Family Trip to the Vernon Hills Winter Wonderland Holiday Light Show

By: Jonathan Jones 12/13/2014

It's the most wonderful time of the year! This truly is a magical time of year and one of my favorites because of the lights, events and good cheer. For the past several years, my wife and I have been visiting the Vernon Hills Winter Wonderland Holiday Light Show on the grounds of the Cuneo Mansion. The past couple of years, we have taken our son who is now 2 1/2, and this year was definitely the best and he is now starting to understand more about the season. To see his face light up with seeing all of the characters, lights, Santa and counting the the snowman through the light show was truly amazing.

We started the night out with a visit to Westfield Hawthorn for a little shopping and then grabbed some food at Smashburger, which have to say is pretty good. It was a first time eating there, and we will definitely be back. We then headed over to the Vernon Hills Winter Wonderland Holiday Light Show. We arrived in line at 6pm on Saturday night and the wait wasn't that bad. (Insider tip: I heard that if you arrive at 5:30pm It was about an hour wait and we kept our 2 1/2 year old occupied by listening to and singing Christmas songs. As soon as we turned into the light show...the magic started. My son started screaming at the characters that you saw from Thomas the Tank Engine, Sully and Mike, Cars, Trucks, the colors of the lights to everything.

It was a nice prelude drive to the ticket booth until the light show started. Once through the gate, we started counting the snowman (I won't saw how many there are but we missed 1), saw the beautiful Cuneo Mansion all decorated to Santa, elves and reindeer flying overhead. I will let the video below do a better job of showing off the magnificent light show. Hours are everyday from 6 to 10 p.m. This year the light show opens on Friday, November 28, 2014 and will run until Saturday, January 3, 2015. The light show will close on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day so our staff may spend this time with their families. The light show will be open for New Years Eve. The cost for this event is $5 per car Monday through Thursday and $10 per car Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

When at the Light Show be sure to take photos and share them on Social Media with #VHHolidaylights14 for a chance to win a $100 Maggiano's Gift Card.