Meadow Lights — Attraction in Benson

First and last time making the trip to Meadow Lights. Took my family, (3 year old and 1.5 year old), 3 hours round trip to see what Facebook, Reviews and Website state are amazing lights. Parking was a hassle.. the parking attendant stated the lot was full at 5:35pm and we had to go to overflow.. okay go to overflow in a field with no lights and soft dirt. You have to jump over ditches or hope you can find a level area in the dark. You hope you can cross the road without getting hit since it's dark and the roads are narrow.Gett up to the parking lot and there are plenty of spaces open.. okay first annoyance. Took a few mins to find where to go, it's not clear at first that the ticket line is not the line for the trains... Waiting in the ticket line at 6pm was 40ish mins.. pay for that okay then we discover the actual train line is wrapped on the otherside into the woods.. we get over there still toting 2 kids and the best estimated wait was 1.5 hours easy the parking attendant said. Okay we waited an hour and we were maybe helpful through. We decided to leave at this point because the train ride is less than 10 mins, you can see all the lights while waiting and it wasn't worth the hassle of waiting another hour for that. We checked out the general store and it looked like overpriced candy just repackaged.. why would I pay $4 for a handful of candy corn? So now we go to leave and since people parked on the shoulders you have to be careful not to take out mirrors and large trucks had to take up both lines to safely get through at times. I wanted to leave a realistic review. I can't see how this place is so popular. We essentially wasted 6 hours of our time and money...

I’m not usually one to complain or be confrontational but I am very frustrated. I took my boys to meadow lights tonight. We got there and stood in line for train tickets for about 30 minutes and then stood in line for 2 hours to get on the train. Keeping a 6 & 3 year old entertained for two hours and staying sane is a job in itself...not to mention somewhere along the way my 6 yr old lost his first tooth! Still trying to figure out if it fell out or if he swallowed it 🤔...anyways sometime amidst the chaos our tickets must have fallen out of my pocket. I noticed right before I got on the train but figured it would be okay since I had the receipt showing how many tickets I purchased, the date and the time I got them. They wouldn’t let me or my kids on! They literally made me go back and buy the tickets again. I went to the window and they guy even said he remembered me but refused to just let us on. If that wasn’t enough, then the people behind us didn’t realize they had to wait in line to purchase tickets first and they let them pay there and hop right on.

Anyways the purpose of this vent is basically to say if you go to Meadow lights be sure to hang on to those tickets and prepare to stand in line a long time. Or just bring cash and pretend you didn’t know about the line to purchase tickets and save yourself 30 extra minutes. Unfortunately we won’t be going again.

Also if you’re at Meadow Lights and see a tooth, that’s...

This place will hold thousands in a single night, I want to share this experience in hopes that they will have EMS on site during the show. On 12/9/23 my mother in law took the family with grandkids to see the lights as we have done for years. Once she arrived she was a little overwhelmed at the lines and they decided it just wasn’t worth the wait so they will take some pictures and take kids to see Santa. Within 20 minutes being at the property she gets dizzy and passes out on site, NO EMS to help. There just happened to be a few registered nurses in line that were able to give her CPR for 20 minutes until the first EMS arrived not a rescue squad but in a SUV. They continued to shock her until the rescue squad showed up 10 minutes later so total of 30 minutes until a rescue squad show up. Keep in mind EMS station within 4 miles away. She was rushed to wake med where she stayed the next several days until she was announced brain dead due to lack of oxygen to the brain. Multiple broke ribs from the CPR. She was only 48 years old with no heath problems. I feel if they have EMS at high school games and fairs then why not have here where thousands of people visit in a weekend. I certainly believe if EMS would’ve been on site my mother-in-law would be here today. Over those next few days we had a few of the nurses reach out that helped on site, but not ONE time did this business reach out to see if she was OK....