Balboa Park’s December Nights organizers say they have surpassed the 350,000 people they expected for the two-night extravaganza.
Around 160,000 visitors came out Friday night, while 200,000 people found their way to the park Saturday.
"It’s just an incredible gift that the city of San Diego and the Balboa Park Conservancy gives to the people of San Diego,” Tomas Herrera-Mishler of the Balboa Park Conservancy tells NBC 7.
More than 100 free performances on nine different stages across the park and dozens of food vendors offering delights from all over the world helped bring in the large crowds.
Sue Nicolette and Patricia King brave the crowds every year for to help kick off the holiday season.
"There’s a lot of people when you come in that's pretty hard to maneuver around but once you get in here, it's not bad,” King says.
This year, more shuttles and parking options were added to help get into the park.
Local
Some of the organizers met Saturday evening to go over ideas for next year already since next year will be December Nights’ fortieth university. They say they're looking at ways to spread the celebration out over the whole month of December with different light displays.
