Wildwood Park For the Performing Arts

I struggled between giving a 2-​star or 3-​star rating, but settled on the 3-​star since I didn’t really visit Wildwood Park in it’s prime season (which would be spring, when all of flowers are in full bloom.)
Instead, I visited during their «Lanterns» winter festival. The goal is to «experience 8 cultures… with walkways lit by lakeside fire pits and luminaries to explore food and entertainment from around the globe.» Sounds great, right? Not so much.
So let’s start with the positives:
1) It was a beautiful night! Temperatures in the lower 60s.
2) Wildwood Park had nice walking paths.
3) We received an additional $ 1 in wildbucks for each person who signed up for their mailing list.
And, the not-​so-​positives:
1) There are two entrances to Wildwood Park. After passing the first entrance, there was a massive line. Therefore, we did like many others, and dropped off a few of our older passengers at the first entrance, in order to save them from the long walk and additional wait time. The problem was, we ended up being directed to parking near the second entrance, which happened to also be open and had about 4 people in line, vs. 40. So, can you see our dilemma? The employees should have been notifying people of the second entrance, which would have been much more productive for all involved. My husband and I ended up having to walk back to the first entrance to meet our family.
2) Although multiple cultures are «represented», there really isn’t much knowledge being passed on. Nor, is there any authentic cuisine. It’s mainly food that looks like it came from Sam’s Club. Once again, it seemed that nothing was authentic!
3) Although the festival ran from 6−10pm, many of the «countries» had few activities. It would make sense to have different acts/​plays/​music every 30 minutes or so throughout the night. Instead, the booth may have one act for 30 minutes, and that would be it.
4) Did I mention it cost $ 10 per person to walk in, and then food was extra? Oh, and apparently they even ran out of «wildbucks», which you had to purchase in order to buy any food. How do you run out of the «money» you are making people buy in order to eat?
In my opinion, the Lanterns festival was a complete rip off, and didn’t teach anything about the actual culture being represented. What a disappointment. Although, I still plan on visiting Wildwood Park during the spring, when the botanical gardens are blooming! They should probably stick to what they do best :)