Wild Lights Dublin Zoo 2018 – What to Expect (Guest)

We were invited guests at the preview night of Dublin Zoo Wild Lights last week (That means we didn’t pay in).

We’d never been before so the whole concept was new to us and we didn’t really know what to expect.

So what exactly is it?

It’s light displays (silk lanterns) through the zoo (not including the African plains). They’re in the hedges and trees and in the archways between different areas. There are different themes, this year’s themes are Ocean Lights, the Arctic, the North Pole and China.

The lights are impressive and there’s a lovely atmosphere. I heard a lot of “Wows” from the kids.

We went to the left when we went into the Zoo, that’s the ocean area, we met Nemo and many of his friends, a shark in a tree, a huge octopus and lots of coral all the way down as far as the Orangutan area near the Cove.

Next is the Arctic area which is very impressive, covering the area past the flamingos near the Cove. The polar bears and wolves are the highlights here.

The penguins are one of the few animals that you can actually see at wild lights, albeit it’s dark so make sure to go over to say goodnight to them.

The display along the back of the elephant enclosure overheard is really striking, with a North Pole them, leading to a Christmas Village with a massive Christmas tree. There’s a stage near the Reptile House and a few craft vendors around the Learning and Discovery area, nothing to write home about on the night that we were there. There’s a performance area too but we missed the performances.

For me the highlight lights wise was the China area, the chariot display outside the Meerkat Restaurant is superb and the colourful figures along by the red panda area.

How long will we spend?

We spent about an hour and a half there, you could do it a bit faster than that but we watched the Christmas tree lights being turned on but missed the performances.

Is there something to eat (because you know the kids will be hungry)

Refreshments wise The Cove is open selling spice bags among other options and there are hot chocolate and donut huts scattered around too.