Tianyu Lights Festival Phoenix Review!

 

The Tianyu lights festival has arrive in Phoenix & it is an event you do not want to miss! This event features gorgeous luminous art installations that are not only beautiful to walk through, but there are also several different areas that are interactive, fun for children and adults alike. We spent a little over an hour and a half exploring all of the wonderful worlds they created. Adult priced tickets are $18-$28 depending on the day & children's tickets are $18-$20 however they have a discount family pack of tickets available. They are closed on select Monday & Tuesdays otherwise they are open the rest of the week from now until January 5th! They are open from 5:30PM until 10PM. There is a bag policy so be sure to check their website before heading out & no outside food or drinks are allowed. 

They are located inside of the Camelback Ranch located at 10710 W Camelback Road Phoenix, AZ 85037. Depending on which direction you are heading from google maps may take you to the wrong entry point, the entrance for this is located next to Camelback Road & 107th Ave. You can buy a parking pass online for $10 or buy one when you arrive for $15. 

The trail is one mile long & around the halfway point you will find a small marketplace where you can pick up handmade goods along with find a small food court for drinks and snacks. The market has a lot of neat things for sale! We picked out a beautiful lantern and an awesome wire dragon to bring home. All of the prices were very reasonable. 

I have way too many photos & videos I took when we were walking the trail to fit them all onto this post, so I will narrow it down to some of my favorites and there will be a reel up on my IG for you to check out. We absolutely loved that they had not only photo opportunities set up along the trail, but many of the spots were interactive. They had two huge parakeets perched on a branch that had two small trees in front of the display, if you walked up to one of the trees and spoke into it the bird that was in front of that tree would mimic what you said. 

There were light swings, a dance floor that lit up when you stepped on each square, bubbles filled with fog that would pop & make little whisps of smoke in the air and more. I highly recommend taking your time walking the trail, if you rush you will miss handy of the hidden details in the displays. Many of the displays are on timers that will activate and do different effects, for example one of the giant dragons would breathe fire and roar. Kids are sure to love the 100-foot-long shark you can walk through! 

Some of the trail is along a dirt path & some of it is along concrete, the trail is both wheelchair & stroller accessible. It is so hard to say which of the themed lands was my favorite because there were so many spots that I loved & enjoyed. We are so happy they decided to come to Arizona, because this event was 100% worth the visit and I'd even go back to see it all again, especially now that the weather is finally starting to cool down a bit.

Does this look like an event you'd love to visit? 

🌵 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-  Tianyu Lights Festival provided this experience to us for the review 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.

AZ Bao & Dumpling Festival!

 

Food festivals are such a fun way to try new foods, new food trucks & sometimes find some wonderful local vendors to purchase from as well. We recently attended the Arizona Bao & Dumpling festival and had a fantastic day together. The festival was held in the parking lot of the Martin auto museum so certain ticket levels also came with admission to the museum, prices on the tickets ranged. Children ages 12& under were free for both the festival and the museum, which is awesome for families that have multiple children. VIP tickets allowed you early access into the event + use of the indoor bathrooms instead of the portable bathrooms outside. We arrived shortly before they opened at 10:30AM & the line was already huge, plus there was only about a row of parking left in the parking lot so we are glad we got there early. The line to get in could have moved a little smoother, but once we were past the gates everything was smooth sailing. 

I think they did a great job with how they had the food vendors line up & the placement of both the vendor rows along with seating for dinning. I also liked that we were able to bring our own water bottles inside so that we didn't have to spend that extra cost while at the event. Everything smelled so good & most of the lines moved along fairly quickly. We tried a few new things we hadn't had the chance to before which was exciting & we found a new favorite or two. When we ordered we each had a little bit of whatever it was that we ordered so that we could try out several food trucks instead of just picking one or two. We plan on visiting some of the food vendors we tried at the festival in the future, we look forward to ordering from them again. 

The food vendors that had signed up for the event had a nice assortment of dishes to offer, there were so many amazing smells that you could let your nose lead you to the food item you wanted to try. I also like that they had plenty of trash cans around the event, it is always nice when you do not have to hunt down a trash can. Everyone at the event seemed to be having a great time! There were tons of families, couples, and even quite a few dogs who were walking around taking in the event. It was very family friendly & we would love to visit another one of their events in the future. 

Prior to arriving I would try to figure out a budget you'd like to stick with especially if you only have a certain amount to spend in the first place. Food, Drinks & Desserts can range in price from $3.50-$20+ per order. Since there were four of us we tried to stick with dishes that were more affordable or looked like they came with a dish we could all try together. We tried out four different food vendors & look forward to trying more the next time we visit a festival like this. Out of the foods we tried we loved almost everything! There were only two items that at least one of us didn't like (the rest of us did) so I would say we did a pretty great job at picking out dishes to try. I wanted to try out one of the hot bun vendors as well, but by the time we reached their spot there was a huge line & it was slightly hot out so we will catch them another time. There are also a lot of vendors to browse & shop from.

Browsing vendor booths is always a great way to spend sometime together, & this festival had a lot of fantastic local vendors offering anime merchandise, candles & more. We found several shops we loved and ended up buying products from. As with the food prices range there were shops that had items for as low as $1 up to $50+, many were offering packages or bundles you could purchase while at the festival. Everyone we spoke with was friendly & happy to answer any questions. All of the lines for food trucks and vendors flowed nicely due to how everything was set up. In total between the food trucks and products from the vendors I spent about $120 (my daughter also spent an extra $12) so we averaged about $30 per person which I don't think it too bad and I stuck pretty close to the budget I had set for the festival, only going over a little. When we were finished checking out the food trucks & vendors we were ready to cool down a little & look at some old cars so we headed into the car museum to see what they had to offer. I will be doing a review on the museum soon as well so keep an eye out for that. 

Above you can see all of the goodies we picked up from a few of the vendor booths we stopped by. There were three other small stickers we grabbed as well however I forgot to include them in the photo. The group that put together this event has two other upcoming events the North Phoenix Asian food festival & the Arizona Nom Nom Noodles festival both of which are within the next month. Information on both can be found on their website Phoenix Food Festivals. 

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

Disclaimer- Phoenix Food Festivals / AZ Bao & Dumpling Festival provided tickets for us for the review 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.

Arizona Renaissance Festival 2020!

If you've never been to the Arizona Renaissance Festival then you are missing out! Every year during the months of February & March a small Renaissance village off of Highway 60 in Gold Canyon, Arizona comes to life with games, music, festivities and more. Tickets are $28 per adult and $18 for children 5-12, they are open on weekends only from 10am until 6pm rain or shine.

For those who are a fan of dressing up, you are allowed to dress up for the festival and they even offer special event weekend days such as "Pirate day" and "Time Traveler's Day". We've seen a wide variety of costumes at the festival including pirates, fairies, dragons, walking trees, witches, a wolf, a cheetah, and we've even seen someone walking around with a brightly colored TV on their head. We enjoy dressing up ourselves and usually go as pirates/a elf/and a witch. The festival is very easy to reach and they have traffic handled quite nicely so you won't have to deal with too much of a traffic jam.

Can you have fun at the festival without spending a fortune? That all really depends on what all you are wanting to do at the festival, all of the shows including the jousting are free with entry ticket. In addition to the shows there are rides, games, tons of shops, lots of different foods, a petting zoo, a torture museum and more that all vary in price. You can find some cheaper souvenirs in the $4-$10 range and then you'll also find items to buy in the $200+ range, food varies as well drinks start at $2, and food starts at around $4 for a slice of pizza, there are also a few bakeries offering sweets. We've had festivals where the only thing we bought was food and then sometimes we find thing we want to pick up, this time around we each found something we wanted to purchase, the kids went on a ride and we bought lunch for the kids plus a mixed drink for my husband, in total we spent just under $200 which isn't too bad.

All of the Shoppe keeps are in costume and often speak with you in character which is a lot of fun. You won't have a chance to get bored because there is always something going on, they have several stages that have shows through out the day so there is always something to see. Need to use the bathroom? No problem, the festival has several bathroom facilities located in various areas, and yes they are actual bathrooms not port-a-pottys.

All of the rides and games at the festival are man powered! You won't find a roller coaster or a traditional carousel, instead you'll find rides like a hammock swing ride, swinging swan, and more that are all powered by the staff! Each one runs using the speed and strength of those operating the ride. If you love seeing cute animals stop by the petting zoo to see the normal and the magical! (they have a unicorn), they also have camel and pony rides towards the back where the jousting is.

The jousting is a lot of fun! There is tons of seating but it fills up rather quickly so I'd suggest grabbing a seat shortly before the tournament is set to begin. Shaded spots are very limited so I'd get there extra early to snag one of those. The staff help keep you engaged before and during the tournament and everything is easy to hear/see no matter where you are seated. The show time we attended had a clear winner (the green knight) who won the pre-games and broke two shields vs one but it was announced as a tie.

You'll do a ton of walking so wear comfortable shoes! Being in Arizona it get's quite sunny as you are aware, the spot where the Renaissance is hosted doesn't offer a lot of shade to escape the sun so you'll want to bring something to help or purchase something at the festival to help keep you shaded. My husband and son like wearing pirate hats to protect their heads from the sun, and this trip I bought a parasol to help shade my daughter and I.

We always have a lot of fun at the festival and we look forward to visiting every year, there is a ton to do so you won't be able to see it all in one go but it is worth visiting. We've been to the festival for the last three years in a row and we still haven't seen and done everything the festival has to offer! Next year we'd like to do one of their Escape rooms. We were a little bummed we didn't see our favorite Dragon this year, but other than that there isn't a lot we'd change about the festival. The main thing I'd change is just adding more shading!

💜 Have you ever attended a festival like this where you live? If not, what do you think your favorite part of a festival like this would be?

Disclaimer- The products mentioned above were provided by the Arizona Renaissance Festival for the review 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.

The AZ Renaissance Festival is open until April 1st!

**This was not a paid post. My honest opinions were used, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. I received four tickets to the event mentioned below in exchange for promotion of the event. Tickets were provided by the Arizona Renaissance Festival and USFamilyGuide.com **

When I was younger I used to love when we had the chance to visit the Renaissance Festival when it came around. I remember when my cousin worked there helping out at the wax hand stand, It is a memory that stands out most in my mind because I remember my younger brother trying to bite his wax hand on the way home. I sadly hadn't been to the festival in several years so I was excited to be offered the opportunity to receive tickets to this years festival in exchange for promoting the festival. The festival opened on February 10th and will remain open until April 1st and it is located off of US Highway 60 in Gold Canyon,Arizona.

The Renaissance Festival offers a wide range of stage shows, shops, food and magical creatures. You are free to come dressed up or come in your daily wear, no one will judge either way. We chose to dress up and we had a lot of fun doing so. We made sure to arrive when they opened so that we could get a parking spot up close to the entrance because the parking lot will be quite full later on in the day so it is best to come early. From the time you arrive until the time you leave you will see dozens of fare staff wandering around entertaining people whether it is with singing, dancing or being a living statue there is no shortage of things to see or do.

When it comes to the Renaissance Festival the only thing I wish was different is that I had more cash to spend! There are so many amazing shops that are selling artwork, clothing, footwear, jewelry, hair accessories, pet dragons, unicorn horns and more that you are sure to find several things you will want to take home. Along with physical goods you'll also find a wide range of delicious aromas coming from the food vendors, speaking of food I had some of the best cheddar broccoli soup in a bread bowl I've ever had while we were there.

There was a large amount of stage shows and street performers that there simply isn't enough time in the day to see them all so I suggest taking a look at a map when you first arrive to see the daily schedule and pick out the shows you'd like to see. My favorite has always been the birds of prey shows, but this year we found a new street performer we really love as well and that is Fire Flicker the dragon. If dragons are not your favorite magical creature there is also a Unicorn, mermaids, and more! Come out to the Arizona Renaissance Festival to explore and see which magical creatures you stumble upon.  Tickets for this event are $24 per adult and $14 for children 5+, ticket costs include entry into the festival and free parking. I highly suggest wearing comfortable shoes and bring sunscreen + water if you plan on being out all day.