Lights Before Christmas at Riverbanks Zoo

The Riverbanks Zoo and Garden in Columbia, SC presents the Lights Before Christmas event on select nights through November and December. This year, it is being held on most nights November 21st through December 30th, except for Monday and Tuesday nights, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day. (Make sure to take a look at the schedule before you go.)

The separately-ticketed event is held 5-9 pm, after regular zoo hours. (If you really want to see the animals, it’s best to go during the day.) It’s $12 for people 13 and up, $10 for 2-12, and free for anyone under 2. This year, you will have to purchase a timed-entry ticket before arriving.

The Experience

During Lights Before Christmas (is it only me that finds that an awkward name?) you’ll find the zoo paths all done up in lights, as you might expect. There are color-changing orbs, a garden full of light-up butterflies, and trees wrapped in lights. Mostly they seem to serve as photo opportunities for your family.

There are a few animals out and about and most folks were drawn to what animals there were – some bears sleeping near the window, a tiger pacing its enclosure, the seals swimming in a dark water tank. It’s always fun to see wildlife up close.

Activities

In amongst the lights, you’ll find a pavilion where you can stand in line to get a photo with Santa (socially distanced this year, of course.) There are s’mores kits for sale and lots of little fire pits to stand around and roast marshmallows with your family group. The carousel is open and you can also take a little train through a lighted wood.

At the large entrance plaza to the zoo, there is a tall “story tree” lit with LED lights and displaying animals in rotation. I saw elephants and flamingos mostly. (If there was a story, I didn’t get it.) Also up front are soap-bubble “snow” machines that you can usually find a toddler or two playing around in.

The s’mores, carousel, and train all require an additional fee – about $2 each for the rides, and s’mores were snack priced, I think around $3-5 per serving? Forgive me, I didn’t check.

My impression

The bottom line to this lackluster review? I wasn’t impressed. You walk into a large, grand plaza that promises a big zoo experience. But beyond it, there isn’t much zoo there. And during my first trip and in the dark, I found it kinda confusing to get around.

I guess I had expected a one-way, walk-through experience or something a bit more cohesive. But no, it’s just a smallish zoo with lights. I knew there was a “and garden” part in the zoo’s name and I took it for granted that there would be some big, lovely light displays in some grand gardens, a la Rock City Enchanted Garden of Lights. But again, no. The gardens are blocked off for the night. (A later visit proved why – the gardens are a bit of a hike and up a big hill.)

And mostly, it was just crowded. I couldn’t keep a 6-foot distance if I tried, and like most places, some folks just don’t wear masks even when required (as it is for this event and by the city.) I probably did this to myself by visiting the day after Thanksgiving, so if you go, try for a possibly less crowded night.

The Lights Before Christmas is really geared towards families having fun together – taking pictures, seeing Santa, spotting seals, roasting marshmallows. One tag line on the event page is to “Bring the kids and the camera!” It would definitely make a nice evening out for families and couples cooped up inside for a while. But as an event unto itself, I didn’t find it very enjoyable. As in, the experience/display itself was of less value than the fun that can be had there with people you love. And lots of folks were having fun! Maybe I was having a bah humbug moment.

Being there by myself, I toured the entire zoo in about 45 minutes, stretching it into about an hour and fifteen by taking another pass. It’s not terrible for $12 but I guess I just expected more. More zoo and more lights.

The zoo itself

I did come back later to visit the zoo on its own terms, and had a MUCH better time and stayed hours and hours. It’s not a bad zoo. I just don’t think this is a particularly spectacular event. It’s a night out for the family.