Last night we visited the Phoenix Zoo with some friends to see the spectacular light display.
A few tips if you ever plan to attend:
- DEFINITELY buy your tickets ahead of time at Fry”s. Not only do you get a $1 discount per ticket, but you also get to avoid standing in line for 2 hours before even being able to purchase a ticket at the zoo entrance! We thought the line was bad on our way in, but you should have seen it by the time we exited the zoo. It was at least twice as long!
- Do NOT bring a stroller! The place was packed, and strollers only made movement harder, especially if you have one of those huge land cruiser type strollers. Please, do yourself and everybody else a favor, and strap your babies to your back.
- The narrowest part of the path, where there are no Christmas lights anyway, is not the best place for a family photo shoot. This effectively stops all traffic. If you must stop and take a picture at this inconvenient spot, please, please make sure you know how to work your camera.
- Bundle up. Contrary to the belief of Easterners that Phoenix never gets cold, I was wishing for my scarf and gloves. An arid climate at 50 degrees is quite cold.
- Go early in the evening. The later you wait, the more crowded it becomes.
It may seem from this list that we didn’t enjoy our visit to ZooLights, but I had a great time! I was amazed at all the trees with lights wound around the trunk and branches. It was beautiful! There was even a light/music display where the trees “danced” to the Carol of the Bells. That was definitely my favorite!
Most of the animals were either asleep or cozily tucked away for the winter, so we didn’t see very many. We were able to see a Komodo Dragon, Javelina (wild boar of the desert), ducks, and stingrays. They did have a lot of animals in lights–does that count?
