Downtown Summerlin's Holiday Season Starts This Week. Here's Which Nights Belong to Residents.

The Downtown Summerlin Holiday Parade has 10 nights this season, and every one is on a Friday or Saturday at 6 p.m. Rock Rink has 10 specialty and student skate nights, and eight of them are on a Wednesday or Thursday. The season opens this week and runs into January, and outside the two weekend skate nights, the parade and the rink's programming fall on different days.

The Giving Machine opens on The Promenade today, Nov. 12, and stays through Jan. 3, collecting donations for local and international nonprofits. Most of the rest starts Friday, Nov. 13: Santa Chalet, Santa's Mailbox and Holiday Family Photos at Macy's Promenade, plus Rock Rink on The Lawn. The weekend calendar fills up a week later.

Friday and Saturday belong to the parade

The parade moves down Park Centre Drive on Fridays and Saturdays at 6 p.m., starting Friday, Nov. 20 and ending Saturday, Dec. 19, with Santa and falling snow flurries. That works out to five Fridays and five Saturdays.

The Ballpark's holiday attraction opens the same night as the first parade. Enchant Las Vegas runs at Las Vegas Ballpark from Nov. 20 through Dec. 27, with a reworked light maze and a new storyline, more photo installations, and seasonal food and drinks on the grounds. So beginning Nov. 20, Downtown Summerlin's two largest seasonal draws share the same weekend evenings for the rest of the parade season.

Rock Rink keeps its longest hours on the same two nights. It's open until 10 p.m. on Friday, and on Saturday it runs 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Two of the rink's programmed nights also land on parade weekends. The Nov. 21 night with AEG brings country-themed music for NFR, and the Dec. 18 night is with Cirque du Soleil.

Wednesday and Thursday carry the rink's program

Leave out those two weekend nights and Rock Rink's themed calendar falls in the middle of the week. Here is the full slate, with each date's day of the week:

The rink is an 8,000-square-foot sheet of real ice presented by Lexus. Its Monday-through-Thursday hours are 4 to 9 p.m. General admission on the Rock Rink reservation page is $22 for a 75-minute session with skate rental included. Session start times run every half hour from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. The Downtown Summerlin listing also mentions special midweek pricing. The same page lists a holiday train that circles the rink and the holiday tree for $7 per rider, adult or child, and Sterling's Cocoa Trailer selling signature holiday drinks all season.

Plan around two closures. The rink is dark on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, Nov. 26, and on Christmas Day. The season ends Monday, Jan. 18, so the last four programmed nights fall in January, after the parade and Enchant have both finished their runs.

Macy's Promenade runs on reservations, and two windows close early

The midweek pattern also holds at Macy's Promenade. Santa Chalet runs from Nov. 13 through Dec. 24 and requires reservations. Pet nights are Tuesdays and Thursdays through Dec. 17. A sensory morning is set for Saturday, Dec. 5. A household with a dog has about five weeks of Tuesday and Thursday slots, and the last one comes a week before Christmas Eve.

The other two Promenade events end well before the holiday itself:

• Holiday Family Photos run Nov. 13 through Nov. 25, during the first and last hour of each day. A $39.99 package includes two 5x7 prints and three digital downloads. Reservations are required, and walk-ups are taken only when there's room. The photo window closes the day before Thanksgiving, so it's the deadline for anyone who wants these portraits on a holiday card.
• Santa's Mailbox takes letters Nov. 13 through Dec. 22. For each letter, Howard Hughes and Downtown Summerlin donate $1 to the Goodie Two Shoes Foundation, up to $2,500.

At $1 a letter, that cap is reached at 2,500 letters. The donation limit is fixed, but the mailbox stays open through Dec. 22.

December 6 is the one Sunday built for a full day

Sundays have the shortest weekend hours at the rink, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., and no parade. Three Sundays still carry programming, and one stacks two events on the same block:

1. 10:45 a.m., The Lawn. The Nutcracker at Rock Rink gives its second of three performances. The other two are Sunday, Nov. 22 at 6 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 20 at 10:45 a.m.
2. 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., The Lawn. Rock Rink sessions run all afternoon.
3. 4 to 6 p.m., Park Centre Drive. The Hanukkah Celebration includes a menorah lighting, children's activities and entertainment. A lit menorah stands at the Dining Arroyo for the season.

The day before, Saturday, Dec. 5, opens with the Santa Chalet sensory morning and ends with the parade at 6 p.m. That makes Dec. 5 and 6 the most heavily programmed weekend of the season, from Saturday morning through Sunday evening.

Where the evening goes after the ice

A 75-minute skate ends before most dinner reservations do, and two places that opened this fall give a midweek evening somewhere to go next. Eater Vegas reported that Finney's Crafthouse opened Sept. 21 at 10955 Oval Park Drive, inside Downtown Summerlin. Along Rampart, The Resort at Summerlin opened its expanded casino floor on Oct. 6 at 221 N. Rampart Blvd. The expansion added the new Elyx Bar, a larger Summerlin Room, 107 gaming machines and more than 3,000 square feet.

For a night out without the rink, Signature Productions stages "A Christmas Carol: The Musical" at Summerlin Library and Performing Arts Center from Nov. 28 through Dec. 23. On Thanksgiving, when the rink is closed, Red Rock Resort is offering Thanksgiving menus at select restaurants on Thursday, Nov. 26.

If family is visiting for the holidays and you'd like to show them Summerlin beyond the parade route, or a season of hosting has you wondering whether your home still fits the way you gather, I'd be glad to talk it through. Jennifer Debough offers a relaxed, no-pressure conversation about your plans for the year ahead. Schedule Your Complimentary Consultation.