CONTRIBUTED BY MARY RICHARDSON
In addition to all the Holiday Illuminations going on around Okinawa, the Okinawa Zoo Park is hosting a blow out holiday extravaganza this year.
From Dec 23- Dec 28, Okinawa Zoo Park has a special holiday program including dance and musical performances, super laser beam lights shows, Bingo contests, and a snow show!
That's right... right here in Okinawa, you get to play in the snow and sled down a snowy icy incline (at least for a few minutes before it melts). There's a rumor that the snow is real and coming all the way from mainland...
Here's the official festive events schedule:
4:00 Holiday program begins
4:20-4:30 Snow show
4:45- 5:00 Performance show
5:10-5:25 Street Dance
5:40-5:00 Snow show
6:00 Illumination ceremony
6:00-6:15 Bingo
6:20-6:40 Super Laser beam show
6:40-7:55 Street dance
7:05-7:25 Eisa and Drums show
7:30-7:40 Snow show
7:40-7:55 Bingo
8:00-8:20 Super Laser Beam show
8:25-8:40 Performance show
8:50-9:00 Snow show
9:05-9:20 Bingo
9:30- Super Laser Beam show
In addition to these activities, there will also be a park for children with trampolines, train rides, and more fun things for kids.
For pictures of what to expect and more information, check out the Zoo's website.
Time: Dec 23- Dec 28, 4:00- 9:45
Admission: Adults and children 15 and older 1,700 yen in advance, 2,000 yen at the door. Children under 15 pay 1,000 yen in advance or 1,200 at the door. Advanced tickets can be bought at Kadena ITT and MCCS Tours. For a limited time, MCCS Tours is offering a special of Buy 1 adult ticket and get 1 child ticket free.
Directions: From Camp Foster: -Take a LEFT coming out of the Exchange gate so that you are heading up 330 towards Kadena. Take a RIGHT at the Awase Meadows Golf Course intersection onto 22. (There will be a blue sign overhead before the turn lane pointing out the roads.) Take a LEFT at the 2nd light. Take a RIGHT at the 3rd light directly into the zoo parking lot.
Parking: In addition to the zoo parking lots, there will be parking available at Okinawa City Office and Koza Sports Park. A free shuttle bus will operate between parking lots and the zoo.
The snow is definitely real! I went there last year for a thing for work, and all the little kids that were there looked like they were having fun playing in the snow and the snow igloo and going down the snow slide. For people who have children, it looks like a good time for the kids.
My family went last year with some friends. It was not worth the money. The snow was actually sno-cone machine ice and it was very crowded. I honestly wouldn’t recommend this event to anyone.
I miss Okinawa soooo much!
I went to the children’s zoo last year for the “snow day”. It was packed! And Kristin is right- The snow was seriously a joke. Of course, for anyone who has spent their life on Okinawa and has no idea what snow is, it probably was somewhat fun.
My husband and I have no kids, but were planning on doing this on Christmas Eve more for the singing/dancing performances as well as the laser show. Does anyone who’s gone to this already have an opinion on these 2 things? Would it be worth the money for a couple with no kids to go? I’m really looking for some lights and some Christmas music just to get into that “Christmas Spirit” even though we can’t be home with our family on Christmas Eve. I’ve also heard about the Botanical Garden lights as well as a light display all the way down south at Peace Prayer Park. Has anyone gone to these as well? Is there much to see there? Thanks for any suggestions, comments or advice!
Does anyone know how to get to the Itoman Illuminations at peace-prayer park? I live on Courtney and I’ve only been here 4 months so I’ve never really been down south.
Cortnie- The display at the Botanical Gardens is really, really good. They seriously deck the whole thing out in lights and displays. I would recommend a couple with no kids goes there instead of the zoo. We went to the zoo last year and felt it did not measure up to the cost.
Thanks Patricia! I think we will check out the Gardens tomorrow!
Just to clarify, the snow FALL is not real snow. It looked like foam to me. Seriously. The snow on the ground looked like that semi-melted icy snow you see in the states. My two still loved it, but it is super-duper packed. There are tons of people in a very, very small area. They also have a ‘sled’ ride down a hill, but it costs 500Y. Same story with bounce houses and other attractions. They’re available, but they’re 300Y each, which adds up really fast when you’re paying for more than one kid. The lights are nice, but they’re not nearly as good as the Botanical Gardens.
The Botanical Gardens are not having their laser light show this year, but their lights are definitely still the best on island. And maybe because they’re not having their show, they’re giving you tickets worth 1000Y to purchase things at the booths available (or play games as some of the booths are set up).
If you have kids and have the extra money to blow for the bounce houses, etc. do the zoo. If you’re without kids, definitely go to the Botanical Gardens.
Okay. I did not hear about this zoo event from Okinawa Hai, rather my neighbors who invited us to go along. I was searching through your website for information on the kid’s museum at the zoo, ran across the write-up on snow at the zoo, and had to say something…
The name for this event should be ‘Zoo Rip-off’ or ‘Extortion at the Zoo’. Even though we bought our tickets through ITT and, therefore, got the buy-one-get-one free deal, we spent way more than it was worth. We paid a lot for our tickets, and everything inside seemed to cost additional money. I’m surprised they didn’t charge us for the air we were breathing! lol The snow was cheesy and the lights were mediocre. The laser light show was good, but didn’t warrant the admission cost. And I won’t even get into the crowd issue.
I’d have to say this whole event even exists because of the hype. I honestly haven’t heard much good feedback from other people about it either. Perhaps I can save other people the headache next year.
This event was the biggest waste of money. Everything inside had addition costs on top of the overpriced entrance fee. The light show was the lamest thing I have ever seen. Would not reccomend this to anyone! Food was disguting also! Tons of moquitos too. I cant even begin to describe how horrible this was!