Jolly holiday news

Prairie Lights holiday drive-thru unwraps new COVID-19 measures and reduced prices

Prairie Lights drive-thru holiday lights

Don't worry — the grand finale tunnel will be back.

Photo courtesy of Prairie Lights

A Dallas-Fort Worth tradition 15 years strong, Prairie Lights holiday light park is returning for 2020 — with some modern updates for the COVID-Christmas season, and one special gift for guests.

The popular drive-thru lights experience will kick off Thanksgiving night and run through December 31, according to a release.

Per usual, the dazzling display of over 5 million lights, all arranged in festive holiday scenes, will wind for two miles along the shores of Joe Pool Lake in Grand Prairie. Given that most of Prairie Lights is enjoyed by car, visitors will need to make few adjustments for social distancing, organizers say.

But the park’s out-of-car experience, the Holiday Village — the traditional stop midway through with hot chocolate, cookies, and other goodies for sale — will not open this year due to pandemic. It will be replaced by a new drive-thru concession option, they say.

Santa also has different plans.

"Since Santa is practicing social distancing, he won’t be able to make his annual visit to the Prairie Lights Holiday Village," the release says. "However, he will be offering virtual greetings via personalized video messages sponsored by the Grand Prairie Chamber of Commerce and available after November 1 via the Prairie Lights website."

One positive change this year is the price. Admission has been reduced to $30 per car (up to eight people) — down from last year's $45. A Fast Pass (line jump pass) is available for $99.

A shuttle or van holding up to 30 people is just $60, down from last year's $100. There are additional fees for limos and commercial vehicles.

Prairie Lights welcomed more than 29,000 vehicles and 165,000 guests last year alone, says Duane Strawn, executive director for the city’s Parks, Arts, and Recreation Department, and they are expecting an even larger turnout in 2020.

“Given the challenges of this year, people need something fun, exciting, and comfortingly familiar to look forward to this holiday season — and for thousands of North Texans, that’s Prairie Lights,” he says in the release. “People also need to know that they’re going to enjoy a safe experience, and given the fact that we already have 14 years of practice under our belt when it comes to offering a large-scale, drive-through only experience — plus the minor safety adjustments we’ve made to this year’s event — we’re quite confident that we’ll be able to meet our guests’ expectations.”

They offer the following tips for visitors this year:

Pre-purchase of online tickets is highly recommended, both in consideration of minimizing “touch” and in keeping park admission lines moving as quickly as possible.
Allow plenty of time to fully enjoy the park — at least 45 minutes on slower nights, and up to three hours on holidays and weekends. Longer wait times are also anticipated once schools dismiss for winter break.
Guests are encouraged to have masks on hand for possible interactions with park staff at the entrance gate or at the park’s public restroom area.
Drive-thru concessions will be available via card purchase only (no cash).
Follow Prairie Lights on social media for special offers (such as the annual Prairie Lights “Cyber Monday” ticket sale the Monday after Thanksgiving) and for inclement weather announcements.

Prairie Lights is the third big DFW holiday lights event to announce its arrival. A new "holiday light spectacular" called Radiance will debut in Frisco, Weatherford, and Decatur. An immersive experience called Luminova Holidays promises millions of twinkling lights, an outdoor ice rink, and larger-than-life displays in and around Arlington's Globe Life Field.

Other popular yuletide events, including Fort Worth's Parade of Lights and Arlington's Texas Christkindl Market, are going virtual this year.

Prairie Lights will be open nightly, 6-10 pm, from Thanksgiving to New Year's Eve. The entrance is at Lynn Creek Park at Joe Pool Lake, 5610 Lake Ridge Pkwy., Grand Prairie. For more information, visit the website.

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Movie Review

Tom Cruise mines for Oscar gold in dark satire Digger

Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

Tom Cruise in Digger.

For most of the 21st century, and especially the last 15 years, Tom Cruise has been a “movie star” rather than an “actor.” That’s not to say he’s a bad actor, but rather that his focus has been on making blockbuster movies where his unique ability to go all-in on action supersedes any need for introspection. Now perhaps past his action movie days, he’s giving full-on acting another try in Digger.

Cruise plays Digger Rockwell, an eccentric oil baron whose current project is drilling for oil in Greenland. Turns out that’s a bad idea in multiple ways, most significantly when an explosion at the site manages to calve an ice shelf five times the size of Boston. That humongous piece of ice then starts on an inevitable collision course with mainland Europe, where it is predicted that there will be hundreds of thousands of deaths and uncountable property damage from the ensuing tsunami.

That sounds bleak, and it is, but the film plays the scenario for laughs thanks to over-the-top characters like Digger, his sister Emma (Sandra Hüller), U.S. President Compson (John Goodman), and the unnamed Vice President (Michael Stuhlbarg). As those people and others try to spin the disaster of epic proportions, others like the scientist Ganesh (Riz Ahmed) try to get the leaders to see reason or to take responsibility for their actions.

Written and directed by Alejandro Iñárritu and co-written by three others, the film has more than a few surprises in store, including one big one that will go unspoiled here. Suffice it to say that for anyone who might be put off by how Cruise (who seems to be channeling his Les Grossman character from Tropic Thunder) and others are acting in the trailers for the film may change their minds about the performances after actually having seen the complete product.

What can be said is that the film is a wild, wacky, and occasionally disorienting experience that also doubles as a cogent critique of the governments and corporations responsible for climate change and unchecked capitalism. Digger is a motormouth who often cuts off people with relevant information to impart, having already determined that he knows all he needs to know about a certain topic. He’s stuck in his ways in many respects, including trying to keep alive a 20-year-old cat that clearly wants to die.

Once the full scope of the story is revealed, it becomes easier to understand what Iñárritu and Cruise are trying to accomplish with the film. It has some similarities to Stanley Kubrick’s dark satire Dr. Strangelove, but it also tries to stay grounded in certain ways. The push-and-pull between those who only seem to be out for themselves and those who want to get to the truth of the matter is played out on different fronts throughout the film. Not all of it lands, but enough does to not make the film seem completely unhinged.

Cruise has been nominated for three Oscars, and it’s clear he’s aiming for a fourth nod with this performance. He does his best to sell every quirk and aspect of the character, epitomized by a gonzo speech that utilizes every mental and physical skill he can muster. The supporting actors are hit-and-miss, but Ahmed comes off the best as a person serving as Digger’s moral conscience. He’s an antidote to Cruise’s mania, but then turns it up to 11 when needed.

Not everything is as it seems in Digger, and the out-there approach by Iñárritu and his team falls into the love-it-or-hate-it dichotomy that applies to many of his films. The very fact that everyone involved was willing to dedicate their whole selves to such an off-the-wall concept makes it deserving of attention, even if not everything is a success.

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Digger opens in theaters on October 2.

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