STAFF to do so. People cannot be left to monitor themselves, it was quite obvious THAT didn't work. Great effort with lack of oversight and safety guidelines. read more