2015 Christmas In the Park: Lights At Lafreniere

2015 Christmas in the Park: Lights at Lafreniere
Major kudos Jefferson Parish for renaming «Holiday in the Park» back to Christmas in the Park. Jefferson Parish councilman Ben Zahn stated that even though the name change may upset some residents (whom I couldn’t care less about), he believed that the name change «will restore faith in traditions and the true meaning of the season» and «the name has less to do with promoting a particular faith than with honoring «tradition and patriotism; which is how this country started.» Bravo!
For those of you not in the know, Christmas in the Park is an incredible light display inside of Lafreniere Park. This attraction is for children and adults alike, as the displays are geared for all ages. There are many different Christmas and holiday themes present. Of course, there are numerous Christmas favorites such as Santa Claus, Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Frozen to name a few. Kudos to Jefferson Parish working to get the Christmas Nativity scene as well as a 7 foot tall Star of David returned to the park’s display. I particularly enjoyed the technical lights on the Star Wars attractions, especially the X-​Wing fighter, Tie fighters, Millennium Falcon, r2d2 & c3p0. A personal honorable mention to Transformer Optimus Prime.
At 5 PM, the entrance to the park is closed and all vehicular traffic is forced to enter on West Napoleon. This was my only pet peeve, as the process for a 1^st time visitor like me seemed discombobulated. After waiting in line for a long time, I entered the park and waited even longer. I finally paid my $ 5.00 and was given a ticket, which I subsequently had to turn back in just 100 yards up the road. The cars slowed everything down as everyone wanted to take pictures.
I recommend parking and walking as you can take your time and see everything up close and personal. There are lots of activities for the kids such as writing a letter to Santa Claus, making your own Christmas ornaments or taking photos with some of the Christmas characters. The carousel was open and rides only cost $ 1.00. There are concessions all over and it’s just good old clean fun.
The displays are open Sunday thru Thursday from dusk til 9:45 p.m. and Friday & Saturday from dusk until 11:45 p.m. My suggestion is to go early and avoid the long lines.