Kansas City Zoo & Aquarium is lighting up Swope Park again this fall as its GloWild lantern festival opens Friday for a fifth year, this time built around a Hidden Treasure theme with more than 34 tons of steel and nearly 89,000 feet of fabric shaped into shipwrecks, buried treasure and jungle scenes along a mile-long walking route.
The festival, which runs from Friday through December 27, is produced with LEKTRIK ART, an event lighting company, and relies on 151 artisans to hand-build the illuminated sculptures, according to the Kansas City Zoo & Aquarium. As the Kansas City Star reports, this marks GloWild's fifth year at the zoo.
Zoo animals themselves won't be part of the after-dark spectacle, since most will have already bedded down for the evening by the time gates open, the Star notes. Instead, the draw is the walk-through sculptures and pieces with moving parts scattered across the route, some of them towering fabric-and-steel recreations of sunken treasure and jungle landscapes associated with this year's Hidden Treasure theme.
Hours, Tickets and How to Pay
GloWild runs 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. from Friday through October 30, then shifts to 5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. from November 1 through December 27, with Santa on hand for that stretch, according to the Star's reporting. The festival is closed Mondays and Tuesdays, apart from November 23-24 and December 21-22, and it will go dark entirely on December 24. It runs rain or shine and requires a separate ticket from standard daytime zoo admission.
General admission runs $22 to $24 online or $26 to $28 at the gate, with a four-pack available for $85, and Friends of the Zoo members getting $2 off. Unlimited-access tickets cost $37 to $39, and combo tickets bundling GloWild with daytime zoo admission range from $27 to $39. The event is entirely cashless, so visitors need a debit or credit card to buy tickets or food on-site, per the Star's coverage. In past seasons, the zoo has offered early-bird pricing worth $7 off general admission for tickets bought by late August, according to a Kansas City Zoo Facebook post from last year.
Sponsor and Extra Attractions
Saint Luke's Health System is this year's GloWild presenting sponsor, according to the Kansas City Zoo & Aquarium. Ticket holders on Wednesday nights get access to the Sobela Ocean Aquarium, the zoo's $77 million facility that opened in 2023 and holds close to 8,000 aquatic animals across 34 exhibits.
Families can also ride the Flying Flamingo zipline for $8 between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m., or take a free spin on the Endangered Species Carousel during the same window, the Star reports. Food and beverages are available for purchase throughout the grounds, and parking remains free in lots near the zoo's front entrance.
Daytime Fun and a Members-Only Beer Night
Combo tickets are also available, bundling GloWild with daytime zoo admission. On October 10, GloWild access will be limited to Brew at the Zoo ticket holders only, an adults-only event pairing lantern viewing with tastings from more than 30 local craft breweries and wineries.
For guests wanting a themed meal to match the pirate motif, the zoo is also offering A Pirate's Feast, a dining add-on priced between $42 and $55 that includes themed entertainment, per the zoo's event details.
A Century-Old Park Backdrop
GloWild unfolds inside Kansas City Zoo & Aquarium at 6800 Zoo Drive, itself set within Swope Park, an 1,800-plus-acre municipal park created in 1896 after a land donation from developer Thomas H. Swope — a footprint larger than New York's Central Park, according to a Medium retrospective on the park's history. The zoo itself dates to 1909, when it was founded on 202 acres, and Friends of the Zoo assumed management, per KC Parent Magazine.
More details and ticket links are available at kansascityzoo.org/glowild, according to the Star, whose report on this year's festival was written by entertainment and arts reporter Dan Kelly.
