Pioneer Winter Wonderland Review! (+ Giveaway)

 

This year there is a brand-new Christmas destination! If you are in Arizona & are looking for fun holiday events to take your family to, you should hop in the car and drive out to visit Pioneer Winter Wonderland. It is located in North Phoenix along the I17 just before Anthem. Their address is 3901 W. Pioneer Rd Phoenix, AZ 85086. The Arizona Pioneer Living History Museum has turned into a winter wonderland to celebrate the holiday season & it has a ton to offer families! 

There are two different ticket options for this event, you can purchase general admission which is $25 per adult & $20 per child or if you are planning on buying food + drinks at the event anyways then it may be a better option to try for the VIP option which is $125 per person & I will go over everything included in both packaged. Parking is included with either ticket option, plus they have a fresh Christmas tree lot in the yard if you want to buy a tree after your adventure. 

Even if you were to enter the park with just the general admission there is still a lot to do in the park. If you arrive before 6PM there is a small parade down the main street which is their opening ceremony. It was fun seeing all of the characters go by, but hands down the Grinch had the best ride into town. Following that general admission also includes a photo with Santa, story time with Mrs. Clause where children ten and under will get a free hot chocolate and cookie), you can write a letter to Santa, roll around in a human sized ornament ball, see a cowboy performance, watch one of the live acts they have each night, there are holiday lights along the paths & trees to look at, a "selfie with an Elfie" area that has several different photo opportunities set up. Along with all of that you can pan for gold, visit Santa's workshop, visit the Grinch for photos and check out their pioneer buildings decorated for the holidays. 

There are also other areas that are not included with general admission & will cost a little extra. You can hop on a holiday train to be taken through a light show, the light show was set up & sponsored by World of Illumination. It is set up just like one of their holiday drive throughs that you can visit in your car except you are on a train & along the way you'll make a pit stop where an elf will hand out candy canes. A little further back from the train you'll find a horse drawn carriage ride which will take you on a trek through a patch of desert where you'll see a small lighted forest of trees, see a gingerbread house and if you are lucky see a Yeti! Both rides are $10 per person, the train does have a family pack where you can get five people on for the price of four. Across from the train is a small winter carnival which has carnival games & a few rides, the prices vary. I am unsure how much the carnival games were as we didn't play any, however I do know that my husband paid $9 for one of the carnival rides so it was $3 for both our children & himself to get on. 

One of their partners this year is Funbox which is a giant bounce house, so they have a bounce house location set up on the property. It is $10 per child to explore & jump. This is more of a bounce city than a bounce house, it is huge. One of our favorite spots was located right up front, they have a small Christmas escape room set up that is $5 per person. It is a short escape room set inside of a living room decorated for the holidays, you will need to solve puzzles to open several different chests to get pieces to use to escape the room. After exiting the room, you will enter a secondary room that has forty decorated Christmas trees, you will be given a scavenger hunt sheet to find six hidden ornaments among the trees. Food + drink wise, there are food trucks in the back, a cowboy BBQ area, and a few pop-up spots with things for purchase. 

So now that we've gone over what is included in the general admission & what cost extra let's talk about the VIP tickets. They will include everything that the general admission does plus you will receive a light up engraved VIP lanyard, a light up bracelet, your choice of either the train or carriage ride, a coupon for 30% off the gift shop plus access to the VIP lounge area where you will be able to select one of three dinner options & you have a drink voucher you can use at either the lounge or out front for a hot chocolate. The VIP lounge also has some yard games set up to play while you wait for your dinner. I also loved how they decorated it, it felt like an ice den. 

I really enjoyed the selfie area, it was fun having the different statues & cut outs to take photos with. There is plenty of space around each one to take a group photo, or just photos of the kids. Ever since I was a kid, I loved seeing Christmas light displays, so I loved seeing all of the trees & buildings they decorated. The letters to Santa area was adorable & is always fun to do even if you are older. There was a decent amount of people at the event however it wasn't overly packed so the only spot we really had to wait in line for was the train ride. While waiting in line some characters may come by to keep everyone entertained, while we were in line a contortionist put on a performance & when we walked by a little later in the day a trio of singers was singing Christmas carols. If this sounds like an experience you & your children would enjoy, I suggest checking it out. 

GIVEAWAY ALERT! Head over to my Instagram page ( <-- Clickable Link) to enter to win a family four pack of general admission tickets to Pioneer Winter Wonderland. 

🌵 If you live in Arizona check out the "Things to do in Arizona" section of my blog to find entertainment, restaurants, vacation spots & more. (Click on the name or locate it on the right-hand side of my page).

Disclaimer-  Pioneer Winter Wonderland provided this experience to us for the review + giveaway free of charge 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.