Water Lantern Festival Review!

I've always loved the movie Tangled & the scene where Rapunzel and Flynn are out on the boat and you see all the lanterns floating on the water that start to rise up into the sky. When I saw that a event called the Water Lantern Festival was coming that mimics part of the scene I knew it was something I wanted to check out. The Water Lantern festival isn't specific to one state, they have dates for all over the country and recently announced their 2022 dates (they will be adding more), the event we went to was in Tempe,AZ.

Tickets range in price, there are some discounts if you order early. The basic prices with fees are $31.96 for adults and $14.47 for children, each ticket comes with a draw string bag that contains a lantern kit, a marker, & a scavenger hunt ticket. Deluxe tickets are $45.96 and come with everything mentioned along with a mandala throw. Along side the festival there were several food trucks, and several different local vendors to shop from as well as the water festival merch booth and stage.

The event was at Kiwanis Park, We've never been to the park before so we weren't sure what to expect. Parking when we got there was a little crazy as the park is inside of a neighbor hood and parking lot space was limited so the entire neighborhood was packed with cars looking for spots in front of houses, waiting for people to leave etc. There was also a church event and a memorial going on at the same park so there was a lot going on! Thankfully we did find a parking spot about a quarter mile away with an easy walking path to the event. 

Even with the large amount of people at the park the event staff had everything moving along quite smoothly. We got into the check out line and were only in it for two minutes before being called up to be helped, they were well organized, speedy and friendly. We had the deluxe packs that came with a mandala throw, we ended up getting all of the same color so I asked if there was anyway to swap for another color as my daughter wanted an orange one and the staff said it was no problem and quickly switched it out.

There was a nice range of food trucks and vendors to check out and the event staff had a small stage set up where they were allowing people to sing, show off their talents, etc. As it drew closer to launch time for the lanterns they asked anyone who wanted to come up and share why they were there to do so. Some were there just to have fun, to go on a date night, to get out of the house, and others were there to remember a loved one, send their dreams or goals out into the ether and just relax. 

Everything was calm, the event seemed pretty mellow and everyone seemed to be having a good time. A large portion of the event was just relaxing in the grass decorating the lanterns, it was fun but also a pain trying to figure out what I wanted on each side of the lantern! It was awesome seeing all the different designs my kids and husband did. When everyone started putting their lanterns in it was beautiful to watch all of them floating out into the water. Shortly after we got in our car and went home. Where do the lanterns go? They have a clean up crew who goes through and picks up everything from the water and around the park to make sure the park is in the same condition (if not cleaner) than it was when they arrived. 

Disclaimer- The Water Lantern Festival provided a four tickets to the event for free for the review , no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchase.