Brooklyn, NY (PRWEB) December 02, 2014
“Rockefeller Center? FUHGETTABOUDIT!” That’s the official slogan of A Slice of Brooklyn Bus Tours (http://www.asliceofbrooklyn.com) as they prepare for their 8th annual “Christmas Lights and Cannoli Tour” this December. The three and a half hour tour starts in Manhattan and highlights the festive homes of Dyker Heights, the Italian-American section of Brooklyn made famous in the PBS documentary “Dyker Lights” which is the area’s nickname during the month of December.
Each year, over 100,000 people flock to the area to see dazzling lights, fourteen foot tall wooden soldiers, animatronic figures, glowing nativity scenes and much more. Some of the homes featured on the tour are so over-the-top that they’ve even been featured on The Learning Channel’s “Crazy Christmas Lights.” Homes in the area are so lavishly draped in lights that one homeowner on the tour has an annual electric bill of $10,000 for the month of December alone!
Besides the lights, the tour features a stop for one of Brooklyn’s best cannoli from Villabate-Alba Pastry Shop and hot chocolate to warm up. There’s festive music to be heard throughout the tour and, on the ride back to Manhattan, nostalgic Christmas television specials are shown on the TV screens of the bus like The Colgate Comedy Hour, Andy Williams, Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Sonny & Cher and more.
Started in 2006 by native Brooklynite Tony Muia, the tour was a labor of love as well as the natural next step after launching the wildly popular “A Slice of Brooklyn Pizza Tour” in 2005.
“As Brooklynites, we never went to Rockefeller Center to see the tree. We’d drive around Dyker Heights to see the most amazing displays in the world. We always knew they were special and it’s great to see those same families, those same homes and those same displays still going strong after all these years. We love showing people from around the country, and around the world, what Brooklynites have known for over twenty years.”
The “Christmas Lights & Cannoli Tour” was prominently featured on Samantha Brown’s “Holidays in New York” special, Good Morning America, The Chew, GMTV in the UK, RAI in Italy as well as on German and Spanish television. Muia, whose tour is the only Brooklyn-based guided bus tour of the area, is amazed but not surprised at all the press coverage the tour has received.
“It’s such a great feeling creating a tour that everyone in the family can enjoy. We love showing people who love incredible Christmas decorations, and who have never been to Brooklyn before, how festive things can really get in our hometown.” Adds Muia, “What we really love is hearing folks say ‘Rockefeller Center? FUHGETTABOUDIT!’ at the end of each tour”
The Christmas Lights & Cannoli Tour runs every night in December, except December 24th and 25th, with start times of 6pm, 7pm and 8pm. And just like every tour offered by of A Slice of Brooklyn Bus Tours, tours conveniently depart from the Union Square area of Manhattan.