SANFORD, Fla. – You may have visited the zoo during the day to see the animals, but one local zoo is inviting visitors at night lighting up the zoo with a unique attraction.
The Asian Lantern Festival at the Central Florida Zoo combines Christmas holiday celebration with the culture and traditional lantern festivals celebrated throughout Asia.
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“It is something special to see the zoo at night and when it’s lit up at night, it’s magical,” Central Florida Zoo and Botanical Gardens spokeswoman Stephanie Williams said.
The festival named “Into the Wild” features more than 30 unique handcrafted displays including lanterns. Some representing the animals at the zoo. Others signifying characters and symbols from Asian culture like a dragon lantern.
“It’s one of the signature pieces, it’s over 140 feet long and it took about a week to create. They created him on site by welding the wire pieces for the body and placing the silkscreen on top, and the designer came in and airbrushed the scales on the body,” Williams said.
Some of the pieces were handmade in China and sent to the Central Florida Zoo, others were created on site. The exhibit took a month to put together. The lanterns are brought to life with about 10,000 LED lights.
“We have a lot of moving features so there’s going to be a lot of surprises with some of the lantern because some of them move, blow out bubbles. We have swings, angels you can stand on. There’s food and drinks, you can even make your own s’mores,” Williams said.
The Asian Lantern Festival runs through Jan. 16. Click here for event and pricing information.