LA Zoo Lights: Animals Aglow 2026

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LA Zoo Lights: Animals Aglow 2026

Name: LA Zoo Lights: Animals Aglow 2026
Start: 2026-11-13T18:00:00-08:00
End: 2026-11-13T22:00:00-08:00
Location: Los Angeles Zoo, 5333 Zoo Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90027

Going? You can check in after it ends.

Friday, November 13, 2026

6:00 PM PST – 10:00 PM PST

Los Angeles Zoo, 5333 Zoo Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90027

Repeats daily · until Jan 11, 2027

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Tickets & More Info

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About

When the sun drops behind the Griffith hills, the animals go to sleep and the zoo turns into something else entirely — a mile of illuminated trails, oversized lanterns shaped like creatures you just saw in the daytime, and the quiet realization that you're walking through a botanical garden at night with a hot chocolate.

LA Zoo Lights: Animals Aglow runs from November 13, 2026 through January 11, 2027 at the Los Angeles Zoo. After-dark entry transforms the grounds with custom-built animal-shaped lanterns, seasonal light installations, themed displays, and entertainment. Closed most Mondays and Tuesdays, plus December 24-25 and December 31.

Los Angeles Zoo, 5333 Zoo Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90027. Tickets $19-$29 at lazoo.org.

This is the holiday outing that makes people who normally avoid holiday outings say yes. The zoo after dark feels nothing like the zoo during the day.

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Lightscape at San Diego Botanic Garden

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Bundle up and bring someone you love, because the best way to begin the holidays in San Diego is a slow walk through a mile of light. Lightscape transforms the San Diego Botanic Garden in Encinitas into a glowing after-dark trail (tunnels of color, trees wrapped in a hundred thousand bulbs, fire gardens, and hidden musical moments) that makes grown adults gasp like kids. It is equal parts romantic, family-friendly, and quietly magical, the kind of evening that becomes an annual tradition after a single visit. Lightscape runs nightly from November 14, 2026 to January 4, 2027. Get timed tickets early for the best dates, come for the hot cocoa and the photo everyone will ask about, and let the dark garden do its slow, glowing work on you. This is the holidays dialed all the way up.

OC Fair Holiday Lights — OC Night Out 2026

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The same fairgrounds that smell like funnel cake in July go quiet and cold and impossibly lit in December - tens of thousands of lights turning the walk into something you slow down for. OC Night Out converts the OC Fair & Event Center in Costa Mesa into a holiday light show each December, a walk-through installation of themed display zones, seasonal entertainment, and the family atmosphere that has made it a staple of Orange County's holiday season. It differs from the summer county fair in scope and presentation - the lighting turns the grounds into an outdoor holiday market, a light art installation, and a family entertainment venue all at once. Visitors walk through themed zones including traditional holiday imagery, winter wonderland landscapes, and the over-the-top display competitions between adjacent sections. Hot chocolate, mulled cider, roasted chestnuts, and seasonal food vendors operate throughout, live holiday music runs on covered stages, and holiday merchandise and gift vendors fill the indoor exhibit areas of the fairgrounds complex. The OC Fair & Event Center is at 88 Fair Dr in Costa Mesa, easily reached from the 405 and 55 freeways, with multiple parking lots on-site. Timed entry tickets are required - advance purchase is strongly recommended for weekend dates, as the most popular nights sell out weeks ahead. The event runs from late November through early January on selected nights.

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For two December evenings, the water itself becomes the light show. Decorated boats of every size - from kayaks to yachts - move in a slow procession across San Diego Bay, out from Shelter Island through the harbor toward the Embarcadero, and more than 100,000 people find a spot along the waterfront to watch them pass. The Parade of Lights has run since 1971. Participating crews spend weeks rigging their vessels with lights, inflatable displays, and themed structures, competing in judged categories that push the decoration to elaborate extremes across the full range of boat sizes. Because the route runs the length of the bay, it's visible from multiple vantage points at once. The best free viewing sits along Shelter Island Shoreline Park, Harbor Island, and the Embarcadero waterfront. Arrive at least an hour before the 7 PM start to secure good position. Harbor dinner cruises run alongside the parade as a ticketed premium option - several operators put guests on the water right beside the parade boats, and those sell out well in advance. Free shoreline viewing requires no ticket; bring blankets, hot chocolate, and patience for the crowds. The 2026 parade runs on two consecutive December Sunday evenings.

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There is a moment on a December night when the first decorated boat rounds into view and its reflection doubles on the calm water, and the whole shoreline goes quiet at once - that is what people come back to Mission Bay for. The annual Parade of Lights celebrates the holiday season on the water, a tradition that has run for decades, drawing crowds from throughout San Diego County to the park's shoreline for the lighted fleet gliding through the protected bay. Mission Bay Park's extensive shoreline offers numerous free viewing positions - Marine Park Way, Vacation Road, the various shoreline parks, and the resort-fronted stretches of beach all provide sightlines to the parade route. The vessels range from kayaks and small motorboats strung with simple lights to large yachts with full holiday display installations, and the protected bay water makes a stable platform while amplifying the display through the reflections it throws. The parade runs in December and is free to observe from public shoreline positions throughout the park. Mission Bay Park is accessible from I-8 via Mission Bay Drive or I-5 via the Clairemont Drive/Balboa Avenue exchange, with multiple entry points and street and lot parking throughout. Arrive early to secure a shoreline position on the route. The parade start is typically after sunset, with the spectacle fully visible in darkness.

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LA Zoo Lights: Animals Aglow 2026

Lightscape at San Diego Botanic Garden

OC Fair Holiday Lights — OC Night Out 2026

San Diego Bay Parade of Lights 2026

San Diego Parade of Lights — Mission Bay 2026

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