World of Wonders
The Asian Lantern Festival is an event held at the zoo that allows you to explore giant illuminated handcrafted sculptures that showcase the Asian history and culture. Last year we attended the festival at the Cleveland Zoo, this year I decided to check the one at the Pittsburgh Zoo out. This is the 3rd year for the festival to be held at the Pittsburgh Zoo.
The colorful lanterns spread throughout the entire zoo depict scenes and animals from land and sea, mountains and the jungle. You can wonder around for hours, which is exactly what we did.
I like to go early and check out the lanterns in the daylight, then stick around to see them illuminated. This year we went to the event a little later in the season so dusk came sooner, allowing us to spend more time seeing the lanterns fully illuminated.
During the event the zoo also has Asian themed food and drinks. We stopped at the Jambo Grill and tried the General Tso Pizza and Korean BBQ Skewer. Honestly, I was a little disappointed by the food, but I always make sure to try specialty items on the menu during events like this. I also grabbed a drink in one of the zoo’s souvenir cups. Make sure to take advantage of this if you want a fountain drink because the refills for the souvenir cups are less than half the cost.
The lantern festival also has a wide variety of entertainment. Depending on what day you visit the festival the performers may vary. It just happened that there was a performance outside the Jambo Grill when we got our food so we had dinner and show.
Throughout the zoo there activities for kids, as well as some interactive displays that can be enjoyed by all ages and provide perfect photo opportunities.
The festival runs Thursday through Sunday evenings, from August until the end of October so there is still time for you to check out the event. There is a walk-thru and drive-thru option. I have only done the walk-thru option.
You can check out my Instagram post for some videos from the festival.
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