Join us on our tour of Zoo Lights at Lincoln Park Zoo!
An annual Christmas-time tradition for my family is to go to the Lincoln Park zoo for the Zoo Lights event. Its something we look forward to every year, is affordable (relative to how much things cost in Chicago), and we get great memorable photos.
Lincoln Park Zoo is located at 2400 N. Cannon Drive, Chicago, IL 60614
The Zoo Lights website is: https://www.lpzoo.org/pressroom/zoolights-2/
The Zoo phone number is 312-742-2000
Tickets are $7.00 to $20.00/person.
Parking is about $30.00
Our drive from where we live in Northwest Indiana to the Lincoln Park Zoo is only about a 45 minute drive.
This year when we went to Zoo Lights it took about another 45 minutes to get into the parking lot at the zoo from Fullerton Ave. We take Lake Shore Drive north and get off on Fullerton Ave., then take Fullerton Ave west to the entrance of the Zoo parking lot.
When you pull into the main parking lot there are three lanes that all have the automated parking ticket system, and you press a button at the gate machine, then it gives you a parking ticket, and then the mast arm raises. This year, for some reason, the arms would only go up about once every couple minutes, which caused a long backup going into the Zoo parking lot.
Note that when you map to the Zoo, be sure to map to the main parking lot entrance at 2400 N. Cannon Drive, Chicago, IL 60614. From lessons learned the hard way, if you map to any random Lincoln Park Zoo address you find online, it will likely take you to the small parking lot on the west side of the Zoo – and that’s NOT where you want to be (its a small parking lot and there’s tons of traffic in that direction.)
As you enter the zoo you are greeting with fun photo op locations.
As you walk in, if you have already bought tickets (which is the way to go), you go into one line, and if you need to buy tickets you go into a different line.
There’s also a bag check. What I thought was funny (and the bag check guy did not think was funny), was that I forgot I was wearing a backpack, so I walked passed the bag check guy, and he had to stop me to tell me to put my backpack on the table.
You are allowed to bring food in. I’m not sure exactly what isn’t allowed to be brought in, but it seems that you can bring most anything in (bags, bookbags, strollers, food).
When you get into the zoo, right after the check in lines, you are greeted with this lighted arch. This my be the biggest photo op location of all of zoo lights. The arch changes color and goes through quite a few color cycles. We always get a family photo when the lights are white, and it sometimes takes a while to get the perfect photo because the color cycle takes a while to get back to the color you are looking for.
The arch is really long, and seeing people take photos in the arch reminds me of people taking photos in front of Disneyland where lots of people can take photos at the same time without being in eachothers way.
Below are a handful of cool photos taken throught the zoo. Some highlights include: lit trees, views from the courtyard, more lighted arches, a fun looking 101.9 The Mix Chicago light (kind of like the bat signal!).
Below are a number of lighted animals. These are my favorite types of lights at Zoo Lights. You’ll see: crabs, dragon, lions, monkeys, Santa on his sleigh being pulled by reindeer, octopus, giraffes, and many others.
The ice sculpture is also a family favorite. The ice sculpture stage is setup in the middle of the main courtyard. There is usually a person carving the figures live. These chunks of ice are about 4 feet tall, a foot wide, and 2 feet in length. We’ve seen them carve dolphons, octopus, a doll house, and some other figures that I’m not exactly sure what they are.
The south lawn has about an acrea sized area that is a big light show that plays along with music. There are lights on the ground, on the trees, and on shape figures added to the lawn.
The polar cafe is located at the north side of the Zoo. We got hot chocolate from here, and it was OK – it was from a hot choclate ready-mix machine like what a gas station would have.
The Landmark Cafe is located at the middle of the Zoo. When you walk into the Zoo from the main entrance, you will walk straight to the Landmark Cafe if you keep walking straight. Food they have at the Landmark Cafe includes:
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There are a number of food tents throughout the zoo. Food they have includes:
I’m not sure what this sphere is called, but this is one of the main photo op locations in the Zoo. There’s often a 10-20 minute wait to get a photo, and most everyone is happy to take photos of eachother so that you can get a photo of your whole group.
The Regenstein African Journey building is always worth a stop. This year while we were there, there was a Santa event going on where kids could sit on Santa’s lap and do the Santa thing. In this building there are monkeys, giraffes, crocodiles, fish, and some other animals. Every year there always seems to be a monkey sleeping right by the glass, and we get an annual photo with my son.
There are porta-potties throughout the grounds, but there are also a few nice buildings that have heated bathrooms with running water.
These zoo buildings with bathrooms are pretty nice, so I’m not sure what anyone would use a porta-pottie, unless you really had to go!
The last couple years we went to Zoo lights there has been this lady playing Christmas music on her guitar. There’s often a small crowd that gathers around and watches and some of the crown sings along. This lady sets up near the bathroom building, which a crowd collects there to use the bathrooms.
When we go to Zoo Lights my father in law usually comes with, and he’s a huge Ferris Wheel fan, so he recruits my kids to go on the Ferris Wheel with him. The Ferris Wheel is a bit expensive to go it – its about $10/person (might be a little bit less). The line usually takes about 30 minutes from buying your ticket to getting on the ride. The ride length is medium length – not too long and not too short – but I usually think to myslef “with how much these tickets cost, it would be nice if this was a little longer.”
When at the top of the Ferris Wheel, its fun to get some selfies with the Chicago skyline as the backdrop or with all the zoo lights in the background.
Thanks for reading my Zoo Lights blog!
Hi!
My name is Tony Anczer, and I am a Chicago Realtor, licensed in both Illinois and Indiana.
When we find area “things to do” I make blog posts about them to help others learn about things to do in Chicago and Northwest Indiana.
I’d love to help with your real estate buying and selling journey! Give me a call/text at (708) 608-3000, or shoot me an email at Tony@Anczer.com.
