Fantasy of Lights Goes Walk-Through Only in 2026, and Its First Night Lands on Parade Day

In 2025, Fantasy of Lights at Vasona Lake County Park ran 23 nights. It had two walk-through evenings and a drive-through that ran almost every night from December 9 to December 30. In 2026 it runs four nights, and every one of them is on foot. Santa Clara County Parks says this year's event "will transition fully to a walk-through format," with walk-through nights on Saturday and Sunday, December 5 and 6, and Saturday and Sunday, December 12 and 13, from 4 to 9 p.m.

That's a big change in how Los Gatos experiences December. For 27 years the show has been something you could catch on a Tuesday. It used to spread across weeks of evenings. Now it fits into two weekends. That puts the pressure in two places: getting tickets in November, and a first weekend of December that already had the town's tree lighting and the Children's Holiday Parade on it.

From 23 nights to four

Here's how the last three seasons compare, based on the County's own ticket pages and Mercury News event listings.

The 2024 figures come from the Mercury News holiday listing for that season. In 2025 the County priced the drive-through by vehicle size: $30 for a vehicle carrying up to 12 people, $50 for 13 to 20, and $100 for 21 or more, according to its 2025 drive-through ticket page. The 2025 walk-through cost $17 for adults, $8 for ages 4 to 12, and nothing for ages 3 and under. The County marked it sold out.

For a family of four with two kids between 4 and 12, the 2025 drive-through cost $30 for the car. The 2026 walk-through costs $70 at this year's prices of $25 per adult and $10 per youth. Families with children 3 and under still need a ticket for each child, but those tickets are free.

The County hasn't said why it dropped the drive-through. Its announcement focuses on what the walk-through adds: expanded family engagement zones and photo spots, live entertainment, more food options around the park, and drone light shows on all four nights, weather permitting.

What the drive-through was, and why the walk-through kept growing

Mercury News columnist Sal Pizarro described the drive-through in a December 2025 column as a mile-and-a-half route through the park that took about 25 minutes. Over the event's run it grew from fewer than 30 displays to more than 50, nearly all of them now LED. In 2024 the County reworked the layout for the first time in a major way, even moving the dinosaurs from their usual spot, and kept the new setup for 2025.

The walk-through started small. The same column traces it to a single night added for the 15th edition in 2013. It became popular enough to grow to two nights, and it was selling out 19,000 tickets every year. In other words, the format the County is keeping already sold out every year at two nights. This year it gets four.

Traffic shaped the drive-through for years. Pizarro wrote that as the event grew, it "created huge traffic jams along Blossom Hill Road, Lark Avenue and University Avenue." That meant "huge headaches for Los Gatos residents and business owners," and families sometimes waited an hour or more to get in. Reservation-only entry, starting in 2016, spread the crowds across the week. The 2025 drive-through directions still sent cars from Highway 17 by way of Lark Avenue and University Avenue to Blossom Hill Road.

The walk-through has always worked differently. For 2025 the County said there was no event parking inside Vasona and very little street parking, and it sent visitors to free parking and shuttles at Netflix, 121 Albright Way. The 2026 page lists the same Netflix lot for parking and shuttles. So the shuttle setup that used to handle two nights a year now handles all four, and three weeks of drive-through evenings are gone from the calendar.

Some traditions were tied to the car. Pizarro's family picked up dinner at Happy Hound on Los Gatos Boulevard and ate it in the car before driving through. His tip was to skip the chili dog in the car but always get the family-size fries. In 2026 there's no car to eat in once you're past the gate.

The ticket window matters more than the lights

With four nights instead of 23, when you buy tickets matters a lot. Entry is guaranteed only with a prepaid ticket, the event runs rain or shine, and tickets are sold at parkhere.org in three phases this year.

1. Phase 1: Sunday, November 1, at 8 a.m.
2. Phase 2: Friday, November 6, at 6 p.m.
3. Phase 3: Monday, November 9, at noon.

As of today, October 12, that's less than three weeks until Phase 1. Each phase opens at a different time of day: a Sunday morning, a Friday evening and a Monday lunch hour. If you miss one, the next opens at a different time. The County hasn't said how many tickets go out in each phase, so plan for the first window rather than counting on later ones.

The County is also asking for help. It says hundreds of volunteers are needed each year to staff the walk-through nights, and it takes sign-ups through its volunteer page. With every night now a walk-through, that need covers four evenings, up from two.

December 4 and 5 now carry three events

The new schedule puts the first Fantasy of Lights night on the same Saturday as the biggest downtown holiday event of the year. Here's the first weekend of December 2026 as currently posted:

• Friday, December 4, 5 to 7 p.m. "Los Gatos in Lights," the Town's winter celebration and traditional tree lighting at Town Plaza Park, per the Los Gatos Chamber of Commerce listing.
• Saturday, December 5, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The 70th Children's Christmas/Holidays Parade, rain or shine, sponsored by the Los Gatos Lions Club and LGS Recreation in cooperation with the Town and Los Gatos High School. The Chamber calendar lists it in downtown Los Gatos.
• Saturday, December 5, 4 to 9 p.m. Opening night of the Fantasy of Lights walk-through at Vasona, 333 Blossom Hill Road.

The parade starts at Almendra Avenue and North Santa Cruz Avenue, heads south on North Santa Cruz to Main Street, then turns east on Main and ends at Church Street, according to the parade's official registration and policies. The parade ends at 1 p.m. and the gates at Vasona open at 4 p.m., so a family could do both on the same day with a three-hour break in between.

For anyone who'd rather spread things out, the second weekend, December 12 and 13, has the same lights, drone shows and hours.

The rest of Vasona and Oak Meadow before the lights go up

The light show is only part of what's happening in these two parks this time of year. Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad and the carousel next door in Oak Meadow Park run weekends from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. through November 1. On November 2 they switch to winter hours: weekends from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., with the Snack Shack open from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., according to the railroad's posted schedule. So a December weekend can now include an early-afternoon train ride and an evening walk through the lights in one trip to the same stretch of Blossom Hill Road. Just remember the train's last runs come well before the light show's 4 p.m. opening.

If you walk the Los Gatos Creek Trail through Vasona, there's a detour to know about. As of the County's October 6 update, a section of the trail is closed from the fishing dock area to the intersection nearest the Circle Group Area because of a failed culvert, and walkers are directed to follow the posted detour signs. The County hasn't posted a repair date, and its closures and alerts page suggests calling (408) 355-2200 and pressing 3 for current trail conditions.

Set an alarm for 8 a.m. on Sunday, November 1, because that's when the shorter 2026 season really begins.

When we work with Los Gatos clients at Taylor Lambert Group, changes like this one come up as often as interest rates do. A neighborhood's December depends on which street fills up and for how many nights, and this year Blossom Hill Road gets four. If you're wondering how life around Vasona affects what your home is worth, we'll walk you through it. Get your free home valuation.