The 2025 Christmas season is your last chance to enjoy Rudolph’s Holly Jolly Christmas Light Parade — as we currently know it — at Silver Dollar City.
Replacing it in 2026 is the new “Stars, Lights & Christmas Nights Parade.” This refreshed parade will be triple in length, with more illuminated floats, all-new music and characters, and nostalgic holiday scenes.
Rudolph and friends will continue to be a part of the parade with the addition of Yukon Cornelius, the rugged Arctic explorer from the 1964 Rankin/Bass Rudolph TV special.
Graphic renderings suggest the parade will also travel through The Plaza, which will be open for the first time this Christmas season. The Plaza will feature a 44-foot Oregon-grown live Shasta Fir tree with 30,000 lights and three nightly lighting ceremonies.
Mockup courtesy Silver Dollar City
SEE ALSO: 20 Photos from Rudolph’s Holly Jolly Christmas Light Parade
Rudolph’s Holly Jolly Christmas Light Parade debuted in 2014 as a key part of SDC’s An Old Time Christmas festival and during the TV special’s 50th anniversary. In addition to Rudolph leading the way, float themes include lovable huge drumming bears, cymbal-playing penguins, a cowboy doll rocking on a hand-carved rocking horse, and more.
The current parade is accompanied by colorful costumed characters (including Rudolph’s friend Bumble the Abominable Snow Monster), 14-foot moose characters, 12-foot tall elves, and 10-foot candy canes, plus penguins, elves, and marching wooden soldiers.
The parade begins on the east side of the park near the Red Gold Heritage Hall, passes through the Main Street square, and finishes near Powder Keg. Snowflakes are painted on the street to mark the path of the parade.
You can catch Rudolph’s Holly Jolly Christmas Light Parade nightly at 6 and 8 p.m. from Nov. 1 through Jan. 4. Check the SDC mobile app for updates as the earlier parade may start earlier at 5:30 p.m. on some dates.
SEE ALSO: Branson Christmas Attractions & Activities
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