LuminoCity Holiday Lights Festivals Returns to Eisenhower Park

Entertainment LuminoCity Holiday Lights Festivals Returns to Eisenhower Park By Karen Rubin … Comments Posted on November 13, 2026 Santa and his sleigh pulled by reindeer among the 100 illuminations and animatronic creations at LuminoCity Holiday Lights Festival, Eisenhower Park, Long Island © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com By Karen Rubin, Travel Features Syndicate, goingplacesfarandnear.com More than 100 illuminated animatronic creatures, life-size and larger-than life installations, Santa on his sleigh, Cinderella’s carriage, a train of lights, and a 40-foot Christmas tree. These are among the highlights of the LuminoCity Holiday Lights Festival, now on view at Nassau County’s Eisenhower Park through January 3, 2027. LuminoCity Holiday Lights Festival is 14 acres of sheer delight. You wind through Magical Wonderwood, Holidayville, Tundra Twilight and the Dino Safari. Dino Safari is extraordinary – a mixture of realistic, animatronic dinosaurs that are near lifesize – that raise their head, swing their tail, roar, show their teeth. Two humongous brontosauruses  welcome you over the threshold. “Dino Friends’ also was the theme of this year’s “Utopia” collaboration with the Long Island Children’s Museum, in which 10 winners (out of 98 entries) saw their imaginative drawings transformed into handcrafted light sculptures. Among them: Strawberry Dinosaur, Daddy Dinosaur taking his baby for a walk, Ice Cream Dinosaur, and Cookie Dough Dinosaur. “Long Island is our home, and returning to Eisenhower Park for our sixth year is especially meaningful,” LuminoCity Founder and CEO Xiaoyi Chen said. “We’ve watched families make this festival part of their holiday traditions. This year, we’re excited to welcome them back with new experiences and continue celebrating the creativity of young artists through Lumi’s Utopia.” There are illuminations that are very realistic animals from today and long gone, a steam railroad train (you can climb in for pictures) entirely of lights, Santa in his sleigh with reindeer. One of the favorites (especially for photos) is a complete Cinderella carriage (you can climb in for photos), pulled by horses, with mice and the Godmother. Every installation invites a family photo. Park is such a special venue – LuminoCity spans 14 acres so the displays are mixed among the trees and grass. Without a specified route or trail, you wander around, constantly surprised by what you discover. If you think you have seen it all, go back through, look again, you will discover a path you didn’t know to take or displays you missed, and new delights to discover. In fact, go through three times. Kids romp, frolic, and squeal as they dash from thing to thing, ride the lighted seesaws, and make a platform of colored lights shine as they run over the squares. LuminoCity is kind of Alice in Wonderland with an extraordinary mixture of realistic, fanciful and fantastical all coexisting and coinciding in the same dimension. Displays overlap like mixed metaphors, but that is okay, because you feel you have come to a winter wonderland, an enchanted forest, a magical place – and not just the kids. What is so impressive is the creativity and the artistry, the delicate precision and the exquisite quality and scale. LuminoCity Founder Xiaoyi Chen relates that Chinese lantern art was an important part of the heritage and tradition in Zigong City in China where her family is from  – “a small city in the southwest with a rich history and known as ‘Lantern City’” for its legendary fame for lantern art. “When I was a kid, I enjoyed the art. The root of my creativity comes from there.” She was introduced to lantern art by her first drawing teacher, and after graduating Pratt Institute, in Visual Communication, creating such big-scale art installations as she has done with LuminoCity “is the dream.” The region Chen came from is also famous for its dinosaur fossils, including the feathered dinosaurs. Indeed, Zigong Dinosaur Museum, the first museum based almost entirely on dinosaurs in Asia when it opened in 1987 and claims the largest collection of dinosaur fossils in the world, was her inspiration for LuminoCity’s Dino Safari. New this season, the Lumi Express takes guests on a ride through the illuminated landscape. Families can bounce into the season on Happy Holidays Hop, a 20-foot-tall Santa inflatable, and the Triceratops Bounce Nest. There will be Santa pop-up appearances on select weekends and limited-edition holiday merchandise. Guests can also watch Master Lantern Artisans Huang Xingxiu and Jiang Lei in a sensory-friendly demonstration. Special theme nights throughout the season invite guests to dress up, enjoy live music and share on social media for limited-edition merch giveaways are also planned. LuminoCity Holiday Lights Festival is located at Eisenhower Park, 1899 Hempstead Turnpike, East Meadow, NY 11554, with free on-site parking (Parking Field #4). General admission starts at $29; tickets for children ages 4–12 start at $22. Children ages 3 and under enter free. Select attractions require separate add-on tickets. For tickets, gift cards, operating dates, and hours, visit the LuminoCity Holiday Lights, www.luminocityfestival.com . __________________ © 2026 Travel Features Syndicate, a division of Workstyles, Inc. All rights reserved. Visit goingplacesfarandnear.com , longislandpress.com/category/vacation-travel.com and travelwritersmagazine.com/TravelFeaturesSyndicate/ . 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