If your family’s December runs through the Grand Court at 13th and Market, sit down for this one. The Wanamaker Light Show isn’t happening this Christmas. Or next Christmas.
Visit Philly updated its page on October 29 to confirm the show is on hiatus for the 2026 and 2027 holiday seasons while the Wanamaker Building is renovated into offices, apartments and new ground-floor retail. Dickens Village, the walk-through A Christmas Carol in the same building, has always run alongside the light show, so check Visit Philly before you plan on it. The light show is set to return for the 2028 season.
This one stings a little. Philly families have been crowding into that room for the light show since 1956, and for plenty of us it was the whole outing: meet at the Eagle, stare up at the Magic Christmas Tree while the organ rattles your ribs, then go find Scrooge. Last year it only happened because the Philadelphia Visitor Center stepped in after Macy’s moved out and more than 1,000 people donated to keep it going.
So what do you do with a December that has a hole in it? Nothing here is a perfect swap. A couple come close, though. Here’s where we’d go instead.
1. Franklin Square, the Closest Thing to the Light Show
📍 200 N 6th St, at 6th and Race
If the part you’ll miss is standing in a crowd watching lights dance to music, start here. The Electrical Spectacle Light Show runs every 30 minutes from 5 p.m. to close during Holidays in Franklin Square, and the square’s 1838 fountain sits right in the middle of it all.
It runs November 19 through January 3, with evening hours from 5 to 9 p.m. It’s closed November 26, December 25 and January 1, and it closes at 8 on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. Opening night on the 19th has the season’s first show at 6:30 plus free hot chocolate, which is a pretty good reason to pick that night.
There’s also mini golf, street curling and a fireside lodge for a hot drink. The honest downside: you’re trading the Grand Court’s marble for a cold park, so dress the kids like it’s an Eagles playoff game. Ticket info is on Historic Philadelphia.
2. Longwood Gardens, for the Organ People
📍 1001 Longwood Rd, Kennett Square
Be honest. For a lot of us, the real star was never the snowflakes. It was the organ.
Longwood has a big one too, and during A Longwood Christmas it plays holiday music in the Main Conservatory every day from noon to 10 p.m. That’s the closest you’ll get to the Wanamaker feel this year, just with a glass conservatory instead of marble.
A Longwood Christmas runs November 20, 2026 through January 10, 2027, and the gardens stay open 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily. It’s timed tickets only, so book on Longwood’s site before you get in the car. It’s a drive and it isn’t cheap, so make a night of it and get there after dark. The lights are the point.
3. Christmas Village at LOVE Park and City Hall
📍 LOVE Park and City Hall, 1500 Arch St
A few blocks from the Wanamaker Building, which makes it the easy swap if your tradition was “light show, then wander Center City.” The German-style market runs November 21 through December 27 with over 120 vendors in wooden huts, and there’s no admission.
Hours are noon to 8 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and noon to 9 on Friday and Saturday. It’s closed November 23 to 25 and on Christmas Day (check the organizer’s site for holiday hours). Our pick is a weeknight, either right at noon or just after dinner. Saturday nights are shoulder to shoulder, and you’ll spend more time in line for food than eating it.
4. Winter at Dilworth Park
📍 1 S 15th St, west side of City Hall
Do this one and Christmas Village in the same trip. They’re steps apart.
Winter at Dilworth Park opens November 13. The Rothman Orthopaedics Ice Rink runs daily through February 21, with timed 90-minute sessions (reserve ahead if you can). The Wintergarden on the Greenfield Lawn, all lights and seasonal plants, stays up through March 28. The Made in Philadelphia Holiday Market runs November 13 to January 1, and it’s where we’d do our gift shopping before hitting the German market. Details are on the Center City District site.
Skating with City Hall’s tower lit up over you is about as Philly as December gets.
5. LumiNature at the Philadelphia Zoo, If You’ve Got Little Kids
📍 3400 W Girard Ave
If your Wanamaker tradition was really about the kids’ faces, go here. This year the animals are writing letters to “Santa Claws,” and kids follow them through 14 lit-up stops with a Book of Wishes in hand. It’s open select nights from November 19 to January 9, 5 to 9 p.m., and you have to reserve online in advance. Don’t just show up.
6. RiverRink Winterfest on the Waterfront
📍 101 S Columbus Blvd
The one that sticks around longest: November 27 through February 28, seven days a week, holidays included. It’s free to walk in, and you pay for skating and extras like cabins and fire pits, which you can book on the Waterfront’s site. Less Christmas card, more boardwalk in winter, with the Delaware right there. Good for a date night that isn’t just dinner.
It’s a strange year without the Grand Court on the list. If we had to pick two, it’s Franklin Square on a weeknight for the show and Longwood for the organ. And in 2028, we’ll see you at the Eagle.
Want the whole season in one place? Our Christmas in Philadelphia 2026 guide has every market, light show and rink, with dates. Got people in town for the holidays? Send them our list of the best things to do in Philadelphia and our guide to historic sites beyond the Liberty Bell, and don’t let them leave without working through a few of the Philly foods you have to try.
So, what’s your Wanamaker memory? The first time you saw the Magic Christmas Tree, who you went with, how packed it got?
Tell us in the comments.
Photos: Wanamaker Organ in the Grand Court by Keizers / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Franklin Square fountain by Wobbanight / Wikimedia Commons, CC0
Longwood Gardens conservatory at Christmas by Dough4872 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Dilworth Park ice rink by Ii2nmd / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0