Magic Lantern Festival Leeds at Roundhay Park – Review

This review was kindly written by Teresa Buckle for Yorkshire Wonders. 

We were very excited to be heading to the Roundhay Park Lantern Festival Leeds.   It is the first time the Magical Lantern Festival has been held in Yorkshire so we wrapped up warm with hats and gloves and headed to Leeds.   The park is well sign posted from the Leeds ring road and we easily found the car park and parked for free!

Roundhay Park Lantern Festival Leeds

When we booked our tickets we were allocated an arrival time – a great idea which spreads the number of visitors arriving at any one time. There was a long queue to get our tickets scanned but it did not take long at all before we were escorted through to the main entrance of the show.

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Magical Lantern Christmas Festival

As we entered the first section the children cried wow at the lights in front of us. The lanterns were beautiful and lit up the gardens, each area was set up as a different scene ranging from children’s fairy tales to flowers and giant toadstools in an array of different colours.  

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The paths were dark and uneven so sturdy footwear is a must, we were directed around the trail in a sort of one way system, this was great so we were certain we hadn’t missed any of the displays. The walk was leisurely and around each and every corner of the gardens was a new and exciting display to admire.

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Leeds Lantern Festival

When we had completed our walk around the first section the marshals directed us to a separate garden a short walk away which had more of a Chinese feel to it with some magnificent dragons being our highlight.   This section also had a breath-taking underwater scene. Along this trail we came across a hut where you could purchase a giant marshmallow and toast it over a nearby fire pit – this seemed very popular and I wish we had tried this for ourselves – it looked fun.

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Food and Santa at the Magic Lantern Festival Leeds

Once we had taken in all the sights in this section of the show we headed back towards the start where a large selection of refreshments was available. There was so much choice and it all looked and smelt delicious, as well as our favourite fish and chips you could try pizzas, German sausage or Greek food or just about everything you could think of. Prices were as you would expect from a venue like this.   We settled for some chips and candyfloss whilst we looked at this area.   Santa has set up in a tepee which you can visit and when the fairground rides arrive this will be a lovely area to end your visit before you head homewards.  

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Website and Prices

The Magic Lantern Festival Leeds is  on from 24th Nov 2017 -1st Jan 2018.  The event will be open every day during the Christmas school holidays, with the exception of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. 

Leeds Lantern Festival Tickets online are priced at £12.50 adults, £10.50 concessions, £8.50 children and £38 for a family ticket plus standard booking fees.  Grotto prices are available on the website too.

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6 Comments

  1. Am going with 7 yr old & toddler. I’ve heard pushchair friendly, would you agree or reins be a better bet?

    1. I asked Teresa for you and she said: “The garden paths are uneven and there were a couple of sets of steps (people went on grass around steps). It’s dark and busy and a lot of people had pushchairs. It stops them running off and then at least you know where they are!”

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