Zoolights

Yes, parking is a nightmare. Yes, traffic is terrible. Yes, it is worth it. It’s beautiful and an experience. It’s especially worth the price of admission — free. You really don’t go to see animals, as most of them are sleeping.

Welcome to my favorite place in Chicago! I love the LP zoo! It’s free entry (you have to pay to park. But come on we live in Chicago, take the bus or walk).
It’s not the holidays if you don’t visit the zoo lights. The sights, the sounds, the animals, the food!
Don’t go opening night– too crowded. Go during the week day. You can roam and enjoy yourself without bumping into a huge crowd of people.
Visit right before the zoo officially closed so that you can see the animals and then enjoy the lights right after.
Grab some hot cocoa and a funnel cake. You won’t regret it.

On a warm and rainy December night… yes warm… my girlfriend and I decided to do our yearly Zoolights visit. It was great as usual. The zoo was beautiful and even in the rain it was a great experience. It might have been the best one we’ve had there. We were enthralled by the way the lights reflected off the puddles. It’s a must see for anyone that hasn’t been there. We will be back next year!

Lights sequences to your favorite holiday tunes, festive drinks and sweet treats: it’s the most merry time of year!
Is it crowded? You better believe it is. Save yourself the hassle and a few bucks and walk, über, taxi, or transit to get here.
Also, come for the lights, not the animal watching. Most animals are sleeping (or trying their darnedest to sleep.)
Enjoy the lights and the excitement of the most festive time of year!

Events like these can be hit or miss. But the cons really outweigh any benefit.
One plus, it’s free.
Negatives — very crowded.
Parking was almost impossible if you’re arriving late. Traffic was a nightmare and it took us like an hour just to be able to go a mile to a nearby lot where we had to move some cones and force our way in to pay $ 16!
Just park 2 miles away and walk in. It may be faster than trying to find a spot nearby. In the amount of time we spent on the highway, I could have walked from the loop to get to the zoo.
I feel there weren’t that many light displays and they weren’t too impressive. We were able to walk through pretty quickly to see everything.

Free light shows throughout Winter! Really neat and they keep the animal houses open so you can warm yourselves up inside and see some animals. Sadly, most of them are sleeping when it gets dark and we probably irritate them by flashing pictures while they are sleeping.
This should be a go-​to place for tourists all year round, ESPECIALLY during winter (light shows, ice skating, and ice sculptures done right in front of you). I still go here yearly in the winter and have yet to get bored.
If you are lucky, you can park on Stockton for free or one of the side streets a little further out. I’ve always managed to find parking on Stockton after circling a couple times because a car or two eventually leaves. Turn onto Stockton from Laselle to avoid traffic!

I feel awful for these poor animals being bothered by droves of bafoons in awe over Christmas lights.
Why is it they let people into the various animal houses? The only retreat these poor creatures have from display. Tonight I witnessed a chimpanzee in fetal position covering his head with his back to the window– he was in flight/​panic position and was clearly depressed and scared.
Meanwhile thousands of idiots shuffled through here with their screaming obnoxious children and double wides.
LP Zoo staff: if you’re reading this please let the animals be and close down the houses so they may rest for next year’s festivities. It’s really an abomination how sad the gorillas, chimpanzees and lionesses looked. Disrupting their sleep and eating patterns for this event is not necessary.

We decided to come the 2^nd to last day before they are closed for the year. The weather was pretty bad~ 30 degrees and constantly drizzling with puddles and slush all over the ground. We arrived around 8pm before it closed at 9pm. I was upset because I had wanted to get there by 7 to have enough time to walk around the whole zoo. However, it actually only took us 30 min to see everything. They blocked off the majority of the zoo.
What we did see was pretty cool. My favorites were the rainbow tunnel you can walk under and the large display that lights on and off accordingly with the Christmas music. I also saw a couple get engaged– he did it in a dark spot though– would have been slightly nicer if it was in front of lights lol. Anyway, the lights were pretty but I was disappointed that the lights only covered such a small part of the zoo. We drove 2.15 hours roundtrip to see 30 min of lights. This will probably be a once every 5 years kind of thing for me now. But I’m glad I got to see what all the hype is about. At least it was free!

We took advantage of the unseasonably warm weather and braved the crowds last Tuesday night. Instead of attempting to navigate the traffic around LSD and Fullerton, we ubered it to the entrance. Despite the crowds, it was fine to walk around and see the lights without getting claustrophobic. There are stands selling popcorn, coffee, and hot chocolate throughout the park. I liked the life-​size snow globes displaying characters from movies (Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Star Wars) as well as the coordinated music and lights show towards the center of the zoo that integrates modern and classic Christmas tunes to the lights display.
I can see how this is a great free way for a family to enjoy Christmas lights and music in the city rather than driving to the suburbs. Great way to walk off a large holiday dinner!

We visited the Lincoln Park Zoo while on vacation in Chicago. My sister took us to ZooLights our first night in town and it was fantastic! What a treat for the city of Chicago to have this sponsored by ComEd and PNC Bank. The lighting displays are dazzling and I especially enjoyed the light show set to classic Christmas songs. Admission is free and there are snacks and hot drinks to buy. If you’re going, try a weeknight, as it won’t be nearly as crowded as on the weekends. I would recommend it to all Chicagoans and visitors alike.

Went on Saturday 12/​13/​2014. Weather was great, which made the crowds a nightmare. Traffic in and around the zoo was almost stagnant! Could not even get into the parking lot as it was closed due to traffic congestion on North Avenue (where the exit is). None of the zoo staff had the idea to open the north side of the parking lot to allow people who wanted to leave out of the lot. Was forced to find an open spot on the street at least a mile away from the zoo, only to find a half empty zoo lot upon arrival??? Someone in the zoo administration needs to take a closer look at the money they get from the corporate sponsors and allocate some of it towards traffic management! Also, Chicago Police presence to control traffic around the zoo, NON-​EXISTANT! Mayor Rahmm should be the one called on the carpet for this one. Oh yeah thats right he’s to busy making sure teachers are accountable! Lastly, in this age of efficiency and with a corporate sponsor such as ComEd/​Exelon, one would think the light displays would have been LED. Nope, 95% of the holiday lighting was good old wasteful incandescent lighting. Come on people get with the times!
For those of you interested in spending your free time at this event, I would say skip it. Not worth the hassle, better light shows around Chicago with less headache.

While I have enjoyed many a Zoolights in the past, this review is specific to my recent experience at Zoolights «Brewlights»… or as we’ve called it, the festival of lines!
We purchased early bird tickets for $ 35 a pop — that was supposed to get us 12 4oz samples of beers. Below you’ll understand why that only got us 4 of those samples and left us quite angry for more.
The gates opened at 5:00 PM, but even if you were able to get there from work so early, you couldn’t get a beer until 5:30 PM… but wait! Even to get IN THE GATE with a ticket, it took nearly 40 minutes waiting outside. Once inside you got in line for a beer with your little plastic cup. 20 – 30 minutes later when you reach the front of the line, you get your beer sample.
If you wanted to get another sample, you had to get back in line immediately to wait again to try to get 2 samples in an hour!
If you wanted to be warm, you had to go inside the lion house that was crowded with 1,000 other cold people. Oh, and btw, there were no (none, zip, zero, zilch) animals to see!
Further worse than the lines was the set up. They had set up on both ends of the lion house, so you couldn’t get in or out easily.
By the end of the night, even the bathrooms were broken and we were told we couldn’t use them and sent someplace else.
Oh, and it was COLD…
The one good part was free rides on the carousel. One star for riding on the panda, one star for the idea of the carousel being free.
They stopped pouring at 8:30 PM even though the fest was supposed to go to 9:00 PM. They had many full kegs that went to waste!

The Zoolights id probably one of my favorite things to go see and do around the holiday time. Admission is free (love it!), and it’s great for the whole family.
They have hot chocolate, cider, and beer for sale (it’s a bit pricey) if you want something to sip on while you walk around. You can bring in your own drinks (not alcohol obviously) if you want. It’s usually very cold, so bundle up! We have been known to stop inside the gift shop just to get warm.
They have tons of light to see, most of them choreographed to music which is neat. They also have a guy that makes ice sculptures. Inside the gift shop they had some snakes you can hold. Most of the animals are sleeping or hiding since it is so cold, so don’t expect to see many of them. If you’re lucky you may be able to see a sea lion in the inside/​underground part of that exhibit.

This year marks the 20^th anniversary of Zoolights and WOW, they have really done it up to mark the occasion!!! I’ve been to Zoolights every year since the beginning and this year is by far the largest display LPZ has ever set up. The huge light display begins at the main entrance (Webster St) and goes directly East to the zoo’s parking lot entrance. The light display then continues South after the lion house all the way to Café Brauer/​Nature Boardwalk where you’ll find the light tunnel. The grassy picnic area immediately to the South of the zoo’s cafeteria houses a huge light display that is choreographed to Holiday music and is a great spot to take pics or enjoy a beverage. There are also about six huge snow globes containing Holiday scenes on the South end of this display.
Admission to Zoolights is FREE… yes, FREE, but the hot chocolate, cider and beer are pretty costly especially if you are «having a few.» My suggestion would be to visit one of the many local bars along Clark St beforehand to get your «Holiday buzz» going. Another suggestion would be to take the CTA or a cab because the only parking option is the zoo’s lot which is pricey and often full during busy nights.
Happy Holidays 2014 and check out Zoolights this year!!! Here’s a couple of helpful links:

Cheers!!!

This was my first time going to Zoolights and with the weather being absolutely gorgeous it was such a good time. I would suggest getting there an hour or so early for those driving to take advantage of the free parking surrounding the zoo.
At this free event the zoo is surrounded in beautiful lights with music played in the background to bring about a spectacular light show. In addition to the zoolights there’s an ice skating rink, snacks for purchase, and a beautiful skyline. Very good place to take the kids and I would even say it would be a perfect inexpensive date night. Definitely something to experience at least once.

Cold but INCREDIBLE! Which that pretty much describes everything in Chicago in my opinion. The lights were spectacular and being able to walk through the zoo seeing the animals and the lights is the way to do Lincoln Park Zoo! Hot Chocolate is a must of course, so make sure you pick some up from the vendors located in the park and stroll on over to the tiger while taking in all the breathtaking lights. Zoolights is not to be missed, so make sure you schedule this into your winter night!