Mission Inn Festival of Lights 2025 - Full Christmas Guide - video Dailymotion

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The Mission Inn Festival of Lights is one of those holiday traditions that pulls you in the moment you arrive. I spent the evening with my family wandering through the historic hotel, exploring the streets around it, and soaking in that Christmas energy Riverside is famous for. If you’re planning a visit this season, this guide walks you through everything that makes the event special.   #californiathroughmylens #missioninn #riverside

Transcript

00:00The Festival of Lights in Riverside, California always signals the Christmas season for me.

00:04I've been going here for over 15 years and it's one of my favorite Christmas attractions in

00:08Southern California. Here's the complete rundown of what it's like in 2025.

00:13We're starting off the Christmas season with a visit to Festival of Lights.

00:17There's multiple parking structures and lots at different prices,

00:19and I'll link to a map of them in the description.

00:22We got lucky and found parking on Mission Inn Avenue and we headed over to the Mission Inn Hotel

00:26first. This is the main attraction here with millions of lights and over the last few years

00:31they removed the valet area and they installed some rides right in the front.

00:35So in any case you're wondering, five tickets, five tickets and then that one is six tickets

00:41and it was $25 for 20 tickets. The kids favorite thing is always to ride the carousel so we had to

00:47pay for that but it is pricey. It looked like there were going to be more rides up on Lemon Street but

00:52they weren't set up when we visited. And then after the carousel is off to walk down the main

00:58walkway into the Mission Inn. I've seen this over a dozen times and it still takes my breath away

01:03every time. It is so beautiful. This is definitely the best part of the Festival of Lights and it's

01:07not busy right now because it's Thanksgiving Day. If you're interested in some history on the festival,

01:12it actually started in 1992. Back then the owners Duane and Kelly Roberts had recently restored the

01:18Mission Inn to the grand hotel that it is today and the Festival of Lights was kind of like that

01:23introduction to the new hotel. Since then it's grown from that small light display to over 8 million

01:29lights today, winning many awards of the best light display in all of the United States. And as someone

01:35who loves to travel for Christmas and make Christmas videos around the United States, I have to say this

01:40is one of the best I've ever been to. After walking down the main walkway we were able to enter the

01:45Mission Inn Hotel. Usually as the season continues they don't let you come in here unless you're a

01:50hotel guest and it was very busy early in the season so I imagine they would shut that off pretty

01:55quickly. However if you do get a chance to go when it's open it's well worth walking into. The lobby is

02:01beautiful and they have dozens of Christmas trees and they have Christmas displays everywhere. Plus when

02:06we were there they even had a Santa that was greeting children right by the door. Hi! Happy Christmas is

02:13coming! Exiting the Mission Inn Hotel and Spa you'll turn to the right and you'll walk down this lighted

02:20walkway towards Main Street. This is the elves cookie making area I guess. Looks like somebody's

02:27meeting some of those cookies. Every year they have elves along this walkway but this is the first year I've

02:33ever seen this cookie making machine that they had. What do you like about it? All of the lights!

02:39All right. And all of the elves movies! As you exit past Kelly's Spa onto Main Street this is the main

02:47area where all of the Christmas lights are at and from here you can walk multiple blocks in either

02:52direction to see all the different lights displays. We headed right first and walked Main Street down to

02:57the Riverside Convention Center which is the start on that side and depending on when you come in this

03:04section you'll see lots of different lights displays you'll see different things you can take pictures

03:08with and there's a lot of shops that may or may not be open. Right here next to the Convention Center is

03:14the end of the Festival of Life on this side but it's cool I didn't see these happy holidays and this

03:18Riverside sign last year and then you head that way for a couple blocks and that gets to the end on that

03:25side so that's where we're heading to now. I've been coming here for over a decade now and this is

03:32the definitely the best I've ever seen this part of the Festival of Lights decorated. I was really

03:38impressed with how many lights they put down that part of Main Street it was really cool to see and

03:43there's lots of vendors selling these different light-up balloons we bought them many times but we

03:47always seem to break them before we get to the car and so we skipped buying them this year.

03:51By this time the kids were asking for a treat and there haven't been many donuts here in years

03:57and so we headed to Casey's Cupcakes to grab a cupcake or a macaroon. Casey's Cupcakes has been

04:03here since 2009 and then it was on the baking competition Cupcake Wars in 2011 which gave it

04:09national attention. Normally there'd be a lot of things to purchase down here but we're here on

04:13Thanksgiving which is nice because of the crowds but also not a lot of the places to eat are open.

04:18From here we passed the Mission Inn and we crossed over Mission Inn Avenue on Main Street. This section

04:24next to the California Tower is where they usually have most of the light installations that you can

04:29run through and interact with and take pictures with. There's a lot of cool places to take pictures

04:35down here. There's Santa, there's the reindeer, there's the North Pole and then there's that huge ornament

04:43right there. And then there's also this really cool lit up sleigh. There is one open on Thanksgiving and

04:50it is a funnel cake and hot chocolate. From here you cross over University Avenue to one of the last

04:56sections of the Festival of Lights. If you're looking for a great place to eat, the state is my personal

05:01favorite. And it's right here next to all the Christmas lights. The state is a great place for a burger and a drink,

05:09but note that it gets really busy especially on the weekends.

05:16This is new this year. I have never seen a color changing fountain down here before.

05:23And this area normally has flowers but I don't see any flowers. They still have the words

05:28but usually that has flowers in it. It could be that they're still going to be adding more or it could

05:33be that this is it. I still like this area though. It seemed like maybe they took all the lights they

05:38normally have here and they put them on the other side of Main Street as there wasn't much going on

05:42in this section. Also Arcade is another great spot if you want to get a coffee while you're down here.

05:48And then crossing over 9th Street to City Hall, this is the official end of the Festival of Lights

05:52and there wasn't much going on down here other than a big ornament.

05:55Which one is your guys' favorite?

06:00LUNAF!

06:08You're Santa's bag?

06:09Oh okay. Jack's Santa and Sonny's the bag.

06:14Good night and all two good night.

06:17Jack good job being the bag. Sonny good job being Santa.

06:23Five year olds are so fun.

06:25That was definitely the first time I've ever seen anyone act out Santa's bag.

06:30Here's the end on this side. Honestly there's not very many lights down here. When I said the other

06:35side was really great for the lights they put, there's not as much down on this side. We are super

06:40early in the season though so let me know if you come and there's more lights down here.

06:43From here all that was left was to walk back down Main Street and take in all of the different lights

06:48and see if there was anything that we missed on our first round.

06:51I'm actually surprised by the amount of people that are out on Thanksgiving here.

06:55Don't have anything to do just like us I guess but this is an awesome place to be. I love coming

07:00here every Christmas. If you're here with kids or by yourself this candy store is a pretty fun place

07:06to end your day. There's actually a line for it right now though. After waiting in line we made it into

07:11the candy shop and this is a great end spot as you can just pick one to two pieces of candy if you

07:16want and there's a lot of different options. There's a couple fun installations inside the store to

07:21take pictures with as well. When we were there checking out the gingerbread house they made an

07:27announcement that Santa was coming out as well which we had no idea about and that was cool because

07:32the kids got to meet Santa without having to wait in line and he even gave them a little piece of candy.

07:36Before heading back to your car I recommend walking Main Street down to 6th Street and then going

07:42around the back side of the Mission Inn. They always have some cool installations back here as

07:47well plus they have the actual festival of light sign. And then you can walk around the side and you

07:53can see the different light tunnels and all the little characters they have in all the different windows.

07:57Before we head out there is an ice skating rink over here and that's the cost if it's something you

08:06want to do. It's not open yet though. There's the ice rink right there.

08:15I mean that's just cool. Look at how awesome the lights are on that.

08:21They even have their very own Santa right there. Also we got a chance to stay there last year. If you

08:27want to see that video you can click up here. That's it for our time at Festival of Lights.

08:31What did you guys think this year? Merry Christmas! Good! Good and Merry Christmas!

08:39We'll see you on the next one.

08:44Why on here?

08:46Let us know if there's any other Christmas in California attractions you want us to visit

08:50and we'll see you on the next video.

08:57We'll see you on the next one.

Mission Inn Festival of Lights 2025 - Full Christmas Guide

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