Trail Of Lights — Attraction in Branson

I'm from around the branson/sgfd area and I know Shepard of the hills makes bank. my grandparents used to drive us through the trail on lights every year. I hadn't been since my grandfather passed about 6 years ago. So it's been at least 7 years since, maybe longer. It used to be so magical and had so many wow factors to it. It also used to be much longer. My boyfriend had never been so I thought it'd be a fun date night to drive down to see the lights. I paid 30$, drove 45 min, and then waited in line for 30 minutes just to go through a rather pathetic light show and then drive 45 minutes back home. Maybe I just have grown up eyes to look through but it is NO WHERE near as magical as it used to be. No fun lights that corresponds with the radio that they told us to turn to, plain lights, etc. You can drive through neighborhoods and get a better light show for FREE. Like I said, I KNOW Shepard of the hills makes bank. So I KNOW they could've put more effort into the light show. I've seen a few reviews saying that they switched ownership... It's a shame that this new owner can't live up to the previous one in keeping a #1 light show for over 30 years and just taking a few to ruin the reputation. I hope it gets better because this really puts a damper on my...

We went the weekend of Dec 1, 2023. It was an OK experience compared to what the lights used to be. It used to be a much longer driver thru with many more of the traditional lights, more of the small buildings/huts with Christmas scenes and there use to be many more displays.

Many of the current led lights left you guessing as to what the display was. The drive thru is much shorter and doesn't give the classic Christmas feel as once before.

I recommend buying tickets at the purple building, as they are $18 there vs the $25 to $30 at the location or other websites.

It wasn't a bad experience overall... it wasn't what we have come to love from Sheppard of the Hills over the years. It seems as since the change in ownership, the Christmas lights have been minimized greatly.

Oh, also... prior years they would allow you to go up in the tower also as part of the drive through experience. This visit the tower was an extra fee.

Our children ... and family, definitely miss the long drive thru, classic small building Christmas scenes and the tower. Our family has made the decision not to return. This is just our personal opionion. For those whom have never been, you...

I love, love, love Christmas and holiday lights and try to go to 2-3 light displays each year. Since our family was in Branson for our New Year's trip, we decided to do the Trail of Lights drive-through since it was cold and rainy. We were expecting something awesome since the massive sign for the experience claims that it is the #1 holiday display in America.

Well, the tl;dr is....it is not.

This drive-through was probably the worst I've ever been to. Parts of the trail were not well-lit so I had to pray I wasn't about to run off the road while looking at displays that sometimes were decapitated reindeer or creepy dolls in boxed displays. There were potholes everywhere. There wasn't any particular theme for the drive, so we looked at flowers, toys, houses, candies, etc. sometimes all within feet of...