Mission Inn Hotel and Spa's Festival of Lights — Attraction in Riverside

Go they say! Its beautiful they say! WHAT A NIGHTMARE I SAY! Hordes of people everywhere from off the streets was Carnival like. Every restaurant in the hotel was completely booked for the next two days. Mostly from people walking in off the street to see the holiday lights. Even if you were staying at the hotel, which we were, you had to leave the hotel to go into town to get a meal. Thousands of people walking through the hotel and restaurant areas to see the lights very distracting and crippling the hotel. Not enough staff to handle this. Staff literally laughed when I complained. Was told by 1 staffer to go to the 4th floor for quiet restaurant. There is NOTHING on the 4th floor! He laughed when I said i didn’t appreciate the runaround. When i asked for washclothes cause there were none Housekeeping said We cant find any! Front desk said we did not have a reservation but when I showed them a screenshot of my reservation confirmation for a suite they said ok and put us in a small corner room with a discount, but that wasn’t the point. This hotel is not able to handle the street carnival crowd experience at holiday time and does not save anything aside for patrons of the hotel or make any apologies for their lack of professionalism and way overcrowding and overbooking.Steer clear of this location during the holidays. Completely dissatisfied and did not stay our second day. I simply could NEVER recommend this place...

I love the Mission Inn, having stayed there before last year and this time again - the hotel is so gorgeous, everyone should stay here at least once so you can walk around all the corridors and courtyards and explore all the nooks and crannies. That said, coming here specifically for the Festival of Lights is rather underwhelming. Very crowded, loud and I was expecting a large bedazzled area with lots of kiosks and food stalls - there were maybe 5-6 stalls selling food. That's it. Some of the shops were open in the open air promenade but there's just not many shops in general. There's light displays that everyone crowds around to take pics but honestly you're better off going to something like Enchanted Forest at Descanso Gardens or Zoo Lights at LA Zoo. The Mission Inn is beautifully decorated (though mannequins are kitschy, bordering on bizarre) - but unless you're a hotel guest, you're only going to be allowed to go thru the front entrance area and exit out the side garden. There will be hotel security at all doors leading to the interior...

This "festival" of lights is really not what I was expecting... I think the social media hype was just that, pure hype. Some of the actual hotel guests looked displeased to see many of us "festival" of light attendees (free btw) walk through the short path, within the hotel, that leads to an open area with some christmas decorations and food vendors. Three women walked out in robes (from the spa you pass by while walking that short path) and stated they felt like their privacy was invaded; and i'm thinking, I hear you and I am with you on this one bc you are actually paying for these services but I also don't care to see you or your group in robes. The churros were good. $3 for a 20 oz water bottle is expected. On a good note, everyone seemed happy, my group and I were happy, and that matters most! There is a real festival with a Ferris wheel and more vendors near by. On another good note, plenty of parking (be prepared to pay in cash or Zelle) and a lot of portapotties with sinks, and restaurants, coffee...