Holiday Wonderland

As interesting as it was, it was sorely lacking. Lacking not because it was boring but the venue was just too big. The event really needs to fill the stadium space. The surrounding empty seats in full view doesn’t help either. Underachieving. So I tried to eat and drink my sorrow, but I kinda accepted the overpriced food since I think we’ve all be conditioned for it to be at events like this.
Great pictures though, and the kids had a great time.

What a bust! My kids and I kept walking around expecting to stumble upon some amazing light displays and fun activities. The field looked so empty and anything but festive. The entrance & Candyland were the best part. Everything else was underwhelming. Save your money & just hit the San Diego neighborhoods like Garrison Street or Starlight Circle.

Fun for kids and adults alike! Be sure to get the groupon for it which is half off. Lines are long (30-​hr for the popular attractions) but with patience, this is a great set up for the holidays

It was our first time and maybe our last. Our kids had fun, which in the end is the part that matters the most. They loved the lights and the characters. They were completely in awe of the whole place. They absolutely LOVED Santa. He was so welcoming and patient. It looked like it might have been good all around but it was raining when we went. It should probably have been cancelled since the snow was iced over because of the rain and couldn’t really do any of the attractions because of that either. So we may or may not go back next year.

Would only recommend coming here if u got kids because theres lots of things the kids can do as far as playing in the snow and rides and seeing the cool characters walk around to take pics with. We went on a weekday around 5 ish n it wasn’t packed at all but later on at night it started to get busy .my kids had so much fun n even got to take a picture with Santa :)

I went to holiday wonderland last year and had a blast. That being said, this year was a total disappointment, especially considering the original ticket price was$ 20. Thankfully we saved half our money through Groupon. We arrived right at 4:30 to avoid the lines and traffic, but we were disappointed when we got there. It seems like money was spent on a few attractions like the Ferris wheel and reindeer, but there was a lot less lights than last year. It would be amazing if the entire 2^nd floor was covered in lights to really make it a wonderland. The whole field also seemed quite empty… I feel like there could’ve been more things. Maybe an outdoor ice rink along with the sledding? An area for a snowball fight? Also the figurines to take pictures with… we saw the grinch and the Who’s leave at 6 and say they’d return at 7. Next time have rotating characters so that there won’t be full hours without them, there were a lot of people lining up to take pictures with them! I understood the overpriced food and drinks, that usually comes with any event or park, but it seems like the $ 20 charge could’ve gone to a lot more than what we saw.

Extremely disappointing.
The most worst investment of $ 60 in our whole lives.
$ 50 for two adults and one child. $ 10 for parking.
We came around 7:30pm. A little bit late, but I thought that we could get a lot of stuff done within two hours. But nope, we were wrong.
There was no line to purchase tickets on a Monday which was great. And a really short line to get inside.
Be aware that they have metal detectors and check your bags.
So don’t bring in anything that you don’t think they would allow.
Purchased a clam chowder bread bowl. It was all soup and no content. Barely any meat or veggies so we had to put a bunch of soup crackers. Bread was cold, hard and chewy. Not worth it. That was $ 8.
They have a few attractions on the main grass area.
1. Snow tube slide
2. Inflatable jumper slide for little kids
3. Ferris Wheel
4. Small baseball park where children can play baseball
5. Bar — Yes you can buy alcohol here and walk around with it
They have another small separate area
1. Snow play pen — nothing but hard slippery ice, and you can’t throw snowballs
2. Reindeer pen — it was a nice treat to see reindeer up close and personal but it was really sad that their pen was super small for three large animals, they couldn’t move around much and their heads were constantly low to the ground because the ropes they were tied to were super short.
3. They have another small Frozen themed inflatable jumper with a small slide which you also have to wait in line for.
And then more smaller areas with extremely lit up christmas trees and lights.
Overall, most of the reviews on here were correct. There is a long line FOR EVERYTHING.
Expect at least 15mins to 45 minutes for each «ride» or «attraction». It’s ridiculous for the amount of money you pay for the the most saddest rides.
I would recommend coming here early in order for you to be able to do everything, which isn’t even that many things to begin with. But I could only imagine that it would be even busier at earlier times and on the weekends.
Never coming here again unless they decide to lower the price on admission.
It should really be only $ 5 per person. And to be honest, you would have more fun going to a fair that is hosted on a store parking lot.

Go online and grab a Groupon for $ 10 a ticket. Lines for the rides were a bit long but towards the end of the night the crowds subsided and the wait wasn’t that bad. I wouldn’t recommend this event to really young children. My kids are 5 and 10 and they had a great time. We will be back next year!

If you like long lines (outside as well as inside for every attraction), or paying $ 5 for a bottle of water, or hot dog, or lame entertainment, and a few measly rides… then this is the event you’ve been waiting for. Honestly I thought it sucked and I’ve run some major events in San Diego over past 15 years. These people need help. They’re treating it like it’s a Padres game — but its something different — a holiday event. All I heard were complaints. I won’t go again because I don’t want to put my kids thru the agony and disappointment.

Very dissapointing!!!
Poor attractions and huge wait lines.
Don’t waste your time and money!

First, Petco Park is beautiful. Second, the weather in San Diego is always nice so that’s always a big plus. With that said, this activity is not the greatest, the light display was not that extensive and is spread out in different areas of the park, you have to walk to different parts of the park to see the different displays, it is not continuous and a weird layout. The kids rides (ferris wheel, snow play, tube snow slide, regular slide, merry-​go-​round) were cool and the lines were not terrible. The regular cost of this activity is way to high, but with a living social or groupon it is worth it, just don’t expect it to be as spectacular as the light display it replaced that used to be held at the Del Mar Racetrack.

Absolute 5 star experience. Petco Park is the jewel of downtown and this event is another example of Petco at its finest. I would highly recommend this event.

Only one bathroom on each side of the field!!! With that many people, common. My toddler peed her pants (which hasn’t happend in a year) from waiting to use the restroom. Then instead of spending family time together my husband had to go to Horton plaza to buy her a change of clothes so the poor thing didn’t freeze.
Never made it to see Santa or the raindeer. I am very disappointed petco did not plan that we’ll at all. The only pros where the lines for rides are fast, other then that I would say not family friendly if the whole baseball field only has a cess to two toilets!

We just returned from the Holiday Wonderland at Petco Park. What a mistake! We arrived very early (as suggested by another reviewer) and got into the park at 4:30pm. Yes, there’s a ferris wheel, and a carousel and reindeer to look at (3), and of course Santa (for $ 25.)But really, that’s about all of the excitement. A couple of sled attractions for the kids, but with all of the room on the ball field, I really felt that they could have offered much, much more! Even «Candyland» which was very pretty, but it was just a bunch of lights. Perhaps have some elves handing out candy to the kids? Very high priced food and drink ($ 5 for a small hot chocolate??) Hopefully this event will improve over the years! Save your money and go the Balboa Park event held each year! Much better!

We had a blast! The kids had an amazing time and it wasn’t crazy busy. The best part was Santa photos. You don’t have to pay $ 25 for professional pictures. They have private rooms set up and Santa was so patient as we all took as many pictures as we wanted. The decorations were beautiful. I would skip the Polar Express– way over priced and they make adults pay to accompany their small children. The food is also pretty expensive. Aside from that, everything was great. Staff was friendly and the lines were short. We will be going next year.

Went last night for 2015 event. This year the lines were better and we went at 630pm to avoid the crowds. The only thing is after purchasing the tickets online please write what not to bring to the event since there is not signage on the entry. This will prevent anger and have to go back to the car. Purchase tickets early to get a discount because $ 20 for the month of the event is not worth the price since this is a smaller event than December nights. This is a nice small event, they have a lot of things to do geared specifically for the kids.

Imagine the entirety of the infield and outfield is a moshpit. Now imagine looking down from above and imagining that 80% of the visible heard is invisible lines. Lines whose beginnings show no inclination of their ends. Lines near one «ride» that end at a «ride» in the distance, but which one? You’ve now gotten a glimpse into our hell.
On the pro side, you won’t need a long sleeve shirt in December because you’re bumping elbows with America’s finest parents. Take the lady I met in the first line of the night — the one for those who already have tickets, never mind the poor fucks who didn’t print them at home. It was a mere quarter mile, and I had the privilege of being funneled into it 200 feet from the «beginning» since I was on the wrong side of the street. My fault: I should have read the invisible signs or followed the instructions of the nonexistent «Elite» staff. Instantly labelled a «cutter» by a lady who in all likelihood arrived at her present girth by shoveling serving spoons of mayonnaise straight from a Smart n Final jar into her gullet, we retraced our footsteps to join the line in the exact place we’d traveled, but now 25′ south.
As I stand here in line for a bounce house for my daughter over the last 26 minutes I’m graced with the company of some of the classiest 21^st century parents. Take the neck breather centimeters behind me. I overhear him mutter to his wife, «it’s a tap room,» referring of course to the 9 foot sign to our right that reads «Stone Brewing Tap Room» — 15 years from now I envision a «Harvard Dad» bumper sticker on his Chevy Volt. Oh wait, this just in: «Oh look at that camera!» arm stretched over my right shoulder, pointing to the jumbrotron. Only a few more minutes… goosfraba. I’m 73/​95ths the way through this line.
The saddest or most infuriating part is after paying $ 30 for two, my daughter’s spent the majority of our time here entertaining herself by rolling in the grass and swinging her body around a barren tree.

$ 15 for regular admission, $ 13 for military. Just like any festival happening in town, the food is expensive! Although I do suggest the bread bowl (which is down at the field by the train ride), worth the $ 8.50! Also keep in mind that there are lines everywhere: for food, take a picture with the Grinch/​Anna and Elsa/​the Christmas tree, there is even a line to exit out the field and go back up again.
In addition to that, if you buy a ticket at the door, there is a line for that then there is another line to go inside the actual park. The line was super long, like loooooong if we looked to our right, we were at the middle of the convention center: o BUT the line was moving a lot faster than we thought. My family and I had fun, but this is an event I would only want to go to once (this event is from Dec.5−24).

Want to visit Santa’s Workshop? Candyland? Care to see a nostalgic Christmas morning display? You will find that at the first Winter Wonderland at Petco Park.
I loved the colorful holiday displays and the huge 40-​foot Christmas tree decorated with 16,000 lights and more than 250 ornaments. There is a big live reindeer kids can feed, or they can build a snowman or go sledding down a big hill of real snow. It really is very festive, family-​oriented and fun.
The Holiday Wonderland costs $ 15 for adults and $ 10 for children with kids under 3, free. Parking at nearby lots cost $ 10. This winter Wonderland will be open for three consecutive weekends starting on Dec. 5, 2014, from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Fridays through Sundays. There will be special holiday hours leading up to Christmas Day.
Winter Wonderland is easily worth 4 Unilocal STARS. I feel guilty for not decorating and putting up all the lights and Christmas decorations now that the kids are grown. So I can come to something like this and get into the holiday spirit once again. It is wonderful to watch how the kids really get excited here. But 1 Unilocal STAR came off due to no special prices or coupons (except for Gold Star) that would help hard-​pressed families be able to save a little money on the tickets and parking.

I actually enjoyed this event a lot better than December nights!
We went on Saturday opening weekend around 7:30/8pm. Even though we came late, the lines to even get into Petco was long! From the bridge all the way to Lolita’s.but it moves quickly. It seemed like they let in batches of ppl at a time (15 – 20 min wait). Once inside yes to get down to the field was VERY crowded and indeed felt like we were cattle moving slowly. They set up a one way path for everyone to follow and everybody is trying to take pics along the way which makes it even slower.
One of the reasons I wanted to come was that their website advertised FEED LIVE reindeer! But sad to find you just only take a PICTURE next to them. We waited in line for almost a half hour for that. Beware that everything else has super LONG lines. To ride the train, sledding down the man made snow slide (lol looks like they put snow on top of a speed bump.), picture with Santa, take pic inside a snow globe. We waited only like 10 – 15 min to take a pic with Anna & Elsa from frozen! Olaf wasn’t there. You have to be lucky cuz I notice they go on breaks.
On a bright note, around 9pm till closing a lot of ppl start to leave. So I recommend you go down to the field and do all those activities then by the time it’s closing go back to the beginning and take pics with all the displays. I was very impressed with how pretty they were! Especially candy land. Basically paid $ 15 to take lots of good pictures lol but I ain’t mad.
I may go again next year :)