Zoo Lights

I am a sucker for Christmas lights. This was my first time trying the lights at the Oakland zoo which was super unique and fun. The gondola was the highlight! This was a blast and I am glad we did it.

Fun night out with the kids 1) had a blast on the gondola, souring across the sky with an amazing view of the city and lights. The kids were thrilled!2) walking through the zoo and experiencing the light show that the kids could walk thorough was an experience like no other. 3) short and quick line to se Santa! The kids got some adorable pictures and the set up was extra cute! The boys were pretty excited about the jelly beans.4) it was a great experience seeing the zoo at night, totally different than a day experience! The crocodile just barely peaking out through the water at night was horrifying and amazing!5) kid friendly6) my kids loved the rides the best, but they are so expensive!!! I get that the zoo is expensive to upkeep but my kids only care about the rides 7) the zoo train of lights was a crowd pleaser! Definitely worth the extra dough

We're members of the zoo and we frequent the zoo. During this time of year they have zoo lights. It's awesome. The boys loved all of the lights. The gondola ride is soo cool in the night being able to see a lot of the Bay Area. The train ride around the zoo is fun. They offer hot chocolate and popcorn and other snacks around the zoo during zoo lights. We enjoy going to this event every year!!

We arrived at 5:30, which is when it starts. There were two huge long lines for tickets that already formed. It looked like each was 45 mins wait time. I decided to go up to the ticket counter area to see why the lines were so long. Turns out that no employees were properly guiding the lines and 4 of the ticket booths basically didn't have anyone in line, only two did. So I skipped the unnecessary long lines with my family and got tickets right away.No one was in line at the Gondola. We get up to the top and have hot chocolate. The place gets packed real quick. But only the cafe is open at the top. The California trail is closed. No lights at the top. Felt bad because the gondola line got even longer and looked like an hour wait eventually. There are tons of lights to see but you need a flash light to walk around because the ground is dark. The lights themselves are entertaining and they have fake snow for the kids to enjoy. The kids' rides are a separate cost so bring your wallet. Only animals out are the reptiles, ie turtles frogs and snakes. My major COMPLAINT: not a single employee was happy or offered good service. No one even smiled at us. Not sure why mgmt is not training the zoo lights staff, it is the holiday season after all.

So I can sum up my visit to zoo lights in one word...meh I was a little disappointed in the lack of actual lights at zoo lights. The touted laser light show was almost a waste of time, and a lot of the lights are really no better than what you see at a well decorated house. We were fortunate that we had brought in a few flasks of Bailey's that we could mix in with our hot chocolate and make the evening a little more enjoyable. There is no alcohol sold during the event. One of the biggest downers was that the gondola system was not operating due to "wind". Let me tell you, if that gondola shut down due to the modest amount of wind that we had that night it must be a piece of shit and probably not something I would want to ride on anyways. Also know that if you go there are no animals to see, except for the reptile pavilion, which was pretty cool. So now that I've got my gripes out of the way, I will say that for the price it was good to check out. Also, if you have kids you can take advantage of their Playland area where most of the rides were in operation. The one ride I would've liked to go on was the train, but not with the Space Mountain line that you had to wait through to do so. So I would say if you live in Oakland, go check it out at least once, on a day that is not windy, or frankly has any wind at all, because one of the best parts of it will be shut down.

It's not the most robust or interesting music show, but little kids like it. All the rides were open. No Santa when we were there, he hangs out at the Sun Bear exhibit when he's there. We did the train first, then walked the zoo, then more rides. Dress warm. Bring a flashlight, the lighting is poor. The workers uniformly were polite, helpful and kind. It's not a WOW like other light exhibits I've been to (surprisingly CALM in Bakersfield blows the Oakland zoo away) but it's fun and a sweet yearly tradition. Members get free entry to the lights for a limited time, need to register online through EventBrite for it.

I came here with my bf on nye, it was great! We arrived right before the doors opened, went inside, and went straight for the gondola ride. Wait was not bad at all, and parking was easy to find. I enjoyed my time here, but I felt like the lights were pretty spread out. I wished they had things closer together to make more of an impactful statement. You can get tickets there or in advance. This place can be a pretty romantic location, super cold so make sure you buckle up. A good amount of kids here but wished there were more hands on things, or more Ig worthy spots.

For $8 this was real treat even for a hater of the holidays like myself. If you come, know that most of the zoo is closed off and the only animals that you'll see are the small reptiles and amphibians in one heated building and the ants, spiders, stick bugs, etc in a different heated house. They had some face painting available, gift shop is open, and the main concession area sells hot chocolate with marshmallows and a mini churro in it. Trees and buildings are lit up throughout along with some very cool animal lights but the star is the light show set to holiday music and movie clips (even a voice cameo from Bill Murray) that plays every seven minutes and is really well done. It only lasts about 6 minutes but it's fun, and something we caught 3 times while we were there. Parking is free, though it does fill up if you arrive before 7. Give yourself an hour and a half to two hours if you want to ride the train and meet santa and you'll have seen/done it all.

Fantastic night walking through the zoo with amazing animals create by hand and lit from within. My family LOVED IT and we are all adults! You have to see it to believe it. It was much bigger than I anticipated. There are rides for the little ones and the fabulous gondola ride for all. Highly recommend! And Santa at the end!

Incredible Oakland Zoo GlowFari light show. Went 12/6/22. It's like Meow Wolf on steroids. They added so much light installation that the exhibit practically covers the entire zoo including up the hill via gondola to the bear/buffalo Landing where more installations are shown. Some of these pieces are 60 feet long, the average between 15 to 20 feet. With families and kids enjoying the light exhibit, you really feel like Christmas. Some installations are so big you can walk through them. Totally worth it. I read some reviews dating back to 2017 and 2018 saying that the exhibit was sparse. Well, not anymore. The zoo added so much stuff the light show was practically everywhere and incredibly humongous in size. Ate great ribs at the Landing Cafe. Here are some pics we took. For $24 bucks adult ticket, this is the best show you will ever see. Meow Wolf which we paid $45 a ticket was an incredible show but Glowfari is a titan in scale, atmosphere, and enjoyment.