What Is Christmas in Color Anyway?

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This year we rounded up 18 Things To Do With Kids In Denver For Christmas  (our favorite holiday!) One of the activities we got to experience was Christmas In Color.  I hadn’t heard of Christmas in Color until this year, and I had no idea what it was until I visited. This post will give you a quick overview of what to expect at the event, and what we liked and didn’t like about the activity.

Disclosure- our family was provided free entrance to the event for the purpose of coverage. All opinions are my own. 

See The Light Dance- Two Denver Locations

The Christmas in Color lights display happens every year in Denver around Christmas time, and it’s super nice that there are two different locations. You can see the lights either the Water World parking lot or at the Bandimere Speedway parking lot.

Both locations offer about one mile of driving through tons of lights. There’s also a location in Utah, it’s in Salt Lake County in an area called South Jordan.

Related article: 5 Visitor Tips Water World Denver

How To Buy Tickets

The best thing to do is to purchase your event tickets in advance. You can head to the Christmas in Color website for details for the year’s prices and hours. 

When you purchase your tickets in advance you are able to choose your timed entrance, and you get a cheaper rate. The drive-up rate is a bit higher (like $8 more). I didn’t notice that the line was any longer though.

Arrival At The Event

When you arrive at the event, you will pull your car into a line. That line will divide into several other smaller lines of about 10 cars. 

In the smaller line, you will present your tickets to the ticket person (he or she will walk to the driver window to check) before you are allowed to drive through the event.

There is just one path through the event, and people drive slowly, like 5 miles an hour, to see over a million lights dance.

The lights are timed to music, so just tune your radio to the station and enjoy it! My girls loved driving through the tunnels. The whole trip lasted about 10 minutes.

What To Bring

Holospex glasses– Holospex glasses are little paper glasses that make each light turn into a fun shape. We were first introduced to them at Blossoms of Light (another great Denver Christmas tradition!) and wished we had thought to bring them to this event.

Snacks– like our most popular Creamiest Hot Chocolate Recipe EVER! or Totally Addicting Christmas Crack Recipe.

Patience– we waited for over an hour to see the event. We were in our car, and I didn’t think to bring books or anything for the kids to do while we waited. I assumed that since it was a timed event we would be able to enter at the time we chose. We just got in line at the time we had selected, but the line to actually experience Christmas in Color was super long.

That meant that lots of cars were idling for at least an hour to see the event- and I was definitely stressing about the environmental impact of all those car emissions. I preferred walking through the Blossoms of Light.

I loved the lights and the music, but I wonder if there is a way to make the wait time shorter. I’ll have to try the Bandimere location next year to see if it’s any different.

Check out our related articles on Christmas in Denver!

• 18 Things To Do With Kids In Denver For Christmas
• Gaylord Christmas Celebration- Gaylord of the Rockies
• Denver Zoo Lights
• Colorado Ballet Nutcracker
• Blossoms of Light Denver Botanic Gardens
• Santa Photos at Santa HQ