As the calendar hits November, it’s time to start planning your annual trip to see Christmas lights. For many of you, this takes you to the zoo, and we at Zoo With Us would agree with that decision. Here are some insights from Zoo lights that we’ve seen, as well as some research from zoos around the country as to which lights you should go see this year.
2018 Zoo Lights Contest Winner
We’re a big fan of the USA Today’s Readers’ Choice Awards. They put out contests throughout the year for many topics, and zoos are frequently in their lists. In their 2018 Holiday Zoo Lights contest, the Midwest had a very strong showing. Taking the top spot was the Cincinnati Zoo. The second zoo in this list was Toledo, and taking third was the Detroit Zoo. St. Louis Zoo (also in the Midwest) was in fourth. For the complete top 10 list, click here.
2018 Zoo With Us Christmas Lights Observations
In 2018, we were able to visit three different zoos during their holiday lights displays. Here are our thoughts:
- Columbus Zoo – This was our favorite display of the three we made it to. The zoo was full of lights displays of trees, animals, and much more. What made this display fantastic was the automation. Several of the displays were set to music and timed intervals, creating a fantastic viewing experience. For a complex review of Columbus Zoo’s lights (with pictures), click here.
- Indianapolis Zoo – I should start by saying the Indianapolis Zoo is not a very big zoo. When the Africa section is closed for after hours events, this zoo doesn’t take very long to complete. But that made for a nice setting for a stroll through lights. For a complete review of Indianapolis Zoo’s lights, click here.
- Brookfield Zoo – We enjoyed the 2018 lights at Brookfield much more than past years. The biggest addition in our eyes was the giant lit-up igloo you can walk inside. They also have several large lit-up animals for viewing. Most of Brookfield’s decorations are community-donated trees, which are great during the daylight but usually aren’t lit up. Because Brookfield has so much space, I think we expect more from them. There are several timed intervals which are ok, the lawn next to the Ape house does have some large structures, but it just seems like this could include so much more.
Chinese Lantern Festivals
The new trend in lights is to host a Chinese Lantern Festival. We hadn’t seen this pop up until this past Summer, when we saw the lanterns at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo in Ohio. Cleveland has a very large zoo, and the lanterns were EVERYWHERE! Even in the daytime, it was fun to see large lanterns of a shark, dragon, or dozens of giant pandas.
This Fall, the lanterns are on display at the Racine Zoo. Racine is much smaller in size than a zoo like Cleveland, but the lanterns are still impressive. The signage guides you on a hike through the zoo as you look at all the lanterns on display. It felt like a Christmas lights display in early November. Definitely something to check out if you’re in the area (click here for tickets). For a gallery of our Racine Zoo lantern pictures, click here.
If you’re not in the Midwest, have no fear: the lanterns trend has popped up at several others zoos across the country, including:
Philadelphia Zoo – Nov. 20 – January 5
Nashville Zoo – Nov. 15 – December 30
Central Florida Zoo – Nov. 20 – January 12
Reid Park Zoo (Arizona) – Feb. 2 – March 23
Louisville Zoo – March 5 – April 25
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