Global Winter Wonderland

This was fun and pretty. We will definitely go this year if they return to Atlanta Georgia. Wear comfortable shoes and your winter clothes. The parking was close by and the hot cocoa was nice.

went last year was awesome and fun I liked how the exhibits showed the various ways Christmas is celebrated around the world. I also love the shows they had… nice family outing

A friend of mine and I have been wanting to take out BFs here for quite some time, and after numerous failed attempts due to rain, extremely cold temps, and other prior engagements, we finally made time to go a few days before they closed for the season.
Parking was free, but we weren’t sure if it’s because we came so late at night, close to closing, or if it’s free in general. Hm.
We had bought out tickets online so we just brought a print out of it for them to scan, and we were on our way. We were overjoyed by the amounts of lights that they had on display. Each area represents a different country with timepieces from that country. Paris — Effiel Tower, US — White House, etc.
We decided to visit the rides first, but after waiting in line for one ride, we decided that we’re better off taking pictures, since that’s the main reason we were all there. We played some of the games they had at the booths, and I have to say, it surely is a rip off, and you’re better off walking away and ignoring them. But I got a nice toy for my Husky :) We made a trip to most of all the lights, and had some amazing photos taken: P
We, of course, got some funnel cake, which taste amazing during the winter time. We killed it the moment we got it, and we were somewhat amazed at how quickly we devoured it since most of us aren’t «sweets» persons.
We were there right until closing where we were running around trying to beat the staff members to several locations so that we could take final photos before they turned the lights off on us lol.
The company I went with surely made the night better, and hopefully, they’ll come back next year with a even bigger and better lights :)

This was my first time at Global Winter Wonderland and we went with a double date group of 10. Overall, it was a fun experience and the light attractions were pretty nice. I especially liked the animated dinosaurs and the Chinese zodiac characters.
If you go here, don’t spend your time in the food vendors line outside of the tented area. Inside the tent there are tons more food vendors, including phở from I love Phở as well as fair favorites of corndogs and funnel cake.
Be wary of prices as well, while in line at Grecian Gyro, I noticed the vendor next to it was charging $ 6 for a large lemonade while Grecian Gyro was charging only $ 3.
I am taking stars off because of the unorganization here. Lines were wrapped around people, tables and chairs. i would also suggest keeping an eye on where you are as people would jump in front of you not knowing that the line was about 20 people back.
Also, crammed into this same tent was where the entertainment performed. You were lucky if you were able to get standing room in the back, and even then, those who are vertically challenged like myself would constantly get our views blocked by those in front.
the portapotties were horrendous. I literally saw one woman walk in and run back out screaming. Not only are there no lights inside of the porta potties, there was hardly any lights outside around them, so you would walk into one and hope that the squish of your shoes on the floor was just water and not someone’s urine… or worse.
Also, since the rides are all free, the lines were about 1.5 hours wait, not worth it for me. I think in total we spent about 2 hours there.

The thought of seeing all the world’s most iconic monuments in one place that isn’t Vegas AND they are all lit up. How can one resist?
Right off the bat, as you’re approaching Turner Field, you see a glow. It’s pretty breathtaking at first. I was simply blown away when all the lights appeared in my view. It seemed so magical. But, and this is big «BUT,» the magic doesn’t last. Once inside, the massiveness fades and you are just walking around a parking lot full of lit up «monuments» and such. It really was a sight to see, but once you’ve seen it, well, you’ve seen it. it didn’t help that I went on a particularly cold day, along with the rest of the world apparently. The lines were terribly long, and when it’s cold outside, you don’t really have the urge to stand still in a long line or be whisked up into air on a ferris wheel either. The temperature kind of dulled the mood a bit. We found ourselves scurrying into the International Food Court, a big ass tent. It was much warmer in there — and much more crowded. It was really hard to navigate, and forget trying to see the «entertainment.» Fortunately, there was no shortage of hot chocolate and booze to warm the soul, but they did have to stop making coffee at some point because «the water froze.» Fortunately, I am not a coffee drinker.
All in all, it was a fun evening. I had a discounted ticket, and I only paid for myself, so I didn’t feel like I wasted my money or anything. I would have regretted it if I didn’t go, and I do not regret going. I’m glad I got to see the pretty lights — that was the best part.

I would have given it 5 stars, but they had a horrible check-​in process. We waited for over an hour to get checked in. There’s no formal lines, everyone just skipped in front of everyone and 4 lines turned into 10 lines. It was such a horrible waiting experience for entrance that I would not go back ever again unless they changed that.
Otherwise, the lights were amazing! My mother was so in awed, she asked if we could go into the white house. It was the funniest thing. My favorite has to be the China area with the dragon and phoenix. That was so beautiful.
They need to have more hot cocoa and other eatery stands because the lines were a mile long. Not worth the wait.

I’ll be honest, I was just looking for something fun to do with some girlfriends for the holidays and wasn’t expecting much of this. I saw a LivingSocial deal for Global Winter Wonderland; it was 2 tickets for $ 38, and I also get pretty good cash back on LivingSocial deals so that was a plus.
The Youtube video promoting it was really cheesy, you had your standard carnival food and some ethnic food but I wasn’t too impressed, and I didn’t even watch any of the shows… but I’m giving this 5 stars because I definitely got my money’s worth and had a blast with my friends.
We posed for pictures with all the lanterns (I guess the structures are called that?) and went on all the rides we wanted to (I’m so glad we didn’t have to pay extra for that). Luckily we went early in the season so the lines weren’t crazy long. I was really surprised by how much fun I had on the carnival rides (they didn’t disappoint at all, got the crap scared out of me), and I think my favorite structures from the Global Village were the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the Eiffel Tower. The Leaning Tower of Pisa, while I have no idea what it really looks like, was constructed using those Chinese ceramic plates and looked really cool up close. We had a stranger take a picture for us in front of the Eiffel Tower and it cracks me up that it really looks like we went to Paris to take that. I thought this would only appeal to families, but had an amazing time. Definitely go with a group of fun people next time it comes back. :)

This place was ok. Kinda cheese like a travel fair. It was interesting to see the different Christmas/​holiday décor from around the world. It wasn’t too crowded when we went.
The food court tent was kinda depressing but we got a few snacks: spicy chicken nuggets, Thai tea bubble, cotton candy and funnel cake.
The Ferris wheel ride was fun but a long line. It took my group about 20mins to get a spot on the ride.
There was a bubble machine in replacement of a fake snow machine.
I would come back again but only if I got free tickets or discounted tickets

I hate to give negative reviews, but hope this will encourage the vendor to make changes or caution other buyers from going on crowded days. I think this event could be a lot of fun, but it was severely oversold. They should have sold a limited amount of tickets for each day. I took my family last night and they were excited to see the circus and ride some rides. But, all we did was wait in line. We waited to get into the gate (which I don’t mind), waited 30 minutes for food (all the food lines were long) and waited almost an hour to get into the circus, only to be turned away because it was too crowded. We started to wait in line to ride a ride, but abandoned it after about 20 minutes to go home. So, two hours wasted and all we did was eat bad carnival food. The place was just packed.
Update: I contacted customer service through Global Winter Wonderland’s website and after two weeks I still haven’t received a reply, and doubt I ever will. I get the impression they are run with carney style management; con as many people as they can then move on to the next town.

We went last Thursday and I have to agree with some other reviewers that it was oversold. We got there around 6 (we were hoping to make it there when they opened at 5) and it was already really crowded but by 8pm, it was pure insanity.
Besides limiting tickets so people can actually enjoy all (or at least most) of the attractions they offer, they should think about opening up the rides earlier, say 3pm. I get that it needs to be dark to enjoy the lights but the lines for the rides were a madhouse and there’s no reason you can’t let people in earlier to enjoy those. And no, the rides aren’t «free» as some people state. They are included in the price, big difference.
I’ve found with these big events that it brings out the worst in people. People’s rudeness and complete disrespect for others never cease to amaze me. Among many other things, I witnessed on multiple occasions parents pushing their children to cut in line. These are the things that eventually get infuriating and ruin the experience for my whole family.
For the price, it’s not worth it (even with the Living Social discount). We didn’t get to see any of the circus acts, which we were really excited about, because the lines were way too long that we wouldn’t have made it in. We only got to ride a few of the rides because we got to a point where waiting in the cold for 20 – 30 mins just wasn’t worth it. So the only thing that we truly enjoyed were the lights, which were magnificent, but still not worth it.
Parking wasn’t an issue for us. We parked in the lot across the street for $ 5. It wasn’t as nice as the parking lot charging $ 10 but it was just as close and we had no issues.
Because of the fact that it was overly crowded and we didn’t get to experience everything we hoped, I don’t think we’ll brave it next year if it comes back. It’s too bad because this could’ve been a really fun event if they just limited the number of people admitted.

If I had to rank all the holiday light shows that I’ve been to, Global Winter Wonderland is definitely the top. Not just because there are pretty lights, but also because it’s also a fair! However, if I had to rank it among all the fairs I’ve been to, it would probably get 3 or 4 stars.
Global Winter Wonderland is a traveling exhibition that has been to cities all around the world, and they stopped in Atlanta this year. The circus performers and vendors inside the international booth are from China and travel together each holiday season.
There are gigantic lit up structures resembling famous landmarks from around the world, international fast food court, artisan booths, and various performers including the circus and also Chinese acrobats.
I would recommend getting there at 5pm right when it starts, then riding all the FREE rides like the Ferris Wheel and the Tornado, then going to see the circus (get in line for that early since seats fill up quickly!), and ending in the international tent to buy some dinner while watching the Chinese Acrobat show.
Also, the best time to take photographs isn’t when it is completely dark, but is actually at dusk when the sun is setting and there’s still some light left in the sky. It makes for much more colorful pictures. And bring a tripod and a wide angle lens.
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Too expensive for what it is. Parking is an extra $ 10 too. Their web site suggests public transportation which is a joke — you don’t want to walk in the Turner Field neighborhood at night.
My advice would be to check out the Atlanta Botanical Garden, Lake Lanier, or Stone Mountain Christmas… all offer better Holiday values than Global Winter Wonderland.

Besides being very cold and windy outside, this was a perfect night! We decided to stay home this holiday season and do some local activities in the nearby areas. We got our tickets online for our family of 4 for only like $ 68, which included the rides.
They had a ton of food for sale there, all your basic carnival foods like funnel cakes, corn dogs, turkey legs, cotton candy, fried oreos, and much more spread throughout the event. They also had a wide variety of different foods including gyros, ramen noodles, pizza, quesadillas, to name a few which were all located inside the big white tent. Since it was so cold out the boys wanted some hot cocoa, which we found a deal at yummy cakes truck for $ 3, the other locations wanted $ 5.
The lights and displays were all so pretty, they even had fake snow (soapy foam) blowing out of a few machines to capture the true feeling of winter. We got our picture taken with Santa (bring your camera).
There are some vendors there selling some very nice things, our favorite being the Chinese art banners with your name printed on them right there in front of you, in only a few minutes, for only $ 10. We also enjoyed the live entertainment from a music stage outside to the Chinese acrobats inside. I would highly recommend visiting this place, but please remember to dress in layers. Gloves, hats and other outdoor winter attire so you can enjoy this beautiful event and not freeze!

We had an absolutely wonderful time!
Global Winter Wonderland was a real delight. I suppose if you are allergic to children this place might have you breaking out in hives. But for us, seeing children happily laughing as their eyes gloss over with amazement @ all the displays was a joy to witness. I wish everyone could have the innocent fascination of a child.
I stood and watched as a little girl (about 3 years old) couldn’t decide if the mechanical dinosaurs at the entrance to the dinosaur maze were real or not. Her mom lowered herself to the little girls height, encouraging her as she reluctantly moved towards the beasts. However, one roar of the sound effects from nearby speakers was enough to stop her in her tracks and turn around running instead of risking it. A few tears and hugs later, mommy walked over and put her own hand in the mouth of the baby T-​Rex and all was right again in that little girls universe as she smiled from ear to ear.
Entire family groups from stroller infants to their grandparents were laughing and gathering for pictures as the glow of nearby lanterns danced softly on their faces. At every display as far as you could see, families paused & smiled for a picture, which no doubt will be on Facebook in less than 24 hours. Even though it was freezing, the atmosphere here was festive and warm.
THE EXPERIENCE
We arrived around 4:50pm (10 minute early). The temperature was around 40 degrees and it had been raining most of the earlier part of the day. That worked to our advantage because the crowds were light for most of our visit.
After getting our tickets scanned at the entrance (which we printed @ home), we headed straight for the carnival rides. We walked onto almost every ride for the first hour with little to no wait. By 6:30pm we’d ridden everything we wanted at least once and decided to make our way to the Food Court.
Inside the Food Court tent we discovered:
A) It’s warm
B) There was lots of reasonably price food and
C) The Chinese Acrobat team was about to begin their performance, which lasts about 25 – 30 minutes.
Since we ate before we arrived, we shared a Gyros and fries for $ 8 and a basket of fried oreos. Tons of food options from wings to BBQ, even Chik-​fil-​a and Johnny’s NY pizza had booths. BONUS — beer & wine is also available. After the Acrobats show we found ourselves amazed by a guy hand printing name banners using Chinese art (see pics). It was so beautiful and only cost $ 10, including a protective laminated cover. We bought two as souvenirs and couldn’t be happier with our purchase.
Warm and refueled, we ventured back out into the cold and spent the next hour walking through all the displays. We loved each of them and would be hard pressed to pick a favorite. Most notable would be:
* The Winter Garden
* The colorful Chinese Dragon
* The Train Depot
* The Taj Mahal
* Martin Luther King, Jr
* The 50′ Christmas Tree
Favorite Rides:
* The Starship 2000 IS AWESOME!!! It was great fun!
* Ring of Fire
* Bumper Cars
* Sea Ray
* Himalaya
Santa is also here, waiting to allow you to take pictures with him free of charge.
— — — — — - — -
THE VERDICT
If you aren’t planning to ride the rides or stay for the entertainment then it may not be worth it for you to come here… but for a family looking to have a good time it is most definitely worthy of a visit.
We went to the Global Winter Wonderland website and purchased the family of four package for $ 68. In my opinion this was a REAL VALUE considering it costs $ 60/​car for the Lights @ Lake Lanier or $ 28 adult/​$ 14 children @ Callaway Gardens and neither includes carnival rides or live entertainment. Not to mention everything was reasonably priced once inside this event (including the food and souvenirs). The selection of unique lantern displays, rides, and entertainment included with your tickets made this our first choice over other Christmas lights venues around the city.
It was so wonderful our kids didn’t complain once about the weather and just as we were leaving (after 3.5 hours of fun) we enjoyed a few cups of piping hot chocolate for $ 3 each from the Yummy Cakes truck. We will be back next year for sure! Highly recommended for families.
TIP: There is also $ 5 parking directly across from the $ 10 lots.

where in the world can you go and be able to see all the world’s famous monuments in one spot? if you’re thinking vegas, please be more realistic and consider those who cannot afford to pay a couple of hundreds for a plane ticket out of town. anyways, if you haven’t figured it out yet… global winter wonderland is your answer!
I couldn’t help, but compare this light show to botanical garden’s (since those are the only 2 I have been to). in quick words, I’d say botanical is way better. I can’t just go off on that statement alone, so let’s get into further details about GWW.
GWW offers a variety of ticket options to choose from: family fun pack, season pass, daily, group, and combo. I don’t know about you guys, but these light shows are a once-​a-​year type of event for me. so, the only ticket option I cared for was the daily ticket — which is $ 25 per person.
I recommend you check groupon and livingsocial. I bought my discounted tickets about 2 weeks ago, but you can still check if the discount is still going on. the deal I received was $ 38 for 2 people (livingsocial).
| OUTDOOR LIGHT SHOW | when you walk in. you’ll notice that turner field closed out one of its’ parking decks and turned it into a literal winter wonderland. all the monuments were lit up with random colors. some monuments did remain true to their actual colors. the size of the majority of the monuments were about the size of 2 trailers stacked on top of each other. from what I saw, I only saw two types of materials that the monuments were made from. the asian monuments were the only ones that used ceramic plates as the building material. the rest of the monuments were made of some sort of paper or thin fabric. the whole attraction is supposed to give off a life-​size lantern feel.
| FOOD TENT/​BAZAAR | there were a huge assortment of food and shop vendors in this one huge tent. since there were monuments from all over the world, they made the food court fit into that same theme — international. you could get asian, italian, american, greek, and mexican all under one roof. the funny part of the night was spotting quickly there. bubble tea at a carnival; now, that is a first. please keep in mind that all the food vendors have spiked up their prices (even quickly). I cannot comment about the food taste or quality since we decided not to eat here. in addition to the international food, there were also «carnival food» — funnel cake, cotton candy, popcorn, hot dog, cupcakes, etc.
as for the shops, these were quite impressive. 100% of the shops were chinese. where is the international part when it comes to shops? shops included:
— ox tail accessories
— asian products
— stuffed animals
— chinese calendars and wall décor
— cell phone accessories
the neat part of the bazaar was the demo shops. all chinese, once again. but they were all very talented!
— for $ 50, you sit for a couple of minutes and have a guy mold your face out of clay; you’ll have a head statue of yourself to take home.
— for $ 10, you’ll be able to have your name written as chinese-​style calligraphy art in water color crayons.
— for $ 15, you can have molasses (thick sugar syrup) tossed and molded into your chinese zodiac sign.
| CARNIVAL | the chaotic part of the night. there were games, live shows, and rides at this section of GWW. shows are random every night. the shows can vary according to what international background is performing. here’s a simple breakdown of the rides & games:
rides:
games:
— pop balloons with darts («a win everytime»)
beware of this one. even though the signs and the staff here say it’s a win everytime, you’re actually paying for every turn. the guy will trick you into throwing a bunch of darts and ask you pay up quickly. we lost over $ 40 for a «medium» sized plush.
HERE ARE SOME POINTERS :
— go on a non-​peak/​busy day. avoid weekends; weekday would be more ideal
— wear comfortable shoes. don’t be one of those idiotic girls who come in heels. even though the terrain is flat, there’s as much walking as there is at the mall.
— dress according to weather. the event is 85% outdoors. the only time you’ll be «inside» is when you are in the «food court»
— bring plenty of cash. 99% of the vendors here only take cash. there are ATM machines placed all around GGW, in case you run out — which can happen very easily =/​
— have patience. there will be tons of kids running around, laying on the floor just waiting for you to trip or step on them, inconsiderate people who just stand in the way of your pictures or perhaps walk by when you are about to take a picture, and the list goes on…
OVERALL, there are more more things to do at GWW than botanical garden’s festival of lights. BUT when it comes to view and light work, botanical gardens definitely beats GWW. as for crowd control, botanical garden beats GWW. both places do get a huge crowd, but at least you don’t have to wait in line for 2 hours just to spin around for less than a min.

I went here with my four year old daughter and my boyfriend. Overall, it was a good experience, however I do think it was a bit overpriced. We were lucky enough to get a special price on our tickets but if I had paid full price, I think I would have been disappointed.
The light displays are great and very «magical» to look at. It definitely brings in the Christmas spirit. :)
I’d recommend taking Marta or a cab/​Über as parking is an additional fee. In addition, coming right as it opens will help to ensure that your kids avoid the long wait for rides.
One of the big pluses here is that the rides are all included with the price of admission — so one less headache for parents to worry about.
The «International Food Market» was a little lacking in scope and substance, though they do sell fairly affordable beer, wine & cocktails.
Overall, worth going to if you’re in the mood for a carnival type atmosphere with the addition of holiday lights.

This was fun to do with kids. The price is comparable to Callaway and Lake Lanier, and you’re not cooped up in a car for hours with restless kids. They get to run around and that was great for everyone.
The lanterns are very colorful and different from the usual but there’s plenty of typical Christmassy lights too. Tons of photo opps. There’s also a small patch of «snow» (bubbles) to play in.
After seeing the lanterns you’ll get to the part the kids really love which is unlimited carnival rides. There is also a circus that looked like fun, but we ran out of time.
A lot of the food is from local food trucks, which is cool.
Definitely get there at opening time if you really want to enjoy it.

Hmm where do I start???
For the past two months I’ve been bragging to my godson mother how cool this place will be. Ive watched videos read their facebook page about the one in Cali. I live near turner field so I was able to watch them build it from the ground up. The second day it was open We went. I paid 19.00 instead of the 25.00 for the tickets. AWESOME
Once inside my god son was super happy! It brought tears to my eyes for him to enjoy himself. Me on the other hand the lights were cool. Mainly you walk around looking at lantern lights & then they have the rides area. Like one of the previous posters wrote GET THEIR EARLY TO GET ON THE RIDES! Once everyone is in the lines become long. Great variety of food & of course they sell FUNNEL CAKES!!!
I feel like 25.00 is a good price for it to include rides & some bits & pieces of the university soul circus.
If it come back will I go next year???
Only if they add more RIDES

Really good for kids, so parents also can enjoy the night out with family. When we see from outside the field its looks so great, but not that much in the inside. Not worth for $ 25 and $ 10 parking, to me it’s a huge rip off. As I said before if you go with your family it mayb a different story. All rides are free, and the lanterns are beautiful.
Pros — beautiful lanterns, unlimited rides for one price, really good for taking photos
Cons — $ 25 /​person & $ 10 parking is too much, not that great for adults, the global food court is not even close to my expectation.

Global Winter Wonderland is a rather fun diversion right across the street from Turner Field in the old Fulton County Stadium parking lot.
Many carnival rides, such as: Ring of Fire, Teacups, Gravitron, Sizzler, Himalayas, Tilt-​O-​Whirl, Bumper Cars, etc. etc…
There are two circus shows involving motorcycles and stunts at 6pm and 8pm.
I would get there EARLY (5pm, at open), and head to all the rides first because the lines get crowded once people start funneling in.
The Chinese lantern lighting decorations are amazing, with famous locales worldwide used as inspiration.
Food choices are pretty good, you have a nice tent full of food, food trucks scattered around, and your standard carnival fare.
YES, they do serve drinks here (a few places serve beer + wine) and there is a full bar to the side of the entertainment stage in a tent.
Overall, a nice festive experience.