We visited Zoo Lights at Utah's Hogle Zoo a few weeks ago and enjoyed the festive and colorful lights. It wasn't especially cold, and we were dressed appropriately with warm coats, snow pants, hats, and gloves. I was surprised to see many visitors who weren't dressed for the cold. Although you can warm up at the cafe, it's best to dress for the cold because it can be frigid. Over the years, we have visited Zoo Lights many times, and it's always a fun experience for our family. I was surprised this year, however, to see the decorations have been scaled back. Zoo Lights is smaller than in previous years, and areas that were open in the past are now closed down. Our boys loved Zoo Lights and enjoyed visiting Santa and riding the carousel. Thank you for a fun evening, Hogle Zoo! read more

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We were really disappointed this year. Most of the zoo is closed off and you can't see the cats or a majority of the zoo in general. It wasn't cheap for a 20 minute walk and only being able to see a quarter of the zoo. read more

Zoo Lights was perfect thing for my family and I to do at night in Salt Lake City when we had our 2019 Ski trip. Yeah, I started writing this almost 3 years ago, but, my review was postponed by a shoulder surgery, a pandemic, and now a knee surgery. Every time I open up the browser or app, Yelp keeps telling me to finish up my draft. I've had chances to finish it in June when Zoo Lights is not open. Anyhow, this is a pre-COVID review so things may have changed. Zoo lights is located inside the Hogle Zoo. They decorate the zoo with animal lights during the holiday season. When we went in 2019, it was so cold that all the animals decided to stay inside in their nice and warm dens. The only animals we saw were the lights. They had lights in the shape of a lion, gorilla, elephant and many other animals. According to the website, they have new and improved lights for 2021. Parking was rough. It took us almost 20 minutes to find a parking space. They had shops and stands open and were serving hot chocolate. Some lines were very long. It was okay. It was a good way to spend a couple of hours. Dress warmly as it can be very cold. 3 1/2 stars. read more

Came here for zoo lights and it was not great. The parking lot was sheer chaos, like worse than Costco. The staff wasn't able to direct the crowd to the fact that there were three lines for ticket holders to go through so more chaos. Not a great experience. read more

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Do not expect to see any animals when visiting Zoo Lights. Much like the Halloween Boo Lights, this event is intended to be a fun stroll through lots of fun light displays, and not a regular visit to the zoo. In order to view animals at night they would need to illuminate exhibits with bright lights and totally disrupt the animals normal environments and that's not fair at all, so just wanted to put that out there. If you want to see animals as your primary motivation for coming - visit the zoo during the day. It can be extremely cold up this canyon, and tends to feel colder due to breezes so dress warm. They do have propane heater stationed around the park and there is a really fun s'mores area with fire pits to roast marshmallows over. We loved the new lantern style animals! So fun. And the bridge with the tunnel of lights is a must. There is no train running during the winter, though the carousel usually operates. read more

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I've gone the last 6 yrs and it seems like they gotten less and less creative with the lights or at least less light displayed. Also this year nothing was open and not a single heat lamp was up. I really liked it when the kids were able to go into the building a write a note to Santa. This is our last year, super disappointed. read more

Zoolights $15 per adults and $12 for kids 3-12. Ages 2 and under are free. 5:30-9pm. After years of hype we finally went to see the zoo lights. It was just below freezing out as expected. Don't expect to see any animals. All the indoor exhibits are closed. We did manage to make out 3 zebra butts in the distant shadows and a bald eagle perched in the dark. Once you reach the halfway point and can no longer feel your fingers and toes, there's a nice area with multiple propane fire pits to warm your hands. Of course this is just for looks, because everyone is refused entry to the fire pit area unless you purchase a s'more kit. This is unfortunate because the fire pits just go to waste as people continually get rejected by the annoyed girl working the kiosk. The lights are fun and there are some really nice animal light sculptures. The kids enjoyed running around as a group. Overall, the cold took its toll on everyone and with a lack of indoor access to warm up, the good times quickly stopped rolling. To be fair, towards the beginning of the tour there is a cafeteria where you can buy hot chocolate and you can also walk inside the Rocky Shores building. I guess if you aren't allowed to see any animals, what's the point of visiting the zoo at all. There's lots of places with lights and no animals to visit. read more

Zoo Lights at the Hogle Zoo is worth a visit during the winter holiday. It is only $7 for adults and $5 for children age 3-12 and seniors (65+). Parking is free. If you plan on visiting the zoo lights for the next holiday season, be sure to check out Hogle Zoo's discount page to save any additional money (http://www.hoglezoo.org/promo/zoo_lights/discounts/). Luckily on the day we came (Saturday, Dec 19), the radio station, 97.9 had their listener appreciation night. On their website was a $3 off admission coupon (http://imgsrv.kbzn.com/image/kbzn2/UserFiles/File/ZooLightsDiscountCouponNOW2015.pdf). All we had to do was show our coupon at the admission window (didn't even have to print it out, which was really helpful for us since we were on vacation and did not have a printer) and saved $6 for the both of us (only $8 for the both of us on this cold evening). Anyways, when we arrived around 6 pm, the parking lot was nearly full. But we were lucky to find a parking spot just as a family was leaving. But if you are unable to find a spot in this lot, you can park across the street in their overflow lot. After we paid for our admission, we were well on our way to view all of the beautiful lights (by the way, there are restrooms by the front entrance and throughout the park). I am such a sucker for Christmas lights and really enjoyed all of the sights here. Some of the light displays move and some are quite animated. Some are also just stationary as well (just view my photos). This place reminded me of the Zoo Lights in Arizona that I went to some years back with my husband (http://www.yelp.com/biz/zoolights-phoenix-2). There are a lot of animal themed lights (we are at the zoo after all). Some are really cute and creative. And plenty of photo opportunities throughout. By the way, on our visit, Santa was available for children (and adults) to line up and take photos with him (and Mrs. Clause) and sit on his lap and tell him what you would like for the upcoming holiday. Figured that is worth mentioning in case you have little ones that are interesting in visiting Santa. A very small handful of animals were out and about on our visit. We saw a few of the tigers and one bird. The rest of the animals were either hibernating or not open for us to walk to and look at. There is food sold during this event, including a make your own s'mores type of treat where you can actually try to roast your marshmallow over a fire. Looked like fun but we ate before we came. This event probably took us about 1.5 hours to walk through and look at everything. I highly recommend that you check out this place next December and also make sure to dress warmly because it was pretty cold on the day we visited. read more

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Fun family night out, but not what we expected at all. Most of the animals are not out, and we found ourselves wandering around the dark exhibits looking through the glass trying to see animals for most the night! The only animals you can see are sea lions, seals, leopards, and the tiger. All of the other animals have dark exhibits and are not out for viewing. Every other time I have been to the zoo the tiger has been sleeping, but when we went he was up, walking around, and growling! We spent a good 30 minutes watching him and it was awesome. The lights are fun and they do have lights of animals, but I would rather have seen the real ones instead of a light up elephant! I think this is a fun place to go if you have little kids, but it's not very appealing for adults. read more

Zoo Lights - Festivals Near Me - Salt Lake City, Utah

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We had a blast! Cute Santa station, makes me regret spending $50 at the mall haha. I will remember this for next year. Some of the animals are not out, as expected since they where sleeping. My favorite thing was the lighted animals! They looked like giant sculptures made of stained glass. It was beautiful! Definitely worth going. read more

Zoo Lights really deserves to be reviewed separately from the zoo itself--the experience is different than just visiting the zoo! We visited Zoo Lights on a whim during our recent holiday visit to SLC, and we were so glad that we did...what a fun and festive place! For those not familiar with this event, during the holidays Hogle Zoo opens at night, and the entire zoo is bedazzled with light displays. The admission when we went was $7 for adults and $5 for kids, which was really a bargain for the amount of fun we had. Not only did we get to see all the wonderful lights, but Kid loved making s'mores, crafting a jellyfish ornament, touring the reptile house, riding the carousel, and, of course, visiting Santa! Although most of the animals are sleeping during this time, you can still get glimpses of them snoozing (the crowds and lights do not seem to bother them at all), and some nocturnal animals are ready to be admired. The Beastro snack bar is open if you need some vittles or hot drinks, although the prices in there are a bit steep. Overall, we had a great time at Zoo Lights, well worth the price of admission! read more

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If you are in SLC during the Christmas holidays, this is a must ! The lights really are pretty cool. Many exhibits are closed , but the lights and atmosphere are . Check it out , you won't regret it. read more

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Not worth thr price of admission. If you want to see a few fun lights, go. But more than half of the exhibits were closed at night and you can't see any of the animals because there is no lighting and its pitch black. We went through the entire zoo and the only living/non light animals were lions. I'm only taking our kids in the day from now on and wouldn't recommend zoo lights to anyone. read more

Beware the ever-blowing, bitter, arctic wind. It's proximity to the canyon makes this venue particularly miserable in record breaking cold evenings. They do attempt to make the guests more comfortable with propane heaters. If you can find an open one. It's somewhat pointless to attempt to beat the crowd here by arriving early. The staff charges a separate daytime rate for anyone showing up before 5:30pm. Then they remove all those people from the park and charge a separate fee for admission to zoo lights. The price isn't that bad. $7 for adults and $5 for children age 3-12 and seniors (65+). Parking is free. The crowd builds fast outside the venue but is quickly dispersed once people scatter through the park. The lights are nice to visit once or maybe twice, but they don't change too much from one year to the next. The animals are pretty scarce, and the lighting is of course bad-- with it being night time and all --so don't expect much there. Overall, it's a great place to visit once, but you won't find anything new with a second round. read more