So I'm having a special night with the lady Friday night before she flies home for Christmas break. I'm gonna cook dinner for her and she wants to go looking at Christmas lights. I went to the thing at Alltel Pavilion a couple years ago and that kinda sucked, so I'm thinking some of the nicer neighborhoods will have some good ones. Do yall know of any specific places to go?

12/12/2007 8:03:18 PM

Meadow

its about 20 min. from raleigh, ok maybe more like 30-40

but its certainly worth it

and its free

12/12/2007 8:11:20 PM

wal-mart

12/12/2007 8:28:24 PM

Quote :

"Meadow its about 20 min. from raleigh, ok maybe more like 30-40 but its certainly worth it and its free"

definitely worth the drive. it's right off I-40E. take the Meadow exit. turn right at bottom of ramp. follow signs.

12/12/2007 8:44:37 PM

Is this just like a town that really gets into the Christmas spirit or something? I seem to remember a town similar to that down near Charlotte.

http://www.meadowlights.net/

Website for anybody else thats curious.

12/12/2007 8:49:59 PM

That does look pretty awesome but just in case we don't have time to drive that far, what about some places closer?

12/12/2007 8:55:44 PM

yeah i distinctly remember hallmark havin like a city of lights in raleigh or cary or somethin. id be down to drive for 30 or 45 minutes if somethin were close.

12/12/2007 9:04:00 PM

The town near Charlotte is McAdenville I think. Pretty well known for their lights every year.

12/12/2007 9:30:34 PM

im tellin you make time to go to this place

its worth it, and free like i said...you'll never see anything like it in your life


this started with a few neighbors doing a TON of lights, now the whole town does it and they have a store and all thats devoted to it...its gotten ridiculous, even sponsored by Progress Energy

12/12/2007 9:56:09 PM

it might be a bit far to drive, but Tanglewood Park in Clemmons has the Festival of Lights every year from Thanksgiving- New Years and it's amazing.
also, the NC Zoo in Asheboro has zoo-themed lights that are really cool.
if you don't feel like driving anywhere, HGTV has a special show called "What's with that decked out Christmas House?" or something like that and they had some amazing houses on there. ranged from one guy who spent $.50/minute for energy for his lights and got a thank you letter from the power company, to a guy who burned down the power lines, to a lady in texas who has a green (not the color) display that uses the same amount of power as a hairdryer.
very cool, should check it out.

12/12/2007 10:08:56 PM

http://www.controltheshow.com

12/12/2007 10:16:34 PM

I've never understood this phenomenon.

12/12/2007 10:18:59 PM

^^^ Yeah, I'm from Yadkinville which is about 15 mins away from Tanglewood, the lights there are awesome. I may have to check this place out to see if it compares to Tanglewood.

12/13/2007 1:52:08 AM

We drove out to this farm place about 30-40 minutes away from Raleigh... they specialized in "light trees", which is just a stick with lights attached to it and running to the ground to make it a tree shape. ie: /l\ They sell them for like 20 bucks.. I laughed. They had about 30 of them and then an inflatable Santa or something. They gave us a cup of watery hot cocoa and chatted. Do not go there...

12/13/2007 2:51:36 AM

I don't know if you're in yadkinville or raleigh, but off of olde weatherstone off NW maynard in cary was pretty good while i was driving around lost one night. It's between maynard and cary parkway so i'm sure if you just want to drive around for a while anywhere in preston near there would be good too, but i haven't been there recently

12/13/2007 3:10:59 AM

^ bwahahaha, I think I only find that really funny because I know a few people from ol' Y-ville.

Go by the house on Penny Road. Can't miss it. He makes snow on the weekends!!! Check out wral.com or somewhere else for the exact location but from a local perspective... it's on Penny Road between Kildaire and Blaney Franks (which connects to 10-10). It's "Hunters (Something)" neighborhood. Sorry I can't be more specific. It's amazing how hard it is to tell someone directions to the neighborhood a mile from where you grew up!

12/13/2007 3:17:02 AM

^^ Haha, yeah, I'm in Raleigh, just grew up in Yadkinville

^ Who do you know from Yadkinville? There's only like 5 of us.

12/13/2007 10:32:21 AM

the one near Charlotte is McAdenville

http://www.mcadenville-christmastown.com/

i think i remember them trying to limit when it starts, or maybe the time each night, b/c whoever was subsidizing the electric costs wanted to cut back, and people couldn't afford to do it on their own. but that site has the current schedule.

12/13/2007 10:41:28 AM

^^ & ^^^ oh shit ya'nvillers

<-Hamptonville represent


and for the thread, Tanglewood park

12/13/2007 11:14:29 AM

god this reminds me of this kid in high school...Donnie Sweeny I think...who's dad had the most redic display in Greensboro every Christmas...he used to make donnie dress up like a nutrcacker or some shit and play christmas music on his trombone as cars drove by (and they lined up for it)...dad would sit out front dressed as santa

12/13/2007 11:34:38 AM

Drive down lake wheeler past ten ten... look for a sign that says "listen to 88.5" on the right... pull into the church's parking lot on the next left and listen to 88.5... it's one of those synchronized lighting displays and is freaking cool

12/13/2007 11:37:10 AM

^ oh shit it's on tonight!

12/13/2007 12:04:33 PM

Quote :

"god this reminds me of this kid in high school...Donnie Sweeny I think...who's dad had the most redic display in Greensboro every Christmas...he used to make donnie dress up like a nutrcacker or some shit and play christmas music on his trombone as cars drove by (and they lined up for it)...dad would sit out front dressed as santa "

hahahahahahahha... that is hilarious

12/13/2007 12:40:17 PM

i grew up in jefferson gardens in greensboro and there is one culdesac that does the most ridiculous decorations every year and they've sort of inspired a lot of other people around to do big displays. the few days before christmas there's often a line of cars for a half mile or so going into the neighborhood at night to get a look.

12/13/2007 1:20:02 PM

Lowes Hardware has a nice selection.


But serously, tanglewood was pretty awesome when I saw it, but that's a little far from Raleigh.

[Edited on December 13, 2007 at 1:30 PM. Reason : ]

12/13/2007 1:26:28 PM

i'd say tanglewood is worth the drive. if you're going on a weekend night, i'd sugest leaving in the afternoon so that you get there early. cars line up for miles some nights. i've heard of people coming from virginia.
it's been a couple years since i've gone, but they add new displays every year which makes it better. hoping to go again this year.
if anyone from here goes, make sure you have a driver who isn't easily distracted. also, sunroofs are a lot of fun
http://www.forsyth.cc/tanglewood/fol_rates.aspx

12/13/2007 1:44:33 PM

Quote :

"Meadow its about 20 min. from raleigh, ok maybe more like 30-40 but its certainly worth it and its free "

the Meadow lights are well worth seeing, it's about 35 minutes away

take 40 to Meadow (next exit after the I-95 split) get off go into meadow, cross 50 hwy, go up about another mile, there will be signs and tons of cars...


I want to go see the synchronized lights

12/13/2007 3:46:50 PM

just get high and go stare at the WRAL tower

12/13/2007 4:40:47 PM

mcadenville ftw

12/13/2007 4:54:58 PM

I'm going to have to head down Lake Wheeler and check out the synchronized lights!!

Also, the guy off Penny Road I was talking about... has a guest book this year. Signed it last week under someone from VA.

12/13/2007 7:35:01 PM

Burney Road

12/14/2007 4:51:26 AM

just came back from seeing the synchronized lights... that was nuts!!

12/21/2007 9:30:51 PM

There's a house a few blocks from North Hills that has every lighted inflatable Christmas display you could think of in their yard...the Bumble from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, three different 6' snowglobes, Spongebob, and at least 15 more. I turned around twice just to stare. I'm gonna go check out the synchro lights tonight.

12/22/2007 11:49:54 AM

there's some street in greensboro with really tall trees and there are probably 50 or so lit 3'-4' lighted spheres high up in all the trees all along the street. it's really cool. i assume they did it this year. i know they did it last year.

12/22/2007 12:11:03 PM

http://home.mindspring.com/~hbfuller/

12/22/2007 4:30:42 PM

Anyone been to Tinsel Town at Koka Booth Amphitheatre?

12/22/2007 5:59:47 PM

i just saw the house off gorman with the red NCSU lights on top of the house. pretty cool.

12/23/2007 9:02:09 PM

went to the house on lake wheeler road tonight...sat in the church lot and watched for about 15 minutes, very cool!

12/23/2007 9:13:40 PM