Hard to beat a free holiday light show you can enjoy without leaving the toasty inside of your car! I'm kind of a grinchy grinch but I do love Christmas lights. Part of why the HFIL appeals to me is they have a good mix of holiday displays and more neutral pieces like Bucky Badger and the Capitol building.
This year they've added a dancing tree display with its own radio channel that just loops Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You" on repeat. You have two opportunities to catch it, first on your drive in and then when you loop up and back around you are on a hill that lets you overlook it from a center vantage point.
On this year's trip the advertised radio station for the lights was broadcasting dead air, but there are multiple channels in town that play Christmas music all day every day for the duration.
Last year we tried the hayride after the lighting ceremony and ended up waiting an hour in the cold for the 5K runners to clear the path. I've found the best time to view the lights is on off times - the lines to get into the park can back up quite a ways down John Nolen. Our Thanksgiving weekend visit had no wait and was uncrowded enough we could space out our drive.
Turn your lights down to parking mode if you can to avoid annoying the people around you; my car doesn't give me the option while my car is running. I see all your side eyes, people, but there's not a whole lot I can do aside from cutting wires or pulling fuses - definitely more effort than I'm willing to make for a once-a-year drive through the lights.