Wildlights at Woodland Park Zoo might be a newer light show in Seattle-it’s only on its third year-but we’ve been going since it started and it has become one of our family’s favorite Seattle holiday traditions. The other night when we visited, the sky was bright and clear and there was still a dusting of snow on the ground in some spots so it really felt like Christmas.
We visited the reindeer.
Read a night-time story about a bear.
And took part in a giant indoor snowball fight at Zoomazium (This part is the guys’ favorite part of Wildlights and watching my husband run after them with pom pom snowballs is probably my favorite Wildlights activity too.)
Our whole family rode the carousel and we haven’t done that in so long so it was fun to just whirl around on pretty painted ponies and I hope my guys will still be into this for a few more years. (FYI the carousel at Woodland Park Zoo is solar-powered and when I looked it up to make sure it really was, I found out that you can buy units in a community Solar Project on Phinney Ridge if you have a City Light account which might be a really creative gift if you’re holiday shopping.)
We also checked out some of the nocturnal animals we don’t usually get to see being so playful because Wildlights takes place after regular zoo hours. Many of the animals are off exhibit, but there are still reptiles and a tree kangaroo to see in the Day exhibit (which is gloriously warm after wandering the outdoor light exhibits) and meerkats, sloths and bats in the Adaptations building too. The bats near the meerkats were especially amusing to watch because they were just starting to wake up and we don’t usually see them awake at all.
If you’re a Woodland Park Zoo member, you can get 2 dollars off each Wildlights ticket if you buy them online before December 12th, 2014 and there are some KeyBank branches that have free carousel ride vouchers too.
(PS. Many of the neighborhood businesses in PhinneyWood have green monkey lights in honor of Wildlights at the zoo and some of them will have monkey discounts too.)
(PPS. there is food available for purchase at some zoo kiosks, and we considered eating dinner at nearby Veraci pizza, Uneeda Burger or Phinney Market Pub.)
Terumi Pong is a Seattle-based family travel writer and mom of twin teenage boys. She loves coffee and pastries, shopping local and looking for greener ways to live. She is also known as Scout’s mom (Scout is a 5ish pound little black yorkie-poo)