I received complimentary admission for this review/feature. Opinions expressed are my own.
Halloween is my favorite holiday of the year. All of the decorations, the great weather, and, of course, a little candy, make this holiday so much fun. Now that “Nugget” is almost 3, he’s also very excited about Halloween, too. This is the first year he wants to wear a costume and see pumpkins and ghosts so we were thrilled to be able to take him to Tampa’s Lowry Park Zoo for their annual ZooBoo event.
ZooBoo is a family-friendly Halloween event that gives kids and adults a fun and spooky place to celebrate Halloween. There are haunted houses, rides, and light displays that really set the Halloween mood when at the event. My son just loved all of the different lights and decorations they had on display and wanted to stand by each of them to take a picture.
Having all of the rides open and available really made it a fun time for us. My son loves the carousel and he had a great time riding the Flying Boo-nanas and of course, the train. They even had a special Spooky Fun Fair area set up with games and a bounce house. My son couldn’t get enough and definitely did not want to leave.
We really liked the haunted houses. All of the houses are ranked on a skull system, 1 skull for “fun for all ages” and 7 skulls for “scary to the extreme!” We took our son into 2 houses, one had 1 skull and one had 3 skulls, and he really liked them both. The 1 skull house was adorable and had a lot of really cute Halloween decorations that were fun to look at.
French Quarter Phantoms was the 3 skull house and my son wasn’t scared, but he definitely made sure to stick close to us. This house was honestly really cool. About half way through the house you get handed 3D glasses and it really adds to the spooky effects when walking through. I attempted one of the 7 skull houses by myself, and lets just say I may have let out a scream or two.
There were so many extra details throughout the zoo that added to the fun. As said earlier, we loved all of the light displays, and my son just loved the spooky music being played. They also had special Halloween themed food and they even switched out the wax animal machines to include Halloween shapes. We got a wax skull and a pumpkin to remember our visit.
ZooBoo is open select nights from September 26 – November 1 and hours vary depending on the day. Ticket prices are in addition to zoo admission prices and you can buy them in advance online. Costumes are encouraged for all boys and ghouls ages 11 and under, but no adult (ages 12+) costumes allowed. This is a wonderful event for the whole family and is something we plan to go back for every Halloween.
Connect:
You can connect with ZooBoo at Lowry Park Zoo on their website, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube, and/or @LowryParkZoo on Twitter!