A Day Out at Lightopia London 2021

It is one of our yearly traditions to attend Lightopia! Previously, we have waited until January to go, but this year we figured we should grab tickets while we can, in case the event wasn’t on for as long as previous years. Lightopia, if you do not know, is an event ran by the same people who ran Dino Kingdom! They put on a huge showcase of light sculptures and music, that you can walk around, at various locations in the United Kingdom. We went along to Lightopia London, at Crystal Palace Park this year, as a double date with Claire and her partner.

Lightopia is a massive light trail, and at Crystal Palace, it felt really spread out, which was good! Everyone had their own space and could walk along the paths, which were paved, and easy to follow. The entrance area started with a few fairground rides, a small stand for mulled wine, and a small sweats stand. We walked past them and into the light trail itself, seeing Christmas themed lights first. There were giant baubles, a Christmas tree, a bauble you could take a picture in, and giant presents that had pretty cool patterns on them. We stopped at each point to take pictures, taking in the festive lights right here at the start.

As we continued around, one of the show stopper displays were right up at the front – a giant phoenix. This character had lights lighting up off of them, coming towards you, and was far away in a field. Quite a few of the people around us speculated that we would “see the front of the phoenix” along the trail, but this was actually the front of the character and the only place where we could see it. This area then brought us to our first set of food stalls. We were not aware there was going to be three other areas of food stalls along the way, and thought these two were the only ones. We ended up grabbing a roll with various Boxing Day Dinner fillings like gammon, turkey, beef, gravy, stuffing and cranberry sauce, as well as a side of roasted potatoes. These stalls were pretty fun to grab food from! There was also a giant interactive light up piano next to this area, so children could play while adults waited in line for food.

We entered a giant area beyond huge flashing trees, and then came to a bunch of different flowers. These huge flowers were a bit full of leaves, but otherwise were really beautiful. The ground had clever butterfly and flower spotlights, which you could stand in for a bit, that were very impressive. The next area had some interesting characters, clearly from some sort of TV Show or game, as well as some Chinese-inspired buildings and Koi fish-related sculptures, before we were in front of a replica of the Crystal Palace. Playing over it, in a light display, was showcasing the history of Crystal Palace – through the fire, and the rebuilding of it. There was also some Christmas songs being played and some fun light-enhanced graphics to watch. I did like that there was a viewing area that had plenty of space for everyone, as well as a hot chocolate stand and candy stand, so you could get a bit to eat while you watch the show.

In the next area, there were some giant, light up butterfly wings, to pose in front of before the sculptures turned to be mythical creatures and animals. I was really blown away by the mythical creatures – I sort of wish they had signs with their names on them. They seemed like something out of Pokemon, mixed with magic. Beyond them, there were some more known creatures like pandas, frogs, and swans. The next major area in Lightopia was actually the dinosaurs we have seen from Dino Kingdom. These didn’t have signs and were not lighting up, but they moved and made noise, which was very fun. The dinosaurs did feel really fitting, as Crystal Palace park then had it’s own area of dinosaurs, that are apart of the park.

There was another length of the trail, which had a few different whimsical sculptures, before we hit the end. The end, just sort of ended, if that makes sense. Normally, I do feel there is some sort of ending piece that people tend to take pictures by, but this event really just let out at the end, and that was that. Previously, there was a giant tent at the end with shows going on, as well as a big Lightopia sign right at the exit, but I suppose it is different this year due to the state of the world. In the end, we had a wonderful time at Lightopia though, and really enjoyed all of the intricate sculptures. None of them were the ones we saw from last year, which is always a good sign, and all of them were really well made and beautiful.

This post is a part of our Blogmas series, with each and every post being about Christmas or Winter.