Looking for a family-friendly light show around the city? Holiday Road Atlanta is the newest attraction to bring you some festive cheer.
Holiday Road references the 1983 movie “National Lampoon’s Vacation.” The Lindsay Buckingham song of the same name inspired Atlanta’s newest holiday attraction, Holiday Road at the Bouckeart Farm in Fairburn, Georgia.
This new light show attraction is an outdoor half-mile walking exploration featuring 25 iconic holiday scenes.
When you first arrive at Holiday Road, you are greeted by a 40-foot beautifully decorated Christmas tree. There are penguins, train displays and face-in-the-hole boards for photos.
Around the courtyard perimeter are several local food trucks and a cocktail bar that sells festive spirits and hot chocolate.
The entrance to Holiday Road is on the far right side of the courtyard. It’s a brisk walk from the entrance to the first holiday scene — a German-style town. There’s the Bank of Bah Humbug, Rudolph’s Runaway Flight School, Silver Bells Blacksmith and several other buildings. Also, look out for the hidden “easter egg” in one of the windows of the German town — a toy Spiderman and Marvel comics. This is a nod to how the 8,000+ acre farm has been the film set for several Marvel movies.
“We’ve had 29 productions this year, here, but we’re most well known for Marvel’s ‘Avengers.’ This property right up the hill was Wakanda for ‘Black Panther.’ The parking lot for Holiday Road was Wakanda for the fight scene in ‘Infinity Wars’ and the guest cabin is the Tony Stark cabin from ‘Endgame,’” said Vice President of Bouckaert Farm Trey Hammett.
As you continue, you’ll see a light display of horses grazing in a wooded glen; this is a reference to how the farm is also home to the elegant Horse Mansion on top of the hill. Bouckaert Farm also holds several equestrian events throughout the year.
One of the Holiday Road creators, Reuben Saul, talked about the extravagant light displays and the show’s origin. “The original takes place in Calabasas, California, just outside of LA. So when we decided to expand to our location, we decided to look for something that emulated that kind of vibe where you’re close to the city, but out in nature and just in a beautiful landscape,” he said.
There are 25 immersive vignettes centered around a different holiday theme. That includes different holidays like Hanukah, Kwanzaa and Christmas.
Saul continued, “We want to make it inclusive for everybody, not just people who celebrate Christmas. So, it really is more of a holiday spectacular, not specifically a Christmas one. And part of that is having Hanukah represented, Kwanzaa represented, but also theming things around winter in general like Candy Canes Land. It’s one of our exhibits here, it’s not necessarily Christmas themed, but I think everyone can relate to having a candy cane around the holidays.”
Some of the winter themes include Santa and Mrs. Claus overlooking the lawn, a gingerbread town with peppermint accents, and two white swans surrounded by pink lotus flowers. Plus, you will see a winter wonderland filled with penguins and polar bears roaming through the snow.
As you come to the end of the show, you will see three different areas dedicated to the three December holidays — a nativity scene for Christmas, a kinara holding seven candles for Kwanzaa and a Menorah with several dreidels beside it for Hanukah.
The Holiday Road experience ends with the infamous green station wagon featured in “National Lampoon’s Vacation.”
Holiday Road Atlanta is open until Jan. 2.
