More than 3.5 million lights are set to blanket Brookfield Zoo Chicago starting Nov. 21, as the beloved Holiday Magic festival returns for its 45th year and will run on select nights through Jan. 3, 2027. The zoo says this year’s run stretches an extended 32 nights, with three additional dates added to the calendar beyond the usual schedule.
According to brookfieldzoo.org, Holiday Magic will be open from 3 to 9 p.m. on designated festival nights, with tickets starting at $29.95 and free admission for zoo members. Parking runs $17 at the Main Entrance, or North Gate, and $20 at the South Gate. As Shaw Local reports, the festival follows its opening days with a Thursday-through-Sunday schedule, and the zoo has tacked on extra open dates of Nov. 23-25, Dec. 21-23 and Dec. 28-30.
Katie Back, associate vice president of marketing at Brookfield Zoo Chicago, said Holiday Magic has been an iconic part of how Chicagoans experience the holiday season for 45 years, per the same report. The festival’s light count alone has made it a fixture for families across the region looking for a reliable seasonal tradition.
An Expanded Maze, Though the Numbers Don’t Quite Match
One of the headline additions this year is an expanded illuminated maze, though the zoo’s own materials describe it differently depending on where you look. The event page on brookfieldzoo.org calls it a 90-by-60-foot maze, while the zoo’s 45th-anniversary press release describes the same feature as twice as big as before and stretching 100 feet long. Either way, it’s billed as a bigger walk-through experience than in past years…