The first weekend in December we visited the Cleveland Meteoparks Zoo for the holiday zoo lights. The lights start at 5:30 and go until 9:30 from now until the end of December. There are certain nights that are walk through and certain nights that you can drive thru instead of walk. The cost is $18 for members and $20 a ticket for non members. The amount of tickets is limited due to Covid and social distancing. Which I felt like most of the night we had plenty of space. There were only a couple times where it got slightly congested. Mostly when we first got there and everyone was showing up at the same time.
I figured I would highlight some of our favorites for everyone. Once you walk into the entrance you will head to the right towards where the rhinos are. They have some really cool animatronics throughout. Sam the Snowman will be the first one you come across. There are lights that line the walkway all the way up to the tigers and bears.
There are lights that shine on the bridge as you are walking through and lights all around the enclosures. There is also another animatronic snowman. All three of his sections move, he sings and snow comes out of his hat. He was one of my favorites and is a must see. I have a video of him on my Instagram and Facebook if you wanna check him out.
I will take a minute now that we are half way through to address drinks, which is always a must when we head to these zoo events. They had regular hot chocolate and apple cider as well as Great Lakes Christmas Ale and the option to spice up your hot chocolate or apple cider with Baileys or Fireball. I tried both apple cider and hot chocolate with Fireball and was a fan of both. There are three spots to get these drinks. At the very front of the zoo as you are walking toward the rhinos, the stand by the giraffes, at the bottom of that hill and up by the wilderness grill.
We then headed toward the pond and giraffe area. The shooting star lights were really pretty and were a nice touch as we were walking this way. We then headed around the pond where we got to meet Anna and Elsa from frozen. I’m not sure who was more excited the kiddos or the adults. The princesses were so nice and engaged with not just the kids but us adults as well.
As we were heading toward the front you could also take photos from a distance of course with The Grinch, Rudolph and the Abominable Snowman. There are trains set up under one of the front pavilions and Santa and Mrs Clause are in the wolf building, ready to take note of all the kids Christmas wishes.
This year has been very different from past years but it was so nice to enjoy some holiday lights and family time. We all really seemed to enjoy our night and the kids seemed to have a blast.
Last year I posted about some other options to look at lights which you can read here https://justaclevelandgirl.com/holiday-festivities-around-cleveland/. Most of these places do have lights this year and I’m hoping before Christmas I will get a chance to visit one or two more, but if not this was very much a highlight and something I would do again next year.