Lehigh Valley Zoo Winter Light Spectacular 2026: Tickets, Dates & What's New

Quick answer: The Lehigh Valley Zoo Winter Light Spectacular is a walk-through light event at the zoo in Schnecksville, not a drive-through. The zoo’s 2026 season is the 13th, with 37 published dates from November 13, 2026 through January 2, 2027. Advance general admission is $16 for adults and $14 for children ages 2–11. Gate prices are $18 and $16. Parking has no fee. Hours are 5–8, 5–9, or 5–10 p.m. depending on the date, and the event is not open every night.

Checked October 22, 2026 against the zoo’s Winter Light Spectacular page and its September 2026 ticket announcement, which is the page that prints the prices and the dated schedule. The address below is from the zoo’s contact page.

At a Glance: Dates, Hours, Prices, and Address

Item	What the zoo published
Event	13th annual Winter Light Spectacular, a walk-through
Dates	November 13, 2026 through January 2, 2027, 37 published nights
Hours	5–8, 5–9, or 5–10 p.m., by date. Not nightly.
Not on the calendar	Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day, plus other dates in the span
Adult / child advance	$16 / $14 (ages 2–11)
Adult / child at the gate	$18 / $16
VIP advance	$35 adult / $32 child
Address	5150 Game Preserve Road, Schnecksville, PA 18078
Phone	(610) 799-4171
Parking	No fee, per the ticket announcement

The zoo and Christmas Décor host the event. The 2026 edition is presented by Service Electric TV & Communications and powered by Community Bank. The ticket announcement calls it the zoo’s largest annual fundraiser and says revenue supports animal conservation projects and programs at the zoo. The zoo sits in Trexler Nature Preserve on Game Preserve Road, north of Allentown. For a wider day outdoors, the Allentown parks guide covers the city parks.

Which Nights Is It Actually Open?

The ticket announcement schedules 37 dates, from Friday, November 13, through Saturday, January 2. That is the list to use. The span includes Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day, and none of those three is on the list. Plenty of ordinary dates are missing too, including most Mondays. December 21 and December 28 are Mondays and they are on the list, so “closed Mondays” would be wrong. New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day are on the list. January 1, 2027 runs 5–8 p.m.

Every published night starts at 5 p.m. Four nights end at 8 p.m.: November 24, December 2, December 3, and January 1. Eleven nights end at 10 p.m.: November 27, November 28, December 4, December 5, December 11, December 12, December 18, December 19, December 20, December 23, and December 26. The other 22 published nights end at 9 p.m. If a date is not in that announcement, do not assume a rain date or a walk-up night. The zoo says to use lvzoo.org/wls for weather cancellations and added promotions.

Two dates add an earlier sensory inclusion hour, 4–5 p.m., with lower contrast, lower volume, and a smaller crowd: November 22 and December 6. The regular hours those nights are still 5–9 p.m. The sensory hour is an extra window, not a new closing time.

Winter Light Spectacular Tickets

The ticket announcement says regular ticket prices are the same as in 2025. These are event prices. They are not the daytime zoo admission prices on the visit page, which are a separate schedule (see below).

Ticket	Advance online	At the event
Adult general admission	$16	$18
Child, ages 2–11	$14	$16
Infant, ages 0–1	Free	Free
Member	$10 per ticket	$12 member adult / $10 member child
Opening Night, November 13, adult and child general admission	$13	Not given as a separate price
VIP adult	$35	$36
VIP child, ages 2–11	$32	$33
Member VIP adult	$29	$30
Member VIP child	$27	$28
Group, 20 or more	$13 per ticket	Not listed
Group, 100 or more	$12 per ticket	Not listed

Prices checked October 22, 2026 on the ticket announcement. The event page repeats the Opening Night advance price of $13 and does not print the full table.

Advance is the online price. The gate column is what the announcement calls “when purchased at the event.” The zoo says dates can sell out and tells people to buy online to hold a spot. Tickets went on sale to the public at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, September 16, 2026. That sale date has passed. Both zoo pages still point visitors to buy from the Winter Light Spectacular page.

Opening Night is Friday, November 13, the first night of year 13. The $13 advance price applies to regular adult and child general admission that night. The pages do not print a matching $13 gate price, so do not assume the gate drops to $13. Sally and Jack from The Nightmare Before Christmas are on that night’s performance and meet-and-greet schedule.

The announcement does not list a senior price for this event. Daytime admission does. Use the table above for the light event unless the zoo adds a senior rate later.

What VIP includes

VIP quantity is limited each night. Both pages describe VIP-only time in the Jingle Lodge Lounge, with a fire, plus a souvenir light-up tumbler, unlimited hot chocolate, a VIP hot-chocolate toppings bar, a s’more kit, and a gift. The gift on the event page is a 2026 WLS ornament for each VIP adult and a light-up pop tube for each VIP child. The September announcement instead says a commemorative 2025 ornament for VIP adults, and it calls the tumbler the 2026 version with light-up modes. Those two pages disagree on the ornament year. Read the checkout line before you buy, and treat the event page as the later description.

New for 2026, VIP tickets include Animal Mingles with the education team in the Jingle Lodge Lounge on every scheduled Sunday through Thursday, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday dates are not in that window.

Groups

Group rates are for advance purchase: $13 per ticket for 20 or more people, and $12 per ticket for 100 or more. The announcement says to call the zoo during normal business hours at (610) 799-4171 to book a group or a corporate block. It does not say those rates are available at the gate, and it does not spell out a deposit the way the daytime group rules do. Ask when you call.

What’s New in 2026

The event page and the ticket announcement name the same additions: Candy Land, Gingerbread Junction, and an enhanced Whoville, plus other additions they do not name. Guests 21 and older can use Spirit Stations, which the event page says are open every night. The Fred & Anne Jaindl Family Barnyard barn is open every night until 8 p.m. On nights that run until 9 or 10, the barn closing time is still 8, as that page words it.

The zoo states a light count of 1.7 million and calls that total more than any other Pennsylvania attraction. That comparison is the zoo’s claim. Neither page publishes a walking distance or a “plan on this many minutes” figure.

Live performances are listed every night, including the princesses Elsa, Anna, Ariel, and Rapunzel. Dated extras on the event page, checked October 22, 2026, are:

• November 13: Opening Night, with Sally and Jack.
• November 20 and December 12: Popstar Night, with Rumi from KPop Demon Hunters.
• November 21: Military Appreciation Night, presented by Humana. People who served or are serving get complimentary admission with a valid military ID.
• November 22 and December 6: sensory inclusion hour, 4–5 p.m.
• November 25: Wicked Wednesday, with Elphaba, Glinda, and Fiyero.
• December 2: meet-and-greet with Spider-Man and Supergirl.
• December 9: meet-and-greet with the Mandalorian and Grogu.
• December 16: Toy Story Night, with Jessie and Woody.
• January 2: Prince and Princess Party.

The event page says to check back because more promotions may be added. A character name on that list is not a promise of how long the appearance lasts. The page does not print set times.

Planning Your Visit

This is a walk-through. The ticket announcement’s headline calls it a walk-through lights extravaganza. You are outside after dark in Schnecksville from November into January. The zoo’s own copy talks about fire pits, hot chocolate, and warming up, which is the practical cue: dress for standing and walking in the cold, not for a heated theater. That is visitor planning, not a dress code printed by the zoo.

Food and drink named on the event pages are hot chocolate, s’mores, fire pits, and “other holiday treats.” Spirit Stations are the 21+ stop, open every night according to the event page. The pages do not publish a full food menu or say that the daytime grill stays open after 5 p.m., so this guide does not assume it does.

Most animals are off exhibit. The announcement says guests may spot some of the zoo’s “night owls,” and that most of the collection will not be out. Animal Mingles, on VIP tickets and only Sunday through Thursday, 5:30–7 p.m., is the structured animal time. The barnyard barn until 8 p.m. is the other animal-area note.

Photos with Santa run on select dates through December 23 through Dan’s Camera City. Walk-ups are welcome and reservations are preferred. A Winter Light Spectacular ticket is still required. The event page says that on the camera-city booking page you choose “Book Snap Pass,” then the LV Zoo location. This guide does not link a third-party booking form.

Parking: the ticket announcement says there is no fee. Driving directions are on the zoo’s directions page. The contact page lists 5150 Game Preserve Road, Schnecksville, PA 18078, and the phone number (610) 799-4171.

The event pages do not publish a route-accessibility statement, a stroller rule, or a wheelchair note for the light path. What they do publish is the two sensory inclusion hours above. If you need a specific access answer, call the zoo. Do not treat daytime zoo amenities as a promise for event night.

Daytime zoo hours, on the visit page the same day, are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day. Daytime admission on that page, with pricing marked valid April 1, 2026 through November 1, 2026, is $18 for adults ages 12–64, $14 for seniors 65 and older, $14 for children ages 2–11, and free under age 2, with members free. Those numbers overlap the light-event prices in confusing ways: a daytime adult is $18, which is the light-event gate price, not the advance price, and daytime members are free while light-event members pay. Buy the ticket that names Winter Light Spectacular.

Pair It with Lights in the Parkway

Allentown runs a separate holiday display, Lights in the Parkway, in Lehigh Parkway. It is a drive-through. The zoo event is a walk-through in Schnecksville. They overlap in December, and they are not the same ticket.

The Lehigh Parkway event page from the City of Allentown, checked October 22, 2026, says the 30th annual display runs November 27, 2026 through January 6, 2027, and is closed Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve, and New Year’s Day. The city describes more than a mile of the parkway and a quarter-million lights. Monday walk, run, or bike nights are 5:30–10 p.m. with no reservation. The city page did not print a vehicle price when this guide was checked. Confirm the current ticket rule on that city page before you go. Our Lights in the Parkway guide covers the ticket rule, the Monday walk nights, and the 5K.

If the night is only one stop, Schnecksville is the zoo and Allentown’s west side is the parkway. For other Valley plans, start with things to do in the Lehigh Valley, the Bethlehem guide, or the parks directory.