Hollywild Animal Preserve — Attraction in Inman

We went tonight (black Friday), and everything was great! We got there around 6:45 and did spend a good 30 minutes online just waiting to get into the park. The drive through the lights was great for my 1.5 and 3 yr olds. I feel like the last 2 years, the lights were not all that great - a lot broken and not a whole lot of displays. This year things were much better - as promised on their site (I was a bit speculative when I found out that not only was Santa's village closed, but they raised the price a dollar for entry). There were way more displays, and what usually took 20 minutes at most, took a whole hour just to get to the deer forest - which was great (we always feel rushed, and the kids got to enjoy the lights more this year)!

As we pulled along the deer forest to get inside, I was super disappointed to look over and see a bunch of pens and people in lines to reach through the pens from their cars to feed the animals (we all know the best part of the deer forest is driving through the animals while they come right up to your car to eat the bread (usually snuck in) from your hand as you grimace at the disgusting, slimy tongues!). I was pleasantly surprised when we went into the deer forest and found that they actually took all of the animals from the petting zoo portion of Santa's village and placed them inside pens within the deer forest. The other animals, like the deer and different kinds of cows, etc were out and about like usual - walking right up to your car (the zonkey and mules were in a pen this time - although it has been my experience that the zonkey isn't the friendliest anyway..). Also, the deer forest was expanded (as promised on the website) to what seemed like a good 3 times the usual size. You weren't supposed to get out of your car, and I wouldn't encourage breaking the rules, but there were a few times where people did briefly get out to see the animals in pens a little closer (like the camels, miniature donkey foals, and zonkey).

After the deer forest, there are a few port-a-potties where Santa's village used to be, and then you go through the last bit of lights. They had the usual nativity scene and story of Jesus's life with new sets. The coolest light display in my opinion was the last one. You go through this tunnel with a bunch of Chinese lanterns all set to music as you drive through. I saw a picture on the website and was so excited to see this display in particular - the display was way better than I thought it was from the picture (I was so worried that we would miss it by going to the deer forest, but you don't miss any lights).

I am so glad that we went this year. I was pretty hesitant with all of the covid changes, and we almost didn't go. Just be patient with the line to get in, and be patient driving through the lights - that is what most people go to see. Expect to take close to an hour to drive through before the deer forest, and then expect at least another hour once you go in (don't skip the forest!). The hour in the deer forest is flexible because you can stay asong or as short as you want - the drive through the lights is totally dependent upon the people in front of you, and they made the drive longer with more displays. The people were friendly and the place looked great! So looking forward to next year and the drive through safari that I was reading will be coming...

We visited Hollywild this past Saturday night for their drive-through nighttime lights display and to say I was horrified doesn't begin to cover it!! That we sat on a mile two lane stretch for over an hour just to get in was the least of my concerns in the end, though I will say that they are completely incapable of handling the crowds. The lights are pathetically hung, but again, not the biggest problem here. It's the complete disregard for the animals that should have this place shut down! Being in the music industry, I know when music is too loud and the tacky music blaring from the speakers was ridiculous! The cars wind around at a snail's pace (over 4 hours for the whole thing!) and no pit stops. Arriving at the "deer forest" is when things went from boring and monotonous to absolute horror! There's no organization, direction, or regulations when driving into this enclosed area, and the amount of cars is completely unlimited. Hundreds of animals run loose with no protection from the vehicles, including deer who look terrified! Some huddle near the fence, clearing wishing to escape. Teenagers with flashlights wander around stirring them up, scaring them, to entertain the tourists. Again, cars have no lanes, nothing to tell them where to drive, so it's just a free-for-all in there, and I witnessed some that would get frustrated with the person in front of them, gun there engines, and race around them, and with loose animals everywhere, it's a miracle if one is not mowed down! Zebras, bulls, deer, and horses are fed overpriced snacks - some are people junk food! - sold at the entrance, and kids have no restrictions when feeding them. I watched some just throw food at the animals where it would bounce off of them more like it was meant to startle them, not feed them. I was stuck in there for a long time, trying to carefully make my way to the exit, absolutely mortified and livid on several levels. After doing some research, this place has received countless animal cruelty violations for over two decades! How is this place still in business??? Do not patronize this place! It needs to...

Drove all the way from Asheville and was overall satisfied with our experience. It was very fun and affordable. Though, we did have a few concerns.

We decided to feed the animals from our car, which was super fun and gave us lots of laughs... but at some point, cars were driving in all different directions causing a traffic jam. I didn't feel it was safe for guests and especially the animals. There were no visible staff available to direct cars or to make sure people were treating the animals right and feeding them only the provided food. We witnessed several animals following a tuck, licking it's bumper and idk if there was a substance on the bumper or if it got a mouthful of exhaust, but one of the animals started puking everywhere.

We also really enjoyed Santa's village. The only major concern was that there wasn't staff members with majority of the animals. There were people feeding the animals different types of human food and I personally witnessed a group feeding a camel a plastic bottle, when the sign in front of the camel enclosure specifically said not to. The camel started to swallow the bottle and the person reached into its mouth to pull it out. This could have caused several bad scenarios for the human and the animal. At other zoos I've been too, human interactions with animals are always monitored for reasons like this.

Other than that, the place was great. The light display isn't the best I've ever seen, but for a nonprofit animal park, it was to be expected and I think they did a good job working with what they had.

Traffic was extremely backed up at the entrance (we got there 20 minutes early) but that's typical for drive through light show type attractions. However, the drive through went at a good pace and was enjoyable. We thoroughly enjoyed all of the different animals and the interaction with them. We will probably return again next Christmas but would love to see staff more involved and a more...