Winter Wonderland arrives at Bellagio

By Judy Thorburn
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Winter Wonderland Arrives At Bellagio's Conservatory & Botanical Gardens

In celebration of the winter season, Bellagio’s Conservatory & Botanical Garden unveiled a spectacular holiday display rich in nostalgia and filled with picture-perfect botanical creations that is on view December 3 through January 2, 2011. A spectacular holiday tree send gazes soaring while musical sounds and colors of the season lure visitors for a stroll by four shimmering gardens.

The dazzling centerpiece of this winter exhibit is a stately 42-foot Shasta Fir ablaze in over 7,000 twinkling lights and decorated with more than 1,800 red, gold and silver holiday ornaments. Standing at attention on the corners of the majestic holiday tree’s garden are four 15 foot tall grand toy soldiers. Nearby, a 7-foot-tall, custom-sculpted rocking horse stands in the midst of a whimsical five-car toy train, which whirls around the base of the tree.

Eight majestic reindeers, each made of 110 pounds of whole pecans and wearing brilliant collars of braided cranberry-red velvet harnesses with silver bells,are captured in mid-flight surrounding the holiday tree, as they guide a present-filled, red-lacquer sleigh into a snowy sky
In the north garden, a family of 28 adult and baby penguins comes to life, waddling on a patch of arctic terrain. An animated penguin examines the construction blueprints to an igloo in-process, while another is hard at work as it moves blocks of faux ice between its flippers. Inside a completed igloo nearby, a curious penguin pops out its snow-covered head as three oversized ice bursts shimmer high above the surrounding frost-laden 20-foot-tall pine trees.

In the south garden, three light-draped Manzanita trees stand quietly over a “reflective pond” as three massive icicle stars hover angelically overhead. A polar bear family, adorned with coats made of 16,000 white carnations, tug on the heartstrings of visitors young and old as the baby bear frolics playfully on his back as mama bear watches with affection. In the east garden, five large twinkling gold holiday ornaments, ranging in size from 4-feet to 8-feet tall, welcome guests amid dancing water and a bed of colorful seasonal flora.
The winter exhibit within Bellagio’s Conservatory & Botanical Gardens is complimentary to the public and is on view through January 2, 2011, seven days a week, 24 hours a day.