Celebration includes a life-size gingerbread house, holiday décor, a tree lighting ceremony and charity donations
Mohegan Sun’s World of Holiday Marvels will jump start the season with a Wild Winter Wednesday featuring fireworks, music, treats, a toy drive and Mohegan Sun’s fourth annual tree lighting ceremony on December 3rd.
Wild Winter Wednesday begins at 5:00pm on the rooftop of the Thames Garage. Guests will enjoy holiday favorites from carolers and servings of hot chocolate and gingerbread cookies. At 6:00pm, Mohegan Sun’s 66-foot holiday tree will be lit on Mohegan Sun Boulevard followed by a fireworks display by Pyro FX. The ceremony concludes with a special guest appearance from Santa at 7:00pm. Also on the rooftop the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve’s Toys For Tots Program, in conjunction with the Hartford Festival of Light will accept donations of new, unwrapped toys. Shuttles will be provided from the Sky Valet to the Thames Garage throughout the evening.
Inside, The Shops at Mohegan Sun is once again home to a 24-foot life-size gingerbread house. Created by Executive Pastry Chef Lynn Mansel, and Mohegan Sun’s culinary team, this year’s house holds over 4,500 pounds of icing, 150 pounds of white chocolate, and forty pounds of dark chocolate and 120 pounds of milk chocolate.
Approximately 6,525 gingerbread bricks will make up the gingerbread house. Assisted by Mohegan Sun’s culinary team, children from local Brownies, Oakdale Elementary School, Mohegan Elementary School, and Cutler Middle School’s Amistad Friendship Society each inscribed their names on gingerbread bricks. Visitors of all ages can walk through the home to view the tiny rooms inside filled with an edible fireplace, stockings, a holiday tree, a chocolate rocking chair and a chocolate glass with assorted cookies for Santa to enjoy.
Additionally, Mohegan Sun’s culinary staff will construct a gingerbread gazebo that will serve as a gift wrap booth and a food drive drop off location from December 8th through December 24th. Between the hours of 12:00pm and 8:00pm, purchases can be brought to the gazebo to be wrapped for $3.00 to $10.00 per gift. All proceeds will benefit and the Salvation Army of Southern New England. Donations of canned goods and non-perishable food items will be accepted for donation to The Gemma E. Moran United Way Food Labor Center.
Mohegan Sun also serves as a toy collection site for the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve’s Toys For Tots Program, in conjunction with the Hartford Festival of Light. New, unwrapped toys for children will be accepted until December 11th at the Summer and Riverview Coat Checks.
Throughout the property, Mohegan Sun along with The Becker Group has set up a variety of holiday decorations. Casino of the Earth features ornaments and illuminated wreaths measuring over ten feet tall. The Shops at Mohegan Sun will bring the picturesque New England winter indoors with 17-foot ice light curtains and custom-designed snowflakes suspended over iceberg islands. The hotel lobby will be transformed into a whimsical world brimming with adventure including an 18-foot tree of cascading water in an icy atmosphere filled with frosted trees and friendly forest animals. A 16-foot illuminated wreath and a theatrical lighting display of snowflakes will fall above the already spectacular Taughannick Falls.
Maps highlighting the World of Holiday Marvels displays can be found at any Player’s Club booth throughout the casino and during the tree lighting ceremony.
Over thirty stores are located in The Shops at Mohegan Sun for holiday shopping. For a complete list of the stores and holiday hours, please visit mohegansun.com.
Additionally, Mohegan Sun gift cards are available for purchase in any denomination at Mohegan Sun’s Box Office, Essentials stores and Everything Under the Sun which are located conveniently throughout the property. Mohegan Sun gift cards can be used at any store, restaurant or concert and sporting event at Mohegan Sun. They’re also accepted at Mohegan Sun’s luxurious hotel, Elemis Spa at Mohegan Sun and at Mohegan Sun’s Mobil Gas Station and Convenience Store.
In the event Wild Winter Wednesday is cancelled due to inclement weather, a makeup date is scheduled for December 4th.
The Becker Group, the design firm chosen to create Mohegan Sun’s World of Holiday Marvels, has over fifty years of experience creating immersive, entertaining attractions and brand-based experiences for a wide variety of clients. Venues include shopping malls, consumer brands, movie studios, television networks, theme parks, museums and casinos around the globe. The award-winning experiential marketing company is headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland and has offices in Los Angeles, St. Louis, Salt Lake City, Miami, Barcelona, Spain and San Paulo, Brazil.
Mohegan Sun, owned by the Mohegan Tribe, is one of the largest, most distinctive and spectacular entertainment, gaming, shopping and meeting destinations in the United States. Situated on 240 acres along the Thames River in scenic southeastern Connecticut, Mohegan Sun is within easy access of New York, Boston, Hartford and Providence and located 15 minutes from the museums, antique shops and waterfront of Mystic Country. More information is available by calling 1.888.226.7711 or visiting mohegansun.com.
