Winter Wonderland

Elexis Herbst, Staff Writer

The Kansas City Metropolitan area really likes to deck things out for the holidays.

The Magic Tree
Lee’s Summit is letting the holiday shine this Christmas. People love to take pictures of the glorious tree and give hope to the community with love and faith.

Farmstead Holiday Lights
Located in Overland Park at the Deanna Rose Children’s Farmstead, the Holiday Lights are synced to the Farmstead’s own radio station which plays popular Christmas songs.
“The main building facade is illuminated with thousands of solid-state LEDs and delivers bright lighting effects, video-like effects, colorful moving patterns, and super large text messages that are precisely synchronized to music that celebrates the holiday season,” Laura Blatter of the Recreation Services in Overland Park said.
The lights are the most impressive aspect of the display.
“Nearly 100,000 lights have been added to the display this year. Each LED can generate one of over 16 million colors,” Blatter said.
The colorful display starts its course November 22, to January 7. It runs from 5-11pm each night.

Country Club Plaza Lights
Each year, the Country Club Plaza hooks up lights along the edges and tops of its buildings. KCP&L fires up the holiday cheer on Thanksgiving.
For a unique view of the lights consider a carriage ride from 5pm to 9pm on a carriage to view the lights.
The small Victorian carriage holds four adults and two kids. The base price is $60 for two people. It’s $5 additional dollars for children and $10 additional dollars for adults.
The large Victorian carriage is $70 base. Children are $5 extra and adults are $10 extra. This one holds six adults and three children.
The Cinderella carriage has the same prices as the large carriage, and it holds 5-9 people. Children under three years of age are free of charge.

Holiday Sounds
The Trans-Siberian Orchestra debuts at the Sprint Center on Wednesday, Dec. 26 at 3 pm and 8pm.
The Sprint Center writes, “This year’s 20th-anniversary tour, a presentation of TSO’s unforgettable “The Ghosts of Christmas Eve,” will feature founder/composer/lyricist Paul O’Neill’s timeless story of a runaway who finds her way into a mysterious abandoned theater.”

Union Station
The Union Station is holding Kansas City Southern’s Holiday Express Train event. This year marks its 18th annual run.
The website states, “Led by Kansas City Southern, Southern Belle business train, the Holiday Express train includes a smiling tank car, Rudy; a flatcar carrying Santa’s sleigh, reindeer and a miniature village; a gingerbread boxcar; the elves’ workshop; the reindeer stable; and a little red caboose.”
This event will ride KC’s rails from December 14-18, and best of all, it’s free to the public.

Crown Center
Another wintry activity for the athlete or dancer in the family is, located at the Crown Center Plaza.
It lasts around 1 to 2 hours. Regular admission is $7 and skate rental is $3. Be ready by November and lasts through Mid-March.
Your ice skates should be ready by November and lasts through mid-March.

Musicals
Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer; The Musical is showing from Nov. 6 to Dec. 30 at The Coterie located in Crown Center. This production features all of your favorite characters like, Rudolph, Hermy the Elf, Yukon Cornelius, Clarise, and Kris Kringle himself. Adults are $17 and students are $13. The production is 60 minutes long.