Zoo Lights

Last night we went to Zoo Lights at the Oregon Zoo. Our group was thirteen strong- 6 parents, 1 19 year-old, and 6 kids between the ages of 7 and 14, one of whom had to use a wheelchair due to his broken leg. It was everyone's first trip to Zoo Lights, but most, if not all of us, had been to the Oregon Zoo before.

We arrived at about 4:00, while it was still light. Our intention was to get there at about 3:00, so that we could see some animals in the daylight, but when 13 people need to get ready to take a trip together, departure times are really just estimates. It turns out we really didn't need to hurry-most of the animals have indoor enclosures where they hang out when it is too cold and dark to be outside.

We saw an otter, a sea lion, a crocodile, an ocelot, three anacondas, two lemurs and about 6 monkeys that I would call 'baboons'- but they had another name I can't remember- and two elephants before it got dark and we decided that we should go get in line for the Zoo Lights train.

Oregon Zoo's website led me and another mom to believe that the Zoo Lights experience would be incomplete without a ride on the train. So we found the end of the line, where a zoo volunteer dressed as an elf told us we would need to wait for about an hour and fifteen minutes.
At this point, my husband and his brother and most of the cold, hungry kids revolted. They campaigned for a warm McDonald's. They were persuasive, but my brother-in-law's girlfriend (Who has the same first name as me- weird!) and I held fast to our resolve to get the entire Zoo Lights experience. So we waited. After all, I thought to myself, this must be an awesome train ride- just look at all the people in line!
It probably took us between 30 and 45 minutes to get onto the train. There are actually two trains that run at the same time, and the loop takes about 10 minutes. My very rough calculations are that each train holds about 200 people- so every 5 minutes, 200 people are moved out of line. It goes pretty fast. But. The train ride itself was not worth standing in line. (it wasn't even worth that couple bucks extra for the ticket) Although there are some light displays that are only visible from the train, the bulk of the lights can be seen better on foot as you visit the animals. The lawn where concerts are held had some cool lighted animals, and in the center of the zoo, all the trees and pathways were lit, and the zoo felt like a wonderland.