ZooLights at Lincoln Park welcome holidays

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Decorative lights displayed at entrance to Lincoln Park Zoo (Rauf/LION).

Lily Hanafin, Opinions Editor

Walking into the Lincoln Park ZooLights, I experienced the Christmas music set to light displays, lights in the shape of monkeys, owls, and even the Cheshire Cat dangling from the trees. From the moment you walk into the zoo, you are immersed in a festive environment. The zoo was teeming with lights on every exhibit, tree, and building. With many of the ZooLights centered around animals, it was fun to see a giant lit-up dragon and a lit-up swimming seal animation.

While it’s worth visiting to see the lights, don’t expect to see as many animals as Brookfield Zoo, since the Lincoln Park Zoo is a smaller zoo with fewer animal exhibits, and the lights aren’t open until it’s dark out, so most animals are asleep. For me, the lack of animals was the most underwhelming part of the ZooLights. Even despite the lack of animals and smaller zoo, you still get a great light show for the price. While I enjoyed the ZooLights with the multi-colored trees set against the backdrop of the city, it is a longer drive with more traffic than the drive to Brookfield Zoo.

The Lincoln Park ZooLights run from Nov. 19 to Jan. 2, with free admission on Mondays and Tuesdays, and $5 tickets Wednesday through Sunday. The low prices are good for families that want to keep costs down, but still get a high quality light experience. Parking on the street near the zoo is free, but it may be difficult to find parking at certain times of the day; however, there is a zoo parking lot with prices ranging from $20 to $35. 

I would highly recommend going to the Lincoln Park ZooLights for beautiful holiday lights at a low cost. 

4.5/5 paws