Night of a Million Lights Returns to Give Kids the World Village for a Second Year (Photos, Video)

Hi everyone!

Night of a Million Lights returns to Give Kids the World Village on November 12th, 2021 for a second year and runs through January 2nd, 2022. The spectacular holiday event in 2020 was created due to the pandemic – the village was closed to wish families and it became a holiday canvas with several million lights and almost 100,000 visitors enjoying them. Night of a Million Lights was our favorite holiday event last year! The 2021 season does look different as families have returned to the village but Give Kids the World has created a fantastic event yet again while allowing for “privacy and comfort” for the families. We were able to preview the 2021 event – here are photos, video and more information.

Give Kids the World Village is an 89-acre nonprofit resort that provides critically ill children and their families a weeklong wish vacation at no cost. Over the years, the village has expanded to allow more families to visit. Night of a Million Lights is a fundraiser that helps support this important endeavor.

Our video includes a look at the specially decorated villas as well as the tram tour and dancing lights.

Give Kids the World President and CEO Pamela Landwirth kicked off the media preview with Mayor Clayton and Ms. Merry. Mayor Clayton governs the village. I don’t know if they will be doing any sort of meet and greets this year at Night of a Million Lights (I did ask).

Night of a Million Lights feels quite a bit different than last year. One thing that hasn’t changed is that some of the villas are decorated by companies. My favorite is the Universal Orlando Resort villa, which is completely Minion decorated.

There are Minions caroling.

Trees are filled with bananas.

More Minions greet guests.

And there is this very cool photo op! There are a couple of photo ops at this villa.

LEGOLAND Florida is back with a decorated villa.

LEGOLAND Florida puts on a nice holiday event with a Christmas tree lighting and holiday characters.

SeaWorld decorated this villa. SeaWorld puts on a terrific Christmas event as well.

Walt Disney World’s decorated villa celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Walt Disney World Resort.

There are banners outside.

Some of the decorations feature “it’s a small world”.

Hasbro is back with a decorated villa that includes Peppa Pig and Mr. Potato Head.

Ripley’s Believe it or Not! also has a fantastically decorated villa again.

There is a lot to see at it.

Stellar’s Tree Trail features Christmas trees decorated at least in part by sponsors.

The lights look lovely here.

IAAPA sponsored a tree.

Gatorland also sponsored a tree, as did other companies.

The display features 1.25 million feet of lights, including 3.2 million lights donated by Walt Disney World. The dancing lights show is a favorite part of the event for me, reminiscent of the former Osborne Lights display at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

Reflections of the houses in the water look even more beautiful when the lights dance.

Because the village does have wish families, there is a tram tour to take guests to see more lit villas. It is a nice ride, we were told about 8 minutes (I didn’t time it). Jodi Benson – voice of Ariel in The Little Mermaid and Tour Guide Barbie in Toy Story 2 – beautifully voices the tram tour. At first the music overwhelmed her narration but soon that lowered.

The moon rover from Kennedy Space Center is still here and visible from the tram.

For holiday lights, I think Give Kids the World may be the best place to go in Central Florida again.

We stopped to visit Santa Claus.

He has a fully decorated villa.

Santa greets guests indoors. We do still wear our masks inside, but it was not required for us to do so.

13 star clusters feature artwork from Give Kids the World wish children.

There is also merchandise, like this sweatshirt.

While the stunning Avenue of Angels is not included this year as part of the 52-night event, there is a backstage tour that costs extra which does offer it. And there is also a dessert party option available on some nights as well as private events.

In 2021 we went to Night of a Million Lights several times – first as media, then a volunteer thank-you and then we paid for the event on Christmas night. I expect we will pay again to enjoy the 2021 version and maybe we’ll spring for the tour. Night of a Million Lights is a special event for a very good cause.