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When I think of Christmas Town at Busch Gardens theme park in Williamsburg, Virginia, I think of the beautiful holiday lights or the great Christmas shows. I don’t necessarily think about food. But if you want to spend your evening there, you’ll want to eat.
Luckily, there are a few neat holiday-themed dining experiences. They are especially great when you think about the fact that this is a theme park and you don’t always think about great food normally when it comes to theme parks.
One of these neat dining experiences is over at the Oktoberfest section of the park. And that is Das Festhaus.
Festhaus Atmosphere
Das Festhaus is a fun place to visit any time of the year. The decor around the restaurant makes you feel as though you are in a German village.
Since this is a German-themed restaurant, there are traditional German communal-style seating. In other words, there are long tables with benches on either side. This allows a lot of seating so a lot of people can eat. But I’ll be honest, as an adult, it does hurt my back after awhile sitting without a chair without a back. It was not enough to dampen my experience there, but it is something to keep in mind.
At any rate, that’s how it is themed all during the year. But during the holiday season, they add lots of Christmas decor that really enhances the atmosphere even more. There are lots of Christmas lights, Christmas trees, and snowflake projections that really makes it feel like, well, Christmas!
Festhaus Christmas Entertainment
A really neat thing about Das Festhaus is that not only do you get to eat a meal, but you get entertained at the same time! There’s a stage set up and during Christmas town, there’s a seasonal show which is cleverly titled “Up On the HausTop”. It features singing and dancing performed by an incredibly talented cast.
The singing and dancing was great. They had a really nice mix of classic Christmas songs and newer Christmas songs, so whether you like a newer pop sound or the classics you’ll be entertained. The show itself moves really nicely and has a great flow to it. I also really like the costume changes. The cast wears some gorgeous costumes during this show!
There are multiple scheduled performances during the evening. So the entertainment is not continuous. We went to the last show of the night, an 8:00 performance. We got to the restaurant at 7:25 PM. Initially, I thought, oh whoops, we got here too early.
But I actually really liked showing up then. Not as many people were there then so we didn’t have to stand in line long for our food, as this is a cafeteria-style quick service restaurant.
And then it gave us time to eat our meal before the performance. The time flew by and then suddenly it was time for the performance. All I had left was my dessert (which didn’t need to be warm – more on that dessert later). So I was able to eat a few bites, watch the performance, eat another bite, and so on. It made for such a wonderful end of the meal.
If I had scheduled my dinner to more coincide with the show, I would have missed more of it. So if you really want to see the show, consider scheduling your meal like this. On the other hand, if you like being entertained while you eat, then schedule your dinner a bit closer to the showtime.
Oh, and by the way, there’s a new Celebration of Lights at O’Tannenbaum show which takes place at the huge, 50-foot Christmas tree right outside Das Festhaus.
It took place right after the show ended so if you want to catch it consider walking outside right after the show ends. You’ll at least see a lot of it.
Festhaus Christmas Dining
So all of that is great, but if you don’t like the food, you won’t want to eat here, right?
But luckily, the food is very good. And themed, too. This is, after all, a holiday event. So there is a Christmas dinner option! The Christmas dinner consists of roasted turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, and mixed vegetables.
The turkey was very good. It was nice and moist. The mixed vegetables were also good.
Unfortunately, not everyone cared for the gravy. Now it was spicier than we would like, so perhaps you would like it more if you like spicy foods more than us. But it wasn’t just that. It unfortunately ruined the potatoes for most of us (though not all – my father liked them). Luckily, the turkey and the vegetables were still good though which makes for a nice meal.
Now, obviously this is a Christmas event. But it is still at a German restaurant. So there is Festhaus Sausage Sampler on the menu. This consists of knackwurst, bratwurst, smoked sausage, mashed potatoes, gravy, and mixed vegetables. So it has the same sides as the Christmas Dinner option, it’s just sausage instead of turkey.
And the sausage was great, too! That wasn’t too spicy or too salty at all. It was just right.
There was also a Christmas Town Salad and a Broccoli & Cheddar Soup on the menu. But we did not try it so I cannot comment on it.
Now, maybe not everyone in your family likes seasonal food or German food. But don’t worry; there are other things on the menu. They have kid’s meals like mac & cheese and chicken nuggets. And then they also have pizza.
I got the cheese pizza, and it was really good! It was a bit burnt so when I first went to eat it, it was a bit hard to start. But I was able to take a knife and fork and cut it in half and then eat into each half, leaving the burnt parts of the crust. And other than those burnt parts of the crust, it wasn’t too hard to eat at all. And again, it was especially good pizza.
So earlier I mentioned I had dessert. They have seasonal foods like cupcakes and pumpkin cheesecake. I decided to get into the German spirit and try the Black Forest Cake.
This decidedly German dessert was delicious! It was so good I wanted to get the recipe so I could make it myself. The cake and icing together were so good and the cherry on top was, well, the cherry on top. It was pretty filling, too, and I wasn’t even able to finish it. So if you’re not that hungry you could consider splitting the cake with another family member to save a little money.
Conclusion
Between the atmosphere, the show, and the food, my family loved having dinner at Das Festhaus. It is not cheap but considering the entertainment, the food, and the overall experience, I think it is worth it.
And if you want to save money on other things during your Christmas Town visit, check out our Busch Gardens Williamsburg Christmas Town Guide. Not only does it give you money-saving tips, but it will tell you other important information about the event.
And for more information on Busch Gardens theme park, check out our Busch Gardens Guide.