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Vancouver’s Bright Nights at Stanley Park

Santa at Bright Nights at Stanley Park

Vancouver’s most amazing and affordable Christmas lights are the Bright Nights displays at Stanley Park which feature millions of sparkling festive lights.

In 2023, Bright Nights runs on most days between November 30th and January 6th, 2024. The event was due to run until January 1st in 2024, but due to popular demand, it has been extended by an additional five days (so until January 6th).

 


This article includes information on all of the following topics:

Admission | Location | Miniature Train | Train Hours | Train Cost | Train Video | Activities | Parking | History of Bright Nights | Tips & Advice | Burn Fund Video | Bright Nights 50/50 | Other Information

Click on any of the above links to jump to a specific subject, or continue reading to learn all about this wonderful Vancouver Christmas attraction.


 

Vancouver Christmas Market

 

Stanley Park Christmas Lights

Bright Nights is an annual event running from the end of November until the beginning of January each year. It’s one of the best places in Canada to take children to see holiday decorations and illuminations in December.

Open during the holiday season from 4:00 pm until 10:00 pm, Bright Nights probably features the most lights of any attraction in Metro Vancouver. There are also train rides, Christmas character displays and festive cheer. The 2023/2024 season marks the event’s 26th edition.

 

Admission to Bright Nights

In 2023 Bright Nights is open daily from November 30th until January 6th, 2024. It’s only closed on December 25th.

Admission to the event in general is by donation, and all proceeds go toward the BC Professional Fire Fighters’ Burn Fund. It’s a great cause, so give generously when you can!

After not happening for a few years, the train rides are back for the 2023/2024 season! Train tickets cost between $11 and $15 depending on your age. Kids under two ride for free.

 

Bright Nights Christmas Illuminations
Christmas Illuminations at Bright Nights

 

Bright Nights Location

Bright Nights takes place in Stanley Park just off Pipeline Road in the middle of the park. If using GPS to get there, type in 690 Pipeline Road. It’ll get you close enough to see signs directing you where to go. Or, park for free at a variety of parking lots mentioned further below.

 

Bright Nights Miniature Train

The miniature train at Stanley Park is back for Bright Nights in 2023.

The ride is incredibly popular and takes about 12 minutes. Continue reading below for information, or click Stanley Park Train to learn about rides at other times of the year.

 

Stanley Park Christmas Train
Stanley Park Train at Christmas

 

Stanley Park Train Hours

Tickets for the Stanley Park miniature train during the 2023/2024 Christmas season are required. Trains depart once every 20 minutes.

Bright Nights is scheduled to run from November 30th, 2023, until January 6th, 2024. This very popular Christmas event was due to run until the first day in January but has since been extended to a few more days in the new year due to a surge in public demand to keep it running a little longer. The train operates daily between 4:00 pm and 10:00 pm. The only day of the season that it is closed is on December 25th (i.e. Christmas Day).

 

Bright Nights Miniature Train Cost

In the 2023/2024 season, ticket prices vary depending on your age. Children under two ride for free. Tickets cost $15 for adults, $13 for seniors and teenagers, and $11 for children between three and 12 years old.

 

Stanley Park Train Video

To get an idea of what to expect on the miniature train at Christmas, check out the following video. It shows what the train ride looked like in 2021.

 

 

Bright Nights Activities

In addition to the train and all of the Christmas-themed illuminations, there are also food trucks and live performances to enjoy at Bright Nights. Firefighters are on-site for photos and there’s an antique fire truck to check out too.

Santa’s Workshop returned for the first time in 2022 after a three-year absence and is on-site again in 2023. There are Christmas displays and photo opportunities with Santa Claus himself.

 

Bright Nights Video

For an idea of what to expect at Bright Nights, check out the following video. It shows what the place looked like in the winter of 2021.

 

 

Parking at Bright Nights in Stanley Park

Stanley Park has pay parking throughout the year. However, during Bright Nights all parking in the immediate area and specific overflow lots is usually free. In 2023 this includes parking at the Beaver Lake parking lot and lots along North Pipeline Road.

Note: Parking lots at the Vancouver Aquarium and in other areas still require payment. Also, immediate on-site parking is free only after 3:00 pm.

 

Soar With Santa at FlyOver Canada

 

About Bright Nights`

Vancouver’s Bright Nights has been running at Stanley Park since 1997. Today, it’s one of Western Canada’s largest and most famous Christmas attractions.

Admission to Bright Nights is by donation with proceeds benefiting the BC Professional Fire Fighters’ Burn Fund. This registered charity does all kinds of valuable work to support victims of fires, and educates the public to help keep people safe. It also sends child burn victims to summer camp, and provides support and accommodations to families of burn victims in hospital.

 

2023 PNE Winter Fair

 

The History of Bright Nights

Bright Nights is a tremendously popular and valuable attraction with an interesting story involving creative ideas, Christmas and community passion, and tons of hard work.

 

Bright Nights Early History

Years ago each December, a couple in Surrey – Bob and Marg Wingfield – turned the outside of their home into a Winter Wonderland and collected donations from appreciative viewers for the Burn Unit at Vancouver General Hospital (VGH).

The Wingfields owned a retail store that sold knick-knack-sorts-of-things. Over the years they had collected an impressive array of Christmas decorations from tradeshows and various suppliers.

After decorating their home and collecting donations for many years, and raising over $500,000 for the Burn Unit at VGH, the Wingfields decided to retire from their holiday-decorating hobby.

The Wingfields then approached North Vancouver firefighter Peter Hansen to see if the BC Professional Fire Fighters’ Burn Fund (a different but related charity from the one they were donating to) would be interested in taking over the decorations and their Christmas fundraising tradition.

 

Bright Nights Burn Fund Sign
Bright Nights at Stanley Park

 

Bright Nights and The Burn Fund

Peter Hansen was a member of the BC Professional Fire Fighters’ Burn Fund, as was Jeff Dighton from the City of Vancouver Fire Department. Together the two men took the lead in convincing the Burn Fund’s Board to take on the Wingfield’s offer, and the challenging task of finding a location to set up each year.

At the time, in the late 1990s, Stanley Park already had its annual Christmas Miniature Train. The venue around the railway was lit up and decorated in December each year, but the area just outside in the park was dark, wide-open and empty.

The location was the perfect spot! The Vancouver Parks Board just had to be convinced to let it happen. Negotiations began and after considerable hard work and convincing, the Parks Board finally agreed to allow the project.

The BC Professional Fire Fighters’ Burn Fund purchased the lights, decorations, an antique sleigh and a variety of mechanized characters from the Wingfields. Bob Wingfield then helped a group of firefighter volunteers set up the displays (in both the first and second years of the event). In 1997 Stanley Park celebrated its first of many Bright Nights events.

 

Bright Nights Reindeer at Stanley Park
Reindeer Pulling a Sleigh at Bright Nights

 

Bright Nights Today and Over the Years

The legacy of Bob and Marg Wingfield’s Winter Wonderland, and the hard work of Peter Hansen, Jeff Dighton and numerous other firefighter volunteers, continues today.

What began with about 500,000 lights and miscellaneous decorations in 1997 is one of the largest, most affordable and most impressive displays of Christmas lights anywhere on the planet most years.

In 1997 Bright Nights raised enough cash donations to cover its initial costs, and in years without a pandemic it features an estimated 3 million lights and generates around $400,000 annually for the Burn Fund.

Thanks to the hard work of volunteers and corporate support, the event has extremely low operating expenses and thus a huge charitable impact!

The miniature train ride that is a highlight of Bright Nights is running again in 2023. The COVID-19 pandemic and train maintenance issues derailed the train’s run in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022. So for the first time in four years, the train hits the tracks again this holiday season!

 

Community Support and Volunteers

Over the years Bright Nights has received tremendous support from the community. The Vancouver Parks Board generously supplies all the electricity, and paid for the initial power infrastructure which in 1997 didn’t exist. Also, around the year 2000, the Parks Board covered the cost of paving the pathways through that part of the park which exist today and greatly benefit the attraction.

Over the past 20 or so years, lights and decorations have been added to the collection at Bright Nights, with additions being financed through donations of cash and products. BC Hydro, for example, has donated significantly towards the purchase and transition to energy-efficient LED lighting.

In normal years, every day in November leading up to opening night at the end of the month, between around 10 and 30 Lower Mainland firefighters donate their time to set up the displays. It takes hundreds of people and thousands of volunteer hours, as well as extensive ladder-climbing time on area fire trucks. White Spot restaurant generously feeds all the volunteers during this time, which is greatly appreciated.

Today, hundreds of thousands of people visit Bright Nights annually. Also, hundreds of British Columbians suffer severe burn injuries and require support and treatment each year. Donations collected by firefighter volunteers at Bright Nights over the winter holiday season are used to support victims of burn accidents.

Bright Nights is a fabulous Christmas tradition and for an amazing cause! Well done and thank you to all the founders, organizers and amazing volunteers!

 

Best Christmas Activities

 

Tips & Advice

The following is a list of suggestions to help you make the most of your experience at Stanley Park’s Bright Nights most years:

TIP #1: To avoid the biggest crowds, go on a weekday before the second half of December. It’s busiest on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays as well as weekdays close to Christmas Day.

TIP #2: Expect there to be lots of other people checking out the displays so maybe leave the kids’ stroller in your car on the busiest nights. The site is wheelchair accessible though; the miniature train for the time being, though, is not.

TIP #3: Be generous with your donations to the Burn Fund. The Christmas displays at Stanley Park are some of the best in the Lower Mainland, with comparable attractions charging between $10 and over $40 per person. Also, thousands of volunteer hours go into the event, and it’s for a most worthwhile cause.

TIP #4: If it has been raining a lot, as it often does in Vancouver in winter, wear boots or other waterproof footwear. The pathways are paved, but there can be puddles.

TIP #5: If you plan to ride the train at night, don’t go at the very start before it gets dark. The lights are what makes the ride so special.

 

Burn Fund Video

Want to learn about the BC Professional Fire Fighters’ Burn Fund, the charitable organization that donations to Bright Nights at Stanley Park benefit? Then check out the following video produced by SEE the Change Productions and sponsored by TELUS. Watch it and you’ll want to donate extra generously!

 

 

Bright Nights 50/50

Another way to support the BC Professional Fire Fighters’ Burn Fund is by entering the Bright Nights 50/50. Half of the prize money goes to the winner while the other half goes to the Burn Fund.

For the 2023/2024 season, the draw takes place at 12:00 pm on January 8th, 2024. One ticket costs $15, three tickets cost $40, six tickets cost $60 and 25 tickets cost $250. The winner usually takes home more than $500,000!

For more information about the Bright Nights 50/50 and other similar draws, click Vancouver Fundraising Events.

 

Other Information

For more information on the Bright Nights’ miniature train rides and to purchase tickets now, see the City of Vancouver’s Stanley Park Bright Nights webpage.

For information about the BC Professional Fire Fighters’ Burn Fund, check out the Burn Fund‘s website.

To learn more about the venue, click Stanley Park or Stanley Park Train. To learn about the train in other seasons see our articles about Stanley Park’s Easter Train or Halloween Train.

For more ideas on places to see Christmas lights in the Lower Mainland, check out any of the following: