Part of our family’s holiday tradition every year includes a visit to Knott’s Berry Farm during Knott’s Merry Farm.It’s such a fun place to visit and a true Southern California holiday tradition. If you’ve never been before, you’ll want to get there this year before it ends on January 8.
All throughout the Park, there are wonderful, festive decorations, special shows, tasty treats, and the usual thrilling attractions for guests to enjoy. As you stroll through Calico Ghost Town, you’ll literally feel like you’ve stepped back in time and right into the town’s old-fashioned Christmas celebration, “Christmas in Calico“.
For the first time ever, the bustling streets of Calico are overflowing with seasonal joy as its gleeful citizens, from this summer’s Ghost Town Alive!, help guests celebrate the holidays with Christmas in Calico. 
New this year, Calico’s Town Hall offers plenty of holiday activities for all to enjoy.New this year, Calico’s Town Hall offers plenty of holiday activities for all to enjoy. Little ones can pen Christmas letters to jolly ol’ Santa Claus or gather round for a special reading of the holiday classic the Night before Christmas by the Calico citizens. 
Everyone can also lend a hand around town by delivering gifts to some of the folks in Calico. Just outside Town Hall, cheerful Calico Carolers roam the festive streets sharing the sounds of the season though songs and hand bell chimes. 
Also in Ghost Town, be sure to save time to watch a performance of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol”and O. Henry’s “A Gift of the Magi” brought-to-life at the Birdcage Theatre.
You can also find the toe tappin’, hand clappin’, comedy and bluegrass of Krazy Kirk and the Hillbillies in the Birdcage Theatre. They’re always a lot of fun to watch!
During Knott’s Merry Farm, the Wilderness Dance Hall in Ghost Town is transformed into Santa’s Christmas Cabin for the holiday season. This is where you’ll find the jolly fellow himself.
Santa is sure to delight the young and young at heart. Send your season greetings to family and loved ones with special picture of the occasion, pictures can be purchased onsite.
You’ll also want to indulge in one-of-kind seasonal treats like Santa’s freshly-baked cookies, mouthwatering pastries, exquisite chocolate dipped cheesecake on a stick, seasonal craft beers, gourmet hot chocolate with marshmallows and hot spiced holiday wine, plus much more.
Knott’s world-famous holiday treats can also be found all throughout Ghost Town, including fresh poured-to-order maple lollipops at the Gold Trails Hotel, delectable homemade holiday churros from the Churro Factory and extra creamy Santa’s Milk and Cookie shakes from Coasters.
Returning this year, the PEANUTS® gang, and a cast of world class ice skaters perform in the breathtaking ice show, “Merry Christmas, Snoopy!” in the 2,100 seat Charles M. Schulz Theatre. 
In this whimsical show, Snoopy enjoys all of the best parts of the season, including trimming the Christmas tree, awaiting Santa’s arrival, and attending the Christmas Ball! This ice show is a must-see and is my absolute favorite thing to go watch at Knott’s Merry Farm every year! 
The annual Christmas Crafts village includes artistic craft holiday shops featuring power chainsaw sculpting and elegant glass blowing demonstrations. Entrance to the Knott’s Christmas Crafts Village is free Monday through Thursday, November 21 –December 8, and is included with theme park admission every day.
You’ll also want to make sure to check out what’s new for this year at Knott’s Merry Farm:
- The all-new It’s The Merriest Christmas Show Ever, Charlie Brown at the Calico Mine Stage where the Peanuts gang put on the greatest Christmas pageant ever with Charlie Brown directing!
- The all-new Calico Tree Lighting Ceremony featuring the Calico Citizens and Bell Choir followed by thousands of sparkling, dancing lights and delightful snowfall in Ghost Town set to beloved holiday tunes.
- The all-new show A Peanuts Guide to Christmas at the Camp Snoopy Theatre has the Peanuts gang providing an entertaining primer designed to help everyone survive the holidays.
A visit to Knott’s Merry Farm is a true Southern California holiday tradition for so many families. Stop by between now and January 8 to join in on all of the fun!
Connect with Knott’s Berry Farm on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. For information about Knott’s Season Passes, go here.
Now through January 8, guests at the Resort will find many different experiences and offerings. Although it’s possible to see it all in one day, I recommend purchasing a 2-day Park Hopper (or more days) so you can take your time because there’s a lot to see and do. 
Here’s my own personal guide to the Holidays at Disneyland Resort.
Festival of Holidays
With so many little food and drink themed houses set up in the Festive Foods Marketplace, it’s a foodie’s holiday dream come true! If you’ve ever been to the Food and Wine Festival at Epcot, it may remind you of that. It’s so much fun to go “house to house” and sample different beers, wines and savory & sweet treats! Check out the Complete Guide to Festive Eats 
Another fun part about the Festival of Holidays are the craft tables set up around the park. Kids can sit and spend time learning about different traditional holidays celebrated around the world and make a craft, card, or ornament to take home with them.
Entertainment during Festival of Holidays
The popular Disney ¡Viva Navidad! is sure to wow you as it also returns as part of the fun at Festival of Holidays.
There”ll also be a wonderful finale to celebrate Three Kings Day (Dia de los Reyes).The special festivities for Three Kings Day will run Jan. 5-8, 2017, including music and storytelling in Paradise Garden. Treats for this holiday will include traditional Rosca de Reyes bread.
Meet Elena of Avalor
Santa at Redwood Creek Trails 
When you enter the area, a Cast Member will give you a fun guide to help you find Santa and join in on some fun Elf Games.
“World of Color—Season of Light”
At the top of Main Street, U.S.A., you’ll find twinkling lights, festive holiday garland and nearly 1,800 ornaments decorate the soaring Christmas tree in Town Square, Main Street, U.S.A.. It’s an ideal place for guests to begin their holiday traditions. The Christmas tree becomes an enchanting place for guests to take their holiday photos, up close or with all 60 feet of the shimmering tree.
The classic Sleeping Beauty’s Winter Castle brightens the park nightly with magical snowfall moments along Main Street, U.S.A., concluding with “Believe … in Holiday Magic” fireworks and its stirring snowfall finale.
Specially Transformed-for-the-Holidays Attractions 
Guests at Disneyland Park can enjoy the one-of-a-kind transformations that create “it’s a small world” Holiday, Jingle Cruise and Haunted Mansion Holiday. Now celebrating its 20th holiday season, “it’s a small world” Holiday has added some “Hidden 20s” for guests to discover on their voyage.
“It’s a Christmas Fantasy” Parade
Santa, who makes a jolly appearance in the parade, also will be found welcoming guests at his special location in Critter Country while he visits Disneyland.
There’s so much to see and do during Holidays at the Disneyland Resort and it’s a perfect time to create new family memories together! For more information, please visit 
A very special thank you to Disneyland Resort for hosting our family for a festive day in the parks
Starting November 26 and running through January 1, Great Wolf Lodge will have a limited number of Snowland Suites available, so book yours 
Spectacular decorations throughout the lodge
North Pole University activities
As you can see, there’s a lot going on over at Great Wolf Lodge during Snowland. It’s the chance to create some new holiday memories with your family and you won’t want to miss out!
This year, Knott’s Spooky Farm is a limited-time weekend event perfect for families and is open on weekend days during October, as well as Halloween day. All of the fun included in the price of a regular park ticket. (pumpkin and cookie decorating are available for a nominal fee.) Whether they choose to wear a costume or not, guests visiting the park are welcome to join in on all the fun Halloween activities. 
Here are the fun experiences you won’t want to miss out on this year:
Linus’ Great Pumpkin Patch
This year at Knott’s Spooky Farm, you’ll find
There are some fun activities to do inside like Peanuts coloring, games, decorating your very own pumpkin
Also, don’t forget to catch a performance of “Monsters Are Coming Charlie Brown!” in the Camp “Spooky” Theater, while you’re in Camp Snoopy. 
For only $31.99 (plus tax) you can enjoy up to seven different dining locations 
Don’t miss out on all the daytime family friendly fun at Knott’s Spooky Farm this year! You won’t find any tricks, just treats!
Currently, I just feel like Christmas came early! After it was just last week that the “Paint the Night” parade would be going dark at the end of the Disneyland Resort Diamond Celebration, this news about the Main Street Electrical Parade is so exciting. However, on the Disney Parks Blog they also announced that the “Paint the Night” parade will actually return on select nights during the holiday season later this year! Yay!
Park guests can enjoy the convenience of the App in the Park by connecting to the FREE Resort wifi. This will definitely help with your phone roaming and draining the battery so quickly. Having in-park wifi is so much more efficient.
You can download the app for free and it’s compatible with iOS and Andriod devices. Your visit to the LEGOLAND California Resort will be easier when you have control in the palm of your hand! When is your next trip?
Right now when you visit the Park, you get to experience the Old West town of Calico, in a whole new way during Ghost Town Alive! It’s an interactive experience and will make you feel like you’ve stepped into a time capsule, as you join in on the daily lives of the citizens of Calico and are treated like one of their own. 
Here are just some of the fun activities you’ll should do while visiting Ghost Town:
While you’re at Knott’s, you should also take a ride (or a few) on GhostRider, the longest, fastest and tallest wooden rollercoaster on the West Coast. It was recently re-opened after an extensive renovation and I speak from experience when I say, you NEED to go on it! It’s way smoother to ride now and kept me screaming the entire time! Watch this video of me braving GhostRider, along with my friends from 
Connect with
I get excited for family road trips. It’s the chance to get away, see new places, and explore together. Slowly but surely, we’re checking states off of our map. We’ve visited beaches, deserts, theme parks, farms, and so many other fun places, Some of our road trips are just local ones, but a getaway is a getaway, right?
Getting the Car Ready
Right now, through September 28, you can get an oil change with 
It’s a motor oil specifically designed for new or late model vehicles with over 75,000 miles, with the mission of keeping engines running clean and going strong. If your vehicle has less than 75,000 miles on it, you’ll want to 
Stocking up the Car
Here are some of the things I never go on a road trip without:
Kid-Friendly Road Trip Activities 
The thought of a road trip can sometimes be so ideal in your head, before you actually get on the road, but hearing things like, “How many more minutes?” or “Are we almost there?” from the little people in the backseat, can drive you nuts! I sometimes think kids must teach each other these phrases because they all seem to say it. 
In “the olden days”, when I was a kid, our options included: staring out the window or playing the license plate game. I wanted to be a little more creative than that. I suppose this version of “Road Trip BINGO” is just a modernized version of the license plate game, except I’ve upped the game…I added a prize! They have one card to share, which is supposed to promote “working together” and when they get “BINGO”, they get to choose where we stop for our next treat. Seems like a win-win for me, don’t you think? I printed two different cards, so they could play again on the way home! I figure it’ll buy me at least a little bit of time without having to hear those annoying questions. Check out my two favorite parts on the BINGO game. I circled them for you! 
I thought it would be fun to make a journal for my own daughter to keep, but more of a travel journal, rather than a diary. I think it would be something she could utilize it on a specific trip, as a way to document a family vacation, or even keep it as an ongoing travel journal throughout childhood. 
Either way, a travel journal is a great tool to get your child thinking, writing, and even sketching about adventures they’ve had on vacations. It’s also a great keepsake for them to look back on in later years.
After I glued the printable onto the cover, I added some decorative washi tape accents. I love washi tape! Sometimes it’s hard to choose just one or two to use. Finally, I fastened some bright flowers in the corner. It really made the cover “pop”! 
A travel journal is perfect to take on a trip and allow your child a little bit of time each day, perhaps at day’s end, to sum up their favorite parts of that day and even include an illustration or photograph. You could also fasten a photograph to the page. My daughter loves taking her instant camera on trips. 
How do you document family vacation memories? Do you have your child keep any type of journal. If so share with me in the comments. 