Bright Nights holiday train tickets sold out, organizer says

Less than 24 hours after they went on sale – and despite technical difficulties that left some people stranded in online queues for hours – tickets for the upcoming Bright Nights holiday train in Stanley Park have sold out.

In an update on social media Saturday, the Stanley Park Railway said tickets to the beloved annual event had sold out as of 9 a.m. 

"We appreciate the tremendous interest in the train and recognize the challenges and wait times that some users encountered while trying to buy tickets," the post reads.

"While the train tickets have sold out, please be aware that the holiday lights display and the activities in the plaza will still be open to the public during event hours by donation to the BC Professional Fire Fighters’ Burn Fund, no ticket required."

Tickets for the train went on sale at noon Friday, but a massive influx of buyers overwhelmed the ticketing website, leading to frustratingly long waits for some would-be buyers, who took to social media to complain of being stuck in an online queue for more than four hours.

Demand for the popular event has skyrocketed since the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation announced the train was returning last year, following a string of outages related to mechanical issues and the COVID-19 pandemic.

But the 41,000 tickets made available for the 2023 Bright Nights event – offered first in a batch of 23,000, then another of 17,000 – sold out in about 2.5 hours, combined.

Showpass, the company contracted to handle ticket sales, said more than 100,000 people went online searching for tickets to the 2024 event on Friday.

Spokesperson Katelyn Marchyshyn told CTV News the company paused sales twice to ensure people going through checkout would be able to complete their purchases.

“The demand was bigger than we’ve ever seen,” she said. “Our phone lines had tens of thousands of people calling.”

In its post Saturday, the Stanley Park Railway acknowledged the frustration, attributing the long waits to technical difficulties on the part of Showpass.

"We understand how frustrating this has been, and we truly appreciate your patience and enthusiasm for this event," the post reads.

Bright Nights is the largest fundraising event benefiting the B.C. Professional Fire Fighters’ Burn Fund, and uses nearly three million holiday lights to illuminate the Stanley Park Railway – set up and taken down with the help of approximately 1,200 off-duty firefighters.

Attending has become a beloved tradition for many families from across the Lower Mainland.

The Bright Nights holiday train is scheduled to run from Nov. 29 to Jan. 4, if all goes smoothly. Last winter’s holiday train suffered some cancellations due to power outages, as did the Halloween Ghost Train last month.

With files from CTV News Vancouver's Andrew Weichel and Shannon Paterson