An interesting, fun, and festive event that your whole family can enjoy during the holidays in the Philadelphia area is the Wild Lights hosted at the Elmwood Park Zoo. For the 2025 season, the Elmwood Park Zoo is running the Wild Lights from November 21st to December 30th from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. on select nights. (On Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and Christmas Wild Lights and the zoo itself will be closed.)

You will see a very large parking lot attached to the zoo, which makes it convenient for travel, and if for some reason the lot is full, they have overflow parking located at 1700 Markley Street (Logan Commerce Center). Their free shuttle operates on weekends in a continuous loop, by Easton Coach if you do end up at the Logan Commerce Center.

Since it is very close to the winter season, and quite cold in Pennsylvania this time of year, some of the animal exhibits may be closed, however, some of the animals are indeed out and enjoy it!

(There is an exceptional reptile exhibit that you will see when you enter the zoo. We loved checking out the turtles! You will also see the new animal hospital by the entrance, and a room where they create individualized meals for all the animals. It is very cool to see that they truly care for these creatures.)

After you walk through the indoor area (the zoo was recently renovated in 2024, and this was one of the new additions) it opens up to a lovely light display. We were excited to see this of course, and had to get a photo!

I do have to say, we were really impressed at how many new areas there are in the park with dazzling lights. If you want a full walking tour, you will want to check out the YouTube video as well! They truly outdid themselves with all the displays, and it is so cool to see this zoo expand so much.

Another fabulous aspect of this place is how easy it is to navigate the area with very nicely paved paths, which is awesome when you have a one year old in tow. (If you have young children as well, you know how important this is. When you know, you know!) This is not a drive through light show, but it is so easy to stroll through it, which has made this a favorite holiday location to visit every year, and a fun spot to bring our family and friends with too.

In addition to their fabulous light displays, for an additional fee they also offer “an enchanted encounter with their miniature highland cows in an up-close meet and greet”. We did notice the area, and were definitely intrigued, and if you have children that love cows, it sounds really cool. I think if they have it again next year we might try it when our daughter is a little bit older, because they were really cute. Highland cows are definitely adorable!

They also had an animal greet set up in their educational room with an Argentine black and white tegu, and games for children of all ages. The experts that talk about these animals are so knowledgeable about them, and you can absorb  so much interesting information by visiting this zoo.

If you enjoy learning about wildlife, and also would like to see a spectacular holiday display, you have to check out Wild Lights. It is about 15 minutes from Philadelphia, and its such a wonderful place!

Let me know in the comments if you have ever traveled to the Elmwood Park Zoo, and what you thought about it. I hope you are all are having a lovely holiday season!

https://elmwoodparkzoo.org/

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NortheastAllie

For generations, my family has lived in the Philadelphia area, and my writing reflects these influences. This blog explores perspectives on life, encouragement, travel, health, and local living.

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