For the last several years, we have been going to Boo at the Zoo at Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City for Halloween. This has become such a fun tradition that the kiddos really look forward to.
This year, because of COVID, Boo at the Zoo was cancelled – however, BooLights was not. So we decided to give it a try and IT. WAS. AMAZING!
At least for me, I liked BooLights so much more than Boo at the Zoo. Boo at the Zoo seems like its focus is all on the candy and vendors and even thought that’s fine, I liked this so much more.
We had to register for a time to enter, and got in right when it opened at 6:30. My parents were able to come with us, and it was so much fun, plus, it was nice to have a couple extra pair of eyes when things got dark.
Our first stop was to take a train ride. Sometimes I feel like we are not very “fun” parents because we almost never do these “extras” when we take our kids places. And normally, they are totally good with that. They are grateful that we are there and don’t ask for much more. However, we went for it, and took a ride on the zoo train for the first time.
It’s really pretty short, but it was fun to ride around into areas you can’t walk to. PLUS, we got up close with a warthog that was putting on quite a show for us.
After our train ride, we started walking around. This was the part that put this event over the top for me! The lights were so fun and the kids loved seeing spiders, witches, dragons, all of the spooky {but fun spooky – not creepy!} things decorated in the trees.
When I reserved our tickets, there was a lot of talk that much of the zoo is closed during this event and most of the animals you wouldn’t be able to see.
Yes, it is true that some parts were closed, but I felt like most of it was open. AND what wildlife we did see was IN-CREDIBLE. We had some of the best experiences with wildlife at a zoo – EVER!
The elephants were so close and we got to see the seals and sea lions really active. Normally, when we go to the zoo, I never see the tiger when we are there. If we do by chance spot it, it is always way off in the back sleeping. But, these bad boys are nocturnal and so they were up and going. Mark waited by a fence and all of a sudden, this MASSIVE tiger walks right in front of him. It was terrifying and amazing in equal measure. We quickly grabbed the kids and they were mesmerized.
Our crew was starting to get tired, and as we were making our way towards the exit, we heard lions roaring. Now this roaring was so loud both my mom and I commented that it must be a recording.
It was NOT.
We went over to the lions and ALL of them were out {when we first got there they were all inside} and they were all RIGHT in front of the viewing area. There was a specific spot where there is a rock that is inbetween the divider – so half is on our side, half is on the lion side – and my mom was sitting there watching. When all of a sudden, one of the lioness came over and laid down right on the rock next to my mom. It was INCREDIBLE. And she just stayed there! It was so neat to see just how truly big they are. They are truly majestic animals.
So we may be switching our tradition to BooLights from now on! It was so much fun and even with our young crew {I was always worried about it being a night activity} we had a BLAST! It was a great, family Halloween activity!
Click here to see Boo at the Zoo from last year – the kiddos are so tiny!
