Hogle Zoo Zoolights Fun

 We took our family to Hogle Zoo's ZOOLIGHTS last night. It was an awesome family outing and it was one of the most fun outings we've had all year. It is SO WORTH the money. It is $7.00 for adults and I think it was $5.00 for kids over 3. Two and under are free.  My little grandkids all loved it. 

Zoo lights is so pretty! This is the first thing you see when you walk into the zoo! The wheels on the train spin and the people inside move! 

Hogle Zoo Zoolights had lights, music and zoo animals. We took the whole family Monday night for a really, really fun time! I highly recommend it! 

My son from Chicago came with his family. We saw tigers, seals and sea lions, turtles, bats and lots of other animals. Many were down for the night but they left a LOT of animals out for us to view. 

My hubs loves to do this crazy look in pictures lately. I promise he's not that crazy though....lol. This cute little house was Santa's Hut. Inside sits Santa Claus and a really cute backdrop. You can take as many pictures as you want in any combination with the kids in your party. I LOVED that. 

Santa's Hut in Zoolights at Hogle Zoo 

They had a house with Santa and his helpers inside. Kids and even adults go sit on his lap and take pictures with a really cute background. They passed out color books and crayons too. They had paper to write Santa a letter and a giant, red mailbox to drop it in.

 Meg having a conversation about the drum set she wants for Christmas. lol

"Santa, I want that drumset. My mom and dad aren't so sure about it. But Santa, I've been really GOOD this year!!" 

You can see the cute Santa mailbox in the background. The table with paper for writing and crayons was just to the left before you get into line to see Santa. Only there wasn't a line! How great is that? 

Meg delivering her letter to Santa. 

"I hope I get that drum set!"

Notice she has drawn a picture of said drum set.....just in case Santa forgets what it is she is hoping for... lol. And her brother is not so happy to be on Santa's lap. haha. Good picture for the album. Someday he'll think this is funny. But not today. 

 Cute cousins sat on Santa's lap together. You really don't get this kind of time in any other Santa place that I know of. It was wonderful! It was not even crowded all either. We walked right up.  Every group got about 6 to 8 minutes alone with Santa to take pictures galore!

Cousins enjoying some time on Santa's lap. I forgot to take pictures of the reindeer outside of Santa's hut. They were neat to see. 

Other areas inside the Santa hut where pictures could be taken, for family groups. Here's my son hanging out, waiting for all the kids to finish writing their Santa letters. The elves handed out crayons and color books too. 

Some more grandkids on Santa's lap at Zoolights. We got gobs of great shots because we had time! 

Outside of Santa's hut there were some real reindeer we could see inside a little gate. Did you know they lose their antlers every single year? They told the kids the male reindeer lose their antlers in November and the females in May. Very cool. I hope I run across a set of antlers around the hiking trails this spring! I bet they are hard to come by!

Santa's Reindeer at Zoolights. 

My son from Chicago was visiting for a week so we planned some fun night time activities. Zoolights was one of them. 

It was fun to have the whole family together for a fun family night. 

We saw Lions, Tigers and Bears...mostly sleeping ones, but these guys were still awake! 

My son-in-law had the day off so we were all there for Zoolights at Hogle Zoo. It is from 5:30 to 8:00 most Mondays, but they were nice enough to leave it open till 9:00 the Monday we were there. Thursday, Friday and Saturdays Zoolights  is open till 9:00. 

We got a few pictures of almost all the family. But it is a big group! 

My grandkids were all there at Hogle Zoo's Zoolights. It was a fun time for all of them. 

The zoo keeps some of the animals outside for Zoolights. We saw all the cats and tigers, etc. and they left the inside animals houses open. We saw bats and turtles and monkeys too. It was freaky seeing the bats all hanging around together. My son Devin turned on his phone light and held it up right near the lump of 25 bats and they all turned and looked at his light with their freaky red eyes. I think he scared them, because one of them shot a stream of pee right at the window where his face was. If they hadn't been inside the glass, he would have been drenched. It was no accident. They did NOT like his light! But boy, was it funny! We were all cracking up!

My cute Chicago peeps (the bat whisperer....) taking selfies at Zoolights. They are in the tunnel of lights, just loving it!

 
Marisa in the monkey house. There was one set of 4 monkeys sleeping and all 4 tails were curled together. It was so darling! I should have taken a shot of it! 

Here we are in the tunnel. It was just starting the aqua blue light wave. Those columns of lights start up in a wave and when it gets to the end of the tunnel, it changes colors and whirls and spins colors. It is AWESOME! 

Zoolights has a beautiful tunnel of lights that moves colors with the Christmas songs on the speakers. It was fun to walk along inside and look up at the wave of colors changing as the music played pretty Christmas songs. It was a delightful experience!

I think my favorite animals we saw were the cute monkeys, the snow leopard and the sleeping bears and tigers. 

They had food booths  with snacks like popcorn and hot chocolate and hot dogs and stuff. Lots of kids were in wagons and they had lots of strollers and things  to rent for just a few bucks. It is such a fun and worthwhile evening of fun. I highly recommend Zoolights. It is open November 29th to December 31st. Closed on Christmas Day.  Here is all the information. Go see it! Plus, on Thursday’s December 4th, 11th, and 18th you’ll be able to get in to see ZooLights for $3.00 bucks with a vouch from any Utah’s Wendy’s. This just in! On Thursday’s December 4th, 11th, and 18th you’ll be able to get in to see ZooLights for $3.00 bucks with a vouch from any Utah’s Wendy’s. That is less than half price! Go for it people! 

Hogle Zoo Zoolights in Salt Lake City