Most Incredible Holiday Light Show in the South, Holiday Magic Shines at Fantasy In Lights®, Callaway Gardens

Posted Monday, December 4, 2006

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Holiday magic shines at Fantasy In Lights®, now in its 15th year! Since 1992, this outdoor light and sound show has glittered with holiday magic for millions of people. Families from across the Southeast have added Fantasy In Lights to their list of memorable holiday traditions. This year, experience the 15th annual Fantasy In Lights with its eight million lights creating more than a dozen beautiful scenes, and you'll see why this is the brightest holiday light show in the South!

Fascinating Facts
Now in its 15th year, Fantasy In Lights continues to be the most incredible holiday light show in the South. Larger-than-life lighted scenes, music, a 22,000-square-foot Christmas Village, holiday decor and more make this one of those special experiences you'll always treasure.

• Fantasy In Lights opened in 1992 with five scenes. Since then, it has grown to include more than a dozen lighted scenes with music and many with animation.
• The total show includes 8,000,000 lights. This is equivalent to the number of lights on 26,666 standard 6-foot tall Christmas Trees.
• To make music an integral part of each scene, there are 444 speakers
• It takes a lot of electricity to keep the lights burning. To deliver that electricity we use 3,500 extension cords!
• To provide sound and power to all the scenes, we use more than 32 miles of cable.
• 12 million cable ties hold all the cables in place.
• Three of the scenes are controlled with digital show controls, just like those used in Broadway productions.
• If you connected all of the light strings used in Fantasy In Lights, they would stretch 731 miles! That means you could outline the state of South Carolina with them or stretch them from Callaway to Baltimore, Maryland!
• It takes 3,900 man-hours to install Fantasy In Lights, 1,780 man-hours to maintain it during the duration the show is open, and 1,020 man-hours to disassemble it.
• It takes six weeks to install the entire show. Each scene takes three to four days to install.
• The newest scene, Enchanted Rainbow Forest, has 410 controlled images. This has almost three times the number of images used in The Twelve Days of Christmas.
• 99% of the frames used in Fantasy In Lights are custom designed and built just for Callaway.
• To turn on the show, more than 1,000 switches have to be flipped every night. It takes two workers at least 45 minutes to turn on all of them. Then, it takes another 45 minutes to turn all 1,000 switches off at the end of the night.
• Each scene receives a major overhaul every three to four years. This process includes rewiring and restringing with new lights.
• In January, Fantasy In Lights is stored in a 6,500-square-foot warehouse where it remains until the elves visit us again in the Fall to begin another year of the show!

Fantasy In Lights is open nightly, November 17 - December 31, 2006. Lights are turned on at 6 p.m. nightly. November 19th is the annual March of Dimes Night Walk. On this night only, no cars are allowed through Fantasy In Lights. Order tickets online.

The Christmas Village opens at noon daily.
Note: The Jolly Trolley is not available December 31.

Fantasy In Lights overnight packages are also available

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