Imaginaria is Thanksgiving Point's summer festival for families, and it takes over one of Utah County's best-known gardens to do it. For most of the summer, the 50-acre Ashton Gardens in Lehi fill with themed play zones, giant inflatables, splash areas, craft tents and hands-on science stations, and children run from one to the next while their parents try to keep up. It is part playground, part fair and part garden walk, and it is aimed squarely at children.
It is also new. Thanksgiving Point launched Imaginaria in 2025, calling it a brand-new summer event for kids, and brought it back in 2026 with a completely different theme built around the nation's 250th anniversary. It is also easy to misunderstand, because its name sounds a lot like Luminaria, the garden's winter light show. The two are very different events.
This guide explains what Imaginaria is, how the first two seasons worked, what it costs, how the activity card and evening tickets work, and how to plan a day there by age. The details come from Thanksgiving Point's own announcements and pages. Where a year is named, it shows how the festival has run, not a promise about the next season.
What Imaginaria Is, and What It Is Not
Imaginaria is a play festival. The core of it is movement: climbing, bouncing, sliding, splashing and running between attractions spread through the gardens. Around that core, Thanksgiving Point adds crafts, science activities, themed scenery and places to eat, so a family can spend most of a day there.
It is not a light show. Thanksgiving Point's winter event in the same gardens, Luminaria, is a walk through holiday lights after dark. Imaginaria runs through the day and into the evening in summer, and its appeal is active play rather than scenery. If you are looking for the lights, you want the winter event; if you are looking for somewhere to wear the children out in July, you want Imaginaria.
It is also not a single-day festival. Imaginaria runs for most of the summer, from early June to late August, six days a week, with timed tickets, which makes it more like a seasonal attraction than a one-weekend event.
When and Where It Happens
Imaginaria has run from the first days of June to the last full week of August, Monday through Saturday. The 2025 season ran June 2 to August 23, and the 2026 season ran June 1 to August 22. In 2026 the gardens opened for Imaginaria from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
The festival fills the Ashton Gardens on the Thanksgiving Point campus in Lehi, at 3900 North Garden Drive. The gardens are one of the campus's anchor attractions, alongside its museums and farm, and they cover about 50 acres of lawns, themed gardens, water features and paths. Imaginaria uses all of that space, which is why a visit involves a fair amount of walking.
Thanksgiving Point had not announced a 2027 season as of September 2026. Check the Thanksgiving Point website in the spring before you plan around it.
The First Season: Six Themed Worlds
The first Imaginaria, in 2025, was built as a storybook. Thanksgiving Point divided the gardens into six themed zones, each with its own play features. Enchanted Hollow was a fairy wonderland with fairy houses of every shape and size. Pirate Cove had two dueling pirate ship playgrounds. Bugtopia filled a garden with larger-than-life insects, hands-on science and games. Splash Bay was the water-play zone. Prehistoric Park brought out giant dinosaurs, and Whispering Woods was a grove of talking trees.
Around the zones sat the big attractions: a 250-foot obstacle course, giant inflatable bounce houses and water balloon battles. Science stations such as a Pollinator Quest and a Fossil Pit gave the day a learning thread, and towering topiaries tied the whole thing to the garden setting.
The Second Season: America 250
For 2026, Thanksgiving Point rebuilt Imaginaria around the nation's 250th anniversary and billed it as the biggest America 250 celebration in Utah. The storybook worlds gave way to giant American landmarks spread through the gardens: a towering 40-foot Statue of Liberty, a Mount Rushmore, a Lincoln Memorial and a field of historical American flags, along with patriotic installations and themed photo spots.
The play stayed big. The 2026 season kept a 250-foot inflatable obstacle course, added a 150-foot Mega Slide and splash play areas, and introduced Victory Field, a zone of sports challenges with basketball, mini golf, soccer and inflatable games. The science thread shifted to invention and innovation, with activities inspired by space, technology, creativity and problem-solving.
What Stays the Same
The themes change, but the formula has held. Both seasons combined a long inflatable obstacle course, large inflatables and slides, water play for hot afternoons, a craft program and hands-on science, all set inside the gardens rather than on a parking lot. Both were designed for children first, with parents following along. And both used the gardens themselves as part of the experience, so that between the big attractions there are lawns, shade and water features to rest beside.
That consistency is useful for planning. Whatever next season's theme, if there is one, expect active play, water, crafts and a lot of walking.
Tickets, Passes and the Activity Card
Imaginaria is ticketed, and tickets are timed. Thanksgiving Point encourages buying them in advance, especially for busy summer days. For 2026, admission was $24 for adults, $19 for teenagers 13 to 17, $17 for children 3 to 12 and $21 for seniors 65 and older. Children 2 and under were free, and so were Thanksgiving Point members. The 2025 season was priced in a similar range, from $17 to $27 a person.
On top of admission, the Ultimate Activity Card is an optional punch card for the extras: take-home crafts, treats and bonus interactive activities. In the first season it came in several sizes and covered more than 25 crafts, from personalized fairy wings to water balloon battles; in 2026 it came in 5-, 10- and 15-punch sizes, and late in the season Thanksgiving Point offered two cards for the price of one. A card can be shared among siblings, which makes a larger card better value for a big family.
Thanksgiving Point has also sold an all-access pass for Imaginaria. Prices and options change from season to season, so check the current offers before you buy.
Summer Nights
The best-value way into Imaginaria in 2026 was in the evening. Thanksgiving Point sold $10 tickets after 6 p.m. under the name Imaginaria Summer Nights, all summer long. The gardens stay open until 9 p.m., so an evening ticket buys three hours of play at a fraction of the daytime price, in the coolest part of the day.
For families who live nearby, the evening ticket changes the math. Instead of committing to a full, hot day, you can come for dinner and a few hours of play several times over the summer.
Planning It by Age
Toddlers get in free, and the gardens have plenty of gentle space for them to roam. The biggest inflatables and the obstacle course are better for older children, but the scenery, the water play and some of the crafts work well for the very young. Bring a stroller for the long walks between zones.
Preschoolers and early grade-schoolers are the core audience. They will want the bounce houses, the slides, the splash areas and the themed scenery, and they are the right age for most of the crafts.
Older children and preteens get the most from the obstacle course, the Mega Slide and the sports challenges, and they are old enough to enjoy the science activities on their own terms.
Teenagers pay admission and may find much of it young for them, though many enjoy the obstacle course and the sports challenges, especially with younger siblings.
Parents and grandparents should expect to walk a lot and play some. The gardens themselves are a pleasure, and seniors have their own ticket price.
How to Plan a Day
Imaginaria rewards a plan, because the gardens are large and summer afternoons are hot.
Arrive near opening, when lines for the big attractions tend to be shorter, and head for the biggest inflatables and the obstacle course first, while the children have the most energy. Work toward the splash areas as the day warms up, and bring swimsuits or a change of clothes, because children will get wet whether or not you planned for it.
Build in breaks. The gardens have shade, lawns and water features, and a quiet half hour under a tree does wonders for a tired child. Plan lunch before the midday rush, and use the craft tents as a cool-down between the more active zones.
If a full day is too much, the evening is the better choice. Arrive shortly after 6 p.m. with an evening ticket, eat first or at the festival, and play until closing, when the heat has broken and the light over the gardens is at its best.
The Ashton Gardens Setting
The setting is what separates Imaginaria from an ordinary inflatable park. Thanksgiving Point was created in 1995 by Alan and Karen Ashton, and the Ashton Gardens that carry their name are its showpiece: 50 acres of themed gardens, lawns and water, better known for spring tulips and summer weddings than for bounce houses.
A children's festival inside a botanical garden is an unusual combination, and it works. The gardens provide shade and space, the themed scenery sits naturally among the plantings, and parents get to walk through one of the prettiest places in Utah County while their children play. For more on the gardens themselves, see our guide to the Ashton Gardens.
What to Pack
Imaginaria is an outdoor summer festival, and packing for it is mostly about sun, water and spare clothes. Bring sunscreen and put it on before you arrive, then again after the splash areas. Bring hats for everyone, and a refillable water bottle for each person, since a day of running between zones is thirsty work.
Pack swimsuits or at least a full change of clothes for each child, plus a towel, and a bag for wet things. Water play is part of the design, and children who swear they will stay dry rarely do. Comfortable closed shoes make the walking easier for adults; children will spend much of their time on inflatables and in water, so shoes that come off and go back on easily save time.
A phone with a charged battery is useful for timed tickets and for finding each other, and a small first-aid kit covers the scrapes that come with any playground. If you are bringing a baby or toddler, a stroller is worth the effort for the distances involved.
Making the Most of the Activity Card
The activity card is optional, and whether it is worth buying depends on your children. Families with children who love crafts will get the most from it, because the take-home projects are the part of Imaginaria that lasts beyond the day. Families with children who only want to run and bounce can skip it, since admission covers the main play attractions.
If you buy one, choose the size by the number of children and how long you will stay. A larger card shared among siblings is usually better value than several small ones. Crafts take time, so spread them through the day as rest breaks rather than doing them all at once, and save a punch or two for a treat late in the visit, when energy runs low. Look for promotions late in the season, when Thanksgiving Point has discounted the cards.
Hot Days and Summer Storms
Summer in Lehi is hot, and the middle of the afternoon in July is the hardest time to enjoy an outdoor festival. On the hottest days, the evening ticket is the smart choice: the temperature drops, the light softens and the price falls. If you come for the day, plan the most active play for the morning, the water play for the early afternoon and the craft tents and shaded lawns for the hottest hours.
Afternoon thunderstorms occasionally sweep across the valley in summer. Check the forecast, keep an eye on the sky over the mountains, and follow staff directions if weather moves in. Thanksgiving Point's indoor museums on the same campus make a natural backup for a stormy afternoon.
Getting Around the Gardens
The Ashton Gardens are large, and the play zones are spread across them rather than packed into one area. That is part of the charm, but it means a visit involves real walking, some of it on slopes. The paths make strollers workable, but plan your route rather than doubling back across the gardens repeatedly.
Pick up or look at a map on arrival, decide on a loop that covers the zones your children care about most, and set a meeting point that everyone can find, such as a landmark near the entrance. With older children who want to roam, agree on check-in times. The gardens are enclosed and staffed, but they are big enough that it is easy to lose sight of someone for a few minutes.
Getting There and Parking
Thanksgiving Point sits in Lehi, just off I-15 at the north end of Utah County, roughly a 25- to 30-minute drive from Provo. The Ashton Gardens are on the campus's Garden Drive. Parking is on the campus, and on busy summer days it pays to arrive a little early and allow time to walk from the car and through the entrance.
The campus has other attractions nearby, including its museums and farm, so it is possible to combine Imaginaria with another stop, though most families will find one big attraction enough for a summer day.
Is It Worth the Price?
Imaginaria is not cheap at full daytime prices, especially for a larger family, and it is fair to ask whether it is worth it compared with a free afternoon at a park. The honest answer depends on how your family uses it. For a long day with children in the right age range, the combination of big inflatables, water play, crafts and a garden setting is hard to reproduce anywhere else in the county, and the day passes quickly.
There are ways to bring the cost down. The evening ticket is the biggest saving, and for many families three evening hours are plenty. Children 2 and under are free. And for families who visit Thanksgiving Point regularly, a membership changes the calculation entirely, because members get into Imaginaria free on top of the campus's other attractions.
Combining It With the Rest of Thanksgiving Point
Thanksgiving Point is a campus of attractions rather than a single venue, with museums, a farm and the gardens within a short drive of each other. That makes it tempting to plan a full day around several of them, but with young children, Imaginaria alone is usually a full outing. A better plan for families with a membership is to spread visits across the summer: an evening at Imaginaria one week, a museum morning on a hot day another week.
If you do combine them, put the indoor museum first, while children are fresh and before the heat builds, and finish at Imaginaria in the late afternoon or evening, when the water play and the lower evening price both work in your favor.
How It Compares
Imaginaria is unusual among Utah County's summer events because it runs for most of the season rather than a single weekend. The valley's city celebrations, from Lindon Days to Alpine Days, pack their programs into a week and are mostly free; Imaginaria charges admission but is open six days a week all summer. For free outdoor play, the county's parks are the obvious alternative, and our guide to destination playgrounds in Utah Valley covers the best of them.
Imaginaria has also given the gardens a fuller year: Thanksgiving Point's spring Tulip Festival and its winter Luminaria lights walk already drew families to the Ashton Gardens, and Imaginaria now fills the summer between them. The full calendar of festivals lives on our festivals hub, and the festival and celebration finder filters it by month and city.
A Few Practical Tips
Buy tickets in advance for Saturdays and for any day in July, and consider the evening ticket for a cheaper, cooler visit. Bring sunscreen, hats, water bottles, swimsuits or a change of clothes, and a stroller for small children. Plan a meeting spot with older children, because the gardens are large and easy to get turned around in.
Remember that Imaginaria has been closed on Sundays, and check Thanksgiving Point's website for holiday hours; some days close early. Members should bring their membership details, since admission is free for them.
The Short Version
Imaginaria is Thanksgiving Point's summer play festival in the 50-acre Ashton Gardens in Lehi, open Monday through Saturday from early June to late August. It combines themed play zones, a 250-foot inflatable obstacle course, slides, splash areas, crafts and science activities, with a new theme each season so far: storybook worlds in 2025 and America's 250th anniversary in 2026. Admission is timed and ticketed, members get in free, and the $10 evening tickets are the best deal of the summer. It is not Luminaria, the winter light show in the same gardens.
Related Guides
- The Ashton Gardens
- Destination Playgrounds in Utah Valley
- Things to Do in Lehi
- Festivals and Celebrations in Utah County
- Festival and Celebration Finder
Frequently Asked Questions
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