A truly beautiful event with perfect weather! Overall, the trip could not have been nicer and more festive … with special thanks to our awesome hosts, Kathie and Penny!

Patty is a wonderful trip organizer. No thoughtful detail left out. Hotel: I understand this was a first-time experience for Trips by Patty. I've never experienced such a horrible situation with elevators. Two slow elevators servicing the whole hotel, including a restaurant and (I think) a rooftop bar. It was a nightmare. So much so I ended up using a staircase access outside on the street, which the desk person was nice enough to show me. If you were first off the bus you probably had a good shot at getting back to your room in a decent amount of time, but if you were near the back, like I was, the wait could be 20 minutes or more. Same with getting down to lobby: many elevators from the upper floors arrived at floor 5 full. So that's why I took the staircase. Plus, there were very little holiday decorations to enjoy while waiting in the lobby. It's Christmastime at Biltmore! The staff said it's because they are a "minimalist hotel." They were right about that. Between the elevators and the lack of festiveness, I don't think this hotel is a good choice again. I felt some of the stops were just toff o much to take in in such a short time frame (King Tut, Craft Guild). Re the Craft Guild, I would have shaved quite a bit of time off the Biltmore Forest Community in favor of a longer time at the Craft place. I didn't even have time to visit upstairs. We drove through Biltmore Forest for a looong time, and the houses were barely visible, so why spend so much time there? Visibility leads me to another thought: I had been sitting in the same seat Tues. and Wed. For whatever reason on Thursday seating became a free-for-all, and I was directed to the emergency exit seat, as was the woman sitting behind me prior to Thursday. No big deal, except for some strange reason there is a circular film across the two emergency seat windows with a checkered pattern. So when you are sitting there it's as if you are looking through a blurry prism. Putting people in those seats is just unfair. Everyone else gets a clear view, but 2-4 people in the emergency seats do not? I would have been extremely unhappy and looking for some kind of refund if that had been my seat the whole time. It's a touring bus, after all. One final thought: the lateness of certain passengers. One woman (greyish blonde choppy haircut) was consistently late back to the bus: late coming out of winery; late for leaving another stop which I can't recall; late to the dinner seating so she couldn't sit were her two traveling companions; and late getting back to the bus at the rest stop. The last was some excuse about unavailability of restrooms. No one else seemed to have an issue finding bathrooms, and there was a perfectly good bathroom on the bus for her to use when she realized she would run late. Since there was a miscount, the bus was on the verge of leaving when the person sitting next to her spoke up. If she hadn't spoken up, what would have happened is she would have contacted Patty, and everyone would have been inconvenienced by having to turn around to retrieve a person who clearly cared nothing for her fellow passengers. I was late to the bus the first morning because of full elevators arriving at my floor, and that's why I made darn sure, by taking the stairs, that I would not be late again. Basic consideration. Tolerating this inconsiderate behavior from an adult should not be acceptable. After two times the offender(s) should clearly be advised that if they can't get back to the bus on time they will have to find their way to the next stop, or back to the hotel. Otherwise, they will assume being late is "no big deal" because there are no repercussions. I hate to say this woman should have been treated like a child, but that's how she acted. After pointing out these observations, I repeat that Patty takes care of every detail, and it was an extremely well-run tour.

We had a great time. The lights were amazing to see. Brookgreen Gardens is top notch. They greeted us with brochures showing a map. We ate dinner at the Harvest Restaurant. The service and food were good. The bus ride was easy as usual with Donnie driving. Having Cathy and Penny as trip host was perfect.

Should leave earlier than 2:30 maybe 1:30 to get more time

My gf and I had an enjoyable trip to Brookgreen Gardens to see the Night of 1,000 lights. Donnie (bus driver) safely and efficiently transported us to and fro, enabling us to just enjoy the ride! Patty and her team were great! Would go on another trip with her!