Zoolights 2018 tickets now on sale
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: NOV. 1, 2018
Tacoma, Wash.: Tickets are now on sale for the 30th Anniversary Edition of Zoolights, the Puget Sound region’s longest-running and most-loved holiday lights display. Zoolights runs from 5 to 9 p.m. nightly Nov. 23.-Jan. 6 ( except Dec. 24) at Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium. Guests may purchase tickets online beginning Nov. 1 at www.pdza.org/zoolights.
Discounted general admission to this exciting holiday-season tradition is just $10 per person for tickets purchased online
or at the customer service counters of Puget Sound-area Fred Meyer stores. The discounted tickets will be available in those
stores later this month. Fred Meyer is the presenting sponsor of Zoolights.
General admission tickets purchased at the zoo’s front gate are $12 per person. Zoo members, however, get a big discount.
Tickets for members are just $6 each online or at the zoo entrance. Admission is free for all children 2 and under. Parking is free; carpooling is encouraged.
And guests to the 2018 edition of Zoolights will see the biggest, brightest, most eye-popping displays ever. Many will carry
a sea-animal theme in honor of the new Pacific Seas Aquarium, which opened in September.
The Pacific Seas Aquarium will be open during daylight zoo hours only, so visitors who want to view real sea turtles,
hammerhead sharks, spotted eagle rays and other sea creatures in their amazing new home may purchase Day/Night Combo
Passes to visit the zoo and all of its animals during daytime operating hours and then stay as it comes aglow with animals
in lights at 5 p.m.
Day/Night Combo Passes are available only at the zoo’s front gate. Prices are $17 for tots ages 3-4; $21 for youths from 5-12;
$24 for seniors 65 and up; and $25 for adults, 13-64. Children 2 and younger are admitted at no charge. The combo passes
are a wonderful treat for family outings and out-of-town guests who can visit the zoo, see the new aquarium with its stunning
280,000-gallon Baja Bay exhibit and huge variety of sea animals, plus watch polar bears, sea otters, walruses and dozens
of other Pacific Rim animals at play.
Zoolights guests will see dozens of lighted sea-and-land-animal figurines, including a 100-foot-wide octopus, sea turtles,
hammerhead sharks, a crab complete with moving pincers, majectic eagle rays, red wolves howling at the moon, ice skating
puffins, a tiger cub chasing a butterfly, a carnivorous plant and more. Plus, lights cover trees and shrubs around the zoo,
bathing visitors in the glow of more than 700,000 energy-efficient LEDs.
And favorite displays will dazzle visitors. There’s the 23-foot-tall replica of Mount Rainier, complete with glaciers in rivers
of lights; the twin Narrows Bridges, the 30,030-light Flame Tree, the Seahawks Zone and 12th Man Tree and more.
It’s quite a change from the few designs and mere 55,000 lights that first year of Zoolights in 1988.
Some real animals will be available for viewing during Zoolights, too. The steamy South Pacific Aquarium with its 16 massive sharks will be open every night of Zoolights. There also will be an animal in the Asian Forest Sanctuary Day Room every night,
plus goat feeding and camel rides.
For more information, go to www.pdza.org/zoolights.
About Zoolights
What: The 30th Anniversary of Zoolights, featuring more than 700,000 bright and colorful LEDs arranged as animals and
animated scenes; iconic landmarks; and whimsical and fun displays.
When: 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. nightly Nov. 23-Jan. 6 (one night closure on Dec. 24); Open on Dec. 25 and Jan. 1.
Where: Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium in Point Defiance Park, 5400 N. Pearl St., Tacoma.
What’s to see and do: Walk the zoo and see incredible animal displays in lights; marvel at iconic landmarks rendered in
scale and great detail; feed a goat; ride a camel; grab a cup of hot chocolate and warm up in the steamy South Pacific Aquarium,
home to 16 massive sharks. Look to see who’s awake – or perhaps taking a tiger “cat” nap – in the Asian Forest Sanctuary
Day Room.
Special note: The new Pacific Seas Aquarium will be closed during Zoolights, but the South Pacific Aquarium will be open.
Zoolights tickets: $10 online at www.pdza.org/zoolights beginning Nov. 1 and later in the month at the Customer Service
counters of all Puget Sound-area Fred Meyer stores; $12 General Admission at the front gate.
Special Zoolights Discount Nights
- Military Discount Nights (Active duty military, veterans and dependents. Proof of service required.)
$9 per person at the front gate only on Nov. 26, 28; Dec. 3, 5, 10, 12, 17 and 19. - Scout Discount Night: Dec. 4.
$9 per member of Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and Camp Fire wearing pins or uniforms, plus their guests.
Day/Night Combo Passes to see the zoo during the day and Zoolights at night: May be purchased only at the front gate
and range in price from $17 to $25 depending on age.
Children under 2: Admitted free to the zoo during the day and to Zoolights.
Parking: Free; carpooling is encouraged.
November/December/Early January Zoo Daylight Hours
Nov. 1 – Dec. 14
• Open Thursdays through Mondays, 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• Closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
• Closed Thursday, Nov. 22.
Dec. 15- Jan. 6
• Open daily 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• One-day daytime closure on Dec. 25 (Zoolights open that night)
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Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium, the Northwest’s only combined zoo and aquarium, practices and promotes responsible stewardship of the world’s resources through education, conservation, research and recreational opportunities. The zoo, a division of Metro Parks Tacoma, is accredited by the Association of Zoos & Aquariums (AZA) and the Alliance of Marine Mammal Parks and Aquariums (AMMPA).
Media Contacts
Kris Sherman, 253-226-6718 or kris.sherman@pdza.org
Whitney DalBalcon, 253-404-3637; 253-278-6343 or whitney.dalbalcon@pdza.org