On November 22nd, Enchant D.C. finally opened. This light show, advertised on every metro car, took over Nationals Park and will remain open from November 22 to December 29. I was lucky enough to go its opening night and see if this brand new Washington, D.C. exhibit was really worth the $22 to potentially $42, depending on when you go and what you add on.
Getting to Enchant D.C. was extremely easy. Once you get to the Tenleytown/AU station, take the red line towards Glenmont seven stops to Gallery Place/Chinatown, then transfer towards Branch Avenue for four stops to the Navy Yard-Ballpark Station. Once you get off, just simply look to your left, and you can’t miss it. Less than a block away, you’ll see the glowing tree on top of Nationals Park, and you’ll know you’re there. I recommend pre-buying your tickets because all you have to do is show your QR code and you’re in!
To the left and right are lines of little shops which sell all sorts of Christmas decor and craft items. However, the most beautiful part is the middle of the field, which is covered in all of the lights for their main attraction- the Christmas light maze! My friends and I all ran down and just stood in awe of it all.
Before we walked in, someone handed us a note card that had scratch offs of all eight reindeer, which were hidden around the maze. As we walked throughout the maze, we looked for all of the little deer to scratch off our card. Despite being in there for an hour and a half, we never found Cupid. That’s alright though because of how absolutely stunning this maze was.
I have been to plenty of light shows before, but being able to walk through with lights surrounding you was another level of fascination. There were so many beautiful sights and plenty of photo opportunities.
After this, we walked around the shops. There were plenty of shops, but as someone who has been to a lot of craft fairs, I didn’t find it that interesting as opposed to some of the other ones I’ve been to. I’m not sure if it was because it was the first night, but there were also a few empty market stalls. It was a fun place to walk around, but there were definitely some better things to do.
To end the night off, we went ice skating. This cost around $10 extra per person, but buying tickets online can help you skip a majority of the line. Ice skating was so fun, and going around the beautiful lights made it so nice. I usually only go ice skating once a year in a hockey stadium by my house, so being outside was a new and really fun experience for me.
This ice skating rink was on the smaller side but I definitely think the fun atmosphere made up for it. One issue with the ice skating was that since we had gone on the later side, the ice was already really ground up and a bit. I usually prefer this ice, but since it was a bit too bumpy there was some holes, and out of all my friends we only had one wipeout. (It may or may not have been me, but I’m not going to say.)
In total, we were there for about three and a half hours and I’ve got to say, it was so worth it. I absolutely loved the experience, and it really got the Christmas time started. It was easily one of my top moments of being in D.C. so far. Go buy your tickets now!
Photos belong to Madison Renck