Longwood Gardens, Pennsylvania, United States

4daisyferret1 5:00 PM Sep 29, 2021

Sleeping Beauty Fireworks and Fountains
We decided to take the kids to Longwood Gardens for their Sleeping Beauty Fireworks and Fountains event. I pre-ordered tickets on the morning that they went on sale, as these events tend to sell out quick. Online ordering was somewhat frustrating since I would place tickets in my cart and they would be gone by the time I finished check-out. This happened to me more than once before I was able to secure my seats. You have the option of general seating (lawn, bring your own chair) or reserved seating. Tickets are NOT cheap, but do include admission to the gardens for the day. On the day of the event, we arrived about 5 hours before showtime. We parked and proceeded into the gardens. Here we were given wristbands to distinguish that we were fireworks and fountains guests. We spent the first 4 hours walking around the outdoor gardens, dining at the Cafe and Beer Garden. We enjoyed the treehouses, flowers, water features and gardens. Just before the sun began to set, we went into the conservatory to check out the inside gardens and the water lily garden. We then decided to head back over to the cafe for a snack before taking out seats for the show. Overall, we enjoyed our visit with Longwood Gardens. The gardens are pretty. The fireworks and fountain shows are beautiful. They are a real treat. I would recommend Longwood Gardens to anyone visiting the Delaware/Pennsylvania area. We have visited in Spring, Summer and Winter this past year alone. Wintertime is my favorite at Longwood Christmas, but each season offers a different view of the gardens. They are constantly changing the displays in the greenhouse conservatories.

4ChrisH 5:00 PM Oct 31, 2022

Very Nice Visit
Two seniors visited Longwood Gardens on the Saturday of Halloween weekend and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We spent from about 11am to after 9pm there visiting the outside gardens, the meadow garden, the conservatory with their yearly Chrysanthemum Festival, the DuPont house/museum, the fountains (both during the day and at night for the light and music shows) and still did not see all of the gardens. Debated giving 4 or 5 stars but decided on 4 stars for the following reasons: 1. The crowds—the gardens got very very crowded after about 4pm when more people arrived to see the nighttime fountain light and music shows plus the Light: Installations by Bruce Munro, a limited time set of LED art installations that look spectacular at night. 2. The amount of people that did not wear masks (probably 95%), especially in the conservatory at night—it was literally wall-to-wall people inside. There is still a COVID pandemic ongoing. This made us extremely nervous and we wore masks. 3. The amount of (I assume) rental electric carts and baby strollers on the narrow pathways, especially after dark. We literally encountered 50 or more, most driven by people that had no regard for anyone else on the paths. 4. The inadequate lighting on the paths at night especially on the way down to the Large Lake where several of Munro’s LED installations were set up. 5. The fact that you cannot leave the gardens and get readmitted, so if you are planning to stay for the light and music shows, this time of year you need to bring heavy coats and carry them around all day. 6. The very expensive food in The Café restaurant—it cost us over $42 for two vegetarian stews in bread boats plus two coffees. I shudder to think what that meal would have cost in their fancy 1906 restaurant. There is also a large beer garden that serves food and drink outside that did have a band on the night we were there. Overall we enjoyed ourselves. YMMV.