Last season, every Monday at ZooLights was free and every Tuesday was dark. This season the free Mondays stop on Dec. 14, and the two Mondays after that are ticketed like any other night. For anyone who lives within walking distance of Lincoln Park Zoo, the free ZooLights window now falls entirely between the week before Thanksgiving and mid-December.
The season runs Nov. 20, 2026, through Jan. 3, 2027, from 4:30 to 9 p.m., with last entry at 8 p.m., according to Lincoln Park Zoo's ZooLights page. The changes are in the details of that calendar.
What moved between 2025 and 2026
94.7 WLS reported in October 2025 that ZooLights would open Nov. 21 and close after Jan. 4, stay closed on Tuesdays, and offer free admission with registration on Mondays. That report listed no Monday exceptions, so by the calendar the free nights were Nov. 24 and Dec. 1, 8, 15, 22 and 29.
This year the zoo's FAQ makes two changes. Free admission applies to Mondays "with the exception of December 21 and 28." Tuesday closures are limited to Dec. 1, 8 and 15.
| 2025–26 season | 2026–27 season | |
|---|---|---|
| Season dates | Nov. 21 to Jan. 4 | Nov. 20 to Jan. 3 |
| Free Mondays | Every Monday, six in all | Nov. 23, Nov. 30, Dec. 7, Dec. 14 |
| Tuesdays | Closed | Closed Dec. 1, 8 and 15 only; Nov. 24 is Sensory-Friendly Night |
| Holiday-week Mondays | Free with registration | Ticketed, Dec. 21 and Dec. 28 |
| Advance tickets | $7 to $12 | $7 to $12 |
| Flexible Admission | $20 | $20 |
Put the two changes together and the late-December Mondays and Tuesdays become regular paid nights. The free nights all fall in a four-week run that ends the Monday before the holiday week. The closure list leaves out Dec. 22 and Dec. 29, so those Tuesdays fall inside the open season this year. The zoo is also closed Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and open on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.
How the free tickets actually get released
Free Monday tickets still require a reservation. They're released one week ahead of each date at 11 a.m. Central. Counting back from the four free dates gives this release schedule:
- Monday, Nov. 16, at 11 a.m. for Monday, Nov. 23
- Monday, Nov. 23, at 11 a.m. for Monday, Nov. 30
- Monday, Nov. 30, at 11 a.m. for Monday, Dec. 7
- Monday, Dec. 7, at 11 a.m. for Monday, Dec. 14
All four releases land on a Monday morning, during the workday. Registration runs through the zoo's ticketing site.
If you miss a release, the paid tickets cost far less bought ahead than at the gate. Fixed Date tickets run $7 to $12 in advance depending on the night, and $20 bought the same day. A Flexible Admission ticket is also $20 and works on any regular ZooLights night, so you don't have to pick a date. Fixed Date tickets are nonrefundable and can't be moved to another date, though you can forward them to a friend or family member. With a few days' notice, a $20 gate ticket becomes a $7 to $12 ticket.
Lincoln Park Zoo members get two to eight free Fixed Date tickets depending on membership level.
Why the zoo charges at all
Lincoln Park Zoo is free and open 365 days a year. Its 2026 ZooLights release describes it as a privately managed, member-supported nonprofit. According to WLS's 2025 report, ZooLights ticket sales help keep the zoo free the rest of the year. ZooLights hasn't always charged. CBS Chicago reported that the zoo began requiring tickets in 2020 after more than 20 years, citing pandemic-related financial challenges.
So the free nights are the exception the zoo carves out, and this year it placed all of them before the holiday weeks.
What the paid weekends add
A free Monday gets you the lights, which the zoo says number over 3 million, plus the light tunnel and the South Lawn light show. Some of the programming runs only on certain nights:
- Live ice carving on Friday and Saturday nights
- Strolling carolers on Sundays through Dec. 21
- Photos with Santa through Dec. 23
- Rides: the Endangered Species Carousel, the Lionel Train Adventure and a holiday VR experience take one $4.50 ticket each; the Ferris wheel and Gorilla Trek take two, or $9
Families who want the carolers and the free admission on the same visit are out of luck, because carolers come on Sundays and free nights are Mondays. Ice carving is Friday and Saturday only, which are also the nights the zoo flags for parking trouble.
The ticketed special nights
The zoo's 2026 ZooLights announcement lists separate events, and some of them close ZooLights to general admission for the night.
- Thursday, Nov. 19: Member Preview Night, with free train and carousel rides and 20% off at the Gift Shop
- Tuesday, Nov. 24: Sensory-Friendly Night
- Sunday, Dec. 6: The Chris White Trio's tribute to A Charlie Brown Christmas, with a matinee in Pepper Family Wildlife Center and evening shows at Café Brauer. The 18+ evening show is new this year.
- Thursday, Dec. 10: Adults Night Out: Sugar and Spice, 21 and over, starting at 6:30 p.m., with tickets from $20
- Thursday, Dec. 31: New Year's Eve at ZooLights, with hourly countdowns
- New Year's ReZoolutions: a new event with yoga, sound meditation, nonalcoholic beverage samples for guests 21 and over, and entry before ZooLights opens to the public
The zoo's calendar graphic marks Jan. 2 as a special-event date.
Getting there without the Cannon Drive lot
Parking is limited and paid, in the zoo lot on Cannon Drive, and it isn't included in the ticket. Zoo staff temporarily close the lot when it fills, and the zoo asks Friday and Saturday visitors to plan their parking in advance and encourages transit or rideshare on busy nights. Lincoln Park residents can usually just walk. Strollers and wagons are allowed, though the zoo notes that crowds make them hard to push on busy nights. Scooters and bikes have to be parked or walked. Outside food and drinks aren't allowed.
Pairing a free Monday with the rest of the neighborhood
The free Mondays line up with a few other low-cost things nearby.
The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum offers free admission to Illinois residents Nov. 30 through Dec. 2 and again Dec. 7 and 8, according to its visit page. Both windows include a free ZooLights Monday, Nov. 30 and Dec. 7, so you can do the museum in the afternoon and the zoo after 4:30 without paying admission at either. The museum is closed Nov. 26 and Dec. 25.
Piccadilly Market opened in September at 444 W. Fullerton Pkwy., in the former Emilio's Tapas space, Block Club Chicago reported. Owner Aaron Zacharias told Block Club the aim was to serve neighbors throughout the day. Chef Mark Mendez runs a menu of sandwiches, house-made focaccia, Roman-style pizza and rotating cheese and charcuterie, and the space has a wine shop, a bar and a courtyard. Chicago Food Magazine reported on Oct. 20 a weekday happy hour from 5 to 7 p.m. with $5 Roman-style pizzas, half-off draft wine and $1 off draft beer. That happy hour overlaps the first hours of every free Monday. The pizza lineup includes Hot Honey Pepperoni, Potato & Cheddar, and Nutella & Apple. Piccadilly's website says its menus are being updated, so check before you go.
If you're also planning a museum day before ZooLights opens, the Chicago History Museum's "Aquí en Chicago" closes Nov. 8, with a closing program at noon that day. "Threads of a Nation: Preserving Presidential Clothing" opened Oct. 24, according to the museum's exhibitions page.
For a neighbor working through this calendar, the dates to remember are the four free Mondays and the 11 a.m. release the Monday before each one. The first release is Monday, Nov. 16.
At Camille Canales Group, we keep track of how Lincoln Park's calendar shifts from year to year, and the ZooLights schedule is one of those changes. If friends or family are thinking about a move to the neighborhood this winter, we'd be glad to show them around, maybe on a free Monday.
