This holiday season, Six flags Saint Louis is hosting Holiday in the Park for the first time ever. Open November 19th through January 2nd, guests can enjoy over a million LED christmas lights, around 400 christmas trees, two live shows, and a visit from Santa himself.

“We were lucky, most Six Flags parks already have a holiday in the park event, so we were able to take many of the best plans and blueprints from the other six flags parks and include them here in Six Flags St. Louis to make this the best event it can be.” Six flags Saint Louis President, Pete Carmichael said.

Still, there are many unique qualities to the Saint Louis version of the event. The team that organized Holiday in the Park made sure that details such as food, attractions, and shows were specific to the culture of the city.

“Food is different from park to park, here at Saint Louis we have a smoked, pulled turkey sandwich which you won’t find anywhere else.”

Lots of effort and planning has to go into an event of this size and the staff at Six flags wasted no time. Decorating began at 8am August 17th, the day after the park closed from regular operations.

“It’s a complete park transformation that provides a feeling different from the normal season or fright fest, that you won’t get any other time of year,” Carmichael said. “The night time lighting and entertainment are unique to anything else we do.”

The park runs two shows during the holidays. The Majesty of christmas, which tells the original story of christmas, features live animals and a vocal performance. As well as the Tinsletones, which is a musical performance that brings classic christmas songs to you via the stage in the Empire theatre.

“Here at Six Flags Saint Louis, our shows have performed very very well,” Carmichael said. “Most nights our theaters are at capacity crowds.”

The popularity of the shows isn’t the only thing that sets Six Flags parks apart from other holiday attractions. Compared to their competition, Six Flags has more thrill rides open during the winter season. According to Carmichael, guests reactions have been amazing.

“I thought the lights were very pretty and the two shows that we saw were very well done,” park visitor, Chrissy Sommer said. “It was nice that Six Flags is open this time of year for the families. I thought it was very well done for being their first time doing it.”

With the apparent success of the park’s first time hosting the event, there is no shadow of it coming to an end anytime soon.

“We expect holiday in the park to become a legacy event,” Carmichael said. “We want to make coming to Six Flags St. Louis a family tradition that will be enjoyed for years to come.”