Magical Nights of Lights @ Lake Lanier Islands Resort

Crap. Serious crap too. Mainly designed to corral you and your people toward the ride/​slide/​gift shop area. Luckily, we got in for free due to the military discount which I do respect, but what is really wrong about this place and the setup is how outdated the Christmas lights were and how they were set up. They were going to charge us something to the tune of $ 40 to see what they had lined up and trust me trust me trust me on this, it was soooooooo underwhelming. Having lived in many rural areas over the course of my life, I have been privy to many Christmas light spectacles that enthusiasts put on themselves, at their own homes, usually asking for donations or nothing at all in return. For this place to gouge people and not even provide a show is really lame. But hey, at least vets and their peeps get in free.

Was extremely bad and just keeps getting worse. We got there at 5 and everything was pretty much shut down. Supposedly magical night of lights used to be 10x longer and way more stuff to do.

This was an absolutely horrible experience. For the price you have to pay to get in you get a twenty minute light show where everything seems kind of spaced apart. There is no cohesion, and most of the different parts of the show did not have much of a them or a story going for them. Also, BEWARE, when you come across the Holiday Village/​Winter Adventureland be prepared to stop. There are no signs posted in either direction letting you know that of you do not stop now (like they do before you have to pay) you will completely miss the entire thing. And since it seems like the village is the only thing worth going for (even though you have to pay more money for that) it is a very sore disappointment. This was a complete waste of money, and the only trying that would make it better would be if I could get a refund for my hard earned and now wasted money.

There isn’t much to say. It cost my party of two $ 34 to enter, but we were finished before we even realized it.
The entire visit, from paying to leaving, took about 20 minutes. The lights were spaced out fat, far too much. There was some overlap on the displays.
We will not be returning.

$ 65 just to get into lake lanier islands. Seriously? The lights used to be impressive with many complex designs and story lines from Christmas carols, now it’s secular and sponsored by big corporations. Sure, the hot cocoa is free, but you have to pay for everything else. It’s become a six flags where the entry price is ridiculously high followed by expensive upgrades. Have they not scene all of the amazing lights that can be synchronized to music? Overall, not worth the money. There are neighborhoods that have way more incredible light shows and they are completely free.

I’ll start by saying that we have visited before. Also, we were unable to experience the new Winter Adventure due to bad weather, and I didn’t check the Unilocal reviews before going.
Upon entry, we were shocked to see a sign advertising $ 65/​car! Fortunately, we were not subject to this price, since we were staying at the lodge (I will review separately), but it was $ 25/​car in the past. We were excited to download the app, only to learn that it does nothing, except play Christmas music, suggest some games to play in the car (which are not interactive with the app), and promote the Christmas village. My husband kept saying that it seems like there a lot less lights than last time, and after checking Unilocal,we agree that it seemed like there was too much empty space between the displays.
If in the Atlanta area, go to Stone Mountain. Best bang for your buck!

We have been going to see the lights for nearly 20 years. It was horrible this year! I didn’t go last year, but in their obvious attempt to reinvent and become more relevant, they have failed.
We couldn’t find how to get to the Christmas shop. They moved it and the parking is too far away. No signage or direction in the dark to find your way there. We wanted to buy ornaments and goodies and they missed out. We saw so many other people driving around confused and pulling off to the side to figure it out.
The mobile app is worthless! No GPS tracking to know where you are and not informative. The brochure was also worthless and didn’t help. The people are not trained and could not help. And when you came into the park and paid, no one explained that things have changed.
Disappointed, you bet!

This was awful paid $ 65 for 3 people it was considered a car load. Thats just for the lights, emory hospital of johns creek are just as good and its free to see. The live nitivity scene ended the day before we got there ticket seller didnt tell us. Then they have some rides that you have to pay even more for and santa that you have to pay more for. My advice is dont waste your money on this dump.

*** THE MAGICAL NIGHT OF DISAPPOINTMENT ***
LAKE LANIER, SHAME ON YOU!!! Tonight we paid 65.00 for what, I’m still trying to figure it out. The only lights I seem to remember was the head lights of the on coming cars. there seems too be alot less displays this year and they are spaced so far apart that I kept telling my family too «wait, it’s not started yet. THIS WHOLE NIGHT WAS A DISAPPOINTMENT ESPECIALLY BECAUSE BOTH CALAWAY AND STONE MNT ARE SOO MUCH CLOSER TO OUR HOME. We will not be returning.

Me and my family have been going here for years and we went today after a 4 year hiatus. To say it was a disappointment is an understatement. They cut the show in half and put emphasis more on the holiday village. It seems more about the money than the actual light display. For $ 60, a 25 minute ride of maybe 20 lights is crazy. It used to be $ 25 for an hour long ride packed with lights. I will not go back unless it changes.

What in the world has happened to Magical Nights of Lights? Our kids are in the upper teens and even a twenty year old and we have been going to MNoL for fourteen years. It has turned into the biggest disappointment ever. The lights seem to be only half of what they used to be and what in the world has happened to the 12 days of Christmas? Above all that they want to charge even more for the Winter Adventure and all the rides. Crazy! We will not be back unfortunately. Don’t waste your money!

Don’t waste your money. The Williams family will be able to rape Lake Lanier for 99 years because their pappa is über connected. The lights are disappointing, outdated, and so crazy expensive, it is ridiculous. It is not worth going if it is free IMO, based on our experience this year.

My family (3 adults) decided to take advantage of the ½ price ticket offer I received.
Boy am I glad I didn’t pay full price! What a disappointment. We have gone to see the lights
for the past 17years we have lived in GA. This year just made me sad. Very few lights, mostly
just the old tired ones we’ve seen, and not many of them.
You start out riding through all the «ad» lights (McDonald’s, Chick-​fil-​a ect.) then through the pay gate and it’s all downhill from there. There’s more empty space than lights and you drive
past each set of lights twice so it’s all repeat. Couldn’t find «Santa’s Village», guess it was down in the ride area. I don’t think we missed much after reading the cost of everything.
Unless Lake Lanier improves their displays I guess this will be a thing of the past, we’ll find a new light show elsewhere.

If I could give them negative stars I would… This place is a rip off.
The website states, enter before 5pm and parking is $ 15 dollars… Well, I arrived at 4:05 and I should have knew something was wrong when the guy started walking up to my car.
Even though the website clearly shows 5 pm, I was told my new price was $ 56 dollars because they turn the lights on at 3, it was shift change, the computers changed over and there was nothing they could do.
Absolutely unacceptable. I am filing a dispute with my credit card company and the BBB.
Don’t water your money, the lights suck!!!

Terrible. Been going for past 10 years. Raised ticket prices. Please do not waste your money

Horribly, horribly disappointing. Do not waste your money. Our family has gone for 10 years, moved away and came back this year after 6 years. There are now ¹⁄₃ the lights, no gift shop for souvenirs, no Santa, no toasting marshmallows. … we use to pay about $ 27 a car, now it’s about $ 18 per person depending on night and coupon. We waited 90 minutes in the car line to get in, … drove slowly through the entire display and was DONE in 20 min!!! The prior Santa Workshop experience, marshmallows, gift shop, etc is only via a nearly $ 40 per person package for carnival rides in the water park area. Do Not Attend. A massively miserable experience! Lanier — you should be ashamed!

Arrived at 5:50pm on Black Friday thinking it would be a good way to kick off our holiday season. We also thought it would be easier to get into this place while many people are traveling for thanksgiving and/​or tired from shopping. If this was a slow night I would hate to see a busy night.
The line when we arrived was less than one loop in the small area by the sponsor displays and it still took 40 minutes to get to the entrance. We had a groupon, so it cost us $ 11/​person for the value day… regular price for the value day is $ 18/​person.
We skipped the Holiday Village. I figured it would probably be a trap of expensive, cheesy souvenirs and more opportunities for them to get money from us. See: carnival rides, «ice» skating, a snow world, movie screen, etc. It’s too bad that they’ve put all of the money and effort into the village and let the lights go to hell. Or maybe they’ve always been hell… idk.
Driving through from the entrance to exit took us all of 22 minutes and that was plenty given the lack of lights and super boring displays. It was a joke and we were happy to be done. Our neighborhood has more lights and we don’t charge for you to look at them.
On the way out the line of cars was backed up over a mile longer than it was when we entered. I can’t even imagine sitting in that… especially because I noticed there was no way to turn around once you’re in line. We would have been so pissed if we’d had to sit in that line of cars for this.
It would serve them well to take a page from the Chick-​fil-​a book and have people out in the line of cars collecting payment via iPad. Also, use some of the money from the many sponsors to invest in some lights. Just a thought.

Well I am sad to see the huge change and price hike. It’s been a 13 year tradition to visit the lights since moving to GA. This will be our first year we will not visit. I’m not paying $ 146 plus tax to see lights, on top of the money for Santa pics, food and ornaments. We loved visiting every year, roasting marshmallows, visiting Santa and buying ornaments and trinkets from the gift shop. I guess a new tradition will start this year! You have lost the average comsumer :(

Although they’ve changed the name from Magical Nights of Lights to Lanier Islands Christmas, it seems little else has changed. We were highly skeptical of coming based on the huge amount of negative reviews, but hey, I didn’t receive my Unilocal ‘Maverick’ badge because I play it safe. Here are the Pro’s and Con’s of our recent visit.
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THE EXPERIENCE (CONS)
A) The driving course to view the lights overlaps… BOOOH! Instead of an oval, it is more like a T-​shaped driving pattern, so most of what you see going in is what you will see on your way out. That is considerably different than other displays we’ve seen around the country where generally it is a full uninterrupted loop.
B) One thing that surprised us was the amount of blank space there is in-​between displays. They say there are more lights this year than last year when it was $ 60 per car. However, it was still pretty basic this year too. By the time we finish driving through all the light displays I felt much like I do after watching a Spike Lee movie… wondering «is that it?»
IF you have experiences the lights @ Callaway Gardens south of Atlanta, then you know there is absolutely no comparison. It is pricier, but the lights are bountiful.
C) Although ice skating is included in the cost of your Christmas Lights admission ($ 30 per car this year), it’s not real ice! Instead it’s some sort of plastic PVC composite surface that was far more difficult to skate on than real ice. It was so difficult to skate on that many families gave up in a matter of minutes.
D) The traffic becomes gridlock after 6 pm, but it was too light outside when we arrived @ 5 pm (opening) to appreciate the light displays. Still, I’m glad we came early. We spent a few hours @ SnowWorld, so by the time we were leaving the line of cars waiting to get in was at least a mile long!!! Not the case when we arrived.
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THE EXPERIENCE (PRO’S)
* If you get here early (5 to 5:30 pm), you can avoid some of the traffic. They also have golf cart rentals if you would prefer to park your car. Seems like a waste of money to me, but lots of families were doing it.
* Although SnowWorld was an additional cost of $ 25 per person, the kids had a blast (review coming soon). You can see the tube slides and toboggan style sled ride while driving the Christmas lights display, but there are several other exciting areas hidden from view. We almost didn’t purchase the SnowWorld tickets based on what we could see, but I’m glad we did! There was an awesome ride in the rear called the Himalaya’s the kids just loved. The yellow slide was so fast that the sled briefly lost contact with the surface over one of the final humps. Cowabunga Dude!
TIP 1 — Go to QuikTrip or Publix for $ 5 off coupons. Get a handful, because you can use them to reduce the $ 30 entrance fee to $ 25 as well as apply them to the per person fees @ SnowWorld. **Parents do not have to pay SnowWorld fees if they are not riding any of the slides.
TIP 2 — Bring a few long sticks and some marshmallows for roasting. There are several bonfires on property.
FINAL THOUGHTS
If you’re like me, you may ignore all the previous review warnings and come here anyway. But for those of you who actually look to reviews for guidance, take my advice and drive down to Callaway Gardens. It’s a far better LIGHTS experience or visit Global Winter Wonderland near Turner Field where you will get more bang for your buck in terms of overall activities for the price. We considered doing a second drive through the loop since it was too light in the beginning, but the volume of cars was just too much and honestly the lights just weren’t worth the extra headache of a gridlocked second go round.
Driving the Lights — 1.5 star
SnowWorld — 4 stars
OVERALL — 2.75 stars
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NOTE: If I had been unfortunate enough to get stuck in that line of cars waiting to drive in as we left, this might have quickly become a 1 star review. It was REALLY bad!

Awful experience. We spent 2 hours trapped in an SUV with 4 adults and 4 children. We were in utter disbelief as we waited in winding car lines that just went on and on and on. We kept waiting to get to the lights — and apparently we had already seen them!
We kept moving forward for two reasons: we wanted to get to the park area with hot cocoa, fire pits and ice skating; and there was no way to turn around in the line of cars and escape without being stuck again!
So, we finally get to a parking lot and are so grateful just to get out and move around. The kids are cranky but are willing to give hot cocoa and ice skating a shot. The lines for everything are long and not worth the wait. There are carnival-​type rides that cost extra money but i’m not giving these guys any more of our money. Besides, even the kids aren’t interested in the low-​end carnie rides. We finally make our way over to the «ice» skating rink, which has a long line but few people that we can actually see skating. We soon realize IT’S NOT EVEN ICE!!! It’s some kind of plastic rink. Are you kidding me??? I felt like yelling «SHENNANIGANS!!!» I have never been so disappointed in an experience like this in my life. The whole experience was almost unbelievably comical, except that we can never ever get those 4 hours of our life back!