Winterfest On The Wisconsin — Local services in Norfolk

If you like Christmas lights and battleships this is the event for you!!

It wasn’t just the one experience but many small experiences that made this event so memorable.

Enter the marina and walk to the right, you will be treated to a panoramic view of the USS WI dressed in over a million Christmas lights. It’s a sight to behold! Walk to the left and enter the event facility.

The Mistletoe Marina was geared to kids but still entertaining for adults. See a talking Christmas Tree, walk through a hanging lighted bridgeway, see the Grinch, sit on an Adirondack chair and cover up with a provided blanket and enjoy live music.

Then walk past the gift shop and several food stands and up a staircase to enter onto the USS WI. The longest line is to the left leading to the bow of the ship for selfies. Once finished with your photo op at the bow, make your way slowly to the back of the ship which is the best part. There isn’t one inch of the boat that isn’t covered in Christmas lights.

Take your time exploring all the photo ops and festive selfie backdrops. Christmas card worthy!! We enjoyed the lights. Taking photos and selfies as well as the music and light displays set to music.

It’s a popular event and it does get crowded. The later timed entries seem less crowded as kids got ornery and parents left!!

To enhance our experience, we stayed at the Gas Light Hotel & Gallery Autograph Collection and opted for the room overlooking the USS WI. It was located within walking distance to Winterfest and the Elizabeth River Trail and waterfront, which was a beautiful walk after attending the Winterfest.

The Winterfest on the WI was a great and festive experience, I highly recommend as a holiday weekend getaway for couples and...

been to the light show on nauticus twice last year, it was cute and worth it for a date night. last night i was trying to meet friends at the new holiday bar on the dock, which i didn’t realize you had to pay to enter - I told the security/greeters that I was meeting a friend at the bar and i tried to ask if the bar was separate from the lights or if I needed a ticket to enter that section, and instead of just informing me or selling me a ticket as you might reasonably expect greeters at a holiday event to do, he instead felt it was appropriate to repeatedly yell “no ma’am” at me and shoo me away. I didn’t argue with him or anything because he was obviously having a day, so i just took out my phone to call my friend to see if she had bought me a ticket already, but he just yelled “no you can’t stand here to call her. no pictures. no ma’am. no. no.” so i really just got sad and left this very confusing and harsh experience - it was a non-busy weekday too and...

Very disappointed at Winterfest On The Wisconsin this year. We had been last year and it was an amazing experience. Last year there was hot chocolate and delicious adult beverages for sale in the mess. This year you could only enter after paying an additional charge for the Santa Experience which was targeted for young children. Last year there were lots of displays inside and below deck, the toys of Christmases past my favorite. Nothing this year. The light display is terrific and I understand it’s a fundraiser for upkeep of the battleship which is great but I think a return to last year's format would greatly improve...