Holiday in the Gardens at Moody Gardens

Holiday in the Gardens at Moody Gardens, 1 Hope Boulevard in Galveston, strings a mile-long trail of more than two million lights along the property with views of Galveston Bay, set to festive music. ICE LAND is built from 2 million pounds of ice, with an oil-rig ice slide through the Flower Garden Banks and a cocktail stop in Shiver's Ice Bar. The trail passes what Moody Gardens calls the area's only outdoor skating rink and an Arctic Slide, and A Very Electric Christmas is a glow-in-the-dark live puppet show from Lightwire Theater.

Our take: Pair the mile-long lights trail with ICE LAND on the same night, and add the Lightwire show only if you want a seated spectacle after the outdoor loop.